Beautiful Day

Its a lovely winter morning here in Modesto, CA. I slept in till 7:20 ( That's me...I like to sleep till the latest possible time without being late for work of course). When I went outside it was a beautiful day. You know sun shining, not a cloud in the sky, birds chirping kind of morning. It is currently around 50-55 degrees. I love it. December 23rd=55 degrees? Only in California. Sorry Utah, I don't miss you making me freeze my butt off (Okay well sometimes I miss it a little, but not this morning!).
I'm just happy this morning, even though I am at work right now. I have my carmel apple cider from Starbucks that a nice coworker bought me on his way to work. Also tomorrow is only a half day. Plus I will probably get my check early today. So what could be better really? I can't think of anything can you?

Why I love the people in my life

I have an awesome family and I think I have realized it more since being away from (most of) them for two years. And of course I really miss the people I am away from now, like my sister Nichole and her family. Lately, I have realized just how lucky I am to have wonderful people in my life, whether near or far away. Let me recap the last week and a half or so and tell you why I love my family:

A few weekends go, the 11-13 was filled with time with my mom, step-dad and little sister.

1) Saturday morning Chad and I drove to the Oakland temple with my mom and Stepdad. It is so nice having the gospel in common with them. We talked on the way there and listened to some church music to get in the peaceful mood of the temple. I love going to the temple. It's the one place on the earth that you can experience a little piece of heaven. It is quiet and filled with the spirit. It only makes it more special when we get to share the experienc with the family we love so much. So thanks to mom and Tracy for going with us.

2) When we got home, my mom and I started on sewing some new pants for me. We bought fabric probably over a month ago and just had time to start using it! My mom is a very talented seamstress and it is so fun learing how to sew from her. Thanks mom!

3) On that Saturday night my little sister came over to hang out with Chad and I for a few hours while my mom and stepdad went dancing. We made grilled cheese and cookies and watched her silly pre-teen shows, I think it was called I Carly, or something along those lines. It was silly but cute. Mostly I just love knowing that my little sister is still just that. She isn't quite in her teens yet and while she is starting to mature physicaly and mentally she is still young and innocent. I love that best about her. She is also jsut fun to be around. We had fun together as sisters.

4) That same night another family member came to the rescue and again made me realize just how awesome my family is. My dad has been letting us use his Jeep Wrangler until we can afford to buy a second car. Well the started died on Friday the 11th after my brother took it to our cabin. We were broke (whats new?) and so my dad paid for the part. I love him! And not just because he will pay for car parts but more becuase he has taught me growing up that you always help your family if you can and do it without complaining because they are family. He is a constant reminder of how to do it right. Thanks dad!

5) And I can't forget to mention that my wonderful husband spent that same Saturday night installing our new starter. I love that he is so good with cars and fixing things around the house. It makes my life a lot easier and less stressful. Thanks babe. l

6) Also recently my brother Cody took me and Chad out to eat. He offered to foot the bill. How nice is he? I have been so happy to be able to spend more time with my brother since we moved back.

7) Just a few days ago my mom posted a really nice blog about me. It almost brought me to tears it was so nice. Check it out here. Love you mom.

8) Lastly a shout out to my sister in Lehi, UT. She is always so good about keeping her blog updated so that I can see picture of the most adorable niece on the planet. I pretty much tear up whenever I think about her and when I think about the fact that I am missing so much in her little life. But the pictures do help. My sister is also so good about calling me. We talk every week, sometimes more than once.

I think so. So Nichole, Chase and Brielle: I love you and miss you every day. Thanks for being the best sister, brother-in-law and niece I could hope for (even when you are in Utah).

I think that just about covers it. I have a really good family and it is so nice to be near them again. I used to never want to live in Modesto, especially when I left for college. But now that I am back I don't want to leave. Life is good, thanks to my family.

Of course I have a wondrful second family, the Bringhursts, who should also be mentioned. But that will be in another post, another time. Just didn't want them to feel left out :-)

Happy Weekend

It was a happy weekend. The first picture is actually from two weekends ago but it was a happy weekend too so I figured I would include it in this post. We went to Oakland to go to the temple. A friend of ours was going through the temple for the first time so we went to go through with her. We actually missed the session they were on because we got told the wrong time, but it all ended up ok. My mom and stepdad went with us. I always love going to the temple with them. It is always a good experience.


Reasons why I was happy this weekend...

Friday was just a good day. Just one of those days I was really happy to begin with and it just got better and better. First, Chad and I both got really good Christmas bonuses on Friday.
Then I come home and find my wonderful husband cleaning our dirty kitchen. It was spotless when he was done. That made me almost as happy as the bonus..almost. But it really does make a wife happy to have a clean kitchen and to not have had to clean it!

That is clean...

Then we went to a nativity play that my Mom's ward put on. We went becuause my little sister Ariana was Mary. They did a really good job. It was cute.

Then after the nativity we went Christmas shopping! We also bought some clothes with our bonus. I know its Christmas, but we're both so picky about clothes that we don't really try to pick out clothes as Christmas' presents.

Then Saturday morning we got up bright and early and drove to Fresno for this lovely couples wedding. Jessica is Chad's cousin and this is her now husband Steve.

I love seeing just (as in 5 minutes ago) married couples. I don't think you ever look happier in your life than the moment you come out of the temple. I just love the pure joy. It's fun to be there and experience it with them. The sealing ceremony was just beautiful.

Us after the sealing.

Chad's sister Emily was a bridesmaid. Aren't the dresses cute? She got them from J-Crew!

The reception was at a building in Fresno. It was really beautiful. The room had recently been remodled and this was only the second event that had been held there. They had a live band too...you can kinda see in the stage in the picture below. It was really fun having the live music.

Jake being silly...they had these bells on the table that you ring to get the bride and groom to kiss. Jake used them as earings.

Cutting the cake...

Group picture. We were so glad all of us could go.

Hopefully I will have a happy few days before Christmas in addition to an awesome weekend. So far my Monday is going good. Plus we only have 3 workdays so I really don't see how this week could be bad (knock on wood). Hopefully I'll post again before Christmas but if not I hope everyone has a Merry Christmas!

Don't waste your life being angry

(If you are reading this post, then you are probably not the person in question becuase I am 99.9% sure that this person will never read this.)
Do you ever just get tired of someone's crap? Just tired of dealing with someone day in and day out that you DO NOT LIKE? Tired to the point that if you never saw or talked with that person again you would be completely fine with that? Tired becuase you don't know what to say to them anymore to make them happy and make them stop finding things to get angry at you about? Have you ever been tired and at your breaking point? Well I am. I am so so tired of walking on eggshells. And most of all I am tired of anger.
I feel bad for people who have to get angry about everything and yell before asking any questions or finding out what really happened. I pity people who have no patience and treat people like dirt. It makes me sad to know that there are people in this world who think that doing a few nice things makes up for a life of arrogance, rudness and anger. I will never understand why some people act the way they act and do the things they do. Sometimes the only way I get through my day when I have to be around these kind of people is to think, "I have a good life and this is only a moment in it. It won't last very long and I don't have to let this person affect the way I live my life or affect the way I treat people." Sometimes it feels like I will explode if I can't tell them what I think of them and how I think the way they treat others is completely not ok. But I know it won't do any good and it will only make matters worse.
I know this post is a little cryptic but I wanted to vent without hurting others, so it has to be cryptic. What I am getting at is, don't waste your life being angry. I am in no way perfect, but I try. I might get mad at things that don't matter, things that I could have brushed off and ignored, but I TRY not to. I want to say sorry to anyone I might have gotten unnecessarily angry at. Especially my husband. Unfortunately, he has to deal with m yunwarranted dirty looks more often than he should. I know there are a lot of times that I could be patient instead of annoyed. I need to try better. I will be better.
Oh and I would just like to say that I understand that there was only one person living on this earth that was perfect and that was Jesus Christ. So I don't expect anyone to be perfect (I'm not a hypocrite), but I do expect everyone to at least TRY. I for one try every day to live like He did and to make decisions He would approve of.
Anger really is evil. It can and should be avoided and our world would be a much better place without it. I for one look forward to the day when I can be perfect and will never lose my temper. It WILL happen one day. I just hope that the person who inspired this post will realize someday that there is a right and a wrong way to treat people and we will all have to answer for our mistakes and our bad judgement someday. And when that day comes, I hope that I can say that I always tried my best to not get angry and love everyone even when they made me mad.
Now I'm done venting. Sorry. I know that was intense for a Tuesday morning...now I can go on being happy that I got that off my chest!

Backwards December

Remember when I said this: Compare:

Utah Winter= snow, ice, sleet, black ice, freezing temperatures, falling on the ice, more snow, white. Modesto winters= fog, cold, maybe some frost in the wee hours of the morning, dry land, no snow. Conclusion? I love the fog and I love California winters. I would take driving in fog over fallin on black ice any day.

I DARE you to disagree with me.

Well today it snowed in Modesto. Yeah, snow. Okay so it didn't stick and it only lasted a little while. But still SNOW in Modesto. That really only happens every few years. It felt like I was living in Salt Lake again. It was kinda nice though. I do miss the snow sometimes. But I have my fix for a while and I am certainly glad I won't be chipping ice off of my windshield in the morning.

On another note, it's hard to believe Christmas is only a few weeks away. These last two months have seemed like days. I am getting more and more in the Christmas spirit. We have been listening to the same 4 christmas CD's at work and if I have to listen to the Elvis Presley christmas CD or "all I want for Christmas is my two front teeth" one more time I will scream! So I went out and bought some new christmas music that I enjoy. Josh Groban's Noel CD and Sugarland's christmas CD. I am very excited to listen to them tomorrow!

We also put up our Christmas decor this weekend and that always helps to get me in the Christmas mood! We really couldn't afford a tree this year so we borrowed a fake tree from Chad's parents. I was sad at first because I really do love going to pick out a tree and having the fresh tree smell but on the up side, no pine needles and it won't die before Christmas.

I also wanted to post a really good meal I made this weekend. I can't say it was my idea. I went to this sandwich shop downtown and got this really good panini. Then I remember that I had a panani set! We got it as a Wedding gift over two years ago and it was still in its box! It's really nice and I feel stupid for not using it before.

I call it a Grilled Chicken Pesto Panini. Basically I bought some yummy bread and sliced it thin then put (store bought) pesto on the bread and put some grilled chicken, avacado, red onion and pepper jack cheese. Then put the other piece of bread on and then grilled them in the panini pan.

And Voila!

They were soooo good! Seriously try them.

What's been up with Chad lately? Well for one...can I just say he is an awesome husband and I love him more every day. He's so good about things like this:

But then he is also amazing at things like carpentry...you know manly men stuff...
Didn't it turn out awesome? He really is talented.

And lastly, Oliver.
Is exaclty the same as my last post. He still likes to cuddle and find small places on the couch to sleep like the above picture.
Happy Holidays and hope your December is going well!

Beading adventures...

So I posted a little while ago about the watch I made. I really loved it so I kept going and bought a bunch of beading stuff. My sister-in-law and mother-in-law have taught me how to do a lot and then I just picked up on some stuff too. I have been making earing for Christmas presents.

A wrap around bracelet I made...I guess you could also use it as a neclace.

This is something I just finished last night. It's kind of a charm bracelet. I love how it turned out. It was really pretty easy too.

So of course I like the things I make but I want other opinions too. What do you think?

Lately

This is what's been going on with the Bringhursts lately...

1) New Haircut- Do you like? I like it. It's not so much the haircut that new, more the hair color. Scroll down to see my old hair color in the footbal picture. I love love love my hair dark and will definitely be keeping it for as long as my budget can afford it.

2) New Shoes- I got these shoes, along with two other pairs from Payless for $20. Combined they were all 20. Steal. Payless is definitely starting to carry better looking shoes and the quality is improving too. Go payless!

3) This was one of Jake's (Chad's brother who is a freshman in high school) last football games. I was finally able to get off work early to go and then at the end of the first quarter Jake got hit really hard and was taken out of the game. So the one game I went to all season I didn't even get to see Jake play. And by the way I don't really like football...so it's a big deal when I go to a game. But Jake is really good at football so it's fun going to his games and hanhing with the family. Next year hopefully I will be able to go to more games.


4) The fishtank stand is almost done! It's been a long project this time due to limited time and money but Chad's almost got it done. He spent that last week working on it non-stop because he had a week off. So it's even further along than this picture shows. The Canopy (the top part) is now finished and stained. Chad just needs to put the canopy door and the bottom doors on and then its done. As you can see Chad has everything flowing and he even got a bottom feeder fish to put in it and get things going. Hopefully before too long we will have real fish to post about. Chad's such an amazing man! He is so talented when it comes to building.


5) Naps...Chad and Oliver really like to nap. This was a couple sundays ago. I just think napping pictures are fun that's why I keep posting them. Okay I'll stop. This is the last post about naps... Chad will probably be mad I posted the pic of him anyways.



6) Thanksgiving! It was a wonderful thanksgiving. We started out with breakfast at Mimi's Cafe with my dad, Micki, Cody and Uncle Dave. I didn't get pics of that! Then we went to my mom's and started preparing the thanksgiving meal. This was really the first year I helped with the whole meal. It was very fun. I made two pies the night before (also no pictures) and they turned out really good too.

6) Olivers new sweater okay I really used to make fun of little dogs wearing clothes but now I understand that becuase they are so small they really do not have a lot to keep them warm so a sweater for walks is necessary. We haven't really used it yet because it's been so warm. But i got it out to show everyone and it just happened to match Cody's shirt that day. Ha. Cody wanted a picture.

7) Thanksgiving nap. Ok I lied. THis is the last nap picture i will post. I just think sleeping pictures are funny. Ariana (my little sister) actually snapped this one.

8) Oliver is almost full grown now. He might gain another pound or two but not much more than that. He weighs in at 10 pounds now. When we got him he was like 4 pounds. He is also almost 6 months old now too. This is Oliver posing after his full belly on Thanksgiving. Yes he ate some turkey like the rest of us. I couldn't deny him the goodness. We really don't give him people food very often so I thought 'why not?' He loved it to say the least. Especially the mashed potatoes. I usually call Oliver my vegetarian dog. He LOVES all fruit and veggies. Especially apples. We will often share an apple.

9) Oh and lastly Chad has a new job! He is working for a pool company doing maintenance. He just started yesterday but is already loving it. A week off of work was driving Chad crazy so we were so grateful when he got this job. It's Bobby's brother who manages the company (Bobby is Chad's brother in law). We have really always been so blessed finding jobs. We know a big part of that is paying our tithing. We are always good about paying our tithing to the church and have always been blessed with financial and job security in return.

That's all we have been up to lately!

What I love about Sundays

Ok. So this post was supposed to be about a week after Halloween...yeah like a month ago. Woops. I thought I set it to automatically post on Sunday (because of the title) but it didn't and I now just noticed it. But I still wanted to post it, so I am doing it on a wednesday and a month later. Oh well.

I love getting up early to go to church (yes I said early...9 am church is nice because then you still have the rest of the day). I love being at church. It's just something I look forward to during the week. We get to look our best and go to church and worship with our ward families. I especially love fast sunday (this means that the whole church fasts for the first two meals on Sunday. It also means the first hour of church we have a testimony meeting where we can go to the pulpit and tell everyone how we feel about our Savior and our Heavenly Father and about the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. It is always refreshing to hear other's ideas and feelings. It helps to reinforce my own testimony.

I love coming home from church and maybe putting on some hymns while I cook or while Chad takes a nap (that's what Chad loves about Sundays...naps. Oliver loves Sunday naps as well.)

I really enjoy cooking a nice sunday meal for Chad and I. It's also fun to get together with family for Sunday meals. My mom and brother came over to our new apartment last Sunday for dinner. They were our first official guests. (My little sister was sick so she and my stepdad had to stay home. We were sad to not have them there). But I Fixed a delicious meal (I can say that because it wasn't my recipe. Thanks Emily!) of White Chicken Chili and Cornbread. I am going to post the two recipes later because they have fast become one of our favorite meals, especially now that it's getting cold.

I also love that my Sunday can help me determine how the rest of my week is going to go. If I try and have a good Sunday then I know my week will turn out better. Sunday just helps set the stage for a good week. (Although I don't like that Sunday is the last day to my weekend and when it's over it means I have to go back to work!)

What do you like about Sunday?

What's running through your mind on a Tuesday?

Here's whats on my mind:

1) Fog- It was so foggy this morning in Modesto, CA. It made me want to sing that song "A foggy day in London Town." Not my favorite song by any means but appropriate for the weather. I always forget about the fog until just one day it shows up and is all mysterious. Utah does not have fog. Another reason why I haven't thought about the fog for a couple years. Compare: Utah Winter= snow, ice, sleet, black ice, freezing temperatures, falling on the ice, more snow, white. Modesto winters= fog, cold, maybe some frost in the wee hours of the morning, dry land, no snow. Conclusion? I love the fog and I love California winters. I would take driving in fog over fallin on black ice any day.
I DARE you to disagree with me.

2) Last night I went to the grocery store to get Thanksgiving stuff...you do not want to traverse the grocery store on Wed-Fri, so I go on Monday. Smart, I know. Anyways, I was very pleased when all the things I need for the classic green bean casserole are all neatly placed on the end of the same aisle (I seriously had to just look up how to spell this word). It literally cut 3 minutes off of my shopping trip and we all know time is money. So money in my pocket. Thanks Savemart.

3) This just in...the critics were WRONG! New Moon was awesome, so much better than I hoped it would be. Jacob rocked (no not because he is buff, well not only. He was also just a suprisingly good actor.) He and bella had GREAT chemistry. Their chemistry knocked movie Edward and Bella's chemistry out of the park. Note: Book Edward and Bella still have better chemistry than anyone. Wanted to make that clear. For a very witty and funny review go to this post by Busy Bee Lauren.

4) Check out the above mentioned blog. There is a button on my page for her blog. She is witty, funny, really entertaining. I love her recaps on the Vampire Diares series. They are just too much! Also check out Confessions of a Mormon Bachelor Pad. The link will take you to their experience watching New Moon. The part about the last line of the movie almost made me pee my pants. Sooo funny! Anways I follow both of these blogs and they always make my days a little brighter.

5) Christmas music before Thanksgiving = NOT OK At this very moment I am being forced to listen to a Christmas CD at work and I am not a happy camper. Enough said. (By the way I do love Christmas but I just can't take more than 4 weeks of Christmas music, thus the no Christmas music before Thanksgiving rule). Stick to the rule!

6) "One Time" Justin Bieber Remix is my guilty pleasure. If you haven't heard it, you should. The remix is better than the original though. Honestly I turn it up way loud when I hear it in the car, like this morning on my way to work. This kid is like 15 or 16 but sounds 10. Definitely hasn't hit puberty. But there is something about his voice that justs pulls me in. I give you permission to make fun of me, but even if you do I'll still turn it up loud when I hear the song.

7) I really really like the TV show Glee. More like really love. It's original and the music on Glee can't be beat. As I am typing this I am also informing my husband that I want Glee Soundtracks Volume 1 and 2 for Christmas. Watch Glee, give it a chance, you won't be disappointed.

Ok I'm done now. I'm glad I got all those thoughts out of my head on this Tuesday morning. What are you thinking about this morning?

(Oh and Please comment on the Book blog I did before this one. I need as many suggestions as possible. Thanks!!)

Reading Rut

I need some help. I am in a reading rut! I tend to just read my favorite books over and over and don't ever branch out into anything new. Last night I started reading Twilight again. The movie totally made me want to read them over and its been about a year since I read them last so I decided to start them over. And I am not the kind of person that likes to start a series in the middle so I started with Twilight even though New Moon is fresh in my head.


So I imagine that those will take me a few weeks to finish and I want to read something NEW when I am done with those. Not new in the sense that the book just came out but new as in I've never read it before. So please, please comment on this blog and leave me some book suggestions. I am into really any kinds of books. I do have one that I want to read called Mortal Instruments by Cassandra Clare. I'm pretty sure that is also a series (not sure how many books thought, at least 2). That book is literally the only one on my list of books to read after the Twlight series. So give me suggestions.

I hate being in this reading rut. I am normally the kind of person who always has a book in her hand but lately I haven't and I want to be that book nerd again. I LOVE reading and I really love reading a new book and loving it so much that I want to permanently add it to my book collection. And there are so many books out there that I haven't read yet and I am never sure how to find those good books. So kindly leave your book suggestion and I will forever be indebted to you. Thanks!

What do critics know anyway?

Do critics ever give a good review? Okay, maybe they like movies in other languages or movies that only hit the film festivles, but do they EVER like main stream movies? It seems like the only movies that ever get good reviews from film critics are rated R movies full of sex, drugs and swearing or weird movies that no one would watch on a regular day. Film critics wouldn't know a good movie if it hit them in the face! It's in their job description...no wait it's in their title!...to be CRITICAL. get it critic...critical. So they will always be critical. It's like even if they saw a movie and thought "this was the best movie ever" they have to write "it was ok."
Okay so you might be thinking to yourself, "what has spurred this sudden anger all of the sudden?" New Moon. Yep. I haven't even seen it yet, but I know it will be good. Twilight wasn't all I wished it would be but it was still good. So I am counting on New Moon to be better and I think it will. Just from the previews it looks better than Twilight. And it can't hurt that there's a new director right? Even if its not that great, I won't care. The Twilight books are great and that's why I'm seeing the movie. Even if the movie isn't what I pictured in my head its still fun to see someone else's interpretation. So I don't care that only 30% of critics on rotten tomato liked New Moon. What do they know? Have they even read the books? Probably not.
That is the LAST time I look at reviews BEFORE i go see a movie. Bright Side? I'm so mad at the critics for not liking New Moon that there is probably a very slim chance that I myself won't like it. I am so excited I can hardly contain myself! Only 2 more hours till I get off work (yes I'm being bad and taking a short 5 minute, much needed break to rant on my blog during work) and then two more to wait in the line to get a good seat (hopefully). California really needs to invest in assigned seating theaters like Salt Lake has. I miss them.
Moral of my rant? Critics suck and New Moon doesn't! (Well I think it doesn't but I'll let you know for sure later. Here's to hoping it doesn't).

Happy Birthday to my man!

Chad turns 24 today! He is almost a quarter century old! Chad is such a wonderful husband and friend to me. He is loving and hardworking. Funny...ok silly. Did I mention he is silly? I think so. But I love him becuase of his silliness...it keeeps me grounded. I am so proud of the person he is and he only gets better with age (you know...like cheese...I don't want this to be so mushy so I must lighten the mood with jokes) But in all seriousness I just want Chad to know that he is the best husband I could have asked for! I want to wish him a very Happy Birthday! I hope you do too.

Friday is swell

Don't you get excited on Thursday night because you know the next day is Friday? (I also get excited on Thursday because of Survivor, Grey's Anatomy and Vampire Diaries...on not to mention the Office. Too much goodness in one night.) Anyways, back to Friday.

Oh yes Friday...how I love you. The sun was shinging this morning like it knew it was friday too. "It's Friday so I better make it warm and sunny."- The Sun. The birds knew it was Friday too. I could tell from their chirping that they were extra happy this morning.

My morning yogurt...that I usually eat because there's nothing easier than grabbing a yogurt out of the fridge on my way to work...even tasted better because it was Friday.

Oh and every person in my office was happier than nomal today. I'm attributing this not-so-normal happiness to it being Friday. I know I was more willing to smile and make small talk because it is Friday!

So I think you get my drift. Friday is a good day. Friday is swell. Yes, I said swell. And I know you agree with me. I would like to meet the person that doesn't think Friday is swell.

Getting back to normal

We are settling nicely into our new apartment. We absolutely love it! We have almost everything put away now so I figured I would post pictures of each room as we get them organized and get everything hung, etc. We pretty much have the living room done.

I'm including this becuase for some reason when I organize a house or clean I suddenly feel all domestic and want to bake bread and cookies and fix new meals for us. Or maybe I was just so excited to have our own place that I overcompensated a little. You know, organized our house in a week and also wanted to bake cookies and have people over for dinner, etc. Can you tell I am really happy to have our own place again?

And since I took this photo we actually put the black bookshelve on the opposite side of the living room and the Fish tank is now where the shelve used to be. I will post pics of the fish tank stand soon. The stand is almose done, just needs doors and Chad still has to do the canopy as well.

Other things are getting back to normal as well...like Chad and Oliver laying on the couch a lot more. In the last couple weeks we've had hardly any down time, but now we have a little more. How do Chad and Oliver choose to spend their time? Laying...ok sleeping...at least Oliver is sleeping...on our really comfy couches. Trying to keeop their eyes open...

Eyelids getting heavier.

Chad succeeded to stay awake...Oliver did not.

Like I said...Life is back to normal! And I for one couldn't be happier.