Fun with Gingerbread

This is my face while being 'sly' (vocab word describing the fox when he eats the gingerbread man) and hiding the gingerbread man in my classroom. You see we walk down to the lunch lady's lunchroom and she takes us on a tour and then she opens the oven when it buzzes and HES NOT THERE!!! Its so enthralling and exciting for us. We might even let out some screams with our gasps. And some may say, 'HE GOT ALIVE!' Or, 'the story is true!!!'We were all set up back in the classroom to eat him, we had our napkins out and everything. WHERE COULD HE BE!!? So we are so quiet when we walk back to the classroom just in case he is somewhere in the halls and we can sneak up on him. (Quietest my kids will ever be in their entire lives). Then we go back the the classroom. I make them do work in agony while they are thinking of ways to trap him.
'Let's put a fake gingerbread friend in this box, then when he jumps in I'll slam the lid down and we will have him!!!'
'I'll build a gingerbread house, then he will think it is his home, then we will EAT him.'
Then I find a note from him (surprisingly in my handwriting) where he gives a clue as to where he is....and then, someone finds him. Today he was in a pan hiding on top of the cupboards. They tell me to SHHH because we don't want to wake him. Then when I got close to him, they were all screaming and had their hands over their mouths, jumping up and down. And low and behold here is the sugar overload!!!!

I have to make it completely covered in candy, so that every who gets a piece gets candy, its a management thing.
I also know that his arms are way too long in proportion to his body, but the fact that he is on the pan is a miracle alone. I wanted a cookie substance, not a cake substance, because cake would be unshapable, (Not a word, but I just made it one) due to its runniness. (Not a word, but I just made it one) So I was supposed to put 1/4 cup of water, I accidentally followed the cake recipe and put it 1 and 1/4 cup of water....so I had to add 5 extra cups of flour, and 2 cups of sugar, and so the ginger was quite subdued. I didn't want to go to the store at 10:00PM night before, so they got a cakey, and long armed result, and like I said I had to make 2...
That story could have been condensed into one sentence...oh well.
Anyway, it was a fun day, full of excitement and energy. And on days like this I feel empty of energy due to me being in a room with 23 high sugared energized 5 year olds, and 1 or 2 six year olds :)

Oh that reminds me....have you seen my room? Last year I was just overwhelmed and couldn't even think straight. So I'll give you a partial tour.

It's hip right? Oh good because that was my biggest concern....Not really :) I'm just surviving in 1/2 the size of a classroom that a Kindergarten should be :) No I love it, and have come to appreciate it, and its smallness, and windowless ways. (Smallness, and windowless are BOTH words! Yay!)

See that baby on the wall.....??? That is a promethean board, and I love it!!! Its like an ipad on the wall. Best description. Well Brad and I just finished watching the most awesome BYU football game, and now because its Friday night and we are celebrating him taking a final and getting a 100........when his text to me was, "Here I go! Its kind of exciting to be unprepared:)"
Truly, I don't even worry about him anymore. Its a good thing though, I have deleted that one stresser from my life (Stresser isn't a word, but I just made it one)
And my fav thing to do with Brad when we have nothing in the morning is to watch a show in our bed on our laptop.
On the top fav things to do, its probably number 3. I'll let you decide the rest.

Recently....

As you may know. ... Brad is applying to medical school. For all I know, they check his wife's blog to see if we are normal, and as you may know...we aren't really that normal.
This is the picture of Brad I took for his medical applications.
As you can see he looks handsome and wonderful....
what you don't know is that he only has underwear on below.

I think that makes him more likable, more well rounded, and just funny. I wish I would have taken a full body for memories...but I don't think I will.
Brad and I scrambled for many months trying to fill out the applications, save money for traveling and applications, and then it was on to secondary applications. So now we are watching man vs. food columbus, ohio. We had to watch this specific one. We had to completely do everything around this 9:00 episode.
That's because he is going there on Halloween Day. To interview at Ohio State. Is he worried about the interview??? Not really, is he worried about if he can hit up all the man vs. food places???
Yes.
(Exaggeration is part of who I am so.....take these previous comments as you will)

Also, I am just teaching away again, 2nd year is 50 times lighter stress than your 1st year, but its still stress collapsing. But it works out, I still manage to cook dinner at night and then collapse and think about doing the dishes. (Brad and I made a deal to not eat out once this week, except Sat we are going to celebrate by going to awful waffle)

Okay, last week Brad's mom got married, it wasn't a big thing but I thought she should have a bouquet so I put this one together from costco flowers, and a few button mums...it was simple but purple and that was the color she needed, so we did it! In our bedroom we sleep with the FAN at ALL times. Also, we have no power in our room so we extension cord everything in from the living room. Fire hazard, I think so.

We are busy, but still living in Provo and having a blast. Yesterday Brad and I went on a run and I have this handy dandy headphone microphone thing that I can talk on my phone hands free, (I realize this isn't that cool, but I love it) and I talked to my mom on the entire run, which was great because she can tell stories, and I can listen and say exasperated, "uh huh, uh huh".
Welp, this is an update. And I am meeting my goal of posting everyday. For my journaling (not a word, but I just made it a word) sake, and for viewers like you.

Simple Things

One simple thing can make your day. Or break it. One unkind sentence can shatter your week, or even your 2 weeks. Or one simple nice sentence can make your entire week, or 2 weeks. I would rather be the person that made your week. Not shattered it. Be thinking about that. Be thinking about how someone has complimented you. Someone you didn't expect. Like when I wore my knew tights/pants yesterday, and someone told me I looked so good in them.....How did that make me feel? Instead of chubby and large, I felt in charge of myself and happy.

So today, a parent and student from last year brought me this bracelet. That they bought for me. Number 1, its adorable. Number 2, I wore it all day. Number 3, it made me feel special, like someone outside of family thought of me for a second outside of school. Thought of me, more than just oh she's my teacher, but how about let's buy or make her something oriented around the things she does.

So forever in my mind this bracelet will remind me of how something can make or break your day, or when your day is already broken, it can repair it, and make it all better again.

Food for thought.
Brittany Noodle Soup for the day.
A spoonful of sugar.
BrittanyAttitudes.
I'll stop.

Moments like these...

Sometimes I think about the small things I should appreciate. The small beauty. The small parts of life that I love. The parts of teaching that make you think that I should be a teacher. The things that are so cute and cuddly you want to squeeze their cheeks.

I want to show you this person's face. I know you know its a girl. She is in my class. There is just legalities that prevent me from showing you the entire picture. I guess I could, but I just want to keep this little one safe. But, do know that she is adorable, and this drawing exploits straight happiness from me. When I saw it I had to document it. All these drawings are from her own head. And how is she so cute. She likes all of those things. And I love her.

I hope this picture exploits only happiness from you.

Home town feel

I know you all think you have the most beautiful family, location and home...But that is where I have to show you some pictures to have you rethink your prior feelings.

You may move to Standrod.
Standrod is a place where the sky goes on forever. At night the stars are brighter than car lights, and the moon is screaming for people to just look at it. The mountains are green and majestic. No human or animal could feel uneasy in this place. And it just so happens, that some people stopped by and caught the beauty.

My parents have this very breathtaking garden. Not the small lot you see in someone's backyard, but yet....this garden that could feed a small village.

I spent a few hours picking corn, carrots, squash, zucchini, cucumbers, beans, all sorts of peppers, herbs, and cabbage the last time I was there. During this time, Brad, Aaron and my little brothers spent their time seeing who could clear the squash plants by jumping over them. (No squash were hurt during this time, I know you plant-activists were worried). If my family's yard doesn't make you happy, stop reading now, because its about to get worse.

My sister Faith thinks she owns the garden. She will roam around the whole time you are there talking about all the vegetables like she knows everything. You can pretend like you know nothing, and she will tell you the names of everything and what it is good with (butter, cheese, salt, pepper) or not good at all, "those are peppers, they are yucky, psllhhhhhh." As she blows her tongue out and spit goes everywhere.

I think what kills me is all the different shades of green. Its not just one color, its every color of green. Fall is coming so the surrounding areas are turning shades of yellow, orange and brown. I love this picture because it shows the vastness of the garden. My mom and Faith look like specks against the superior plants. How can anyone get more home grown than this??

Good thing my parents planted Pea plants, otherwise Faith would be starving. She told me, "Come get some Peas!" I said, "WHAT! I don't want to eat Pee!!" She looked at me and said calmly, "Brittany they are not pee in the toilet they are green peas that you eat!!!" I said, "Oh like the letter P!" She said, "NO! Just come and look." Then she went on to explain how to pull them off the plant, "Just like this," She kept saying. I acted fascinated and bewildered as she pulled a pea pod off and proceeded to open it and show me the mini peas hooked to the inside of the pod. "Oh so wonderful," I kept saying, pretending this was the newest and most interesting thing I had ever seen.

If you want solace, peace, and beauty, come to Standrod and make sure you stay outside, because inside is absolutely chaos and terror with all those kids running around.

Is it that time again?

So life is coming to an end because school is starting again. That is really the best description. Don't get me wrong, I still live, but it feels like I am on autopilot. I just let school, kids, and husband control me. Well, that sounds worse than it really is. But time just disappears and I wait for bedtime where I can just shut off. But I don't even shut off then...I am still thinking about all the to do list items I need to do. This year has already been better than last year though. I know what to expect. I know what to stress about and I know what to ignore.

But its about to get hairy. And fuzzy and blurry.
2 classes full of 23 5 year olds. How can that not be a blurry and drenched with exhaustion day?

It will be.

Not to mention that Chelsea and I's business is up and rolling.
check us out :)

kangababycarriers.com

like us on facebook

and come to swiss days and see us and all of our glory.

That makes this week a busy nerve racking week.

School starts.
Swiss days on Friday and Saturday.

And I'm thinking about starting a journalling project. OH man it's going to be fun. And it will help me be able to come back and see what I did for a year, instead of looking back at a blur and some pictures with very little memory due to me being on autopilot.

I'll talk about that project later.
For now, just explore our website and think about swiss days, and think about how much handmade glory you can partake in.

Brooke: Jewelry
Tosha: Skincare
Summer: Cute hair clips
Brittany/Chels: baby wraps

Brad: sitting at the music festival for 2 days straight eating bratwursts.

But I let him do what he wants.... because he looks like this.....
HOT
I also let him golf 54 holes of golf in 2 days.
Let him....uh I guess I don't really "let him".
It's not like he asks permission. He just knows I don't mind. I guess thats the correct way of saying it.
That's why he has a farmer's tan....

You know we went to Gloria's Little Italy for delicious cake, and its HALF OFF on Saturday nights!!! 

I shouldn't have told you that....less for Brad and I.

Brad always says that he can see his double chin after he eats bad....well, I can always feel my button on my pants getting a little stretched. That's why the solution could only be one thing!!

Wear a stretchy waist skirt.

Gosh.

Our friends had a baby.

That's why when we hang out with them they always do this.

Heather and Kevin Myers. Parents of adorable baby Cohen.

 Brad had 2 interviews at medical schools in Texas. And Chelsea's husband is still in Africa. So we decided we could hike the Y at 11 PM. It was lit up and so beautiful.

Now you have a 4 week re cap. My project is a post a day starting soon. I need some motivation, but I really really want to do it. After Swiss days.

Summer is officially over. I will keep talking about it though.....its like Harry Potter, I never want it to be over.

Oh ya, I forgot my birthday. Well I didn't forget it I just forgot to show it to you.

I turned 23. So old. We had a little party with family at Zupa's. I'm the worst wife. Brad set this all up as a surprise. I said, oh we are going to sushi!!! Thank you so much. He just frowned, no sorry Zupa's.

It was wonderful, I just always open my mouth and make people feel bad.

Did I mention we went to a demolition derby?

 It was the first time ever Brad wore a collared shirt that wasn't a church shirt or a golf shirt. I felt like that was a success in itself.

Now I bribe him to wear it any chance I can get, so far I have been unsuccessful. But he was smokin. And of course always is, but of course that's boring to hear about.

Until next time.

Don't want to brag...

So I must tell you what that hideous picture is...

It started with us getting married 2 years ago....So we had to go on an anniversary trip this year.

This is about to get onto the freeway in Provo, headed to our first pit stop.

Zions.

I need to apologize for the following pictures. Facebook doesn't let you save as image anymore, so I had to screen shot...and I didn't feel like cropping. That would have overwhelmed my blogging capabilities today.

Brad felt the need to lift me here......strangely enough. My aunt thought it was someone else and not Brad and she freaked out when she saw these pictures.

This is the end of the canyon part. But little did we know that the part was coming up where we ran completely out of water and the scorcher was out. (SUN) Also, this was my favorite part hiking out of the canyon through a river!!

This was my problem THE ENTIRE HIKE. No butt, and mesh G's and polyester pants. Okay Greg, I'll wear swim shorts next time!!!

I probably should have taken my helmet off for this photo op.

K I'm going to tell you this and it probably won't be as funny, kinda one of those had to be there moments, or maybe it will be hilarious to you either way. I'll just get to the point. ISN'T THIS HELMET ON BRAD FREAKIN FUNNY PEE YOUR PANTS FUNNY????!!!!  Everytime it tipped sideways, I just bursted into laughter. He looked so funny. He got sick of me laughing right in his face, so I started to just laugh behind his back. He looked so cute too. So I had to tell him that everytime laughs shot out of my mouth when he looked at me with a sideways helmet that was bright construction orange.

I am positive that this is the first time I have seen Brad actually scared to do something. He is always good at everything, but this was scary. I think watching him go first helped me to not be scared. I liked his voice at the bottom of the 40 foot repel, saying, "Good job, muffin." Then I would yell back, YA Muffin TOP right now with these Meshy G's hangin out!!!

 

 

 So did I tell you that this was to start our trip to Vegas? Well it did, and we were tired, because we slept in Brooke's car. It is a  Acura MDX and I just felt stuffy in there.  I threw a fit because I didn't want to sleep on the tarp, because of rodents crawling into bed with me, and I didn't want to steal Brooke and Aaron's tent, and we forgot ours....and we had to wake up in 4 hours anyway so we just slept in the car. At first it was completely a scorcher humid disaster, then the wind picked up and Brad froze to death, but I didn't because my window didn't roll down. Anyway, I felt like I was just covered in red sand the whole time, and my car still is!!

But that trip was successful and thank you Sally's boy toy Greg for taking us!!!

Now on to the real anniversary trip!!

Relaxation.

TV.

Delicious food.

Gaining 5 pounds!!!!

 First we stopped at Hash House A Go Go. 

Man Vs. Food episode special.

Brad of course got what he got...and it was good.

Enough food to feed a family.

It was like a breaded chicken on top of biscuits and some cheese deliciousness sauce.

Did I mention we had a restaurant.com coupon?? Well we did, and it only cost 2.00, so that means we got 48 dollars worth of food for. 15 dolla!!! Awesome!!

I had to get the pancake served on a platter of course!!

Oh my heck I gotta hurry and finish this post, Brad is getting annoyed.

Here is our SWEET SUITE. Gotta play on that word, of course.

Of course we had a view of the Belliagio waters. Of course!! So beautiful!

Here is our other part of the room....Bed with a flat screen...Sorry if its awkward..maybe it wasn't and now it is....its our 2 year..its not like that anymore...actually it still is. Wow I just made this overboard awkward. 

We somehow have made it to Vegas for our honeymoon, one year and now TWO YEAR! But I'm not sure we will make it there for 3 year!! But we will sure try! Every time I have wanted to go to the temple in Vegas, this time we made it! It was beautiful and I love to see the temple and I could never imagine this would be my life for ever with Brad!! But it is the greatest!!

Our last night we wanted to just go all out so we visited the Cheesecake factory, and we couldn't decide on a cheesecake so of course we had to each get one.....gym the next morning, no worries...

We had a wonderful anniversary, next year I am going to make it a tad shorter, Saturday to Thursday is quite the trip, but it was gone before I knew it and I loved every minute of it. Of course I made Brad take me to the outlets where I JCREWED IT up. :) Who knows what that means, I spent like 30 dollars and got a necklace and a dress, so ya I spent a fortune! 

So I bet you are still wondering what this is?

Well, see we put our bodies outside by the poolside for a few hours, and since Brad is a palomino, (albino horse) he fried!!! I also put some tanning lotion on him and that seemed to fry him even worse from the scorcher, (that is what I have named the sun if you didn't know) anyway this is a WEEK LATER. So after we got home he started to blister on his stomach so so so bad, and when he got in the shower his blisters would all fill up with water. It was so awesome how big those pockets of water were. He will never use my tanning lotion again!! Also I hope you enjoy looking at Brad in a towel. 

 

 

 

Brad is officially mad at me for taking forever to post this. Sometimes he just doesn't appreciate journaling.

Did I fail to mention that Brad did awesome on his MCAT so here is a burning party we had with friends.

I know its impossible to see anything, key in point, they are holding MCAT papers...thats all you need to know.

Also, now we are in the interviewing stage. And with that comes more expenses and anxiety. So I have attached a donation box to the end of this blogpost. JK, I wish.

Anniversary: Success

Tan for Bradley: Fail

Love the festivities.

I'm going to start this post with a picture. Obviously. You figured that out. If you can guess what this is. I will personally kiss you on the cheek. Do you even want that? Oh well. Try to guess. I tell you in a few weeks when I have time to post on my blog again.

Remember how I have tons of time now? Well truth is...I don't. You see, Sally thought it would be a good idea to work at a snow cone shack during this summer while I am not working. Problem is, I picked up a summer school job teaching Kindergarten kids who aren't ready for K and K kids who aren't ready for first grade. And, problem is, I am trying to get ready for swiss days....so ya..time is limited. Well I live in the shack, and summer school is stressful because I'm trying to get these kids somewhat on level. Teacher stress. You know that.

Let's stop talking about stress. Let's talk about the fourth of July. This is a mixture that we put together before we nuked it.

That's what I call liquid nitrogen. Nuked.

 Being completely nuked. I don't know if 10 year olds can run the nuker. But they did. I am sure this is illegal, so I won't divulge any evidence of the situation. Clark family bbq.

You have to use Styrofoam, otherwise...your cup would freeze and break...but it freezes anyway.
Best ice cream I've ever had. Gets all milkshaky after. Love it.

We left the party extremely happy. I saw one of my student's that was Brad's cousin's child, and that was fun, and it's good to try to get to know everyone.

After that party, we went to this party at my sister's house in Midway. Jeremy (married to sis Hannah) bought legit fireworks. Midway on fourth of July, best fireworks ever! Not even kidding.

Lance and Tosha have a perfect backyard. Enough of my family live down here now..its like...why even go anywhere else????? We kinda leave people in Standrod hangin though.
Stay tuned for the mystery picture truth!

What you have all been waiting for!!!

Who and where did we see? That's what you wanna know right?

This was your clue. And yes you may have guessed Vail, CO and you were right!!!!!!!!!!

Now for the celebs we saw.

Of course the triplets! The triplets I was a nanny for in El Paso, TX back in 2007. Wow so long ago. They were just cute babies. Now they are all grown up and think kisses are gross.

Back in 07 when Trevor would kiss me. Now they scream and yell and think it's so Weird!!

What fun we had in Texas!! This is Bryce. Look at those cheeks! Oh it hurts me that they are grown up. But they say the greatest things at six.

And they confessed to me that they like Brad better. He can throw the ball with them at the park. He can talk about manly stuff. He can build their legos.

Vail is so gorgeous in the summer. I like it in the winter, but just adore it in the summer.

Tracy called us and said, Come up for a weekend we will be in Vail for awhile.
SO OF COURSE! They are moving to Chicago, so I don't know how I'm going to deal with them being so far away. They live in a beautiful area so quaint and posh. Can't wait to visit them there.

They have a family condo in Vail so we just traveled the journey right on up that hill.

OF course we had twizzlers for brad, sour gummy worms for me. And I ate too much on that trip. Period.

We went on a gorgeous hike. Trevor of course wanted to go so far up. He never wants to stop. He is bigger and just more "BOY" than Bryce and Reid. Some things never change.

Hike was wonderful and we were passing hard core hikers with boots and everything. Love it! Six year olds are intense. On the way down the boys just kept fallin on their bums and sliding down on the steep parts. Tracy told Reid that he was going to have to change his clothes and he said, "Why Mom, the dirt is brown and so are my shorts"

DUH MOM!

He was like head to toe in dust and dirt.

We then rode up the Gondala and had the best brisket sandwiches. Yum! We forgot to use our food vouchers that we bought a thousand feet below. OF COURSE WE DID!!! (Of course is like my new favorite word! Totally I'm 16 again!!! Like ya!)

Brad taught them the ways of the world.

We got to do all sorts of fun stuff at the top. Bouncy bungie cords with snow all around us!!

Rock climb and ring a siren at the top. Time ourselves and see how we improved from our 1st 2nd and 3rd climb.

Then OF COURSE we spent time walking all around the Vail village.

Don't worry. I'll tell you real celebs we saw. No offense cute Tracy and Triplets.

 

You guys are adorable too.

.......

Shock and AWE....

Have any of you seen Gilmore Girls???

Have any of you seen rugged dreamy Luke?

Well have you seen THE EVENT?

Basically I love these two shows. Basically when we were the only ones in a crepe cafe and Scott Patterson from Gilmore Girls, and The Event walked in with his not good looking GFriend. I started to second guess reality. 

Why was Luke in this crepe shop with me?????

Why wasn't he fighting off bad guys on The Event????

So out of body experience.

He was with her. And I would have to say he looked terrible. He was on crutches and had a big brace. But she was so mismatched. She had on a camo hat and a bright colored shirt with tight black pants. I was like, wow, style is obsolete I guess.

Brad wouldn't let me get a pic with him because he looked like he was in so much pain and miserable, but I loved the fact that I saw him. 

In real person!

Welp thats all OF COURSE!!!