A Week in December

This week...

Laundrying, laundrying, laundrying

Shopping for Christmas presents

Making Christmas treats and fifty sugar cookies for mutual activity and then watching my laurels do amazing braids!

Singing for a Christmas program

Attending Christmas parties

Calling Kim and wishing her a happy 20th birthday while thinking about her wedding that takes place in a week and a half

Helping throw a baby shower for my wonderful cousin Sami. I am so excited to meet baby Alyx!

Making up Thanksgiving dinner with Ben's parents and having a traditional Thanksgiving feast because we missed that on actual Thanksgiving day and making my first homemade pie crust, which looked hideous but actually ended up flaky and delicious despite its looks

Putting up my Grandma's Christmas tree with Ben for FHE and loving spending every minute with my grandma

Seeing the Christmas lights at temple square and enjoying City Creek with Ben's parents

A week from today...

Going to the San Diego Temple to see Kim get married to Stephen for time and all eternity :) 

California, here I come! 

That Time of Year

"It's that time of year when the world falls in love

 Ev'ry song you hear seems to say "Merry Christmas, "

May your New Year dreams come true

And this song of mine in three-quarter time

 Wishes you and yours the same thing, too"

It's the best feeling to have your Christmas tree and other Christmas decorations all put up. It's officially that time of year in the Browning home! 

The Happiest Place on Earth!

Ben and I felt super Thankful this year for Thanksgiving because we got to spend the entire week of Thanksgiving with Ben's family at Disney World in Florida--the happiest place on earth has become even happier with Ben by my side!

Here are some things I was grateful for our Thanksgiving week :) (Sorry about the copious amount of pictures--it's more for my documentation). 

A wonderful Toy Story themed room

The whole time wondering what was real and what was a false simulation....there are quite a few of those :)

Going to church on Sunday and then walking back...fun memories :) I got to see one of Kim's good friends serving as a missionary in that ward, randomly. Kristen and Nat french braided my hair--which I was very grateful for because the humidity was making it out of control. I am so grateful for their skills!

Ben and I walking through resorts and getting a free lei necklace

Spending some good quality time~

We loved magic hours with Sam, Nat and Ben's dad from 12AM-3AM Monday morning. This was one of the highlights of our trip :)

Riding in the teacups with Ben is one of my favorite memories.

Ben and I were put in prison.

Ben had the highest score ever!

My favorite part of this ride is spinning in circles.

Epcot was my favorite, and it seemed so romantic walking through all of the different countries with Ben. 

We went to China.

Watching Tate eat an apple was one of the cutest things ever.

Tate and us--we had so much fun getting to know our Iowan nephew better. :)

I want to go to Victoria, Canada again in real life with Ben!

Nat and I :) 

The most amazing way to introduce Christmas--lots of light and fake bubbly snow :)

I am grateful that the Animal Kingdom had a petting zoo! I fell in love with the pigs...

and goats....

Ben touched an alligator!

We got soaked on the rapid ride!

All of the family together minus Spencer serving in Russia! 

Kristen and I shared a volcano! We attacked it...ruthlessly 

Ben and I had leftover snacks on our plan and so we went to France and got some yummy pastries--trying different foods was part of the experience :) 

Ben held Tate :) 

I held Tate :)

We went to a fifties diner where the waitresses act like your mother, and my mother spoon fed me the veggies I hadn't eaten...Once in a lifetime experience I suppose :)

Cute family!

Cute furry creatures :) 

Ben and I waited in the Little Mermaid line for a LONG time, but it was worth it :)

Being there with my prince charming was the highlight of my trip. 

In summary, we had an amazing trip filled with family, food, and fun :) We feel so grateful. 

Thankful

It's almost here! I love Thanksgiving, with its focus on family and food :) My favorite combination! One of my favorite ways to remember the meaning of the Thanksgiving season is to listen to the lyrics of Josh Groban's "Thankful." If you haven't heard it, you will love it because the message is so pure, and Josh Groban's voice is hard to beat! 

"So caught up in ourselves; we take when we should give...And on this day we hope for what we still can't see. It's up to us to be the change, and even though we all can still do more, there's so much to be thankful for."

I love how certain songs just speak what your heart feels--this one always does that for me. 

Here are some things I have been thankful for recently:

Soup bread bowls comfort the soul like no other food can in fall!

I loved my fall morning walks. 

However, I am ready to welcome winter and all it's festivities. 

I am thankful to be a Browning, with such wonderful heritage. 

I am loving our new Brigham City Temple (currently, our closest temple) being opened. It was fun to drive to Logan, but a half hour drive is much nicer than an hour drive. We scheduled an appointment a week in advance to go on Saturday, and their only time left was the 6:00 AM session so we had a wonderful, dark, early snow fall morning. This temple's interior has to be my favorite; it is absolutely beautiful. Ben then surprised me and took me out for breakfast. What a wonderful way to start a Saturday morning :) 

I am thankful for yummy new opportunities to make desserts--like this trifle I just made today that I am trying not to eat before I take it to Young Women in Excellence tonight!

I love my Laurels. Seriously, being in Young Women has been such a big blessing. These girls make me so happy, and of course I have so much fun with my fellow YW leaders :) My first time at a Young Women event was Young Women in Excellence last year. 

I was terrified because I didn't know how well I would get along with teenage girls, and I had just finished student teaching some of my Laurels. I made a fool of myself by volunteering to stir soup and ended up BURNING a whole pot of soup. I was so embarrassed; I wondered if they were all thinking, "Who wants her in this calling? First day on the "job" and she burns a home made pot of soup!" When I confessed my embarrassment to the maker of the then-burned soup, she just smiled and laughed, and said it was no big deal. Talk about forgiveness! These leaders I work with are amazing, and I have come to love them with all my heart. I love my "girls" and I love learning from their life, and I am so excited that our Laurel class is increasing times two by the end of the year. What a wonderful blessing!!

I am so glad there is a season to be Thankful. Truly, it should be a year-round practice, but I am glad that for people like me, it helps turn our hearts to things that matter most. 

Katie's Confessions

In which I confess....

• I love the rain! I could live in London, Seattle or Portland and never tire of it, although my hair doesn't like humid tropical rain. 
• I have always dreamt of starring in a musical. Eponine, Fantine, and Belle are some parts I have longed to play! Whenever I see a Broadway show, I leave determined to practice voice again and be on stage...too bad I've never acted in my life.
• I have a record of j-walking--yes, literally--I got a ticket for j-walking--, stealing gas on accident, and once was stopped with a group of friends for loitering in a parking lot, yet I have never been pulled over while driving. 
• I love deep conversations more than just about anything in the world. 
• I majored in English because I have a passion for reading and researching, not writing. 
• I have been on a mystery movie kick lately: I don't know why they get me so excited!
• My least favorite big city is NYC and my most favorite big city is London.
• Boston, Washington D.C., and some parts of Canada are my most desired places to travel at the moment--I love to travel!
• I never thought I would end up in Utah...funny how things happen differently than you plan :) 
• My favorite books to read are classics (preferably, before 1900). I love them because most of them have amazing morals, and I love seeing that even over so much time, people are still very much the same, dealing with the same choices between right and wrong.
• I miss school. Truly.
• I miss BYU and Weber devotionals, CES Firesides, and religion and institute classes. 
• Cooking and baking have become my new hobby--I find so much joy in the process and in the results :D
• I love animals. I want a pet puppy, a pet deer, and a pet duck; convincing Ben is my only road block to this dream :) 
• I love listening to Celtic music. 
• I love everything Irish--maybe it's the Irish heritage...
• The only thing I miss about single adult life is going to dances.
• I think that going to BYU was one of the best things that ever happened to me.
• I love watching BYU football and basketball, even if I don't know everything that's going on :D 
• I love Ben! 

Happy (late) Halloween!

Happy Late Halloween! 

I am not usually a huge fan of dressing up in costume...unless I get to dress up as a princess! (I think that was my costume almost every year when I was little.) For our ward Halloween Carnival, Ben and I became Prince and Princess. We had so much fun helping the Laurels at the fishing booth and watching all of the excited little kids. Did I mention I have the sweetest friends who have the cutest children? 

On Halloween night, we got to go to Ben's Aunt Patty's and have treats and watch some spooky shows. Whenever we go to Patty's house, we have so much fun. She is the best hostess ever; I hope to be like her one day! I can't believe it's almost Thanksgiving (my favorite holiday--well, tied with Christmas :) Onto November! 

First Snowfall

Eating delicious corn chowder, home made bread, oreo truffles and hot chocolate with good friends and their sweet children on a day like today definitely warms the soul on the first snow fall.

Seeing the red leaves and snow capped pines in the same setting capture the blending of two seasons. Lives do that too. Have you ever felt like you were simultaneously living in two seasons of life, not really sure if you should rake the leaves and prepare for winter or take a few more fall walks, feeling stuck somewhere between fall and winter? 

The Best Anniversary Weekend Ever!

Okay, so it's our only anniversary weekend ever, but it really was the best! For a long time, Ben and I had been planing to stay in the Little America in Salt Lake on the Friday night of our anniversary weekend.

However, two days before our anticipated trip, Ben caught a cold and so we decided we would have to postpone our trip, BUT the hotel needed more than 48 hours notice so we proceeded with our trip anyways. And we are both so glad we did!

Friday night--we checked into our hotel and went straight to the Little America Coffee Shop Restaurant. I seriously love this place! So elegant yet very decent prices :) We ate a delicious dinner and dessert (we splurged!)

After that we went to our hotel room, and I seriously fell in love with the cozy and charming feeling of our room :) Because Ben was sick, we decided we would take it easy and just watch movies all night--this actually ended up being so much fun, especially when Ben surprised me and pulled out cheddar popcorn, mint fudge oreos, and two Sobe drinks! He knows the way to my heart!

Saturday morning we watched a few Dick Van Dykes (our absolute favorite show) and then got ready to go to the zoo. I had never been to the Hogle Zoo before, and growing up going to the San Diego Zoo, I didn't expect much, but I ended up being very impressed. It was the perfect size for a zoo, not too much, not too little. We seriously had SO much fun looking at all the animals--Ben is so sweet to put up with me getting over-excited at some of the animals--and walking around in the misty on and off rain.

Elephants!

Contrary to popular belief, gorillas eat celery, not bananas, and they like to flex their food.

He was a character, the gorilla that is...

The gorilla and us 

I loved the sea lion.

I love rainy fall days like this.

My new favorite animal--the orange monkey (the golden lion tamarin); looks like a lion and does not sit still. 

The giraffe!

After the fun filled zoo, we went to This is the Place monument. I had never been before; the Spirit is so strong there. 

We finally got to the Red Iguana for a late lunch, early dinner--a very unique Mexican food restaurant we had wanted to try. Ending our day, we walked around City Creek for a few hours, enjoying one of Salt Lake's newest attractions.

Last but not least, yesterday was our actual anniversary and Ben surprised me with flowers, I made chicken cordon bleu, and we ate our wedding cake that has been in the freezer for a year.

Us after church. 

The pretty flowers Ben picked! 

It really was the perfect anniversary trip: sweet and simple. Most importantly, it was so fun for just the two of us to be off doing something fun, just for us. It really wouldn't have mattered what we had chosen to do because being together always makes for the "funnest" of times.