Happy Birthday Dane!

This time last year, I was on pins and needles. I knew that Alyse had gone into the hospital to have the baby (!!!) And I was DYING to know how everything went.

Finally, the text came. He was here! All 7 pounds of him. And I've loved him ever since.

The hardest thing is that we don't get to see him very much!! But they can move closer to us... or we can move closer to them... right?

(The first time we met Dane... everyone was dying to see Dan the Leiningers.)

My day is always made better by pictures of Dane... when I get them I do 2 things- drop everything and show them to Brandon. And he had BETTER always appreciate them, or else... (he does)

He has the personality for about 10 kids, but nobody was surprised by that. He loves his mom, and LOVES his dad. And he appreciates us, I think. He even liked Austin when he met him!

I made this (thanks Instagram)... it caught the few times we've made the same faces. Except the sleeping picture, I just like that one. Ahh, he's my favorite. And I can say that right now, because he's the only one!

 

And now this sweet boy is a year old.. happy birthday Dane we love you! 

Faith.

I've had cause to think about the Plan of Salvation lately. I am so grateful for my knowledge of it, and knowing that no matter what happens we can be together. I just need to do what's right in this life, and have faith in Heavenly Father. To watch some people go through their own personal Gethsemane is terrible, and I just pray that they can rely on the Lord.

As per usual, I found solace in Les Miserables. I mean this in the most sincere way... Les Miserables is a great story for anyone who wants to know how to react to trials. If you listen to the last song, it has a very spiritual tone to it. Just listen. "To love another person is to see the face of God."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RtbcZmCc7rg&noredirect=1

Interview #1

Brandon got his first P.A. school interview!

It's at Barry University in Miami... which IS the same school that Tanner Coleman is going to.

He's interviewing October 11... which means we need to buy him a ticket soon!

We are praying that he gets more interviews, but I feel so blessed that we got one. That's what we said we wanted.

We decided that we would love to live in Miami for a few years. It is just so different from everything either of us have lived in, so it would be an adventure. Plus, cheap flights to the Caribbean- who wouldn't love that??

23

In high school, a band I really liked to listen to was Jimmy Eat World. They have a song titled "23", and it's one of my favorites.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tsgtHf9Bewo&noredirect=1

One of the lines says, "Amazing still it seems, I'll be 23". And that's what I've been singing in my head for about 2 weeks now. 23 to me seems so big... and I know in a few years I'll be wishing I was 23 again. But for right  now I feel big.

So, poor Brandon married a woman who takes her birthday seriously. And by my birthday, I mean the actual day. I always got to celebrate my birthday on the DAY, so it's hard for me to change that. How grown up of me, right?

Anyways, Saturday was a low-key day. I got my Lucky Charms for breakfast (of course), and Brandon wrote me a very sweet letter telling me what he loves about me. Other than that, we just had a nice Saturday. We went on a walk and went out to lunch, then Brandon had to go to work. They called him in early... of course. Brandon said he had some big things planned, so all day I waited. Of course, I didn't JUST wait. I got to talk to a lot of family and Skype with my favorite boy:

(someone was moving too much for a still picture)

I think it was also being emotionally wrung out from this week at work, but I was a little miffed that my husband who said he had surprises hadn't showed anything yet. LITTLE DID I KNOW he had a lot of things planned. But my birthday was uneventful.

So the day after we went to church, and Brandon gave me a blessing for the upcoming school year. I'm so grateful for a husband who is worthy to help me with my anxiety and stress.

But Brandon was being sneaky, and had a big dinner planned. It smelled super good, but that's all I knew about it. At about 6, someone knocked and some of our friends came in the door. Which explained why there were like 3 gallons of mashed potatoes. The dinner was to DIE for- it was a pork roast with apricot preserves (which normally I don't like, but this time it was really good), mashed potatoes, and asparagus. After dinner, it was time for dessert.

Now, before you look at the cake and think we're really weird, let me explain. I was telling Brandon that all these stores are having crazy Labor Day sales, including DownEast. They had this super cute swimsuit for $15, and I asked if I could get that. Brandon said, "Sure, what kind of cake do you want besides a swimsuit?" and I said, "Umm, a chocolate swimsuit cake". So...

Brandon made a chocolate swimsuit cake. Hahahaha I laughed so hard. And it helped that the cake was amazing. I don't think a bakery could have made a cake this good.

Brandon also made me a birthday hat... here's the collage picture I made of the party to explain.

After that we just played games and enjoyed ourselves.

So now I'm really embarrassed that I was a diva about my birthday, and I know that Brandon will always do what he can to make my birthday great.

Young/Eternal Love

When I told people that at the age of 20 I was getting married, I got a lot of mixed responses. Most people were excited and positive about this, but there were definitely a few largely negative people. I just cut out some of those people, because if you can't support me in the biggest step of my life thennnn I don't really need you as a friend.

On the other side of this is the concept that people in society need to "find themselves" before they can give up their lives and get married. Because getting married means you lose your identity and heaven forbid you shouldn't feel like you've already lived your life before you spend it with someone else. Obviously I'm biased, but I think that's a load of hokum. We are married, we are dirt poor (for the next month at least), and we are loving building our life together. I don't need some crazy international expeditions or jobs that pay $90,000 or go out to explore to find myself to know I'm where I'm supposed to be. When it comes to marriage, I'm really just going to be 5+ years ahead of my friends.

There's this website put up by young Mormon adults called "Normons", where they explain the "weird" things in our religion in pretty plain language. This post was on young and eternal marriage, and it was just nice to see that I have support from this. Getting married young was my favorite decision, and I know we are only 2 years in but I think these next few years will be ones with lots of growth.

http://www.normons.com/young-eternal-love/

Teaching starts... now.

I start my first day of school tomorrow. I have been in denial of this fact for weeks now.

Right now, I am having a mix of very strong emotions. On the one hand, I feel like, as I explained to Brandon, like "I'm being asked to solve a Rubik's cube blindfolded". I have literally no idea what is going on with this whole teaching thing. What am I doing tomorrow? No clue. Mainly, watching the kids and getting ready to test kids on Thursday.

I am also feeling so grateful for my aides. Today was the first time I was able to really get to talk to them, and they are going to be so helpful with my cluelessness. I told them that I want to make decisions WITH them, and not for them. I hope this is going to be a positive interaction for me.

But, surprisingly, I have an overwhelming feeling of peace. I have no idea where it's coming from, but I have a very strong suspicion... I think this year is going to be one of major learning and one of major growth, but as I looked back at Brandon sleeping as I left for work, I was reminded of why I'm doing it. I love my husband, and he needs me to work so we can save money for a rainy day. Or life.

Ready or not, here I come!

2 Years Ago.

WARNING: It's mushy. But I can do that once a year, right?

So, it's our anniversary. I can't believe it's already been 2 years. I know that in the long run that isn't a long time, but it's surprising because it doesn't feel like it! It's a good time, being married to this guy.

Over our second year of marriage, we have:

-Visited 5 temples (Brigham City, Provo, Redlands, Jordan River, and Billings)

- GRADUATED COLLEGE BABY! Even though apparently that doesn't mean too much with my degree...

-Run 2 5K Fun Runs:

-I got my first post-college job as a Special Ed teacher in Rexburg.

-We became an aunt and uncle to the world's cutest boy, Dane (who is so big and almost 1!)

Seriously though, our lives have been so blessed. I'm grateful for the job I have, and for the chance we have to save money and hopefully pay off Brandon's BYU-Idaho debts before he starts his P.A. school debts. (Hopefully.)

Today was not supposed to be a big deal. We already went to Billings and Yellowstone to celebrate, and Brandon had to go back to work. He's going to be working full time, which means I won't see him for much of the week. So I was a little sad, but we tried to make the morning out of it. We went to the temple and did sealings (see here for more info) for family names, and then went and made breakfast. Brandon then got ready for work and left, and I was going to go to my classroom to work on organizing things. About 10 minutes later, I got a knock on the door. I opened it and Brandon came in with flowers and said, "I don't have work today." I squealed... a little embarrassing for me but it was totally warranted there.

As you can see, I was thrilled. Brandon had just gotten home from being gone for a week and a half, and I was glad to get another afternoon with him.

I wouldn't say marriage is bliss- bliss seems to imply that you are ignorant of what is happening and just la-di-da. It's like the best class ever. It's a time to learn and work on your people skills big time. You learn compromise, faith, communication, patience, love, charity... hmm. That sounds familiar.

I love going to the temple on our anniversary and doing sealings because it reminds me of the wonderful things I felt on our wedding day. We are reminded of how blessed we are, and how every problem we have with the world right now can just melt away, even just for half an hour at the temple. (Note: we couldn't get a good picture of me in front of the temple so I'm not going to post it. Too sunny and windy.)

But here's to another happy anniversary to the biggest weirdo I know, my best friend, the person I married up to, the man who inspires me every day to be better.

Happy Birthday Mom!

(This is a little late, but oh well.)

Happy Birthday to my mom! As my birthday present to her (in addition to a card that will be there later), I thought I'd put up the ways I've noticed I'm turning into her. I know she'll laugh, because these are ironic.

1) When I get really excited about something, I'll hit or grab the person's arm next to me.

2) When I see something inappropriate on T.V., I'll tell Brandon "Well, we're definitely NOT going to watch that!"

3) I've described things as "yucky" or "silly".

4) I'm now more concerned with if my siblings meet people who are "nice", rather than popular.

5) I can't stay up late anymore... it's just too much.

My mom's been one of the best examples of not settling her standards in media. Whenever Brandon asks me about 90's shows, my answer usually is "We weren't allowed to watch it". Now when I think about how I want to be as a parent, and watching Alyse and Tommy with Dane, I see the wisdom behind it. I know that my standards have slipped.... from when I was 5... and even in the last few years. But thinking about it has renewed my conviction that we need to be vigilant about this.

I also talk to my mom ALL the time. We've really developed a friendship over the last few years, and I love it. She's the second person I want to call when anything happens, besides Brandon.

Happy Birthday Mom!

Night school.

So, I am so grateful for my degree. I love it so much. It gives me plenty of career opportunities, and in different fields. The only thing I would change is the fact that the education part only extends to 3rd grade.

I just got a call the State Department of Education. Since I am teaching Special Ed up to 4th grade, my current certificate is no good. They said I'll need to be put on an alternative authorization, and take 30 credits. I got on the phone and talked to them, and they told me pretty much the same thing. Now, I was already in the middle of training, so I was in no mood for bad news. I then called BYU-Idaho, because they are starting a Generalist Special Education program (extends to 12th grade). I told them I needed to be enrolled in the program immediately. They said, "Well, you already got your degree so there's not much we can do for you". I almost threw my phone into the wall, and sat down with my hands keeping the migraine back.

I still haven't gotten the classes figured out, and thinking about going to night school while teaching makes me want to die, but I guess this is good. When I am done with it, I will be certified to teach General Ed from Kindergarten to 8th grade (although I'll have to get certified in a special subject to teach 6-8 grade), and Special Education from birth to 12th grade. Not bad at all.

Jamie's Wedding.

This weekend we had the chance to go down to Salt Lake and see one of my best friends get married. She got married in the Salt Lake temple, and it was beautiful. I have never been to the Salt Lake temple for a sealing before, and it was great. It WAS super busy, so we ended up waiting about half an hour before we could even get into the room. We got out probably about an hour after we were supposed to, but it was so worth it!

My mom and I with Bekah. Notice how my mom and I have matching hair now.

Just married! She looked beautiful, and we approve of Clay.

It was especially nice to go to a sealing just before our second anniversary, and always remember how we felt on our wedding day.

On our way down to Orem for the reception, Brandon and Bekah were nice enough to stop in Sandy to see my friend Jen. I don't think I've seen her since our wedding day, and she has a cute little guy now! So, we stopped by so I could give him a baby Buzz Lightyear hat. Baby Calvin was so cute, and snuggled into my shoulder for about an hour. I love newborns.

The rest of the weekend was spent with family. We went to the Myres house to stay, and spent time with them. We got to get dinner with Stuart and Heidi, who moved back to Utah from Ohio.

Sunday dinner was spent with both parents and all four of my grandparents. It's not very often that this happens! We took a picture to commemorate it.

It was far too short, but what a good weekend! We were sad to leave, but glad we got to see so many friends and family in just a few days.