We've set a date!

On Friday, I made probably one of the most important phone calls ever. I sat down in my break between classes and called the Newport Beach temple.
Do I feel weird that I called the temple for my own sealing? Ummm, yes. But that's not the point. I did it, and now the most important thing I can do is get a temple recommend. I'm just trying to remind myself that other things are not quite as important... like the wedding colors (which was another ordeal that took a while for me to decide).
So the date is August 20, in the Newport Beach temple! The wedding itself is at noon, which gives us time to sleep in a little bit before I have to go get my hair and makeup done for all the pictures. There will be a dinner the night before for people who have come from out of town, but the time of the reception is still undecided. This is CRAZY! I love that I have a date to look forward to now though. We've made silly references like what our first dog's name is going to be (Bandit, Wallace, or Gus, depending on the breed) and where we want to live, but it's all just been silly talk. Now we can talk about real things!

In case anyone wanted to know how we looked when we're truly happy... this was taken about an hour after he proposed. We have no idea what we're getting into haha.

A little about Brandon

So now that I'm in a more normal mood (that being besides, of course, the uncharacteristic giggles I get every time Brandon calls me his fiancee), I thought I would address some questions that people might have about him.
1. Brandon's last name is Giullian. It's pronounced Gill-E-In. Having been born a Murphy, I'm not used to having to tell people how to pronounce or spell my last name. I guess it's something that Alyse and I are both going to learn to do. In addition, he has pointed out that Giullians should not have certain first names... William, Lillian, and Jillian, for example. (Or even worse, Gillian. Imagine that. Gillian Giullian). Again, as a Murphy I've never worried about that. What would I name my kid that wouldn't work with Murphy... Durphy?
2. Brandon served his mission in Bolivia. He was part of the American missionaries who were kicked out of there in 2008-2009 because of the political unrest. Or as I like to tell people, "he got a special transfer". He got back in October of 2009, and didn't want to get a girlfriend until he had graduated with his Bachelor's. That all changed about 4 months later.
3. He did NOT grow up in New Hampshire, as I had originally thought. In fact, he grew up in Paradise Valley Arizona. When he was ten, his family moved to Chicago, and then again to New Hampshire when he was 16. But I still tease him about living there.
4. Brandon hates anything seafood related. For me, that's an issue. I LOVE my tuna and my shrimp, but I'm not even kidding he turns green if he smells it. His mom told me that some people in her family have an allergy to seafood that started as a dislike for it, so I can't really force him to try it either. So, pretty much we'll just have to make a compromise on this.
5. Brandon's geniunely a really nice guy. Anyone can be nice to their girlfriend. You're supposed to be, duh. But I watch him with his siblings and on the phone with his friends and his family, and he treats them the same way he treats me. Very well. I love it, I take that as a good sign for the future.

Probably the best day of my life

So yesterday was Brandon's and my one-year anniversary, and I was going to blog about how he's my best friend, etc etc etc... Now I have something different.
Over the last year, Brandon has truly become my best friend. I can tell him anything, and we could talk forever if we were allowed to. I had kept dropping hints that our one year anniversary was coming up, and that I wanted to do something special. Monday night, he told me that he had wanted to propose to me on our one year anniversary but that he didn't have the ring quite yet. Now, I had accidentally found the receipt in his car so I knew he had bought it, but I wasn't sure if he meant it had to get sized or whatnot. (my fingers are really thin- size 4 3/4). So he said he would think of something special for us to do on our anniversary and it would be memorable for me. Brandon's a thoughful guy, so I had no doubt he was sincere.
Yesterday I was so stoked for our date I couldn't focus on anything. He called and said we would go down to idaho falls and then do "something else". It's not like Brandon to be shady about anything, but he had been acting weird lately. So I put it aside.
He came over and brought these:

He said he figured it was our one year anniversary so he would buy roses. Normally he doesn't like to be cliche about stuff like that.
We went down to Idaho Falls and looked at the water falls. I'll put up some of the best pictures, because my eyes were closed in EVERY SINGLE ONE. Stupid wind.

It was a gorgeous view. And quite a long walk, so we burned some calories.
In Idaho Falls, they don't have any "romantic" restaurants... so we went to Texas Roadhouse. Luckily he had had the foresight to not stay in Rexburg, because then the most romantic place would have been Costa Vida or Applebee's.

We came home, and I fell asleep. Eating buffalo wings, mashed potatoes, steak, and chicken really takes it out of you. He let me sleep, then told me it was time for the "something else". So we drove to the nature park near the airport (i know, it's a joke that we have both of those). He told me to climb in the back seat, where I found a bottle of sparkling burgundy (nonalcoholic), and a hat full of paper. He told me he was recreating the date we went on about a year ago, when we decided to get to know each other by answering questions out of a hat. There were questions like "Most embarrassing moment" (Probably falling asleep in a movie and drooling on him), "Funniest moment" (Him dressing up as Ricky Bobby for Halloween), etc etc etc. Then there was one piece of paper left. It said "Will you close your eyes?" I read it, and started shaking. But I closed my eyes, and he got out of the car. It was pouring outside, but he ran around to my door and opened it. And knelt down and put this on my finger!

I said, "ARE YOU PROPOSING TO ME???" He nodded, and I said yes.


So, there you have it! I'm engaged to my best friend! I love it, and it's going to be so fun to actually plan instead of "well, this looks cute..." And I think he did good. That was my favorite date that we've ever done, especially the recreating part. I'm so excited for everyone to meet him, he's really a great guy.

Pugs gone Wild

I saw this commercial the other night on ESPN (I was not watching ESPN by myself, thank you very much), and I"m obssessed with it. Probably because the dog's so cute and reminds me of Murphy. Anyway, ENJOY!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hpjaOUjUPUc

The Awesome Long Weekend

So last week was a pain. I woke up Tuesday morning to people calling me saying "Camille you need to look at your car!" As it was the day after Valentine's Day, I was hoping that it was something cute that Brandon had done to my car. When I looked out the window, I said to myself, "It looks like the back window from my car is missing. Hmm, the back window from my car IS missing!" I immediately called my dad and ran out to my car. I was about to call the police when I saw a note. Somebody had backed into my car and luckily left a note. Unluckily, he had a massive truck with snowmobiles in the back.

 Poor CeeCee. She's now in the shop and getting fixed.
Needless to say, that put a little bit of stress on my week. The only thing I had to look forward to was the fact that Brandon and I were going out of town for the weekend. We had found a cheap flight from Idaho Falls to Long Beach, and were taking it to California for the long weekend!
When we had gotten to the airport, they asked me if I had any liquids or gels. I said no, because the only liquid I had was my foundation that was less than 1 ounce. I got through security fine, and when I sat down at my gate I dug through my purse and found this:

Whoops! It was full at the time. I also had a bottle of lotion. Also, their x ray machines are fake.
This weekend was so fun. We went to the last few minutes of Cole's basketball game (our flight was delayed), and he and his team lost but they were so cute. On Saturday, Brandon went to go talk to a nurse practitioner at Kaiser Hospital. So I got to sit there with the families of women who were in labor. So I heard lots of interesting stuff. We then got to go take Murphy on a walk. While we were out I heard the typical comment from someone who was visiting Irvine for the first time (or the second time, but really paying attention for the first time)... "Do you guys live in China or something?" Saturday was also Dallin's Eagle Court of Honor, which was so cute. He gave his mentor award to someone who had suddenly passed away, and it was a touching moment. He got the longest applause of anyone by far.
Sunday we went to church. It was pretty fun. I wish we could have talked more, but I know Brandon was fine with just the amount of communication that we had. He was excited, however, that he got to listen to an apostle's brother speak (Brother Christofferson), and shake Dog the Bounty Hunter's lawyer's hand (Brother Bollard).
We also got the chance to eat Sunday dinner at my house, which is such an awesome thing for me to have again. While my mom was getting ready, Brandon was a good enough sport to play Life with Bethany, Cole, and Dallin while I fell asleep on the couch. Shane and Kylie Leininger came over for dinner, so that Brandon could ask Shane questions about getting into PA school.
Monday morning Brandon was nice enough to help a lady in the ward move. Good sport. Almost as nice as Tommy. Then we went on a bike ride, which is where the only real pictures we took came from. We were so excited to actually feel the Sun:

Then, sadly, it was time to leave. We had one more visit for Brandon to make, to a hospital this time to talk to someone about what he would need to do to get a job there. So we took pictures with the siblings.

Bethany's as tall as Brandon.
It was so fun, and we really wish we could have been there longer. Just public shoutout, thanks to everyone for housing us, and especially to my dad for helping Brandon so much with talking to people that weekend! I can't wait to go back... We'll just have to see what happens with a job this spring/summer.

I miss Nicaragua

Ok so this is probably the fact that I'm so tired I'm not even tired anymore... but I really miss Nicaragua right now. I was trying to go to sleep, and all I can think of are all the adventures. I miss the gorgeous cathedrals we visited, and sledding down a volcano, and that sick cat that always sat outside our door, and the frog that sounded like it swallowed an air horn, and the sound of the animals running on the roof (maybe not so much).
Watching the rainstorm out over the Rio San Juan, even that crazy bat. Not having to wear makeup, or jackets or gloves or pants or tights... need i go on? And I'll even miss those little kids at the preschool, even the punks that called me "fea". I miss Claira's little quotes ("There is no laughing in jail DO YOU HEAR ME?")
I can't even explain how lucky I was to go there. I'll never be able to thank Annie and Wes enough for that great experience I had. It taught me a lot about speaking Spanish, and about humility. The people there were great, and it breaks my heart that I will never see them again.

My two favorite pictures... you can see the common denominator there. Ignore the fact that my hair is so nasty in the second one.

7 tips to survive college for Austin

As Austin is going to college soon, I thought I would give him some good advice based on experience.
1) Don't hang out with the loudest kids. When you hang out with the loudest kids, you get stereotyped as a tool. Yes, they are funny. No, they're probably not the brightest bulbs in the box. Freshman year is especially important for this, as the kids who are really loud usually are the ones who do the dumbest (and sometime inappropriate) things.
2) Don't get a girlfriend. You'll probably tease me about this one once you read it. But only 3% of girls who wait for missionaries actually marry them once they get back from their mission. Girlfriends only cause problems and drama. Plus, most guys who date girls before their missions don't have the best intentions at heart.
3) Dorms are good for freshmen. Any guy who lived in the dorms for their freshman year said it was a great year. Dorms are a breeding ground for craziness. You may find your best friends for a long time from your dorms experience.
4) Do NOT eat anything you want. Just trust me on this one... otherwise you might end up throwing up on your second night of college. Or so I've heard. Rosemary and olive oil Triscuits, pepper jack cheese, pickles, and yogurt do not mix.
5) Do NOT sleep whenever you want. I know lots of freshman boys like to stay up until 7 AM and sleep in until 3PM, but it's a vicious cycle. You will feel terrible, take a nap at 10 PM, and it will never get better.
6) Do your homework a day at a time. I know that at the beginning of the semester it may seem overwhelming to see all the tasks you have to do, and you will just not want to even get started. But if you do the homework for that day, you will find that the semester isn't actually that bad.
7) ENJOY IT!!!!!!!!!!!!! College is awesome. Freshman year is something you can't get back... by the time you come back from your mission your girl friends will be married or going on missions themselves, and the guys will be doing different stuff. So take lots of pictures and love it.

2010

well, 2010 is done. It's been a pretty big year. I don't have a ton of things to say about it, as it's been blogged. And I have no melancholy moping about how I wish I had done more this time around, because I think I've done a good job of this year.
Highlights?
-Weddings weddings weddings- (with Rachel's being yesterday! Congrats)
-Two good semesters of school under the belt
-Lots of money earned and exercise done at work this summer
- The first semester I wasn't looking for someone to like, I met Brandon. It was a good accident, and taken up 10 months of this last year.

Happy New Year!

End of Fall '10

Well, the semester's done. I know I only posted like 4 times this semester, but I'm working on it. Being busy is a new feeling to me.
I was going to do a summary of all my classes, but then the blog deleted like half of it so I'll just go with this.
Social Dance- Great skill that I"ll have for the rest of my life. Class was even better after Brandon got mono and we didn't have to switch partners anymore. Ultimately, we were in a dance competition for the waltz and made it to the second round. Which was more than we expected so I'm totally happy with it.

 

Education Classes- I learned a lot about how I'm going to do with teaching when the time comes. I now know what I need to work on and what I am good at with regards to teaching. I learned how to make a lesson plan (and according to my teacher do it well... who would have thought?), and improved my handwriting a little bit.

Roommates- It was certainly nice to have roommates without drama this semester. I was beginning to believe that it was impossible to fit 6 girls into an apartment without problems. I can honestly say that I have not had a bad thought about any of my roommates.  Which, given my track record of somewhat lackluster living situations (not ALL of you guys, don't worry), is a feat.

Me- I can do hard things. I finally got a 3.76 GPA this semester, which wasn't even that hard to do. I am just going to try harder to not get a B+ next semester, and see how much higher that can raise my total GPA. I stayed on top of my classes, and actually learned a lot from them. I feel like I am becoming more and more cut out to be a Special Ed teacher, the further I go into my program.

Brandon- I'm lucky to have someone like him with me. He's patient, and puts up with my silliness. He doesn't let me talk badly about myself, but reminds me of the good I'm doing when I get frustrated. I won't write too much mushy stuff, but I'll just say he's pretty awesome.

Thanksgiving '10

So this Thanksgiving break I traveled a lot. From the first Saturday to Tuesday, I went to Denver with Brandon and his family. The first day was traveling, and lots of meet-and-greet. Brandon's family is awesome, they are like our family... nice but teasing to each other. It was also good to have Megan there, because she likes me on a less biased level. It made me more comfortable. Seeing Brandon with his family was pretty funny... he's just a typical son.
Some highlights:
Visiting Red Rock Ampitheatre (where Brandon's mom saw the Eagles in the 70's)

there were some deer by the road. They were running away from me but it looks like they like me.

We also raked some leaves, which might not seem like a big deal but I don't remember the last time I've raked leaves. So we were a little bit silly with it:

We also went out to breakfast, watched the 7th Harry Potter (EPIC), ate lots of good food (i overate at every meal because I didn't want to be rude), and played plenty of card games. We also met the minions from "Despicable Me"

The Denver airport is ENORMOUS, and they have a lot of restaurants. They also have a statue of a bronco outside the airport, which apparently killed its creator by falling on him. You can't tell in the picture, but his eyes glow bright red. Creepy.

I was excited to see my family, so I was willing to have ANOTHER day of flying to North Carolina. Most of these pictures are stolen from other people's blogs, because I knew my mom was taking lots of pictures so I didn't.
They went to the Duke and NC State campuses while I was flying, so I didn't get to see them. But we went to Cosmic Burrito (?), and I read the last two books of the "Hunger Games" series in a day. It was good.
After we ate Thanksgiving day, we went to the Raleigh NC temple. I thought it was really pretty

Afterwards we just took a ton of pictures... Enjoy.

I had just woken up from a 2 hour nap, so smiles didn't come super naturally to me.
My mom and Bethany made pajama pants for all of the girls, so we took pictures of the three of us together.

I had two days of flying and driving ahead of me, but it was so nice to see everyone. Since then we've been studying for finals, and celebrating birthdays. Brandon rolled his ankle, so he hasn't really walked all day. We also split a 1-pound burger for Jake's birthday on Saturday... we only ate half of it combined.