Engagement Photos

April 15, 2011

Chris and I had our engagement photo session on Wednesday. We went to our old stomping grounds…Tigard High School. Here’s just a sneak peak. :)

A friend of mine posted this on her blog from a book titled, “Family Life Marriage Bible.” As a mom, I found this to be completely true, and will be sharing it with Chris. Some other mom’s out there might need to share it with their significant others also.

Q: My wife feels mentally and physically drained by our children. What can we do?A lot of young moms face this problem. By the end of the day, they don’t feel they have anything left for their husbands.
Tips for wives: First, set aside the time you need with your husband to develop your marriage. Ask yourself if you want to improve your sexual relationship. All this spells, “Time.”
Second, make sure you are getting the physical and spiritual rest that you need. Take a nap in the afternoon if necessary. Take advantage of weekends to catch up on sleep.
Tips for husbands: First, reaffirm your commitment to your wife. Make sure she knows you are her to priority after the Lord.
Second, demonstrate this commitment by seeking to understand her emotional, spiritual, and physical needs. Remember, your wife longs for real intimacy with you! This may mean making a greater effort to help her out around the house. Some en never clean the kitchen or help put the kids to bed-and then they expect their wives to meet their sexual needs at the end of the day, even though they’ve done nothing to meet their mate’s needs.
(Dennis & Barbara Rainey P509)

Thanks Amber!

You can now preview Emerson Drive’s new album ‘Believe: The Lost Record’!

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Click the banner below to hear the AMAZING Emerson Drive’s new single, ‘Let Your Love Speak’

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SwagBucks!

April 3, 2011

Search & Win

Mommy Does It Right

April 2, 2011

A very dear friend of mine has entered the blogging world! She has just gotten started, but stop on by her blog and give her a warm welcome! :)

Visit: Mommy Does It Right

178 days ago…

April 2, 2011

Wow, has it really been 178 days since I last blogged? Holy crap! Where has the time gone? So many holidays to catch up on and talk about. I guess since I last blogged I turned 24 years old, celebrated my daughter’s 3rd Halloween, celebrated Thanksgiving, celebrated Christmas for the first time in 21 years with my Dad, rang in 2011 with my wonderful family, have been diagnosed with severe gallstones, and have also started a part time job since I left Farmers Insurance. Holy crap. That’s a lot of stuff. I don’t even know where to start really without going into too much detail! I really wanted to start this blog as a photo blog, but so much for that huh? Well, for the time being I will post a photo of something that I missed blogging about for now. I promise to update more often. Between the wedding planning, and moving here soon life is pretty crazy. I have engagement photos coming up this Wednesday! I am very excited! Stay tuned! :)


Happy Birthday to me! :) Peanut butter cheesecake thanks to The Cheesecake Factory!

Chris & Maya on Halloween. Tweedle Dum and Alice. :) (I was Tweedle Dee!)

Family Christmas Photo

Love.

Beach trip March 2011

Long time – No blog

October 6, 2010

I haven’t blogged in quite sometime, and there really is a lot to talk about now. First off…I WAS CHOSEN! Megan from IDKIWP called me two weeks ago and told me that my story was chosen for the next season of the show. I was floored! I had no idea that I would be chosen. I watched some past episodes and didn’t think that my story would make it – but it did! We set a date that an executive producer, camera man, and lights would come to my house to interview me, Chris, and my aunt for filming. We set the date for October 5th, 2010.

I spent most of the day/night on the 4th cleaning, and trying to figure out what I was going to wear, but also what Chris was going to wear. The next day on the 5th the crew showed up at my house bright and early at 8:30AM. Keren (the executive producer) was so sweet! When they got there they wanted to look over the apartment to find the 3 different places that they would want to shoot the scenes in. They said that mine would start around 10:00AM, so to go ahead and do anything that I still needed to. While they sat up, I finished my hair and make-up, and decided on what to wear — only to find out that what I had chosen was too light for the filming, and needed more color. Me? More color? Everything I own is black! After picking out a red top to wear, we were ready to go…or so we thought. We ended up changing the background of my scene about 3 times before we found the perfect set. At this point the butterflies started and I was nervous. I tried to stay as calm as possible. I downed 3 glasses of water just sitting there waiting for them to be ready.

11:00AM rolls around, and they are finally ready to film me. I start to panic. Afraid of messing something up – worried that I’ll forget or leave something out. Keren informed that there is no way that I could screw up. If I needed to re-word something, or say it again a bit more clear – that is perfectly fine. That’s the fun part of editing! As I sat there spilling my guts to these people I didn’t know, in front of a camera, super bright lights in my face – I was overwhelmed with emotions. Telling Maya’s story out loud, detail for detail I couldn’t hold anything back. Tears were forming when asked about my relationship with Chris and when asked what Maya means to me. 3 and a half hours later – I was finished.

After my set, we broke for lunch. We ordered pizza in, and set up for Chris’s scene. I sat back in the bedroom so it was quiet enough for the filming of Chris. Once they finished filming Chris, I went to pick Maya up from a friend of mine’s house that was kind enough to watch her.

When we got Maya back home, we changed her clothes so there was no characters and no logos. They filmed us (as a family) outside playing on our back porch, and then filmed us as we took a walk to the playground and played there for a little while.

When we came back home from the playground, it was time to get set up for my aunt Rayna (Maya was born in the backseat of her car and was named after her).  Rayna showed up and they were ready to film. Listening to my aunt tell these strangers how much I mean to her, and how much she loves me and Maya moved me to tears. I had to sit there as quiet as possible so nothing was heard.

Around 7:00PM that night we were completely finished with filming and everybody was out of my house around 7:30. It was an amazing experience and was also a bunch of fun. I can’t wait to see my episode. It is supposed to air on TLC in Spring/Summer of 2011.

TLC will be sending me a DVD of the finished episode for my own personal use. Chris and I are going to be having a viewing party at our home so any of our friends and family that would like to see it are more than welcome to come. :)

A Moment of Silence

September 11, 2010

I am proud to be an American. I want to thank those that are serving currently in the military for OUR freedom. I want to remember those that lost their lives that morning – not only in NYC, but also the pentagon, and the PA field. You will never be forgotten.

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If you want to send the troops a care package from home, see the offer below.

For only $10.00, you can sponsor an Avon Cares USO2GO Kit, which the USO will deliver to isolated troops deployed abroad. This is a wonderful opportunity to express your gratitude to our brave service men and women. The Avon Cares USO2GO Kit includes five full-size toiletry products. You can also send a personal message of encouragement with each kit. Avon Products, Inc. will donate $4.00 of your $10.00 to the USO to help provide emergency relief programs, family assistance activities, entertainment tours and more. There is no limit to the number of kits you can send, so support the people who support you—the men and women of the U.S. armed forces.

Contact me today to take part in this!

If you are in the military(family as well) or if you have an adopted soldier ask me about the military discount!

(No minimum or maximum amount required on purchases. No limit on purchases)

http://www.youravon.com/melissabrowning
melissabrowning.avon@gmail.com

I have already posted how I received a phone call from the production company regarding my story. Well, I received another phone call two days ago requesting information about the doctor & the hospital. Then, as I was getting Maya down for a nap the phone rang. This time it was advising me that they were going to be sending me release forms for us to fill out. Once we fill them out and they have them on file – we have to play the waiting game with the network. The staff will have to approve my story. Once everybody approves my story – WE’RE IN! :D I will have to send them a lot of photos now from the day she was born to current date. Good thing I have enough huh? ;) I am getting butterflies in my stomach now. I will keep everybody updated on this journey! Once I know I’m in, and when the show will air, I will be sure to let EVERYBODY know! :) Fingers crossed, prayers, and positive thoughts please. :)