Hello there

Hello there.

It's been a while.  And while I could insert all sorts of lame excuses at this time, the truth is that things have been really hard for me.
2013 was all about kicking it in the face and making it epic.  And I think we did a pretty good job.  But it kicked back.  October through December was really really hard for me.  Sometimes I would just melt down and cry and all I could say to Dustin was, "I'm just having a really hard time."  That's the only way I knew how to put it.
Maybe it was the weather. Maybe it was the stresses of work and school and feeling like I couldn't see Dustin very much. Maybe it knowing that we had gone a full year with no form of fertility treatment and there was no progression. Maybe it was Satan. Maybe I was too depressed to continue my healthy lifestyle and therefore started gaining weight back. Maybe I am psychotic and mentally unstable.
Probably all of the above.
All in all, the end of the year was really hard for me.  I've thought of so many different blog posts I've been meaning to write. I wrote them all in my head a dozen times or so, just never on here.  How do you tell the internet world that you're having a hard time? That you're struggling but you're not sure with what? How do you let yourself open up and be vulnerable?  But yet at the same time share all the amazing and fun experiences you're having? Because we did some really great stuff. Just seemed to contradict each other.
I've been vulnerable before and it was hard, but there were rewards that came with it.
So here I am now, ready to talk (kinda).  I will probably not post all the things I originally wanted to post at the end of the year.  I will post dates of the month because I want to remember those.  There may be other posts to catch up on here and there.
I don't intend to make it a goal this year to increase my blogging.  At tithing settlement in December my Bishop encouraged us to journal.  I got a daily planner and have committed myself to write each day. I love that I just have a page to write each day. I hated journaling before because I felt like I had to write some epic life experience for posterity to read and learn or laugh about.  But now I'm just writing about the day- what we did, ate, watched, read,etc. And I'm enjoying it.  It's real life.  So instead of increasing blogging, I'm increasing personal journaling.  And we'll take it from there.
I've felt happier this month.  Maybe it's the journaling. Maybe it's the unusual January sunshine. Maybe it's cuz I made it through 2013. Maybe it's because this is the year of graduation and I can see a light at the end of the grad school tunnel.  Maybe it's because I'm learning to be happy with myself.
Probably all of the above.
So here's to getting through those really hard days and making each real life boring day a good one.

August Date of the Month

Dustin's clinic schedule kept him late on Friday nights so we kept our August date of the month local- camping in our own apartment!

 I made a pretty sweet tent in our family room but it was infested with bears!  We watched The Sandlot Friday night and pretty sure we watched some Saturday morning tv in the tent too because we loved it so much.

 Camping dinner outside- hamburgers and hot dogs

 Our forest backyard

 Our indoor campfire

 My kind of smores!

Camping breakfast in the morning- peach cobbler, eggs, and toasted English muffins

Chop chop

Every few years I chop my hair off and I was well over due for that big cut this August. Nobody in Portland has known me with short hair so it was fun to get reactions.  My favorite reactions were from the men at work:
Man: Did you color your hair?
Me: Um, yes.....

Technically I DID color my hair, but seriously, I do that all the time.  12 inches is a big deal people!
Lots of people ask if I get sad or nervous to chop my hair off.  I never get sad or nervous, just excited.  

Here are before and after pics of my locks of love chop chop!

Before

During

After!

Over 12 inches!

4 inches thick- so much hair!

love my new look!

The problem now is that I LOVE my short hair and kinda want to keep it this way.  I actually do my hair now.  And it takes much less time.  Should I keep it short or grow it out again to chop it off?

Resolution Check In

Can you believe that it's September already!?! While August felt FOREVER long, I can't believe that we are 2/3 of the way through this year.  It's crazy!

Remember those Resolutions we set at the beginning of the year? Time for a check up!
Let's see how we're doing...

Goal #1: Save Money.
I am happy to say that we are right on track with where we need to be to meet our goal at the end of the year! Also, if things go as planned, my student loan will be paid off next month, meaning it will be paid off in half the time.  I love paying things off in half the time! If only we could say that about Dustin's student loans as well...

Goal #2: Lose 50 lbs.
Ha. Hahaha.   Bahahaha.  In February losing 5 pounds a month was doable. Too bad I didn't really work on it until June.  It's been a slow journey, but we are getting there.  I joined Weight Watchers and I have to say, I love their program.  It's slow.  So very very slow. But I feel like this is a program that I could do for the rest of my life.  You can eat real food.  You can eat whatever you want.  And you can lose weight.  So far I am down 17 pounds.  As long as I can average 2ish pounds a week for the rest of the year, then I can make my goal, but I won't beat myself up if I don't get all the way to 50 pounds.  I'm happy with my progress and with any more to come. 

Goal #3: Dustin pass all his classes.
Well, there was one class he had to retake, but just the final at the end of the next quarter.  And he passed it then, so sure, we can say we're good on this one. :)  This quarter has been rough and next quarter will be even worse.  Fingers crossed and minds a studyin' for the rest of the year!

Goal #4: Brianne read a book a quarter.
YES! I have done this goal. So glad I set it! This year I've read Bossypants, The Great Gatsby, and Percy Jackson and the Lightening Thief. Currently working on Percy Jackson and the Sea of Monsters and next quarter will be The Help.  Any other good book recommendations?


Goal #5: Daily Scripture Reading.
Epic Fail.  Recommitting right now. So far, doing great this week.

Goal #6: Make new friends/hang out with current friends.  We're doing ok.  But I think there is room for improvement.

Goal #7: Brianne piece a quilt a quarter, finishing 2 for the year.  Have I posted any quilting pics lately? Maybe I should do a post on that.  First quarter- yellow/gray chevron, second quarter- baseball quilt, third quarter- pink/green 4 patch for Kendra's baby girl due Thanksgiving, should finish it up this week so I can contemplate quilting it myself or hiring it out, and a cuddle strip quilt (2 quilts this quarter!)

Goal #8: Dustin find a new hobby.  How about studying?  That should be his new hobby.  Oh wait, he DOES have a new hobby- feeding the fish.  He loves our fish, Rambo and Chuck Norris.  Fish are his hobby.  Check.

Goal #9: Go on a vacation.
YES! DC was such a great trip and I'm so glad we got to spend time with family! We've had mini vacations here and there too.  It's been a good year for us!

Closing up this quarter and one more to go! My how time flies!

Epic DC Vacation - Days 5 & 6 aka the finale

After a late night on the 4th of July (fireworks were going off all night!) we decided to take Friday easy.  We slept in and then enjoyed a leisurely morning getting ready and enjoying time together.  My parents and brothers went to the DC temple and in the afternoon, Dustin and I headed into town to meet up with Andrea.
We met up at the National Gallery of Art and enjoyed mimicking some famous art pieces.

Andrea the Thinker

Van Gogh's dancer

Don't worry, Dustin kept his clothes on for the pose

We enjoyed some delicious fro-yo from a fro-yo truck before heading on the metro down to Georgetown.
My family met us at the metro stop to Georgetown and we took a taxi to Mai Thai for some super yummy Thai food.
Next stop was cupcakery heaven!  Nathan and Elliott went ahead to scope out Georgetown Cupcakes and the line was outta control.  So we skipped Georgetown Cupcakes and stopped at Serendipity for some frozen hot chocolates.

 

Then we enjoyed Baked and Wired Cupcakes (our number one favorite cupcakes of DC!) at the waterfront park while Mr. Elliott ran in the fountains.

DC's best cupcakes - Baked and Wired

 

We hiked back to the Metro passing Sprinkles Cupcakes but decided to pass those up (sadly).

Saturday the 6th was our final day in DC.  We ventured into the city for some final site seeing.
Old Ebbitt Grill is the oldest restaurant in DC, where we enjoyed a tasty brunch. 

 

The White House was just a hop skip and a jump away and we got to take a picture in the Oval Office!

 

The First Couple

Ok, so we weren't really in the Oval Office, it was a White House gift shop that lets you take a free pic with any purchase, but we thought we make a great First Couple. ;)
We made sure to stop at one last cupcakery on the way home-- and ran into some missionaries on the way! There was a fro-yo shop right next to Hello Cupcake so we bought them a cool treat on a hot DC day. 

 

Final cupcakes were purchased and we headed home to pack up our stuff and head to the airport.

It was such a fun trip and there are so many things we didn't get to see.  We know we will be back!
Thanks Nathan and Adrienne for hosting an epic summer vacation!!

Epic DC Vacation -- Day 3

Wednesday was packed full of fun!

 

We started the morning with a tour of the Capitol building.  It was a really cool tour!  Our tour guide was a spunky UVU student who reminded me a lot of our cousin Amber.  By the end of the tour Elliott and Audrey were fairly bored.

Dustin with Brother Brigham- Utah's man!

Elliott was not very amused by the Capitol tour.

We grabbed some lunch at the Capitol building and then walked over to the Archives.  On the way we lost Elliott's pour nini (binky) and Dustin was the hero running back to the Capitol to find it.  And he was successful! 
Thank goodness my mom made us reservations at the Archives because we were able to skip a looooong line of people waiting to get in! 

We let Elliott try out a phone recording at the We The People exhibit and realized he probably didn't know that this was a phone! 

We tried getting Elliott to fall sleep and finally had success at the end of the Archives so we decided to check out the Natural History Smithsonian.  holy. big. museum!  It was another quick walk through trying to see everything in a short time frame.

 

Wednesday night Nathan, Adrienne, Dustin and I went to the DC temple for an endowment session.  We love to see the Temple!  It was very beautiful!

 We also love to see Cafe Rio and miss it living in Oregon!  Good news-- Washington DC has a Cafe Rio!  So we knew it was a must-have when we were out there. 

I'm pretty sure we ended the night with a late night movie with everyone back at home.  Probably Pitch Perfect.  Which is hilarious and everyone loved. 

To be continued....