Such A Happy Time

Some days I think..."Hey maybe I'll write on my blog." Then I become completely immersed in curling up on my couch in my jammies, and bask in the silence and serenity of my quiet home. I sip on my cold water from a cup, and read my book (The Inheritance) and maybe go to the gym or maybe this is after I get home from the gym. My brain starts to turn back on around 10 pm, right when I need to go to bed.

I'm in chaos all day. I don't think the average person understands the chaos of kindergarten. Today I was pulled from every direction. My afternoon class is just lagging behind in writing skills, there is just 10 of them who aren't confident enough to write words on their own. They can do it, they just need me there. I don't remember it being this painful. I don't remember writing 4 words taking one hour for half my class. Mrs. Clark, I need my shoe tied, Mrs. Clark I lost my crayon, Mrs. Clark I don't know how to spell cookie dough. Mrs. Clark Mrs. Clark Mrs. Clark Mrs. Clark!!! AHHHH just stop all of you stop.

I hear their little voices in my head. Its a typical horror movie.
But I love them. I need them, and after a long break I am ready to get back to them.

Except it was hard to go back after Thanksgiving, since we spent 40 hours in the car total. It was crazy and I felt like it wasn't a relaxing break. It was way fun regardless.

Our mini-van was sweet. Tvs, XM Radio (is that what it is called?? I don't know my brain has really become a jelly bowl lately). Brad drove way too much. I slept better when Brad wasn't driving and he was next to me. I woke up at one point and there were probably 20 or 30 elk in the middle of the road. Also, during that time Brad and Alex were drinking their 2nd energy drink and they drove for 15 hours straight. How is that healthy? They were cheersing their energy drink after I was SO mad at Brad for drinking another one. Brad is still having back pain from this drive. It was brave of him. And very kind to drive the entire time.

Brad yelled, "Im in my garments Brit!" Right when I took this...I didn't care. He wouldn't wake up. This was my threat.

We stayed with a good friend of Brad's when he was growing up in Dallas, they were in PCity for Tday so we just traded! Chels, Linds and I made Thanksgiving dinner. It was quite an experience, I kept saying, "My mom will be proud." Then when I messed up, "What would my Grandma think of me right now?"

Linds invited some friends of hers from Southwestern. They were friendly and afterwards we found out that one had never been to a Thanksgiving dinner before, due to being from NZealand. We kept apologizing that it was a pretty bad excuse of a Tday. He seemed very happy and impressed regardless that our turkey was the size of a small foam football. Kinda looked like foam too. 

After dinner we went to the Cowboys game. Brad insisted upon wearing sweats. It was quite wierd. He said, "I can wear these when its cold and when it gets hot all of you will be like, oh its so hot (then he pulled up his sweat pant legs) and I will pull these up and be cooled down."

Sometimes I wonder what goes on in his brain. Sometimes he is so smart and witty. And other times he is.....like a five year old. Its a strange and lovable quality he has.

Oh whats that in the distance??? A space ship.

No, the Cowboys stadium.

Brad bought a Cowboys shirt for the occasion. He owns a Cowboys snuggie, but we forgot it!

I forgot to tell you I dyed my hair. Well now you know.

We saw A LOT of drunk people. I didn't know there could be so many drunk people in one place. It has to be against the law or something. I understand one or two drinks, but how can you trust yourself when you get COMPLETELY drunk in a public place with so many other drunk people. Its just a phenomenon. 

We were in the nose bleeds. We saw one guy punch another guy a few times in the face. Believe it or not they were DRUNK.

Nothing against drunk people. Just didn't know it was so COOL to be drunk at a football game. 

First NFL game. I will be more prepared next time.

They passed out free signs. Chelsea fell for it.

The stadium was unreal, and quite suspicious. 

This is Brad's mom and her new husband Gordan.

This is Chelsea (Brad's baby sister) and her husband Alex. Alex goes to BYU and is super smart with computers, studies computer stuff. Chelsea is a nurse and works a lot.

This is Linds, she now lives in Dallas, moved from Boston, and is getting her PHD in Molecular Bio-Physics. I don't know if there is a hyphen there, but oh well. Half the time I can barely get it all out. Its for smart smart people. If you can get it all out, you are in. I am not in.
Brad, obviously is my husband, you know him. Mike is the only one missing here in this sibling picture. Mike is in his residency in Georgia with is wife Janeen. They were greatly missed on this trip.
I guess they are busy or something ;)

We had some real problems finding this place. We drove all over looking for it. Rachelle INSISTED she knew where it was. It wasn't there. We found it somewhere else. Cici's is a pizza buffet all you can eat 5 bucks. Brad and Chels grew up eating here, as well as Dairy Queen. (inside joke)

They were OVERJOYED to be back after so MANY years.

I felt no connection to cicis, but I was glad to be eating some food.

Chels looks like the zombie on I am Legend when he loses his partner. No offense Chels. 

Brad ordered an entire pizza specific to what he wanted. 

I am glad we do not have one of these in Provo. 

This is the "OH my, I'm going to eat more pizza than my body weight." Face.

True loves of Brad

Brittany 

Pizza

Guitar

Electric Guitar

All you can eat buffets

Sandwiches

Salads

Guitar Center

That sums up our trip. I'm going to go back to my couch curling up reading my book with cold water in a cup. Maybe you will hear from me another day soon. But if you don't, you know what I am doing.

PS we set up our tree, and it is so beautiful.

Accepted.

 Brad's surprised face at seeing everyone, rarely can I surprise him. He knew his and my family could come, but all his friends and most of my family was a huge shocker. The whole way there he was like, I'm glad nobody can come, I don't like all the attention on me. Such a surprise that everyone could come!!!

I threw Brad an awesome party at the chocolate for his well done work. He was very surprised, and also surprised at my lying skills. I was planning this party in my mind for awhile now. I called The Chocolate in Orem right away and tried to reserve the room. They of course said you couldn't rent it on weekends!! DANG IT!!! I offered to pay them triple per hour...nope.
Personally. It was a stupid move on their part as far as finances go, I had my family go early and order all the food, then go sit in this room, as more and more people showed up, we had the room for an hour plus. So it worked out, and I saved some bucks by not renting it at all.

Now that Brad has been accepted to medical school I thought my life would all pan out. I would know exactly what my next step would be.

But it hasn't. Not at all. Of course the relief exists of, wow we won't be here next year. Brad will be year one in medical school. But I just thought I would know what I would be doing. Everyone asks me what I am going to do, and I have no answer so I just say, "Well ya know that is the million dollar question, if you know, tell me please!!!!"

I could...
create my own preschool in my home
attend graduate school Masters in Human Development
teach
have a cute little baby
substitute teach and have a preschool
preschool and grad school
baby and grad school
teach and baby

The combos are limitless.
I have always known this was coming, and I was excited for it, but to leave Westridge, and my job and career has become more real, I'm starting to savor it more, laugh with my students a little bit more, not care if they are in their seats and no talking like little robots more...I'm relaxed.

Because I'm savoring.

But we are going to medical school next year, and although deep down I knew he would get accepted, I just wasn't sure for sure, now that I know, what do I do?

I told some family members I was thinking about graduate school.
They said, "What about a family?"
I said, "It's only 2 years, and what about getting as much education as I can?"
They said, "Its your duty to have a family, most important duty."
I said, "Its my duty to excel and be fulfilled as an individual as well."

They stopped talking to me.
What do I do? Its only November, and I'm starting to fill out the graduate applications, but its like I want Brad to tell me what he wants me to do, but of course he just wants me to do what I want to do.
So typical Brad.
My parents give me no pressure either way, especially now since my mom begged for me to have a baby before we left, now that she sees even if I get pregnant now, that's not going to be a possibility seeing how we will leave in July.
Am I capable of going to graduate school?
Am I really supposed to do this?
My answer is unclear. Is the boss just letting me decide? (God)
If so, he needs to change his mind and help me decide.
Or somebody needs to give me a really big sign.
I saw a baby last night at a reception, held her, I decided that's what I wanted, then Brad said, "Are you sure, that's a lot of work. Remember your goldfish? It's not like you can forget to feed it and leave it for Christmas break and its still alive.
Goldfish: Baby
Yep those are the same, good analogy Brad.
Typical Brad.
Well I guess I mostly am relieved and happy Brad was accepted to medical school, we aren't sure we will go there, because he absolutely loved Ohio State, but we do know that we are going, and Texas Tech was a very top choice of his.
I am so proud of him. So proud. He took a test not caring and got a 75 the day he found out he was accepted. 75!!! That was what I got when I did care and studied and studied.
Well that's a typical Brad.
My mom always says, "Brittany things always work out for you."
I am praying and praying that this will be the case when it comes to my life after Provo.

Today was a day.

Today Brad and I received the greatest Thanksgiving gift ever.

Accepted.

Texas Tech Medical School.


Accepted.

It seems too good to be true, that half of our anxiety is over.

We haven't accepted that he has been accepted yet.
Pun on words, but you got that.

Salt Fall Lake Break

My Fall Break last year was lame. I sat around and cleaned the house. Bore and Snore me to death.
So this year I was at school and before school on Tuesday I decided I would do Priceline for a 4 star hotel for 50 bones in Salt Lake City for Wednesday Night.

Got it!! Little America.
Brad took a day off and I decided it would be a perfect Thursday in SLC.

We started off by visiting Bruges Waffles and Frites, Brad got the machine gun...something about it made me queasy. Maybe the lamb. That really bothered me.

I kept thinking about my Grandma's house how she had baby goats, I know that's different from lamb, but still, I got myself grossed out. Brad loved it, and the fries on top were delish.
Of course I got the waffle with creme and strawberries.

We have a fun time there. I like watching the birds eat the fries.

I then walked on the moon. It was memorable, but I wish I would have brought better shoes, because the rocks really hurt my feet. (Clark Planetarium)

Brad was a tad bit cold on the moon, but he did support Texas Rangers even in space. True dedication.

Then we skipped over to Mars.

It was bloomin hot.

Pretty sure between this picture and the moon picture, Brad wins: Most awkward poses awards.

The best part....was the landscape. I was wondering what landscape Martians would have if they visited a Planetarium, and stood for Earth pictures. . . Would they have mountains, ocean, desert, or tropical rain-forest. Surely it would be Idaho with sagebrush.

Something to think about.

You know the random person you ask to take a picture and you explain perfectly how to do it, and make sure this happens and don't do this, and go ahead. Then she takes it and its blurry and your nose is where your eye should be??? Well that is what happened, and she walked away before I could get another one. But what can you expect, she lived on the moon...She doesn't even know what a camera is. Let alone that there is another color besides gray.

I had never been to the Hogle Zoo, and we felt it was time. We needed this day to be jam packed.

I thought the little Elephants were so cute. 

After all, I do have 2 elephant necklaces.

The entire day I kept saying, "This day is so fun."

This was a 'fierce' kitty. It was the size of a little kitty, and just looked so sweet to me. 

As always, my favorite are the giraffes. 

I think we tried to get the tiger in the background.

Well we got a zoo tree, that's pretty awesome too.

Booradley has this think with Man vs. Food places. He goes to all of them whenever and wherever he can. Crown Burger is delish and artery clogging.

But so worth every clogging bite.

Our trip was a success!

I apologize for the long delay of posting, I had some delays.....

emotional

physical

cognitive

delays.

But, this trip was just a blast off.

Stay tuned for Halloween costumes that will rock your socks off.

Downer

Some days are downer days.
Today is one of those days. I am still trying to figure out what it is?
Weather....
Brad coughing all night....
Bad scary dreams.....
Not doing anything for fall break because Brad has work and school....
Finding out we have to pay tuition......
I am not sure what combo of these things make it downer.
I refused to go to the gym. I know that is what I usually do, instead I chose to paint.
Haven't gotten out my paints in years....

I'm not sure what it is with me, even when I was painting I'm just like "WHY AM I DOING THIS!!"
I'm so terrible.
I suck at this.
Why am I even trying?


What is wrong with my body/mind....??
Do I need a vacation....
Probably.

On a happier note, I am presenting at a training tomorrow, because I came up with this creative tech way to teach...I'll tell you about it later..and I'll you teachers will use it :)

Next thing you know, I will be publishing a paper about it.

Maybe that is my problem, I need to look at the good in life.
Like how my sky in my paining finally looks like a sky and not a blob of paint.
Like how Brad bends over backwards for me.
Like how I have a job that I love.
Like how this year is much more relaxing than last year.
Like how I already know what I am going to get Brad for Christmas.
Like how we have this deal that we can't eat out on week nights and we haven't broke it for 3 weeks!!!
Like how I only have a 3 day week this week :)
Positive. I guess that is the solution to my downer day.

Get out of the HOUSE!!!

 We needed to get out of the house Saturday. We were just being bums and it was rainy and dreary outside. Brad did go shoot guns in the morning...but I just didn't feel like doing anything. But we decided to get in the car and see where it took us.

NYPD Pizza in Draper.

I was happy to go, eat some pizza, I wasn't sure where the Honda would take us next, but I knew Brad would come up with some places.

I used to not like Buffalo flavored pizza, but one time I ate it when I had strep and I couldn't really taste it, but I could taste it more than anything else, so now I love it, because that little taste was put into my bod, now I love it.

The Honda took us to Guitar Center.......It's quite the paradise for Bradley Bear. He walks around dreams about all this equipment and guitars, then we leave. This has happened at least 3 times, but this time we bought something!!!!

Two guitar stands. 10 dollars. Steal!!

Brad has this obsession with Man Vs. Food places. Here is a little waffle place across from Pioneer Park that Mr. Man Vs. Food went to.

It was small but so rich and divine. Way better than the Awful Waffle here in Provo. This one had these sugar clumps that caramelized and became heaven and bliss in your mouth.

We packed our Saturday, and mint.com (best website ever) now tells me that we are very close to going over our restaurant/ fast food budget.

That is why I held off on eating out today, and yesterday. Thai food is going to have to wait until Saturday again. (We have this new eating out rule, once a week!)
So far we have saved a couple hundred a month!!!!! We are eater outers.
www.mint.com keeps me real focused when it comes to being strict about the budget.
Try it.
OH a little update on Brad's medical school life....
So far he has been invited to four interviews.
Texas Tech El Paso: DONE
Texas Tech Lubbock: DONE
Ohio State: Halloween Day
U of U: NOVEMBER (We found out about this interview today...quite exciting)
I will let you know of any other exciting updates.