Saturday, August 29, 2015

Changes

Following Ariel and Nathan's wedding in July, we had a family reunion for the Doyle Brown family in Plain, WA (just outside of Leavenworth in the Cascades) We found a beautiful lodge that we had all to ourselves, complete with a pool, sauna, tennis court, hot tub, river in the backyard, pool table, foosball, a kiddie playhouse and LOTS of room to play, eat and just have a blast!
 The three youngest were introduced to the pool and all took to it like fish!
Ammon and his two year old Aden with Haven and her two year old Liora.
The wind was chilly one day so Aden got wrapped in a towel to sun dry.
His little sister Amaia had just arrived in NYC, so Ailene and little sister had to stay home. We missed them!
 Our newly married Ariel came up for the week, but unfortunately Nathan had to work, although he did make it there for the last night along with his three great kids!
 The grandkids enjoyed the playhouse with all the little amenities for kiddies and the sandbox next to it was perfect for running all those diggers and trucks!
 Our Dulcinea is a great fan of frogs and she was thrilled to find many in the pond, playhouse and under the porch. Everyone was accommodated as we even had two bats, which Matthias, her little brother, adores!!
 Posing for the camera in the front yard. At one point we had twelve of our thirteen grandchildren at the lodge.

Ammon loaded up with the three amigos!!!
 Doyle did a lot of sleeping but he enjoyed the setting and having family together.
 Lots of planted flowers and wildflowers around the property and near the river. We were fortunate to have beautiful weather as well.
 Autumn's boyfriend, Joel Wilson, joined us and he brought equipment to teach all comers the art of scuba diving. He teaches diving in the Philippines, but is originally from Buffalo, NY.
 Here are our three youngest, born a month apart. They had a great time together and are all such little sweethearts!! Liora is Haven's, Aden is Ammon's and Caleb is Micah's
 Our little jack-in-the-boxes!
 Hanging out together all day long and not a cross word spoken!! Sure do love our family!!
 Noble and Big T enjoying the peace and quiet in the living room while the kids whoop it up outside.
 Autumn and Joel trying to pull off blue steel....hahaha! Joel has now gone to Buffalo to work for the summer and Autumn is doing a consulting job in Laos for CRS. She will be back the first of October
Here is a great shot of the lodge where 24 of us were housed with room left over. We would go there again in a heartbeat!! In case you are interested here is the info: VRBO # 207995
 Well, we were all surprised to hear that Dan had popped the question to Sandra, his girlfriend for the past four years! We all love her and are so happy that they will be getting married in Oct...on Kelsey's birthday! Dan is pictured here with his year of beard. Said he wanted to grow it for one year...
It was nice that he reached his year mark before they left to fly home to NYC. Haven't seen that handsome face in quite some time. Looks like a much younger guy! SO happy for them!!!
And other happy changes... Noble landing a great job in Draper, UT, packing a Uhaul and moving to within 1/2 hour of Micah.  Micah accepting a new job without having to leave their nice home in American Fork....so it has been a summer of changes for the Browns.

Doyle just finished his last chemo this past week and we will make a few more trips to DC for the vaccine booster in Sept and Oct.  We continue to pray that his "dragon" will remain asleep while we continue to live life to the fullest! How grateful we are for a merciful God, an amazing family and kind and supportive friends!!