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!!

Summer Surpises

After Doyle's treatment mid June, we decided to fly back from DC via Denver and pick up the car I wanted. An Acura RDX in RED!! Hard to find. Our vacation was to drive from Denver to Utah and then Meridian and then home!!! We made it, loving the new car the whole way!

 We made a stop at the Colorado National Monument Park.
It was a beautiful day for a drive through these lovely cliffs!

 Although Doyle has lost more than 35 pounds, he is feeling a bit better and seems to be tolerating the chemo better. His doctors are very pleased with his progress and although he slept a lot as I drove, he was doing better!

 Loved these tunnels cut right into the mountainside.

Arrived at Micah and Becky's place and spent a few days playing with their interesting and fun children!

Our next stop was June and Rodney's place in Logan. Stayed a day and a half, had lunch with Doyle's brother Richard and Kathleen and then were again on our merry way home.

Being old and all, we needed to stop again for the night in Meridian, ID (now we know how the pioneers felt! LOL)  Rex and Maria were so kind and we always enjoy seeing them!

She is a beauty and a joy to drive!!


After our trip home, which was so relaxing and a much needed change of pace, we began
 preparations in earnest to get Ariel and her prince charming ready to marry!!
July 9th found us at the Portland, Oregon temple with members of both families and several friends, shedding tears of joy for these two with stars in their eyes!!

(many thanks to our amazing Micah for the incredible photos!)

Newlyweds outside the Portland Temple

Made for each other!

The Nathan Larsen Family! Nathan, Ariel, Levi, Lael and Ty!

Look at our great group of supporters!! How we love our friends and family!!!

Doyle was feeling well enough to be silly with Ariel!

Proud mom and dad!

So happy! Ariel has waited a long time to find this "prince" and the bonus is three darling children!

After the wedding on Thursday we had two days with Micah and Becky, so we had VooDoo Donuts in Portland, then drove to Astoria where the Columbia River meets the mighty Pacific.

 Was windy but oh so beautiful!! Aren't they adorable!

Blustery day on the Oregon coast.

Me and my honey....see, he still has most of his hair...he is one tough cookie!!
Just FYI, the scans they took showed that his tumors have shrunk by 70% and the doctors are amazed and pleased! All those prayers have done wonders! THANK YOU!!!!

Five Weeks in DC

Our time spent in Bethesda, MD was not all medicine and hospital, although that did occupy much of our time. When Doyle was feeling well we all visited with friends and saw some of the sights in DC. The vaccine treatments went well and Doyle handled it like a trooper.

Missed cherry blossom time by only a few days, so it was chilly (even snowed twice!) but it was nice to be on the Mall again and visit the Smithsonian and other of the museums.

Autumn and her daddy in the Natural History Museum.

 Had never been to Mt Vernon so took the time and it was well worth it! The grounds and the preservation crews need to be commended. It was a treat to see and interesting to learn more about the father of our country.

 Autumn was with us for the first few weeks and then Ariel came to spell her off. I told the kids that we have managed fine for 43 years and really did not need to be babysat, but I think it was just a good excuse to spend more time with their dad!

Before Autumn left she had a colleague from Afghanistan (far right), Tahar,

come to visit along with a friend from CRS, Rachel, from Illinois. We fed Tahar a traditional American meal complete with hamburgers, chips and jello! He loved it!

 When Ariel arrived we went to Thomas Jefferson's home in Monticello and learned more about this very interesting patriot! The home and grounds were delightful!

 The WA DC temple used to be ours way back when we had to make a 5 1/2 hour drive to get there from PA. It was a real pleasure to attend a few sessions and drink in the peace and comfort only found within the walls of these holy houses of God!

 Among our many visitors, Ammon, Dan and families took the time to come and see us over several weekends. It was such a treat to be only a few hours away from our Eastern kids! Of course the best part was seeing little Aden. 

 Aden enjoyed his first Easter Egg hunt with us....such a cutie!

 Our amazing team at NIH. We saw them often and they were (and still are) very concerned and interested in Doyle's progress!

I wish I could report that all is well, but Doyle has had a terrible reaction to the chemo and has had numerous physical complications. He has been receiving fluids via IV and there is concern over his kidneys. We know the Lord is mindful of us and we so appreciate all of your kind words and prayers! How grateful we are for the atonement of Christ as He eases our burdens and brings joy and renewed faith into each new day!

Same Journey- New Beginnings

As we bid a hurried farewell to New Zealand and all those we love so well, our hopes have been raised and then dashed as we have spoken to doctor after doctor trying to make sense of this unexpected turn of events in our life. As always we are comforted knowing that God is in charge and all things work together for the good of those who believe!!

Our travels have taken us back to Moses Lake to see family and then off to Utah for Doyle to be admitted to the Huntsman Cancer Institute. Our private room had this lovely view out the large picture windows.

The Huntsman Institute is associated with the University of Utah.

Ariel and Autumn accompanied us to Hunstman and we were happy for their zany and kind support.

Love these sweet girls!

It is important not to lose our sense of humor, so this sign brought a chuckle to us!

After Doyle was released from Huntsman, our good friends, the Cotterells loaned us their retreat home in Midway, Utah. It was beautiful and peaceful in the mountains and we so enjoyed our few days of respite in warmer than usual temperatures.

Cosi enjoying a few minutes with grandpa.

Eden and Cosi enjoying the park in Midway

Micah and Becky were thoughtful in getting us some Valentine flowers

Playing with the kids in the park

Back home for a week and then Doyle's eldest brother, Elbert died. He had been in a nursing facility for 8 years with Alzheimer's Disease. Back to Utah to attend his funeral.

Although we will miss Elbert, we were glad to see so much of the Brown family and catch up.

Here I am with Margaret (Elbert's wife) and sister-in-law Sharon.

Elbert looking very much at peace. He was 86 years old.

The five remaining brothers, Boyd, Joel, Rex, Richard and Doyle.

Margaret saying goodbye to her sweetheart!

At the cemetery, this is a good sampling of Elbert and Margaret's posterity!

From Salt Lake Doyle, Autumn and I flew to Washington DC where Doyle will hopefully be entering a clinical trial for patients with mesothelioma. They have had good preliminary results, so we continue to petition the Lord for a miracle. We are in His hands!

The National Institute of Health is a very large complex and does some cutting edge research.

We found a lovely little two bedroom apt just 5 minutes from NIH. The owners are lovely and we figure we will be here until the middle of April. Then we will be back and forth for the next 6 months or so. 

So, to all of our Eastern friends and family....we would love to see anyone who wants to pay a visit!

We will keep you posted as things progress and have felt the comfort of your prayers and faith!!

Thank you all for your love and support! Love to all!