I made him..

I was craving Hamburgers....
So my hamburger outlet.....

Of course it is my outlet.

Oh it was so good....

Brad made me run 4 miles that night.

And I know what you are thinking....Brittany is a diagnosed exaggerator.

But for real, we did run this much. I even downsized it.

Brad said we ran about 4 1/2 miles.

Geez, I'll never go to In N oUt AGAIN!!!!

Who am I kidding?

Brad has this grow out his hair thing.....he wants it to look like a beach babe....I love him and all, but I am hoping this turns out okay.

Its beyond delicious.

Brad always thinks he can see fat deposits in his neck after he eats at places like this.....
You think with how smart he is, he would know that isn't possible...I don't think??
For fat to be there within an hour, before the food has even begun to digest...
Did you know nutrients are absorbed when your food is traveling through your intestines? At least that is what I understood from Brad telling me things.

Tomorrow is Friday.
This is when I love thinking about the weekend, relax, lots of baths, lots of reading my book.
Not when you are married to a psycho who is NOT a home body!!! AND has to pack every minute with activities.
Maybe he will be mad at me for calling him a psycho, but after he realizes that he has a package in the mail from MLB.com. He will love me again.

Back in the Old Days

When I was single...I wrote in my journal every day. Every day. I have written maybe 3 pages in my journal since I got married. 2 years. So I decided ENOUGH IS ENOUGH. Marriage will not defile my journal writing skills.

It all started when Brad found this picture on his phone, and we couldn't remember when or where it was taken. We found out the date, but had no idea what we were doing on that date. So I went to my blog, nothing. And that is all I had. I need to document better. So journal writing is how I will do that. Plus marriage at first goes by so fast....and I like to remember things, but I think they aren't that interesting at the moment....
But later its so great to go back and say...OH YA!!!!
I remember.
Remember.. I love that word.

Basically what I am getting at is a wanted a new journal. All my journals are half way full, but I needed a fresh start, something to motivate me to write it in. So I looked online, I looked at Deseret Book, I even reserved a book at Barnes and Noble, you know the old fashioned Italian Leather Handmade Journals....but then I started looking at the other ones, and this one stole my heart.

Oh wow....doesn't that just send a surge of adorableness through your soul??????
My ancestors are def, going to appreciate my birdie style here.
They are going to brag about their GREAT GREAT GREAT x10 great Grandma who had style with her journals.
Wait!!!!!!!!!!!!!
If you don't think this is to die for cute....the pages kill you with cuteness.

Apologies for my unmanicured (NOT A WORD) finger.

Welp I gotta go.
Brad is singing about a hickie on my neck and its really a bug bite.
I need to punch him.
And I have to write in my journal.
Can I write about sad things, even when the pages are so happy?
Did I tell you Brad wrote me a song for my birthday and just sang it to me 2 days ago.
He said it wasn't right.
I don't care. It's always right when he writes songs for me.

Characteristics of the Monkey

Nothing too excited happened today. You know the ush (short for usual).

We drew pictures of our families.
Did the normal center time.
It's red ribbon week, so today was wear your clothes backwards day. I didn't get into it.
But tomorrow, is wear your fav sports team to school day. I had the kids guess what I would wear...
Jazz
BYU
Utes
Texas (that's all they could guess, they knew no teams)
A few of them kept yelling soccer, with the hopes that I would say, "YES THAT'S IT! THAT IS MY FAVORITE SPORTS TEAM, SOCCER!"
Oh five year olds.
But my favorite was a little sweet soft spoken boy...
He raised his hand and said: Cincinnati Braves?
Welp sure sonny. If that were the right team mascot combo.
But you will have to stay tuned for what my favorite team is.
In the mean time, does this monkey one of my student's drew have some interesting characteristics???

Sunday Sabbath, Keepin it Real Holy

Today after conference, we decided to have a party. Landon and T (Tiera, t for short, well now I just made it long) came over for 2nd session. We went to the park and had our own little baseball game. That's where the holy comes in. You see, my family believes that sports is okay on Sunday, if you are doing wholesome togetherness. I won't get in to that, and you can enjoy these pics and just be filled full of joy after conference.

Which by the way, I loved and I don't think I have shared my testimonial on my blog ever, but maybe someday.

 Brad says I lunge and reach for the ball too much. Then he said, "We will work on that."
Oh okay Brad, since I'm going pro soon, let's work on that lunge, get my swing perfect. I didn't realize how majestic the mountains are at Rock Canyon (which is just right across the street from our house).

 Brad, EVERY SUNDAY, begs me to go to the park (and every day) to throw the baseball with him. But me.....never having played baseball, am not his favorite partner in baseball. But we own 3 mitts, 3 bats and ten or so baseballs. Brad has sport fetishes. (THAT IS A WORD!) He is on baseball right now.

 We had a full team, Brad played pitcher for both teams. The teams were, me, sally and T. Against Brad and Landon, so yeah, full teams. Then Chel and Alex showed up, Alex got back from Africa, so Chel has a husband again. YAY!

 We had a few rules. Like boys had to hit it past the bases for it not to be a foul ball. But they rarely did that. Mostly they hit it over our heads by about 20 feet. No matter how far we scooted back.

Boys had two outs, 3 strikes, we had 3 outs, and 4 strikes. We were up by 17 before the boys played their last, at the bottom of the 3rd inning (look at me and my baseball talk, so cute). 35 to 34 was the final score.....BOYS!!!!! So typical. We couldn't pull through, but that was such a good day today. So much joy.

 Then Brad and I filtered through all his mission stuff after watching The Best Two Years, it was memory lane. Then I took a bath while Brad and I played Would you Rather....
His Best: Would you rather me be and doctor and infertile, or be an ice cream man and be fertile, and you have to work the rest of your life.

I chose ice cream man, because I want my own kids.
My Best: Would you rather have no toilet or have no shaving cream. He chose shaving cream because he doesn't mind soap. So really that was my lamest.
(Most of ours included too personal, detailed, or just down right ridiculous, and TMI)

Now I just set my alarm and it says I am going to get 8 hours and 3 minutes if I go right now. So I think I'll go.

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