The Life of Brittany and Tyler

Student Teaching

2012-01-08T20:02:00.000-08:00

Tyler had graduated (completely... unlike me ) from BYU-Idaho, so I had the opportunity to do my student teaching in Mesquite, Nevada. It was new and different and we were both excited to be in warm weather and out of Rexburg. We lived with my Oma and Opa (Grandma and Grandpa in German) while we were there August- November. It was nice to be able to spend time with my grandparents.

My first day at Virgin Valley Elementary :)

This was the day of my first observation!

I was in a first grade class for seven weeks and then a special edication resource room for seven weeks! What an awesome experience!! Unfortunately, I only have pictures from the first grade classroom. Special Education was SUPER busy and crazy all the time with students going in and out, so I frogot to take pictures and then before I knew it... it was my last day!

It was my last day in first grade. These two students asked to take pictures with me, and then before I knew it, I had a line and all the kids wanted to do individual pictures, so instead we did a class picture. :)

While we were there, Tyler also took his GMAT test. He got a 500, which is the score he needed in order to apply for the Masters Program at Central Washington University.

In October we also went to Payson, Utah to my grandparents' house (Dad's parents' house) for the General Conference for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter- Day Saints. It is a weekend long event. There are 2 broadcasts on Saturday and 2 on Sunday. We watched it as a big family. Everyone whol lives in Utah came and we had a blast!

Banks Lake (Delayed Post)

2012-01-08T18:52:00.001-08:00

This summer.... like every summer.... we went to BANKS LAKE!! :)
This year Tyler and I both tried Wake Surfing. I was not too good, but Tyler did awesome and we had lots of fun!

The water was extremely low this year, so there were lots of fun places to climb and explore in the sand!

Abortion...

2011-10-22T08:48:00.000-07:00

A worried woman went to her gynecologist and said: 'Doctor, I have a serious problem and desperately need your help! My baby is not even 1 year old and I'm pregnant again. I don't want kids so close together.'

So the doctor said: 'Ok and what do you want me to do?' She said: 'I want you to end my pregnancy, and I'm counting on your help with this.'The doctor thought for a little, and after some silence he said to the lady: 'I think I have a better solution for your problem. It's less dangerous for you too.

'She smiled, thinking that the doctor was going to accept her request.

Then he continued: 'You see, in order for you not to have to take care of 2 babies at the same time, let's kill the one in your arms. This way, you could rest some before the other one is born.

If we're going to kill one of them, it doesn't matter which one it is. There would be no risk for your body if you chose the one in your arms.'

The lady was horrified and said: 'No doctor! How terrible! It's a crime to kill a child!' 'I agree', the doctor replied. 'But you seemed to be OK with it, so I thought maybe that was the best solution.'

The doctor smiled, realizing that he had made his point. He convinced the mom that there is no difference in killing a child that's already been born and one that's still in the womb.

The crime is the same! If you agree, please SHARE.

Family Reunion at Bear Lake

2011-10-11T18:08:00.001-07:00

What a blast we all had together as a FAMILY! :)

GRADUATION!! :)

2011-10-11T16:38:00.000-07:00

Graduation and Moving out on the same day was crazy, but we survived and had a wonderful time with Tyler's parents, my parents & Grandma and Grandpa Stone. :)

Catch Up Post

2011-10-11T16:06:00.001-07:00

I haven't been updating my blog. The last update was in July!! YIKES! I am now student teaching in Nevada and LOVING it!!

Here are pictures from BANKS Lake and The Beach with Ty's Family!

Graduation pictures COMING SOON....

4th of July Weekend

2011-07-06T09:50:00.001-07:00

To start off the weekend, Friday night, we went to HIESE to go camping, hot springs and to swiim! It was so much fun. On the way home we stopped at BIG JUD'S! :)

Who: Brooke and Tanner Fullmer, Chelsea and Adam Anderson, Kayla and Derek Cooper, Jeff and Alicia Richmond, and Tyler and I. :)

What:Camping

Where: HEISE

Saturday night we all went home and slept in our own beds, Sunday we went to church and Monday at 12:30pm we went to Idaho Falls to spend the day with friends before the fireworks! We played games, ate, ran around and had lots of Fun!! AND THEN.... it got dark and we watched the AWESOME FIREWORKS!!! :) It took about an hour to get home after the fireworks since they are so popular. Normally a trip from Rexburg to Idaho Falls would only take 25-30 minutes. (Depending on who is driving.)

My Wonderful Dad!

2011-07-05T09:49:00.001-07:00

Ok... so I realized I never posted about my dad and Father's Day was a month AGO! Sorry Dad! I love you so much and this post is JUST FOR YOU!! :)

This is my dad, Vaunn. I am so lucky to have him! My dad is so amazing in so many ways!! He is patient, kind, loving, funny and always there for me when I need him! I don't know what I would do without my dad. Of course we have had rough moments, but we are always there for each other when we need to be.

A few stories...

Patience --> Some of you may have learned by now that I am not the most patient person in the world and I am not the best at using computers, especially my own silly lap top. Anyways, anytime I have a problem with my computer, printer, camera....pretty much anything electronic, I call my Dad. A lot of the time he is not sure what is wrong either, but he is always patient and willing to do trial and error things with me to make it all work again. I don't know what I would do without him.... actually I do... I would be going to the computer help desk a LOT on campus!! haha.

Kind/ Loving --> One thing I LOVE about my Dad is that when I haven't seen him for a bit (a day or even a few months) he is always quick to give me a hug when I come up to him. I love that he sqeezes me and says something like "Hey Boots!" when he hugs me and when he calls me Boots, I know how much he loves me!! I love that he has a nick name for me.... which brings me to my next story.....

Funny --> My dad has nick names for EVERYONE!!! If you know him well, you know that he is always saying funny things and that no one is called by their actual name. Here are a few examples...

Gubbe Family = Gubbsters

Russell Family = Rooskies

Barb (my mom) = Barbie

Me = Boots

Anthony (brother) = Tonio

Carson = Carsonie

Nyle = Nyle the science guy

David = Poe

Walmart = Walyworld

McDonald's = McDees

I can't think of any more right this second, but I KNOW there are tons! Feel free to comment

if you know one I missed! :)

Always there for me --> The most recent experience of my dad being there for me was during the rafting trip that we went on in June. My Dad saved my life. The way he looked at me when I was in the water and he pulled me out and he was so calm, I knew even more how much he loved me. I don't know how to explain it, but I just felt his love so strongly and it was surrounding me and even though I was scared and it was hard to breathe, I felt safe with my Dad.

Thank you for everything you do for my Dad! You are truely the greatest!!! :) I LOVE YOU!!

River Rafting

2011-06-09T07:58:00.000-07:00

Last year over the 4th of July weekend, the Litchfield family (My Dad's Side) went to Alpine, Wyoming and we went river rafting! We all had tons of fun. We had two rafts, a smaller blue one and a large white one. Since we all had a BLAST!!! We decided that weekend that we wanted to go again this year, but have more people come! I love our family!! :)

Anyways, this year we went a month earlier and went the first weekend in JUNE. This may not seem like it would make a big difference, but we were ALL nervous we would freeze. We also heard rumors (from the weather man) that it might snow that weekend. However, we went forward and headed to Alpine!

Here are a few of the pictures from our runs down the river- stolen from Nichole, Thanks! :)

Right before we went, there was a HUGE landslide that blocked the road. The above picture is just a small part of the landslide. Luckily by the time we went, it was mostly under control and we could still raft and drive on the road!

The green raft was the "small" one this year and the white/grey one was the bigger raft for more people and was more stable. We felt comfortable having the younger kids go on the stable raft. The green one might have been a little scary for them.

The group on the white raft this run was not smiling. Why you ask... Well, this was the run that we had a 7 year old on the raft with us and the rest were adults. We were planning for a pretty easy run down the river, with hitting rapids and a little bit of fun. LITTLE did we know what we were in for.... Right before this picture was taken, the white raft hit a rapid that was caused by the landslide PERFECTLY and EVERYONE (including the 7 year old- Cooper) was thrown into the water.

What I remember... I didn't see anything coming. I thought everything was going smooth, and then all of a sudden, I was IN the water... then I was UNDER the raft and I started to PANIC, I remembered NOT to panic and tried to calm down, feeling above my head to get out from under the raft and get my head ABOVE water (which I am told all lasted 5-7 seconds, but seems LONGER). Then someone GRABBED my life jacket and pulled me up, so I could breathe (I found out later it was my Dad and Mark). The said, "GRAB THE ROPE!" My head was FINALLY above water and was SO grateful! My uncle on one side, my Dad on the other. My breathing was labored and I struggled to catch my breath, as we went through the rapids and waves continued to push all of us down into the water and give us only a moment to catch a quick breath before the next dunking. My shoes were coming off. I reached down, grabbed them both off me feet, going under water and tried to throw them into the boat. I struggled, so my Dad threw them in.

There was no time or breathe to yell or cry, we just took in air when we could and held on to the rope. Our bodies were weak and the water was FREEZING. We were heading for a rock, my cousin Cody was in front of the raft, I thought we were going to hit him with the raft and throw him under water. We all yelled to him "WATCH OUT!" The raft reached him and somehow he was fine, and was now holding the rope attached to the raft.

We finally saw the green raft up ahead. We reached them and they grabbed Cooper first, me, Laurie and Sarah. I was in the green raft now and out of the water, but my body would not stop shaking. Cooper was crying. We were unsure of where Dee was, then we saw a part of her life jacket. She had lots a hold of the raft and was alone and being SMASHED by waves. We were nervous. Somehow everyone was not in a raft except Dee, we hadn't gotten to her yet. In the green raft we used EVERY ounce of strength we had to paddle to Dee up stream. It was too difficult, so we tried to just stay in one place. She finally reached our raft as she floated and the men pulled her in. Her journey was the most difficult and scary.

The two rafts pulled to the side in a calm area and Tyler, my Dad and someone else held the two rafts and stood on the shore. We needed a break, time to recooperate. We waited what only seemed to be a minute or two and then got back into our rafts, with Dan adding to the white raft to help paddle. We were all okay, but we were scared.

No one taking pictures, waiting for us at the end or even the green raft knew there was a problem. Once we reached the green raft and they saw our faces, they knew things were not ok. The people waiting on the shore had NO CLUE. The first person up to the parking lot told the story. We wish they would have gotten some pictures so we all could know what really happened, but no one knew it would be a big spill, we thought it was an easy ride. LIVE and LEARN, right? :)

It was a great and amazing weekend with family and stories that we will be telling for a lifetime! I want my whole family to know how much I LOVE them and I am so grateful that we are all safe! It could have been WAY worse. (Good thing we prayed before the first run that day!! Oh, the POWER of PRAYER!)

Best Ever

2011-05-07T19:53:00.000-07:00

Barbara

My Mom is the most amazing and wonderful person I know. Tomorrow is Mother's Day, so I have been thinking about her a TON this weekend. I am sad I won't be able to spend the day with her, but I just wanted to brag about her a little on my blog. :)

I am so lucky to have the Mother I do. She has taught me so much and is always teaching me new things. If I ever have questions she is the first person I go to (unless it is a technology question, then it is Tyler or my Dad.)

My Mom is always thinking of others. As a child, she was the perfect example of service. She cooks, cleans, babysitts, drives and does anything else, that people need from her. She is always willing to be the first to volunteer to serve others. She never thinks of herself first, NEVER. I am constantly impressed by her selflessness. This is one quality that I am striving to become more like my Mom. She would rather be making everyone else happy, comfortable and safe, before even considering thinking about her own feelings in the situation. I don't know how she does it, becasue for me, it is n0t easy to always think of others, but she never fails.

My mom is GREAT at EVERYTHING!!
cooking, scripture reading, loving, serving, cleaning, laughing, sharing her testimony, sharing everything, being patient, being the perfect kind of friend, respecting everyone no matter what.... Just to Name a few!

Those who know my Mom know that everything I have said is so true! Not to mention she is beautiful, a great wife, sister, daughter, aunt and of course... MOM! :)

Mom is so special in so many ways.
These Make Me Smile:
- She is my best friend in the entire world and I love it!!

- She is always willing to be there and laugh with you when things are good and hug you when things are hard.

-She gets really fun and silly after midnight ;)
- She is always on my side.... even if I am wrong. [Which doesn't happen often :) ]

- She would never intentionally hurt or embaress someone.

- She always corrects our mistakes privately and personally in a positive and
non- judgemental way.

A Few of My favorite Memories with Mom:

- Anytime we talk, just the two of us.

- Walmart trip at 11:45pm in the toy isle, where we found a "Tickle Me Elmo" and laughed for
what seemed like hours

- I made the cheerleading team in high school and I called my Mom as soon as I found out. After
I told her over the phone, she was crying and said, "I am just so happy for you! I know how much you wanted this and I am so glad you made the team!"

- It was a few days before I would be sealed in the temple to Tyler. My Mom escorted me through the Draper, Utah temple of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. There I recieved my endowments with my Mom by my side. It was a wonderful and spiritual experience and I was so thankful to have my amazing Mom there with me.

I am so thankful for a Mom that taught me about the gospel of Jesus Christ. She is always willing to bear her testimony and share what she learns. I love that I can talk with her and ask her questions about the gospel. I know she has so much knowledge and talking with her is wonderful.

I have the Greatest Mom in the WORLD!! Thank you Mom! I LOVE YOU!!

Here we go, One more time, everybody's feelin' fine!

2011-04-25T13:24:00.000-07:00

We have reached our final semester in Rexburg!!

It is really bitter/sweet. We are so excited to be finishing with school and moving on with life, but we will miss all the great friends we have here.

The classes I am taking this semester:
Kindergarten Practicum --> I teach every day for about 15-30 minutes. It is a lot different
than any other experience I have had, so I think there will be a
lot for me to learn! I am excited to work with the little kids, they
seem great so far! There is only one diffiuclt thing about this. I have
one teacher observing me and a differnt one teaching me what I
should be doing during my teaching. Most of the kinks have been
worked out, but it is still somewhat complicated trying to please two
people at once. I hope I can do it..... Time will tell.

Science Methods --> I am learning how to teach the children about science. I have heard it is a
a really easy class and I have nothing to worry about, but I don't know a
lot about the class yet, because I have only had it once so far this semester.

Social Studies Methods --> This class has actually been enjoyable so far. I had no idea what to
expect from this class, becasue I have heard mixed reviews about it
The professor is lots of fun and is actually who will be observing and
grading my teaching in the Kindergarten Practicum! I think this
class will be a lot of busy work, but I can survive it.

Strategies --> I will be applying what I have learned during my time here at BYU-Idaho in this
class. I will be doing home visits, interventions and working with a family once a
week for an hour each session. I am in a group with three other girls who are
ECSE majors, but we will actually decide things and make changes to the plan
individually. I will also be learning about how to write and IEP/ IFSP, which will
be good, because I feel like, if anything, that is what I really need to learn about
before I am sent out on my own to be a teacher.

It is going to be a difficult semester, but I can do it!!! :)

Tyler is taking some accounting classes this semester. I think he misses his internship a little, but he is excited to be done with school for a while. He is completely done with his BA in accounting July 22nd and I am done with Early Childhood/ Special Education in November, right before Thanksgiving!

August through November we will be Mesquite, Nevada for my student teaching (internship). My grandparents have a house there and they are letting us stay with them for the couple months we are there! We are so appreciative of them allowing us to live with them!!

December we will go back to Washington, which we are excited for. December to August we will both be working (hopefully). Then in September 2012, Tyler will go to Central Washington University to get his Masters in Accounting. It is a one year program, and it will help him to get an even better score on his CPA exam. :)

Well, that's the happenings and our plan. I will try to be better about taking pictures..... cross your fingers.

Are you SERIOUS?!

2011-04-25T13:21:00.001-07:00

I forgot my camera when we went to Washington....

Because of this....I did not take a single picture during spring break!

We had a lot of fun sleeping in every day, spending time with family and going on walks. It was a very relaxing spring break and it is our last one EVER with both of us in school.

While we were in WA we went and looked at apartments ans storage units for when I am doing student teaching. We will probably be in subsidized housing, because everything is SOOO expensive in Washington state.

For example, in Rexburg, a big storage unit is about 25 dollars a month. HOWEVER, in WA, the same sized storage unit is about 80 dollars. We were so shocked!

We are excited to be back in Washington again more permanently in December! :)

No chance of a career....

2011-03-30T14:53:00.000-07:00

TWO STORIES I WROTE FOR PRESCHOOL. They are kinda lame, but they work.

Story #1: The Very Friendly Fish

There once was a fish named Freddy (put up red beta picture).

He was a very friendly fish and it was his birthday. Freddy has lots of friends, and he knew they would want to play with him on his birthday.

One day, Freddy the fish decided he wanted to go see if any of his friends wanted to play. The first friend he saw was Sally the salmon (put up Salmon picture).

Freddy asked, Sally, “Do you want to play with me?”

Sally looked at Freddy and said, “Sorry, no time to play, I have a party to go to tonight.”

Freddy looked sad, but he kept swimming. Soon, Freddy saw more of his friends. It was Jon, Jill and Jack (put up rainbow fish picture).

Freddy got excited. He loved to play with Jon, Jill and Jack.

Freddy swam up fast and said, “Do you want to play with me?”

Jon, Jill and Jack swam towards Freddy. They looked at each other and then said, “Sorry, we don’t have time to play. We are busy.”

Disappointed again, Freddy started swimming towards home.

As Freddy swam, he wondered why everyone was busy except him. He wondered if his friends didn’t like him anymore…

As Freddy got close to home he heard a lot of noise. He swam faster…. As soon as he was close to home, lots and lots of fish came swimming out his front door. Among them were all his friends.

They yelled, “SURPRISE! HAPPY BIRTHDAY!”

Freddy’s friends did like him; they were planning a party for him all along. This made Freddy happy.

Story #2: The Fish Story [Tell Children before beginning the story: “Every time you hear your fish color, hold up your fish in the air. Make sure you listen really carefully.”]

Once there was a yellow fish. He was fast like lightening. (Children with yellow fish hold them up.)

Across the ocean there was a purple fish, who loved to swim, twirl and whirl. She had no problem keeping up with the yellow fish. (Children with a purple or yellow fish hold them up.)

Right next door to the purple fish (hold up purple fish) was an orange fish (hold up orange fish). She was friends with the yellow fish (Children with yellow fish hold them up.) and the purple fish (Children with a purple fish hold them up.). They all liked to play tag together in the water.

One day the orange fish (hold up orange fish) was very tired and didn’t come out to play. This made the purple and yellow fish sad (hold up purple and yellow fish). The fish wondered why their friend the orange fish (hold up orange fish) was so tired. They went to go ask orange fish’s (hold up orange fish) Mom.

Her mom said that orange fish (hold up orange fish) was on a swim team and it made her very tired. Her mom also said there were two spots left on the team if yellow fish and purple fish (hold up yellow fish and purple fish) wanted to join.

The next day yellow fish, purple fish and orange fish were all on the swim team (hold up all fish).

They had so much fun swimming and playing together on the swim team.

But the next day, not a single fish… not purple, yellow or orange (hold up all colored fish) were out playing. They were all too tired. But they weren’t sad. They would see each other later at swim team.

L is for the way you Look at me.....

2011-03-28T18:28:00.000-07:00

I have had so much to do lately, and I have been stressed out of my mind. Luckily, Tyler is always there for me no matter what. Last night he went and printed a billion things for me at the clubhouse. He had to walk over there in the dark and it was snowing. I am so thankful for a husband who offers and is willing to do things for me, even when they are not fun.

I LOVE YOU SWEETIE!

~ Birthday Palooza ~

2011-03-23T14:56:00.001-07:00

I decorated the House with Balloons, a Candy Bar Card, a giant sign, streamers, some garland and window stick ons! Tyler was sure suprised when he walked in!

Tyler got lots of great presents!

Tyler's sister, Emily made us our own cake. The people on top are lego versions of Tyler and myself. Super Cute, Right? It was delicious too! Of course, it was funfetti cake!!

I also made CUPCAKES!!! :)

My Birthday / Day 7

2011-03-23T14:41:00.001-07:00

I was disappointed when I saw that Tyler had taken our jelly beans, put them in a container and given them to me. I didn't really think it was funny..... Then he told me to look in the bottom. There... inside the Jelly Beans was was a note. The note told me to look behind our "black box" refering to our awesome FHE box we got for Christmas from Amber! :)

This is what I found behind the black box.........JUST DANCE 2 for the Wii and ANOTHER pink remote! We have had so much fun dancing with friends!

Don't worry, it is root BEER! :)

Flowers from TYLER! They really bloomed after a few days!

Flowers from my Mom! Awwwww!

Day 6- Cocoa Bean Cupcake

2011-02-28T14:38:00.001-08:00

Tyler was soooo sweet! He came to my work and brought me a delicious cupcake! I have never had a cupcake from there and I have been telling him I want one sometime before we leave Rexburg! Super sweet of him! This birthday week has been sooooo much fun!

Days 2 - 5 of Birthday Week

2011-02-27T14:16:00.000-08:00

My Birthday Week continues. . . .

Day 2- Tasty Thursday:

Day 3- Beautiful Friday

Day 4- Wonderful Saturday

Day 5 - Super Fun Sunday

Almost Legal

2011-02-23T16:12:00.000-08:00

Tyler decided that since I am turning 21 (woo hoo!) that he needed to make it a big deal. Sooo.... he is giving me little presents every day up until my birthday. It is super sweet and cute :)

Day 1: IBC Rootbeer and Reese's Crunch Candy Bar

Photoshoot!

2011-02-17T15:23:00.001-08:00

We haven't taken a ton of pictures in the last 6 months and we decided it was about time!

Soooo.... Chelsea, Adam, Tyler and I all went and did a photoshoot in Idaho Falls and went out to dinner. It was lots of fun to take pictures and just be silly with our husbands!

We love hanging out with Chelsea and Adam and we ALWAYS have lots of fun!

Quiet and Personal Day In

2011-02-15T13:47:00.000-08:00

Valentine's Day was simple, yet wonderful!

I worked and went to school from 7am - 5:30pm.

I walked in the door..... and the house was SPOTLESS! Tyler had cleaned our family room, kitchen, bedroom and spare room. (The only thing he didn't clean was the bathroom. I like to clean that "my way" anyways.)

Tyler had folder the laundry, started dinner and welcomed me with a kiss.

Tyler made the salad and steaks, I made the mashed potatoes and garlic bread! I loved that we were cooking together. After dinner we enjoyed spending the rest of the day/ night enjoying one another's company!

I am SOOO lucky to have such a wonderful husband! Our Valentine's day was perfect! :)

It gets better!!!

2011-02-13T13:47:00.001-08:00

I was SOOOOO nervous after my teaching on Monday, so Tyler got me a little something to cheer me up! He is so sweet! yep, you guessed it... he got me FLOWERS!

Wednesday was my second day teaching and it went AWESOME!!! The kids were listening, involved and ready to learn. I was so happy that they were all so good. The day went great! We talked about what we take when we travel somewhere. I brought in 2 suitcases and a toiletry bag. One bag had clothes you wear when it is warm, the other had clothes you wear when it is cold and the toiletry bag had q-tips, soap, shampoo, brush, toothbrush and toothpaste! It was so much fun to teach them!

Friday went well too, but not as well as Wednesday. For "outdoor play" the kids were going on a wagon thing pulled by horses and they were all so excited, that it was hard for them to concentrate. It still went fairly well, just not amazing like Wednesday.

Now it is Emily's turn! Emily teaches Monday, Wednesday, and Friday next week! I know she will do everything right and be a shining star (especially compared to my Monday) haha.

GOOD LUCK EMILY!!!!! I know you will be GREAT! :)

Teaching Preschool

2011-02-07T13:43:00.000-08:00

Today was my first time teaching preschool ever. It did not go too well. Unfortunately the kids had not been to preschool in a week, so they were crazy today. They had a lot of behavior problems and they couldn't sit still. For my class, I have to record myself as I teach. After watching myself, it made me more assured that the day did not go as planned.

I worked my tail off on the lesson planning, activities and everything else. It is so hard when you try to hard and then it is a flop. Oh well, I teach again on Wednesday and Friday. I hope I can improve and things will go better for the next two days.... We'll see.....

Ready or Not....

2011-01-27T14:34:00.001-08:00

I don't know if I have talked about this already or not... but here it goes....

Tyler and I are finished in Rexburg in JULY!!!! This semester has been a difficult one for Tyler and I both! But we look forward to next semester, which should be somewhat of a relief. Then in July Tyler will twalk (I have chosen not to walk). Then in August we will be heading to Nevada. I am hoping to be able to Student Teach there. How cool is that?! It will be lots of fun to spend time with my Oma and Opa and be in warm weather for a change!

I can't wait for it to be April.... but even more JULY!!!

I NEED HELP!!

2011-01-20T15:17:00.000-08:00

I need ideas for preschool!!! HELP PLEASE!

I am doing a lesson on traveling with friends and family. This means I need some "focus activities" that center around traveling with friends and family and that help the children to develop. I also need some free play ideas for the children, like dress up and things like that.

If you have ANY ideas please tell me them.
You can e-mail them starshine_brittany@hotmail.com
Or Comment! :)

THANK YOU!

BLAH

2011-01-16T14:33:00.000-08:00

I have had a cold or something for over a week now. It is really annoying. My throat hurts, my voice is gone and I cough all DAY and NIGHT. It makes it hard for me and Tyler to get any sleep. Last night it was so bad that I was waking up every little bit until 3:30am. Around 4am was the last time I saw the clock and then I woke up at 7am. I must have been so tired that I just ignored the coughing. Poor Ty has not been getting good sleep. I feel terrible.

Sometimes when I am sick and I know it is affecting him, I sleep in another room, but this time, I just wanted to cuddle with him all the time, which only made it worse for him. Poor Tyler has been so sweet and nice during all of my sickness. Hopefully it will go away soon and we can both get some sleep. :)

I never want to forget!

2011-01-06T19:42:00.000-08:00

This is an e-mail my Grandpa Gil wrote and sent to the WHOLE Litchfield Family. It puts it into words simple and easy to understand. Ty and I are happy we were able to help them out. :)

May 29, 2010

Well, thanks to a smart, giving and wonderful family....Dear OLD Gil forgot the passports for the trip.At 6:30 AM this morning I remembered (that I had forgotten).No UPS, No FedEx, won't let me have someone take a package to the airport and put it on a plane for Seattle (we need to do something about those terrorists that have killed the good old days).

Talked to Vaunn to see if he had any ideas.Then, while he was thinking, It dawned on me that I could drive from Portland (Rod's place) to Payson and back again in time for the ship tomorrow (yes, it leaves on a Sunday).

But, Vaunn had another idea - have someone meet me in Boise - GREAT idea.

So, I was going to have some neighbor drive to Boise.BUT, the Gil family then took over.

Long story short - the neighbor boy has already picked up the passports, handed them off to Laurie in Lehi, who has already handed them off to Amy in Bountiful, who is on her way to Pocatello to meet Brittany, who will then drive to Boise to meet Vaunn & Barb - then each will return to the original spot - more than 3 hours for Laurie, more than 7 hours for Amy, more than 10 hrs for Brittany, more than 15 hours for Vaunn, etc.

A wonderful family (doing a modern day pony express)

Gil & Eileen

Here we go again....

2011-01-06T18:24:00.000-08:00

The Winter semester started on Wednesday this week.

Tyler is doing his internship this semester with VW in Idaho Falls. Today was his first day and he said it went well! I am so excited for him! I know he will do GREAT!

As for me.... I am still working in the Student Teaching Office (Field Services Office) on campus and I am studying hard for all of my classes. This semester I am taking Preschool, Curriculum for Young Children, Math Methods, Teachings of the Living Prophets and something else.... but I can't remember what it is. haha.

Tyler is also taking two classes on campus this semester while he is doing his internship.

Graduation for Tyler and I should be this JULY! We are so excited. I will still have Student Teaching left, but Ty will be completely done. The end is in SIGHT! :)

I PASSED!!!!

2011-01-06T11:57:00.001-08:00

I have now passed all of my State Literacy Tests!!!! YAY!

NOT ONE!?!

2011-01-05T12:22:00.000-08:00

Unfotunately, I did not take one SINGLE picture in Olympia. :( Here is all the fun we had in Ellensburg though! :)

Tyler went to shovel all the snow off the deck and soon he had Amie and Ethan outside with him attempting to help. To distract the kids, so he could work on the deck, he told them to start making a snowman. They started to roll snow, but soon Tyler was helping them to make the perfect Snowman. They had lots of fun and after the Snowman was finished, they got back to work on the deck. The snow was off in no time.

The next activity on the list of fun things to do was making a Gingerbread House

Nativity- Tyler's family does a nativity every Christmas Eve! Here it is! Ty and I were two of the wise men.

CHOCOLATE FOUNTAIN! The kids loved to eat all the chocolate! Us adults had lots of fun too!

Christmas Day!!!!!!!

Ty's Mission Reunion

2011-01-05T12:15:00.001-08:00

Tyler's mission president and his wife (President and Sister Ope) came to Salt Lake City from Brazil and had a mission reunion. All missionaries who served under President Ope for the last 5 years were invited. It was fun to meet lots of Ty's old companions and friends that I had only ever seen pictures of. It was wonderful to hear him speaking so much Portuguese too! :) It was hard to get President and Sister Ope together, because there were so many people, so we did pictures with them each individually. The other picture is of Elder Smiley... I think that is his name... haha. Hopefully Tyler will correct me when he sees this if I am wrong. :)

Oh the Places you will GO.......

2010-12-14T10:49:00.000-08:00

Tyler and I are sooo excited to go to Washington for Christmas! We can hardly wait!! Unfortunately, we have to wait 3 or 4 more days... We have finals Thursday and Friday this week (Plus all the other finals I have been taking last week and this week earlier).

Ty was soooo sweet and got me flowers because I was stressed. I am impressed with how often he has gotten me flowers! Thanks sweetie! Love you lots! :)

We were going to GO to Utah for the weekend, before heading home, but now we have decided we probably won't. We will probably just head to Washington on Saturday morning early or Friday afternoon.

This Christmas season we will be in Olympia and Ellensburg, so friends from both places, give us a call and we will get together! :)

STATE TEST

2010-12-09T07:29:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I took the State Literacy Test for Idaho. I took one in Spring Semester too. There are 3 state literacy tests that I must pass before I can be close to graduating. I passes the 1st one with no problem. Last night I had to take 2 tests. I took the regular state test AND a pilot test. Friday I take my final state literacy test and once again, I take 2, the pilot and the actual test.

I won't find out if I passed or not until January or February! I really hope I did. If not, I have to take them again next semester.

WISH ME LUCK!!! :)

Change in Attitude

2010-12-02T11:56:00.000-08:00

I have been negative this week, because things have not gone as planned, but, Now I need to CHANGE and be positive.

I AM THANKFUL FOR:
- My wonderful Husband, Tyler
- My Family
- Tyler's Family
- Friends
- Neices that can cheer me up at any moment
- A cute and warm apartment
- Food to eat everyday
- Going on dates with Tyler
- Double Dates
- My cell phone

I feel MUCH happier now! :)

This doesn't usually happen....

2010-12-02T09:12:00.000-08:00

This week so far has been horrible and it makes me kinda home sick. I know that sounds funny because Rexburg is my home right now and has been for 2 years or more, but when I have horrible days, I just want to be back in Washington state. I don't care if it is Olympia or Ellensburg, but something about Washington and being with lots of family just makes me feel better.
Tyler is wonderful and always does everything to make me feel better and be happy, so he does everything right when I have a bad day. It is just weeks like THIS one that make me want to be done with school and back in Washington for good.

HORRIBLE, NO GOOD, VERY BAD day

2010-11-30T06:59:00.001-08:00

Monday was TERRIBLE!! From the time I got up, to the time I went to bed, things continued to go wrong...

1. Icy Roads on the drive to school left me sliding all over the place.

2. Once I got to school, the games I had worked FOREVER on the teacher said didn't look like they took more than an hour. RUDE!

3. I traded my games with others in my class and they were all fine, but not AMAZING, not to say mine was... but I did think my game was SUPER cute.

4. I got a Report back in one of my classes and got a HORRIBLE grade on it, which now gives me a C in the class, which I am NOT ok with.

5. I REALLY need to work on the next report that is due in that class, but I am so mad about my last grade that I can't even focus on writing it.

6. At seminar that night, I had my photographic Essay (Which took days to create) on a thumb drive, not a CD and so I will probably get a bad grade on that project too.

YESTERDAY was a HORRIBLE, NO GOOD, VERY BAD day.

I LOVE HIM!!!!

2010-11-16T09:23:00.000-08:00

Tyler is so wonderful! I love him soooo much. There is no specific reason or something that he did. I just love him MORE than anything or anyone.

I LOVE YOU TYLER!!!!! :)

Positive Side of Winter

2010-11-09T07:49:00.001-08:00

I am not a huge fan of the snow, but there are a lot of things I LOVE about Winter!

I LOVE SPENDING TIME WITH FAMILY!!!!

I love drinking hot chocolate and cuddling by the fire

I love watching Chrsitmas/ holiday movies

I love to look at the snow outside (not driving or walking in it)

I love Christmas morning and watching the kids get EXCITED about presents

I love making memories

I love playing games

I CAN AND WILL SURVIVE THIS WINTER!

HALLOWEEN 2010

2010-11-04T14:50:00.001-07:00

The Friday before Halloween we went out to dinner with Andrea and Bryce in Idaho Falls. Tyler and I got a "Family Size" pasta to share. It said it is meant to feed 2-3 people and we were both STARVING, so we thought it would be PERFECT! We ate dinner that night and had 2 meals after from that pasta. It was yummy, but neither of us will want Fettechini Alfredo for a while :)

HALLOWEEN NIGHT

Halloween was on a Sunday so we had a get together at our house! Silly me, didn't take any pictures during it. We just took a few before people came. I made 7 layer dip with spiders and a Jack O' Lantern Cheeseball. Both were delicious and a hit with our friends! :)

Tyler had a cute idea for us for halloween this year. Unfortunately, not everyone has seen Prison Break!!! Anyway..... Tyler was Michael Scofield and I was Sara Tancredi, the Prision Doctor that falls in love with Micahel. It was fun! Doesn't Tyler look GREAT!!?!! :)

SpUd PiCtUrEs!

2010-11-04T14:44:00.000-07:00

We passed the Drive-In on our way home from camping and took some SPUD pictures :)

Houston.... We have a PROBLEM!

2010-11-04T14:05:00.000-07:00

After we had been in school for a week or two, Bryce and Andrea, a couple we are good friends with decided we NEEDED to go camping before the weather got too cold. So, we packed up all our stuff and off we went to a camping site near a natural hot spring. We were all SUPER excited! By the time we got to our campsite, it was DARK. We had decided to only bring one tent, because we knew it would not be light and we didn't want to set up TWO tents in the dark. so..... we brought Bryce and Andrea's tent. Then and layed it out.

After laying out the tent.... we realized we had a problem..... NO TENT POLES!!! Andrea's Mom had given them the tent and apparently, they forgot to put the poles back in the bag, so the poles were still in Washington state. Yep, there was not one single pole for ths tent ANYWHERE. So..... Tyler and Bryce went to work on a solution. There were trees all around our site and we had Bryce's truck. None of which was helpful without rope or twine or SOMETHING that could hold our tent up. Bryce went and asked the neighbors and they had string/twine and were willing to let us borrow it.

We ended up stringing the twine across 2 TREES, tying it to Bryce's CAR and using wood and an AX to make stakes to keep the tent up. They men did a great job! I think the tent looks pretty good for what we had. No bears attacked us during the night and the tent did not fall in on us! :)

Below are a few shots after we woke up in the morning.

When we woke up, we ate cereal, then headed to the hot spring! It was lots of fun, but we didn't want to get our cameras wet, so no pictures..... sorry!

After the Granite Hot Spring we went to a beautiful waterfall and took pictures. We had lots of fun climbing the rocks and going in the canyon.

Tyler and Bryce climbed up to the top of a ledge.

Getting Up Off Our LAZY bums!

2010-11-04T12:33:00.000-07:00

Tyler and I have both gained some weight since we have been married and decided this weekend (during Halloween) that we wanted to start working out again. The gym at our apartment complex is always SUPER busy, so we bought some of the school's APPROVED clothing for the gym and started going on Monday. We are usually at the gym for an hour and it feels great! There is another couple in our ward and they live a few doors down from us, and we have been going to the gym together and trying to make it fun and more like a double date, than working out....It has been a TON of fun! Hopefully we can stick to working out and drop the few pounds we've gained. :)

P.S. Eventually I will update about camping, halloween and whatever else I have missed :)

FlOwErS! :)

2010-10-07T11:27:00.000-07:00

Tyler got me flowers on Monday! I asked him why and he said, "I got them because I love you, nothing else. Do you like them?" Of course I LOVED THEM! What girl doesn't LOVE to get flowers from the Man she loves? There is ONE thing I know for sure:

Have have the best Husabnd ever!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :)

THIS WON'T LAST FOREVER..... right?

2010-09-21T12:38:00.000-07:00

Ty and I have been in school now for about 2 weeks. Yesterday was the first time I have had a chance to breathe, blog or do anything for myself. I blogged our whole summer. Well, the reason I am doing this post, is to say..... don't expect me to be blogging as well as I used to. This semester is CRAZY!

Tyler and I start class DAILY @ 7:45am and usually get home around 7pm. We are both in school full time and we are both working on campus. Needless to say, out time is limited. After we get home we EAT DINNER and then do..... Take a wild Guess....... If you guessed HOMEWORK, you were RIGHT! Then we spend some time together watching TV or relaxing, then it is midnight and we HAVE TO go to BED.

This is our LIFE for now. We just have to remind ourselves.... THIS WON'T LAST FOREVER.

1 YEAR ANNIVERSARY!!!

2010-09-20T20:18:00.001-07:00

For our anniversary, I had a small cake made in our wedding colors by a friend. We ate the top of our wedding cake on our one month anniversary, because we did not want it to taste gross from being in the freezer for a year. So... the new cake was a replacement. :)

Tyler got me BEAUTIFUL FLOWERS and my Mom got us a Bouquet too!

This was the best TRUCK I could afford to get Ty for our anniversary!

For Dinner, we went to OLIVE GARDEN!!! YUMMY! :)

Our New Apartment

2010-09-20T20:07:00.000-07:00

We are still living in the Village Apartments, but we switched to a two bedroom. We love all the room we have in this new place! Please ignore the mess. These pictures were taken while we were still moving in and organizing! :)

Utah here we COME!

2010-09-20T19:56:00.000-07:00

Us on the plane. This is the view from the airplane window. Pretty, huh?

We went to a place called Ruth's diner. It was a fun experience! Tyler was not really in a picture taking mood, but Sandy kept taking pictures of us anyways, so we could have the memories :)

We had a surprise 80th Birthday party for Tyler's Grandma McGee. The Griggs, us and Tyler's parents were all in one hotel room and had a blast playing and laughing together! :)

Brewery City Pizza in Oly

2010-09-20T19:50:00.000-07:00

One of my best friends, Chelsea Anderson was recently married to Adam Anderson. He told Tyler that there is a pizza place in Olympia that is AMAZING! Neither Chelsea nor I had ever consisdered Brewery City Pizza AMAZING, but it was good. Anyway, Adam told Tyler that we HAD to go there when we went back to Olympia.... so we DID!
Tyler's face is a joke, just in case you were wondering.

It was REALLY YUMMY!!!! Thanks for the suggestion Adam! :)

Back in Ellensburg AGAIN! :)

2010-09-20T19:27:00.000-07:00

We went up into the mountains to spend the afternoon together. What a nice and romantic trip. I love to spend days outside when it is nice with my wonderful Hubby Tyler! The mountain is called Menashtash (I am not sure how to spell it).

While we were with the McGee's, we went to Vantage and went boating! It was lots of fun! Tyler wakeboarded and skied and I kneeboarded. We have tons of fun. I got a little "boo boo" from kneeboarding, but it is all better now! :)

I told Tyler I wanted to ride some of his horses. We never seemed to get to it when we would visit Ellensburg. We still did not ride horses this trip, but we did go on PONY CART RIDES!! Tyler has a pony named Remington. He used to show Remington at Fairs. Now he is just a pet. But it was lots of fun to go on a cart ride. The nieces and Ethan loved it too!!!

Olympia with the Litchfields!

2010-09-20T19:15:00.000-07:00

I love spending time with my family, we went to a Mariners Game the night I came!! Unfotunately, Tyler was not with me because he drove back to Utah with his sister. She needed help driving back. I missed him lots while he was gone!!

It was wonderful to hang out with some girlfriends while I was in Olympia! I was so excited that I was able to go to lunch at Olive Garden with Julie Kelson and Jena Russell! I love spending time with the GIRLS!

Banks Lake

2010-09-20T18:43:00.000-07:00

We loved going boating and spending time with family and friends at the lake! Tyler did lots! He wakeboarded, wake skated, skiied, played games on the beach and had fun spending more time with Anthony! I am glad they are getting closer! :) I didn't do as much, but I enjoyed myself SO much! I kneeboarded, tubed and lounged/played games on the beach.

We did the Traditional BANKS picture of all of us!

The food at the Dam Restraunt was YUMMY!!!

Anthony and Tyler doing there thing on the Wake Surf or whatever it is called :) DO you like Anthony's swim cap? haha

Ellensburg!

2010-09-20T18:34:00.001-07:00

We love to ride 4- wheelers!! The kids love to go on rides with Tyler! :) They LOVE their Uncle Ty Ty Soooooo MUCH! Amber and I love riding with him too.

First Stop of Summer.. Logan, Utah

2010-09-20T18:18:00.000-07:00

We went to Logan to see the Griggs! We love visiting them! :)

SCHOOL IS DONE!

2010-08-11T17:54:00.000-07:00

School has been out for a while now, but life has been soooo busy that I haven't posted anything in FOREVER!

Unfortunately, Tyler's car is still in the shop. It has been there for over a month. We are waiting for a fly wheel to come in for it. Apparently no one in the US has any... WEIR. Anyways, the car is supposed to be done on August 18th, so we are looking forward to having his car back. For now we are in Washington loving the time with family and friends!

Tyler and I are so glad to be done with school and to have a break. The summer has been lots of fun going back and forth between our families! We have done so much and I do plan to post pictures, but for now, this will have to do...

WHERE WE'VE BEEN:

Ellensburg
Banks Lake
- boating
- dam restaurant
- FAMILY/FRIENDS
Ellensburg
- pony cart rides
- boating
Olympia
- working for my Mom
- tour of Olympia
- Brewery City Pizza (just for Adam Anderson!)

NEXT STOP.... SUN-RIVER,OREGON!!!!!!

I hope everyone is having a wonderful summer!

Camping, Anyone?

2010-06-15T11:02:00.000-07:00

We had so much fun CAMPING with Emily and Cody! We stayed up late, made a fire, had chili dogs, roasted marshmellows, went to Mesa Falls and had lots of fun! Our mountain men were great at making sure the fire stayed going and hot. They kept going and getting more and more fire wood for us girls! They are sooo good to us! I love Tyler so much and all the wonderful and nice things he does for me! I can't wait to go camping again! It was so much fun and so nice to get away from Rexburg and just be out by the beautiful river, smell flowers and not have any electronics!!!

Soccer and Family

2010-06-15T10:41:00.000-07:00

THE ADVENTURES CONTINUE.......

We went to see Amber and her Family a few weekends ago and I never posted the pictures. Needless to say, I haven't updated the blog in a while. But I am going to try to be better. Ty and I were so excited to watch Kaylee play in her soccer game. She did great! :) Kaylee is the cutie in the YELLOW socks! Kaylee is the oldest, Ashley is middle and Brookley is the youngest! We love visiting family on the weekends! If you are wondering about some of these pictures. I had "little helpers" using my camera to take pictures of feet, close- ups and much more! (Purple is Ashley's favorite color.)

A Wonderful Day at the Park

2010-05-13T20:59:00.000-07:00

Bike Riding, Picnic, Tennis & MORE Bike Riding

Tyler and I have been wanting to play tennis together FOREVER! Unforuntately, it has been SUPER cold and so we didn't have the chance. FINALLY, if was warm enough outside. Tyler planned a cute date for us. He went and got a "day old" loaf from Jimmy Johns, we made sanwiches, and he also got other snacks to go with our sandwiches for the picnic. Then we rode our bikes to Porter Park. It was a little windy, but really sunny and nice out! Tyler wore a backpack with our tennis racquets and the tennis balls. He also had all the picnic stuff strapped on to his bike in saddle bags. He didn't make me carry any weight on my bike. AWWW, how nice of him! :)

We ate our delicious lunch. . .

PLAYED a set of tennis (then it got REALLY windy)

THEN......rode our bikes home! It was a wonderful romantic and fun day with my AMAZING Tyler!! :)

Comedy Improv Show!! May 7th

2010-05-13T20:29:00.000-07:00

Tyler and I went to an Improv show with our friends Derek and Kayla. The people in the show were from Singles Ward and Saints and Soldiers. It was so much fun to have a date night with my Hubby! I love when we get to go on double dates with good friends! The show was awesome! We got signatures and a picture with them all. What a wonderful and fun night!

Tyler's laugh is so cute! I hear him laugh, but I LOVE hearing him when he is laughing really hard, like he was at the show!

I love you Ty!!! :)

Adam and Chelsea's Wedding

2010-04-15T09:53:00.000-07:00

One of my best friends got married this past Tuesday! I am so excited for her. Her and Adam have known they were going to get married since before he left on his mission. He served in Mexico. He got back in August and they got married on April 13th in the Boise temple! YAY! Their wedding and reception was beautiful! Congratulations you two! We'll see you when you get back to Rexburg! :)

Erica Fife, Jena Russell and I are the bridesmaids the first few pictures and Nan Alvstad was her photographer. And of course Tyler and I had to have some pictures on the beautiful temple grounds.

Oh, one more thing... Chelsea and Adam's second anniversary will be on FRIDAY THE THIRTEENTH!!!! One of my friends looked it upin her calendar. haha.

Tyler's Birthday!

2010-04-15T09:29:00.000-07:00

Tyler's birthday is on St. Patrick's Day and he loves it! This year I did a progressive dinner for him with some of our friends and made him a cake! The first part was pizza rolls and onion rings for an appetizer with sparkling cider to drink at Derek and Kayla's, then we went to Joe and Anna's for dinner, which was Brazilian Hot Dogs. All the guys there served in Brazil. Then back to our apaprtment for cake and ice cream! :) It was fun to spend time with our friends.

Update is COMING

2010-04-15T09:26:00.000-07:00

I have been so bad about updating lately. I haven't even done Tyler's and it was March 17th. I have pictures!

I will blog his birthday and Chelsea's wedding soon! I PROMISE! :)

Date Night Bowling

2010-03-14T11:51:00.001-07:00

We went bowling with some friends who are in our ward and live in our complex. We love to hang out with Derek and Kayla! :)

My Birthday!

2010-03-06T16:26:00.000-08:00

Thanks to Tyler and my Parents for making it a SUPER SPECIAL weekend! xoxo

My Birthday weekend was wonderful! Thank you to EVERYONE who celebrated with me! :)

Tyler got me a Wii game too. It is called THINK FAST. It is a Disney Game, but SUPER FUN! :)

My Mom got us a bunch of things that were green! My parents also got us a Wii and a game!

We went to Olive Garden for dinner with my parents! :)

Chelsea's Bridal Shower

2010-03-06T16:01:00.000-08:00

One of my BEST friends is getting married in April, so I threw her a bridal shower. We had it in the clubhouse of my apartment complex! Friends were there and it was a good time had be all. Chelsea deserved a wonderful shower and I knowlots of people love her! Yay for Chelsea and Adam getting married! :)

Our Apartment

2010-01-30T13:39:00.000-08:00

Svenja wanted to see it, so here it is. Love ya SVENJA! :)

We re-arranged our bedroom too. We like it better how it is now. It gives us more space.

Our nook where our dining table and shelf are, still look the same. They have the table, printer and our books over there. Tyler is enjoying laying on the couch enjoying a movie. Our couch is actually a Futon and folds into a bed, So feel free to come VISIT SVENJA (or anyone else for that matter. Just call ahead of time! :))

- Our kitchen is the same as usual, except it has BEAUTIFUL SUNFLOWERS from Tyler. He got them for me.

This is our Living/ Family Room. Ty and his Mom made that beautiful frame above our tv. :)

Making Pies with Andrea

2010-01-30T13:01:00.000-08:00

Andrea and I decided that we wanted to make the pie we saw at Olive Garden. We went there for dinner with our men on a double date. She had the recipe, so on Thursday night, that is just what we did. The finished product was YUMMY! :)

Icy Outside

2010-01-26T20:27:00.000-08:00

Tyler and I were driving home from downtown Rexburg tonight and it was very icy. Right before the turn to go back home, we saw a red car that had apparently slipped on the ice and had gone into a snow pile. Ty turned onto our road and then turned around, and said, "They will probably need help pushing it out." So we went back to where they were. Tyler and the guy pushed the car out and the girl in the car put the car into reverse and helped to get it out. I wanted to help, but I knew that I would probably be in the way, so I watched and admired as my wonderful husband helped them to get out of their situation. What an amazing man my husband it. I know it may not sound like this was anything huge, but a lot of people passed the car and no one had gone back to help. Ty decided to help these people. I love that he is willing to serve and help others in need.

Also, when I was at work, it began to snow and the roads had a layber snow and ice on them. I was heading home from work (in my car that has bald tires and barely any weight) and I got a sweet text from Tyler. It was simple, but meant the world to me. He said, "The roads are icy, drive safe and I love you." Nothing earth shattering I know, but I was very appreciative of him thinking of me and texting me. :)

Date Night with Friends

2010-01-25T20:10:00.001-08:00

We have enjoyed spending time with Bryce and Andrea. We went out on a double date on Friday. We went to Olive Garden and then came back to our apartment and played Taboo. We first played with couples and Tyler and I were the WINNERS, then we played boys vs. girls... THE BOYS, or MEN were the WINNERS! We were happy for them, but bummed that we lost. However, they may have cheated, because they informed us that when we have played games before that they (meaning the boys) have cheated to see if we would notice. Of course we didn't notice. We are too trusting of our men. haha. GOOD TIMES ANYWAY

Shooting in Ellensburg

2010-01-25T19:55:00.000-08:00

Dad McGee got a new gun for Christmas and so we decided to go out and shoot guns on New Year's Eve. It was Dad, Tyler, myself and Stephen. I was not very good at shooting, but it was still lots of fun. Our camera got snow all over it though while we were taking pictures. (I promise it is snow that got on the camera, conveniently right next to my noes and not snot in the first picture of Tyler and I.)

Brookley and I were relaxing together on the chair. This was the first time she said, "Uh Oh." It was really cute and I was one of the first people to ever hear her say it! :)

CrAzY SeMeStEr

2010-01-25T19:47:00.000-08:00

The Winter Semester is here and it has been crazy.

Ty is still tutoring, I am still working at Burton Elementary and life is great!

My classes have turned out to be more difficult than I could have guessed and can be stressful at times. Luckily, my wonderful Hubby is here to keep me from going insane. He is so sweet and always there for me when I need him.

Hopefully I can do a better blog soon, but I figured I should at least add SOMETHING, since the last time I updated was about Christmas.

Christmas in Ellensburg

2010-01-01T13:13:00.001-08:00

Christmas in Ellensburg was wonderful! We got there the night of the 24th, recieved pajamas from Tyler's Mom and put them on. We all had matching pajamas. The nieces had night gowns that matched all the pants of everyone else. It was so cute! It was fun to wake up and go upstairs to open presents with everyone in red and green. We had a wonderful Christmas with his family!

Christmas Eve in Olympia

2009-12-30T13:03:00.000-08:00

My family celebrates on Christmas Eve every year, so Tyler and I decided we would make it work to spend Christmas Eve with my family and Christmas Day with his. We spent the 22-24 with my family. My parents, my brother, Tyler, myself, Oma, Opa, Jacky, Greg and Ryan were all together at Oma and Opa's (grandparents) for Christmas.

Was great to spend time with my family and Tyler's family. We both are very lucky to have the families we do, they are wonderful and we love them sooo much! My family always does the traditional German (according to my Grandparents- Oma and Opa) Christmas dinner.

This means we have the big soft pretzels, sourcrat, potatoe salad, green salad and different kinds of "hot dogs" as my cousin calls them. It is yummy, but if you are used to the "usual American Christmas dinner," you will not see it on this table.

Olympia Christmas Party

2009-12-30T12:16:00.000-08:00

My brother, Anthony and I decided we wanted to have a party while school was out and lots of our friends would be home from college, well my friends. He is still in high school, so his are usually always around. At one point there were 27 people at my parents' house for this party. I believe the final count for all the people who came that night was 31, so it was a wonderful turn out. We loved to see all our friends again and I was glad many of my old friends were able to come hang out and meet Tyler. They think he is great, which I totally agree with! Here are a few pictures from the event! :)

Rexburg -> Spokane -> Ellensburg ->Santa Train

2009-12-20T16:45:00.000-08:00

We left Rexburg on Friday December 18th to head to Washington. Tyler drove and I was his co-pilot. We were lucky and we did not have to deal with any bad roads. There was a little rain, but not much. On Friday night we stayed in Spokane with Tyler's brother and his family Friday night and then went on to Ellensburg on Saturday morning.

We got to Ellensburg around noon. At 1pm we had to leave to go to North Bend, so we could go on the "Santa Train." It was Tyler, me (Brittany), Emily, Nathan, Ethan, Amie and Aubree. It was a lot of fun to be with them for the day. :)

FINALS are HERE

2009-12-16T16:25:00.000-08:00

Tyler and I both have all our finals on Thursday.

THE GOOD NEWS:
- we love each other, no matter what, even if we are stressed and less patient
- it will all be over soon
- we can leave for Washington on Friday morning
- only one day of difficulty instead of 5
- we will probably be able to go with Amie and Ethan on Saturday
- we get to see family SOONER

THE BAD NEWS:
- supposed to go to a ward activity tonight
- lots to study
- stressful
- need to find time to eat and sleep
- have to study for all of them, instead of having them stagered throughout the week
- less patience when this busy and stressed

It will be a rough day tomorrow, but I know that we can do it! I am confident Tyler and I will do well. We have put in the time and effort to do great! Plus, Tyler is my amazing husband who is very intelligent and I have all the faith in the world in him! <3

GOOD LUCK TO ALL OF YOU DOING FINALS!

Gingerbread House!

2009-12-12T10:36:00.000-08:00

We decided to make some gingerbread houses! Bryce, one of Tyler's friends from Ellensburg and his girlfriend Andrea came and made them with us, it was lots of fun! We have enjoyed spending time and hanging out with them. As you can see from the pictures... GOOD TIMES! :)

Weekend Away from Rexburg (November)

2009-12-12T10:10:00.000-08:00

We went to Logan for a weekend. It was wonderful to go to the temple, play with family and have lots of fun! :)

I got a JOB! :)

2009-12-10T18:03:00.001-08:00

On Jauary 5th I will start work at Burton Elementary School working with children after school. I am very excited! It will be fun to work with kids and be involved with the Madison School District. Yay!! Tyler will still have his job too, so that is good. He will be tutoring on campus for math classes again. :)

Sorry!

2009-12-08T16:35:00.000-08:00

Sorry Everyone!
I have not updated in forever. I do not have too much to update at the moment. But I can give some key details happening in our lives right now :)

New Callings: I'm the Ward Bullitin person, so I make the programs for sacrament meeting every Sunday and Tyler is the Assistant Ward Clerk, so he stays after on Sundays for tithing and things like that. We are both very excited about our new callings and they are going well.

School:
Ty and I both did well at Midterms and classes are going well. Accounting is as you can imagine... HARD, but Tyler is doing great! I know things will go well for him. I am loving my major of Special Education/ Early Childhood Development, it is so much fun and interesting to learn about our development, diseases and the minds of children. I can't wait to continue next Semester. Tyler is on "Fast Grad" so he goes to school from September to July. At the moment I go September to April, but I am trying to also get on "Fast Grad" so we will both be going year round. We will still have our 7 weeks of break in August and at the beginning of September, and of course Thanksgiving and Christmas, but we just wouldn't have an entire semester off from school, we would get finshed and graduate sooner! YAY!

Married Life:
Being married to Tyler is wonderful. He is an amazing husband and is so good to me. This last weekend I was VERY stressed because of school, callings and all sorts of other things. Tyler made me feel a million times better. He told me it would all be ok and started to do everything around the apartment for me, so I could work on other things. He vacuumed, cleaned, folded laundry, did dishes and was the sweetest EVER! I really do love and appreciate him more than I can put into words! :)

That's all for now! I hope everyone's week is going well and you are staying warm!

Weird

2009-11-05T14:43:00.000-08:00

My blog is not showing that I am updating it to other people and it is driving me nuts! It says the last time I updated it was September 19th, but it was really November 2nd. Weird.....

HALLOWEEN 2009

2009-11-02T14:29:00.000-08:00

We celebrated Hlloween this year with Todd, Karen, Chelsea and Adam. We went over to Todd and Karen's apartment, carved pumpkins, decorated/ ate cookies, talked, ate doughnuts and drank yummy cider. It was a fun Halloween, but very low key. We ended out night with a quick appearance at the ward party where we ate carmel apples and talked with the few people we knew. We are still trying to get adjusted to our new ward and become friends with people in our ward :)

2 Month Anniversary

2009-10-29T16:07:00.000-07:00

Tyler and I went out to dinner at a mexican place and then rented a scary movie to watch. It was a fun night together as a couple. It is crazy that it has been 2 months only. I feel like we have been married for a long time and I have loved it all. Marriage is wonderful! :)

FHE 10-26-09

2009-10-29T15:46:00.000-07:00

We had a wonderful FHE with Adam and Chelsea. We made sugar cookies, decorated them and then went to the haunted mill! It was a wonderful night with friends! :)

Our First Pet

2009-10-22T16:44:00.000-07:00

Tyler has been working in the tutoring center every day during the week this semester and one day when I was not feeling very good, I told him that I was lonely and I wished someone was around while he was at work. I told him I wanted Sparkey and that I missed my baby (my puppy who is still living with my parents back home because we can't have pets in our apartment). I told him we can't have kids yet to keep me company. He said he was sorry and that we would have Sparkey with us eventually.

Then....Tyler went to the store the other day to get some things for dinner and I was working on a paper at home, while it was quiet. When he came back he had BRIZO with him. Brizo is our pet fish. He can't cuddle, but we really love him! :)

10-16 to 10-18-09

2009-10-18T14:10:00.000-07:00

We had visitors in Rexburg! Three of our neices, Tyler's mom and sister were all here. It was fun at the corn maze, eating out and spending time together as a family! I love when family come to visit us here in Rexburg, that's when you know you are VERY loved! :)

Weekend away from Rexburg (Sept. 2009)

2009-10-18T13:58:00.000-07:00

We went to Logan to see some family and celebrate our neice Ashley's birthday! Fun weekend away from Rexburg.

Saturday, September 19, 2009

2009-09-19T21:47:00.000-07:00

Today we had a list of things we wanted to get accomplished. We wanted to get rid of our storage unit, because it has been empty for a week, so we went a checked out of it, which included sweeping it out.

Then we went to walmart, did some shopping.

Organized and Hung some pictures.

Went to Idaho Falls.

Went to Walmart to get a few things.

Went out to Olive Garden for a date. We need to keep dating, even though we are married. We hope to go on a date once a week, but it will probably be more like once a month. :)

Went to Bed Bath and Beyond to return some things and buy some new things.

Went to Barnes and Noble.

Went to Walmart to return some things.

Went to Sam's Club.

Came Home

Hung Curtains

Homework

Got stuff for tomorrow

Finishing our Date: movie and time to ourselves :)!

Our new Apartment!

2009-09-18T20:31:00.001-07:00

Sorry, no picture of the bedroom, except the dressers and cubbies. Are bed was not made, so I decided not to take a picture, but some people asked about our apartment... so here it is! :)

Leaving Wedding/Honeymoon

2009-09-18T14:16:00.000-07:00

My bridesmaids wrote on the car Tyler and I were taking on our honeymoon. It was Tyler's parents' car. Their car is not a stick, so it was nice because I felt comfortable driving it on the trip. I can drive a stick, but I am still working on becoming an expert. If I could choose, I would pick an auntomatic every time. Anyways, here's what the car looked like :)

On the way to Kellogg, Idaho we stopped in Idaho Falls, Idaho where he proposed and we took pictures there, showing off our rings! It was Tyler's idea to stop there, I did not know what we were doing, but I was impressed with his romantic side. He is a wonderful husband! :)

For our honeymoon we went to Kellogg, Idaho. We went to a resort called Silver Mountain. In the winter it is a ski lodge and it has an indoor water park. We really enjoyed the indoor water park and we went on the gondalla ride to the top of the mountain and walked around on the mountain. It is the longest Gondalla ride in the World! It was really fun! :)

On the way home from the honeymoon there was a semi-truck pulling something and it hit the top of a bridge. It was crazy! I was glad we got some pictures of it though. It's a good story :)

Wedding Pictures (first ones)

2009-09-16T15:43:00.000-07:00

MARRIED

2009-09-01T00:14:00.003-07:00

We are married! YAY! Pictures of the wedding, receptions and mpre information to come! :)

Tyler came to VISIT me!

2009-08-17T14:52:00.000-07:00

I had a wonderful weekend with Tyler in town and staying at my house!! I love him so so much and he loves me! :)

Cake Tasting! We went and got different flavors of cake and fillings from the place we are ordering our little cake (for cutting) for the Olympia reception. It was yummy! :)

CAKE CHOICES!!! YUMMY!

My Dad bought a SegWay (the thing Paul Blart rides in the movie Mall Cop.) Tyler and I were riding around in my driveway. He was better at it than I was. It was so fun to have him here for the weekend. I can't wait to marry him and to have him be a part of my family forever! :)

Tyler and I woke up on Sunday morning and there was writting all over his car. Some of my little brother's friends had coem to our house Saturday night and written with window paint on Anthony's car, Nichole's car (Anthony's friend) and as you can see, Tyler's car. They thought it was Anthony's friend Nyle's car... they even wrote Nyle's name on Tyler's car. I felt bad, so I started to clean it, and then he came out and we cleaned it together. It was a bonding experience according to my brother. haha.

After cleaning up the cars a little, then we had church..........These pictures are of us in out church clothes. This is after church. I wanted to have some more pictures. We just couldn't both smile. We kept making faces. We finally got a good one of us both. haha.

Girls Night with Lexi and Julie

2009-08-12T00:12:00.000-07:00

BEFORE DINNER

AFTER DINNER

On the way to SWING DANCING!

CLOSE UP by Julie

***I think I just needed to get out of the house. I have been stuck here a few days catching up with things, because we were out of town. I needed to get out and be around people I haven't seen in a while. It was good to be with the girls. We went swing dancing and then went to Julie's house, ate and then hung out more and took pictures. It was a fun time with the girls! Of course I missed having Tyler around when I was dancing, but no one compared at all to him. Sorry, no pictures of us actually swing dancing. ***

Nothing Good, Nothing Bad

2009-08-11T15:20:00.000-07:00

Today so far has been one of those days, where nothing has gone wrong, but the day doesn't feel right either. It feels like something is missing, or gloomy or something. I can't really put my finger on it. I am not really sad, lonely or upset about anything, but I feel like I could cry at the drop of a hat. It is so weird.

I wonder if excitement, nerves, changes and wedding/ new life stresses are starting to get to me. I didn't think I was worried, stressed or anything, but maybe I am and I just am not willying to accept it or think about it. I do not understand my feelings today or my thoughts for that matter. My mom asked me what was wrong and I had to say, "I don't know." I really don't know if something is wrong, or if I am just having a weird day. I look sad, concerned or confussed about something, but I'm not. . . at least I don't feel that way.

I am supposed to go swing dancing tonight downtown and then watch a movie with friends afterward, but I am not sure I want to go. This would normally not be an issue, but I am the one who planned the get together and outing for tonight, this means I should really show up and be there. It would be rude not to. I should be excited, it will be a fun night and a time with friends... but this mood just won't go away. I'll keep trying... but who knows what will happen with the day. . .

USTA Tournament Staff 2

2009-08-10T15:53:00.001-07:00

Sometime we were actually working..... other times my Dad and I were just playing around. It was a great weekend away with my parents :)

USTA Tournament Staff

2009-08-07T22:14:00.000-07:00

Today my Mom, Dad and I are all coordinating tennis at the USTA sectionals. My Dad is a coordinator, officially and my mom and I just help him with whatever he needs. I write the score cards, make sure teams are legal (correct players, levels/ratings of tennis play and things like that), its good family bonding. Anthony usually comes too, but he didn't this year. He wanted to keep practicing his tennis and going to his lessons (I think he wanted to hang out with his friends and some girls he knows. haha). I have been doing this since I was about 9 years old. I have been helping with this for 10 years! Impressive huh? I got my new name tag today. Here it is :)

A Touch of Banks

2009-08-07T22:04:00.000-07:00

Banks Lake is an amazing family trip we take every year. This year Tyler came for a couple days. UNFORTUNATELY.... we did not take any pictures together and I only have a few pictures of anything at all. (My aunt Teresa took more, but I need to get them from her.)

Julie and I had a fabulous week together.

I got a "tube rash" on the back of both of my legs. It hurts. It is kinda like a really bad rug burn, but not. It feels like someone is taking a razor blade and scraping it against my skin anytime everything or anything touches it or brushes against it. Fun Huh?....... Not. But oh well, it will heal and all will be good again.

Bridal Shower Pictures

2009-08-06T12:32:00.003-07:00

Thank you Patti, Blaire, Nan and Julie for everything you did for my bridal shower! :)

I was put into the pantry because I was the judge for one of the games and they did not want me to cheat. I was all alone. :( haha

Frustrated!

2009-07-30T16:43:00.000-07:00

I am trying to add some things to my blog, like a few more count downs, but it is just NOT NOT working. Grrrrr! Either it is my computer, me or the gadget is just not liking me right now. I am not sure which one it is, but I am not too happy about it. Hopefully if I try to add it later when I get back from Banks Lake, that it will work. If anyone has advice for me it is welcomed.

On a happier note, today has been a very good day. I have packed, cleaned and gotten ready for my trip. I can't wait to go to BANKS LAKE and be with all the wonderful people who come there with us. Unfortunately Tyler can't come because he has work, he is helping his brother, he has a BBQ and is spending time with family this weekend. I will really really miss him, but I understand. I love him SOOOOOO MUCH!