The Loss, Fun in St. George, and Turkey Day

It all started with the cookies and cake. Go BIU! Go BIU! This is what Scout shouted as we got ready for the game and baked BYU cookies and a BYU cake.

We all gathered at Toni and Scott's for a game day party, and it turns out that was the only fun thing about the game- being together.

Oh well. Still BYU fans to the bitter end.

After the game we headed to St. George to visit family. What a great weekend it was. Grandma Karen had planned and early Thanksgiving dinner with family. It was great to see Tutus Kamalu and Kyle, Kim, and Kalel as well.

In a nutshell: Went to the festival of trees, pizza dinner (thanks again Grandma K!), played at Grandma Karen's work, had a ukulele concert by Scout, played racquetball with Grandpa Kyle (Well, Ben did. He had a great time and has a goal to beat Dad in three months. Wishful thinking?), and most of all we enjoyed family.

We got home on Tuesday night and headed to Ogden on Thursday afternoon for Thanksgiving dinner with the Reeves/Barker families. Uncle Brad and Aunt Lori prepared a wonderful dinner and kickball field. We all played Kickball after dinner.
What a great way to work off some of that dinner. I'm not sure if we worked it off playing kickball or laughing, but it was a fabulous time I must say.

What great family we have.

P.S. As tradition demands, we got up before all living things and went shopping the day after Thanksgiving. The money we save (or don't save) is nothing compared to the sights we see. Wow.
As in past years, we didn't see two ladies fight over a radio and one break her arm, and a shirt didn't get stolen right out of my hands, but there was plenty to laugh about. Was it just me or did it seem that the men outnumbered the ladies this year shopping?

Saggy in the middle. It was a sign of things to come.

Ten years ago I never would have imagined wishing my wife a happy birthday on a "blog". It sounds so unromantic. None the less, in my conformance to the world of blog, I concede and declare my love and wonderment to all who dare to google "benbrookekamalu" and in so doing, run in to notes on our world.

A month ago, when I turned 26 (I know, we are so mature now that we have passed the insurance threshold), Brooke decided to make a list of things that she thought best described me. Many of you don't know much about Brooke except for what you see in passing at church, reunions, and social events. So...much to her vexation (that's right Mr. Collins!), I have made a list of my own.

Here we go....

#1 She allows me to listen, listen, listen, when she feels the need to articulate her frustration with the world. (I have considered banning the reading of national and local headlines for this very purpose!)

#2 She reminds me not to dangle my participles when she corrects my papers...?

#3 She doesn't really want to know why the distibutive property holds, and she hates the word FOIL, and square root, and other math related terms, but she tries to understand anyway because she knows it fascinates me.

#4 She is the only one that can wear the following outfit and have people ask her why she didn't dress up for Halloween because they think she pulled the outfit out of her everyday wardrobe!

#5 She is passionate about her writing.

#6 In fact, she dresses up in boas and large hats to write!

#7 She is able to bathe the girls, do the dishes, feed them breakfast and lunch, vaccume the house, do three loads of laundry, read to the girls, make sure I have lunch at work or school, put the girls down for a nap, make sure I have something for dinner if I can't come home, all without ever complaining about not doing what she wanted to that day. (Of course she tells me I shouldn't love her when I finally do get home because she hasn't had a chance to shower yet or get dressed into normal clothes...I love her anyway!)

#8 She always is thinking about others before herself.

#9 She loves the Lord and has an amazing testimony of prayer and the Savior.

#10 She wants a library in her house one day full of books of all sorts.

#11 She makes amazing dessserts. (not sure if in another ten years that will be a good thing?!)

#12 She loves the outdoors.

#13 She loves life.

#14 She taught me to love the little things.

#15 She is an amazing companion.

#16 And lastly...she took a chance on a weirdo who dances sporadically to music, loves to dip oreos in milk, is not great with words, has his heart in the right place even though it doesn't always appear so, eats otter pops in the shower, and is far to great of a perfectionist for her!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BROOKE!! We love you!

Ben, Scout, and Boston