I kept mulling in my head how to adequately pay tribute to my mom and realized there was no adequate way and this will have to do. This beautiful woman, almost too young looking to be the mom of all these kids, is a hero.

She's brilliant, in every sense of the word. She graduated high school at 15, college at 19 and by the time she got married and had my brother, she had a fluorishing career with a sharp trajectory upward.

She does not get rattled. She handles every situation with grace and makes it look easy. She was an only child but figured out how to raise 9 kids and stay sane!

She has a knack for making people feel at ease and she does that by truly, honestly believing that people are good, and capable of the most amazing feats we can dream of. She is one of those rare humans that believes the only thing wrong with some people is that they need someone to believe in them, to tell them they can do better, and if they get that, they will. The striking thing about her is that she's usually right. If she gets her hands on a lost soul, they are no longer lost.

She is fearless. She is tenacious and capable and feisty and she always taught me that the one way to face a fear is to walk right into it. I owe to her the fact that I ever accomplished anything because she doesn't believe for a second there's anything you can't do.

And she's hilarious...and that helps when the world just seems like too much.

I know God made all kinds of moms out there, each one perfect for her children, and I know that all moms can tie for the best mom ever...but I'm grateful that God picked mine for me. I love you, Mom!

This is me asking for advice:

WARNING: IF YOU ARE NOT A PARENT OR DO NOT HAVE A DEEP AND ABIDING LOVE FOR NURSERY FURNITURE, I WILL NOT BE OFFENDED IF YOU SCROLL RIGHT PAST THIS POST TO THE HAWAII POST BELOW. IT'S HAPPY THERE... :)

So I've decided to break down and start looking at nursery furniture, strollers, car seats, etc. for my not so little baby girl. I really candidly have NO idea what to look for and everyone and their mom seems to think that this is the make or break decision of a lifetime. So here's the help I need:

1. Cribs: what to watch out for, what is potentially hazardous, where to find them, drop down sides or not, convertible to toddler bed or not, and brands, if you have any favorites.

2. Strollers: I know there are as many kinds out there as there are kids. What is the best kind to get? Do you buy your stroller w/ your carseat so it can snap in? Are there strollers that can transform from infant stage to bigger toddler?

3. Carseats: Brands? Type? Bells and whistles? I honestly know NOTHING about these so please hook me up.Basically, I want to know what you wish you had known when you had your first kid.

Oh, and I keep hearing strong opinions one way or the other about neutral colors for all of the above. The argument is either that if Jr. #2 is a boy, we don't have to buy all new stuff OR that I'll want everything very girly for this baby and everything for a boy very boyish...or that it will it all likely be wrecked by the time Jr. #2 comes along. Thoughts? Thanks in advance all. I'm seriously as clueless as I could be so any advice would be AWESOME!

At very long last!

Are you as bored with our blog as I am? Good grief! It took me long enough. But I have an excuse. We were in Hawaii! Here's the highlights:
We went to see the temple and BYU Hawaii and then we hung out on the North Shore...

Battled through a rather dense jungle with a muddy, rocky path and we were wearing flip flops...all to reach the top of the waterfall. The scenery was amazingly beautiful.

We took in the scenery...

from the top of this volcano which we hiked...

Just when we thought we were close to the top, we came upon THIS flight of stairs. It was huge, long and steep! I was definitely getting tired by this point (especially after hiking the waterfall the day before) but the view was completely worth it!

We made freinds with tons of sea animals at the Hawaii Sea Life park - Hawaii's version of Sea World. (Even this place was right on the beach. You could watch the waves crash the whole time you walked around the park!)

We visited Pearl Harbor...

Saw a submarine and then cruised out to the USS Arizona memorial where we saw the name of one of my ancestors on the monument...

Ambled through some beautiful gardens at the Dole Pineapple Factory, took a train ride through the plantation fields and saw all kinds of pineapple varieties...

Visited the Polynesian Cultural Center where Adam stole the show. Here he is playing the drums with his new found friend. You wouldn't believe this but Cornfed was working the crowd and had everyone in stitches by the time he got off the stage.

See, he even got a crown for his efforts. Isn't it dashing?

We visited a botanical garden and sampled the local fare....

And I tried to pull this giant pineapple from the ground...it didn't work, of course.

Of course we spent tons of time at the beach, eating ice cream and just relaxing. It couldn't have been a better trip. We loved it and I'm so glad to have gotten to go before the baby got here! But, as always, there's no place like home. It's good to be back.

I may have found a new reason to live...

Thank so the Cub Scouts, my nephew Brandon needed to get his Outdoor Cooking merit badge. You know what that means... Uncle Adam at his best. I mean, if ever there were a skill that this man had mastered, it's the grill. So, here's Adam teaching the kiddo how to construct the perfect burger. Brandon is obviously reveling in his new found "man skill..."
I managed to cruise outside to the garage right in time to catch the tail end of Adam teaching Brandon "Grill Safety 101." My personal favorite part was the discussion of the explosive properties of several different types of gases when exposed to flame. I really couldn't follow the conversation...too much chemical reaction discussion for my simple mind but the take home message was definitely obvious: BOY SCOUTS, YOUNG AND OLD, LOVE FIRE AND EVERYTHING ASSOCIATED WITH IT!
Here's Brando eating the fruits of his labor. I personally partook and I have to say, let's hear it for the Boy Scouts organization that gives Adam a great excuse to get out to the grill and me an excuse to partake in the goodness. You guys, the food was just too good. These boys are culinary geniuses. And is it just me or does the smell of a barbecue just seem to sound the alarm that, at long last, winter really will surrender to sunshine and long warm weekends? Summertime, how I love you!

Time for the big reveal! It's a ...

The suspense was killing us too! You know, they made us wait in the waiting room for an hour or so? It felt eternal! But soon enough, we got to go back and hear the exciting news that the Wee Little Braun is a tiny baby girl. We couldn't be more excited and I'm so giddy for pink and bows that I can just barely stand myself. And since the girls now outnumber the boys in the Braun house, our blog is going to sport some pink in celebration!

Here's where you folks come in. We're going to need some help coming up with names! Any suggestions anyone? Come on, let's hear them!

The weekend update...

So, my awesome, hilarious, super chill brother in law Andrew was staying with us last week and Easter weekend. On Saturday morning when I rolled out of bed, I found Adam and Andrew out in the garage, greasy up to their elbows CHANGING MY BREAKS! (Without being asked, I might add!) Would YOUR brother in law do that when he's supposedly on vacation at your house? AND this all went down when there were countless March Madness games going on. Those of you who know Adam well will know this was an amazing sacrifice for him. And then they changed Adam's brakes too! Anyway, they did an amazing job despite my car's best efforts to be stubborn and make things difficult and I'm happy to report my brakes stop on a dime. Thanks fellas!
Then, my brother and his family (complete with Stephanie's Uncle Rick), came over to join us for Easter dinner.
As you can see, we broke out the super high class card table for the little guys to sit at. They don't seem to mind too much. (Check out my child prodigy nephew with his Rubix cube there at the table - notice how he's fully solved it.)
And above we have evidence that OCD must be genetic. Normally we keep a heap of stuffed animals in the toy room in the back for when the kiddos come to visit. Well, the kids were playing in the master bedroom while the grown ups visited over dessert. I went in to check on the kids after a while and found that they had taken all the stuffed animals from the toy room and stacked them, each by type of animal (note the pairs neatly stacked next to one another) in the window seat of the room. Pretty sure the kids are either OCD or they're doing their best to reinact Noah's arc with stuffed animals. Anyway, that was our Easter. How was yours?

It's not just me...right?

Today it's my oldest sister's birthday. She's the second from the left and she is pretty much the awesomest...seriously. She's just rad. Any of you out there reading this who knows her would have to agree, right?

Anyway, this photo made me think of my sisters and how much fun they are. I always feel like I got away with something being related to them...like I snuck into this super cool kids club without them knowing and now they have to love me. It's like the law or something. So then I was thinking that my brothers are every bit as awesome and fortunately, both brothers and sisters had the good sense (or probably good fortune) to marry someone as cool or cooler than they are!

So then I was thinking...every mom thinks her baby is the cutest. And they're right. Every baby can tie for the cutest, I think. So is that true of families too? Is everybody's family the coolest? Can we all tie for the most best families ever? Adam always teases me that we Lazerbeams think we're the coolest kids around. Help me out folks...you guys think your famlies are the coolest too, right?