Finals Are OVER!!

Ok...So i don't have any finals.  But THEY'RE OVER!! That's all anyone is talking about...That and the 1/2 inch of snow we got yesterday and and how awful the roads are.  But FINALS ARE OVER!  do you know what that means? peace and quiet in the city of Rexburg for two whole weeks.  It will be nice.  Just hoping the locals don't overcompensate for the lack of college students.  Excited for Christmas to come in about a week! Whoop! Still have a lot of shopping to do. And I'm excited to see my little brother go through the temple on Saturday morning!  And could someone please sell us a good car for a good price? Much appreciated.

Cookies/Missionary Moments

COOKIES:
Brennen asked me to make some goodies to take to friends, family, etc. for Christmas.  I probably got a little crazy.  Saturday was my day off of work so i spent the whole day cooking up something scrumptious.

 The ones on the left are pumpkin cookies and the ones on the right are my famous snickerdoodles.

 Chocolate chip ready to go in the oven!

These took the longest to bake.  I almost didn't finish them. 

 This is the result of waiting for cookies that take 20 minutes to bake.

 It's a good thing this guy doesn't like cookie dough.  More for me! :)

YAY. I'm so happy to be making these cookies.

MISSIONARY MOMENT:

The Elder's Quorum  does a "Missionary Moment" every Sunday.  They asked Brennen to do it next week.  So we decided to buy two Book of Mormons and write our testimony in them and send them to our friend, Sister Miller, who is on a mission in St. George.  I decided to go through the whole book and mark my favorite scriptures.  This took me about an HOUR.  I wasn't planning on spending that much time on it, but I'm glad i did.  It was really cool to mark all the scriptures that I really had a testimony about.  And i just hope that whoever gets this Book of Mormon takes the time to read it because I know it's true.

Deck the Halls

Christmas decorations are up!  Now if only we could find a little snow...

 Remember when you made the Christmas countdown chains in elementary school?  Well Brennen wanted to do something creative with construction paper.  This is about how creative i get.

 The chain goes down almost to the floor, but it's about halfway gone now.

 My mom gave us this nativity for Christmas last year, and I almost forgot I had it!

 This year's christmas tree is a little eccentric.  We weren't able to get a real tree so we bought this 6.5 ft pre-lit one at walmart for 40 bucks.

 Our ornament colors are red and blue.  Brennen picked out the colors, but i put my foot down and said "Ok. if you pick the colors, they have to at least be sparkly."

 This is Brennen's favorite ornament.  He got it in a happy meal from McDonalds.

 Yep.  This is a pickle ornament.

 And this is me.  When i was 7

Brennen made this star out of construction paper and cotton balls.  He is so crafty!

So Brennen and I did try to get a tree from the wilderness this year, but the snow was too crunchy and deep to get through.  But on our way back home we found this:

I'm gad that I was able to get my camera to take a decent picture of it because it was stunning!  Idaho may not have a lot to offer, but we have some of the best sunsets.  I used to look for sunsets every night in high school.  To me they were a symbol of Heavenly Father's love.  I love that he gives us such beautiful things.

Turkey Coma

Ok, there really isn't a turkey coma.  How was everyone's thanksgiving?  Ours was great.  I did take some pictures, but not a lot.  I'll post them later.  Brennen and I got to sleep in thanksgiving morning, which was much needed!  We then took the turkey down to Idaho Falls for my dad to cook.  Around 1:30 we decided to try and do some shopping...and all the stores were closed.   Minus Wally World of course.  I think if there is ever a day that Wal-Mart is closed, someone, somewhere will try to sue them.  There wasn't much we wanted from there, so we headed home.  Really we went to look at used cars.  Remember my Intrepid?  It's gone now. :( Sad face. I sure miss that car.  Now we're looking for another.  We ended up with $4100 from the insurance.  That's about twice the blue book value.  But not enough to buy something nicer.  So we're still looking.  Anyways, back to thanksgiving.  Basically we just ate a lot.  It was all divine though!  Hope everyone else had a good holiday!  Next is Christmas! :)

Hard to give thanks?

I have found that it is really, really hard for me to give thanks when certain people are making my life EXTREMELY frustrating.  Who are these people you ask?  And when can we get together to kick their butts? Well they go by the name of Farm Bureau Insurance and the guy that totaled my car.  And let's get together tonight.  About a week and a half ago, I got in another wreck. Long story short, the guy (that totaled my car) won't answer his phone or return anyone's phone calls.  So that means I can't get into a rental car until, but the earliest, Monday.  Maybe he can take me to work and grocery shopping and to the bank and school everyday until I get a new car?  Seriously.  As much as I love walking 2 miles to and from work in the single digit weather, my 104 pound, 5 foot 4 frame just isn't going to survive that much longer.  Be a responsible adult and own up to your mistakes and QUIT MAKING MY LIFE MISERABLE!!!!  You got the ticket for pete's sake.  It's over and you know it.

Ok. Rant over.  I feel slightly better now.  I get really worked up over some things.  Well, after this rant, i guess it'd be good for me to list five more things I'm grateful for, to save my sanity and get some perspective back.
1. I'm grateful for two strong-ish legs that will get me just about anywhere I need to go.
2. I'm grateful that every time I have to walk home from work, I manage to find a ride at the last minute.
3. I'm grateful that Brennen can usually take me where I need to go.
4. I'm grateful for the government for paying for my education and my rent.
5. I'm grateful that no one was injured in this accident.

Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving wouldn't be complete without one of these:

WE ARE THANKFUL FOR:

A mild beginning to winter

Having more than one vehicle

A steady job

Family and friends

the Gospel

Service men and women

teeth

food

spaghetti

music

Bones

Chuck

Roof over our heads

clothes on our backs

...among other things

Hope you all have a fantastic Thanksgiving holiday!

The Titanic

Remember this post? Well, I did it again.  i sent one of those text messages when i wasn't even wholly awake...ya.  Well i finally know how to embarass myself.  It went like this:

Brennen was in Idaho Falls at the fire station doing a 24 hour shift, so I was home alone all night.  He was texting me when he could, and around 10:30 i decided to go to bed.  I figured that if brennen texted me, i'd hear it and tell him goodnight.  Well he texted me, twice.  and i woke up around 4 and found some messages from him.  Here was my reply:

"Sorry...i went to bed...i woke up because i had this dream that a lady with a mustache showed me a endoscopy of her heartburn at the temple...not even kidding.  i don't even know if endoscopy is the right word.  they put a scope down her throat and she said "WHOA!!!! Heartburn's great, but i feel terrible!"  and now the sprinklers turned on and i'm scared to go back to sleep, haha. See you in 4 hours! :D"

And i didn't even include the part where the lady with the mustache looked like she had no nose... man.  I think i learned my lesson.

p.s. we are trying to watch the titanic on DVR, but i think it only recorded the end? so confused right now. 

Home Alone!

This is me.

Home all alone.

My hubby is pulling a 24 hour shift at a fire station in Idaho Falls.

So i'm sleeping alone tonight. :(

let's hope no creepers show up.

So, since it's been a while--let me tell you what we've been up to.

WORKING

and

GOING to school

FUN.

Oh and being hungry for one of these:

I know, right?

On to other things..

Why is the sun setting so early??

It's only 7:30.  Really?

Ok. That's all for me.

Watch Conference yo.  Good stuff.

Peace

So much excitement!!!

Good news!!!  And pictures to tell the story.

I have been working here for 5 years:


And last night was my last shift!
I also was working here for a while

That was a fun two week run.
Now I work here:

That's the plasma center.  I'll be making big

And i'll get

And

And

Benefits.  Whoop!

Ok, on to other things....Tuesday we leave for

where i have never been!  I'm so excited!  We'll be there all week! YAY!! :)

Summertime!

Some happenings!
1. SUMMER IS HERE!  Brennen and I are finally out of school! The seven-week break is awesome! Especially when you get to spend it with family! Matthew and Nicki are here from Chicago, moving to Las Vegas, and that means that we might be going to Vegas next month! So excited!  There are so many things I want to do this summer.  Number one: sit down with a good book and read all day!  I can't wait to finally have some time to read things I want to read! This summer is the Hunger Games series.  Number Two: Swimming, swimming, swimming! I WILL have a good tan by the time the snow falls!  Number Three: Have fun!  No matter what..
2. New Job!  So i'm still working at good ol' Jamba Juice, but I just got a job at Pizza Pie Cafe too! It's way fun and the people are way cool.  So eventually I'll be able to quit Jamba...really what I'm trying to do is get hired on at the plasma center where i get paid GOOD money and benefits after 30 days.
3. We must be the only ones in our ward in town for the next 7 weeks!  I've been asked to teach Relief Society, Sunday School and speak in sacrament meeting!  Sheesh!  This will be the last time I'm here for the 7 week break for sure!

Pictures from forever ago.

Ok, so we don't have internet at our place, so i never have pictures to post...SO! here are the pictures from the last like 3 months!!!

MAY:

We went to the civil defense caves with Dexter and Rustelle to play hide and seek with glowsticks!

 Dexter and Rustelle

We took Rustelle's Jeep which was clean before we left! there were lots of mud puddles!

JUNE:

So Brennen and I had Wyatt over for a night so that Brennen could take him to his class.  So i made sticky buns for breakfast.

 Tip: DON'T use the "texas" rolls.  at least not all of them.

 Tip: Don't put them in the oven and then go back to sleep.

 One day Brennen and i decided to hike "R" Mountain.  This was the beautiful sunset that met us there.

 And we found this pretty flower.  It was really windy too.

JULY:

Brennen and i went camping and four-wheeling with the Teitjens!

 You can't really see it, but i'm holding a can of biscuits.  I actually cooked them over the fire and they were really good!

 On our way back, we stopped at Kelly Canyon to see the big canyon in the parking lot carved out by the snow runoff.

I call it "Kelly Canyon, Jr."

A kind of funny story about this camping trip: We were pulling 2 big four-wheelers on a trailer behind Brennen's little truck.  It was probably too heavy for him to pull, and I kept having panic attacks when we'd drive along a ledge or something.  At one point i actually had to get out of the truck because i was so anxious!

Tests

I should be studying for this test i have to take in 30 mins...state written...state mandated...but i don't wanna.  All i want to do is go play in this beautiful sunshine!! Plus i feel like i know everything there is to know about teaching kids how to read...HA! And then after this test i can eat dinner and then guess what i get to do?????? FINISH MY 6 PAGE RESEARCH PAPER!!! YAYAYAYAYYYY!!!! I will be so glad when this semester is over.

A ray of sunshine in an otherwise dark world

So, the weather has been unusually great here.  Like I mean, perfect.  It’s been in the seventies and eighties for the last 2 weeks.  And you know what that means? Time for some water fun!  I went up to Heise with Melissa B. and her roommate and had a great time.  It was super sunny with a slight breeze.  And I got one of the worst sunburns I’ve ever had.  Yep.  It’s summer.  Can’t wait for the Fourth of July.  That’s in 4 days.  Reasons I’m excited: 1) No school, 2) No work, 3) Family.  If this could just be the rhythm of my life, I would be happy. 

So, I have to take these classes called Idaho Literacy Comprehension (parts I, II, III).  And basically they want you to know how to teach kids how to read.  And then at the end of the semester, they give you this state test and you have to pass with a 70% or higher.  Well, I got a 92% on Standard 1, and now I have to take the second and third in two weeks.  But let me tell you a little about this class I’m in this semester.  At midterms, we had a guy from Mesa, AZ take out over the class.  We’re thinking “What’s so great about this guy?”  His name is Mike Oliver, and he is the principal at Zaharis Elementary in Mesa.  But that’s not all he is.  He’s basically the coolest person alive.  And let me tell you why.  He has this philosophy that we can take the books from all around us, and LEARN FROM THEM.  Weird, huh?  He’s like pioneering this whole new idea.  Well, not really.  At least, he shouldn’t have to.  In my opinion there are two types of books: those with substance and those with fluff.  I think that pretty much says it all.  There are books (not text books, mind you) that you can actually learn valuable life lessons from.  Who’d a thunk it??  How do we find these books you ask?  You look past J.K. Rowling and Suzanne Collins to find Pam Muñoz Ryan and Kate DiCamillo.  You READ them, not with the intention of being entertained, but with the intention of learning something.  Look online, ask a reader, do something to find these pearls among swine (ok, maybe not that dramatic.  I do enjoy me some Harry Potter and want to read the Hunger Games series this summer).

Ok, getting off my soapbox now.  But I really believe what Brother Oliver is trying to do here.  It is all so clear in my mind.  Yes, it does require a little more effort from his employees (AKA your child’s teacher) but don’t you want that for your kids?  I do.  And I want to be able to give that to kids that might not get it at home.

There’s one thing about being a teacher.  You don’t do it because it pays well, or has good hours, or it’s easy (and it always makes me sad to see someone skipping out on their classes where attendance is not required.  Hello, I don’t want you teaching my children!). Teaching is hard work.  It’s emotionally demanding.  Physically tiring.  Mentally stretching.  It takes a special person to be a teacher.  The Savior Himself was the Master Teacher.  Teachers do it because they love filling young minds with new knowledge and watching it grow.

Are you there?

I have the hardest time thinking of post titles.  So I don’t know if this happens to the rest of you, but are you ever totally incoherent when you first wake up?  Well, I am.  Brennen went off to play some Xbox with his guy friends last night and left me alone to veg on the couch watching some MENTALIST and NEWS and JAY LENO.  Then around 11:15 I decide I should go to bed because I gotta get up early the next morning.  So I crawl into bed, and discover a text from Brennen that says “what’s crackin?”  By this point I’m still wide awake and I answer, “Just crawled into bed..you?”  I don’t really expect to hear anything back because he’ll only check his phone in between rounds of zombies which can sometimes take hours.  So about 45 minutes or so later I get a reply that says, “I just told Nathan he was an idiot for not getting a trap.”  Wha??? Here I am, only semi-conscious, and what the heck does that mean?  I reply, “I don’t know what you’re talking about?”  Then I lay there thinking, I bet I just dreamed all of that.  Then comes “Long story” from Brennen, and I’m a little relieved because I was able to put together a coherent thought.  I tell him “Okay, I was just thinking that I maybe need to wait until I’m awake to send text messages”

Untitled

So.. i had all this stuff a few days ago that i wanted to blog about, but of course i can't remember any of it.  So some good news is that our laundry doesn't smell like fish anymore! Well, except for one pair of basketball shorts that i just cannot seem to get the smell out of. 

I have been spending some quality time with the sewing machine lately.  I made a nice pair of pajama pants that I've been needing to do for a while and two throw pillows for the couch.  Pictures to come..when i can find the camera.

and remember that softball team Brennen and I are on? Well the last game we played, Brennen hit 2 home runs!! And I...pulled my groin muscle.

Goosebumps

"Don't You Wanna Stay?" By Jason Aldean and Kelly Clarkson is my NEW FAVORITE SONG! It gives me the goosebumps! Watch it here.

Some good covers too! HERE and HERE.

:)

Fishy Laundry.

I know, it's been too long since my last post, but really...that's how boring it's been around here. Brennen and i have been working our tails off both at work and school.

We've joined a softball team too. Ha. Funny story about that. Our first game with our team was last Wednesday (about a week ago. The team had already played two games without us.) and we got there just in time to be thrown into the outfield. Well, I got to play catcher. I was about 4 feet away from home plate and the pitcher says, "you can move up, you know!" So i move up about 8 inches. Then i hear, "...you can move up some more!" by now i'm about 2.5 feet away from the plate and ready to get pelted in the face by the batter! I would rather not have reconstructive surgery on my face people! Not to mention that the next 2 days my legs KILLED from squatting behind the plate. LAME. I could barely walk down stairs or downhill for that matter, and my legs felt like wiggly jello every time i took a step. Tomorrow: round 2.

Brennen's had a lot of free time this semester which is unusual. he spends lots of time working and doing stuff with friends. Yesterday, Memorial Day, they tried to go four-wheeling, but it was freezing and pouring rain all afternoon.

I have 4 tests this week. That's right. 4. Well, 3 because i took one already today, and let me tell you, it was a doozy! It's for this class that i HAVE to take to graduate. DUMB. Luckily my wonderfully intelligent husband can help me out here, and that's just what he did last week. I've never really studied for a test until now. I got into the Testing Center and just about cried through the first 20 questions because i was sure i was going to fail. But, i came out with an 82%! I think I almost cried then too. Sent up a few prayers of thanks and some thanks to my personal tutor as well. The other tests i'm not so concerned about. Brennen on the other hand has more than 100% in all of his classes so far.

Another funny story, you ask? Well, Ok. You talked me into it. Brennen's got low HDLs (that's the good cholesterol in your body). So he takes all sorts of stuff to try and get them up since the doctor didn't think he needed statins (medication) for it. So some of the stuff he takes is Niacin and Fish Oil. So the other day i'm doing laundry and the washer kinda smells like fish. Weird. I go home and close a dresser drawer and it smells like fish. Pretty weird. I put on a clean jacket. it REEKS of fish!!! I'm gagging on this smell as i tell Brennen that something "fishy" is going on. Ha. He gives me this look of enlightenment and says "Oh, I know what happened." And suddenly I do too. He put a fish oil capsule in his pocket and then washed his pants. And now i have an entire basket of laundry that smells like fish, and i don't even know if i can get it out or not! I mean these clothes SMELL. and i don't even like fish.

We have way too much time on our hands...

So this week has been full of fun stuff like tearing apart a motorcycle. Here's what's going on. Brennen's only got 9 credits this semester. NINE. pft. well with his nine credits, he has LOADS and LOADS of free time. Which is weird, because i never get to see him while school's in session. Well, he's been riding his bike, you know, for like two days, because there's only been two good riding days this year, and has noticed that his clutch isn't working right. SO. He decided to try and fix it. He drained it or something and that didn't work very well. So he ordered some parts online. In the meantime, he's taking apart more stuff and doing more stuff to it....I don't even know! Ha. He can't do anything until those parts come in today and tomorrow. What do I do in my spare time, you ask? NOTHING. The good thing about that though is that i'm going to the temple pretty much every week. That's definitely a good thing. Other than that i'm just sleeping my life away. Blah. I made my schedule so that i could work during the days, and my boss just won't schedule me..during the day. So i've got all this time i really don't know what to do with. I guess i could work on making my pajama pants. I've had the fabric and pattern for a while. Maybe that'll be my next project.

Mother's Day

HAPPY MOTHER's DAY MOMMY!!!! I love my mommy! and all she does for me! I miss her terribly even though i just live 30 minutes away. She is always there for me and is willing to help me with whatever i need. Ich Liebe Dich.

Lost Motivation

I have officially lost all motivation to blog. Poop. Well, maybe i can get it back up again? Haha. We'll see. happenings here? Wind for the 523 day in a row. I knew it was a bad idea to curl my hair today.. Ha. Well, some good things that have been happening: Brennen came home from Idaho Falls one day with this:

A brand new $150 helmet. ("It's ok, it was $100 off")

I made sticky buns the other day and they were WONDERFUL.
The only thing is though, DON'T make them in a bundt pan. All the sticky oozes out the bottom. I pretty much ate ALL of them... Sick. Now i get to work extra hard at the gym. Yay. And i miss my newly married friend Melissa who is living in Indiana right now :(. She needs to come back. And a friend of mine just got called to the Louisville, Kentucky mission, which is the mission that Brennen went to. That was pretty cool. well, that's about all for today. Loves.

Blog Post Title.

Can't think of a post title for this one. Not a lot exciting happening. Lots of people getting engaged and stuff. That's always exciting. About my last blog post...basically The Voice is the best thing since American Idol. Just sayin. I LOVED it! I will definitely tune in next week! Um...That's it I think. Really Life is just really boring.

Two Words

THE VOICE

Check it.

And So It Begins..

Today i have to run a mile and a half. Outside in the snow. Boo. Oh, ya. It snowed last night. Ick. We're back in school...again...forever. I'm just waiting for my Doctrine and Covenants class to start, then it's running, and then sitting through another class all sweaty, and then dinner and work..Boo. C'mon school, really? I'm already this busy? BOO. Brennen's studying up for the GRE again. And only taking 9 credits this semester. I hope he gets a better score this time because those tests are 'spensive. Ok, so at school, we have these things called I-Cards. And basically you need them for everything on campus: take a test, print something out, buy food, etc. And you can put money on them like a gift card or prepaid debit card. And sometimes you can use them to get candy from the vending machine. But. It will only let you get something if you have at least $3.oo on your card. Otherwise it beeps three times really loud and everyone knows you don't have enough money get your Twix fix. Somewhat embarrassing. Dear school, could you pretty please just give us free candy bars whenever our hearts desire? Thanks much, Your Loyal Servant, Grace.

A Great "Weekend"

And HERE are the pictures from our anniversary "weekend"