Christmas Party

As always the Brooksby Christmas Party was a huge success, we ate lots of food to start off. I think the biggest hit with the food should go to Melanie with her delicious cinnamon apples. Then it was downstairs where Santa came and passed out gifts for all that would sit on his lap!

Santa... well Santa was there!

Then we played our annual White Elephant! My favorite and is looked forward to all year!

I think Preston took the cake for best gift again, an imaginary award that Preston tries for each year!

Then more gifts, Grandma and Grandpa out do themselves with how generous they are! And I always love the poem I get from G-pa each year! We love getting together with everyone.

Visit - by Hillary

We went to visit Grandma and Grandpa on their birthday, from what it sounds like... as did everyone else. We had a good chat with them and it was fun because we came while my mom and dad were there as well. Kya was being really fun the whole time we were there, dancing around and playing. Grandma was so nice, she had had so many visitors that she hadn't eaten her dinner yet, she was just fine to sit and chat rather than slow down to eat! I'm glad it was a good birthday!
Grandma told a story about her dad, Foote, and their "delicate" manners. She said that the lady that raised her mother came to visit. She was a very prim lady and wore a very tight corset which made her sit very straight and tall. Her figure evidently was important to her. Grandma said that when she stepped out of the car to meet Foote, one of the first things he said to her was, "You're not as big as Hazel said you were, you can too fit through that gate!" Then she went in to meet Foote's dad. Who was a big man and his gut hung out in the front. And when he met her he said, "Why, my belly sticks out in front just as much as your behind stick out in the back." Needless to say she was pretty offended by the comments. But by the end of the week she had learned not to take them too serious and she could dish it out to them just the same! Grandma said that is just how they were never thinking people would actually take them serious.
I really enjoy the stories that I hear at Grandma's. I don't want to forget the ones I've heard.

Update - by Hillary

Mostly everything is the same with Preston. He is still working hard and has been doing great with his work. He is glad to have Bryan back home because he loves his Saturday mornings, when they play Ultimate Frisbee, it didn't run too well with out Bryan.
Kya is just so much fun at this age. I have been enjoying my last moments with just her. She likes to go for walks with mommy (since I need to be doing it anyway). There is a horse and goat that live just three houses down from us that we visit almost everyday. And we always get to see the ducks at the wildlife preserve behind our house. She is an expert at throwing a fit, but I have gotten pretty good with dealing with them as well. She really understands everything we say and is still pretty obedient. Kya is still jabbering away, but more and more there are really words here and there. Kya LOVES candy! Halloween introduced her to getting candy at home not just at Grandma's house. We are letting the candy disappear from sight quickly, and only letting her have it at special times!
As for me, I've don't remember feeling this miserable when I was pregnant with Kya. Don't get me wrong it's not too bad, but I definitely want this boy out... the sooner the better! Like I said I've been trying to walk everyday or at least every other day. Hopefully that will help get things going sooner rather than later this time. We are enjoying our house and we are fitting in the ward more.

Updates - by Wing

Jacob - busy as usual. Glad that Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays are coming soon!
Wing - learned how to Crochet from Pauli.
Amber - saying funny things all the time. Love to show Zach how she can dance!
Zach - rolled over the first time on November 19th!

Visit - by Wing

We had a wonderful time visiting grandpa and grandma while we were in Arizona. Craig brought over a box of puzzle and almost did half of it with grandma. Amber had fun with grandpa-great in the backyard. We heard her saying 'I'll show you' (and she was laughing very loud) the whole time she was out there. Jacob, Zach and I got to relax for a little while. We really miss seeing the whole family. Hope we can get to see you all more often someday!

Wonderful Birthday 164 years

Grandpa & Grandma just had the best birthday ever. We heard from nearly everyone in the family and lots of friends and neighbors too. We had over 40 cards at the end of the day. Visits started at 7 AM and the last ones left at 9PM. Phone calls lasted until 10PM. What a wonderful day.
Together if we had put candles on a cake there would have been 164 and we would have probably set the house on fire.
We celebrated with Jacob, Wing & kids and Craig on Friday before Jacob's family went back to Folsom and Craig to New Orleans.
We felt very fortunate to have all this love showered upon us. We love you all.

Update - by Josie

There isn't a whole lot of news out here in Queen Creek. Our family is doing well. Everyone is is busy going one way or another. Now that it won't cost a fortune in gas to come in to Mesa, maybe we'll be able to come in and visit more often.
'Cause as you know we really hate making that LONG drive to Grandma and Grandpa's house (ha ha!) Anyway we'd love to see everyone more often and look forward to our next get together.

Update - by Whitney

Rhett- he is doing good in school and learning so super fast! He loves to set up bike races in our back yard with all the neighborhood kids, this was what he had me spell for the invitation- Guess what I'm having a bike race tomorrow after school at my race track see you I'm the coach!
Charlie- she is really helpful, and sweet. At school and church her teachers are always telling me that she is one of their favorites! Her laugh is super contagious and it even makes her laugh more. She did a good job singing in the primary program!
Kael- he has been playing and riding his bike and swinging and doing anything outside. His humor is hilarious, he doesn't even try to be funny, he is at a really cute age!
Taj- he is super clingy to me (first one of all my kids that likes me more!(for right now anyway)) and he is standing up to everything and falling a lot!
Micah and Whitney- just hanging out with our super fun kids and together!

Update - by Emily

Geoff is happy to almost be done with this semester - he has 6 more months of school, and then the last year is his internship. After 7 years in school, that doesn't seem too bad! Basically, that's life for Geoff - school, sometimes work, sometimes sleep, sometimes eat. That's it. Sorry, I wish it was more exciting!
Jackson is doing well in school. Last week at parent/teacher conference they said that Jackson is doing math at a 3rd grade level (he's in 1st grade) - and that's only because they haven't given him harder than 3rd grade. He is constantly trying to figure out numbers, and really likes that kind of thing. Maybe an accountant in the future?! He is such a good kid, and never gives his teachers any problems.
Natalie just started a real preschool. We hadn't put her in anything because it is too much money, but then a friend in our ward just told us about an opening at the preschool she takes her daughter to that is very reasonable. Natalie really likes it, and has become good friends with this little girl in the ward who goes too. All of the adults at church say they want to take Natalie home with them because she is so loving to them. She hugs everyone she recognizes even... and some she doesn't.
Staci is such a funny girl! She is going through the stage where she calls everyone with grey or white hair either "grandma" or "grandpa". It usually makes their days when she gets excited and says, "Hi Brampa" to a total stranger. She is getting to be more like a little girl rather than a baby.
As for me, Emily, I am helping plan and pull off the ward Christmas party. This is right up my alley, so it is fun for me. I am doing quite a bit better with my ear pain since going to this TMJ specialist in Salt Lake, and am trying to keep my chin up about the migraine stuff. Anyway, that's about it. Just trying not to go crazy is a full-time job for me. I am looking forward to seeing my parents for a couple of days when they come next month to help John and Anna move back down to Mesa. I sure miss everyone down there!! Love you both, Grandma and Grandpa, and hope you have a Wonderful Birthday!!

Update - Kent & Jan

Kent and Jan are back in the groove of life in Pinetop. It has been cold at night and beautiful in the daytime. We just work and then look at each other at night. We have enjoyed visiting with everyone the last couple of weeks, and we are looking forward to our trip to Utah and Idaho coming up in a few weeks. We will be moving John and Anna and the boys back to Mesa! They will be there December 14, and anyone who wants to help unload the truck will be so-o-o-o welcome.
We have had Melissa and Brad and the kids here this weekend, and life has been pretty exciting - especially the duck feeding and taking the kids to the McDonalds playground. Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

Update - by Melanie

As far as updates, Will and I are just busy busy busy!! We really need a vacation, and we are looking forward to our honeymoon in Tahoe VERY much!! :o)

Visit - by Melanie

I've attached some pictures from last weekend (Sunday October 26th) when Grandma and Grandpa came to my parents house. Will and I drove over to my parent's house earlier in the day to get our wedding favors put together before Grandma, Grandpa, Ben, and Jacob got there (Jacob was in town for the weekend for work). We wanted to get as many done as we could before everyone got there, so we could relax and visit with everyone. Ben, Grandma, and Grandpa arrived while we were working, and Grandma and Grandpa sat right down and said, "What can we do to help?" We told them we were done for the day, and we were putting everything away, but they insisted on helping! They joined our assembly line, and because of their help, we got the bags all done! We got WAY more work done than we were originally planning on! It was really fun sitting and visiting with Grandma and Grandpa while we put the bags together. Grandma and Grandpa kinda teased me a little about even having wedding favors, but I'm so grateful for their help! After we finished, we had dinner, then played a few rounds of the card game "Butt." Grandma and Grandpa are such good sports, even when landing the the "butt" position a few times! I love spending time with Grandma and Grandpa, and I'm so grateful to have them in my life! :o)

Update - by John

John--Just added a few more classes and is working hard to finish up school in December, yay! We're very proud of him.
Anna--Doing fine, feeling good. Learning to knit stockings. We (John and Anna) made plum jam this week, yum.
Adam--Personality! Learning to write letters. Constantly asking how to write things, and copying or tracing everything he finds.
Joshua--What a doll! Shy and sweet, with a mind of his own. Learning a few words and loves to help Mom.

We're doing well up here, now that John's financial aid came through so we won't have to go home early. The weather is beautiful and the leaves are starting to turn colors. We're glad to be here, and also glad to be coming back soon.

Love you all!

Update - by Linda

Not a lot of news from us old folks!
Brad has had his account base change once again! All of his customers are now in the Phoenix area (no travel!) I think this is the first time he hasn’t had to travel out of town! He was put in as the Financial clerk for the ward and Bishop loves the fact that Brad is always available!!!
Linda is still working hard at the Law Firm and enjoying Young Women.

Update - by Whitney

Rhett lost his first tooth on Sunday! Started school again and loves it. Wants to be Indiana Jones for Halloween

Charlie Is a very good helper, she always washes her plates off when she's done eating. Even her preschool teacher says that she is a great helper. She loves to play dress up and barbies with her cousins. She wants to be Sleeping Beauty for Halloween.

Kael likes to dress himself, and most of the time he puts his shirts, pants, and underwear on backwards. The other day he had a cup of milk that was just a bit too warm for him. He gave the cup of milk to me and told me it was "soggy". We were laughing a lot over his soggy milk. He wants to be Indiana Jones for Halloween too.

Taj Starting to pull himself up and walk around the couch. Pushes the big exercise ball around the room with his head.

59th Wedding Anniversary Party

We all got together for a surprise for Grandma to celebrate the two being married for 59 years!

We had yummy food!

And partied all night with everyone!

Apparently our family doesn't take normal pictures.

And maybe I missed something but it looks like Kent is smoking something?

Then got the munchies?

Anyways we all had fun and enjoyed being with everyone! Thanks Don for the pictures!Grandma was truly surprised and it was fun to for everyone that came. We all love you both dearly!

Update - by Josie

As far as our family goes, there isn't much news. Janae and Brandon are busy with school. Brandon is driving us crazy with his filming of his latest movie.
Jennifer is working alot, saving her pennies so she can attend school in the Spring.
Don is surviving. His head hurts alot so he has become a hermit when he gets home.
As for me, well, I try to keep up with everyone and stay busy working on various projects.

Visit - by Josie

We don't get over to mom and dads as often as we would like. During fall break, Brandon, Jenny, Janae and I went over to visit with them for a little bit. Janae was hoping the pool wouldn't be to cool, but it was. Grandpa challenged Brandon and Janae to a game of pool. We had a fun time getting to visit with them.

Visit - by Jessica

On Sunday I went to visit Grandma and Grandpa and just spend some time with them. They had made a wonderful lunch for us so that right as I got there we were able to sit down and eat. After we had finished, we just talked about everything: the economy, why people live where they live, great grandchildren, the importance of family, friends, and the gospel, just to name a few. I love visiting with Grandma and Grandpa- They are so knowledgeable, wise, and loving. I really loved being able to be there with them.

Memories - by Jessica

A couple of days (or weeks...) ago I was reflecting on my most recent experience of living with Grandma and Grandpa. I feel blessed and privileged to have been able to live with them for those 3 years. I was just thinking about how I would often get in these silly moods late at night and just come dancing into the room Grandma and Grandpa were in to make them smile. Grandma and Grandpa have such wonderful smiles and laughs.
One other silly memory in particular:
Grandma would randomly bring me in old clothes of hers and ask if I wanted them. One such time, she brought in her old "house coat" and I said "sure, I'll take it." Well, I don't really remember what prompted me to wear it, but it was something along these lines: I was practicing my violin and was really tired and I thought "Maybe that robe will give me special powers and make me want to practice better." (I know...silly) So, I put it on and to sum it up, grandma came in and thought I was something else. I was acting so silly- I don't know what got into me :-) Anyways, it just brought a smile to my face to think of just one of the many good, crazy, fun times I have had with Grandma and Grandpa. They really are the best.

Update - by Melissa

The Criders are doing well!
Brad passed the BAR Exam, which is fabulous! To celebrate the kids and I are taking him to Disneyland this week! We are really excited to go and have a fun family vacation.
Susannah is loving Kindergarten, and her teacher says she is a great girl...which we already knew, but it is nice to hear other people say it!
Owen just turned 4 years old, and had a great birthday! He is such a happy boy, but has been quite troubled by the idea of growing up too fast! I am honestly troubled by that idea too!
Lydia is a busy girl. She is about to turn 2 and it definitely shows! She is growing up so fast! She says just about everything, and something new every day. Her newest phrases are: "I don't have to" (not my personal favorite), "Mmmm...delicious!", and "I love you, mommy". She is so fun to have in our family.
I am doing well, and not doing too much to speak about, but I am enjoying my life as a wife and mother. I am very blessed!

Update - by Ben

Haha nothing much to say. Can't go to school this semester, so I'm just working. Just recently helped my now-ex girlfriend move up to Oregon.
Got a new motorcycle about a month ago, which is a lot smoother, quieter, and more comfortable! :-)

Update - by Emily

Geoff is REALLY busy with school. He leaves the house at 6:00 am and doesn't get home until 11:30 at night. Then he studies usually for another hour, and goes to bed. He is doing fine in school, but can't wait until the "school" part is over... only 7 months. After that he will have his internship, and it should be a little easier! He still works on Saturdays at Walgreens and plans to stay with them after graduation.
Emily is busy being a stay-at-home Mom. She is just about the same with her health, but hope to get some relief soon. She loves this time of year, but isn't ready for winter yet! She misses all of the family down there... but knows this is where we are supposed to be, and is happy. The just opened a D.I superstore by her house so she doesn't miss Goodwill as much as she used to.
Jackson has lost 4 teeth in the last 3 weeks. He is in it for the money now! He likes school, and has a large group of girls in his grade that want to marry him when he grows up. Hopefully he will have inherited Geoff's ability to not be really interested in girls until he is home from his mission. If he inherited anything from Emily that way, then we are in trouble! He is going to be an Army guy for Halloween and is excited 'cause we found a camouflage machine gun at D.I. for him to carry around.
Natalie is just a sweet little thing right now. She is loving everything about life and finds joy in just about everything. She goes to "mommy and Natalie pre-school" (because it's free) a couple of times a week, and loves that one on one time with Mom. She is constantly singing and dancing, too.
Staci seems to be healing from her broken arm pretty well. We have another appointment for her at the Dr. this week, so we'll hopefully hear more. She is the epitome of "terrible two" right now, and keeps us all on our toes. She thinks there was a open position for "boss" of the family, so she hired herself. She doesn't want anyone to tell her what to do, or what to wear - she is mostly content just being left alone to do whatever the heck she wants. I get the feeling that I am already holding this one back in life!!

Update - by Wing

Jacob: work is extremely busy with lots to learn and wish he can 'only' work 50 hours a week!
Wing: is getting used to going out with 2 kids. The baby fat is still hanging there and doesn't seem to be off anytime soon. Sigh...
Amber: is going through a 'I'm a baby' stage. Love to dance and bounce around everywhere!
Zach: is such a smilely and talkable baby! He's 13lbs now!

Recipe - Fruit Salsa

Here is the recipe from my (Hillary's) blog, if you didn't look at it.

Fruit Salsa

1 8 oz can of crushed pineapple, (do not drain)
8 oz of strawberries chopped fine
3 kiwis peeled and chopped fine
2 mangos
2 T brown sugar
1/3 c orange juice

Mix pineapple and brown sugar well. Add all other finely chopped fruit and orange juice. Toss and chill. Serve with cinnamon tostada chips.

Cinnamon Tostada Chips

Preheat oven to 400˚. Cut flour tortillas into strips. Lightly spray with water. Combine sugar and cinnamon in a Ziploc bag. Put strips in bag and shake until coated. Place in single layer on baking sheet. Bake 8-10 min or until lightly brown and crisp. Cool on wire rack.

Or just buy them at Food City, they're fried and very yummy.

Update - by Hillary

Preston - Is still working hard and doing very well. He has been really helping the company by coming up with great ideas and signing up new companies.

Hillary - I only have 2 more months! Yha whoo! I feel pretty good most of the time my hips and back get to hurting pretty bad some days though. I got put into Sunbeams. I "team teach" which allows me to be in Primary every other week, and on the off weeks I get to go to Sunday School and RS.

Kya - Is starting to sing songs a lot! Her new one is “Twinkle Twinkle”, she sings it like this, “Kinkle kinkle ee ee car…” She kind of trails off but she still bobs her head to the rest of the tune and tries to sing with you! Some words are more clear than others, it’s super cute! She loves to color, she likes me to color with her and usually likes me to draw a duck for her. When I get done drawing it she’ll put the crayon in front of my face and says, “Duck, duck!” until I draw another one for her. She’s at that stage that fits are the thing to do! When she throws one (which is a lot) she usually hurts herself mostly on purpose, i.e. she’ll bang her head on the wood floor, or will hit herself in the face. It’s very pleasant, but we’re getting through them ok.

Update - by Whitney

Rhett- He got his first wiggilie tooth!
Charlie- She had fun feeding the ducks!
Kael- He had fun playing on the playground!
Taj- He is crawling so fast!

Memories - by Whitney

Some memories that I can think of right now -The basement has so many memories for me, playing movie theater selling fishies and popcorn along with red vines. And buying them with your pennies! We also loved to write our names as many times as we could under the stairs.

Visit - Natalie & Bryan

We had a great time visiting with Grandma and Grandpa Brooksby tonight. They are always so cheerful and pleasant to be around. We always feel the spirit so strong in their home with them. We had a great time talking to them about conference and the things we had learned. They have such strong testimonies and always choose the right. We talked about our plans are for our trip to Argentina and the people, the culture, the food and even the bus rides. Grandma said that she used to take the bus to Kanab to Salt Lake several times and that they took about 5-8 hours. She had even taken a bus from Mesa to Kanab too. She said she didn't mind it too bad. The buses were a little crazier in Venezuela were Natalie served. (Buses I took on my mission, there were people traveling with dead chickens in their hands for their dinner.) The buses in Argentina won't be so crazy, says Bryan. Grandpa also talked about how he had to travel from place to place for work. Looking back he said that the business travels made him feel important at work but that now he realizes he would have preferred to be home with his family.
Well we just think the World of our wonderful rich Heritage. Carl and VerDon Brooksby have done a great service by teaching their kids the truth. We feel it is such a GREAT BLESSING to be the fruits of your labors. We love you Grandma and Grandpa!!! Thanks for Loving us and always supporting us in our decisions of Life. Thanks for you donation too. The Lord will bless you for blessing others.

Post-Priesthood Meeting Pizza Party

Grandpa, Craig, Mark and Ben enjoy Papa John's Saturday night. You should have been there. We played pool too!

Visit - by Hillary

Kya and I went to visit Grandma and Grandpa today. I thought it would be good to make sure that Grandma was all set up on the blog and had everything the way she wanted it. Of course we had a few other things to do there too, like swim and eat.
We stopped by Wendy’s and brought that with us, knowing full well that they would have fed us if we didn’t have anything, I just didn’t want to mooch! So we ate lunch when we got there. Grandma and Grandpa ate their lunch with us, of course with their half a Pepsis’. I noticed that Grandma puts salt on her celery, now I know where I get it. I have to have salt on everything it seems and I know that my mom does too. At least I know that it won’t kill me too early because Grandma’s still here! I also noticed that Grandpa puts peanut butter and raisins on his celery. Grandma said that he doesn’t eat celery without peanut butter. Grandpa told a story of when he was a kid that when it was really late at night and he would already be in bed. His brother would come to bed with a stick of celery just to be a pest. He would crunch the celery right up by Grandpa’s head, so that he wouldn’t be able to sleep.
I showed Grandma how to do some things on the blog, in case she wanted to. I put her blog as her second home page so every time she brings the internet up she will have her blog already there. She seemed to love it!
Kya and I went swimming for a bit. Then we came in and talked for a while. We talked about names along with other things. I didn’t know that Grandma didn’t really like the name Linda that’s why it was Linda Sue, but the Sue didn’t really stick. Grandma said that that was all Grandpa asked was if they had a boy he wanted to name him John, and a girl, Linda.
Kya had fun running around, reading books, and playing with the toys. She was using her signs which was fun for G-ma and G-pa to see. She was doing the sign for candy, so she ate candy corns. Grandma always has good treats, and always did too!
It was nap time by the time we left and Kya was out by the time we got to Brown Rd.
We enjoyed our visit, we love both of you Grandma and Grandpa!

Visit - by Whitney

Grandma and Grandpa, we have so much fun hanging out with you! Rhett, Charlie, Kael and Taj love to play with all your very organized toys. Your games have been fun to play with, with my kids. Playing with balloons were one of the highlights for them. I love hearing your stories and reading your poems. Thanks for letting us come hang out and I think that it is so funny that you always try to feed us while we are there! Also thanks for all your love and support. We always feel love from you both!

Visit - by Linda

Saturday for Women’s Conference, G-ma, Whitney, Hillary and myself were at my house to watch. We like to meet here so we can pause the talks to eat, visit, or discuss something mentioned in one of the talks. It is always fun to have mom here with us and have a little time to ourselves. We find that there really isn’t much difference in our ages at times! Hillary brought some of her yummy fruit salsa – we all enjoyed it – even me, the non-adventurous eater!!! Thank you Dad for bringing Mom over! We love you too!

Visit - by Hillary

For women’s conference my mom had Grandma, Whitney, and I over to watch the broadcast. It has become a bit of a tradition to watch it together on the TV. We eat and have lots of fun together. It really felt like I was just hanging out with my girl friends. Whitney commented to me that Grandma doesn’t really have wrinkle on her face. I told her that hopefully we inherit Grandma’s good looks. Grandma wanted to know what we were talking about and so we filled her in. Grandma said that she used to have wrinkles but they’ve faded somehow, she said it was do to the fact that all of her kids had moved out and that’s when they faded! (Which we all know isn’t true because Grandma worries about everyone and as the family grows it just adds to her worries!) Grandma said that her mom would notice all of Grandma’s imperfections and try to fix them, but not in a mean way. Grandma’s mom would tell her to pinch the end of her nose all the time, “You have a ball on the end of your nose you need to pinch it so it will go down.” We all thought that was pretty funny! Grandma said “She just wanted me to be perfect and she knew I wasn’t.”
I had a lot of fun last night and I was glad that I got to spend time with my girl friends!

Update - by Hillary

Preston- New job is going great, he loves it. He’s working hard. And he started soccer again.
Hillary- Pregnancy is going good, definitly feeling pregnant. Has gotten good at cleaning the new house.
Kya- More fun everyday, she’s picking up on new words and new sign language too.