Ready for a Vacation

I'm just chilling at work again. Enjoying another graveyard shift. I'm trying to find the motivation to finish up my application for the MFT program at USU. I don't know why but for some reason I just don't want to write it. Don't worry I will because I have to send it tomorrow but I hate essays. Especially when the subject is myself.

I've been working lots of hours the last couple weeks. I'm tired and a need a break. My job is stressful and unfortunately some circumstances make it more stressful than it needs to be. I'll spare you the details because I hate whiners and I don't like to say bad things about other people. Not to mention that none of us are getting paid near what we deserve for the kind of work we are doing, but at least I have a job. Eight more months and I will be off to graduate school and afterwards hopefully I'll have a job with a salary and some benefits and I'll try real hard to never complain.

Christmas was fabulous as Britt already detailed. I love Christmas. Mostly I love being with family and taking a break from the mundane. Life gets so repetitive sometimes and I love holidays and vacations. I'm looking forward to stopping by in Las Vegas and going to visit Blaine, Brooke and Allie in Bakersfield!

I think I'm obsessed with vacations. I love them. I can endure a lot if I know I have one to look forward to. If I ever get rich traveling is one thing that I would definitely spend my money on. Fancy cars and a big house aren't really a huge draw for me but I love an adventure! They are even better now that I have someone I love to share them with!

Well I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and remember what matters most in life. Hint: It's not your bank account or your grades

and of course GO COUGARS!! and jazz!

The Reason for the Season

"For to us a child is born, to us a son is given: and the government shall be on his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace."

What a Christmas!

We have had such a fun-filled couple of days! We didn't take as many pictures as we should have... But we still had a good time.

Wednesday, I got off work a few hours early, and we drove down to Price to visit Grandma Hanson. It was fun to spend time with her, as well as Uncle Dennis, Aunt Sandra, Ryan, Lindsay, Ellie and Bracken! We spent the night down there, and drove back on Thursday morning.

After that, Kyle and I went out Christmas shopping. Then we drove up to West Jordan to celebrate Holly's (Kyle's mom) birthday as well as Christmas Eve a day early. We had a good time chatting, eating, and being together.

Friday was Christmas Eve. Kyle worked in the morning while I wrapped presents, made Jello salad, and cleaned the house a little bit. Holly and Evan came down, and we all drove to my mom's to celebrate Christmas Eve. Lots of good food and company :) We also opened our presents from Mom and Charity, and they opened ours. 

Yesterday was Christmas of course! Kyle worked from 7-11 am, so I slept in, and showered before he got home. Then we were able to open our presents from one another, as well as ones from Kyle's mom and dad. We got some neat stuff! I got a couple new pairs of shoes, some clothes, some perfume, a scentsy holder,  a couple of books, and Inception! Kyle got a BYU backpack, a giftcard to Cafe Rio, the new Weezer CD, and some clothes as well. We also opened our last two sets of dishes, lots of candy, yoga dvd's, and "Santa" (aka Kyle) brought us a soft serve ice cream maker! It's pretty awesome! We tried it out today and it made yummy ice cream. I'm such a sucker for soft serve, yum! (I'm probably forgetting some presents... But that's ok - we're grateful for everything we received!) 

(Not sure why this one won't flip...)

 My mom then came over, and we drove up to Nathan and Melanie's. We watched Despicable Me, and Inception, and ate dinner, and played with presents. Nate and Mel had us for the gift exchange, and they gave us yoga mats, to go along with the yoga DVD's we received, yay!

We hope you all had a wonderful Christmas!

Merry Christmas!

Here's my favorite Christmas song, sung by Celine Dion.
I love her, she's so amazing... And I've been listening to her Christmas album nonstop.


I hope you all have a 
MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

Here are....

... some photos from the MG party on Sunday!

Kyle and I! Stef took a picture of every couple that came.

Kyle and I vs Bon and Aaron in the candy cane pick-up game. Obviously I had no clue how to do it.

Aaron and Kyle being partners in the ornament conveyor belt game. So hilarious!

Us vs the Herrmann's playing the ornament hang-up game. Kyle just picked me up! Ha!

Parties Galore!

I wish I was more creative.

With that out of the way, let me tell you about my life...
Work is crazy, but that's a given.

Saturday night, I went with Ayisha to Casey's birthday/Christmas party. It was so fun! White elephant won? A box of baby wipes.

Sunday, Kyle and I went up to the MG Christmas party, also a blast! White elephant won? A Christmas decoration - a snowman on a tricycle, I actually really love it! Steph took a lot of pictures, and I'll have to steal some when she posts them - these are the only three I took. Bonnie and Aaron are our married bff's, for real. We love them! (PS, Bon is prego with a baby boy named APOLLO. So excited for them!)

Last night was the Bishop family Christmas party. So fun! I love them so much. White elephant gifts won? The  four original Batman movies on DVD and a plate of Christmas goodies. We had a lot of fun playing with the kids, chatting, and eating! No pictures were taken at this one though :(

Today snow decided to take over Utah. Seriously, it was nuts! You would think we would've gotten a snow day at work... And maybe at any normal time we would have, but we're launching our new program in a week and a half, so there is no time for a snow day! Tomorrow we're planning on going down to Price in the afternoon to visit Grandma Hanson - hopefully we still can! Kyle's a safe driver, so we'll see. We'll probably stay over night there, and come back on Thursday morning. Thursday we are planning on finishing up our Christmas shopping, then heading over to Nathan and Mel's.

Oh! And you want to know the biggest Christmas gift/miracle EVER? I passed Physics (!!!). SO happy about that! Now I can celebrate my holidays in peace.

...

As of two days ago (the 17th) Kyle and I have been together 18 months. Where does the time go? Every day I'm reminded of how amazing he is, and how lucky I am. I married the absolute perfect guy for me. And the absolute best thing is that we were sealed in the Temple, and because of that, if we do all we can do, we will be together forever.

Yesterday, we went to my friend Whitney's sealing in the Manti Temple. Everything about it was wonderful. Kyle and I both love the Manti Temple. It's my next favorite (there shouldn't be favorites...) after the Salt Lake. Kyle's Grandpa Hanson was also a sealer there, and he and his wife were temple workers there for many years; it has an extra special spirit to it because of that, to us. The majority of mine and Kyle's families were sealed there as well. Anyway, Whitney and John were sealed in room number 7 - which is the highest sealing room, all the way up the top of the spiral staircases. It was amazing. During the sealing I was remind of some amazing truths. And I was overcome with such gratitude for Kyle, and the blessing that is having the Gospel in our life. I also had an experience that reminded me that we should not judge others, ever. 

So thank you, Whitney and John for asking us to be apart of your special day. 

And for helping my testimony grow. 

I'm Obsessed with Pictures of my Toddler Self

(What will I be like when I have kid?!)

Finished!

I finished my last final today. At about 7 pm.
I'm so relieved to be done.
And to have a break from school.
This week has been crazy! But also, a good one.
And the fun just keeps coming.

This week we...
worked, (I've) taken tests, gone Christmas shopping, sent off packages, wrapped presents, visited the lights at Temple Square with my mom and sister, (I) went to the MoTab and David Archuleta concert, done laundry, made cookies, delivered cookies, (I) went to the Voice Male concert, snuggled, listened to Christmas music, and lots of other stuff.

Next up?
My dear friend Whitney's wedding in the Manti Temple tomorrow, a Christmas party at Casey's tomorrow, an MG party on Sunday, a Bishop (Kyle's mom's side) family party on Monday, work, visit Grandma Hanson in Price on Wednesday, finishing up our Christmas shopping, and spending time with our families...

Last night at Temple Square

Day 26, 27, 28, 29 and 30

Day 26- A song to match your current mood

Currently listening to: Poker Face - Glee Cast

Day 27-A photo of the item you last purchased

Urm, Christmas presents! 

Day 28-Something you're proud of in the past few days

Finishing finals TODAY!

And only have one major breakdown.

Day 29- Something you could never get tired of doing

Being with my wonderful husband.

And reading.

Day 30-Plans/dreams/goals you have 

Oh, so many.

Graduate in August.

Go with Kyle to grad school.

Work in treatment centers or family crisis centers.

Be a mommy.

Day 24, 25, and 26

Day 24-What's in your makeup bag?

Day 25- Your celebrity crush...

I don't really have a celebrity crush, per se. 

But here's a list of celebrities I've crushed on at some point.

Josh Harnett

Ryan Gosling

Jake Gyllenhaal

Channing Tatum

Josh Duhamel

Christian Bale

Ben Affleck

Brad Pitt

Day 26- A song to match your current mood...

Currently Listening to : Marry Me - Bruno Mars

Day 21, 22, and 23

Day 21-A photo of an animal you'd love as a pet...

I think these little guys are so cute :)

Day 22-Something you crave a lot...

Food :)

Mostly... Fries, milkshakes, and chocolate.
and of course, Dr. Pepper.

Day 23- What's in your purse?

My To-do List

It looks something like this...

-Address and send out Christmas cards
-Study
-Clean bathroom
-Make dessert for our ward party tomorrow night
-Study
-Do Laundry
-Take a final
-Study
-Go Christmas shopping
-Take a final
-Study
-Clean room
-Study
-Sell back books
-Study
-Take two more finals
-Send out a couple of packages
-Wrap presents

Does yours look similar?

Taking a Breather

First of all, let me just say...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, HOLLY!

Holly is my wonderful mother-in-law, and Kyle and I are so grateful for her! We hope she had a great day... And we're excited to see her and Evan in a couple of weeks for Christmas!

Well, today was my last day of classes.
Phew.
I got all my papers turned in, and all my midterms taken.

Tonight I'm just relaxing.
Taking a little breather.

Almost.... Done...

This week has been freaking insane!

I've been so stressed out the last few days that it made me sick. I couldn't get up and go to work yesterday or today. The good news is that I turned in 2 papers, and a practice test.
What do I have left?
One more paper, and one midterm.
And then it's on to finals.
Finals I can handle.
Having 3 papers due and a midterm all within a few days of each other is not ok, or healthy.

I feel like I have a much better handle on things now, though.
And, luckily, I have an amazing husband who will clean, and make me food, and rub my back, and let me sleep in, and support me.
I love him.

So that's where I've been the past few days. Grumpy, ornery and running around like a madwoman. My to-do list is still a mile long, but seems much more manageable. I"ll be grateful for the "break" that is finals week. And then... There really is a break! Except from work, that is.

I probably have a few more things to catch up on.... But that can wait until the weekend.

Day 20-A picture of something that makes you happy

Day 20-A picture of something that makes you happy...

(Can it be a someone?)

This guy rocks my world.

and makes me so happy.

and I am so grateful for him!

Day 18 and 19

Day 18-Nicknames you have and why you have them

First, my full name is Brittanny. Yes, two t's, two n's. It's actually Brit-tin-ny. And, I was named after Great Britain (where my mom's from) and the region of Brittany, France, since my dad served his mission in France. 

My mom had never heard the name before, although it was the #3 baby name in the US that year. (So, yes, my name is original, haha). 

Nickname One: Britt - clearly it's a nickname of Brittanny. I've been called this my whole life. (Britts is also common).

Nickname Two: B - just the letter. Missy and Nancy started calling me this in high school, and it just stuck. 

Nickname Three: Britters - Leanna gave me this nickname. Apparently, since I'm so small, I make her think of a critter - hence, Britters. 

Nickname Four: Fun-size - this was the nickname Kyle came up with for me before we started dating. He still calls me this sometimes :)

Day 19-A photo of something you ate today

I made these today, peanut butter temptations!

(Basically peanut butter cookies with a peanut butter cup in the middle of them, yum!)

You Know That Feeling...

when you realize that there is one and a half weeks of classes left, and you realize that you have like 382497109 things left to turn in

when you're looking forward to Christmas

and a vacation

and a break from school

when you are so close to graduation, and don't want to go to school every again

when all you want to do is spend time with your husband

when work is stressing you out a little bit

when you wish you could just be a stay at home wife

or a stay at home mommy

or when you wish you could at least be working in your field of study

when all you want to do is study Physics, but you have too much other stuff to focus on too

when you want to serve others

and bake

and sleep in




that's how I feel.

Day 16 and 17

Day 16-Someone you would want to switch lives with for one day and why

Honestly, I can't think of someone who I would legitimately want to trade places with. Not a real live human being, anyway. We all know I'd love to be Hermione for a day. 

Day 17-A photo of your favorite place to eat

Oh, I like to eat a lot of places.

 Here are two favorites...

I also love Wendy's, and Arby's.

You know, for fast food purposes.

Christmasfying

Christmas Tree! Now complete with a star.

Our cute tree skirt.

Paraguayan Nativity

Stockings, and stocking holder (it says "Noel")

Wreath on  our door! (shh, it's supposed to be a candle holder base)

Thank you Hobby Lobby for providing the rest of our Christmas decor of 50% off!

Thanksgiving 2010

We had a great Thanksgiving!

Wednesday night, we took our car into the shop (yay!) and then we drove up to Nathan and Melanie's. They made us dinner (thanks!) and we had fun with them and the kiddos. Afterwards, we went and picked up our last two place sets of our plates, yay! And then we went saw Harry Potter (yes, again) with Alan and Jess. It's still good! :)

Thanksgiving morning Kyle and I slept in realllly late, and then we got up, got ready and drove over to my mom's. Ginger and Nadia also came, which was so fun! We ate sooo much good food!! Thanksgiving and Christmas meals are my absolute favorite meals of the years. Turkey, cranberry, potatoes, gravy... Those are my favorites things. We watched How to Train Your Dragon (surprisingly good!) and just chatted, and ate some more... Yum. It was a great day.

Today, Kyle and I put up our Christmas tree before he went to work. Thanks to Nathan, Melanie, and my mom for providing the tree and trimmings!

An Attitude of Gratitude

Sorry this is a day late, I didn't have time to blog yesterday.

I love this time of the year, it really causes me to reflect on how lucky and blessed I am.

I'm grateful for...

*Kyle, my best friend and the love of my life
*My family, and Kyle's - they love and support us so much
*Our wonderful friends
*Heavenly Father, and Jesus Christ, and the Atonement
*The Gospel in our lives, and the knowledge and light and peace we have because of it
*Temple blessings, and that we have a Temple right around the corner from us, and that Kyle and I were sealed in the Temple and are able to be together forever because of that
*The gift of the Holy Ghost
*Our apartment, and our heater
*Our jobs
*The chance that both of us had to attend BYU and gain a higher education
*Our memory foam mattress pad
*Our phones
*Our new computer

.... And so many more things, both material and not.

Our turkey's we made for FHE on Monday.

Day 15

Put your ipod on shuffle, what are the first 22 songs that play? What are your tope 25 most played songs?

Top 25 Most Played
Oxygen - Colbie Caillat, Low - Flo Rida, Bubble Toes - Jack Johnson, With You - Chris Brown, Leavin' - Jesse McCartney, T-Shirt - Shontelle, Come On Get Higher - Matt Nathanson, No Air - Chris Brown and Jordin Sparks, Far Away - Nickelback, Paper Planes - MIA, Shake - Ying Yang Twins, Newport Living - Cute Is What We Aim For, Say It Again - Marie Digby, White Horse - Taylor Swift, Apologize - One Republic, If I Were a Boy - Beyonce, Halo - Beyonce, Fearless - Taylor Swift, You Found Me - The Fray, There Is - Box Car Racer, The Curse of Curves - Cute is What We Aim For, Ten Days - Missy Higgins, That's What You Get - Paramore, So Small - Carrie Underwood, Baby, Come On - +44

First 22 Songs on Shuffle
Here's To You - Rascal Flatts, If I Were A Boy - Beyonce, Rewind - Paramore. White Flag - Dido, You Got It - Nsync, Perfect - Maren Ord Crazy People - The Wreckers, Seven Days Without You - Teddy Geiger, Bold As Love - John Mayer, Let It All Hang Out - Weezer, This Ain't a Scene, It's an Arms Race - Fall Out Boy, A Perfectly Good Heart - Taylor Swift, Chop Me Up - Justin Timberlake, Take Me or Leave Me - from the musical RENT, You and Your Hand - Pink, Almost Lover - A Fine Frenzy, Defying Gravity - from the musical Wicked, Swiss Army Romance - Dashboard Confessional, Home Sweet Home - Carrie Underwood, Should've Said No - Taylor Swift, Take a Chance on Me - ABBA, Vanilla Twilight - Owl City, My Paper Heart - All American Rejects, All I Ever Wanted - Kelly Clarkson

I've got a variety of songs on my Ipod, obviously, haha. I like a lot of stuff!

Ramblings... (again)

Last night there was supposed to be a huge blizzard. And while I'm sure that some parts of the state got hit pretty badly - Provo did not. After all the hype I was actually getting pretty excited for a huge snowstorm I got about 3 emails, and a good 20 texts from BYU's emergency service - they closed campus for crying out loud! But... only a few flurries came. Granted, it is freezing outside. Perhaps it's too cold to snow.

Today I was able to sleep in. Sleeping is something I love to do. Kyle didn't get off work until 7 am, so he came home and went to straight to bed, and it was nice to be able to snuggle with him for a while. Today we're taking our car to the shop - so they can actually order parts and things before the holiday. Hopefully we'll get our car back in a week and a half to two weeks! For now, we have our rental car (which I definitely won't complain about - I love it.) We're also running a few errands, and driving up to West Jordan to have dinner with Nathan and Melanie and the kids. Avery has started to smile now, so we're excited to see that.

I'm sick of my blog layout... Maybe I'll be able to find a cute Christmasy one that I love. I just get so annoyed with my blog sometimes, haha. It never looks how I want it to. I'll figure it out.

For FHE this week, Kyle and I read President Monson's talk "The Divine Gift of Gratitude" from this past General Conference. And then we made hand turkeys :) Have I ever told you that being married is the best? It really is.

Not too much else is happening in our life. This weekend I'll be working on papers, and Kyle will be at work. But that's ok. There are only 2 weeks left of classes, and then finals week, and then we're DONE with this semester! Graduation is so close.... (I'm kind of sad that I didn't know I could add a few classes to be certified as a family life educator on top of my degree until this semester. I probably would have done it.)

Thankful

Day 14

A picture of you and your family...

I'm lucky to have not one, but two awesome families!

My parents are awesome, and have always been so supportive of me.

And I seriously could not have asked for better in-laws.

My mom, little sister, and my dad.

Kyle's family, there are four boys, and Kyle's the youngest.
From L to R: Blaine, Brooke, Allie, Holly, Kyle, me, Evan, Liam, Mel, Whitney, Nathan, Jess, and Alan. (And now Avery's two months old, and Brooke is pregnant with twins, yay for families growing!)

Love you guys!