Two Brothers

This week we had the chance to visit with

Harold's brother Roger.
Roger is 10 years younger than Harold
and he was only 12 years old when we got married.
Roger is a great guy and has a wonderful wife
and five incredible children.
(Who unlike my children are always well behaved.)
Roger is getting ready serve his second deployment to Iraq.
We were so glad to be able to spend some time with him
and our thoughts and prayers are with him and his family.
Neither Roger or Harold wanted me to take their picture!
Maybe it is because when they smile their checks close their eyes!
Good Luck Roger!

Happy Anniversary!

This week Harold & I celebrated our

27th Wedding Anniversary!
We are so romantic that
Harold took the kids to a baseball game,
while I taught a Childbirth Education Class!
We did get a chance to go out to dinner last weekend.

I am very grateful that when I was in 7th Grade
I made the right decision to have a crush
on this red-headed young man!
It still amazes me that we really ended up together!
How blessed I am that 27 years ago
I married my first crush and the boy of my dreams!

Another One Bites the Dust!!!

Once again it became my job to take the kids
to see the orthodontist this week.
This is usually a job that Harold does,
but this summer he has deemed it my responsibility.
Well last month when we went Gwen got her braces off!
This month Brad got his off! -- That just leaves Blake!

Brad's New Beautifully Straight Smile!

Thanks Dr. Holman!

Wheeler Farm Adventure

This summer Gwen and I have been involved with a Group from our
neighborhood that gets together for some fun each Wednesday.
Our last Adventure was this week and we took Winni along.
We went to Wheeler Farm and played games,
checked out the animals and went on a wagon ride.
It has been lots of fun to be able to spend time
with Gwen at these activities
(even though I sent her with Amber and her kids a couple of times!)

Gwen was pretty brave and tried to feed the ducks out of her hand!

Gwen and the sister she wishes she had ~ Winni!

This is how I felt -- just give me a little shade and let me sleep!

Summer is Almost Over and that means FOOTBALL!

The Brockbanks have had a dry spell from

Murray High School Football since Bryan played in 2005.
This year Bradley is playing on the Sophomore/Freshman Team
and they had an exhibition game on Saturday Night.
Here are some pictures of the Fun.
Bradley is #55 this year (and played center & defense like his dad!)

Nice Tackle!!!

Millcreek Canyon Revisited

The Prince Family had an ongoing tradition of going up

Millcreek Canyon each summer for dinner.
Some how this tradition faded away and
we haven't been up the canyon since 2001!
Gwen brought this to my attention when at the Family Reunion
she stated that was the first time she had ever had a Smore!
Right then I decided we needed to go up Millcreek this summer.
My siblings and their families joined us this week
for dinner and smores and just enjoying each other's company.
This is a tradition we need to keep alive.Cooking Smores!
The Cousins in 2001
The Cousins in 2008

Olympic Nostagia

I don't know about the rest of the world,

but I am very sleep deprived from watching
2008 Olympic Games in Beijing.
Michael Phelps and his Pursuit of Gold
has brought back many memories of when I was in Junior High.
That was the summer Mark Spitz won his 7 Gold Medals
and my friend Sandy had his poster in her bedroom!
Many of you are too young to remember this hunk,
but here he is for your pleasure!
(This poster was right up there with one of Bobby Sherman!)

Allen Grant & Zina Elizabeth Brockbank Family Reunion

The Allen Grant Brockbank Family (abt. 1980)

This week we got together with Harold's Extended Family.
We had a wonderful reunion with his Brockbank Cousins.
Harold's Grandparents, Allen & Zina Brockbank
had 2 sons and 12 Grandchildren.
Six of the Grandchildren and their families gathered
at Reid Ranch for 3 days of fun and adventure.

The Allen Grant Brockbank Family ~ August 2008

Joan, Grant, Brent & Anne

We had a great Reunion! Here is some of the fun we enjoyed:

This is secretly what we all wanted to do!!!

It was a great time being with family that we love so much!!!
We just wish all of the family could have been there.
How blessed we are to be a part of this great Brockbank Family.

"Thrusteth in His Sickle"

Bryan's weekly email came today. He shared an experience from his mission that I really enjoyed and wanted to share:

"We went and worked in the garden of a person who we met last week. It was more of a forest than a garden though, and she had us use a sickle to cut all the plants down that were overgrown. It was an amazing experience to use a sickle and learn how it works through practice - it gave me a lot of insight to the phrase "thrusteth in his sickle" from D&C 4. The first one is that no matter how hard we tried, we weren't able to cut everything down completely. We would swing and swing the sickle, but there would always be some that were still a little taller than the rest - teaching me that not matter how many times an area has been tracted or how many people have already been talked to, everyone still hasn't heard about the gospel. The next one was that it takes continued effort - diligence. One swing of the sickle didn't make any difference in the big huge field - the only time a difference was seen was after we had been working for a long time. Another thing was that we learned that if we flipped the sickle and cut on the back swing as well then we could cut more quicker, something that most people wouldn't think to do with a sickle, but it improved the efficiency by a lot, showing me that we can always improve our methods of missionary work."

Good Job Ben

This week I got to see Ben THREE times!
This is a very unusual thing for me.
It is not that I don't enjoy Ben,
but he is extremely busy with school
and working at the MTC.
Ben is a very driven person
who puts his all into everything he does.
Since he got home from his mission in May 2007,
he has been going to school full time
and working at the MTC at least 20 hours/week.
He has done so well in school that he has received
scholarships for every semester he has been at BYU.
I just wanted the world to know how proud I am of my son.

A Very Busy Week!!!

I didn't know that one family could pack so much into one week!

Everyone was going different places all week long!
It was making my head spin until Friday night
when Harold and I were home alone all evening by ourselves!
It was nice to have a few very quiet hours.
Here are some of the highlights of the week:

Brandon turned 17!!!
Because of everyone coming and going
we had his Birthday Celebration on Sunday.
It is hard to believe that "Precious Baby"
is seventeen and going to be a senior in high school!
Brandon is a hard worker
and has kept very busy this summer with his 3 jobs!
He is an amazing student and
is excited for his internship this fall.
Way to go Brandon! You are becoming a fine young man.

Gwen's adventure this week was to go
with all her cousins to see
"High School Musical" at the Capitol Theater.
We all went to dinner first,
then enjoyed this fun stage production.
Monday morning these Brockbank men
headed out for Scout Camp!
Harold only stayed half the week.
Brad and Blake had great time --
their favorite thing was eating exotic meats
like buffalo, white-tailed deer and elk.

Blake and Brad both participated in a camp relay.
This is Blake and his friend Ethan doing the canoeing portion.

This is Brad carrying another scout from the troop.

He ran this portion of the relay,

but slowed down for a photo op!