Husband Tag

Before I start, I just want to say, Hooray! School is out for the Summer! Thank you, I feel better now.



Are you ready? I guess? (with remote in hand)

What is your full name? (raises eyebrows) Brook Jay Williams

How long have we’ve been married? 14 years today (laughs)

What is your dream job? (smiles) my dream job... (scratches face) hmmm.... get paid to take people golfing. That's really what it is? You were expecting something different?




What is your ideal music? (scratches face) My ideal music? Like type, singer, song? I don't know. I like Howard Jones...upbeat and positive.

What’s your dream car? (scratches head - looks up) my uncle's BMW Z1

What’s your claim to fame? (raises eyebrows) Do I have a claim to fame? (watches baseball game) Well? I don't think I have one. (I'm thinking...talking too much) What are you known for? Being a smart aleck. (that works too)

What do you like to do? You can't put that on paper. My wife would shoot me if I said it. Don't put this down, (of course I'm putting it down) but Brooke needs a good laugh. She'll get a good laugh outta that.

What’s your biggest fear? Death by fire (rolls eyes & laughs)

What animal describes you? What? Am I interviewing at Snowbird again? (Watches game, squints) (he needs glasses to see the score) Well? A monkey (snickers) (I'm thinking....that's for sure...can't you see the resemblance?)

If you could live in any era which one would it be? (scratches face, watches t.v., scratches head, shrugs, taps leg) Ummm....(deep breath, watching t.v.) I don't know...now, I guess.

What's your guiltiest pleasure? (Deep breath) Should I give an answer you can write down? (laughing too much, watching baseball AGAIN) OK, I'll give my second guiltiest pleasure. That might be good. Vegging in front of the t.v.

What do you love about me? (Blank look, smiles, scratches head, watches t.v.) (are you even listening?) Am I supposed to pinpoint 1 thing? Yes. (I guess) Just 1 thing? ( I think he's stalling) 1 thing. Say your compassion. You're always willing to help and are concerned about others. (ok, that was worth the wait. I take back my thoughts about talking too much and the monkey thing.) We're done.



This was fun. I asked him the questions on May 20th, our anniversary.

A Whole Lotta Pictures

Tuesday 5/20/08

Rode the Front Runner for the first time! Fun!

Wednesday 5/21/08

Auburn's field trip to the zoo. Can you see the white gator in the background? I got to ride the bus this time. Oh the joy! ;) After we got to the zoo they made us stay on the bus for about 15 minutes so the other buses could unload. Talk about torture! The kids were already hyper on the way down, and then to make them sit there... I needed some fresh air. The weather was great because it was overcast all day. No sunburns for my white skin. Auburn was really excited to see the elephants. She had a hard time staying with the group. Her philosophy seemed to be 'see it and leave it'. The baby giraffe was really cute. So were the meerkats.

Thursday 5/22/08

Mountain Man Rendevous at the park. We walked down to the park from the school. Some of the boys were walking really slow so I challenged them to a race. I beat 2 of them, but 1 was really fast...my trick worked though. The kids had several activity stations (I worked at the one where we taught the kids to make a god's eye - yarn wound around popsicle sticks), and played duck-duck-goose before lunch. Lauren looks like she's praying, but she's begging for someone to choose her.

Auburn's Luau. The kids ate lots of fruit, did a few dances, and watched a slide show put together by one of the teachers. I was so surprised to see Auburn dance and sing with everyone. She is usually too shy to do that in front of anyone. Whenever she dances in the front room, she stops when she realizes anyone is watching. Too bad...she's got great rhythm.

Friday 5/23/08

Went to Lagoon with Mel's family after school. I love the cooler weather! The tomatoes aren't liking it too well, but my peas and radishes do.

Sunday 5/25/08

Happy 60th Birthday Mom! We went to the SL Cemetary after church and then came back and had a little surprise birthday party for mom. She seemed to be really pleased. We got her balloons (that unfortunately died, even though we bought them the night before), Mel made a cupcake cake, we had 4 cream pies ('cause Mom & I like pie better than cake...so do most of the family), brought presents & cards, and made her a memory book filled with pictures, drawings and letters from the family. She said it was her best birthday. (How do you like my run-on sentence?) Love that sweet little baby! Sorry, no pictures of Mom...I only took video.

Monday 5/26/08

Spent the day at Mom's, then broke with tradition and went out for Chinese for dinner. We didn't have a barbecque because it rained on and off all day. Yea, no dishes or cleanup! Shauna invited us over after to get into the hot tub.

Wednesday 5/28/08

Lauren had her county fair. The kids did county reports and displayed their posters and mini floats. Afterward they sang songs about Utah in the gym. Lauren's pretty sad since her teacher won't be at school on the last day and she is moving to a new school next year.

Happy Anniversary

Today is our 14th Anniversary. This is what we did...

Hooked up the swamp cooler

Planted tomatoes, pumpkins, jalapeno peppers, zinnias, & sunflowers

Ran errands

Went to lunch at Main Street Pizza in Layton (little hole in the wall joint with yummy food)

Picked up the girls from school

Went to ride Front Runner (commuter train), for the 1st time, to Salt Lake

Hopped on Trax to the Gateway

Took the girls to Build-A-Bear (yes, the girls went with us...we decided to try something different

Went to the arcade to play air hockey & take pictures

Went to Applebees for a quick bite

Hagen Daas for a cone

Back to the train station for a trip back home

Everyone had a fun time

These pictures are for you Brooke. Isn't she cute everyone?

10 Things I Accomplished Today

1. Had family prayer & scripture study.

2. Got the girls to school on time!

3. Made vinyl signs & banners.

4. Read my scriptures while I waited for the girls after school. (haven't been very good about that lately)

5. Made labels for my bills file folders.

6. Played tag with my kids & a neighbor.

7. Washed 5 loads of laundry...only 30 more to go! :)

8. Had FHE - made something for Mom's 60th B-Day on Sunday.

9. Read stories with Auburn.

10. Had Family Prayer.

*Disclaimer* Before you become too impressed...trust me, this isn't how our days always go.

My Week

What a crazy week! Obviously Sunday was Mother's Day so we went to see both moms. We made prints of Brook's Great Grandparents and put them in frames for his mom. We recently got them from his Great Uncle and his mom didn't have them yet. We had Megan's painting of Grandma Gregson printed onto canvas and then Brook framed it. It turned out really nice and Mom wasn't expecting it. I love to surprise people with things that they want, but don't expect.

In Primary I got to pick my favorite song for everyone to sing. We have a tradition that whenever someone moves or leaves Primary, they get to pick their favorite song. I love "I'm Trying to Be Like Jesus" and "Holding Hands Around the World". They didn't have the music for Holding Hands so we sang the first one. I was trying not to cry but I couldn't help myself. I'm going to miss the kids a lot. I look forward to seeing them every week and hearing their comments and voices. We have a little boy in our Primary that has autism. His mom plays the CD with our Primary songs for the year in the car. He knows the songs so well and just sings his heart out. He has a hard time during the other parts, but he shines during singing time. I'll miss one of the boys in our CTR 5 class. He's a little cowboy that is so honest and innocent. He always says the cutest things (much to his mom's chagrin sometimes). My kids were sad that I wasn't going to be in Primary anymore either.

Monday went to have lunch at Mom's house. She makes the best hot and sour soup! We found the recipe on Food Network...it was one of Emeril's.

Tuesday worked with my friend at her store front. She does the marketing for a company and needed help. They stay really busy. We've been putting somethings together at home, but I'm helping out at the shop for a couple days a week. Met at the church with the previous Stake Primary Presidency. I love those ladies! They are so sweet, good, and funny.

Wednesday I said I'd help with the AR Party at school. I didn't know it was going to be outside so I got fried while I poured syrup on hundreds (felt like thousands) of snow cones. After, I ran up to Brooke's to see Mom and Dad help her put her garden boxes together. OK...I admit it, I had ulterior motives. Evan is just so fun to play with. He has the funniest laugh. It's a really hearty belly laugh. We played peek-a-boo and walked up and down the sidewalk. For an Enrichment Activity we went to Deseret Book for a Book Talk. They showed us a lot of the new books that are out. I could spent hours in a book store...I love books! There were so many that I wanted to read/buy. Just not enough time or money to do it. I did get "Goose Girl" by Shannon Hale. I've heard it is really good. I had fun talking to our RS President about books she's read and ones that her daughter recommends. I love kids books with great illustrations and also young adult fiction. My dream job is to be a children's librarian, other than being a mom of course. I wouldn't give up this time with them for anything. For now we go to the library and read together. Those are some of the funnest times for me as a mom.

Thursday spent most of the day (while the girls were at school) working at my friends shop. Got to run the machine that cuts the vinyl signs for the first time all by myself. You're impressed aren't you. ;)

Friday I got to hand off my PTA secretary stuff to the new one for next year. We had a Pass the Torch luncheon after school. Auburn wanted to walk home with her friend so she could see where she lived. After the meeting we went to see Brook's mom since it was her birthday. Then we had to run off because we had tickets to see Prince Caspian. Auburn and I were pretty excited to go. It was a good movie, but a lot more war in this one. Kind of scary for Auburn. I asked her if she was too scared to watch it, but she wouldn't budge. (Only for the bathroom...no more root beer before the movie)

Today we went to Mom's so Brook could make cages for her strawberries. If we don't put cages on them the birds eat them. I did the binding for a quilt that Mel's ward made for the Humanitarian Center. I guess they were really low on quilts. The fabric was so cute...cherries and daisies. We ran errands, had dinner, got the girls bathed/showered, and now I'm here.

Can I tell you how happy I am that school is out in two weeks?! Zip-Uh-Dee-Do-Da! Zip-Uh-Dee-A! The kids, parents, and teachers are all ready! Hope you aren't too bored. Like others of you have said...this is in lieu of my journal. It will be nice to see what we were up to down the road.

Women's Conference

Waiting for Pres. Monson

I hadn't planned on going to Women's Conference at BYU this year, but my friend called the week before and said her niece couldn't go. She asked if I minded rooming with someone I didn't know. I was fine with that since I thought the person was from the group that her sis-in-law brings up from Las Vegas. When I got there I realized that know one knew who it would be. Made me a little nervous since I didn't get to meet her before she was asleep in bed. I tried to creep in and get ready, but it seems that the more I try to be quiet, the louder I am. She was really nice though. I met her the next morning. Her name was Julie Andrews, (cool huh) from California. We got to listen to Sheri Dew in the opening session (love her), and Pres. Monson in the closing session...wow!

It was so cool to be in the same room as our new prophet so soon after his new calling. What an awesome spirit....a real prophet of God! We started singing "We Thank Thee O God For a Prophet". I really needed Women's Conference this year. It gives you such a spiritual recharge. It makes you want to be a better wife, a better mom, a better person. Sis. Dew always makes me feel like I can conquer anything. The other sessions I went to were great too. Mel and I went to the service learning rooms where you can crochet around baby blankets for babies that are born to poor mothers. They pipe in the sessions while you work. We also went to the Service Night and tied the ends on fleece blankets for children in crisis. Every time a group would finish their blanket they'd shout WHOO HOO!!! We had a lot of fun! After the service they save seats for you in the Marriott Center and they have a concert with a bunch of LDS artists. This year they had Michael McLean (classic and funny), Kenneth Cope (great lyricist), Jenny Jordan Frogley (fun entertainer), Hillary Weeks (beautiful voice and hilarious), Eclipse (the ladies were going wild), and others. Afterward you could go and meet the artist, but I'm not really into that. Mel's friends wanted to go and since I went to high school with one of the guys from Eclipse, they had me introduce them. I would have liked to have met Michael McLean and Kenneth Cope since I grew up listening to them in Jr. High and High School, but it makes me feel foolish. How do you say, "I love your music!", without looking like a strange groupie. I'd rather write a letter.

It was Mel's birthday while we were there so we went out to Macaroni grill mmmmmm... since P.F. Chang's mmmmmmm... was too busy. Nate graduated that same day. I wanted to go to the graduation and celebration later that night, but like I said I really needed to recharge my batteries. I do wish I had driven though, so I could have gotten home a little sooner. I enjoyed the break, but I missed my family. I wish we could all go together (my fellow cousins), it would be a blast! There are women there from all over the country. Last year I met a women from British Columbia (yes, I know that's not in our country) while I was standing in a line for the bookstore. I kept seeing her during the whole conference which is hard since there are tens of thousands of women there. I felt like I knew her. I wonder if I had known her 'before'. This year when we went I wondered if I would see her there, but didn't really expect it. While I was looking at the portable bookstore before the first session again... there she was. I couldn't believe it! I was so excited to see her. We hugged each other and I felt like I was going to cry. It brings tears to my eyes right now to think of it. The Lord and His tender mercies. He is soooo good to us. It wasn't a big thing, but I had hoped I would see her. Another tender mercy moment was when I was heading to a popular session, but decided to go back to the service learning room instead. When I got to the top of the stairs I met my favorite teacher/friend from high school. It was so good to catch up. I hope I have the chance to go again. I'm glad I got to be with my sister. It was great!

Lauren's GSL Field Trip

The 4th Graders went on another field trip on Tuesday. We went to the Great Salt Lake and Antelope Island. Again, I didn't have to ride the bus with the kids because of space, but the trip was short since it only takes 5 minutes to get there. The guides taught us about banded gneiss (striped rocks only found in this area), and pickle weed (it only grows in very salty areas). We ate a little of the pickle weed which only tasted salty, but it's really small right now. I don't know if it tastes more like pickles when it matures. They told us to wear sunblock and bug spray (I hate both) so I gave in and wore sunblock since I got fried on Jane's blessing day. I didn't want the bug spray. We stopped before the causeway to do the rock/weed discussion and there weren't any bugs....yea!!! When we got out to the island....agggghhhhh! Swarms of little black bugs. We kept swatting them away and I gave in and put the OFF on. As we made our way down to the beach, everyone started scratching their heads. The rotten things were biting our scalps. The kids explored and played in the lake and then we went up to buffalo point to eat lunch. Of course the kids couldn't resist the hiking trail that went up to a higher peak. I reluctantly went up after Lauren and her friend to make sure they were ok. There were some pretty steep parts, especially when most of the kids had flip flops on. We had a hard time making it back down, but a couple of the girls in Lauren's class came back to help out. They were so sweet guiding us down the steep gravely hill. When I got home I started to realize that my head had little red marks on it. They are like little mosquito bites all through my hair. Makes me a little crazy sometimes. I've never had that happen when I was out at the lake. We saw a lizard, antelope, dead birds, brine shrimp, and lots of buffalo chips. The kids had a good time since they got to experience science instead of just studying it. I thought it was fun too....I could have done without the bugs though.

I love this picture. It reminds me of that Beetles album when they were on the crosswalk.

Best friends!