Over the Hill

I've been sitting here for 10 minutes trying to figure out what to say...1 year ago tonight, i stood on my porch and hugged Phill, good-bye for 2 years.  I still remember that moment, it was so slow and so quick...he smiled grabbed me and spun me around, placed me back onto the step of my porch, gave me a kiss, and drove away. And the adventure began!  He went to the MTC the next day, and has been serving faithfully ever since!

The first year is over! We've made it! If i said that this year has been easy, i would be lying, lying hard core...it hasn't been easy.  But, it has been great.  As i looked back over the past year, all the things we've accomplished and experienced there really aren't any words that can properly describe what a trail, struggle, and oddly enough what a blessing it has been to be apart.  

I've learned so much about sacrifice, and i've been able to see Heavenly Father's hand in almost every aspect of my life. Heavenly Father has blessed us both so much over the past year and i am so grateful for him in our lives, helping us to grow closer together, instead of drifting apart.  I am so excited to be this far along in his mission, i am also so excited for this next year and all the adventures we will have on our own...and together!  To keep myself from getting too sentimental here and writing a years worth of who knows what, i made this little video for Phill of pictures from our 1st year apart. So i'll share it with you:

1 year down and we're on our way!

Attitude 'o' Gratitude

I just realized that i never posted about what i am most grateful for...how ungrateful of me! So I'll make up for it! (mostly for my own benefit)

I am thankful for my family.  We've had amazing adventures and experiences. We've had a lot of trials, but we're still together.  I'd be lost without them!  

I am thankful for my cute parents who keep us all together. They are truly selfless and i owe everything i have and am to them and their amazing support!

i am thankful for my crazy sister and sister-in-law...(and that i no longer have that hair color...i was going through a phase.haha) Kait and Kira have been great examples to me in my life!




I am thankful for my awesome brothers and all the fun times we've had hiking, rodeoing, nintendoing...(those are not real words. ha.)

Phill has by far been one my greatest blessings! In my entire life i never thought i would find someone who would treat me with so much respect and love.  I am so grateful that he chose to serve a mission and has allowed me to be a part of it as well. He has the ability to bring me joy on my worst days and make me feel important when i feel so insignificant.

He is my best friend!

I am sometimes thankful for my puppy...haha. Just kidding, i am always thankful for Indy! She always finds a way to make me laugh, despite all her obnoxious habits. She comes on drives with me and is pretty much my constant companion when i am home.

Above all else, I am thankful for my Savior Jesus Christ.  His atonement which has strengthened me and given me hope.  I would be in darkness without the hope my savior gives to me.  He lives, and He loves me.

There are so many things that i am truly grateful for! My home, my education, my cute Brandley family, a healthy body, a sound mind, my extended family, my future family, mountains, and fresh air, freedom, and sacrifice.  I am thankful for the blessings i receive from my Heavenly Father, and his tender mercies that i experience everyday!

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving! 

You Might Be a Utahn If...

This is what Jeff Foxworthy had to say about Utahns...

1. If you've worn shorts and a parka at the same time, you live in Utah.
2. If you've had a lengthy telephone conversation with someone who dialed the wrong number, you live in Utah.
3. If 'vacation' means going anywhere south of Salt Lake City for the weekend, you live in Utah.
4. If you measure distance in hours, you live in Utah.
5. If you know several people who have hit a deer more than once, you live in Utah.
6. If you have switched from 'heat' to 'A/C' and back again in the same day, you live in Utah.
7. If you install security lights on your house and garage but leave both unlocked, you live in Utah.
8. If you can drive 75 mph through 2 feet of snow during a raging blizzard without flinching, you live in Utah.
9. If you design your kid's Halloween costume to fit over a snowsuit, you live in Utah.
10. If the speed limit on the highway is 75 mph -- you're going 80, and everyone is still passing you, you live in Utah.
11. If driving is better in the winter because the potholes are filled with snow, you live in Utah.
12. If you know all 4 seasons: almost winter, winter, still winter, and road construction, you live in Utah.
13. If you find 10 degrees 'a little chilly' you live in Utah.
    

I love living in Utah!

Red Bull...gives you wings!

On the first day of June 2009, i agreed to go on a walk with one Phillip Jesse Brandley.  It was about 11:30 at night and it had been raining all day. I hadn't seen Phill in 2 years and shockingly enough i wasn't nervous at all.  i stepped out the front door of my house into the warm summer night not knowing that this would ever amount to anything.  We started walking, there was no awkward small talk, we just talked non-stop about nothing...it was easy, and it was fun! We walked for miles doing random things: rearranging people's lawn ornaments, running through sprinklers, waiting at a bus stop even though there wasn't a bus, and laughing. There was one thing we did that night, that has always stayed with us....well, besides each other. (haha)
Phill had been randomly picking flowers from people's yards as we walked and handed them to me.  As we walked he found a Red Bull can in the gutter, not thinking about sanitation or germs, i put the flowers in the can of Red Bull and he kept adding to it as we walked.  Next thing i know, I'm getting a text from my mom telling me it is now 2:30 A.M. and i had better get my butt home! I completely lost track of time! After that night, i didn't really expect to see him again, i wanted to, but i didn't expect we'd ever have anymore than that random walk in the middle of the night.  But, here we are almost 2 1/2 years later, still going strong. Now you are probably wondering what provoked this random storytelling post? This did:

Friday morning around 2, I had just gotten back from a movie with my sister, i walk into my room and i find these. Needless to say i crumbled and had myself a good cry. But all patheticness aside, how FREAKING adorable is this?!?  Phill collaborated with his amazing siblings, and arranged to have these delivered to me, in  a Red Bull can with a cute note. And people ask me why i love him! I couldn't have asked for anything or anyone sweeter. Sorry to get all mushy up in here, but he is just incredible, and i don't deserve him!





Fitness is My Pal

There are a many things i love with a passion: my family, Phillip, the gospel, fresh air, and... food. I really love to eat.  Lately i have been hearing this saying, "Nothing tastes as good as skinny feels." when i hear this, i think to myself, 'Really...have they never eaten cake?' i mean COME ON!
I believe life is too delightful, surrounded by people you love and delectable things, to deprive yourself! Dieting is also proven to make you gain more weight in the long run, because you deprive yourself, and then binge!
 Well, then why deprive yourself! Philosophy if you eat what you want when you want, you won't gorge yourself.  Among the things i have a liking for, i enjoy running. I'm not particularly good at it. A back injury took me out of the game for a few years, but I'm edging my way back into fitness and control...calorie control that is.  I've started using My Fitness Pal, here is the link:  http://www.myfitnesspal.com/ it's free calorie counter and exercise tracker...and it. is. awesome.
I still eat what i want, when i want, but I'm am aware of how much i am eating, and now i actually know when to stop! Since i first logged onto myfitnesspal i have lost 7 pounds. what. up. I can also run much further than i could before! woot.
 Starving yourself is NEVER the answer, and depriving yourself is NEVER fun. So enjoy life, enjoy food!
Check out my fitness pal if you get the inkling. it's a helpful tool to enjoy the sweeter things in life and still get some results.  I love it!