Happy 5 Year Anniversary!

Brian and I were married 5 years ago in the Mesa, AZ temple.  I've thanked Heavenly Father every day since then for my wonderful husband! I married my best friend, and the perfect man for me--we just work well together! 

We met and became best friends during our first year of college.  Brian left on his mission to Portugal that next summer.  My siblings loved Brian so much they sabotaged other dates I went on (think fire crackers and water hoses), and almost refused to even speak to other guys I dated.  My roommates held the letters he sent me ransom for milkshakes and candy bars. 

I was SO excited for Brian to get home.  I was so giddy and bouncy when he first called me!  I didn't think I'd see him until school started a month later, and I couldn't wait.  Little did I know that my sister and roommates were in cahoots with Brian planning a surprise visit.  Brian and his brother Rick anticipated my reaction and made this video...it's taken me five years to be share it because I was rather embarrassed by my enthusiastic response.  But now it just makes me happy!

 

I love you Brian!  Happy Anniversary!

Brian's Thunderbird Award

Brian and I had a fun date last night.  We went to the Thunderbird Awards 2012 Ceremony.  We'd never even heard about them until Brian was nominated for an award.  SUU holds this "Oscar Night" each year, recognizing students, professors, and staff who have excelled in things like campus involvment and academic achievement.  We don't know who nominated Brian, he just got an email asking him to fill out some paperwork, and was later asked to come in for an interview.  He was chosen as a finalist, so we got an invitation to the awards night.

We got a babysitter, dressed up, went to the reception beforehand, and then to the Awards ceremony.   John Schmidt and Steve Nelson (New Age pianist and cellist) performed in between several of the awards.  They were amazing!  To top our evening off, Brian won the R. Kenneth Benson Award! It was fun to see him recognized for some of his hard work.

Here's what the award is all about:
"Recipients of the R. Kenneth Benson award have excelled academically, maintaining a minimum cumulative GPA of 3.60.  They have also shown outstanding leadership ability and dedicated themselves to serving the university and the community.  This is the most prestigious and distinguished award given to a male student at Southern Utah University."

I'm so proud of you, Brian!

Because she let's me practice...

Most of my pictures have been of Chandra lately. Chandra is just a lot more patient (or oblivious) to me practicing on her. Bracken gets bored or really crazy. So while Bracken napped yesterday, Chandra and I played...and I took pictures.

Bathtime!

Chandra loves the bath. When she hears the word "bath," she straightens her body so she'll slide out of my arms to the ground, then takes off like a rocket for the tub. She gets so frustrated that I make her wait to get her clothes off before climbing in, and tries with all her might to pull herself over the edge into the tub. She loves when I leave the water running a little so she can play with it, but she's also given herself a scare when she pulled up the shower lever while the water was on. She loves to drink the water like a puppy, or with a scoop. She's usually pretty sad when I pull her out, but getting blowdried helps to cheer her back up.

A Science Experiment

Bracken and I got the food coloring out the other day to have some fun...and learn to combine the primary colors to make new colors in the process. Bracken had so much fun he's been asking to do another "Skience Esperiment" every day since then.

So today we got out Brian's lab goggles and set to work. We used baking soda, vinegar and food coloring (of course). I asked Bracken what he thought would happen when we put the vinegar in. "I think it will make a mess, because you got a LOT of washcloths." He was so excited about the results, we had to repeat the experiment six times until we almost ran out of vinegar. What a fun morning!