Our wonderful sunday experience :)

Driving home Sunday evening, we had an unforgettable experience. We had noticed earlier that the car was unbalanced which caused the steering wheel to shake. We were a little worried and decided we should probably have it looked at this week.
So, we had just passed one of the Lehi exits, when suddenly we hear a pop bang, and realized that our tire blew out!! A super scary experience when driving over 70 on the freeway with tonz of other cars. We happened to be in the carpool lane so Brandon, with his quick video game reflexes, pulled the car over into the tiny bit of road on the left side of the lanes. Scary!!!!! And it all happened so fast!! Sitting there we realized we couldn't do much until we got to the other side of all the lanes, where there was actually room to open a car door, with out asking for trouble. After a quick prayer and some tears on my part, a clearing opened and we got the car over.
Now what? We hopped out of the car, and got to work, oh and I of course had to take some pictures to document this lovely experience.

The Flat!

Good thing Brandon knew how to change a tire.
I didn't even know that we had a spare tire or tools to change it!

"Come on, come off already!!"

Yep, I did help. Surprised?

Yeah and not exactly the best apparel for such a job :)

The 'lovely' spare all ready to go half an hour later!

Oh, don't you worry, this was not even the end!! After we got going again we realized that the spare tire had low pressure- a little flat, and we were almost out of gas!! And so, with another 15 minute delay we finally were headed home again!
I am so grateful that we were able to make it home safely.

Legal Misgivings

So I'm getting used to the question: "Are you excited for law school?" And the answer is that I am. I truly am. I had my first day of orientation today and as part of it, we had a sample class where we dissected a case involving a refrigerator salesman in the 60's. And it was fascinating. The discussion, the teaching method, the differing opinions on such a simple matter...it was all so intellectually stimulating. I loved it.

But what about the other side of the legal world? I don't relish the thought of being in a profession that is full of crooks. A profession that is the brunt end of countless jokes about its corruption.
Or even in the "honest" part of the legal world: what about the 50-70 hour work weeks (and it sounds like 50 could be a lucky week)? Or the vast amount of writing involved? That I could definitely live without. And what's so unique about the legal profession? I always thought it would be neat to do something where I was virtually irreplaceable. Well unless I go into water rights law, that won't be the case. And from my economics background, I can't help but realize that an efficient society wouldn't even need lawyers!

The post-graduate stuff makes law school seem easy. I mean, I'm only supposed to be so busy that I can't handle a part-time job. In fact, let's just throw out money altogether since I'm supposed to do an unpaid externship after my first year. Oh, and I only have to compete with my fellow classmates for everything. No biggie.

So when you ask me if I'm excited about law school and I tell you "yes", now you have the rest of the story. I'm glad I feel like this is where I'm supposed to be because otherwise, the left side of my brain would be screaming at me to get out while I still can. As it is, I'll see you again in 3 years!

Back to School

Well here we are with school right around the corner. Brandon started law school orientation today. And his classes start next Monday. Thankfully, I have an extra week before my classes starts. I can't believe how quickly the summer has gone. Good Luck Brandon!

One year!!

First off I must say, isn't Brandon so cute to have paid tribute to me each day this week!! He is so sweet, especially because I don't completely agree with every thing he has said, he makes me sound like a perfect angel :) (soo not true!) This goes to show that I am the lucky one to be married to him!!!!!

Anyway I thought that it would be fun to highlight some things about our first year together!

* We got married at 10 am August 14, 2009 in the Salt Lake Temple
* For our honeymoon we flew down to Florida, went to Disney world, and then went on a cruise to the Bahamas
* We moved into our first apartment
* We got called as an extraction couple in our ward and I was also the assist. RS secretary- whatever that means :) jk
* We started another year of school
* We got a Wii with extra wedding money
* I got accepted to the BYU Elementary Education program
* We both started new jobs. I work at the Marriott Center ticket office as a student clerk, and Brandon was a research assistant for one of his statistics professors.
* Brandon took the LSAT and did excellent (and with only a few hours of studying)
* We spent our first Thanksgiving together and with all our family and then did early morning black friday shopping
* We recreated our first date
* We finished fall semester. Brandon with a 4.0 and me with a better gpa than when we were dating :)
* We spent our first Christmas together with both our families
* We started another semester- Brandon's last as an undergrad and my first semester in the Eled program- i had art, dance, drama, and music classes
* We celebrated our 6 month anniversary on Valentines day :)
* Brandon turned the big 23!
* After a long couple of months we finished the semster. I got the highest gpa ever in my college years and Brandon got his first B :( but who cares because he also graduated in Actuarial Science Magna Cum Laude !!!
* Brandon also got accepted to the BYU Law school with a full-tuition scholarship!!! and will be starting in a week!
* After some stress and worry he found a job in South Jordan as a Data Analyst
* I took spring classes- dumb idea
* Brandon got a new calling as the Sunday School President.
* We went on three trips during the summer :camping at Cherry Hills with Brandon's extended fam;
we went on a roadtrip to California and went to a taping of The Price i$ Right; and then a week up in Park City with my family.
* I turned 21 and became legal- finally
* We recently signed on a new apartment and will be moving shortly

* and now Here we are, 1 year later!!

Of course, through out the year we went on our weekly dates, spent alot of time with our family, locked ourself our of the apartment, had to jumpstart our car a few times, and experience some new things. We've laughed, cried, stressed, played, worked, etc. We experienced snow, rain, thunderstorms, sunsets, sledding, swimming, and much more. It's been a great year!

Happy anniversary!! Love You!

Tribute to Christy (Part V)

Happy Anniversary to Christy and me! And it will be happy indeed. As my final tribute, I saved the best for last. These are the two qualities that I brainstormed that would be at the top of my list (although I'm sure I left some important qualities out of my brainstorm). Ready for this?

Anyone who really knows Christy knows how easy-going she is. She has ideas and opinions, but is always quick to compromise and/or to change plans entirely. It's so easy to live with her because she can just go with the flow of life and enjoy it. As a running joke in our family of two, Christy will often ask me, "What's the plan, Bran?" And while I may get irritated occasionally because I'm terrible at planning, the truth is that I like that she is so willing to roll with the punches and be spontaneous.

Related to that, I love Christy's attitude towards life. Life is fun with her around. She is quick to laugh and to just enjoy life. Even when stress is all around her, I can still make her laugh. It's in her nature and it lifts the spirits of those around her - especially me. Not a day goes by that we don't share a laugh or ten. I inherited my dad's sense of humor (meaning that I often tell jokes that I find funnier than anyone else does) and yet Christy always brings a smile to my face by laughing with me (or at least at me) when I tell a lame joke.

It's been a great year and I couldn't be happier to have the opportunity to spend so many more with the sweetest girl I've ever met. I love you Christy! Happy first anniversary.

Tribute to Christy (Part IV)

So I made a list earlier this week of things about Christy that I really love and needless to say, I have far more things on the list than I have days left to write about them (at least as part of this 5 day tribute). So, I'm going to quickly cover two things today (quickly because work is a bit busier today than usual).

The first is a bit silly and is not one of those qualities that everyone looks for in a spouse (you know the ones), but I love that Christy likes to play games: card games, board games, stupid internet games, etc. We've had a lot of fun playing games over the last year with friends and family - but mostly just between us. We both enjoy finding new (good) games, so if you know of any be sure to pass them on!

The second thing is something that you would find on the "ideal spouse" list. Christy is level-headed and very slow to anger. I had always thought of myself as being pretty calm and level-headed, but Christy has me beat by a landslide. I can't think of a single time that Christy has gotten truly angry (and if it has happened, it obviously wasn't very memorable). That's quite a feat when you are living with someone as quirky as I can be. And level-headed doesn't just apply to being angry. I love that even in crazy stressful situations, Christy can be reasonable and handle whatever comes her way. She truly is remarkable!

Tribute to Christy (Part III)

Last night, Christy was feeling "sick" (that's the best I can come up to describe the pains she was having). I tried my best to help and comfort, but I felt pretty useless (other than to giver her a Priesthood blessing). Anyway, the only other good thing that came from my concern was my idea for today's post.

I don't get sick very often (and when I do, I bring it on myself usually). But since I've known Christy, I've been "sick" twice and Christy (my personal CNA) has been there blessing me with her compassion.

Almost a year and a half ago, I got pretty sick from eating a frozen pizza that had expired 4 months previously (yeah, I'm an idiot). Christy and I hadn't been together a terribly long time, but she went out of her way to be there for me even though I had been stupid and brought it on myself. In fact, she was more concerned about me than I was (in particular trying to get me to not be stubborn and see a doctor). I got better after a few days and will always be grateful for her kind text messages and personal attention in my time of need.

Just a month or so ago, Christy and I were spending the night at my parents' house. We had recently become addicted to Mushroom Farm Revolution (a tower defense game we found on addictinggames.com). We stayed up late playing the game and by the time we went to sleep, I had a headache from staring at the computer screen too long (once again, I brought it upon myself). I woke up at 3:00 A.M. with one of the worst headaches I've ever had. My attempts to get rid of it with sleep, pills, and an ice pack proved futile. I tried not to wake Christy up, but even that didn't work. I'm sure she was exhausted, but she took such good care of me. I got a blessing from my dad and eventually fell asleep. But what touched me the most was when I found out that Christy had stayed up worrying about me for a whole hour after I had fallen back asleep.

So, are you convinced yet that I have the best wife ever? I know I am!

Tribute to Christy (Part II)

One of the things I love so much about Christy is her dedication to family.

When I was first dating Christy, one of the things that stood out most to me at the time was how connected she was to her family. I used to tease her for how often she made it home to Salt Lake - especially because it wasn't homesickness that drove her to do it. And at the time, I wasn't sure how I felt about it because it seemed so foreign to me (not that I didn't love my family... I just had other things I could be doing).

I'm not quite sure what changed my perspective, but as I started to spend more time with both of our families I realized I was seeing things more as she must have seen them. And I now truly love being with family - just as Christy always has. Give both of us an open weekend and that's probably where we'll be. Sappy or not, that's just the way it is.

I guess you could consider this a dual tribute: to Christy's dedication to what really matters in life and to how she opened my eyes to it. And the best part about Christy's dedication to her family is that I'm now a part of it :)

Tribute to Christy (Part I)

As of this Friday, Christy and I will have been married for a whole year. It's been a great year too with Christy getting into the El Ed program at BYU, me getting into law school, and both of us being happy in our new life together. And so to commemorate our anniversary, I thought I'd start a tribute series through Friday: a daily post highlighting some of the qualities that I love most about Christy.

The first thing that comes to mind is how amazingly supportive Christy is. I can be a bit odd in my habits, interests, desires, etc. (and odd is probably putting it nicely), but I can't think of one time I haven't felt like Christy was behind me all the way. And what surprises me more is that sometimes she even enjoys whatever it is I put her through. Let me illustrate:

Exhibit A: I have always had a small passion for personal finance and my desire to explore the system had created a complex, but effective (at least I think) system - that I brought into the marriage. I can't say Christy hasn't made fun of me for it, but she has never nagged me to clean it up and simplify. She accepts it because she knows it's part of who I am and that it makes me happy. And I don't know many people who would be willing to deal with having 2 checking accounts, 7 savings accounts, and 3 credit cards spread across 5 institutions. What a girl!

Exhibit B: I don't have to look farther back than last Thursday to get a perfect example of this. Christy had willingly accompanied me to a going away party for one of my friends, Dave Pruitt. We had been there for a while when I got a phone call from my best friend, Robert Bucker, letting me know he was going to the Nickelcade with some of his family members. I had dismissed the idea, not wanting to subject Christy to hours of boys and their video games. But Christy saw the light in my eyes when I first got the phone call and she encouraged the idea. We went and the crowning part of the evening was that Christy played Ninja Turtles (the whole game, mind you) with Robert, Rich, and I. And she liked it (somehow).

Exhibit C: Law school. Enough said.

And the list could go on and on. Not only is Christy incredibly supportive, but look at what she has to put up with. I love you Christy!

Stress Free!

After a month of diligent searching we signed an application for a new apartment. Yay!! We can move in anytime. AND it is closer to the law school, the big reason we wanted to move. AND it is bigger AND I don't have to stress and worry anymore :) ok well maybe stress a little about the actual moving process, but it is so worth it, I am just super excited!!!