My weekend?.....

....Needless to say, my weekend was pretty great!

Thank you Josh!

Dear Josh,

Do you remember how you coughed and coughed all weekend? And how you didn't cover your mouth!? Well I'm here to tell you that you left Brookie sick. I have a congested head, a cough, goopy eyes, and a sore throat. Leaving me sick doesn't in any way change my love for you, just next time you don't need to share with me. :)

Loves,

Brooke

American Idol Recap...

*Annie Karen I'm finally doing my own Idol post...
Danny: I'm probably Danny's biggest fan, but I didn't love him last night. He still did good, just wasn't in love.
Lil Rounds: I really like her and want her to do well, however it just seems week to week she's just fighting to stay around. She keeps picking songs the judges hate, however I kind of liked her song last night.
Anoop: LOVED him last night, perfect song for him.
Scott: I'm bored, it's the same thing every week with him, I'm ready for him to go. Sorry Scott.
Allison: She is by far my favorite female contestant. I hope she can pull herself out of the bottom three this week, I thought she did really good last night.
Matt: I'm with Kara, I love him! After last weeks disaster, I was happy to see him do so well. He rocked it last night.
Adam: I hate that I love Adam! He was AMAZING last night! I think he's here to stay, if not win the entire thing!

Blog Title

It's an extremely busy day at work (wink), I'm sitting here thinking about my blog and I thought, "In 3 weeks my life will no longer be in Dixie." My blog title will become inaccurate. It got me thinking, "What is the title for this new chapter of life?" I'm so excited about moving Northward, being with my family, my friends, and residing in the Salt Lake Valley that I love so much. So what should my new blog title be? Any suggestions?

Conference recap...

Ok, let's be honest, I got very little out of conference. I did listen very closely to one talk, Elder Hail. Anyone else catch it?! Really good. He made a couple of points that I really liked.
First... I can't word it quite like him, but he was talking about how many people are facing very limited decisions and limited freedom due to previous poor choices. He then talked about how nothing is outside of the Saviors ability to help us. How cool is that?!
Second, was my favorite, he said that the 3 most sincere words you can say to your spouse is, "I love you." The 4 most caring words you can say is, "We can't afford it." Although I need to work on living that way, I really liked it. (don't worry that I don't have a spouse either!)
Sadly enough, that was about all I got out of conference, but it's something right?! :)
*How lame am I that my "conference recap" consists of ONE talk!*

Somthing to blog about....

I don't have anything exciting to blog about. So this is what I've got....
A- Annie, I've met two very important Annie's in the last two years. Annie Neider, and Annie Salmon.
B- B-rooke, that's my name yo!
C- Cafe Rio, the way to my heart. :)
D- Days, days until Bradley gets home.
E- Eternal, that is how this work day feels.
F- Final four, after this weekend I'll know if I won my March Madness bracket. CHRISTIAN YOUR GOING DOWN!!
G- Grey, how it looks outside.
H- Happy, my current emotion.
I- "I hate this part.", my current favorite song.
J- Jezebel, quite possibly my cars new name. (Sorry Jake, it's a little easier to say!!)
K- Kite, I think I might fly one this week.
L- Lazy, what I intend to be all weekend.
M- Mike Neider, here is your shout out! :)
N- University of North Carolina! Come on BIG BABY!
O- Oh, Oh how I love general conference. Church in your P.J.'s!
P- Pool, what I wish I could swim in this weekend... oh wait it's freezing!
Q- Quite, quite unamused with school.
R- Ready, ready for summer! Warm weather, no school, and being in Salt Lake!
S- Snickers, what I'm eating right now, and what I'll be wearing tomorrow.
T- The Real World, my latest edition to my reality show addicition.
U- Unmarried, for now.
V- Very, very VERY excited about life.
W- "What Hurst the Most." , any one catch Idol this week? Wow, I LOVE Danny!
X- X-ray, I've never had one, acutally I take that back, I have once.
Y- Yellow, my most favorite color to wear this spring!
Z- Zoo, part of my summer plans. Anyone want to go with me?! :)
This is all I have people. If you would like take it as a tag, please do. Have a lovely General Conference weekend! :)

Lance...

This is Lance, he is about 4 months old, he just has he first surgery of a series to correct a clef lip and a clef pallet. He belongs to Shaleigh, one of my really good friends from work. I wish I had a before picture so you could see how good his lip looks, it's amazing what modern medicine can do! He was in surgery for three hours yesterday and everything went remarkable. He's doing well and might even get to come home from the hospital today.

I feel a change in the winds says I.

*This is more of my own journaling purposes then anything else*

For the last two years I have been a resident of St. George Utah. I've worked at the St. George branch of Deseret Frist Credit Union. I've lived on my own, and haven't had anyone to answer to. Well my life is about to change, and it's going to change lots. May 1st (yes, Jill I know, that is your birthday) I'll be moving back up to Salt Lake. Life as I know it will be changing. It's a surprisingly bitter sweet change. While I'm excited for something new in my life, I know I'm going to miss the people and things I've come to love while in St. George. Yesterday I put my notice in at work (April 30th, I know it's far away, but for transfer purposes I had to.). Change is good, scary, but good. I feel like change is something I really need in my life right now. I feel like I've been stuck in a rut for the last couple of months. So my goal for the next month is to enjoy my remaining time in St. George. I know that once I get home I'm going to miss so much about Dixie.

Being down here has been such a growing experience. I think I've really become the person I'm going to be. I think that starts to happen when mom and and aren't around to second questions decisions, and you learn through trial and error. There have been some lessons learned the hard way, but I wouldn't trade them. I never used to believe people when they would say "I'm grateful for my trials", I feel like now I'm honestly thankful for them. Life isn't meant to be easy, were not forced to learn and grow when we aren't tired. My time in St. George has been wonderful and horrible, happy and sad, I've laughed and I've cried. Through it all I've grown and learned.

So here I am at the end of a chapter of life and about to embark on the next one. Who knows what's next for me in life, marriage, a mission, college?! I have no idea, but I'm looking forward to it. I've loved my time in St. George, and I will never forget the people I've met here. Change is good! Just embrace it! :)

Cousins...

This morning I had that chance to be a sinner and go to brunch with my two cousins Kalie, and Mady. It was fun to get caught up on life and take a trip down memory lane. It was fun to spend time with them. Thanks for making time for me girls!

In other updates in my life.... there aren't any.

S.L.C.

I decided to take Thursday and Friday off and head up to Salt Lake. I had a great long weekend filled with lots of friend and family time. My mom even made sure I got time to see the VERY BEAUTIFUL Draper temple. We got to celebrate Miss Annie's one year old birthday, and I got to hear hours of endless decorating possibilities for Jamie's kitchen/family room. We looked through tons of old family pictures, so much fun! I got to see my friend Izzy from the tennis team who recently (as in two weeks ago) lost her mom, grandma, and grandpa in a car accident, she is a solider! All in all it was the perfect weekend home. I love spending time with those I love most. Thanks for making the time to kick it with me!

The beautiful Draper Temple
The Destroyer!

The Birthday Girl herself. HAPPY BIRTHDAY A!

Annie and her new friend.

Eating, always eating.

Someone got a hold of my camera.

Where's Waldo?

The only time I will ever see Amy with a purse that isn't a wallet on a string.

Queen Jamie reining over her peasants.

St. Geezy with the Fameezy

I know this post is a little delayed seeing is this was a week ago, however I promised Amy there would be a blog post. (better late then never, right Amy!?) I got almost entire week to be with my family, and trust me it was much needed! Mom, Dad, Jenny, Trent, Amy, Aiden, Andrew, Oakley, Morgan, Paige, and Jake were all down here. Jake and I even got an extended Vacay when we went to Vegas, however no picture documentation on that one. I love being with my family and it was much needed time with them. Family fun will continue when I come up to Salt Lake on Thursday! Without further Audie here are 5 million pictures from last weekend....

This picture proves that Amy is wonder Mom, Yes she is making 5 PB&J's at once!
Amy didn't want a picture of her face, so we took one of the back of our heads.

The cute kiddos, only smiling because they wanted my camera.

Oakley got my camera and took a LOVELY picture of herself.

Miss Paige being Divialious!

What trip to St. George is complete without a dance party!?

Aiden and I were swimming buddies! Until I almost killed him twice!

We were still friends here.

The gang.

Oakley got my camera again, however, I think this picture is adorable!

My homes! I just love this guy! I had so much fun spending time with him. I took him to all the "cool" St. George hot spots. Dixie Rock.

The Narrows....

Ya, we squeezed through there.

Jake squeezing through.

"Damn were in a tight place!" -Oh Brother Where Art Thou?

Lame, put this is the ONLY picture I have from my Vegas trip, and it's lovely! All in all it was a great weekend/week to spend time with my family, especially Jake whom I don't get to see much! (even though he eased my itunes library! :))

23 months....

23 months ago today, my friend Brad left on his mission. It's crazy to think how FAST life moves! It's so interesting to think what life was like then compared to now....
23 months ago I was....
-A senior in high school
-Working at Black Tie Tuxedo
-Spent every waking moment I had with Brooke #2
-My biggest worry in life was what shoes to wear with my cap and gown
-I was getting ready for the trip of a lifetime EUROPE!
-Figuring out how to make it through one final semester of school
-Sluffing as MUCH school as possible
-Spending all my time with Andy, Nick, Bryan, Kyle, Bridget, Meagan, and Brooke
-Listening to and LOVING Taylor Swifts' first CD.
-I was still very much living off Mom and Dad.
-I was living in the Salt Lake Valley and LOVING it!
Fastfoward 23 months....
-I've been living in St. George for almost two years
-I'm a personal account representative at Deseret First Credit Union
-I just purchased my first car.
-I'm trying to figure out what I'm going to do with my life
-I have complete freedom, and LOVE it! :)
-I pay my own bills, rent, grocery's, phone, insurance, car, you name it.
-I've experienced real life. You know all the growing up stuff.
-I've experienced my first post high school relationship, and experienced my first real heart break.
-I've been almost an entire year without Brooke, boo!

Life changes and it changes fast! I need to work on enjoying the here and now, before you know it it's two years later and life is totally different!

My BEST Friend!

Dearest Brooke,

You are the peanut to my butter! The cream to my cheese! My other half! We've gone through the BEST and the WORST life has to offer! However no matter what we've always had each other! I'm looking forward to the summer to make up for a lot of lost time. The Brooke's will be one again! Look out world.... here WE come!

Love,

Brooke #1

P.S. I'm way more sick then you!

It was the best of times... it was the worst of times...

Things in St. George have been a little rock over the past week. I've been trying so hard to be strong and keep it together. Because, let's face it, if you all had a dollar for every time things got rocky for me I would single handily fix the economy. Maybe I'm a pansy, to soft hearted, or just a girl. Whatever the reason may be, life can get me down. I think that trials in our life's truly are the best and worst of times. We do grow and learn, but it's usually through hurt and pain. I'm not going to look for the negative today, instead I'm counting my blessings... naming the one by one....

1. I have the BEST family ever! I have 5 sisters that are my BEST friends, and a brother that seems to know just when I need someone most! 8 of the worlds cutest nieces and nephews, and a Mother and Father that would do anything for me!

2. Back home I have 5 of the best girlfriends any one could have. (I guess I have one of those girls in the STG!)

3. I have a job, and income! With money in the bank! :)

4. I GET to go to school and further my education. I know how to read, add, subtract, and MOST everything else in between.

5. I have a wonderful roommate who has given me a shoulder to cry on many times this last week, and a WONDERFUL friend Ryan, who dropped his Saturday night to be my friend.

6. I have means of transportation.

7. In this crazy world where people so easily loose themselves, I know who I am, and I have the greatest gift of them all.... The Gospel.

8. I have an AMAZING Bishop that I love dearly! He's helped me through some rough times, it's kind of like having a Dad in St. George.

9. The Lord loves me enough to give me trials to grow and learn.

10. I'm healthy! I can walk, run, talk, breath, function normally (for the most part), move my fingers, etc... What a blessing?!

11. I still have all 4 of my grandparents.

12. Growing up my dream was to travel through Europe, by age 18 I could cross that off my list.

13. I got to spend a wonderful week in Hawaii with 19 of my best friends!

14. In St. George I met one of my VERY best life long friends! You know who you are! :)

15. The past two years have had it's up's and it's down's, but I've learned so much about who I am, the gospel, and everything else in between.

16. I'm an American!

17. I was so blessed through middle school and high school to be able to work with the special needs kids. What an experience! Something I will always cherish!

18. I have 3 wonderful in-laws who are just part of the family now!

19. It's a beautiful, warm, sunny, day outside.

20. I'm alive.

I know that even in our lowest of lows, there is ALWAYS still good to be found! Today I'm choosing to see it!

Quote of the Week....

God doesn't have to explain why, because once he dose, it becomes unnecessary to have a greater faith.