Picture Update

Click on these links to see a picture update of what my family has been up to. Even if you don't have a facebook account, you are allowed to see these photo albums.

http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#/album.php?aid=316586&id=648775056
Russ and Sarah's wedding photos

http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#/album.php?aid=319956&id=648775056
Coolest baby on the Block!

http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#/album.php?aid=316638&id=648775056
Austin Wedding Reception

http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#/album.php?aid=324943&id=648775056
What a Bod!

Austin wedding

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In August Michael and I attended his brother's, Russ, wedding. The wedding was held in the San Antonio Texas LDS temple. Here are some pictures! My aunt Janette took the ones of us and I took the ones of Russ and Sarah.

Baby Blessing Pics, Ballerina Pics & Baby Shower Video

Here are some pictures of Kalai and some of her baby blessing pictures. Kalai was given a beautiful baby blessing by her dad and she had a ton of family and friends come out to the blessing and then to the pinic we had afterward. Thank you so much for those who attended church that special sunday. It made it that much more memorable!











Here is a picture of my future ballerina!




And last but not least is a video of the baby shower I had with some of my really close friends. My good friend Hollie throw me the most wonderful shower! The decorations and food were great and it was really nice to spend some time with my friends before we moved to Alabama. Thanks to Holly and to everyone who attended!!!

Kalai's travel dairy...

Kalai’s Travel Diary
July 21st- I left my lifelong home in Orem, Utah and spent the night in a Rawlins, Wyoming hotel room. Along the way I saw bison and passed through Fort Bridger, Wyoming (a trading post along the Mormon pioneer trail). I was a good girl.

July 22nd- We left Wyoming and cruised through Nebraska, Iowa, and Missouri. My daddy just kept driving and driving and his only break was a power nap in a Missouri gas station parking lot. We went through Council Bluffs, Iowa and I learned that I’d been sorta following the Oregon Trail. My great, great, great… grandpa, William Wood, marched from Council Bluffs to San Diego with the Mormon Battalion. It made me glad I was in a car instead, but there was a small bit of drama during a brief stop when my parents tried to stick me back in my carseat before I was ready. Once they saw the error of their ways, things went well. I was a good girl.

July 23rd- Today was another big day. I crossed the Mississippi River. I saw the Gateway arch in St. Louis. It was a little blurry through the back of my eyelids. I also went to Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee before I got to see my grandparents in Elkmont, Alabama. I was such a good girl.

July 24th- My one month birthday and I’m already seasoned traveler!


Note from Carissa: My daughter has got me beat by about 20 years with how many states she's been in. We made it safe and sound to Sweet Home Alabama! We miss Utah and our friends and family but am excited for our new adventure ahead!

A Flip a Day & Kalai's 2 week appointment statistics

"A Flip A Day"-that's what my parents wanted me to promise to do after they had to leave to go back home to California. Our video camera brand is called a Flip and they wanted us to post videos of Kalai everyday. Now I don't think that is realistic but I am excited to post these two videos. Both of them show my dad, Michael's mom, and Michael's brother's (Russ) fiance meeting Kalai for the first time. These were made over the 4th of July weekend, hence the patriotic music.
Kalai went to her two week doctors appointment today. Here's her stats
Length: 20.25 inches 30th percentile
Weight 6 pounds 9 ounces 5th percentile
Head 10th percentile
The doctor said she looked very healthy- her weight gain was right on and her muscle tone looked great. She said that Kalai was the first baby she had ever seen that could move from back to her side at such a young age. That's my girl!


In other news, Michael and I celebrated our 2nd wedding anniversary!!! He is such an amazing husband and it has been so neat seeing him as a dad! I love you Michael!!!

Announcing Our Beautiful Baby Brown......

We just wanted to pass on the good news that we had our baby!!! We successfully kept our baby's gender a secret for 9 whole months! On June 24, 2009 I gave birth to a beautiful baby..............GIRL! Her name is Kalai Lydia Brown! She was born on Wednesday, her due date, at 8:58am. She weighed six pounds and 5 ounces and is 19 inches long. She is so tiny and beautiful and we just love being with her. We are so happy that she has joined our family! We love you Kalai!





Kalai's Birth Story
In my Daughter's eyes.....

This is when our family members found out it was a girl! Most of our family thought for sure she was a he.....oh, and if I look a little out of it, it's cause I was.






Okay, I had to make one more, I couldn't help myself. This one has no music so you can hear better what is going on.

Lots and Lots of Belly Pics!

Here are our most recent maternity pictures. I included some of my cute hubby too. The last picture is of all the gifts we got from my surprise family baby shower. Michael, our baby and I got so spoiled! Thanks everyone!

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Videos of Preston-My Deaf/Blind Student

As many of you know, this past year I was employed by the State of Utah as a Communication Intervener for the Deaf and Blind. I was assigned to work with a boy named Preston. I got permission from his mother to video tape and post videos of him at a summer camp that I am helping him transition to, so here is some of the footage I got of him. See how smart he is for yourself! I'm telling you, he is a genius! It was so much fun working with him all of this school year helping him learn new American Sign Language Vocabulary, spelling, typing, counting money, telling time, reading and so much more! He was really the most social kid and all the children in the school just loved him. He has the best smile and laugh. I'm gonna miss working with him but am so glad that I have some videos of him to help me remember what a special boy he is! All three videos are different even though it looks the same at the beginning.

Proposal Videos and Thanksgiving Point Video

Michael and I were asked to help his brother, Russ, propose to Sarah. We helped Ruth-Anne up at Sundance to prep for the big occasion. Ruth-Anne made some beautiful bouquets that really added to the set-up. I was able to get access into a wood lodge where I was told they film a lot of movies and was able to get an awesome view of the proposal. Sarah said yes and they will be getting married in The San Antonio, Texas Temple on August 8. I'm so excited because I have an aunt who lives in Texas so it will be a blast to go and visit their family. The two first videos are of that night and the third one is of a date Michael and I went on to Thanksgiving Point Gardens where they have the largest man-made waterfalls.

We have chosen a Law School.....

and the winner is........Samford University-Cumberland School of Law in Alabama!!! It is a beautiful historic private school in Birmingham and also Michael received a scholarship there! We are excited about the big move which should be happening later this summer.

In other news, I went to the BYU surplus sale today and was able to buy a used (but definitely doesn't look it) Dell Latitude Laptop D800 for $200 dollars! Can't bet that!

More Maternity Pictures!

More updated Maternity Pictures! The first set was taken by my magnificent photographer Michael Wayne Brown when he took me to SLC for my birthday. The second set was taken on Easter Sunday. The last set are pictures from both of our bday dinners. For mine, we ate at The Garden Restaurant and had a great view of the LDS Temple. I also included a picture of us at The Roof, which is where I took Michael for his birthday.

We bought our carseat and stroller!

I just fell in love with this set and am really happy with the travel system we bought. The stroller is metrolite and the carseat is snugride. The colors we have chosen for our nursery are black and white with an accent color that is gender specific so the Rittenhouse travel system matches! Now we just can't wait to actually have a baby to put in it!
copy and paste
http://www.walmart.com/catalog/detail.gsp?image=http://i.walmartimages.com/i/p/11/13/00/01/88/1113000188458_500X500.jpg&product_id=10818276&iIndex=1&isVariant=false&corpCard=false&type=-9223372036854775808
For a clearer look at the material and design. It's super cute and unique!

Ultrasound and Stress Test Videos!!!

Michael and I went to our 4th ultrasound today with our specialist and she kept saying over and over again, "Everything is looking really good." We are posting two videos. One focuses on the ultrasound (look for the baby's heartbeat and for he/she doing a thumb's up) and the other focuses on the stress test (at the end, if you look closely, you might be able to see the baby's face). For those of you who are wondering, we did not include ANY shots of the bum!!!

Pictures of our Custom Homemade Crib

When my grandpa found out that my parents were going to have a baby, he got busy making his future grandchild a crib. But since my parents were told that they were going to have only one boy and were not expecting two girls, he had to hurry and make a second one when my mom had us. I guess he didn't really have to hurry since we were so small and liked to sleep in the same crib when we were really young. Anyways, all growing up I was excited cause I hoped my grandpa would make my children's crib. It has been even more exciting than I ever imagined since we were able to custom design it too! Then we found out that he was making a three-in-one bed (crib becomes toddler bed which becomes full size bed)! In the pictures there is only one that shows there are drawers under it but the drawers will be under all of the beds- the crib, toddler and full size bed. In the end it will be painted black.The first picture is of the creator- Clarence Pacheco. Second one is of the crib. Third and Fourth are of the toddler bed and fifth is of the full size bed with drawers under it. Thanks Grandpa Pacheco!

Surprise Family Baby Shower Videos and BYU Graduation!

This past weekend Michael walked for graduation at BYU! I was so proud watching him receive his diploma for Social Sciences- History. Above are a couple pictures of us at Michael's graduation. For his graduation both sides of our family flew in to celebrate. While here, they threw us a surprise family Baby Shower. It was so much fun spending time with our family and we can't wait to use the gifts when our baby arrives! We downloaded a couple videos we made of the baby shower using the new Flip video camera we received as a gift. We used "Dude looks like a Lady" as the song seeing as it fit since our baby's gender is a surprise! For all of our family who checks out our blog: Thank you for the gifts! We know that there was a lot of time spent either picking out or making the presents and we really appreciate the love and support given to us during this exciting time in our lives!