Update on the Brouwers

I've been needing to update this blog for forever. It's been so long and there is so much happening. I don't know if anyone ever reads this or not, but here's the latest on us.

I just finished a successful Odyssey of the Mind Tournament. These are the things I gave up so I could put this tournament on.

1. Taking pictures and playing with them.
2. Blogging
3. Going to the park with the kids so often.
4. Laundry (can't say I mind that one.)
5. Decorating the house. (I never did much anyway)
6. Going out with friends. (I did miss that)
7. Shopping
8. Movies and TV
9. Other volunteer opportunities

These are the things I did not give up:
1. Family prayers
2. Family scripture study
3. Family Home Evening

And, when it comes down to it, these are the most important things to do. Our Heavenly Father's Plan is for us to live in families. If we don't teach our children to live in righteousness, the whole earth is utterly wasted (D&C 2:3) or at least the earth will be smitten with a curse (Malachi 3:6). If you're doing those 3 things, the other stuff doesn't matter quite as much.

Next: Our move to Brisbane, Australia...Robert came home one day in February and asked what I would think of moving to Australia. I said, yeah...like in 5 years. We just moved here a year and a half ago, my free flying bird wasn't ready to go yet. But, of course the adventure beckoned and off we go. Robert and I visited the end of last month. He's still there and has started working. He'll come back on May 21st to help me get everything in order and shipped and then fly out with the kids.

The kids are getting excited. They weren't so much at the beginning. It's hard to leave good friends, but we know we'll be back. We're not selling our house and will be back in 3 years time.

The good news is that Robert has family in Brisbane. His Mom's family immigrated to Australia in the 1960s. His parents moved back to Holland shortly after their first 2 kids were born, but the rest of the family stayed. So we have 2 aunts and 3 uncles and a couple of cousins already there. It's too bad Oma died at Christmas time. We would have loved to get to know her better as well.

Not only do we have family, my good friend from Twin Falls, Juli Patterson Robinson lives in Brisbane as well, and she's supplying friends for my kids. She has 5 kids that are roughly the same ages as my kids! Yipee! How more perfect can you get. We will be living just down the road from them. I think we'll have a great time together. It's so nice to have a friend already there, and we have history. In fact, in comparing notes, we found that we've had the same jobs and even dated the same people (weird...).

And...just because I can't possibly move without having a baby. Surprise monkey #6 is on the way. This will be my first baby born outside the US. I'm not too nervous about it. I am a little nervous about having 2 babies at the same time. I wasn't quite ready for this. Some people really struggle with being patient for things like moves and babies. What would be the opposite of patience that I have to learn? Really, sometimes I wish life would slow down a little. Maybe that's why we're moving to Australia though. Maybe I need to learn to slow down.

Today, I got up as usual, thinking about all the things that needed to be done today. I never get everything done. So, today I went to the temple. It was so peaceful I kept falling asleep. There was a part of the ceremony that really touched my heart today though. It made me think about my role as a mother. I'm so grateful for families. This mother's day, I'm going to really enjoy. I usually feel guilty that I'm not a good mother, but this time, I think I'll focus on Heavenly Father's Plan for families and be grateful for the time I have with these kids. They're not perfect by any stretch. And, I'm certainly not a perfect mother, but I sure do love them.

Brouwer Halloween

It's been a while since I blogged. Here are a few pictures from Halloween. All the monkeys got plenty of candy. Monkey #1 didn't do any trick or treating this year. I guess he's too old for candy, but not old enough to still wear a costume. He sewed his own costume this year. Nice to have a skill although he asked me if he should not tell his friends.

Kids are doing great. Monkey #2 is in the school play, "Willy Wonka" as Violet and is also in 2 orchestras and violin lessons and jazz. I think we're going to have to cool it a little and give something up soon. I don't know how we get busy with so many things. Monkey #3 is trying to be top monkey of his class. His teacher says he completely wears her out. I think she should send him out to run laps. That's what I do. Monkey #4 is hilarious. He cracks me up all the time. His preschool just got cancelled, so I'm trying to do my own preschool with him. He likes doing all his workbooks with me, but I think he would have been better with Mrs. Tina. Monkey #5 is so sweet. He hardly complains. He got a wasp sting in the thumb that he sucks yesterday. I felt so bad for him. Every time he tried to comfort himself, he couldn't help himself.

I'm super busy with Odyssey of the Mind. I've found someone to coach all my kid's teams except Monkey #1. I love getting together with his team. They are so funny and creative.

Love to you all!

Happiness Is...

I've been thinking lately about what makes people happy. Sometimes I feel a little down, a little guilty that I'm not everything I should be. There are some things people think I should be, but I'm coming to realize I don't want to be that way and that's why I am the way I am. Does that make any sense? Anyway, I thought, instead of focusing on the negative today, I want to focus on positive things, so I started writing down all the things that make me happy today. Feel free to add your own happy moments.

disclaimer: There are plenty of moments when I fall short of what I should be, but I'm only listing the times when things are right with the world.


Things that make me happy:
1. Running this morning while listening to a talk Elder Uchtdorf gave about creating something beautiful and finding joy in serving.
2. Singing "Twinkle" about 20 times yesterday to Ammon in the car.
3. Watching Ammon make new friends at Preschool and bringing projects home and being so proud of them.
4. Having my kids come to me for comfort when they are hurt, sad or afraid
5. Knowing where my kids are and trusting that they are making good choices.
6. Reading a good book.
7. Having a clean bathroom.
8. Having a clean kitchen.
9. Talking to my brother about his life and feeling like he likes to be around me.
10. A husband who runs errands for me with little complaint.
11. Playing with Aaron and almost getting him to smile at me.

That's so far today. Hopefully, I'll add a few more before the day is through.

We had a combined Relief Society/Priesthood meeting on Sunday. Our High Councilman taught the lesson. It was about being your brother's keeper. It really touched my heart and made me think a lot about how I can be my brother's keeper. He told a story about when he worked for the church in some capacity. There was an award given every year to someone in the organization, named after the Prophet. He was able to accompany the winner of the award to the Church Office Building to meet with the Prophet. The winner with his family would be able to visit with the Prophet for about 15 minutes and receive their award. When President Monson became the President, things were a little different. A stake President from Idaho Falls had won the award. He brought his 6 daughters and his wife to accept the award. They were all waiting in a board room visiting when Pres. Monson walked in. They all stood and shook his hand. He was very attentive to them and especially to this brother's youngest 8-year-old daughter. After the 15 minute interview, the family was overwhelmed by his kindness and just as Pres. Monson was leaving he turned around and said, "Would you like to see my office?" Of course they thought that would be great, so he took them into his office and showed them several things in his office that were special to him and explained them to the family. As they were leaving his office, Pres. Monson said, "Would you like to see my Secretary's office?" At this, the family was overcome. The stake president, took Pres. Monson's arm and said "President Monson, we know you are so busy and have so many things to do today. We have seen so much today and we've been so blessed to have your time for so long. We can go now." They had promised Pres. Monson and his secretary that they would only take 15 minutes and the Secretary was getting a little nervous because he knew what kind of schedule the Prophet had. President Monson took this good brother by the arm and looked into his eyes and with a very serious voice said, "Brother, I know exactly what my priorities are." Pres. Monson then proceeded to show the little 8-year-old girl how to work the nutcracker outside his office that was shaped like Joseph Smith. He spent 50-60 minutes with this family that day.

This story really touched me. I wonder if I know what my priorities are?

Fun Friends from Holland

We spent a week with the Tenthofs a week ago. This was our staycation this summer and we had a great time showing them some of the wonders of our neighborhood. Enjoy the slideshow.


If you want to download any of the pictures, click here

Highly content

My favorite 3 month old pose.

Taking a snooze

This is a typical thing for Ammon. Around 5:00pm, he comes in from a hard day's play, takes off his clothes and falls asleep anywhere he finds a spot. Today, it was in the middle of the hall. I thought I'd censor a little, but you get the picture.

4th of July

We had a great time in Idaho with my family for the 4th. We spent the entire day playing on a giant blow-up slide my brother, Brett and his family brought for us to play with. If you would like to view the whole album, click here


On our way up to Idaho, we did something I've wanted to do for a very long time. We actually stopped at the Hill Air Force Base Museum. We had a great time. They had an Activity Center that the kids in particular liked. They were able to simulate flying with flight suits and everything. There were all kinds of interactive games to play and teachers to talk to about flying. Very interesting.