pictures from Thanksgiving

Opening presents-- Brandon tried on the hat his mom made for him, but she realized it made him look like a girl.

Mia had fun decorating the little castle I made for her.

And here is the house Brandon and I made.

Hauling in the enormous Christmas tree--that thing barely fit on the Suburban.

And here I wanted to show Mom how my would-be wedding dress turned out.

6 whole months

I had a startling realization while I was at church today: Brandon and I have been married for 6 months. Then I realized that this time had gone by so fast that soon I would be graduating, having kids, getting old, and wishing I was once again a newlywed. So now I am going to list all the reasons I am glad to be married to Brandon.
- He lets me take naps whenever I want to.
- He doesn't make me make dinner every night, he loves to help me.
- He doesn't care that I'm not a very good cook.
- He cuddles with me every morning when he wakes up.
- He makes me take calcium pills every day because he doesn't want me to break myself when I'm old.
- He takes me on dates.
- He gets me to tell him what's bothering me when I'm grumpy.
- He doesn't care that I have a useless major.
- He encourages me and tells me that I can finish things, even if it takes me a long time. Like the 10-mile hike that took me all day-- he was so proud of me just for making it to the top.
- He is good at everything that I'm not.
- He is thrifty to a degree that I never thought possible.
- He helps me through my frequent attacks of self-doubt.
- He loves me even when I'm weird.

Things I learned in Idaho (in no particular order)

1. Brandon is exactly like the rest of his family--none of Brandon's family can make decisions. It's starting to worry me, because eventually someone will have to wear the pants in this relationship, and neither of us want to.
2. One of my pet peeves is being woken up in the morning. I haven't realized this because I have gotten up on my own since I was about 10 years old and I know exactly how long it takes me to get ready. Somehow, even though I'm 20 and married now, Brandon's siblings still think they need to be my personal alarm clock.
3. Brandon and I make awesome graham cracker houses.
4. Brandon was Elvis in his 6th grade school play. He sang and danced and combed his hair for all the world to see.
5. Nature is not very good at growing Christmas trees. I never knew how hard it was to find a full, teardrop shaped pine tree in the wild. It takes hours.
6. No one should ever eat anything that Brandon's dad and brother cook. They made jalapeno poppers for me and gave one to me last night. However, they hadn't taken the seeds out, they made it with an extra-hot red one, and I'm convinced they dipped it in hydrochloric acid. I took one bite and had to drink about a gallon of water and run to the bathroom because I thought I was going to throw up. It was by far the hottest thing I had ever tasted. Bryce and McKay thought it was really funny.

More like Bethy, less like a wimp

Today before work I was heading to the dressing room to change into my work clothes. When I got there, I noticed that it had been closed off and there were three maintenance workers standing around. I stopped and read the sign posted on the door which said "Closed for repairs" and walked away a little irritated.
When I got to my locker, I heard one of the workers say, "Did you see her just standing there staring at the sign? How long does it take to figure out it's closed?"
So, I stood up and said, "I can hear you. You know, if you're going to say things about people behind their back, you should at least wait until they're out of earshot, otherwise people might think you're a big jerk."

The only problem with this story is that it is a lie. Yes, the maintenance guy was a jerk and yes, I heard him, but I didn't say anything. I just walked to another bathroom to change. Then I thought about the time when we were in the Newark airport and the flight attendant was yelling at everyone, so Bethany told her that she didn't have to be so rude. And I decided that I need to be more like Bethany and less like a wimp.

Back

Brandon and I had a delightful time in Midway this weekend. We got in on Friday and went out to a Mexican restaurant that served at least 12 different types of salsa. Sadly, every one we tried was completely flavorless. Of course, there are only 2 restaurants in Midway, so it was either that or some expensive-looking one.The next morning we went on a drive and I found this little stream that I fell in love with. Something about green moss and yellow grass is really exciting for me. So here's a picture for those who haven't seen me in awhile and another of just the stream.

We tried driving the alpine loop but it was closed for the winter. Instead, we walked around the back of Timpanogos for about 5 minutes until I got too cold. Anyways, here is little Brandon.

After that we had a picnic. We made sandwiches and I was excited to have spicy brown mustard on mine. Anyone who knows how much I love mustard will understand. I have to thank Bexar for force-feeding me mustard when I was little-- it has grown into quite a love affair.

For the rest of the day, we watched movies in the condo. Even though we didn't do much it was way better than being stuck in our little apartment. I had tons of fun with Brandon.

Question...

Who wants to see Brandon in a skirt? If you said yes, go here.

Exercise

Lately Brandon has been encouraging me to exercise. No, he doesn't think I'm fat, he just knows that I feel much better about myself when I do, and he is all about self-esteem. Last night he was coming up with suggestions of things I could do (he even offered to work out with me), but nothing seemed to work. It gets dark at no later than 5:00 this time of year and rains all the time, so that eliminates anything outdoors. And our apartment is too small for just about anything-- I was going to have him teach me ju jitsu (he took a class last semester) but we don't have any open floor space. In fact, we hardly have enough space for me to lie down to do crunches. And anything involving running or jumping would make our neighbors downstairs really hate us. I told Brandon that if he got me a dog, I would happily take it on walks for hours a day, rain or shine. But that's out of the question, too. So I'm going to ask Bexar, since she seems to be the queen of working out, how do you do it? Because I can't seem to do anything.

Thanks, mommy, I fixed my spelling errors.

Okay...

Can you see it now?

Halloween, and the previous weekend

Here is a picture of little Brandon working hard on our false wall. It was supposed to be gold but turned out to be about the color of the couch. Bummer. We can at least re-paint it.

I decided that I couldn't go the entire day without wearing a costume, so I dressed up as a "shady lady" before going to a friend's house for soup.

Last week I got to stay in Salt Lake while Brandon took his FE test. Since it started at 7:45 AM and I had nowhere to go, I went and took pictures of the temple because it's generally pretty in the fall. Can anyone spot the big dipper in the vertical picture of the temple? The people who built the Salt Lake temple actually put the big dipper on the west side and the stars align and point directly to the north star. It's very faint, but it's there, in the blank space on the center pillar.

And here it is with the pretty fall colors. I actually wan't too bored in Salt Lake- I went to the gateway and got a skirt for $2, visited a friend, and visited grandma and grandpa. After the test Brandon and I went out to Cheesecake factory to celebrate. Brandon got the crunchy cashew chicken and it turned out being one of the best things I've had there. Yum.

Dear people who can't read Fernash's blog,

Have you tried using Internet Explorer to view it instead of Mozilla? I always have problems seeing it on Mozilla but it's just fine on IE.

The things I learn about Brandon

I learn new things about Brandon every day. Yesterday we were shopping at Wal-mart and stocking up on food (we returned so many wedding presents there that we had plenty of money for groceries.) We were in the "Oriental foods" aisle and Brandon asked me if I wanted to get anything else. I told him that I would like to make sweet and sour pork and I reached for a bottle of sweet and sour sauce. Then he stopped me and said, "Shady, don't get that, we can make it." Confused, I said, "You can't just make this stuff--you have to buy it. Like the sweet and sour pork that I had at your house. Where did you get the sauce for that?" "We made it," he said. "It's nothing more than vinegar, sugar, and a little bit of ketchup." Needless to say, I kept saying "Really? Seriously?" for about 10 minutes. I mean, I knew his family always made their own bread and syrup and pickles and window cleaner, but, sweet and sour sauce? You have to draw the line somewhere. I had always assumed that there were certain things that everyone just bought.

Another thing I learned about Brandon that day struck me when I dropped him off for his FE review. He asked me if I wanted to come see the sandbox. I said okay and he took me into his lab where I saw just that-- a giant sandbox. I told him that I always thought that he did work for his classes, not play in a giant sandbox. I said that if this is what geologists do then I should be a geologist. He said that they didn't play in it, they just observed it. Then I pointed to a muscular little figurine standing in it and said, "That looks like a toy to me."

That's okay. Brandon does more work in his classes than I do, even if it involves a giant sandbox. And now I get to learn how to make sweet and sour sauce so that I can likewise confuse little girls like me who thought that everything came from stores.

Sick day

I had a sick day on Tuesday. Normally I think sick days aren't that bad-- I get to stay home and sleep all day, and Brandon gives me a hug about every 30 seconds and asks if I'm ok. The not-so-fun part is the throbbing head and the fact that it came during midterms. (Brandon is also a little sick.)

But we both need to be better by Saturday, because Brandon has his FE (Fundamentals of Engineering) test in Salt Lake. It's one of those tests that sounds huge and scary. I just can't wait until it's over and he doesn't have to go to any more reviews.

10 easy steps to make your blog cute

This is mainly for Mom, because she asked, but anyone else can use this too.

What I did for MTB's blog is:
1. go to thecutestblogontheblock.com.
2. sign into your blog in another window.
3. pick out a background that you want on said website.
4. go to "layout" on your blog.
5. in "add and arrange page elements," go to "add gadget" (at the side of the page).
6. click on "add Javascript/html"
7. at thecutestblogontheblock.com, click on the background you want. There will be an html code below the instructions. Highlight and copy the html code.
8. paste the html code on the "add Javascript/html" window.
9. click "save."
10. now you have a new background for your blog!

Note: before you do this you need to make sure that the template for your blog (under Layout--> pick new template) is Minima. These steps also won't guarantee you a cute header-- I make those in Photoshop.

Why Brandon hates cats

Aren't these little faces just adorable? Well, they're nothing but trouble, according to Brandon. He has gone through no less than 50 cats in his life (the big cat has 4-5 kittens in each litter, and she gives birth about every 6 months.) His family manages to give away most of the kittens, but as you will soon see, they have a much worse track record with animals (not just cats) than we do. If you think that every pet's dream is living on a big open farm, you're wrong. They live on 2.5 fenceless acres and most of their pets suffer very violent deaths.

One of his cats and one of his dogs died by "bleeding out their butts." Brandon was supposed to shoot the cat but it got away and ended up dead on their porch a few days later. A few of his dogs either ran away or were run over. One puppy was run over by the lawn mower (luckily it was the tire, not the blade.) Two kittens crawled into the sawdust vaccuum tube and got stuck there. They came sliding out a couple of months later. One kitten had its leg bitten almost off by a dog-- Cameron and Mia had fun picking out the maggots after that happened. Gross. But Brandon's favorite story is about his cousin's puppy Fluffy. It was stupid and liked to chase cars. It got caught under the wheel of a car it was chasing and was tossed up in the air by the motion of the wheel. On its way down it was hit again by an oncoming car.

Any animal lucky enough to escape death then has to face Mia-- at least until they're too old to be cute.

And if Brother thinks that Alice's peeing in his suitcase is bad, imagine having your cat give birth on the foot of your bed. That happened to Cameron a few months ago. Brandon was lucky enough to have the cats give birth under his bed. He also had to rescue a couple of litters out of the attic.

Their cats could be unusually generous, though. One Christmas morning they went outside to find that their cat had killed about 50 mice and placed them ont he floor by the car. Apparently it kept it up for about a week, so they would find a new peace offering every morning. It also used to disembowel mice and neatly line up the entrails on the doorstep.

Don't feel bad, mom. Any of these animals would have loved to stay at our house. With this said, I think I can guess that Brandon and I will never own any cats. He has had a few too many give birth on his watch.

Why Brandon's family is cool:

They had extra condo points so they booked us a condo in Midway for a weekend in November.

6 random things about Brandon

Since Brandon won't post 6 random things about himself, I'm doing it for him. I'll forgo posting the rules and tagging people since he doesn't even have 3 blogger friends to tag. Here goes:

1. He played soccer in high school and his nickname was "the destroyer" because he sent more players off the field than anyone else on the team. He got a yellow card for kicking another player in the face, and another for kicking a kid in the stomach (they were in the way of the ball).

2. His favorite food is shrimp. He once went to the Sizzler and got the steak and shrimp combo which comes with endless shrimp. He ate the entire steak plus more than 100 shrimp.

3. He loves to correct people. He has already corrected me numerous times on this post. He claims that I tell his stories wrong. Now he is saying, "Claims? I think it's a pretty fair claim."

4. He is a great artist. He is the only person in his school's history to have gotten two 5's on the AP art exams. He draws pretty weird things too, such as a woman in a crocodile costume, his cousin in a sombrero and poncho shooting a rifle, and a menacing blue face.

5. He hates buying things for himself, but he doesn't mind spending money on me. Yesterday we went shopping and he told me to buy just about everything I looked at. He once convinced me to buy a dress just so that I could wear it on a date with him. The summer before we were engaged we went out to eat at least three times a week. It was awesome.

6. He also loves to snowboard. When I was in Mexico he sent me a video of him doing jumps. He claims it was a terrible video, but he looked extremely crazy in it. He even used to go snowboarding in shorts occasionally.

Lucky day

Apparently yesterday was my lucky day. Every once in awhile I have those, and they're awesome. First, work was really slow and Brandon came to visit me, so I got to do nothing but talk to him and scoop honey butter for 30 minutes. Then, the guy that usually comes in late and makes me stay late for work came in on time and told me that he would just try to "hold it" until his shift was over so that I could go home. (He has OCD, so his bathroom breaks are about 45 minutes long. I would have had to stay 45 minutes over my shift.) Then, I found out that my new generic perscription is $47 cheaper than my old one, so now Brandon and I can afford to go on dates. And finally I stumbled upon a cute way to do my hair that's really easy. I love lucky days.

Tagged again! How fun.

Rules:
Link to the person who tagged you: Poodle
Post the rules on your blog
Write six random things about yourself
Let each person know they've been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

1. I dye the underside of my hair brown to add contrast to my hair.

2. I sleep much better since I've been married, except when Brandon talks in his sleep. Then I try to stay awake and listen to him because it's funny.

3. I am convinced that my kids will be the most photographed people in the world, because I LOVE my camera.

4. I want lots of pets. I almost took home one of Brandon's cats. He convinced me that it wasn't a good idea. Thanks, frontal lobes.

5. When I was a teenager, I went through a phase where I was mad at everything and sulked in my room most of the time.

6. I worry that when Brandon starts making money, I will spend it all. I've already started a mental list of things we need to get when he gets a real job. I could go crazy.

I tag Brandon, Landon Wiest, and BROTHER!!!

Ashley, the sweet spirit

I had forgotten about how nice Ashley is until she came back to BYU last week. The first thing she said to me when she saw me was this:
Wow, you look so skinny. I thought you'd get fat after you got married.

She is also so accepting of everone she meets. She would never stereotype anyone. Like when she met Meagan's boyfriend for the first time and we had this conversation:
Ashley: You're a lot cooler than I thought you'd be. I figured you'd be a dorky BYU boy. You know, one of those overly perky returned missionaries.
Me: Ummm... he doesn't even go to BYU.

Or this conversation:
Me (seeing a commercial on TV) : That girl looks like the Cougareat secretary.
Ashley: Yeah she does.
Me: You've never even met the cougareat secretary.
Ashley: I know, but that girl looks like a BYU girl, so she has to look like the Cougareat secretary.
Me: So now all short girls with brown hair are "BYU girls?"

I know a short girl with brown hair that went to BYU. She's very perky, and she's a returned missionary. Ashley, you're a BYU girl. You might say that you don't miss BYU, but you sure fit the part. You dug this hole on your own.

I tagged myself

Your High School's full name: Ronald Reagan High School
mascot: rattlesnake. Although the bronze one outside always got its head and tail cut off so it looked more like a rope.
Did you date anyone from your school? Apparently a lot of guys thought they were dating me; I only admitted to dating 2.
What kind of car did you drive? red dented Corolla. I still drive it, and love it.
It's Friday night, where are you? Traipsing around, or grounded, or hanging out with mom.
Were you a party animal? No.
Were you considered a flirt? Yeah, hence the handful of guys that thought I was their girlfriend.
Were you in any clubs? Oh yeah. Art club, film club, JETS, Acedemic UIL, Spanish honors society, TSA, NHS (until they kicked me out for not attending meetings)
Did you ever get suspended or expelled? No, but I skipped a lot my senior year.
Can you still sing the fight song? I never could
Who were your favorite teachers? Sra. Frye (spanish), Mr. Ricketts (art), and Mr. Valderrama (history)
Where did you sit during lunch? Carrie or Jennifer. I sat with other people but I didn't like it.
With whom did you go to Homecoming? Jr. year- Matt, Sr. year- Marques
If you could go back and re-do High School, what would you do? I would have ditched most of my superficial friends and hung out with my mom more.
What do you remember about graduation? My friend from my government class yelled out "FEMA" when he saw me, because we once both yelled it out at the same time in class. After graduation mom, dad, brother, and I went out to Alexander's to eat and dad and brother talked about economics.
Do you plan on going to your 10 year reunion? No, that's what Facebook is for.