Pumpkin Time

Happy Halloween to all!!!!! Just a quick blog regarding some Pumpkin Carving we did last night. Not really a big deal, except that we really haven't done a lot of pumpkins since the kids have all moved out on their own. But we have a friend who thought she would like to carve a pumpkin and we are always up to having great company...so we set the date for dinner and pumpkins, bought the pumpkins and went to work. Louise (McMurtrey), Kim and I each picked our design of choice and got started.. I finished first..could have had something to do with the fact I picked the easiest design I saw. I'm not really into pulling out pumpkin guts and all that stuff, so I looked for the quickest way out and found it. Turned out pretty good. Those little pumpkin carving kits are pretty good if you are a serious carver!! Kim chose a more aggressive pattern with a cat, a spider, and a pumpkin all on the face...and Louise, well she chose what I thought was the hardest of all. The "Happy Halloween-Tree" pattern. A lot of intricate cuts and designs. She really did a great job, everyone did as you can see from the pictures below. So we had a great dinner, great conversation, and an awesome time together. There is much to be said for simple family activites that bring tremendous rewards, and this was one of them. I'm sure Kim and Louise would agree. Happy Hallowen to all!!!!!
BLOG THOUGHT.....In a material world we easily forget that life is lived from within, not from without!!!!...........kjb

Here are 2 of the 3 pumpkins before the major operation started!!!!



All lit and ready for Halloween night, Kims is on left, mine in middle, and Louise's on right!!!!
And then what the will look like sitting on the porch, on a dark and haunting night in October. "Trick or Treat". You can really see the amount of work that went into Kim's and Louise's!!!!!!

HOG Fishin!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Today Friday, Oct. 10, 2008 was a non typical October day. At least in my mind I am thinking faling leaves, falling temperature, and falling desire to be outside. But yesterday and today we have seen 70 degree plus temperature and beautiful sunny days. Since I had a cancelaation of an appointment this morning and then only one other appointment at 1200pm, I had a pretty easy work day ahead of me. After finishing my one actual work related appointment at 100pm, I was riding home and thought what a great day to go fishing. I didn't really have anyopne I could call to go with me oin short notice, but I knew the opportunities to go HOG Fishin were getting less and less, so after gettting to the house I called Sharon Zobrist to ask if I could come and fish their pond. She is always more than gracious and inviting to come up, so I loaded some gear in the car and took off. I was at the poond by 300pm. Things started off really slow. It was hot, the pond w2as covered with algae, and my thoughts turned to thinking "well it's still a great day to fish even if they don't bite. At that very moment a hit...definitely a bass, and definitely hooked solid. Gave a good fight for a 3 lb bass. Next couple casts and as Emiril would say "BAM". Another 3 pound plus bass. Caught them both on a yellow crank bait with silver spoon attached. Changed to another rod with pink worm,...always a favorite...but not a single bite all day on that?????? Went to another rod with a small Hula Popper that Holly and Micah had gotten me for my birthday. BAM, another 3 pounder followed by a frisky 4 pounder. Went back to the yellow crank bait and right beside the overflow on the rock wall, as the bait came by, and only 4 feet away the water rocked, and in came with some effort a nice 5 pounder solidly hooked with another hook caught in his throat from long ago. I tried to get it out, but it was lodged so far down that to remove it I would kill him. So I cut as much of the line off of it as I could to give hime/her a little less aggravation of dealing with fishinh line hanging out his/her mouth all the time. Went about 20 minutes with little action and then around the overflow a hit again on the Yellow crankbait. This one was what Hog Fishin is about. It took all I had to get that fish into where I could grab him and get him out of the water. It has been a while since a fish actually took my drag and ran with it. I really thought he would get a way, but after about 10 minutes of manuvering and hanging on tight I finally pulled in what was every bit of and eight pound bass. Not a huge fish, but a really nice catch, and the best for me this year. I wish I had had some of my boys or girls to go with me, and I would have rather them made the catches and just been there to applaud them, but since they could not I am thankful for Sharons encouragement to come up. She told me I would probably catch the BIG one today. Don't know if he is THE BIG ONE, but was definitely worth the ride to Crozet to enjoy a great afternoon of fishing. Attached you will see some of the fish I caught. Each picture is a different fish. Caught 6 in 2 hours with a total weight of right around 26 pounds. Wow if there had been a fishing contest I miught have been in the running to win some big money. Enjoy the pictures and sorry all you fisherman/women could not have been there with me. Hope the pictures prove this was not fishin story....at least not today...love you all....kjb

Family Dinners,,,,Yummmmm!!!!

Been too long since I have updated our BLOG. Seems there are so many things that will eat up our time...and they are all legitimate. I've come to realize that if we could get by without sleeping there might be enough time in a day to do it all....nah, we would just have more to do and still not enough time. So I'm back to sleeping being an ok thing. Anyway the subject of this BLOG is one of much discussion and hope. Kim and I have wrestled with finding a good time to have Family Dinners. Many, many months back when our Sunday Schedules were not complicated by having 3 Wards in our building we would all get together after church. But now, schedules and commitments clash and Sunday Dinners are very hard to make happen, if we want everyone to be there....and theat for me is the whole purpose to have as much family there as we can get!!! Anyway after much evaluationa and discussion, Kim came up with the novel idea to do them on the 1st Friday of each month. I never gave much thought about Friday's, since I thought everyone would be busy getting ready for the weekend, but after we discussed it we felt it was a really good time and so the new "Brown Family Dinner Time" has been resurrected. WE had Jacob and Tiffany over for Dinner this past Monday to celebrate his birthday since we were out of town on his birthday. As we talked about the Family Dinner, he offered to have the 1st one at his house. We gladly accepted his offer, and looked forward all week to good food, but more importantly, time together. Family time is under-rated by the world, but I know in my heart how important it is to not only maintain the ties that bind, but to also nurture and build them. Momma Louise has so often remarked how family never gets together anymore, and how good it was when she was younger to see sisters, cousins, aunts, uncles, and even the dogs and cats. So that is what we did at Jacob and Tiff's. We bought together sons, daughters, brothers, grandmoters, friends, dogs, and cats....ummm maybe no cats, don't remember any???? And the end result was at least for Kim and I a wonderful opportunity for relationships and love to grow. Of all the adventures ann opportunities I have had this year...this was number 1 for me. What a joy I had to be able to sit back and see my little kids grow up in front of me and mature into the young adults they were that night. Since we were not hosting, it was one of the rare events where I actually could sit back and do that. Of course we helped were we could, but it was so nice to watch with wonderment the fulfillment of family life. It wasn't all mushy, family, huggy stuff, we had some fun times too. I got to show Jacob and Tiff some stars after everyone had left, we had a "Most Pregnant Contest", we told stories on each other, we ate some reaqlly good hamburgers, and some really burnt hotdogs, (compliments of Mark)...I really liked them. It was what getting together as family should be like...fun, laughter, and love. The one low point was that Josh and his family are in Northern VA, and it is really hard for them to get down. So that was an intricate part that was missing...Josh, Ellie, Emma, and Luke. But we hope to give them enougth notice in the furture.....1st Friday of each month.....(Here's your notice), that they can join us as often as they can. Anyway I have attached a few pictures of the event for your viewing pleasure. Not sure they will end up in the order I want. I will close with a thought for "The Blog"....There are two ways of exerting one's strength: one is pushing down, the other is pulling up.....Booker T. Washingtone 1856-1915)....love you all...kjb

Here is Jessie showing us her little pregnant belly. She is so excited about being a Mom.













Holly and Jessie sharing a Pregnant together Sister moment!
And Gino, Mom and Charlie having some couch time! AND OF COURSE THE INFAMOUS .....I look the most pregnant contest. Everyone aggreed it was a draw between Holly and Mark!!! And there I am with Jessie and Tiffany getting in my couch time.