Posts filed under ‘Stories’
Hurricane Ike
Does it make me a sensationalist if I made Blair go out yesterday and take some pictures of the furry of Ike? We’re just glad we aren’t one of the 340,000 people in the city without power.
As we were driving home from church (which was let out an hour early…) We saw that the train was stopped on the tracks. “That’s odd” we thought.
Then we looked the other way down the tracks and saw the culprit:
Probably the biggest tree that we saw that was down fell on this building on New Lagrange Rd.
Blair took a bunch more pictures, but you get the idea. One day I’ll be the one with no power and a tree on my house, and then I’ll probably hate the people driving around taking pictures of the mess.
If anyone needs to do some laundry or take a hot shower, give me a call!
Cami’s Blessing
It’s a few days late, but I thought that I’d better write some thoughts down before I forget to. Blair is home and keeps telling me “It’s daddy-daughter time!” and I keep butting in and playing with Cami, too, so I finally had to remove myself so as to let him have some undivided time with his little girl. This should keep me occupied 
. You’d think I get enough of her all day long, but as it turns out, she’s just too cute to handle!
Cami sure is loved because Thursday night (Aug 7th) her Grandma and Grandpa Brown flew all the way from Utah to see her get blessed. On top of that, her Aunt Julie came from Montana on Friday, and her Aunt Crystal came on Saturday from Utah as well!
Friday we went down to the river to take a ride on the Belle of Louisville. It was such a fun time, and Cami didn’t even seem to mind all the wind. Blair loved looking at all the functioning of the steam engine with his Dad, and Blair’s mom and I hung out with Cami. I’m so glad we got the chance to do that! It’s one of those things that, when you live in the city, you tend to not make time for all those special things about that city. I still haven’t been to the Slugger Museum or Churchill Downs or … anything else for that matter. I’ll have to make a point to do those things before we leave.
Friday night Julie flew in and even though it was past our bedtime, Cami just couldn’t wait to meet her cousin Conner. Conner is SUCH a cute little guy with super dark hair and the cutest chin I have ever seen. He’s just a month and a half older than Cami, so they are going to be best buds! I can’t wait until they both get a little older and can play together.
Cami and Conner
Saturday we did some grocery shopping to prepare for the after-blessing festivities, and Crystal flew in around 2. We just took it easy that night and had a good time being together.
Sunday, my family (Mom, Dad, Michael and Emmalie) got up bright and early so they could be in Louisville in time for church at 9. Mom worked her magic on the blessing dress that I was blessed in as a baby by replacing some elastic where needed and getting it all cleaned up for Cami. It meant so much to me to be able to have her blessed in that dress. I like to get a little sentimental once in a while. She looked absolutely beautiful!
Anyone who was there knows how beautiful the blessing was. Blair did such a good job at relaying the love and blessings that Heavenly Father has for our little Cami. One thing that Cami was blessed with was Cheerfulness. Today while I was sitting in the glider, playing with Cami after a feeding, she locked her little eyes with mine and just laughed. It made me remember that part of the blessing and I just couldn’t help but get a little teary eyed. She makes me so happy. For an instant, I found myself forgetting how hard it was to get this little girl into the world.
I would love to end this post on that happy note, but I just have to add…Sunday evening, when Blair’s parents’ visit was drawing to a close, I remembered that I wanted to get the pictures that Blair’s mom had taken on her camera of the weekend onto our computer. (we kept forgetting to take ours with us…) SO I popped out the memory card, stuck it in my little card reader thing, and hooked it up to our computer. I still don’t know exactly what happened, but all the hundreds of pictures that were on her memory card suddenly disappeared. Most of those pictures had already been saved to their computer at home, but the last 2 weeks were lost…and there’s still a chance they’ll be able to fix the card, but I’m doubtful. Of course it had to be me to be the one to screw it up, right? So, needless to say, I have very few pictures to add to this post. Luckily we did get a couple of shots after that had happened to at least have proof that they were here. Fun, huh? Ugh…
Anyway, Cami is officially Camille Ann Brown. We call her Cami, Goose, Baby Bug, Munchkin, Kitty Whiskers, Camerkins (it just slipped out one day!) and everything in between, so we’ll see what she ends up going with. I put my money on “Goose”.
My sweetie! (first time I’ve responded to a tag of any sort…)
1. What is his name? Blair Ryan Brown
2. How long have you been married? We celebrated 2 years on May 6th.
3. How long did you date? Blair could tell you the exact dates, but I know we started dating like…third week of November 2005 and got engaged in February 2006. Or was it the end of January? Crap…So about three months before our engagement, and then about three months later, we were married!
4. Who eats more sweets? Me, for sure, but Blair does his share of snacking as well. We just snack on different things, and my snacks usually fall in the ‘sweets’ category more than his do.
5. Who said I love you first? Blair did. It was actually in a letter. That first Christmas we had only been dating about a month, and Blair went to Utah to be with his family for Christmas, so everyday he was gone, he wrote me a letter for that day. He made a handwritten copy to give me at the end, but also sent each day’s letter by email so that I’d get it right away. He surprised me and ended up buying a ticket to come earlier than he had been planning (he had his original tickets before he met me…) So in the last day’s letter, he ended with an I love you. I was ecstatic! I had been so wanting to tell him that I loved him, but was determined to let him be the first, and it was driving me crazy, so when he said it, I was so so so happy.
6. Who is taller? Blair is just barely shy of 6 feet, and I’m 5’8″. Just perfect, if you ask me.
7. Who can sing better? We both love to sing, but I’ve done a lot more of it in my days as far as choirs and vocal lessons and all of that. It was always kinda my…hobby. So I guess it’s probably me, but he’s got a wonderful voice as well!
8. Who is smarter? I really did laugh out loud when I read this one. Do I even need to answer? Blair was valedictorian in his High School, got a degree from BYU in Chemistry, and is doing so so well in Dental School. I, on the other hand, am barely a sophomore with a handful of classes from three different colleges, and although I do fairly well in all I do, can’t compare to my wonderful Blair’s smarts. Thank goodness he’s gonna be the ‘supporter’ cause we’d definitely be hurting if it was up to me. I sure lucked out in this category…
9. Who does the laundry? We both do. I’d say it’s pretty even. With him going to school and me working right now, just whoever ends up having some extra time gets it going. Sometimes, although seldom, a load will end up sitting in the dryer for up to a week before one of us gets the chance to fold it. That’s just the way it goes. Hopefully when I’m at home, I’ll have things like that more under control…
10. Who pays the bills? So, by pays the bills, does that mean “who makes the money that pays the bills?” or “who manages the budget and physically writes the checks and puts them in the mail?” At the moment, I make about 3/4 of what we live on and the other 1/4 comes from student loans (we’ll be solely on student loans in just one short month…eek!) And as far as budgeting goes, he usually takes care of keeping it all up to date, but we are both very much a part of it.
11. Who sleeps on the right side of the bed? If you’re looking at the bed, I’m on the right.
12. Who cooks dinner? Blair does more than I do. He’s just better. I’m sure that will change, but we have a rule that whoever cooks, doesn’t do dishes, and I think it’s pretty safe to say that he’d rather cook than do the dishes, so he usually volunteers. He also tends to get home before I do, so it just works out better that way right now.
13. Who drives? Actually, I usually do. I just really like driving, and Blair doesn’t care, so I usually grab the keys. I really like being in control…Lately, though, because of my current condition (chuckle) , I’ve been handing them to him. I figure it probably doesn’t look all that good when we get out of the car and people see the pregnant woman driving her husband around.
14. Who is more stubborn? Hmm…tough one. Probably me. I’m sure we both have our moments.
15. Who kissed who first? He kissed me. I remember being so excited that he waited until our 3rd date to kiss me. I had been kissed a little too quickly a little too many times, and knew that the guy I would end up with would take his time a little. It was a little bit of a qualification for me. If the guy kissed me too soon, then I had it in my mind that he probably wasn’t the one I would end up with. Blair did it right, though, and look where we are!
16. Who asked who out first? Blair asked me out. Our first date was to Harry Potter 4 and then to the Cheesecake Factory for dessert.
17. Who proposed? Blair. I knew it was coming, but the day it happened, I didn’t think he had gotten the ring yet, cause it was supposed to take two more weeks to get it, but he had found a way around that, and totally caught me off guard.
18. Who wears the pants? Blair. And he wears them very well…
So…. I guess this is where I tag people? Thanks to Marissa for tagging “everyone reading” so that I could fill out my first tag I was hoping…
I tag…Rachel, Erin, Katie, Steph, and Jen. Definitely don’t feel obligated, though!
My motorcycle accident…
Okay, so I’ve been trying to remember exactly what day it happened, but it was sometime in August or September of 2007. It was the same day that we were doing a Mystery Shop of Six Flags, Kentucky Kingdom. I’ll have to edit the post once I find out the exact day…that’s going to bug me.
Anyway, Blair had gotten his new motorcycle a month or so before, and I had been aching to learn to ride it. I have a thing for speed, and was jealous that I was only able to hang on to him on the back while he had all the fun. So, the morning of the Six Flags shop, we decided to go find an empty parking lot and he’d teach me just a few things to get me started. He started with explaining the shifting and the clutch (I’ve never really driven a stick shift), running me through pretend start-ups and having me practice simply starting the bike. By about 15 minutes later, I was riding around in circles in the parking lot in 1st gear. I was feeling pretty confident and was eager to learn how to shift and practice that! So, he let me!
I had already been riding around the lot and starting and stopping just fine, so I wasn’t worried at all. Then…it happened. I was trying to slow down, and for some reason, when I would pull the hand brake, the bike seemed to go faster. I don’t think it actually DID go faster, but the engine revved or something and it made me think it was speeding up. I got freaked out and just about froze. In a split second, I decided that I wasn’t going to be able to make the turn that was coming up AND focus on stopping at the same time. So, I decided to hop the curb and lay the bike down on the grass. In my mind, this was the best option. So, I did it. I didn’t take into account the difference between a peddle bike and a motorcycle. It’s not even a big bike…just 400 cc’s, but laying a motorcycle down is no small thing. The leg that actually hit the ground was fine. The leg that came up over the other side got pretty torn up. I also had some scraping on my right arm.
I was freaking out. Blair was freaking out. All I could think about was “What did I do to Blair’s ‘new’ bike?!” and all Blair could think was “What was I thinking letting her ride!” Luckily the bike was pretty much fine. It had a couple of bumps and bruises as well. Okay, it had a broken headlight. Luckily the guy who sold it to us gave him some extra parts, and guess what one of the extra parts was…yah, a headlight! Miraculous, I know!
The ride back was the tricky part. I was bleeding (more oozing than bleeding, really) and in much pain, and not much interested in getting back on the bike. But I couldn’t walk home, it was just a bit too far, and so we hopped back on the bike and headed home. I must have had a case of shock or something because I got super dizzy and just about fainted and fell off again. Blair had to drop me off at the park down the street and come back for me with the car. We got home, I lay down for a while before Blair and I did our best to clean and bandage my leg, and then I got in my most comfortable clothes that I dared for a trip to Six Flags, and we headed off. Yah…we still did the shop. I have to say that it wasn’t my most fun day at an amusement park. Good thing we got 4 tickets for doing the shop and were able to go back a month later and actually enjoy it!
One of the first things I said to Blair after it happened was “Don’t tell ANYONE!” I was so embarrassed and knew that one of two things would happen: 1. I would get made fun of for crashing a motorcycle that was going less than 5 miles/hour or 2. there would be a lot of “told you so’s” from those who may have been a little worried about us getting a motorcycle. After all, I still feel like it was a great purchase, and that when used properly with all precautions taken, can be safe enough.
So today I finally decided that it had been long enough to tell the story of my fateful motorcycle accident. Mostly cause I just want to post the pictures of my wounds.
And by the way, You’d better believe I’m going to try again…
