"A weary world rejoices!"

I can hardly believe that it's the 20th of December! I can remember as child thinking how long it took the days of December to pass. Today as I think about it already being the 20th my heart hurts a little. Where did the month go? I feel I've hardly felt the spirit of Christmas and it's been my own selfish fault.
This month I've been so caught up in dating woes, work drama, and trying my best to make it to the end of a school semester, I've hardly even remembered we are in the Christmas season. Although I've missed out on so much of the Christmas magic, one thing has spoken to me all season. Every time I hear the song "Oh Holy Night" the line "A weary world rejoices" has stuck out to me. There have been many times at work that I'm caught up in the hustle and bustle and I will suddenly hear that line, instantly my mind thinks of a new born babe laying in a manger.
I love the picture that the line has brought to my mind throughout the season. I can almost envision lost and weary people needing something more in their lives. Through the birth of our Savior there was hope and something more... I need to personally remember that more in my own life. Although things aren't perfect in my life I do have the greatest gift of them all, a Savior. And for that I'm very thankful.
I hope that everyone has a very Merry Christmas and will continue to rejoice!

ONE HAPPY BROOKE!

I'M DONE, DONE, DONE WITH SCHOOL FOR THE SEMESTER!!!! I MADE IT! :)

Instead of Church....

We....

• watched Tinkerbell & Peter Pan
• snuggled
• laid around in our P.J.'s
• took naps
• bathed
• ate lunch
• blogged
• facebooked
• enjoyed NOT being at church... Can I say that?! ;)
  

Bake Day...

One of my favorite Christmas traditions.... bake day. All the Jensen women get together and bake cookies, bake more cookies, and then bake even more cookies..... Final count 2,025!

Thanksgiving...Marathon Shopping...Work....

Thanksgiving dinner with the Jensen side of the family. As always the Dodee food was delicious, the company was great, and I was thankful to have both! Apparently I'm the giant in the family, I think these pictures prove my point.
A plan was born..... we decided to be crazies and pull an all nighter of shopping knowing darn well that I had nine hours of work the following day. Were we crazy...YES!!!!

First stop of the night... New Moon. I'm in no way into the Twilight sagas, but I choose Team Jacob! HELLO BODY!!!! Our movie ended at 12:30 so we headed to SouthTowne Mall, we had no idea of what we were in for! It was the CRAZIEST thing I've ever seen in my entire life. We didn't really buy anything but it was worth the experience.... I did snap at Jenny and some lady thought I was a total crazy! I even ran into my dear friend Meagan and her man Chris!

After mall madness, we had to refuel our engines at Denny's. Diet Coke was the liquid of choice and a large amount was consumed. I made an extremely intoxicated friend who refused to leave me alone. He was a treat... NOT!!!!

After Denny's we had sometime to kill before Kohl's opened. So what does one do at 3:45 in the morning?! Visit the Temple of course! After the Temple it was off to Kohl's we were on a mission to obtain door busters, so I forgot to take a picture... but it was CRAZY!
Walmart, the definition of insanity! I don't think these pictures even begin to do it justice... this is when I really started to get tired, however being tired was NOT an option!
After Walmart was Target due to the fact that by this point I was delirious, I neglected to document that stop. Next Old Navy, I was so tired sick of shopping that I didn't even look at one thing.... I absolutely hit my wall... and I still had nine hours of work ahead of me!
After being up ALL night, it was off to work for nine hours. We decorated our branch for Christmas, I'll be honest the day was mostly a blur. I don't remember much of work, and I thank my lucky stars that my drawer balanced at the end of the day.
Everyone keeps asking me if it was worth staying up all night. If I didn't have to work the next day ABSOLUTELY, but seeing is that I did, and it was increidble miserable, maybe not.

Really Max? Really!?

"I don't like Utah. In fact, I hate them. I hate everything about them. I hate their program, I hate their fans, I hate everything"
"I think the whole university, their fans, and their organization is classless. They threw beer on my family and stuff last year, and they did a whole bunch of nasty things, and I don't respect them. They deserve to lose."

Thank you Max Hall for in turn show us what "classless" means. I've heard for the last year how horrible Utah fans are, well thanks to The Almighty Max Hall BYU became no better then us last night. Aside from he fact that his comments were a total oxymoron, I have yet another reason to loath BYU. One bad expericnce taints an entire Universtiy, it's students, alumni, programs, and eveything else in between?

Apparently Max wasn't thinking of these people when he made his comments.....

Joseph B. Wirthlin
President Thomas S. Monson, President Gordon B. Hinckley, President James E. Faust

Once again, President Thomas S. Monson

Some other notable Alumni....
John S. Hunstman

David O. Mckay

Harold B. Lee

Russel M. Nelson

Stephen R. Covey

Henry Eyring

And last but not least.... BYU's president himself Cecil O. Samuelson

Thanks for keeping things classy Max! You sure proved us wrong.

"Becuase I Have Been Given Much"

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

Why I love my job!

If you know anything about me, you know that I L-O-V-E my job! There are many reason I love my job, but mostly it's because it comes with it's own entertainment, and I don't think I ever stop laughing! Let's discuss these pictures. The one of the left is Mike and Chris watching the shred man take our documents and shred them... riveting right?! The one on the right is Chris hiding from a member he didn't want to help... I look forward to going to work almost every day, and I LOVE my co-workers. I for sure lucked out with my job, I guess I should thank DFCU for shafting me.

The Furture Mrs. Meagan Johnson...

Meagan Marz has been one of my best friends for about 7 years now... she is tying the knott on December 3rd and I could not be more excited for her! Saturday I threw a shower for her, everyone was able to make it, and boy was it fun. Meagan could serioulsy be one if not THE funniest person I have ever met in my entire life!!!

Being the friends of the bride naturally we had to equip her with all of the "necessities". That's what friends are for, right?! Meagan is one of the more reserved people I have ever known, so opening scandalous gifts was hard for her. Trust me we all got a great laugh and her expense!

I even got Saturday night with my best friends...

It was so much fun to spend the weekend with my best friends. I miss having them around like crazy, but it's always so much fun when we do get together!

Retaill Therapy..

I'm a firm believer in retail therapy. After a crazy, busy, stressful day, I cannot begin to tell you the happiness that this sweater brought to my little heart! :)

Trick or Treat?!

I had an eventful Halloween this year. First off was dressing up for work, everyone showed up dressed up which made for a fun day. Not only did my co-workers dress up, but I had three little darlings show up dressed up as well. Let me tell you, they are pretty freakin cute! I dressed up as Peter Pan, and I did win the costume contest for my branch. Thank you Peter!

Next was Halloween with the Jensen's. Teri spent the day cooking for us, which was very much appreciated. Homemade cream of chicken soup with homemade bread sticks were on the menu. After a delicious dinner we headed out trick or treating with the kiddos. Naturally they didn't last long, but it was so fun to watch them. After trick or treating we watched the end of a nerve racking Utah Football game. Then it was off to Jamie and Mike's house. Now listen hear, usually Mike and Jamie are party animals... not last night. After twenty minutes of watching a psycho show I decided to head.... I still love you both! :)

It was great Halloween! The beginning of November marks the beginning of the Holiday season, which I'm pretty excited about! Let the Holidays begin!

Today....

I may or may not have been asked out by a 50 year old married man! Yuck!

This makes my heart happy!!!

One of the many reasons I love Jacob!!

What am I up to?!... How bout I show you....

My cute little Oakley did my hair for me the other night. Didn't it turn out just beautiful! :)

A bridal shower for Candice...

A beautiful fall afternoon at Mueller Park.

Complete with photo shoot.

And yes.... Ashely and I do like to dress alike...

So life is as busy as ever. I'm still working 40 hours + a week, and doing lots of school. I guess it's a good thing I don't date, uh? Speaking of dating this past week I self appointed myself "The Queen of First Dates". I don't know that, that's a good thing, but it is what it is. :) Overall life is good, I'm glad last week is over, so this week WILL be a good one!

Will it end.....

Have you ever had one of those days that you just want to end!? Everything and anything that can go wrong seem to go wrong? When your just bugged beyond understanding? AHHH!!!! It's one of THOSE weeks!