Halloween 2016

I am not a Halloween person, in the slightest. I tolerate Greg's need to decorate the house, but when it comes to dressing up, it causes more stress than anything, so I usually don't. This year I decided to show up as "Casual Friday Bre", but my manager had other plans. She brought me this awesome sweater to wear. Not gonna lie, I kind of loved it.

So, we tease Steve about being "Grumpy Cat". We also tease him about his girlfriend "Kate". (Long story short, I was IM-ing him about something and he was responding telling me he hadn't talked to his wife, Kaye, but it came out Kate. We now tease him about having a girlfriend)."Kate" is on the poster that Steve is standing next to.

Steve celebrates his work anniversary on Halloween every year. This year, Kriss was looking for a grumpy cat sweater to help him celebrate, and we found the absolutely perfect sweater for him. He loved it! (And also won the prize for best "LOL" costume).

 We are pretty rad.

We also had a pumpkin decorating contest. I am pretty talented with these things, so here is my cute cat pumpkin.

 And I had to get a picture of me and my pumpkin. I'm pretty great.

And just like that it was over, and now I've been watching cheesy Christmas shows on Hallmark, and I love it! I love this time of year. So, so much! And I love cheesy Christmas shows, so you know I'm going to take advantage of this channel!

And Friday, which we all knew would be crazy, was made all better when Chandler walked in with drinks for everyone! I cried a bit. He's just the greatest!

4th of July with Pop-Its

Kandyce, Clay, Liam and Myka came over on the 2nd (my birthday) to say hi. They are always so good to come visit when they're in town, and I really appreciate it. I shared my cupcakes that mom & dad had given me, then we went outside for a bit.

 We sat on the swing, then I remembered that we had gotten some pop-its for my birthday celebration at work, so I grabbed them for the kids to play with. We had a lot of fun with them. Myka was the cutest. She's hasn't been one to be very warm towards me, but she was this day. She would go sit on the swing and tell me to come sit with her. She's just a doll.

Liam was a beast. He's such a cute kid. He was pretending to be a dinosaur, and spitting all over. It was pretty funny though.

I forgot that Liam doesn't like loud noises, so I think the first one I threw scared him a bit, but after that he warmed up and had fun popping them.

Here is a cute little video of them playing with the pop-its.

When we were out of pop-its, we decided to play in the sprinkler. Liam was a bit more hesitant than his sister, but Myka just went right in there and stood while the sprinkler got her soaked. It was pretty funny. Then Liam would grab my hand and pull me into the sprinkler, then say, "Stay here," while he would run away.

It was a lot of fun spending time with these two, and playing around, and hearing them actually talk to me. I can't believe how big they are getting. Myka just is more and more grown up every time I see her. I'm thinking it's time for another niece or nephew to come along.

And one last video of them playing in the water. It was lots of fun!

The March Month

Here we are, almost at the end of March. I say this every post, but where does the time go? I feel as though I waste my time at the same place, 8 hours a day, M-F. I need a life. I life of fun and adventure. A life of good food.

Wishful thinking, right?

Well, here's what's been going on this month...

I got this super cute dress from my friend Lindsay who sold LuLaRoe clothing. The Julia dress is by far my favorite, and this pattern was definitely out of my comfort zone, but I love it!

I am not too much of an Easter candy person, however, there is one type of candy that I love. I may have bought 4 bags of the Sweetart Sour Bunny Gummies. They aren't sold everywhere, so on the rare chance I find them, I stock up!

It seriously feels like we just did our last relief Society Activity. Three months is not enough time to plan for and carry out the events. This one was a really bittersweet event. My good friend, and board leader, decided to sell their house, so they are moving. She has been an amazing friend over the last 8 or so years, and when it came to "party planning," she was the best. Always went above and beyond, and I never had any doubt that she could pull it off. She kicked major butt, and when it comes to this calling, I will definitely miss her. When it comes to personal life, I will miss her even more (even though she's still in the valley...It won't be the same, and until she finds me a house next to hers, it will be hard!)

Anyway, we went with a fiesta theme, and ran out of taco toppings, but had a great turnout!

We've had some rather strange, yet beautiful weather. Some gorgeous sunsets.

And a warm enough day outside to do some yardwork!

And then it rains/snows. You just never know what you're going to get around here in the month of March!

For whatever reason, I have been craving chips & salsa like no other. Steve has brought me some to work, and then one day I posted on facebook that I would pay someone to make me salsa and homemade caramels, and I went home, these treats were on my doorstep. My high school friend Tiffany (who lives like 3 minutes away and I never see) was sweet and dropped this off for me. Thanks Tiff! You're the greatest, and the salsa and cookies were delicious!

See, snow!

Well, St. Patrick's day was this month, and unfortunately for our boss, the leprechauns decided to stop by her office. Boy did they make a mess!

We have these little green cars all over the branch, so I thought it was fitting.

Last Sunday, Kandyce & Clay were in town, so they stopped by with these little cuties. Myka did not want to come near me at all, until I asked for a hug when they were leaving, and then she came over and gave me a big hug. Little stinker!

And Liam, the little goofball. Love these kids!

Work has been going well. It stresses me out sometimes, and frustrates me like no other, but sometimes it's nice, like when I get to go hang out in the office and put my feet up and lean back in my chair. If that's what I did all day, it would be awesome. Unfortunately with Cole leaving, and having only 2/6 having been there for 1+ years, it's been a little hard. Training new people. but not actually having time to train them has been really hard. I find myself getting really frustrated with them, even though I know it's not their faults. I've never been the only one who really knew things, I always had someone to share the responsibility with, so it's been really hard. Not to mention, not having time for myself to be trained in various aspects of my job, and basically, "fake it 'til I make it" all day, every day.

It's okay though, Even though I'd rather be traveling the world, it gives me something to do here. I get to help a lot of nice people, and do some pretty cool things...like 8 loans in 2 hours. Yeah, that was fun! (4 for one person, 3 for another, and 1 just finishing it up). I love doing loans, and I love staying busy. Not necessarily loving the inadequate pay for all I do, but when do we ever get paid what we feel is enough?

And just some random pictures to end the post. Mom came down and brought me some soup, and grandma's cookies. Mmmmm, the best! Thanks grandma!!

From yesterday, just getting lunch after a busy day for both Greg and I (me working, and scanning docs from the 8+ loans I've done in the last week, Greg having had church basketball for the last two weeks.) Thank goodness that's over!

Just had to temporarily brag about being ranked #1 in my work bracket challenge. And yes, I'm well aware that Kansas lost last night. Thanks a lot Kansas!

After Thanksgiving, December, & Christmas

Shortly after Thanksgiving we actually put up our Christmas tree. It's the first time in a very long time that we've had it up before December. Go us!

It also SNOWED! After last year's disappointing winter, it was wonderful to see snow in NOVEMBER! It's been quite the winter since.

I love Christmas lights! I just hate putting them up, especially since it's usually freezing outside when we go to put them up. Luckily, Greg is willing to put them up, so it's a win-win for all of us.

We had another great Relief Society Christmas Social. We had dinner, played games, and ended with a short Christmas video. We had a good turnout, and it's fun to see the sisters outside of Sunday meetings. I have the best committee, which I can say because there are now 4 of us, instead of 2!

**Rant time**

I really don't know why people aren't willing to accept the calling to be on the Relief Society Activity Committee. It's not a hard job (especially when you've got a Melanie, who does a lot!) and we only have 4 activities a year, and meet about that many times outside of the activities. It was Melanie & I for a year and a half before finally getting a couple of people to actually come to meetings and help.  I am very grateful to Melanie though. She has been amazing, and even though she doesn't necessarily love the calling, she is willing to do it, and follows through 100%!

**Rant over** 

Moral of the story: accept callings & do them!

Mom & Dad got tickets to see Juanito Bandito (Pickleville Playhouse), and invited me & Grandma to come along. It was a lot of fun. I worked that morning, but when I was done, they picked me up and we went to eat lunch at the Bluebird. Yummy food (Also learned it was Gram's favorite place to eat in Logan). After that we headed to the play. It was hilarious, and even though the short guy creeps me out. It was hilarious. (Also, pretty sure they got the inspiration for Juanito as a child from SNL's Stewart...equally creepy! But hilarious). It was a fun afternoon spent with parents & grandma. Love you guys!

 

We had our work Christmas party on the 14th of December. We went to Beehive Grill (which is our "see you later co-worker" place to eat. We were hopeful, but no go.) We ate dinner, talked, and exchanged white elephant gifts. With the exception of the "Shave Me" Barbie (which was quite disturbing), I had the top gifts. My first one was intended for Steve, and he ended up with it. It now is set up on his desk at work.

My second gift was one that I would have gladly kept for myself...if Greg would have let me. I did "fish & chips" with a real goldfish and a bag of chips. Chandler ended up with it. named the fish Henry, and has apparently kept him alive this long. I'm surprised Henry lived to see the end of the night, if I'm being truthful with you. It was a fun evening with people that annoy me to no end.

Christmas came so fast. I was lucky enough to have Christmas Eve off, so Greg & I just hung out at home, doing nothing really exciting. That night we played a game, while watching Jericho on Netflix.

We went to bed earlier than our normal Christmas Eve time, and woke up and just relaxed all day. We opened presents. Greg got me some scarves, a jewelry box, a necklace, plus some other random things. I got him a back massager, socks, trivia book, and some other random stuff. It was a nice, relaxing day. We were planning on Skyping with Kennan, so Kandyce & her family stopped by. We weren't able to do it, so we just sat around and talked. It was fun having the little kids over.

It was a great, relaxing Christmas, followed by a very relaxing weekend after Christmas. I just love Christmas time. I love the sights, the smells, the atmosphere. I was pretty stressed this year with high volumes of Christmas Card orders on my Etsy site. It's going to be interesting to see how I can better balance my time so that I can enjoy Christmas time more. It was a really great Christmas though. I love the traditions we have, and the time we get to spend with one another....all....day...long! :)