Celebrating Gratitude

thanksgiving this year at the brown's consisted of football, hammock swinging, catching up on eachother's lives and of course aunt jackie bragging that her food is THE BEST. it seems as the brown bunch gets older, the family gets smaller at each gathering. there still were a ton of people and it's always fun to see everyone and their new babies (there are always new babies). jacob, alli, isaac, and jayce - did i spell that right? this

picture looks like a holiday greeting card. they're adorable!

the food, not including all the pie, which there was WAY too much of.

funny note: courtney of course brought her own mashed potatoes because according to her no one else knows how to make them and they are always too mushy. those are her potatoes on the right.

breckyn, stacia, kinsey, hailey, austin, maddison, addison, and me.



after we ate at the brown's, we went to kyle's parent's house to celebrate with his family. we brought harley with us to play with sadie and cinder. i guess all the cousisns think alike because four other dogs also came to the party making a total of seven dogs roaming the mckay home. dogs get special treatment with the mckay family. addison was in heaven and loved all the dogs except harley, who because she's still a puppy, was very hyper.



someone i have yet to find out brought rolls that were DIVINE. i think i stuffed four down my throat, pretty amazing considering i already ate with my side.



we didn't go to the mccleve's but we heard chantell brought a date named chad (page) who ended up being pretty helpful in kickball. awesome.



hope you had a great thankgiving too!

ps. happy birthday to jalee today, she is sweet 16!

The Good, The Bad, and the Guilty

Brittney and I for a fun group date did a murder mystery dinner on Noverber 13 since it landed on a Friday. We had a fun time decorating my parents kitchen in a old western theme. For dinner we had grilled chicken, baked potatoes, salad, baked beans, IBC rootbeer. There were little tin buckets filled with peanut, and dried apple slices and we drank out of quart sized mason jars. It was a good time as we debated, accused, and framed each other for the mysterious murder of a Judge. Turned out that Brittney was the murdurous villan.

I was Sherrif Wyatt Hertz the most famous lawman in the west. He never lost a gunfight, and some believed that he could take out a whole gunslingin' gang with a single round from his six shooter.

Brittney was Elvira-Lynn Fekshin, the consummate that makes no bones about it, so to speak. She's known throughout the territory as the "purrty" saloon girl, there's even a famous saloon song about here- My Heart Burns for you, and Other Places.

Jesse was Ellias Truist Heath is the up and comming heart throb gunfighter. He can dazzel spectators with his quick draw and a spin from his guns.

Michelle was Butch Chastity , known as the first lady of outlaws. and head of a all woman gang of the west. She holds the record for the fastest stage coach robbing. Kirt was Cheif Braking Wind, a distinguished leader to the Cowpai tribe.

Laura was Helena Handcart, Mother of all thirteen handcart boys. She manages the family cattle business, and makes it know to everyone she meets that she owns half of the territory.

Furture Missionaries: Elder Brown and Elder Brown

sunday was our ward primary program and isaac and jacob did a great job and they looked STELLAR too! many of you know carson and jen brown. carson is my mom's brother - aka my uncle. kyle and i live in their guest house and run into these colorful two all the time! carson wanted me to snap a few pictures before their hair was ruined and because they looked like missionaries (sound like jen? funny he would say something like that). i was happy to oblige. they loved having their picture taken and they had a lot of fun dropping me funky signs while i was snapping away.

so this is for jen, since she didn't get to see how precious her boys looked that day!

isaac crossed his foot on his own. he looked so mature, just leaning on the wall like a model for gymboree.

jacob is such a stud!

my favorite one is the last one below. jacob was the leader, creating moves and gestures faster than isaac could copy them. the expression on jacob's face along with his parted hair reminds me of michael from the office. so cute and funny - thanks guys!

for more pictures check out my blog! brittneymckayphotography.blogspot.com

Sleepy Times

in her nine months of life so far, addison has fallen asleep in some of the funniest positions and places that i ever though possible. she drove me nuts today, whining and hanging on to me wherever i go. there are two teeth budding on her bottom jaw, so i blame them. the house is quiet because she is FINALLY asleep for the night. every time i look at her when she is asleep, i ask myself: how can she be so naughty all day and look like that when she sleeps? so angelic and calm. thinking about this, i got on my laptop and went through our pictures to find more of these cute moments. i wanted to share some of her naptime happenings in no particular order.

the one above shows how sometimes she likes to completely stretch out. she was just over a month old and she looks so different to me. below is a bit more recent. she loves to put her face in her boppy or if there is a blanket, she will burrow underneath like a mole.




above: i love this one. she does this so often: falling asleep while holding on to the sides of her car seat. i is the funniest thing to see.

below: look at her precious fat rolls - or one big roll - on her arms. i could gobble them up with her cheeks!

below: kyle is proud that he can get her to sleep in his arms and i can't. looks like everyone can but me, here she is with my mom.

i took this one at the grocery store when i just happened to notice that she was asleep. one older gentleman saw her and exclaimed, "she looks so content, i wish i was her!" many people comment on addison's wide mouth which is always open when she is asleep.

falling asleep on my dad -grandpa is always the comfiest! definitely two peas in a pod.

falling asleep in the shower on daddy after her first swim in may. just like her daddy and mine. this is what life is suppose to be about - naps in the shower right?! what comfort and luxury!

another day after another shower. i guess it really relaxes everyone!

i know she isn't asleep here, but it wasn't long after this cute yawn that she was asleep!

nightie night!

A McKay Style Hallows Eve

halloween was a blast as you can tell. we paraded addison down the same street kyle grew up trick or treating on. we loved showing her off in her cute elmo costume. she was very wide-eyed at meeting all the new people and had no idea what the pumpkin she was carrying was for, but i think she had fun too.
she didn't know what the candy was but she loved all the colorful wrapping. her favorite new candies are suckers. she loves to suck on them and then dip them in the dirt or rub them on the wall and place them back in her mouth. i caught her with one of my keys the other day thinking it was a sucker, and crawling around with it in her mouth.
this sucker was her favorite. she found it and started sucking on it with the wrapper still on. when i took it to unwrap it for her she almost had a meltdown. you wouldn't know it by looking at her, but she has become a pro at those meltdowns by the way. i set her on the floor the other day. she started to cry and threw herself down on her stomach, with her head in her hands. during another one of these episodes she was crying on her arm. she stopped crying for a second and i saw one eye peek out to look at me, then she quickly put it back and continued to cry! she was wanting to know if i was paying attention to her tantrum, how smart. i had to try not to laugh because it was so cute. i LOVE being a mom.