Catching Up With My Personality

     I like to think of myself as a classy, mature, sincere "adult", but every December I turn back into a little kid that believes in magic and breathes nothing but Christmas. I become "hoppy" and consistently jump up and down and clap my hands when a birthday is afoot. And I can't help but become ecstatic when I see Easter candy or Thanksgiving cornucopias. To me, each of these things represents excitement and laughter, family and friends, and sometimes even change and a fresh start.
     Well this past week I've had something to celebrate and that is the life I was given 22 years ago. I am so grateful to be alive and well. And I am in awe of how far I've come as a person, and how God has placed me in certain places at specific times to be where I am today; living in a great apartment with an amazing husband. But along with all of these things, I am thankful for age. Finally!, I feel like I'm catching up with my personality!
     As a child, I sucked my thumb and carried around my blankie until I turned 5. Leading up to that birthday mom told me that big girls don't suck their thumbs and if I wanted to be a big girl I'd have to stop doing what babies do. So, I quit cold-turkey and that was the end of my "baby" days. Then for years leading up to my 10th birthday, all I wanted in life was a pet bunny. I worked hard to prove I was old enough to be responsible for a pet and then mom and dad surprised me with a white, baby bunny! (It was exactly what I wanted, and that is still one of the best birthdays I've ever had!) In my early teen years I worked hard to save every penny I earned cause I knew I was going to need money to buy a house one day. And although I didn't buy a house with that money, it did help Jon and I pay for our wedding. All in all, I enjoyed childhood but I've always been about five years older in my head than I was in real life. I think mentally I'm about 25 now, so I'm catching up! All that to say, I've always wanted to be a "big girl" and I love growing older. :)    
     Jon and I have been celebrating all week and I've gotten my hair cut, we went clothes shopping, then went to see Maleficent, I had dinner with one of my best friends on Monday, Jon made me breakfast in bed on Tuesday, then took me out for a really nice dinner, and we eventually ended up going for a swim that night at our rooftop pool. Aaahh, it was so romantic. I've got the best husband in the world!
     Also, I don't know if any of you have heard of Miranda Sings on YouTube but my sister Josie sent me her own rendition of a "Miranda video" for my birthday and it is hilarious! So I had to share...

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=552633354845927&l=2753895212141622288

     Live. Laugh. Love.
~Brianna

It's Already November!

     Wow, I can't believe it's been about a month and a half since I last posted! I thought the summer was busy, but wow these past weeks have been non-stop.
     There have been a few changes around our house recently, mainly we decided Jon needed a new job.

Jon and I at my cousin's wedding.

He's been working for a parking company since we moved to Colorado and it was a great transition job and he learned a TON about working in a corporation and what that looks like in the business/professional world. I've seen him expand his management skills and ultimately become an incredible, encouraging, and productive boss. He put in 110% when they needed him to and never complained about the extra work or even the dreadful night/weekend hours he had to work. I'm proud of Jon and what he has accomplished and learned and I'm excited to see him finish strong on his last few days before the transition into this new company!
     We had been talking about him getting a new job for a few months now and a couple weeks ago we saw an ad for a social media marketing management position. Jon has an deep passion for marketing and so this seemed like the next logical step for him to take. He applied for the job the same night we saw the ad and one week, three interviews, and one hundred other applicants later he was hired!! (Yeah, he beat out one hundred other people for this job!!) So his first day of work is Tuesday and we could not be more excited! :) This is exactly the type of thing Jon wants to do and he won't have to work nights or weekends anymore, and we'll get to celebrate holidays together! (Last year he had to work every holiday except Christmas. So, it wasn't exactly the way I imagined we'd spend our "first year" holidays together, but we'll make up for it this next year) Anyway, I think Jon is going to do amazing at this new firm and I think it's going to give him some great tools we can use for the marketing firm Jon and I just started.
     Yep, that's right, on top of our "regular jobs" we started our own marketing business! We have two clients as of right now and it's our hope to make it a full time gig for Jon (and then possibly me) so he can work from home and we can go to school and hopefully it will be big enough to support us when we start having kids and I won't have to work anymore. Obviously we are still a long way off and we don't have any unrealistic expectations, but it is a dream we have and it is something we want to continually work towards.

Us just being us :)

     In other news, we have found an incredible church that we just recently became members of and God has greatly blessed and encouraged us as we have begun to set aside time to worship and rekindle our relationship with Him. Jon and I both grew up in Christian homes and have individually chosen to place our faith in Jesus Christ. But while we were dating and even during our first year of marriage we couldn't seem to ever make church or God a priority. I didn't have a church at the time and Jon was leaving the church he was attending so we really didn't have a "home" and even after we moved we couldn't seem to find a church that was "real"; we wanted to find some place that was not just a "Sunday Morning Production".
     Anyway, in July, we had the opportunity to help out at a sports camp/VBS and decided we really liked working with the individuals from this church and wanted to try out a Sunday morning service. Well, we went and by the first week we were hooked! We adore the pastor (who, coincidentally, just happens to be best friends with the pastor of the church I attended growing up) and love what he teaches each week. You can tell he is passionate about God and has a deep, overflowing love for Jesus and that love just flows through his actions and words.

On our way to a Roarin' 20's party!

     Jon and I have joined a young couples class and it was been so much fun getting to know other young The Art of Marriage and I have thoroughly enjoyed it as it has been giving Jon and I a chance to have some good conversations outside of just the normal, everyday topics. Haha it's also been a little bit of a challenge because it seems like whatever we talk about in our class on Sunday night we get a chance to live out during the week. For example, early on in our marriage Jon was established as the head of our household. I definitely have an opinion, and Jon is very good at listening to my opinion rants and discussing things with me before we make a joint decision, but we both know that when it comes down to it Jon is going to have the last word. So far, throughout the time we've been together, Jon has never had a reason to oppose my opinions and make a decision that I haven't agreed with UNTIL we talked about roles in our couples class a few weeks ago. There was this one last decision we had to make about the job he is quitting and I was dead set with one opinion and he was dead set on the other and after discussing and talking and discussing some more, Jon smiled, then winked at me and said, "Well, it's a good thing we talked about this exact thing on Sunday because I'm afraid I really believe we should go with my decision and I'm pulling rank." Then he quickly added, "Just kidding! ...But seriously." Lol oh the joys of marriage, I'm telling you what. ;)

married people and laughing about life and just getting to know people in the same stage of life as us. We've been going through this book called

     I have quite a bit more to catch y'all up on, but I'll save it for another day. All in all, we are doing fabulous and I hope you and yours are doing lovely as well!
     Live. Laugh. Love.

~Brianna

The Aftermath of Camping

     I have officially decided that camping was a lot more fun as a kid. Now don't get me wrong the actual
camping part is still a blast, but the after effects are not my thing.
     For instance, when you're younger you fill your backpack with your favorite gear, put fresh batteries in your flashlight, find your emergency whistle, test out your waterproof matches, smuggle in a few firecrackers to scare people with, get in the car, and off you go into the wild blue yonder. Then you get there and mom and dad sent up camp while you look for arrowheads. After a long night of S'mores and campfire songs you sleep soundly and wake up in the morning to a warm fire and a hot breakfast. When the camping trip is done you empty your backpack and life is back to normal. But whew, now, as an adult, it is not that easy!
     Jon and I were excited about going camping. We giddily packed all our gear into the car and set off towards the Rocky Mountains to off-road and find the "perfect spot". There was a slight drizzle all weekend, but since we were camping out of the back of the 4Runner it was no big deal. Jon also set up a few tarps to keep our fire and wood dry.

     We roasted steak over the fire for dinner that night and, oh my word!, it was SO good! There was that perfect hint of smoky flavor and the juices were continuously dripping down our arms as we ate the steak off the coat-hanger skewers. A while later we hid the cooler from bears and settled into sleeping bags in the bed of the 4Runner. All night we kept hearing phantom bears and we discovered that the car wasn't quite long enough for Jon to stretch out his legs (haha poor guy!) but overall it was a good night.
     Monday morning we packed up and headed out just as the rain started to pour. Isn't it amazing how stuff just explodes during a trip and it never gets packed up the same way?! When we got home and started unloading the car it was just amazing how much stuff we had! Plus, every single item smelled like camp fire smoke! Geez, I don't remember that happening as a kid! But wow the smoky smell just about knocked us over every time we took a deep breath in! Every single thing had to be washed. Mom and Dad, how did y'all ever manage camping with seven kids?! It was all a little overwhelming, but dear Jon was right there with me doing laundry, wiping out the cooler (candy had dissolved into the ice water, coating everything in skittle slime), and cleaning mud out of the carpets.
     An hour later I learned there's only so much cleaning a man can do without him involving some good-natured teasing. I was telling Jon that before we could relax there were a few dishes that needed to be washed and some laundry to switch out. To which he replied, "You know Babe, I was thinking about how important a clean house is to you and well I'm just not as good at household chores as you are. So maybe I shouldn't clean, you know, so everything can be up to your standards. I just don't want to mess anything up. I mean your folding is so much neater than mine. And I like the way you do the dishes, the silverware is just so much cleaner when you do it! I like the way YOU clean. *sweetest smile*"

     "Haha, what?!" I said in response. "I see what'cha did there! But oh no I'm not falling for it, not for one minute!"
     "I'm not trying to get out of anything! I'm just saying that I like the way you clean so much better than the way I clean! Honey, your folding is so much prettier than mine and the way you load the dishwasher is, wow! Outstanding! Incredible really... I honestly wish I could clean like you but there is just no comparison."
     "Oh no, haha! I like YOU'RE cleaning much better, Babe! "
     "No... I'm pretty sure you don't. I mean, I don't even scrub the dishes before I put them in the dishwasher! Ha, crazy me, I just expect the dishwasher to get all the grime off. But not you, Babe! Oh no, you clean them and then put them in the dishwasher. I mean that takes dedication and I'm afraid that's just not me."
      Lol, I didn't fall for his trickery (ahem flattery), but he made me laugh which is really all that matters. :)

     Live. Laugh. Love.