Happy Birthday Chris!

Yesterday, February 24th, our little brother Chris turned 19! I can remember when he was born. We lived in Garland and had a foreign exchange student, Adriana, living with us. It was a Sunday evening and Tiffany and I were sharing a room. Dad came in after we went to bed, without even being told by dad to "GO TO BED" repeatedly like normal, and told us that Mom's water had broke and we need to get ready to go to the hospital. It was planned that all of us kids would be there for Christopher's birth. It was a neat experience! I remember calling him Bugsaboo as a nickname. We had so much fun growing up with this little brother that was YEARS younger than the rest of us. We always say he turned out so good because of us amazing sisters and brother who raised him! :) And here he is turning 19 and getting ready to go on a mission. We couldn't be prouder of him! He is such a great example to his nieces and nephews and we all adore him when he is around!
To celebrate his birthday we had a Birthday Dinner party at our house in Woods Cross. Chris brought 2 of his friends, his roommate Jeff and his teammate from UVU, Seth. Don't they all look like wonderful future Missionaries?

Carson spent some time yesterday making Chris a Birthday Card....this is what he came up with! He insisted on hanging it up somewhere in the house. They are pictures of trees. I thought it was pretty funny!

Nick did a wonderful job grilling some steaks and chicken for dinner! It was yummy!!!!

Mom, Dad, Matt, Nat, & Hallie were also there. Of course we all took our chance to give Hallie Loves!! She rolled from her tummy to her back for the first time yesterday! It is amazing how much she is growing!!! I can't get over her pretty blue eyes!!!

I couldn't get Matt & Dad to smile at the same time for a picture, so after a few failed attempts they were laughing at each other thinking they were pretty funny....but I caught them both smiling at the same time, just not looking at the camera!

Chris requested his favorite type of cake for his bday, the "Brower" cake as Natalie calls it. The chocolate cake, pudding, and whipped cream cake.

(Don't ask me what he is doing....Matt had the camera!)

We had a lot of fun and even though I had to leave to go to Bells rehearsal, they played a few card games and enjoyed the rest of the evening together. Even Kaylee had fun....despite a few moments of whining while eating cake! Girls......they are SO emotional!!

Chris.....WE LOVE YOU!!!! We hope you had a great birthday!!! It will be a few years before we can eat Birthday Cake with you, but we are so proud of you and we hope you enjoy being 19!!!!

Called To Serve!!!!

February 17th, 2010 was a great day! Not only did Madison turn 8, but Chris got his Mission Call in the mail too! So we all arranged our days so we could meet at Mom and Dad's house in Tremonton later that night to watch him open it and eat some Birthday cake! We all got there around 8 PM. We had some Pizza Plus pizza and ate yummy chocolate cake! Here are a few pictures from that night.

Chris was SUPER excited! Can you tell????

Madison is getting so BIG! She will be baptized on March 6th in Idaho. We are so proud of her and her decision to be baptized. She is such a special girl and makes everyone around her happy! It was fun to get to be together to celebrate her 8th Birthday!

Yes, the R is missing in Chris's name, but I think Natalie did that on purpose, some type of inside joke!

Hallie was there, but she also napped while we were there, so Kaylee seized the opportunity and snuggled with Nana.Everyone guessed where he was going to go, and Austin guessed RIGHT!!!

Dad was the last one to show up. With him here, Chris was now able to open his call.There was quite a crowd gathered to support Chris and share in this exciting news!

Our whole family was there, besides Tiffany, but she was close by via speaker phone. We sure missed having her here, but we are excited to all get together for Chris's Endowment which will be really soon!

It was so neat to watch him open his call. I think he was pretty nervous, I could tell his hands were shaking just a bit when he opened the envelope. Then he announced that he was called to serve as a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in the Ribeirão Preto Brazil Mission. BRAZIL!!!! We all clapped and cheered after he announced it. He reports to the MTC in Brazil on June 30th, 2010.

We weren't sure how to pronounce the mission, so with the help of Cory, who had served in Brazil himself, helped us figure it out!

The next hour was busy looking at maps and ready the information that came with his call.

I think my dad is pretty pleased with where Chris is going on his mission. We all are!!!

Looks like Chris is happy about it too!!!

And Mom!!!

It made for a late night, so before we all left, we put the kids in their PJ's for the ride home. Carson was so excited to see his cousins. They were all so cute together!!!

It was a fun night!!! Chris has a few months before he goes but he is staying pretty busy with school and track, so I am sure it will go by pretty fast!! Congratulations Chris, we are so proud of you and we LOVE you!!!!