A Brown Family Thanksgiving

While Casey was in Puerto Rico getting to know his team and settling in, Cash and I flew to Utah for two weeks. I love coming home.

Spending time with my Dad, family, and old friends. Seeing familiar faces. Visiting my favorite places. Eating to my hearts content. Staying up way too late reminiscing and playing games. Bundling up in warm clothes. Showing off my beautiful baby boy. Holidays. Utah has become my oldest and dearest friend whom I yearn to visit to share in her goodness.

Cash turned 5 months old while we were there. He are some things he loves:

• blowing raspberries
• laughing
  
• screaming at random times and then gooing and laughing at the noise he created
• flipping onto his belly at any chance
• drooling and putting everything he can get his hands on directly into his mouth
  
• not sleeping at night, and then sleeping like a champ during the day in his carseat

• being tickled, although it still kind of surprises him and the laughter comes out in grunts
• bouncing on the bed, he laughs so hard when I bounce him
• jumping high and being thrown in the air
• eating. There is a reason he's chubby, he loves eating. He tried his first rice cereal and banana's while we were in Utah. He made sour faces and gagged at first, but eventually warmed up to them. He loves sitting in the bumbo and eating.
  
• sitting up like a big boy

• staring at his cousins running around and playing
• dogs. All of my sisters in Utah have dogs, so he had lots of chances to stare at these little hairy creatures.

• christmas lights. He experienced his first Christmas tree at my Dad's house. I set it up while I was there. Christmas was my Mom's favorite time of year and I always looked forward to helping her set up the tree, lights, and decorations over Thanksgiving weekend. I missed her during the process, but it made me so happy to remember her and see my little baby enjoy it.
• Grandpa Brown. I don't know why, but Grandpa is one of the only people he will stare at when he holds him. One of his favorite things to do right now is not look at the person who is holding him. It seems like he purposefully looks at whoever is not holding him and tries to avoid your attempts to get his attention. But when Grandpa Brown is holding him, he stares at him like he's trying to figure something out. Like maybe, why is this guy so old?

• being good and cute. He is a really good baby. He doesn't cry much unless he's starving (don't come in between him and his food), overly tired, or woke up sooner than he wanted to. All of those things make me want to cry too! He is really pleasant, calm, and happy. Such a sweetheart. I can pretty much guarantee that every time I look at him and smile, he will smile back. How's that for generosity?

We had a huge Thanksgiving party in true Brown fashion. All of my 10 siblings were in attendance. We had way too much food and way too much fun. There was even a fight during dodge frisbee, classic Brown tradition. No one does Thanksgiving like our family.


The night hit a sour note for me when Cash threw up 4 times all over me. My siblings thought it would be funny to give him food, so he tried bread, butter, potatoes, yams, and gravy. I don't blame them, he looks bigger than he is, and he has a way of always looking at you like he is starving. Especially when you are eating, he sits there and smacks his mouth, licks his lips, and bats his big eyes at you. Hard not to offer whatever is in your hand. Fortunately, he threw it all up. We cleaned up and had a pretty good night after that.

I'm so grateful for a big family. We have a lot of fun together. My favorite memory from this Utah trip will be all of the quality time that Cash spent with my Dad. Just before we left, my Dad said, "I'm sure gonna miss this little boy. I have bonded to him so quickly. I'm gonna miss having him around." That made me really happy. I am so grateful that he is still here to enjoy my son.