We're doing a DIY for our Family Home Evening activity tonight! So, I'm going through old blog posts at work to collect pictures for them, it's making me nostalgic...I miss being a student!!

Oh wait... I don't miss this:

My school life was never like this:

(mainly because looking at cookies makes my hips grow)

SOURCE

but more like this:

SOURCE

 

 SOURCE

SOURCE

okay, so maybe I still look(feel) like the Monopoly man, but we've come leaps & bounds in our finances & in every aspect since being newlyweds in that old Springville apartment.  Not that it was just old to us. It was just old. & the hall smelled like dead bodies. & because there was a grill type mechanism above our door (which our apt had no central air) it also made our apartment smell like dead people, nothing quite like comin home....

Now we live the high life driving the Geo Metro, learned how to be *more* frugal & I am so grateful for parents who learned their lessons with finances & didn't want me to make the same mistakes & taught me all of their little tips & tricks while saving money honestly & ethically.

I like to say I'm out of school, & it does feel that way when I sit in my work chair all 8 hrs every day & I'm not hiking a mile to & from campus.  Not to mention I drive.  All my college years I walked. Everywhere. Or rode my (mostly) trusty bike.  But then I realize I am still in school, because Wes is. & let's be honest, husband needs help from the wife when it comes to school.  My brain has a knack at remember (most) events & assignments. & poor guy gets nagged, but assignments are all turned in.  SO, by the end of his college career I would have felt like I'd just earned a second Bachelor's.  Just kidding, but it is fun to learn with/through him.  He comes home each night & tells me about everything he learns. I love it. Especially since he's in Emergency Medicine. That stuff fascinates me!

Love to all!  Keep it classy!

This week is draaaaaaagging!

Weston the EMT!

So Weston is doing EMT & looking for some clinical work with a nurse or doctor at an ER!  Are any of you affiliated with a hospital that Weston could team up with to do this?

Thanks so much!

Life is going so great!

Busy as usual, but we couldn't be happier!

We have some great goals for the next few months that are so fun to work on! We also will have had a guest every weekend in January! That's pretty sweet, huh? We love guests!

Grandmother was here the first weekend, Ann the second weekend, Momma last weekend & Weston's mom this weekend!  We call ourselves Hotel Brinkerhoff :)

We are upgrading our hotel to a 2 bedroom in the next few weeks!

It was so much fun having my mom here for 36 hours!  We took full advantage & barely slept a wink! It's been 2 months since I last saw her & it was so refreshing. I love her so much, she's my other best friend!

We enjoyed using that ClearPlay of ours to filter out the bad junk in movies!  My parents have one as well, so it was fun sharing movie lists with eachother.  Sunday night Spencie, Wes, Momma & I watched "Due Date" Oh my gosh. We were rolling on the floor. Best humor.  My mom got in Saturday afternoon. Friday night Wes & I watched 'Couragious.'  Wow, that movie was phenomonal, a little too much of it applied to some of my life experiences. & holy cow, I was bawling most of the movie. It was very powerful. I suggest you watch it!

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1630036/

That's the IMDB info on it!

Saturday morning we slept in. Thank heavens for Saturdays. I got all showered up & got Reni's gift ready, then headed over to Reni's baby shower.

I stayed there for a little while, but had to leave early to pick up the Momma at the airport in SLC.  It was a little bit of a freaky drive. It was raining, which people in Utah do NOT know how to drive in the rain, good heavens.  Grandmother would have had a heart attack if she was in the car with me!

Then Momma took us all to lunch at The Brick Oven. Yumm, thanks! 

Wes had prepared the most amazing meal, nom. Pork Loin, Carrots, potatoes & homemade rolls for Sunday dinner, which had marinated for a day. Delish. We stayed up Saturday night playing games & talking, it was so much fun!  Sunday Wes wanted to look at houses in TN for dreaming purposes! My mom's a real estate agent, so she pulled up her awesome website & we found some amazing homes that we may be able to afford in a few years. We're so excited.  Our goal is to move to TN next April! Hallelujah, is it bad to say I can't wait? Well, I can't, TN, lookout, I'm comin back to my stompin grounds!

Also, anyone in TN, we're looking for paramedic jobs for Weston next spring! Also, please pray for Wes. His paramedic application is due at the first of April, it's competitive due to demand.  Most people will have a lot more medical experience by the application date than he will.  But we're hopeful that he will be accepted as well!

This weekend Weston's mom is coming up this weekend & we'll be making more headway with wedding plans! It's fun! I love love!  Sadly, due to work, I won't be able to be there for the set-up or anything like that, but I've been able to give some opinions & boy it's so fun!  Melissa has her dress, we have SOME engagements done, but will be taking more this weekend, we're crossing our fingers the weather will cooperate! We had a blizzard this past weekend! It's a winter-wonderland in Provo! I'm praying there will be some fresh snow, but not actively be snowing when we go to take them!

I also have an awesome Relief Society activity this Saturday! I'll get to learn about hair-cuts(heaven knows I need assistance in this department), food storage/canning & some other important things to know. I am ecstatic for it!

Anyways, that's a little of what's going on! & I'm still pluggin away at my job that I totally love!

I think I'd enjoy being an olympic athlete, too!

We had a little cousin party for Grandmother's last supper w/ her "grands."

It was such a fun weekend with Grandmother!

We did some grocery shopping, watched movies & watched the New Hampshire debates!

I got lots of 1 on 1 time with Grandmother bc Weston had to work & it was just so much fun.

She's such a party animal & is always up for anything, I love that about her.

 Admiring sweet Savannah's beautiful hair!

 hahahahahhahah\

I love her!

 Steph & Chris

 Kris!

 Braden is the most chill baby. & so friendly.

 Wes & Siena

hahah she's so serious! 

  I love that toddler

Wes, Me & Grandmother!

Don't mind Weston's horrible Jimmy Neutron hair. That's part of the neglect thing I was talking about from December, neglect from the wife= horribly long hair/haircut.

Spencie was there, but ditched before pictures taking fest began.

Written by my Aunt Julie

I love this. I have the most amazing family. Let me just share an amazing person I love with you.

My great-grandmother Josie Bell.

Josie Bell Folsom DeLoach

Josie Belle Folsom DeLoach

September 22, 1922- July 24, 2010

Here's a sweet picture of my lovely grandmother taken this past spring.  She and my grandfather raised 8 children.  She has numerous grandchildren, great grandchildren and even a great great grandchild. 

She always looked so nice and she passed this habit down to our family. 

And she was a wonderful seamstress. She passed this down too.  My sister majored in fashion design at BYU - she's amazing.  And my daughter is now majoring in a similar field at BYU and currently designing and making her own wedding dress!

My grandmother had an amazing understanding of the scriptures and had an undying testimony of her Savior.  We are so blessed as a family to have been influenced by this remarkable woman. 

Here's a picture of her with my grandfather.  He passed away exactly 14 years ago on the same day.

And here's a five-generation picture taken last May of  

my daughter and her baby daughter, me, my mother, and  my grandmother.

 

You were almost mine.

Goodbye desk of my dreams.

 

I saw you on KSL this morning & jumped with glee. 

because you are made from real wood, and that is rare, you see.

You were up in the air for just twenty dollars

I brought your price down to ten, because I gave her a call-er.

I am my ma & pa's daughter,

therefore I wouldn't take their first price that they offered.

I had dreams of painting you a beautiful color

Giving you a variety of knobs from Anthropologie's wonder.

I was thrilled at all you had in potential,

I measured the Geo & was sure we could squeeze-al.

 

The lady seemed excited to have her hands clean.

I was ecstatic to have a desk for my sewing machine.

But I have always been told not all good things do happen.

Yet, I hoped that this one might just be an exception.

The fateful text I did recieve,

that lady sold my beautiful desk to some little thief.

They outbid me & could come get it sooner.

I'm trying not to be bitter because I am a hard worker.

She was a little late in telling me the news.

The desk was gone before she informed me & now I have the blues.

However, I guess someone had a few more bucks & a little more time...

so tonight I will not be going to retrieve my find.

Boohoo