In 2018, eight months after my mom's passing, I threw a Diner en Blanc party to celebrate what would have been her 60th birthday. It was an absolutely beautiful and magical evening as I gathered with some of my mom's closest friends and family. I wrote about the event here, here, and here. The evening was inspired by the Diner en Blanc that she and I experienced together 2 years previous while on a memorable trip to France. After that 60th birthday celebration, I decided that I would continue to do this Diner en Blanc each year around her birthday... Continue reading

It's time to bring back the Summer Fun list! We have not made an official summer fun list the last couple years but after spending the last 2.5 months stuck at home due to COVID-19, and watching that time bleed into what is going to be the longest summer in the history of time .... we needed to create a list of fun things to look forward to. And we are calling this our bonus summer. With Conner unexpectedly home from his mission in Japan (thanks to COVID) we have all 3 kids in our home all summer long. This... Continue reading

Day 3 of our church history trip was a FULL day in the car. From our hotel in Independence, Ohio to our vacation home rental in Nauvoo it was 585 miles. We got up and at 'em and departed our hotel at 8am. A couple notes that I made in my journal about the drive across Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois So many cute red barns and silos! So many bad drivers! Not loving the Ohio Turnpike and Indiana tollways. So many of the exits were closed! Made us feel super trapped. Illinois was delightful with spurts of torrential rain and... Continue reading

Many, many years ago when I first became a mom, my mom made a request. She asked me to make a few scrapbook pages about my family each year and give them to her for Mother's Day, which she would then add ongoing scrapbook album. It was the perfect set-up. When Mother's Day came around I didn't have to guess what she wanted. And she received a gift that was meaningful to her. After she passed away, I felt a little lost on that first Mother's Day. What do I do to honor her? I remember a small conversation with... Continue reading

I just love May Day. It's a little known and little celebrated holiday which I think makes it even more special because the gift of a may day flower cone on your front door is an unexpected surprise! Thankful for Trader Joe's flowers, people who design cute tags, and a day free of school & work so that we could zip around the area delivering some happy in the form of bright flowers. Happy May Day Printable Tags from Skip to My Lou Market Basket from France Continue reading

Continuing on with my account of our family's Church History trip in April 2017 ...... Day 2! After a wonderful day in Palmyra, New York (and 2 nights in Rochester) we packed up our bags began our trek west to Ohio. From Rochester it is a 235 mile drive to Kirtland, Ohio. Our time in the car was the perfect opportunity to listen to & discuss the scriptures, songs, and talk I had pre-selected for our daily "car devotional". I put all of these audio references into an iTunes playlist in advance so it was as easy as pushing play.... Continue reading

The last few days I have started to feel an interesting, unsettling energy that seems to build by the day's end. One evening, Scott took me for a drive in the Jeep with the top down around sunset to help me get through it. We went to the wetlands trails and walked and talked a bit. Last night I spent some time in the backyard all by myself, taking in the quiet. I don't like feeling that way, so this morning I spent some time while cleaning my floors to ponder on the source ... where is this coming from?... Continue reading

I don't think it ever really struck me that I was home. I hadn't even been out in the field a year, so I still pretty basically remembered and recognized normal life in the Brown home. Aside from the online schooling, things seemed very much the same as they usually... Continue reading

The Peter Whitmer Farm was our last church history stop on day 1 of our trip. It is located about 40 minutes from Palmyra outside of a town called Waterloo. The town of Fayette (as spoken of in church history) doesn't really exist anymore. I'm glad we had directions written down because this place is in the middle of nowhere. This is the surrounding view . . . The Peter Whitmer Farm is significant for a few reasons. This is where Joseph Smith completed translation of the Book of Mormon and the church was organized on April 6, 1830. It... Continue reading

After visiting the Smith family farm, Sacred Grove, and Hill Cumorah we made our way into "downtown" Palmyra, grabbed some lunch (see the tip at the end of my post), and crossed the street to tour the Grandin Buildling. The Book of Mormon Historic Publication Site is located on Main Street in Palmyra. Right in the middle of things. We only spent an hour at this site, but every minute was filled with wonderful things to see and learn. Like facsimiles of the original Book of Mormon manuscript and vignette scenes of what translating the Book of Mormon looked like... Continue reading

Nothing like a world-wide pandemic and home isolation to get you working on projects that you've been putting off! Three years ago our family took a wonderful spring break trip to New York, Ohio, Illinois, and Missouri to retrace the early history of our church, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. I'm just now getting around to editing the photos (which will end up in a printed photo book) and sharing our experiences, photos, and itineraries here (which I hope might be helpful for anyone else wanting to plan this kind of a trip). When all the posts... Continue reading

Recently, Darla of The Spiritually Minded Mom podcast issued an invitation to women to call-in and record their experiences & blessings they have received in following the prophet's invitations since last general conference. I called in and was included on the episode along with 10 other women. Here is a link to the episode: Episode 85: Blessings of the Prophet's Invitations One of the first invitations that President Nelson gave us since last conference was to ponder on two questions related to the Book of Mormon. Why is the Book of Mormon of great worth to you? And What would... Continue reading

At the zoom meeting (Sat, March 21), we didn't get a very good timeframe of when we would be leaving. All we knew was we were going soon, in a few days or so, and that we needed to leave our apartments like people wouldn't be coming back in a... Continue reading

(Photo taken during our video chat on Friday, Marc... Continue reading

Hello there! Rather uneventful week this week. Monday, March 16: had FFEP with a lady we've been trying to get in touch with for weeks. It is really hard explaining simple things just like God to Japanese people, because their beliefs are so varied. Had a nice FHE with a... Continue reading

Hello there! I guess you are all on a mini isolati... Continue reading

Hello there! First full week in isolation and prob... Continue reading

Hello there! Alright, you all know about Coronavir... Continue reading

On February 26 the church issued the below letter to all members in Japan. It lists additional coronavirus precautionary measures that affect both members and missionaries serving in Japan. You can also read updates from church regarding missionary service in Asia: COVID-19 and Its Impact on Latter-day Saints Around the... Continue reading

Hello there! The Lord gave us an opportunity to te... Continue reading

Hello there! Hope you like all the pictures! Some ... Continue reading

Hello there! So, I'm writing this on the train to ... Continue reading

Hello there! Pretty busy week with zone conference... Continue reading

Hello there! Happy Chinese New Year! Hope you're a... Continue reading

Tuesday, January 14: had DCM, but the only other p... Continue reading