License Plates & Initials

So back when Jen and I first started dating, she got me looking at license plates to see if I could find my initials. At first I flirtily complied, but before long I found myself looking at every passing cars in hope of finding the letters that defined my name: BWB. Well, as seems to be the case with practically everything in my life, things happen when I least expect them to, or even want them to. Anyways, I went to pick up one of my good friends and there, in the parking lot of his apartment complex, was a lone car. The license plate caught my eye as it was an Oregon plate. Feeling a sense of pride, I moved closer to the butt end of the car where, to my surprise, were my initials - BWB. Now this whole thing was kind of a double-whammy because a) there were my initials and, b) it was on an Oregon plate.

So now I can cross that off of my list of things to do/find before I die. You should try it out too. Who knows, you might find it. And if you're really lucky, you'll find it on the state of your choice. And if you're even luckier still, you'll find it more than once.

Finally!

Hello everyone, we are alive and doing well! It's been a long time since we wrote! I get on each of your blogs when I see there is a new post and I love reading about all the new and exciting things going on in your lives! I then see "Braden and Jen" listed under your blog lists and a small "2 months ago" under our names and I say, we need to blog, it's been that long?! So, I'm not going to let us get to three months old on your blogs.

Here's a quick recap and rundown since we blogged last - a lot has happened! We had wonderful holidays! We spent Thanksgiving in Idaho with Braden's mom's family! My birthday was December 11th and I am now a quarter of a century old! :) We spent Christmas with my parents in South Jordan, and then we spent New Years at Braden's Parent's in American Fork. Braden started Student Teaching at Alta High School, and will soon be done with that and moving onto a middle school in Alpine. We got a brand new primary class of fun and eager to learn 4-year-olds. We have started our two TV series for the year: LOST and 24 - oh my gosh - SO GOOD!!! So good in fact, I was getting butterflies this week before we watched 24! Since we blogged last we have also gotten a new President of the United States and celebrated Valentines Day and President's Day, which Braden got to take the day off and got to sleep in (a much needed break.) We went to the open house of the new Draper Temple which was beautiful. We also had our one year mark of being engaged on January 8th, man time sure has flown! We are so happy and doing so well. I love going home every night to my wonderful husband. I've learned so much about him, and me and love him more and more everyday. Life is so exciting and wonderful.

I know this was quite the list, but if I don't blog about it all now, I'll just need to keep catching up and never get to it - like my journal! :) Now we can blog regularly from here on out. Below I will post lots of pictures. For now, I have a small link and picture of a give-away that I found on a new crafty website! I think the aprons are really cute! Click here to go to the website.




One of our dates - we had a picnic in a homemade tent! Peanut butter sandwiches, cream soda, and frosted grahm crackers!


We get to babysit Braden's nephew's, Jerik and Jackson and we have so much fun!


We came home one Saturday and a family on our street had this in their front yard.


Thanksgiving in the church in Idaho! Left to right, Lu, Brittney, Gibson, Tim, DeLanea, Dill, and Braden

I thought this was pretty funny. I'll probably try other songs too!

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Our First Christmas Tree

Yay! Our first Christmas Tree! We were really lucky, we got Braden's sisters' old tree and it fits' perfectly in our apartment! Our ceiling isn't that tall, the tree is a 7 footer. Then, second bit of luck was that Tim and DeLanea (Braden's parents) gave us our Christmas present early and took us to Walmart to pick out our ornaments. I have always loved those really fancy trees and I married into the perfect family for that. Jenell, Braden's sister worked at an interior decorating store and that was her job for the Holidays. She did our tree, hers, and Britney's (Braden's other sister). She wants to start a business decorating trees - I think she'd do great! The night she decorated it, we had the whole family over and we all helped while we watched Christmas with the Kranks, I was going to take a picture of the event but forgot until after everyone left.

Having the tree lit every night is so calming and really getting me in the mood for Christmas - since the weather doesn't point to the season being here at all (not that I'm complaining.) :)

Speaking of the lights on the Christmas tree, I LOVED what President Uchtdorf said tonight in the Christmas Devotional. He talked so wonderfully of our Savior and of the Christmas season. He started his talk by saying how, "as a child I associated Christmas with light. As I have grown in my understanding of the Gospel, I'm even more convinced that Christmas truly is about light...Let us ever remember that Jesus Christ is the Light of the world. May we remember the humble dignity of His birth, His gifts and His life. May we, through our simple acts, of kindness, charity, and compassion, fill the world with the light of His love and His healing power. I testify that Jesus the Christ lives today." If you click on the above "Christmas Devotional," you can watch the entire thing, or click on Dieter F. Uchtdorf's talk and just watch that. It was truly inspirational.

The Next 4 Years

Well, if you have paid any attention at all to the news as of late, you know that our country will see its first African-American president, Barack Obama. I love the fact that we have really embraced, or at least made another huge step towards true multiculturalism, but there is more that we need to be aware of than just one's race. Now, I wish I could join in with half the country and say I'm excited about the next four years, but I have to be honest and say that Obama's "change" is not the kind I'm looking forward to.

Ok, ok. Before a lot of you go off spewing out threats and wondering how in the world I am against change, let me tell you that I'm all for change, but no matter how you look at it, any of the candidates would be able to change what we currently have. That's not to say that President Bush is a bad president. Sure he has made some poor decisions, but heaven forbid he makes mistakes. Further, heaven forbid he actually attacks many of the problems that are facing our country. Too many people would not have done what he did and who knows what the outcome would be if we just stood still and let bad people do what they wanted. Maybe its not seen now, but in the future sometime, we'll look back and really see the good that Bush has done.

As far as other political ideas go, I'm glad that Prop 8 in California passed. A similar proposition passed also in Arizona and, if I remember right, a couple of other states. It's really comforting to know that there are still people that believe in true family values. I'll even take it as far as there are still people who believe in God, a figure that is seemingly getting crowded out of our country's interests. With that, may I turn your attention to the Book of Ether, found only in the Book of Mormon. For those of you unfamiliar with the Book, the people in the Book of Ether are some of the first people to inhabit the American continent. But it wasn't just that they were here and they lived. The following is a few verses from chapter 2:

And now, we can behold the decrees of God concerning this land, that it is a land of promise; and whatsoever nation shall possess it shall serve God, or they shall be swept off when the fulness of his wrath shall come upon them. And the fulness of his wrath cometh upon them when they are ripened in iniquity.

For behold, this is a land which is choice above all other lands; wherefore he that doth possess it shall serve God or shall be swept off; for it is the everlasting decree of God. And it is not until the fulness of iniquity among the children of the land, that they are swept off.

And this cometh unto you, O ye Gentiles, that ye may know the decrees of God—that ye may repent, and not continue in your iniquities until the fulness come, that ye may not bring down the fulness of the wrath of God upon you as the inhabitants of the land have hitherto done.

Behold, this is a choice land, and whatsoever nation shall possess it shall be free from bondage, and from captivity, and from all other nations under heaven, if they will but serve the God of the land, who is Jesus Christ, who hath been manifested by the things which we have written.

The other night, when Jen and I were discussing this topic, it came to our minds that throughout the Christian timeline, whether in the Bible or the Book of Mormon, the times when society has been its most wicked, the times when people have forgotten God, there have been many prophets sent to declare repentance. Today there is a living prophet, Thomas S. Monson. However, he alone can't go throughout the world and especially throughout this nation and declare repentance. I assure you he is doing that where he goes, but to have the impact of the prophets of old, the call goes out to us. We must be the source of truth and light. We need to, more so now than ever before, to make our voices heard. We need to stand up for that which we believe in. We need to enforce the principles and fundamentals upon which this country was founded. If we but remember God and serve him, no matter what your faith may be, then the promise is there. We will be fine and we'll have nothing to worry about.

In closing (I know this is terribly long) may I just say that I will support President Obama as far as what he does is in the best interest of the country, as long as what he does will reinforce the almost lost principles the Founding Father once declared. Will he be perfect? No, he's human. Unfortunately, there will still be people who worry about their mortgages. People will still wonder how they will afford gas. Rich people will still get rich and poor people will still be poor. God gave us our agency. If we rely on the government to act upon our agency for us, then we have completely misunderstood our purpose here on earth. I believe in this country. I believe in the ability of good people to do what's right. As mentioned above, the opportunity is ours to make the difference - to make the change Obama foresees. But, in the end, we need to make sure that we are serving our Heavenly Father, for only then are we promised freedom and success.

Thank you.

Our Primary Class

Ok, so we finally have pictures of our primary class. We were missing Georgia today, but when they're all there, maybe we can have a big class picture. First there is Grace, then Page, Leah, and Debony. They all have such different and unique personalities, it is amazing to learn from them. They are all five and already know so much about the scriptures.

One time we were teaching that we need to obey the laws of the land. We asked what color meant stop - they all said "red." We then asked what color meant go. Debony said, "white!" :) What? We asked her what she meant. Very confidnetly and almost in a tone of "why are you asking," she said, "when there is a red hand it means stop, when there is a white person, you can walk." Smart!

Another time in church we asked Debony to say the closing prayer. She was so funny, she said, "...and please bless that we can have treats." :) Luckily we had cookies, but that was so funny.

Grace in our class is so fun and sweet, but she is also very sensative. One Sunday we didn't call on her to say a prayer and she didn't look up after the closing prayer - she was crying. We asked her what was wrong and through her tears she said she had wanted to say a prayer and she didn't get to. So we decided we would have her say the opening prayer the next Sunday, well we did and she said she didn't want to say the prayer...Oh, they are so fun.

Well, we'll keep you updated on other funny things they do. I know they aren't our kids so it's not as cool, but for now... :)

Oh, also, we should report on the Body Worlds exhibit we went to. I don't think I'll tell you what we saw cuz it sounds grose but it isn't - PROMISE! It's so cool and educational - we loved it. However, if you're planning on going, plan for 2 + hours, and of that it takes about 1/2 hour - 45 minutes to get through the lines - even with pre-purchased tickets. But, it's cool. Well, for now, take care and we'll write again.

37-inches of pure awesomeness!

Doesn't the title just say it all? :) That's right we made our purchase of our first 37-inches of pure awesomeness! And soon we will be watching TV in all of it's HD glory. We saved up all of our gift cards to Target that we got for our wedding and added a little that we saved and got the beast! She fills up the entire space on our entertainment center, minus 1/4 in on each side! Previously, we had a nice, silver, 13 inch TV but now we don't have to lean forward to watch a movie! It was funny because the day it came, Braden was home and got it all put together before work. It was the Friday after we got back from Oregon, the TV wasn't scheduled to come until the next Monday or Tuesday. I rushed home to get ready because we were meeting Braden's family at the Timpanogos Temple. I ran in and said Hello to Braden and he was all smiling, I made a comment about him being happy and asked what was up, "Nothing." was his reply. Then I was getting ready and he came in the bedroom, again ALL smiles, "what?" I asked. "Nothing" he replied! :) So, I continued. He just kept looking at me and smiling, so I finally went over to him and said something like, "Ok, something is up, what?" He asked why anything would be up. I told him it was because he was SO happy. He said he was always like that but I didn't buy it. I was finally ready and I said, "Ok, let's go!" He just stayed in the living room on the couch. I went in, and you could guess, still smiling. "Ok, something is up!" I went in the kitchen to see if something had changed - then I saw the VIZIO pamphlets on the table. THE TV! :) I looked in the living room - past Braden and YEP, There was the TV - Big, Black, and filling up the entire entertainment center. How did I miss i? The TV came I said - YES!!!! Braden said. Man it sure took me long enough! But it was fun and we love it now. Now we're just waiting for the TV connection - we're going with Dish.