The Brownings: August 2011

28 Days, 4,000 miles, 3 Kids, & 1 Dog

I've had a bit of a blogging hiatus this summer. Ironically, I have better internet access on my porch in Honduras that in CA this summer. So here is the condensed version of our summer.

We spent most of June and July in Middletown, CA. Josh worked on his dad's ranch, and we visited lots of family and friends and spoke about the Hospital in Honduras at several new churches and Bible studies. Then, the last week in July, we fired up The Dictator, our '81 Benz, and embarked on a 4,000 mile, 8-state trip around the western US. Considering we were travelling with small children (Talby got lots of lung strenghtening crying time in her car seat) and a dog (nearly got left in the ditch outside of Jordan, MT after a bout of diarhea in the car), we had a great trip and got to see lots of friends and family. Read on to get caught up on our adventures.

The Dictator is the replacement of our '95 Cadillac, which suffered an untimely demise last spring while in storage. Josh named it the Dictator because "all self respecting dictators drove a Mercedes in the early '80s." True to its name, The Dictator only has air conditioning and cruise control when it jolly well feels like it. In spite of its illogical AC and cruise, it ran great the whole trip. The only hitch in our giddy-up came at about mile 3,970 or our 4,000 mile trip, when for some mysterious reason one of the back wheels lost 3 of its lug bolts (the Germans don't use lug nuts like the rest of the world) and the wheel almost fell off. Fortunately, we got pulled off before it came completely off.

One last travel photo. The girls and I at Craters of the Moon in Idaho. Lotsa' lava.

We have about a week left in CA, then head back to Honduras Sept. 1st. We're looking forward to being back in our own house and back to our normal lives!

Bozeman

Our 9 days in Bozeman were incredibly hectic! We visited tons of friends, spoke at our old church, cleaned out all the stuff we had stored there, had a huge garage sale, and made a side trip to Billings to visit my older brother.
The garage sale clean up crew. Becca, Naomi, Charity w/ Talby, Carolyn w/ Wyatt, me w/ Hadley and Adelyn.

Guildy and Adelyn are SO grown up! It's pretty much unbelievable!

Dinner with old friends from Circle....me, Lee, Kristi, Carolyn and kiddos.

A little naked Talby action. She perfected her cereal eating skills while in Bozeman.

Kareene loves babies!

So does Bonnie!

Jeff with Nick and Eli, our resident 2-year-olds.

Sarah and Talby. We had a great visit with Sarah and Eli's mom and dad, Jason and Tracy. Unfortunately, I didn't get any pictures of the grown ups. The kids are cuter anyway:o)

Lots 'o Visiting

We were blessed this trip to see alot of family and friends that we didn't expect to. My friend Jolene and my uncle Brad and his family happend to be in Circle when we were there. My brother Lee happened to quit his job and have a few weeks free before heading off on a trip to Europe. And Josh's sister Cooper also happened to be between jobs. So we rather unexpectedly got to spend great time with all of them!

These pictures are all from our side trip up to Ft. Peck to see my Grandma Pearl and her husband Jack. Below are my cousing Sarah and Talby.

Uncle Brad and Talby

My grandma is 80 and still going strong!

I think my cousin Owen has grown a foot since the last time I saw him.

Going for a ride in the Gator.

Denise and the girls.

Play Date!

The past few years, it has worked out that we have been in Circle when Jolene and her girls make their summer trip out west. The Browning girls always look forward to their annual play date with the Martin girls:o)

Jana, Hadley, and Josie

Jolene's sister-in-law Kimiko taught Guildy how to play Mary Had a Little Lamb on the piano, and she has been playing it for any willing audience every since!

Jana and Talby

Denver!

A short 700 mile drive took us from Flagstaff, AZ to Denver, CO. Talby cried for probably half of that drive. But we survived nonetheless and had a great time visiting my friend Jenny, her hubby Doug, and adorable boys, James and Charlie. We braved the Denver Zoo with our 5 kids.

The zoo trip led to some great naps, which were followed by a great dinner and fun times around the fire pit. Here are Jenny and I with all our kiddos.

Some serious marshmallow roasting:o)

Our grubby babies focused most of their energy on consuming non-food items off the ground. The pea gravel was really popular.

Guildy, Hadley, and James

Browning Reunion

Josh's Dad turned 60 in July, so to celebrate 30-some members of the extended Browning clan converged on the Diamond D for a week of camping, visiting, swimming, dancing, and togetherness.

Square Dancing on Mike's Birthday