He is Here!!!

Tucker Leonard Brown

Born Dec. 23, 2008 @ 1:06am

6 Lbs 6 oz / 20 inch

Our Family of 6
Lindi 4 1/2- Allie 14 mts/ Trey 2 1/2

Each kid taking a turn holding their new Brother.

Lorin and Bev Just after Tucker came out.
(To bad they didn't stay by my side the whole time j/k)

Laying in the sun soaking up some vitamin D to help with jaundice
MOVIE CLIP
Just home from the Hospital...

My Letter to Tucker....

I have never counted down to a specific date more than with you. On Nov.15^th my body pretty much shut down. I have horrible varicosities while I’m pregnant and with 3 little kids it was hard to stay off of my feet. So after a Saturday work day in the yard, I pushed my limits and your Dad had to carry me to bed. So for the last 6 weeks I’ve been on ‘Bed Rest’ and it has been a tough trial but well worth YOU!

Your due date was Jan 8^th however the Doctor said since I was in lots of pain and on bed rest she would let you come on Dec 18^th. Granny Bev came down to help and be with your brother and sisters. We were so excited and arrived at the Hospital at 6:30 am for the induction. Four long hours later we were sent home, because there wasn’t enough room in the hospital. The Lord knew you needed a little more time to cook, despite what your Dad and I wanted. Granny extended her stay to the 26^th and booked a ticket for Poppy to come for Christmas. We were now counting down to the 23^rd of December. Monday the 22^nd I went to see the Doctor (Allyson Pielop) and by 2:00pm I was having steady contractions on my own. By 4 PM I was in the hospital excited that you were on your way. The Doctor didn’t break my water until 10 pm because we let her go to her family Christmas party and we were nervous if we did it earlier she would get to her party and then just have to come back to deliver you so we decided we would wait. For me it was the first act of service I had given all Christmas season after having received so much. Around 12:45 am the nurse said I was ready to push. I had a nurse go find Dad and Granny because they had gone to lie down. Right as they walked in each stood by one of my sides. After about two minutes Granny got dizzy and had to sit down. Then 30 seconds later Dad got dizzy. The Hospital was crazy so we were just trying to get nurses to come help. Everyone seemed more concerned about Dad and Granny not fainting… than us…well almost. I only pushed for about ten minutes and you were here.

When you came out Dr. Reddington put you right on my chest. I can’t describe the feelings that rushed through me. I felt so much love and gratitude you were here and healthy. The heavens truly opened up and the veil was so thin.

I couldn’t hold you for long because you weren’t breathing that well. The nurses hurried you off to the nursery to get you on oxygen. You were there for about two hours and then back in my arms. For the first 24 hours you constantly made grunting sounds. At first I didn’t know why but I just kept pretending you were telling me about heaven. I later learned, from Dr. Jones, you had moisture in your lungs.

The hospital stay was wonderful in the fact that I had tons of time with just you. I did share a room with 2 other moms, so it wasn’t always quiet but still peaceful. I didn’t have a phone and only our little family came to visit the next morning. Lindi, Trey and Allie were so excited to see you. It was overwhelming and exciting to have all 4 kids on my hospital bed. Your siblings didn’t stay long. Dad finally got to hold you and then stayed for a few hours. We didn’t have a name picked out until just before we left the hospital. We thought you might be ‘Aaron’ but when we saw you it wasn’t right. Dad and I have a hard time agreeing on boys names; we both loved Tucker so that was that. Your middle name is Leonard after my Grandpa Driggs. He passed away last year and is an incredible man. Dad and I feel honored to carry on his name.

Lindi hasn’t wanted to leave your side. Christmas morning Lindi was the first to wake up, she was sleeping on my floor and you were in my arms. She jumped to her feet and said, “I have to wash me hands!” For the next 40 minuets she was perfectly content just holding you before she was ready to go down and open presents. Christmas Eve as we acted out the nativity Lindi was so excited to have you as her little Jesus. Allie thinks you’re her little doll. When it is her turn to hold you she takes her dear sweet time and won’t let you go until she has given you tons of wet kisses and made you cry with her not-so-soft pats. Trey as been very sweet as well and shows way more interest in you that I thought he would. He has a tender touch with you.

We are so excited you are here! You are perfect. The best Christmas present we will ever have.

4 more days

Well for those of you who don't know I have a good reason I've been a bad blogger as of late. For the last 5 weeks I've been on bed rest and am just counting down the days to Dec. 18th. when I'm getting induced. So in just a few days this baby will be here and I can hopefully start getting back to a normal mom. So next post I hope to show pics of the baby. I'll keep you all posted.
lots of Love Kelli

Halloween Night ...

we went trick-or-treating to just a few doors but spent the night with our good friends the Clayborn at their Church carnival. It was amazing! and so much fun I wish my kids and my legs could have lasted longer. Lorin is Moses if you couldn't tell, he got lots of laughs. Lindi = Sleeping Beauty/ Trey= Tiger / Allie = Pumpkin / Me = A Rainbow

Carving Pumpkins-
what a fun tradition! Lorin did it all with the kids. He even was the one who took them to pick their pumpkins out one Saturday while I was out working on Prop 8. He is such an awesome Dad!

Ward Halloween Party!

I loved this picture of Mimi and Allie, we are surely going to miss my family they are moving to Utah officially this weekend. I'm excited for them, they need to be there.

I don't know if this was bad, but with all the Prop 8 that was going around I was a Rainbow for Halloween and then ware a Prop 8 pin on my shirt. So I was a walking contradiction. I thought it was funny. Most people just thought I was dressed crazy and didn't see the rainbow anyway.

And....WE WON the battle!!! Prop 8 Passed!!!!
The Lord had a huge hand in it.


I just love my little Tiger. He is getting into the I want to do everything myself stage and it is soooo fun. I open the door and then have to shut it because he wants to open... and this is just one example of many. He is my ultimate Joy one second and then my death the next.
Wow...for 2 year olds!

Allie's 1st Birthday
Lindi was far more excited for this day than Allie. Lindi walk up 1st thing and asked when the party started and when we got to open presents. I didn't have anything planned so I called in my good friends and their kids. Between the 4 of us we had 11 kids and ALL 4 were pregnant. It was crazy. Here is a picture of all the kids but one, and one of my good girl friends.
Christi-Me-Elizabeth-Michelle

This is my Favorite way to see my kids!!!
We love Books!

This is Lindi with Erin and Sophie-her little preschool.
We were making necklaces and working on learning patterns.This is a classic picture of Lorin in the Morning. He works so hard and gets up so early to teach seminary...some mornings he just lays back down on the couch for a quick 15-30 min cat nap. Today his hair was crazy so I took a picture to remember these early mornings for him.

Allie Walking

Since I have been bad with writing...Allie had a birthday Oct 9th and turned 1 year old. Also she learned to walk and here is a little clip. Late Halloween Night after about 4 suckers. She has so much personality. We sure love her.

Utah

Since I haven't been the best blogger here is an update from our trip to
Utah for Business

Saturday when we got up their Erik and Erin, Lorin's Step Brother had a reception up the Canyon it was so beautiful and lots of fun. There were a wide range of people their which made it so fun... I loved all the Bickers the best.

All 4 of us decided to ware yellow; it must have been the color of the day. Also Congratulations to Tash! She is expecting another baby!!!! So one again we'll have a few cousins for this baby.

Lindi- Peyton- Makayla- Paige

Hanging out at Granny's house with Uncle Sam for conference.

One day Trinnie and I took the kids to "This is the place monument" It was quite fun… we had 5 kids and were both pregnant. It was a slow day and we were able to see a lot. We basically had a personal tour. This picture is in the old school house. Lindi and Peyton practiced writing their names on little chalk boards.

One day I got together with all my cute cousins
Ashley- Andrea- Tenely- Mollie- Nana- Me- Allie
We had all our little kids, it was amazing to see the next generation and how posterity truly grows. My two aunts, Shannon and MaryLee came a little later as well. I have such an incredible extended Family.

I'm doing a Tag

I just looked at Katie's Blog and saw she was tagged. I tag who ever wants to to put in your 4th picture in your 4th picture folder. This is mine I was the Bear leader in Cub Scouts in AZ and this is at one our our activities I'm 7mts Pregnant with Trey.

Will it blend

Making a difference with Proposition 8....
Our leaders have asked us to now "SPRINT" to the finish line. There are FOUR weeks left until election day and they are
asking us to give at least FOUR hours of service to Prop 8 each of the next 4 weeks, and more than that if we can. They are also asking us set aside the hours from 9am until 2pm on Saturdays for making calls,standing on street corners with signs or going door to door. If those hours are impossible for you, Do it when you can!!! Every bit helps. They also suggest using the internet as
a tool for making our voice heard. In fact, they said to speak to every person we can about the importance of preserving marriage and religious freedom. We were also asked to pray privately and publicly that Prop 8 will pass.

How we can follow our leaders and spend 4 hours a week and Saterdays to get this passed!

1. Blog....Places to do so...or how
(This is something you can do if you don't live in CA)
Simply go to ...yahoo...Google. ..MSN... and type in "Blog and Proposition 8" You will have endless places to add your views. and comments. Here are a few to start if you want.

http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2008/09/our-position-on-californias-no-on-8.html

http://preservingmarriage.blogspot.com/

http://wordpress.com/tag/california-proposition-8/

http://news.search.yahoo.com/search/news?p=proposition+8&ei=UTF-8

2.Walk neighborhoods tell your neighbors!!

3.Wave signs on street corners (Steve Fogg have signs to wave... get a group of
friends and family together and go wave some signs for a few hours in the evening or on Saturday

4.Email friends This isn't just our battle anymore, please let everyone know we need thier prayers, support, and donations.

5.Write to the paper

6. For Halloween trick-or-treating with Prop 8 signs on you as your costume.

7.FAST!!!! PRAY!!! then Fast and Pray more!!!!

8. Add widgets to your personal blog, facebook or myspace...
this is a great one to start with
http://www.preservingmarriage.org/

http://www.protectmarriage.com/resources

Hanging out with the Brown Family.

Hear is a little update from the Brown Team.

Lindi loves to push Allie around in her stroller, and Allis is in love with Babies. This makes for a great combo. Lindi's favorite toy is Allie and Allie's is babies; so I'm a little nervous with the new born baby that is on his way.
We got this fun new toy at a garage sale for $5 and the kids have loved it. They think the top is another seat. And Allie is a good driver too.
Allie really is my mover and shaker. She is always into something this week was a little crazy. Sunday night she took a real big fall of the couch as she stood up to a stroller that was on the couch, which rolled off and she went with it face first into our rocking horse. She beat up her face pretty bad. My heart sank every time I saw her. It has now been a week and she is finally looking back to normal. I think she bused her whole right side of her face she could barely open her eye. This picture doesn't even do it justice.

Allie learned to walk her first steps this week I don't have video but she can stand up in the middle of the room and then take 3 steps before she then falls and starts to crawl. I'll try and get a video up soon. but she doesn't like to walk with me around just on her own so it is hard to capture. She also learned to crawl up onto our kitchen chairs and then onto the top of the table. I now need to make sure all the chairs are pushed in, so we don't get any more faces like this.Allie makes messes wherever she is. She is very fast, when she gets in the bear crawl, which is up on her feet and hands.


Lindi Learning to ride a Bike.
Lindi has been asking us for about 6 weeks to take off her training wheels and teach her to ride a bike. I have been real hesitant since she seems so young. Well it was a nice night on Wednesday and so we decided to try it. She did great for about 10-15 min. but then realized it was a lot harder then it looks. Lorin followed behind her and just helped to get the feel of riding and balancing. It was a good first lesson. Well through out the week she has now been teaching herself, which that is how she always likes to learn. She has been in the back yard and simple practices balancing and starting with just a one rotation of the peddles. So here are a few pictures from the night...
1. Lindi before we started
Here is a little Video

2. Lindi when she had had enough3. Lorin suggesting they take a ride on a "real bike" and the two of them taking a spin around the neighborhood.

Lindi is in love with writing her letters. This week for preschool I made a worksheet with little picture in boxes (like a; hat, cat, yo yo, table, apple) and the 3 little girls had to look at the picture decide what letter it started with and then write that letter on the line below. I was amazed at how well they all did. Sophi didn't need help with the whole sheet and Lindi asked me to make dotes to trace for 2 of the letters, 'W' and 'G' I realized that Lindi knows lots more than I gave her credit. We also stared memorizing the kindergarten sight words, there are about 30 (ie:is, the, go, no, I, A, to, we, me..) Lindi is loving it. Today at church she just keep putting letters together and asking if it spelled a word. Sometimes it did like, no, go, pot... but other time it was like, "hgpunw" When I said explained wasn't a word she would get all discuraged and try again. It is fun to have her so excited to learn. Also as you can see from this picture she is in love with taking pictures of herself. Every time I go to down load pictures I find at least 4 or 5 like this, well usually not so good.
Trey! wow he is my buddy right now. Most of his life he has always prefer his Dad over me. Well the last week is doesn't want Lorin at all and just wants Mom. It is so fun to feel like the favorite after two and a half years!!! He loves to snuggle up with me in the mornings and have me put him to bed. He has honestly been a dream to potty train. in 3 weeks I have only had to clean up one #2 and like 6 -#1's !!! and he wears a dipper to bed but has only wet in his dipper 2x!!! I hope all my kids can be like this. He is in love with Tarzan the Disney movie and acts like he is Tarzan all the time. He also loves swards, slings and drums! This is a picture of Trey acting like a tiger in a bear costume we need a few more boy dress ups.

Mattching Outfits

Saturday I went to get an oil change for the car at Wal-Mart and it took...2 Hours with all 3 kids
so I looked through fabric and Lindi picked some and had me make us 3 girls
Matching dresses. It was fun to be back on the sewing machine.
Sunday the girls and Emily(I gave her mine) ware the outfits and we took pictures.



Also I potty trained Trey this last week and he was awesome. Treys personality is one to "watch others" until he knows he can do it and then he just does it. The first 2 days we only had 2 small accidents. (church was a desaster) and then the rest of the week was incredible. He still forgets and starts a little in his pants then runs to the bathroom. but over all 10 times easyer than Lindi (not that I'm compairing) He just seems so much bigger now!

Lindi Waterskiied...at 4

I am So proud of my little Lindi who isn't so little any more. Wednesday we went boating and Lindi saw a 7 yr old girl water ski and said, "Can I go next?" she was so excited and ready to try. She got up on her 1st try and finally we had to stop the boat because she went for so long and Lorin was hanging out in the water, since he helped her start. She was grinning from ear to ear and hasn't stop talking about it. The water Ski was a 'U' shape ...great for beginners.
We also went boating today and she was crazy on the tube. She wants to be so big and will live up to the next age around her. Which today was two 11 yr olds. Lindi puts her mind to something and does it. She is my confident little go getter.



And I have to add a few Pictures of the rest of the Family. Emily Wake surfed for the 1st time and was so excited. She has been staying with us for 2 weeks as she started school and my family is up in Utah getting Sam started at UVU (UVSC in Orem UT).
The Couks..ie: Allie is always ready to pose for a picture it is great.
Trey likes boating because of all the treats and junk we always bring. He also tubed and did awesome. He has little emotion on his face the whole time. He is so mellow and go with the flow.