Brides Everywhere

As I have posted a little while ago my little sister is engaged to be married on July 27th. So what are we suppose to do as supporting sisters and mom?? Take her to every Bridal Fair we can, of course!! Free stuff is always being handed out along with discounts all over the place. We are hoping something will come of these shows. But if not I have at least had a lot of fun.

The photo booths have probably been the most fun since they take practice pictures. The first strip that decided to stay sideways is from this past weekend when we went to the Fair on USU campus. This was the biggest Fair I have seen there. It was crazy!! Plus it was way crowded. We left while it was still just barely getting started and we were sure glad we got there early. The second pictures are all the same just some close ups. These are from a few weeks ago when their was a Bridal Fair at Union Station in Ogden. My sister was actually unable to get work off, but that didn't stop us. We decided to go for her and just have one of us pretend to be her if needed. I was the one voted to be her. So I got the fun of getting my sister to dress up and make funny faces just so we could laugh at ourselves.
As far as I know we have only gotten some very good information from these fairs (and not just for her. I got some fun birthday and Christmas gift ideas. :) ) No Free stuff yet!! But fun was had by everyone who has gone with us. I think my mom just laughed a lot at the Ogden one.

Double Date

Brian has a friend from college named Sam. He has been friends with him ever since they roomed together. I was dating Brian at that time and became an unofficial roommate. The guys were all seriously like big brothers to me. Although we don't see Sam very often. We still try to have him come over to visit or get together once a semester.
Well, a couple Sundays ago he texted us and asked us if we could get together. So we figured out the time and place and met up. It was fun to catch up with him and have him catch up with us. (Plus we got to talk about another roommate that we had who is just making us laugh with his commitment fear.) Anyway, Brian had just started talking to one of his friend's from high school who just got back from her mission. She is living in Logan and just enjoying life. We thought these two friends of his could hit it off........so we set them up.
Only one problem!! College students have random job schedules. We only had two nights available to do it. The night of my family birthday dinner party or this past Tuesday. We let Sam choose. His choice was Tuesday. So I rearranged my schedule. Got work covered and we got the ball rolling.
Dinner and games was the plan.
And what a plan it turned out to be. Sam brought a delicious chicken casserole with a salad. We made some juice and provided cookies and ice cream for dessert. The night was full of talking about old times, learning new things about each other, and laughing really hard. We played qwitch, The Game of Things, and Would you Rather. Let's just say I ended up winning the 2 games you could keep score even when I was trying to not get any points I ended up guessing the right answer when I thought it was the wrong answer.
Overall, the night was a huge success in my book of having a great amount of fun and getting to know quite a bit about each other.
When they left though Brian and I chalked it up to at least all of us had a good night since we couldn't read either of the two friends and whether they had a fun night and liked each other. As we were getting ready for bed though we got a text. Sam had asked her out for another date and she agreed. We are so happy!! We don't care if all that happens is two dates. We just wanted to see our friends have a good night and maybe at least get each other back into the dating game.
I am just disappointed that I didn't at least pull out the camera once to take pictures. I seriously don't even think about it as much as I use to because I just want to sit back and relax. But I regret the lack of pictures the very next day. :( I really need to do better.

Snow......

....hasn't been around very much this year. It has been really weird. But the weirdest thing to me is that I haven't really wanted it. I usually am the girl who loves the snow. Especially watching it fall and drinking some hot chocolate while doing so. I really do enjoy getting out and going sledding or walking in the cold crisp air for a little bit. But this winter has been really different. I am almost happy to have warm days....but at the same time sad. I just couldn't figure out why. Until I started thinking a little more about it. I think it is because the plan this time last year was that we would be in San Diego where Brian would be in graduate classes and I would be doing whatever I could to help support us. My little accident last March and this internship changed that plan some. Now we are still here in Utah (which I am fine with and am loving) and looking for careers (Brian extensively and me starting my resume to begin). I have no clue what the future will hold as we are looking for jobs everywhere. I hope we figure out everything soon and then maybe I can sit back and enjoy the snow while I have it. Who knows if I will have snow in the place we call home next year.

Working

I feel like I never have time to post any more and never have anything fun to even post about. I think a lot of that comes from the fact that I work all week long, all day long. Then when I get my breaks with the weekends, Brian works all weekend long. We never see each other and when we do we make the most of our time to do shopping or just cuddle on the couch together. I can't wait until we both have careers and work CLOSE to similar hours. (I say close because in the sports world the hours will always be weird compared to a teacher's hours.)
Although I feel like I never have time and we never see each other, I actually do have some things to blog about to catch us up. Although that camera has seemed to never come out of the bag lately.
This past weekend Brian actually had a Saturday off. The first in like 2 months. So we spent the day relaxing and getting some things together.
Then we headed with my family off to Smith and Edwards since we were all together to celebrate the January birthdays. It was fun to walk around the store. They seem to have some of the most random things. We got some Free sole (shoe glue) to fix some shoes and a thing of candy for my dad. He stayed home to make dinner for the whole family. We then headed back to my parent's house. It was a pretty crowded house. However, I really enjoyed catching up with all of my family. We don't get together as the whole clan very often anymore. The food was delicious and we had some yummy pie for dessert since that is what the 2 birthday boys asked for. The pie was so good that even my niece who was exhausted and screaming because she was so tired stopped screaming because we got a small amount in her mouth. The whole thing made me laugh because she seriously went from this huge scream to saying mmmmm just because a small piece finally touched her tongue. Then she proceeded to eat about half a piece all by herself.
The weekend was very fun for both of us and we actually had some time to really relax. The only problem was we were worried about our car. It was at the mechanics due to some issues Brian had with it while coming over the canyon. We finally heard back from the mechanic on Tuesday and they can't find anything wrong. Hopefully, it was the one loose tube and the weather that caused the problem. We shall see when we pick it up this weekend and drive it over the canyon again.
Overall, the weekend was great and life is going good. I just wish I had a few more hours in the day where I could actually document what is going on in our lives.

Human Rights Day??

I was told this past week at school that in the state of Utah in terms of Education there is no day called Martin Luther King Jr. Day. It is now officially called Human Rights day (or something like that) since we can't celebrate one person. (I don't really understand it.)
Although I am now confused on the name of the holiday, I still fully enjoyed spending this weekend with Brian and my family. Our weekend began out very normal as Brian worked and I headed to my weekend home. But there were a few fun things that happened. Number one being that I pretended to be my little sister to enter her into lots of drawings for free wedding stuff.
Yeah that is right my little sister is engaged, wedding is set for July 27th

There are a few pictures of her ring. So I pretended to be her since she was unable to get work off and go to the Bridal Fair herself. My mom and other sister went with me and we had a lot of fun laughing and enjoying ourselves (especially in the photo booth they had).
Number two Brian worked late on Saturday. So he came to meet up with me a lot later then normal and my family had a fun time teasing him about the Broncos game that he came home to. (They got pounded on.) But Brian took it in stride. Number three....we got to spend all of MONDAY together. (This never happens.) Since I didn't have school or work today, Brian took the day off too. We were able to sleep in, go grocery shopping, get a jamba juice, clean up our whole apartment, go out to lunch together (and invite a friend), make plans to set up two friends of ours for next Tuesday, watch a really funny movie, cuddle, get another jamba juice (we have some great coupons for right now) and get ready for the rest of the week together. It was a blast. The only sad part...it snowed! We had thought about going to Sandy for the Auto Expo but didn't feel like driving so far in the snowy weather. I think we had a great day up here and were able to really relax and just laugh. The perfect combination for us. I love relaxing holidays together.

Last Christmas Present

For the last two years or so I have been asking Brian if I could buy a pair of boots. Every year we have tried and without fail something has happened. The first year we found a pair for a great price online and the boots never showed up. It took us two months to finally get refunded and figure out what happened. In reality, we have no idea where the boots went but we were finally reimbursed. This is when I learned that a lot of the deliveries we were trying to get were going to our next door neighbors in Anderson apt #5. Then the next year I tried to get boots and got some for Christmas. I loved them!! I wore them every morning as I headed up to work out and on days that I really needed warm feet. The only sad part....the salt hated my material and ate away at it until all they did was soak up water and make it miserable to wear. So I was out of boots again. Leading us to this year. I began my Christmas shopping looking for boots (back in September) and couldn't find anything that was priced reasonable and flat (due to pain and swelling that comes with wearing heels). It was really frustrating. Until Pinterest entered. I was glancing around at different pins and saw some boots someone pinned. I clicked and was lead to urbanog.com. Best site to ever be lead to, I found so many cute boots for a reasonable price plus if someone went in with me I could get free shipping. So I began to ask people who I knew were looking for boots....only problem trying to get everyone together to find the boots and order them. Weeks went by and boots were never in the size I wanted or I was unable to get together with someone to order the boots together. Finally I was looking one day and saw two really cute boot designs. So I sent the pictures to Brian to see what he thought and which ones he liked best. He was at work in Salt Lake and asked his female co-workers what they thought. Next thing I knew they had talked him into letting me buy 2 pairs of boots. So I did!

The black pair

The tan pair

I have had them for a couple weeks and am loving them. They work great casually and dressed up. They got here really fast too. The company provides an easy website to follow and they are prompt I was impressed. The only drawback was how strong of a smell the tan ones had. It was pretty intense when I first pulled them out of the box but disappeared within two days completely. (It got faint after the first hour out of the box but stuck around slightly for the two days.)
Brian did a great job finding me some super cute boots. I love them and the shirts he got me for Christmas. (and Anniversary and Birthday....that is when we first started to look.)
Thanks again babe!! Love you.

Thoughts

Earlier today I was thinking about how hard it is to try to squeeze everything into a day. Friday is always a hard day for me. Brian is gone, I have the house to clean, things to pack and gather together, plus getting up to school on time, and today I added in treats for the faculty. I was really tired today after a night of very little sleep. After school I called my sister and as we talked we were telling each other about the different things that are going on and how hard it is. Then I read a couple of my friends' blogs and I was reminded of something very important.
EVERYONE HAS THEIR OWN CHALLENGES!!!
I think we all have days, weeks, or even months where we struggle and feel like life sucks. We blame it on anything that is going on. I had a hard time a little while ago and now I just am having days that hit out of the blue. Brian also has these same things. It is great to know that we are all struggling with the same things just differently.
This was a great thing to remember today. I am blessed to have the life I have and the things that are going on. So I decided to write a little list of things I am thankful for today.
1. A husband who works hard for us.
2. A day full of laughs and experiences with the kindergarteners.
3. A family who always is willing to listen and talk.
4. Safely arriving everywhere today and on time.
5. Getting everything done on time. (This is a first!! I am never all packed and ready before leaving for school and today I was.)
That is a small quick list but just listing it helps me feel like today was even better then it felt and especially how I thought it would be. I hope the rest of the month and year will also be this way since Brian and I are in limbo of where we need to be and what we should do in the next few months. He is still applying like crazy to jobs and I am unsure what to do since my jobs all open up in March. Hopefully Brian has a job and I can apply where he is and not both of us applying all over the country.

Birthdays and Baptisms

Oh my...I can't believe how long it has been since I posted! Yikes!
The last week in December was a blast for Brian and I. He worked like crazy while I sat at home helping my mom and sisters out. Luckily, Brian got his schedule figured out where I got to see him every other day. I blogged some during this time BUT then the weekend hit. On New Year's Eve, Brian's niece got baptized on her birthday. It was a fun day. We started the day with her baptism, then a birthday party at the house. There was a little drama....but we had fun playing with the kids. So much fun that the camera NEVER came out of my purse!! I have got to be better about taking pictures. Brian and I then came home and took some much needed naps. We then headed to Wellsville to party in the New Year. We had some dance offs, Mario cart races, and watched the different shows for the event. After we hit midnight and had our New Year kiss. We raced outside with the nieces and nephews to set off some fireworks. Brian's sister had brought some aerial ones and they were so cool. We only lit off one because it was a huge box and sent off like 12 fireworks. I have never been that close to any fireworks that big before. The next day Brian and I went to church and relaxed with family. My sister, Liz, announced her engagement. Her (then) boyfriend popped the question on a scrabble board. The video is hilarious since my sister was totally blonde and didn't even realize she was being set up. I then had one more day off the relax and began school again. Brian began work right back up on Monday.
Then this past weekend we had Brian's other niece's baptism. The two baptisms were originally going to be on the same day but the stake changed their baptism date due to the holiday. This baptism was the weirdest one Brian and I had been to, things were just done very differently and it was almost like they were herding cattle with how fast they were in throwing you in and out of the room with the font. The next day we headed out to Corrine for the conformation. It was Natashia's birthday and her sister wanted to get confirmed on her sister's birthday. So we headed out for a quick little bit since we don't have any subs available for the Primary yet. But we went back out later for the birthday party. Overall it was a fun crazy weekend for us. Brian worked and had a basketball game, I had school then birthday parties galore for the both of us since my Grandpa's was also on Sunday. So I had a family party for him to.
Brian and I enjoyed the weekend BUT sometimes we wish we could have a weekend where we could just stay at home and relax. However, we love hanging out with family and friends....so we probably won't get that weekend for quite some time. But we will be enjoying every moment and hopefully taking more pictures to document them.

Birhtday Wishes

I was on facebook and came across a link that interested me. So I clicked it. Well I wasn't expecting this blog to hit me.
http://www.jenbshaw.com/2012/01/04/birthday-wishes/
Everyone who can should really send some birthday wishes to this little boy right now. He deserves the best 5th birthday!!