Austin's Graduation

Yesterday was Austin's graduation... it was very nice. I was dreading sitting through the ceremony, because I was so bored throughout my graduation. I just remember sitting there and wanting to get to Grad Night. I had not liked high school very much. Even so, I started thinking of the finality of graduation. I haven't seen the majority of my class since that night, and to be honest that's fine with me. But it still was kind of sad to say goodbye to some people. I just don't like endings, to be honest.
But, Austin had a much better high school experience. Watching him grow during these last 4 years has been pretty amazing. He's always been more charismatic than the rest of us combined (besides Cole, maybe). His classmates love him, and he's loved that.
It was pretty amusing to watch some of my old teachers back at the UCI Bren Center. Some will just never leave, huh? There were also some classmates working as paraprofessionals and teacher's aides, which was amusing. In all, probably about a quarter of my class was there for younger siblings.
We all had noisemakers for when Austin stood up, because we wanted to try and embarrass him (nope). Little did we realize that we were going to wait for the VERY end, because he was going to be the second to last person called. Oh no, it gets better! He and his friend then continued to pick up their advisor between them and bounce her up and down, to the laughter and cheers of their classmates. My mom was laughing, but said it was "not appropriate". I was just amazed he had the guts to do it.
This picture we took was cute, and on my new cell phone which actually takes new pictures. He was so happy, and is probably exhausted from partying at Grad Night all night. But we're proud of him, and hope that BYU can handle this.

My summer friends

So one of the joys of being a Child Development major is that one of the best work experiences I can have is babysitting. I love it. The downside is that I don't have a whole lot of peer interaction, because I'm there for the kids. But I have been lucky enough to go to a wedding reception by now, for my friend Jen (Neeley) Harker. Bethany drove out with me because it was an hour or so away, and we only stayed for a few minutes. But it was gorgeous, and if I had a backyard that big and picturesque I would use ours too. But Murphy has made sure that we know it's his territory now. (Note: Our backyard isn't bad... it's just not big enough for a wedding reception). Watching her and her husband Dusty at the reception was cute, and it also helped me realize that having my reception the night before wouldn't be bad. She loved having everyone there, but she was just tired by the end of the day.

Don't even get me started on that dress. It was so gorgeous, if I could have found one in my size (because she's about half my size), I would have copied her in a second.
Other than that, I hang out with babies. Literally. I'll just give first names of these children, but they're adorable.

Keegan

Kamden (they can't let me use the camera without wanting to touch it all the time)

Maverick

 Savannah (aka Savvy)

I love them.

The week with Brandon

So I got the chance to visit Brandon from May 16 to May 20. It was a glorious occasion, as the last time I had seen him I had a total breakdown in the Long Beach airport parking lot. But anyway. We had business to do. Our wedding plans included:
1) Finding a suit for Brandon
2) Find an apartment
3) Get Brandon sized for his ring
4) Find potential invitation printers?
5) Get some quality time together

Monday was an exciting day. I was so antsy all day. When I got to the Idaho Falls airport, I was about ready to die I was so excited. It was great to see Brandon again. We immediately went to dinner at Garcia's, a restaurant we had been to on a previous date. It was right next to the mall, so we just went over and got his ring finger sized right then. Now I know what size it is, and I can find a wedding band for him. Afterwards, we went to his apartment and just hung out. I got to stay with Megan, Brandon's sister, who was nice enough to let me stay in her bed.
Tuesday was pretty low key. We didn't do any wedding planning, just hung out with each other.
Wednesday, we got down to business. Wedding business. We found an apartment! It was so exciting. Brandon, being resourceful as usual, checked the school's bulletin board website for open contracts and found one that opened in August. It's at Cambridge Court, which would put us across the parking lot from our friends Scott and Christie Anderson. We also found a suit for Brandon (he looks really good in it... but I'm a little biased.)
Thursday I tried to not be too sad. I knew my trip was winding down, and any time anybody else tried to hang out with us I became irritated and would withdraw a little. That's just my way of making sure Brandon knows I don't like being away from him I guess. But his sister Ashlee came into town from a wedding in Utah, so we got to go out to dinner. It was super fun, and the only place where we got a picture of us.

My hair looks super nasty here because my scalp decided to freak out as soon as I got there so I couldn't dry it even if I wanted to. So I settled for looking like a wet dog.
Friday I left. Knowing how much rent is now, I have more motivation to babysit. So if anyone needs me, I'm yours! My WVA camp counseling job starts in a few weeks, so hopefully I'll be way busy then.

Teenage Girls!!!!!!!

So today is Bethany's 13th birthday. Something good to celebrate with all the sad stuff going on in the world. She is "dictator for the day", as she likes to call it. Just a few quick things...
I was quite proud of my birthday card that Brandon and I picked out for her. I won't explain the story, but it's a good one that Bethany can explain sometime:

How cute.
Bethany is a cute 13 year old, and hopefully she keeps her sweet disposition throughout her teenage years.

Crocheting

Ever since Brandon left me (or I should say I left him, because he's back where we were before), I've been trying to come up with things to do with my time. It's not even that I hate being with my family, because I don't. I like being home. It's just hard to go from being with someone all day every day to only being able to communicate by phone and Skype (Although I did get to see him this week (!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) which is my excitement) which i'll post about when I get brandon's camera back). My mom suggested I take up a hobby, which I initially scoffed. I just enjoy being by myself when I'm melancholy, moping around or whatnot. But, I took her advice and took up crocheting. This is my first attempt at it...

By the time I realized it looked bad, it had gone on for long enough that I didn't just want to give it up. So I decided to keep going with it. It's going to be for my hammock that we're hanging up in our study room in the apartment that we SIGNED FOR!!!! Very exciting. At any rate, it's getting quite big, and I am also moving on to other things. Namely, a blanket for our front room.
I'm obsessed. It's really funny, because this is just the thing I would make fun of normally. But now I know I can make baby blankets for when my friends start having children, and stuff for our apartment. Since we're all poor and stuff. I'm also going to make tablecloths, but not by crocheting. Anyway, if anyone has good tips for me I'd love to hear them!

My first temp job

Well, I survived my first temp job... and by survived I really mean survived. It was horrible.
So they called me and told me it was customer service for a company. I would be calling people who had recently bought a product and ask them about their experience.

FALSE.

I get there the first day (it was 1 PM to 5:30 PM originally), and they tell that they're supposed to recruit 240 participants for an auto clinic in New Jersey the weekend of May 6 and May 7. So what am I doing? Cold calls to people from 4 PM to 9 PM East Coast time, calling owners of certain cars to get them to come.
It was pretty interesting, to say the least. I got yelled at a few times, hung up on a LOT, and talked to some pretty interesting people. I was in a room with this girl named Sophie, and she was pretty awesome to talk to. I enjoyed it. For a few days one of the other temps was in our room, and she drove me nuts. She was such a pessimist and a one-upper. One of the other temps was a woman about 65 years old... bless her heart she was so nice but so weird. One time she complimented me on my boat shoes, and then asked me if I was on a boat. I didn't know how to respond, so I said no.
Imagine my joy when the temp agency told me my assignment ended earlier than they had anticipated. Hallelujah!!!!!! It was worth not  getting the extra dough... I am a firm believer that my mental health is much more precious than $10 an hour. And now I'm going to go back to babysitting until i get another job. And I get to visit Brandon next Monday. Yay.

Nothing is going according to plan.

I'll clarify.
Back when Brandon and I started talking about getting married, I had this whole vision in my head. We would either get married July 23 or December 22 (his idea) in the San Diego temple. We would have a gorgeous wedding reception somewhere that is nice but not extravagant, and we would honeymoon somewhere way far away from everyone else... maybe Hawaii? I even had our announcement picture planned out. He would be in a dark gray sweater, wearing his glasses (because I think they make him look very attractive). I would be in a navy blue dress that I bought a year or so ago. We would be standing in front of either a tree with changing colors (obviously if we were getting married in December) or a tree with blossoms everywhere).
Well, obviously that's not happening. But here's the thing. All of this, this is real. I keep telling Brandon that. Those ideas were fantasies, and obviously not realistic. But these pictures, the Newport Beach temple, possibly having our reception at the Bryan building, honeymooning no more than an hour from our families (San Diego and Maine)... that's our real plans. And, I love it!
So why do I keep trying to justify my decisions? No idea. "So where are you getting married?" "The Newport Beach templeBECAUSE we just thought it would be easier that way..." "Where are you thinking about having your reception?" "The Bryan buildingBECAUSE it's free, and if we have a free venue we can spend more money on other things..." "When are you having your reception?" "The night beforeBECAUSE we want to enjoy our reception..."
Seriously. What am i doing? That ends today. It's my wedding gosh dang it and I like how it's going! I don't need to justify anything to anyone.
PS 110 days... I"m counting down. And I am flying up to Idaho in 14 days to see Brandon... I can hardly wait.

A little bit more about Brandon...

So this is my pity party post. I got turned down for the promotion that I had been expressing interest in for about 8 months today via letter. So I'm in a self-pitying mood.
I can't get a hold of Brandon for most of the day on weekends now, because he took up a job of which I am so proud. He is working from 7 PM to 7 AM in a nursing home/ assisted living home, making the resident's lives easier. It's not a pretty job, as he helps them bathe and get ready and go to the bathroom, if needed. It's something that I would have a hard time doing, but he loves it. He just told me stories when we were on the phone about how nice the residents were, and how much fun he had doing it. I'm not a person who stays up all hours of the night (anymore), so the fact that he could be so cheerful while doing something that unpleasant is amazing to me. He was actually excited to go to work tonight, because there are 3 residents who go to bed at about 11 PM, and so for the first 4 hours of his shift (after he gets the other residents to bed) he will just make them snacks and cook for the next day while chatting with them. That takes a very special person, and I'm glad that I get to marry someone who is that genuinely nice. He enjoyed talking with an old man who has autism, and an old woman who suffers from Alzheimer's and dementia was sad that she was "too old for him". He genuinely enjoys these people, and has already had one pass away since he started on Wednesday. It just amazes me how kind he is to everyone, and not just to me.
So yes, I know I've blogged a lot about Brandon lately. It's pretty hard to be away from him, especially as it is likely that I won't see him until the wedding. It was rough to go from spending many hours every day with him, to only being able to talk to him via phone and texting. (and skype but we haven't done that yet.)  I can't even talk about it too much, because then I tear up and get a lump in my throat. I know I'm somewhat emotionally open, but I've never been this attached to someone. Which is probably a good thing.
However, I've decided to pick up hobbies that I hadn't done before. My new one? Crocheting. Which is amusing, but I'm hooked now. My goal is to be able to make an afghan, but I've only learned one stitch so we'll see how that goes.

23

There are some things you should know about the number 23.
- the Human biorhythm is 23 days
- William Wallace was executed on August 23
- December 23, 2012 was the day the Mayans said the world would end
- John Forbes Nash, the subject of "A Beautiful Mind", became obsessed with the number 23 after seeing a picture of Pop John XXIII and believing it to be himself
- Michael Jordan. David Beckham and LeBron James all have worn the number 23
- Most quoted psalm? 23
- Each parent contributes 23 chromosomes to their child
-  It takes 23 seconds to blood to circulate through the human body.
 - Julius Caesar was stabbed 23 times
- The first Morse Code transmission was "What hath God wrought?"-- Numbers 23:23
- There are two movies based on the number 23, and both main characters were obsessed with the number
- There are exactly 23 characters, numbers and letters on the faces of all U.S. Currency
- The axis of the Earth is tilted 23 degrees








Why does this matter?
Because Brandon Giullian, my BFF, fiance, and soon to be husband is turning 23 tomorrow. I sent him some lists like this about the number 23 in a lame attempt to give him a good birthday present, because he's 1,000 miles away and I wish I was there. I'll save that for another time that I'm feeling like a pity party. But for now, I hope he has a good birthday (he never reads my blog anyways haha), and I'll get to see him soon.

He would not be too happy if he saw that picture up... good thing he doesn't check my blog eh?

Happy Anniversary!

 but HAPPY ANNIVERSARY MOM AND DAD! Just think, in 24 years you've had 6 kids (in the first 14 years), you're about to have a third child graduate from high school and a second wedding. Lots more to come in the next few years... I think you guys have done just fine with raising us.

Yes I know I've been blogging a lot. I'll explain soon.