The Brandon's

To 3 Years! Wilmington, NC

2011-05-17T16:46:00.000-07:00

We just recently got back from visiting the East Coast so I have not found time to update on what we have been up to for the past month until now! So, here I am finally updating! May 10th, 2011 was our 3 year Anniversary! Yay to 3 years of complete bliss! We decided to celebrate our anniversary a weekend early due to being in Georgia visiting friends and family and of course, my Georgia baby shower was the weekend of our anniversary. SO, we took a trip up to Wilmington, NC to spend our anniversary weekend.

As most of you know, Dustin and I absolutely love the show One Tree Hill. It is basically one of our top most favorite shows and one of our favorite things to do is well, watch One Tree Hill together. I know, we are kind of pathetic, but hey at least we both love it! So, Wilmington, NC is only 6 hours from my home in Georgia so we drove up for set tour they do on weekends and to visit all the different filming locations of the show. It was SO fun and we both absolutely loved doing something so different yet so exciting! (For us, at least)! If any of you reading my blog and don't watch one tree hill, the pics are meaningless to you, but if you do! Here are some shots of the locations we got! And unfortunately we did not get to take any pictures of the set tour due to it still being filmed and copyrights, etc.

Brooke's House!

The Famous "River Court"!

"Tric"!

Can't forget Dan Scott's house, and the basketball hoop u can see through there is the same one they used in the show!

Lucas' House!

"The Bridge" in the opening credits!

Clothes Over Bros and Karen's Cafe! This is where they actually filmed the shop, but all the windows were covered with paper so we couldn't see inside!

Peyton's House!

Haley's House! (in High school)

The "Riverfront" Where they do lots of different scenes!

We definitely had many more silly pictures, but these were most definitely my favorites! We would totally do this all over again. Call us crazy, but we loved this little trip and had SO much fun. I am so glad we were able to do something unique and different before baby comes along! It was a blast and was a very Happy Anniversary for the two of us! <3

[Update]

2011-04-11T16:53:00.001-07:00

So, it's been a little while since I have updated this blog so i figured i better!

Things have been going pretty well. Dustin and I spent the weekend sick so that is never any good. He was sick with the stomach bug all weekend, and I just had a cough so I wasn't quite as sick as he was. Let's cross our fingers that I don't catch it! I am just glad we are feeling fine and well as of today. We will see what happens in the next few days!

We both can't wait that the school year is coming to an end. We are both so anxious to be done and focus on our time together without having school to worry about. Also, so we can really focus on getting this ready for our new little man that'll be here right as school starts! Some updates on our upcoming school: Dustin found out he will be graduating in 1 year from now instead of 1 1/2 years! We were so excited to come to this realization. However, it does mean that Dustin will be doing Summer school. But hey, at least he will be done shortly! Me: I GOT INTO MY PROGRAM! Yes, and I am so excited to say the least! I wasn't too worried, but to know that I don't have to worry about where my education could go was quite the relief. I start in the Fall, and yes, I am aware that this is the same time my baby is due--but we will see how it all pans out. I am shooting to keep it up, but if all else fails I will have to defer to the spring. I am optimistic that it is going to work out however. The nice thing is I am only gone 3 hours a day

and I think that is manageable; But hey..ask me again in October:) The biggest factor will be when little baby brandon decides to entire this world. My first day of class is Aug 29th and my due date is well, Aug 29th...so it will be a mystery as to how it will all pan out. We are interested to see when he decides to come!

Baby Update: Doing well. We have spent more visits in the Dr. office than we would like but everything seems to be going well. Baby's Heartbeat was 153 today, and measuring right where he should be at 20 weeks! The past couple times I have been in my blood pressure has been a little high so the Dr. is having me come in more frequent to see that we get that under control. So far, it's nothing serious but we will keep everyone posted! We are very thrilled to be half way there!

Well, our 3 year anniversary is in less than a month and we are so excited. We will be going to Georgia as soon as school gets out for 2 weeks and we can't wait. My Dad's condition is worsening so we want to get out there and see him as much as possible. We figured it would be best to get out there earlier in my pregnancy rather than later. We plan on spending the first weekend we are there at the beach for our 3rd year anniversary and can't wait for our little getaway to NC and then to SC to see Alisha and finally back to Ga to spend the remainder of our time! It is our last anniversary just the two of us so we wanted to make it special! We are excited for the upcoming Summer events and can't wait to get things rolling!!

The verdict is........

2011-03-12T16:21:00.000-08:00

It's A BOY!!!!!!

That's right everyone! We are having a little baby boy and we could not be any more excited!!!

Dustin knew the whole time it was a Boy and I had a feeling it was a boy too and it looks like we were both right! We had the joy of being able to find out about a month early and there was definitely no mistaking it was a boy!!

[[Here is the evidence]]!

ps--if you want more detailed updates of the pregnancy check out:

Baby Brandon Blog!

Baby Time!

2011-02-26T20:11:00.000-08:00

Ok, so I am sure most of you who read this already know I am pregnant, but I couldn't forget to add this to my blog! Yep, It's true. We are having a baby!! At this point we are 14 weeks, and are ecstatic to find out the sex!! I really have not a single clue as to whether it will be a boy or a girl, so we are just anxious to finally find out!!

I have actually been feeling great. Granted I am now entering my 2nd trimester and most people start feeling great right about now, but I actually have not been sick one time throughout the entire pregnancy thus far. I don't want to jinx it by any means, but I am just being honest. During the first 6-8 weeks I had little to NO appetite. Felt sick occasionally, but my biggest complaint was my lack of wanting to eat. Well, that is no more. My appetite has come back with a vengeance. However, I have now encountered lots and lots of horribly annoying headaches. That is probably my biggest complaint currently. I do feel quite lucky and am grateful for this pregnancy thus far.

We are so excited to add another member to this family and can't wait for all the adventures that are right ahead of us! We are due August 29th an

d can't wait for that day to come! (Or somewhere around there)!

Here's a pic of my very first ultrasound when the baby was 10 weeks and 1 day!:)

Christmas and other end of the year Festivities!

2011-01-28T12:53:00.000-08:00

So, this year we were able to spend Christmas in Georgia with my wonderfully amazing Dad! It was a great time. We were there about two weeks and it was so good to be able to just relax, hang with family, and see old friends. We were so busy with all the people we wanted to see there were still so many things we wanted to do but did not get a chance. Ah well. Such is life, right? Well the first week we were there pretty much consisted of nothing but SHOPPING!! Yes, we procrastinated our christmas shopping so we didn't have to travel with so many gifts! But we did get to enjoy the Mall of GA once again and I definitely loved every minute of it! :)

Christmas eve we all enjoyed decorating gingerbread houses and decided it has become the newest tradition of our family. Dustin and I by far was the best.... in our opinion of course! But we had tons of fun doing it!!

Christmas was loads of fun full of lots and lots of exciting surprises! I enjoyed yet another Christmas in the South. The best part was getting to have a WHITE CHRISTMAS!....in Georgia! That is not something you hear about every year. In fact, that was the first white Christmas in Georgia in almost 100 years! So, it was really cool that we were able to be there for that! It was too bad my Mama had to miss out. :(

The next week we spent a majority of our time seeing old friends. I really enjoyed seeing all my good ole' Georgia friends. It had been almost 2 years since I had seen most of them so it was nice! For new years we just spent it with my family. It was the night before our torturous drive so we just thought it would be best to have more family time and we enjoyed every minute of it. We played Rummy and just hung out until the peach drop! :) Can't wait to go backkk!

Thanksgiving

2010-11-30T19:50:00.000-08:00

So, I'm almost a week late, but who could forget about Thanksgiving? We had a great, relaxing Thanksgiving. We spent it yet again, in Arizona. Yeah, it definitely was not quite as cold as here in Utah but definitely not as warm as I had anticipated. It was still enjoyable though. We spent lots of time with the Family and enjoyed much relaxation, cute pups and kitty's and shopping that didn't get very far. Oh and food...lots and lots of food.

We also got to once again attend the temple lights at the Mesa Temple. Every year for the past 3 years we have had the opportunity to attend the turning on of the lights and we enjoy it more and more each year. Here are a few pictures from the showing of the lights in the past 3 years, and this year we got to see Max Hall be the special one who flipped the switch!

2010

2009

2008

I just wanted to post some of the many things I am thankful for this year.

That my Mom is still alive and enduring her (hopeful) last treatment of Chemo and healing.
That my Dad has been re-baptized and become my prime example of who I would like to be more like.
My Amazing husband and all the hard work he puts into our family.
The Gospel and all the blessings it brings into my life.
My warm, cozy apartment.
My Arizonian family and all the support and love they show me.
That my Dad is still alive and feeling more positive about a transplant.
That I get to spend Christmas with my Dad.
That I get to be in Georgia for two weeks.
That I have a job.. (even though I dislike it...alot)
My friends that have been there through thick and thin, and no matter what. *You know who you are*
My brothers and sisters who always find a way to make me laugh.
That we made it back home safely.

I could go on, but couldn't we all? Those are just some of the things I am currently and especially thankful for this year.

Halloween Update!

2010-11-09T08:05:00.000-08:00

I know I'm a little late, but better late than never, right!? This years Halloween was very fun! We had a very eventful weekend and enjoyed ever minute of it! Firstly, weekends are just naturally the best because I don't have to deal with work, and that in general makes me a VERY happy person.

Friday before Halloween we attended a Halloween party hosted by Katie and Derek. And my oh, my was that a fun party! We attended an awesome haunted corn maze which was incredibly fun! I have not been to a haunted corn maze since I was a kid! I forgot how much fun those are! After that, we went back to their place to make carmel apples and watch a movie! It was definitely a great night and we enjoyed it thoroughly and made lots of new friends which is always so fun!:) Good job, Katie and Derek for hosting an oh so fun party!

The rest of the weekend we hung out some more and played games and watched more movies! I got absolutely zero school work done and I was 100% ok with being slammed with stuff the following week. Which, i definitely was slammed with! But having a fun, relaxed weekend made is so worth it!

Schooooool the following week was as I knew it would be, crazy busy! I had so many things due all at once and I absolutely hate that! But at least when I got it all doen I got the entire next weekend to enjoy myself which I so did!:) But now, I will be even more busy from now up until next thursday. Slammed with projects, projects, and well...more projects! The joy of being an ELED major! Then, next Friday we are taking a trip down to Arizona and I honestly can not wait! Yes, I will work 3 out of the 7 days we will be there, but I will just have to get over that one!

Events of October

2010-10-26T18:26:00.001-07:00

My Birthday was the first even of October. A big thanks for my amazing husband who always always does a fantastic job of making sure I have the best birthday yet! Despite all the negative things that occurred during that time, I most definitely had a very memorable birthday and loved every minute of it. Dustin took me to the Cheesecake factory--by far, my favorite and threw me a surprise party and every person there was who I would have wanted to be there. (besides tiff of course, but that's ok-she was celebrating her annivers

ary!) I can't say I was really surprised about the party itself, I kind of saw it coming--but I was definite

ly surprised by everyone that was there to wish me a happy birthday! I thank everyone who came. I had a blast--and thank you Alisha for saving the day and helping Dustin out SO much:)

Because my long lost bestie was out celebrating her anniversary on my birthday her and her hubs made a special trip out the Monday after my Birthday. We went and grabbed some In-N-Out (my favv) And then decided to go on a... "halloween boat ride". It was fun getting to hang with Tiff and Mitch, and the boat ride, well...it was, cute. hahah. It was so good to see them though and I was grateful that they were able to make the trip down!

And well, other than all the craziness of school there hasn't been much of anything else going on. We were going to go to Freightmares at Lagoon this last Saturday but the aggrivating rain had to rain it out. However, we still went down to Salt Lake and hung out with Tiff and Mitch again--which was alot of fun as well. Gotta love football season! And this weekend we have an upcoming Halloween party! We are still trying to figure out our costumes so definitely MORE TO COME!:)

Back to the Books

2010-09-08T14:00:00.000-07:00

Well, it's already that time of year again. September! ... Which means back to the books! So, far I think I will enjoy my classes this semester. Minus the whole mess up I did to myself with one of my elective classes. I was silly and dropped it before I added a different class which resulted in my losing my spot in both classes and being short 1 credit. I was going to take a different 1 credit class, but again decided I did not like the class enough to stick it out....So, instead of being full time hours this semester it looks like my full time hours will have to be next semester and I will be short 1 credit this semester. Such is life's little mistakes that result in bigger problems.

Other than that I do enjoy all of my other classes. I think it will be a good semester if I can stay on the ball while still working 30+ hours a week.

Other than school, life has been busy busy busy! If we are not at school we are working, and if we are not working we are either studying or hanging with friends. I feel like we have not stopped since we were in Arizona. Ohh, how I miss it alread

y! We enjoyed a great labor day weekend full of friends, hiking, and marathoning our new favorite show! One Tree Hill! ...yes, we probably already have enough shows to keep up with but somehow we go

t sucked into it, and yes there are almost 8 seasons so we have lots of marathoning to do before we catch up!

Labor day we hiked Battle Creek Trail with the married couplettes and enjoyed it thoroughly....as you can s

ee I am sure! Enjoyed a movie at the end of the night, and my,

my, it was definitely a successful last holiday of the Summer season!! Here a

re some lovely pics of the enjoyment we had!

Can't forget our stop at In-N-Out!! :)

What I have been up to-

2010-07-26T17:21:00.001-07:00

Lots and lots of family events!

May: Went to Georgia for my Dad's baptism. It was a ver

y amazing day but unfortunately I was unable to capture any moments on Camera, so...just imagine. :)

June: very emotional and stressful month for the family. My Mom had her big critical surgery for her cancer. They removed 60% of her liver, and luckily the surge

ry was very successful. They got all of the cancer that was visible, and she healed much faster than any of us were expecting. Our whole family was in town to support her, and I don't think she would have healed so quickly had we all not been there. It was stresseful, and emotional, but we are all so grateful that it turned out for the better and she is now on her downward slope to remission!

July: Family back in town! Dustin's parents were in town the entire week before

my my sister's wedding, along with all of my family. It was great to see everyone. We had a really good time with Dustin's parents. We drove the Alpine loop, went to the 4th of July parade right down the road, and attended the Freedom Festival. It was our first time spending the 4th in Utah, so we definitely made the best of it! Then, we enjoyed Ashley's wedding on the 10th. It was a very beautiful wedding and we are so happy for her and Ryan!

unfortunately most of my pics are from July, not much before then. Here are some pics dustin's mom took of us and a few other random shots for the month--

Upcoming August plans--we are planning to go to Mesa for two we

eks come August first. We were lucky enough to be able to do this with

the ability to work at home...from anywhere that has a phone line and internet! SO, we are able to work, as if we were working from home...just in Mesa! And of course still enjoy the afternoons and evenings with the fam--and still get paid for it! So, it may not be vacation time much--but at least we get a break from Provo for a few weeks. We are definitely excited and look forward to this weekend! :)

Arizona Bound!!

It may not be an update, but it's a post!

2010-06-30T08:47:00.000-07:00

1. When is your "engagement" anniversary: October 20th, 2007

2. When is your "marriage" anniversary: May 10th, 2008

3. How long have you known your spouse: About 4 and a half years.

4. How long did you date/court before you were engaged: lolll, we dated a month and were engaged for a good 6 and a half months!

5. Where did you meet your spouse for the first time: We met when he was serving a Mission in the Georgia Atlanta North Mission. We met at church.

6. What is your spouse's full name: Dustin Franklin Brandon

7. Do you have any children yet: Not yet!

8. How many: Zero.

9. Do you have any house pets: Nope. :)

10. Do you own a house or rent: We're renting.

11. Do you live in the country or town/city: We live in a town.

12. What is one of your favorite activities together: Playing Tennis for sure!

13. Do you have a favorite vacation spot: Either Florida, or San Diego! :)

14. How many siblings (including in-laws): 4 on my side, and 1 on his. So, 5!

15. What church do you attend: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints

16. Is this the church you were married in: We were married in the Temple.

17. What town is your current address: Provo

18. Do you work or stay at home: I work from home.

19. Where did you honeymoon: We went on a Cruise to Cabo on our honeymoon.

20. Leave a piece of marriage advice: Always say "I love you", everyday.

Georgia on my mind.....

2010-05-26T15:14:00.000-07:00

Good news!!

Yep, finally I actually have something exciting to write about. Drum Roll.........

I am finally going to Georgia!!! But, let's not get too excited about that because that's not the best part. The best part is that I am going to Georgia for my Dad's baptism!! This is going to be a very very special weekend! Not only do I get to attend my Dad's baptism, but I also get to attend my nephew's baptism who is finally turning 8! I was fortunate enough to have some reserved money that was enough to get me a trip out there to be there for my Dad on this very special day! I really can't wait and am so so proud of him! Unfortunately, I will be going husbandless. There just wasn't enough funds for the both of us to go, and felt it was too important of a day to turn down the special opportunity. I believe it will be worth every penny even though it will be for a short time! I know Dustin would like to be there just as much and is just as proud but understands the importance that I be there. Sadly, this is the first time I will have ever been away from my hubby so that whole part will be hard! I will definitely miss that boy, but at least I won't be gone for too long!

It's going to be so good to go back home. I am really excited to just be back in Georgia, even if it's only for 3 days. I have just missed everything about it so much lately. The trees, the humidity, the bugs, the HEAT, the lake especially, and well, let's be honest--my family! (And my few Georgia friends that I still have left that are back in Georgia). We weren't sure that we were going to be able to get enough time off this Summer to make it to Georgia and Arizona, so I guess I was blessed to get the chance to go even for a short time! [Even if it's without my hubby]. Anyways, I am SO excited and had to share my excitement with all of you!! There will be pictures and stories to come!!

And yes, this leaves Georgia on my mind.... Can't wait to be back!

work at home!

2010-05-26T13:35:00.000-07:00

I just recently decided to start work at home. I am still working with Pinnacle Security, they just opened up the options for work at home and I took complete advantage of it!! Why drive to work when I can just wake up and work from home?? I thought it was a very good deal and totally went for it! This was my first day, and I must say I have thoroughly enjoyed it. Not only do I not have to ever drive there again, but I save lots of money on gas! Dustin is actually going to be starting work from home, also which will be so nice to see him more than I did at the office. However, we will be in separate rooms but at least I still get to see him on my day off and his! Pretty good deal, not gonna lie.

I have a feeling this is giong to work out! For now :)

Happy 2 Year Anniversary to my Love!

2010-05-10T12:00:00.000-07:00

Wow, I can't believe Dustin and I have been married for 2 years now! It is incredible how much time really does fly. I just wanted to take a moment and recognize Dustin, for the amazing person that he is and to let him know just how much I love and adore him.

Dear Dustin,

Thank you so much for being you. You have made these last 2 years the most amazing, unforgettable two years of my life. I can't wait for all of our amazing years to come and everything that is still in store for us. You, are the light of my life and I wouldn't trade you for the world. Don't ever forget just how much I love you. You really are the best thing that has ever happened to me, and I cherish every day that I have with you.

Happy Two Year Anniversary, Babe. Can't wait for all the anniversaries yet to come! I LOVE YOU!

Love Always,

Jessi

Ear Infection

2010-05-07T22:06:00.000-07:00

I can't remember the last time I ever had an ear infection, but I must say it is the most awkward, weird, abnormal feeling to the head and senses....ever. And I just felt the need to say something about it.

Goodnight.

[update]

2010-04-08T17:10:00.000-07:00

I have come to the conclusion that when I decided to update this I am not going to continue saying I am going to update this more often. Let's face it, it's just not going to happen. When I update, I update. Could be as often as next week, or next year. You just never know!

Well, for the Brandon's, things are going great. We are so ready for school to end, but sadly for me, it wont be over until the end of June. I am taking Spring classes, soo still busy for me. But hey, such is life! Dustin is doing great. Just continuing on with school and back at work at Pinnacle with me. We will be moving AGAIN in the next few weeks and are very sad to leave this nice place, but OH SO HAPPY to know we wont be moving again for quite some time. (hopefully until we are dooone with Utah). So, that part is very exciting! And we will be much closer to school and work. That gas money was just adding up!

Well, we don't have too much planned for the Summer. We might be able to fit in 1 vacation, but can't decide if it will be to Georgia or Arizona...Time will have to decide that. OH, and $$$. So we shall see.

Things have been going great though, and here are a few pictures to show what we have been up to since...well, January....

New Year, New Start!

2010-01-10T19:53:00.000-08:00

So, with the new year I thought a great resolution would be to start writing in my blog....not once every 6 month, and not once a year...but regularly. I plan to keep that resolution so we will see how well it goes...

I am not going to bother updating what has happened in the past several months, so I will just start from the new year. Life has been going great. Dustin and I just started school again for yet another semester. We are definitely hoping for the best. Classes are great so far. Hoping it will be a much lighter semester than the last. Last semester I was completely swamped, so I decided to go a little lighter this semester. That way I can actually work more than 10 hours a week. Yeah, that would definitely be a good thing. Dustin's last semester went really well, besides him catching the swine flu and being sick from October up until December. Somehow he still managed to pull off his whole semester with great grades minus one he had to drop. So far, so good.

The holidays were great. We spent Thanksgiving as well as Christmas and New years in Arizona with Dustin's family. It was definitely weird not seeing my family for any of those holidays but we sure did manage to have a great time. My mom is doing great with her Chemo, and my Dad is still truckin on with his illness. Somehow they both are still very strong and making it through each day. I am so grateful for them every day of my life. :)

Not too much else is going on in my life other than trying to get through school as fast as possible. Still have so far to go, but every semester I am just a little bit closer. Well that's all I really have to share for now, maybe I will remember to post when something exciting happens...that would be good.

i'm the worst blogger ever

2009-07-30T11:29:00.000-07:00

So, really. It's been forever, and I am not going to even try going back about everything that has happened in our lives since March. So, I'm just not. :)
Things have been pretty good. This Summer has flown right by. Me and Dustin have been working at Pinnacle Security. I have been working in the Customer Service dept, and Dustin has been flagging calls, and setting up accounts for new customers. It isn't exactly our "ideal" job, but it definitely pays the bills. It has also been the main cause for this Summer flying by. This Summer has been completely different than last Summer. Last Summer I swear, it felt like we had traveled around the world and back, and this Summer we have been to Georgia once, for a family reunion. That was fun. A little overwhelmingly exhausting for a one week vacation. But oh, totally worth it. We were able to go to Gulf Shores AL for the reunion which was at the beach, and we also got the chance to spend a day in Panama City Beach which is by far, my family's favorite beach! So we had a really great time. It was so so good to spend time with my parents. I just love love love them, and wish I could see them more. My Dad is seriously, the best Dad in the world! :) I just wish we could see him more. Speaking of the parents, my mom is actually doing fabulous. According to the Dr. her cancer is going away! Her cancer level in her blood has gone down from 56 to 7.8, and 2.4 or something like that is said to be the normal range. So, clearly her levels have significantly dropped--so we have ALOT of hope in the air. She gets her CT scan in mid-august, so that will tell us alot and what we have to do from there. But so far, SO GOOD. We are excited.

In about 2 weeks we get to go to Arizona for the weekend to visit our other family. The wonderful Brandon's! We are so so excited. You see, we used to see them, oh, atleast once every 2 months. But we have not seen them since February! Which has been much much too long! So we are very excited to see them. Especially now that Dustin's parents along with his sister both live in Mesa now, so we don't have to go between Las Cruces, and Mesa. SO, we are very excited to see them--especially since for once, WE DON'T HAVE TO DRIVE! It will give us TWO extra days to actually spend time with them! We are SO excited! And that will be the two summer vacations we get all sumer long. Then...SCHOOL! Which, i'm not going to lie, i am actually pretty excited for. I finally will be starting classes for my major, which is long over due. So I am ready, plus I need some time away from yelling, angry, irate customers.

Anyways, I think this is good for now. Maybe I will update again before next year.

Dustin's Birthday Surprise!

2009-03-22T18:49:00.000-07:00

Or not so much the "surprise". It appears that I am really bad at hiding things from my husband. Me, and my sister decided to throw a surprise party for Dustin about a week and a half before his birthday. Was not so sure I could keep something like that away from him for that long without giving away any hints. Well, I guess the whole fact that my phone kept getting texts and random people kept calling me it was hard for him not to have a feeling something was going on. However, he sure did go along with it pretty good. Didn't bring it up once all weekend...until he walked into the "SURPRISE!"....and his first words he uttered were "I KNEW IT!" haha. So much for the surprise! But it was a good one anyways. It turned out REALLY well, and we all had a TON of fun. My lovely little sister and friends sure decorated quite nicely...and had t he floor covered in balloons...which the boys ended up having a little too much fun with. But it all went really well and everyone had a great time. A few of Dustin's mission buddies came, along with a bunch of other friends here and there. It was such a good turn out and we were so glad that our closest friends could make it over to surprise Dustin with all this attention. (which I am sure he loved.) :) But anyways, I was just glad Dustin had a great Birthday weekend full of Dinners, fun, and surprises. I also enjoyed it seeing as this was the first surprise party I have thrown anyone and apparently the first surprise party Dustin has gotten--so it was great for the both of us and we both enjoyed every minute of it!! (we didn't get too many pictures cuz we are all so busy socializing but I managed to catch one at the end before all the late stayers took off)

Happy Birthday Dustin!

2009-03-19T20:06:00.000-07:00

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DUSTIN!!!! I love you, and am so happy I got to spend yet, another year with you! I hope it's amazing because you definitely deserve it! Thank you for everything you do for me and remember how much I love you!

I know he very rarely even checks this thing but I thought I would go ahead and give him a shout out on his special day!! :)

The Hubby Survey!

2009-02-23T20:55:00.001-08:00

1. Where did you meet your husband? I actually met him while he was serving his Mission in Georgia.

2.How long did you date? Ummm, we started dating right after his Mission and got engaged a month later---but we were engaged for a good 7 Months!

3.How long have you been married? 8 and a half months!

4. What does he do that surprises you? Puts up with me! :)

5. What is your favorite feature of his? His bigg greeeen eyes, and the fact that he always makes me laugh.

6. What is his best quality? His patience. His spirituality. The way he treats me. The list could go on.

7. Does he have a nick name for you? He calls me Babe or Honey.

8. What is his favorite food? Anything Mexcian. I will go with Chilitos enchiladas.

9. What is his favorite sport? Tennis is definitely his favorite.

10.When and where was your first kiss? Umm, September 26th, 2007---at his house. It was the moment!

11. What is your favorite thing to do as a couple? We love playing tennis together, and watching either Lost, 24, Grey's or Private Practice together. Yes, we watches those girly shows with me! :)

12. Do you have children? No, not quite yet!

13. How old is he? 22, he will be 23 in a few weeks.

14. Who said I love you first? He did.

15. His favorite music? Anything, and everything. He loves rap. But he loves Alternative rock too.

16. What do you admire most about him? The knowledge he has of the gospel. I would have never guessed he was a convert!

17. What is his favorite color? BYU Blue...as he calls it. lol

18. Will he read this? Yeah, I am sure he will.

Finally...Pictures!

2009-02-20T20:44:00.000-08:00

Here are pictures from all the events from Valentines Day all the way back to Christmas in Georgia!! I figured it was time to show off some pictures!
Happy Valentines Day!! We both had a very good Valentines Day and Dustin finally decided to get me the Notebook since it is one of my favorite movies and we have yet to watch it together, so I was really excited that we could finally watch it together! I know, cheesy! :)

And of course you can not forget the Pretty flowers Dustin surprised me with! I LOVE flowers!

We Just really love the Georgia bulldogs so we had to get a picture in our Jerseys and of course this was the big game the day before we left Georgia!

As much as we love the Georgia Bulldogs we HAD to go pay a visit to Athens and see all of our favorite spots-- and we enjoyed every minute of it! :D

Happy New Year, 2009!! Yes, we spent our first New Years together as a married couple and spent the entire evening with our family and had a blast!! And don't worry, it's just sparkling cider! :)

Merry Christmas!! This is us, and my Dad and step Mom. Unfortunately we didn't get any pictures of us with my Mama. :( But had an AMAZING Christmas with all my many family members!
And of course this is just US doing the traditional Christmas tree picture before we open the gifts!

Anyways, that is about it for my pictures--and I thought I would share since it has been so long since i have updated with anything!! And now, I am going to try to continue updating frequently. We will see how far that goes!

It's been far too long..

2009-02-19T16:28:00.000-08:00

So, when I say I will update later-- I didn't mean 2 months later. I know I always say I should work on updating more so than I do--but it never changes. Ah well, it is what it is. But I thought I really was past due for an update so here I am.

Life has been extremely busy over here with the Brandon's. December was go, go, go, non-stop. We had a fabulous Christmas and New years in Georgia. I saw just about everyone that I wanted to see--Minus a few. It's amazing how busy the holidays get being with family. It was so so so good to see my family though. I enjoyed every waking moment of it. It was extremely hard to leave. Eventually, when I get around to it I will post lots of pictures of the wonderful vacation plus more.

Now, with me and Dustin both being back in school full time we have no time AT ALL. It's ridiculous, but in the end I am sure it will be worth it. It feels so good to finally be back in school, and feeling more productive than working at my dead end job. So far, I have enjoyed all of my classes--besides math of course, and I am positive that will never change. It's surprises me how much more motivation I have when it comes to school now that I am married. I kind of figured it would be that way, but wow. It's nice, and I am definitely working much harder than I ever have in school. Hopefully my grades at the end of the semester will show it. As for the husband, he has been working really hard this semester and I won't doubt that he will be getting straight A's this semester as well.

Valentines weekend was great. Minus the fact that I was sick the entire weekend and then some--we had a great time. We went to Arizona and spent the weekend with the in-laws. Which of course, is always fun. I absolutely love it in Arizona, and I am afraid I will have to stop going seeing as every time I do go, it's harder and harder for me to come back to Provo. Gotta love school--but I finally qualify for In-state residency which really really excites me! I can actually go to a state school and get the in-state tuition, so that just really makes life so much easier. Anyways--back to my weekend. Seeing as I was sick, we really just took it easy on Valentines Day. We went out to dinner and did the usual Valentines thing, and then came home and played games with the family. Which I enjoyed very much. It was so nice to just sit back, and relax through the weekend rather than worry about school, homework, and tests. So it was indeed a nice break from the hectic semester. We finally got back home last night and I am now back at school all day long. :)

As of right now, our lives consist of the usual college life. School, work, homework, studying, and going out whenever we can find the time in between all of that. Maybe one of these days we will come up with something really interesting to enlighten all of you with. :)

More to come.

christmas time is here!

2008-12-16T17:00:00.000-08:00

So, I just had to say that tomorrow we leave for New Mexico for 2 days and then on Saturday we are off to sweet sweet Georgia! Oh, how I have been waiting for this!!!

I will update later. :)

Christmas Coke!!

2008-11-19T13:25:00.000-08:00

Christmas Coke is back! Nothing puts me in the Christmas spirit more than seeing Santa on my coke. I think Christmas Coke tastes better than regular coke, but that's just my opinion. Thanks Kristi!

Fall time happenings...

2008-11-17T17:20:00.000-08:00

So, it has most definitely been a while since I have written in here. I thought my blog could use a newly updated post. Things have been going alright. It's been quite stressful. They keep saying ..."don't worry, this will all pass"...and I am just wondering when it will actually pass. Work has been absolutely ridiculous this last month. There was hardly any work, and when there was work it normally didn't last any longer than a week. However, I finally have a full schedule so I am hoping that will level out the whole stress factor. Halloween was good. Nothing too exciting went on over here. We just went down to Sandy to visit a friend who had surgery the day before. We considered it a good time. Then we had the wonderful happenings of the Election, and I was happy to say that I voted for my second time!! I do love having the privilege to vote!

One super exciting thing that has happened with us in the past month was that Dustin finally got a job that he has been wanting. He got a job on campus as a Support Tech for the CES Library systems. He was very excited because this job is in his area of studies. So, now he will actually having working experience in his major and not just a bunch of completed courses. Plus, it pays more than he was getting before--however, he can only work 20 hours max a week. Which was kind of disappointing but in the long run it will totally be worth it! He absolutely loves it, so I am glad he finally got a job that he can enjoy! :) He is also doing really well in his classes so things are going pretty peachy for him! Speaking of classes...I FINALLY registered for classes for next semester! I know I sound like a nerd, but I am so excited to get back into school and get things rollin again. It will just be so nice to know that I am actually moving forward, finally. I will be taking classes at the BYU Salt Lake Center. I also have one class with my sister and another class with my sister AND Dustin! So, I am excited about that. It will just be good to be back into the world of school, homework, studying, and tests. I say it now, I am sure I will regret saying this later.

So, have I ever mentioned how much I love this time of year? It is really the best time of year! I am so excited. We are heading down to Arizona for Thanksgiving! I didn't think we were going to be able to make it this year but it turns out we are! It will be good to be around family over the holidays. Plus, I am pretty sure they have a huge decked out dinner planned so I am really looking forward to that! Yummm! I love Thanksgiving! Then, two weeks after thanksgiving it's time to finally finally finally, go back home to the good ole' South! I have not been to Georgia since March, but it just seems to much longer than that. I am so excited to see all of my family again and to just be back in Georgia for a while. We will be there through New Years, so I am pretty sure it will be a good Holiday. My Mom is going into Surgery the 23rd. Right before Christmas, but hopefully she will be getting out of the Hospital by Christmas Day. I am just glad that I will get to be there for her for that last big part of treatment. She is doing really well, and it's really on downhill from here. Which makes me super happy and excited for her. :) Last weekend the whole family went up to the mountains for her and my sister's birthday. Last year they did the same thing except Dustin and I were there, so we were definitely missing them bad this year, so we are pretty stoked for Christmas. THEN, we get to take Ashlee, and Tabitha back to Utah with us. Well, in a sense. They are both moving out here and trying out the whole "Utah Scene". I think they will like it alot out here. It will be a long drive back. All three cars following eachother. Should be an adventure!

This is why I need to update more...so my posts aren't so dang long! Oh well..

2008-10-13T11:22:00.001-07:00

POST!

There, now you have a 'post' to read.

BYU Football!

2008-09-22T21:06:00.000-07:00

So, basically--BYU Football is AMAZING. I absolutely love love love going to all of the football games. It is always sooo much fun! It's funny to realize just how much I have become a fan of BYU Football. HOWEVER, Georgia will still and always will be my #1 Football team--BUT THEN BYU! I am telling you, every single game I attend, BYU shuts out the other team. I can honestly tell you that I have never been to a BYU game that we have lost. NEVER. Yea, I haven't been to every game of the season in the past...but every single game I have been to thus far, it has been a shut out game. Pretty amazing, I must say. Last weekend we went to the BYU - UCLA game, and it was ridiculously AMAZING. Fumble, after fumble. It was incredible!! I loved every minute of it! 59-0!!! It really does not get much better than that! THEN, this weekend we play Wyoming. 44-0!!! ANOTHER amazing game!!! And now BYU is 11 in the rankings... Pretty freakin amazing. However, Georgia is still number 3 in the Nation--so BYU doesn't really compare...but hey!! BYU isn't too far behind. I just seriously looove going to all those BYU games and I am very much looking forward to the rest of the season! AHH! The joy of football season!!

Camping, Finally!

2008-09-10T20:53:00.000-07:00

So, we finallllly

decided to go camping! I was so so super excited! I have wanted to go camping all summer, so we finally got to go! However, we did end up going in September so it was prettttty cold! We had a ton of fun though! We went up to Payson Lakes, Utah which is like wayyy up the mountains of Mount. Nebo. We were higher than 7,000 feet in Elevation. Yeah, I didn't know that fact before we went. I swear we were like at the top of the mountain! Or atleast, that's what it seemed. So, by the time we go to our campsite....I already needed a sweater. Kinda crazy, I know...but I guess it was only expected. This was Utah we were camping in, rather than Georgia where it stays the same temperature all day and all night long. Not quite the same out west. Anyways, we met up there with Alisha and Mike. It was definitely a good time. They already had camp set up by the time we got there so that was kinda nice. After I got there me and Alisha decided to go buy some firewood. Yea, we ended up spending like 20 bucks on fire wood BUT...it ended up being JUST enough! Alisha and Mike made us some reallly good tin foil dinners. Yea, it took like forever and a day to cook but it was still really good. So we just roasted marshmallows before we ate dinner. A little backward, I know--but heyy we had a good time and it was well worth it. It got soo cold by the time it got dark. I had to put layers on to keep me warm...and well, stay by the fire like the whole night. It was fun though. The night--on the other hand--was another story.

Whenever I go camping--and it's cold throughout the night, well--it doesn't go over too well. I can NEVER fall asleep when I am cold and camping...and the funny thing is, I really wasn't all that cold. My sleeping back, plus my layers, plus Dustin holding my tight pretty much kept me as warm as I needed to be....but I still didn't fall asleep until like 4 in the morning. And, of course everytime I had to go to the bathroom I made Dustin wake up and walk me there...Poor Dustin. He may have actually gotten a good night sleep if it weren't for me. haha. Anyway--by the time it was morning..well, we all slept i since most of us were up most of the night...it definitely makes such a huge different in temperature when the sun is shining opposed to when it's not. Then amazing, Dustinnnn made us some fabulous camp fire pancakes! ...Ruined the pan in the process, but made us some great breakfast! Then we took a walk down to the Payson Lakes..since we camped at Payson Lakes...we kinda wanted to actually see the Lake. So, that was pretty much Dustin's exploring time...He loves the outdoors! Overall, we really had a great time. The first time we both went camping and now I really look forward to next Summer when we can go camping again!!...and it wont be so cold!! haha

It's time for a new job...seriously.

2008-09-08T14:08:00.000-07:00

So, I must say that today, work literally sucked. Sometimes, I hate hate HATE my job with a very strong passion. Sure, most of the time it's great. It's easy, I don't really ever have to worry about something not going right at my job. Sounds pretty simple. Which most of the time it is. I usually get myself up in the morning and off to work with my book handy. I get in there, set up my interviewing station, and start dialing. At my job, they specifically tell us that we can play computer games, or read while dialing all we want. They do this so that we don't all go insane from doing nothing but dialing for 7 in a half hours straight every day. So, that's what I do...I either sit there and play mine sweeper, solitaire, or read my book. So today was the very last day of our project...It was slow, and well, boring. I got really no leads, and lots of DQ's. Well, usually that is not a problem as long as I am making my calls, which I most certainly was. However, one of the project directors didn't seem to think so. So, usually between 1 and 2 the job is ALWAYS slow. We get almost all answering machines or... "out to lunch"s, that is usually when I get into my book while I am on the dialer. Well, today one of the Project Director's decided to sit in the calling room and well, dial. So I guess during that time she decided to "observe" me. Well, apparently while she observed me she made the big assumption that I was not dialing, so she tried to have me sent home. Well when my supervisor Bruce brought that to my attention--i was NOT happy. Not one tiny bit. Infact, I pretty much had a melt down. Silly, I know but firstly--we have pretty much NO work this week which is stressful enough, and then she tried having me sent home for something that CLEARLY was not true?? Yeah, doesn't exactly fly with me. So I went to Bruce, and Dave and told them how I did not think that was fair at all, because I know for a FACT I was dialing...consistently. I told them they could even look up on the call log and see that I was dialing consistently, and of course they believed me because they know I don't usually just slack off and not call. So, they let me stay. BUT, that did not changed the fact as to how upset I was. I just do not think it's fair that someone can do that without giving any kind of evidence to prove that kind of thing. Just gave me much much more motivation to go out and continue looking for another job. Or a second one atleast, so during times like these, where we have no work...I can count on something.

Ok, I'm done venting. :)

Breaking Dawn!

2008-08-27T19:35:00.000-07:00

I am finallyyyyyy reading Breaking Dawn! It seems like I am soo behind just because pretty much everyone I know had finished Breaking Dawn for what seems like forever ago. I would have been caught up wayy before it came out if I didn't have to give Eclipse back to my roommate before last semester ended. I got wayy into they whole Twilight series last semester and finished both books in like 2-3 weeks and then the end of the semester came and I had to give Eclipse back so I didn't have it all Summer long--with the wedding, then the honeymoon, and then all craziness in Sacramento and Mesa, things just got soo crazy that I didn't even have time to read or even think about Twilight! SOOO--I finally bought Eclipse and Breaking Dawn as soon as Breaking Dawn came out!! I guess all the uproar with Breaking Dawn got me back into it so I read Eclipse as fast as I could and I am now finallllly reading Breaking Dawn. I am still at the beginning--but from what I have heard...it only gets much much better so I am looking forward to finishing it!! woo!

End of Summer Festivitiessss

2008-08-25T12:02:00.000-07:00

Things have seriously been so so busy!! This weekend we did not do a single thing because we felt like we had been going going going non-stop! Not that I am complaining cuz we have had a blast--just busy! Last weekend we had alot of fun. We decided to go on another hike! woo! We hiked up to timpanogas cave with Tiffany and Clint. It was a ton of fun, but unfortunately we weren't able to get the cave tour. It was sooo packed that day and by the time we got up there the cave tours were sold out!! It was definitely a bummer!---Yet, we still managed to have a great time!! We have a ton of fun hanging out with Tiffany and Clint. They are so crazy, but we love them anyway! The hike seemed SO much easier than when I hiked up the Y with Dustin. Maybe because it was like ten times hotter than minus shade period! There was a tonn of shade on this hike and we were at a much higher elevation so it definitely made a big difference! It was about time I got another work out! And well, Dustin I think has pretty much figured out that I am not yet ready to do the biggg mount timp hike so he is slowly, gradually trying to prep me! haha.

At my work they gave us Lagoon tickets where we can get 8 people into lagoon at the prive of 20 bucks per person. So, we decided to take advantage of that and take last Monday off so we could enjoy a day at Lagoon. It was definitely worth the trip! Me and Dustin decided to have Tiffany and Clint come along with us. However, Clint couldn't make it until a little later cuz he had to work--but we still managed to have a great time! We spent most of our time at Lagoon A Beach while the sun was still out. The lines were a little ridiculous--but I guess that is only expected. I have to say I have been to better water parks than that but then again that was more of a theme park than a water park. However, Dustin sure did loooove the water park. That boy would live on a water slide if he could! haha, he is like a little boy whenever there are any water slides in view. He absolutely LOVES them!! It makes me laugh. :) Then as the afternoon went on we decided to call it quits at the water park and go ride some real rides!! Tiffany was soo determined to ride all the roller coasters that she had us RUNNING from ride to ride! She was soo intent in getting them done! It was hilarious. Dustin was literally like, dragging me and Tiffany was literally, like, dragging Clint. It was quite the amusement. We decided to leave Wicked, the new Lagoon roller coaster for last...and we did...and it was definitely a GREAT way to end the night! But mannnn, the anticipation while waiting for that ride was intense!! There is a huuuge 90 degree angle of a drop and watching that was making all of us crazyyyy! And, the fact that the line was so outrageous did not help at all! We finally got there and holy crappp we were freaking out!! And then it doesn't just ride you slowly up the first big drop like most roller coasters do--it...shoots you up like a rocket!! It was sooo crazy! But soooo fun!! The most twisty coaster I have been on in forever! wow! it was grrreat!! Perfect way to end the night! (:

Sooo, I don't know if it was Lagoon, or just having a crazy busy outdoorsy weekend but mannn the rest of the week was exhausting! It was soo hard to make ourselves get up by 6am for the rest of the week. We managed. Mostly. hah. But yea things have been crazy busy but we have been enjoying every minute of it! Speaking of work, it is going pretty well. However, things are starting to look just a littttle sketchy. It's kinda scary with this job cuz you just really never know when we are going to finish a project...and if there will be another project waiting for us...Usually not the case. :-/ It tends to take a few days or maybe even weeks for them to find more work once one of the big major projects are finished. ANNND, it is getting to that point again. We are about done with the big project we have basically been working on all summer long and well after Labor Day weekend we just really do not know what to expect. SOO we are crossing out fingers!!

Well this weekend we just randomly decided to take a trip to Mesa, AZ for Labor Day. I know, it seems like we just left from Mesa, right? haha. Well, we did. Maybe a little over a month ago but we just really miss Dustin's sister! So, yesterday we just had a spur of the moment idea to go to Arizona for the weekendd!! Why not?? ha. SO, that is what we are doing for Labor Day. We are actually really excited! We had a ton of fun with Tricia while we lived down there so I guess we have just been having withdrawals from being away from them now. Ha, I must say I am pretty lucky! I have awwwwesome in-laws! I love them!! They are always so much fun! So we are wayyy excited! Thennn back to school for Dustin! He is actually really excited to get back into school. Probably because he is starting his Major courses. He is taking 2 Computer Science classes and very excited about them. However, he does know he most likely wont like them at first..but we is glad he is finally getting into it so he can get through the hardest part...LEARNING IT! But yea, he is realllly hoping for a good intern this Summer so he is ready to work his butt off this year! So, we are looking forward for this year and in the meantime, I am trying to find me a second job! Dustin and I get off of work at our current job at 2:30 every day so it gives us a whollee afternoon and evening to do whatever, well thus far it has been great having the rest of the afternoon off--but now as soon as he gets off he will be rushing off to classes for the rest of the evening. So, what am I gonna do?? Oh, that's right! Find another job! :) Plus, we could really use the extra money with everything we are paying for currently, so hopefully I will have success! Hopefully all this busy-ness I keep speaking of...will only continue!!

work and play all the time!

2008-08-15T15:36:00.000-07:00

So, I keep telling myself I will write in this more each post I make--yet it just never happens! Life has been so great! I am having so much fun. Work is going well--just the same ole' crazy boring stuff everyday--but hey, it pays the bills! Other than work, we have been doing soo many fun things lately. I don't even know where to begin. Well, I must say that Dustin and I finally came around to hiking the Y. All winter long, I kept bugging Dustin about how I wanted to hike it so we finally did. However, it wasn't much a matter of convincing Dustin. As summer was here, and we could finally hike it, I became more hesitant to do it--But we finally did! It most definitely was not my favorite hike. It looks alot easier than it is. It is definitely a tough one and as out of shape as I am--it would difficult. I really need to get back into shape! We still had tons of fun though. I think next time I want to hike it at night--I just think it would be so much prettier at night and less hot.

We also went tubing down the Provo river a few weeks ago. Man--was that a BLAST! I looooved it. The water was absolutely freeeezing but totally made it worth while. It was so hot and sunny that day that the water was just perfect. We went with Tiffany and Clint and had so much fun! I did fall out of the tube--not far down the river--which is only typical of course...and well, that was just a little scary for me. We were all holding onto each other so when we would ram into the side by all the bushes and trees...pretty much all of us would get a piece of it. Well, unfortunately I ended up being the 'lucky' one that fell in. It was sooooo cold and I could NOT get back on my tube for the life of me!! AND somehow, dustin managed to catch my flip flops that did not want to stay on me feet after I feel in. At the time, I really didn't care about my flip flops but he still managed to save them! :) He probably knew how much I would complain about not having them had he not saved them. haha. It was just alot of fun. We definitely enjoyed our time--and the it took us about 2 hours to get down! Not baddd. And silly us--just so happened to forget sunscreen. Yea, I got burnt. No one else did, oh but I did. Typical, right? ha.

Anyway, we have just been doing a lot of fun things for the remainder of the summer before Dustin has to get back into school mode again. Utah is definitely alot more fun in the Summer than it is in the Winter. There is just so much more to do--So we have been taking full advantage of it. This weekend was really great too. On Sunday we went to Dustin's mission president's homecoming. It was really fun. He had a great time seeing all of his old mission buddies, and well--it was nice for me to see a few familiar faces as well! There was also a general authority who spoke in his sacrament meeting as well so we definitely came on the right Sunday!! Then there was a open house at the Mission President's house for everyone and oh my gosh! I have never seen so much food in my life!! There was soooo much!! It was so good! I swear, it felt like Thankgiving over there! SOO we definitely enjoyed that. It made Dustin want to live in Bountiful. (that's where it was). It is so pretty there! He loves it. Then we went and hung out with Tiffany and Clint since we were already in the area and we all decided to go take a random trip into her favorite spot in the canyons. We had lots of fun!! Now we just really want to go camping.! Which we will be doing next weekend! woot!

Daddy-Daughter

2008-08-05T16:53:00.000-07:00

Soo, I have always had this weird emotional thing towards a relationship between a Daddy and their daughter. Like, everytime I see a movie that shows this touching, emotional bond between the daughter and the dad just comes to me to be soo touching. I dunno, it's kinda strange. Me and my dad haven't always had the best relationship in the world--but it has been almost 100% rekindled within the last 6 months. It's amazing. It was like, from the time I had to tell him I was going to be getting married and having no clue as to what I was going say to him, to me knowing just how incredibly proud he was of me on the actual day I got married. It was like night and day. Throughout the past few years things have just been more difficult for the two of us. I just never used to feel like I could talk to him, and whenever I did talk to him--it would just never turn out the way I wanted it to. I just never felt as close to him as I am with my Mom. Maybe it's because 70% of my life I spent living with my mom and only seeing my Dad on occasion. Throughout that time, I never really realized just how important it is to have a close relationship with your dad. Especially if you are a girl. It's just like, having that relationship and bond with your Dad, makes things feel so much more secure. Makes you feel so much more loved. I was always so insecure about little petty things, and I think a lot of it had to do with the fact that I didn't have much of a relationship with my Dad. It is just so good to know that I have that relationship and bond with him back. I never realized just how much I missed him until everything came back together again. It is so great to just know and feel the love that a Father gives you. I am so grateful for the Father that I have. He has done so much for me and Dustin and has helped us in so many more ways than one. It is just so great to know that I can just call up my Dad to tell him hi, instead of just calling him whenever I needed to talk to him. Now, it's out of choice, and love. It just seems like life was so much harder not having him close to me. Made everything else in the world just seem so much worse than it really was. I am just so glad and grateful to have the Father in which I have. He is so great, and I was just so happy to see how proud he was of me on my wedding day. Having a relationship and a bond with your Dad, I think, is one of the most important things in this world, and I am so incredibly grateful that I have that relationship with him back.

Life is good, Life is Happy, Life is Content. :)

2008-07-28T15:19:00.000-07:00

Ok so, I have been meaning to update this dang blog for forever now but never found the time to do it! Soo, I am finally MAKING the time to update! Well, ever since we have been back in Utah things have been great! We have been working since we got back, and both full time--which has been so so nice. We both worked over time a few weeks ago and have had really good hours so we are hoping we can definitely get back up on our feet very soon. (which is currently in progress). Dustin also decided that he was going to keep his full time schedule and rearrange his school schedule for the fall, so we will both still be able to work full time--which is so relieving! Now, I wont have to worry so much about how I am going to make all the money when school starts. So, financially things are looking so much better than they were, and we are so glad to be all settled in.

We absolutely love our apartment! Yea, so when I first walked into it I was just kinda like...ok, whoa...this is small. Alot smaller than I was expecting...but now that we have all of our stuff moved in it is definitely much more cozy. It fits all of our stuff perfectly...and has a TON of storage space...which is my favorite part about it. The closets are huge..and we have a huuge pantry!! Very nice to have pantry space for the first time in forever! ha. So, we are all settled in and unpacked. Dustin's parents came up with us and helped us get a ton of stuff for the apartment to help us get on our feet. Seriously, if it weren't for them we would have like nothing. So we are so so grateful for everything our parents helped us out with into getting to where we are now. I definitely find ourselves very lucky for the parents we are blessed with. :)

So, we have been to our new ward about 2 weeks now and I already love it. Everyone is so friendly! It's nice to have girls actually come up to you and talk to you if they notice a new face now that they know there is no competition. The girls hardly ever came up to a new face in any of the singles wards I lived in out here. So, that change is really nice. However, there are so so so many people with kids in my ward. It's insane! I have never seen so many babies in one ward...but then it makes me realize that I can wait. I can just play with everyone else's until we are ready. :) haha. But it's fun. I like it alot here, so we will see how long we end up staying. Hopefully for a while.

Ok, so enough about all the boring stuff. Other than work, life, and well the general stuff...things are going great! It's so fun to have friends again! And, actually get to see them and hang out with them. So, we have been doing alot of catching up with friends, and well catching up with some actual dates once again. This weekend was definitely a blast. Friday night we hung out with Alisha and watched the Guardian...might I add, the best move in the entire world!! If you have not seen it--you should definitely go watch it! So, that was good. I hadn't hung out with her in forever so it was really nice to catch up with her. Dustin and I went and hiked the Y for the first time this weekend. Oh my gosh, worst hike ever! It was soo steep. I was complaining the whole way up..however, I still managed to have a great time. It was nice to do it, just so I could say that I have hiked the Y! haha. After that, we went to the Veterans pool in Provo. Seriously, SO FUN. We got in for only 2 bucks and they had 2 huge waterslides...that were a ton faster than I thought they would be! It was soo fun!! We had a great time. We also got the fun opportunity to watch my nephew Jayden last weekend and keep him over night. Yea, you would think that would be hard work...but he is SO easy! Didn't whine or complain once. It was great!!...but now, I am having withdrawals and miss him again! haha Soo--ever since we got here we have just been having a great time. I can now honestly say--Life is good, life is happy, and life is content! :)

Next time I will try posting sooner so when I do update my blog wont be 10 miles long!

Thunderstorms....

2008-07-11T23:02:00.000-07:00

Have I ever mentioned just how much I absolutely love thunderstorms? Well, I do. I always have. They have always just really excited me. .... Except when I have to drive through them. We have been witnessing many many crazy thunderstorms out here in the desert for the past week. While we were driving back to New Mexico from Mesa, we drove through 4 severe thunderstorms. 4 thunderstorms in a 6 hour time span. I seriously thought I was gonna die. Let's just say I don't exactly like driving through them. I would much rather just watch them from inside of the garage. :) Then when we get to Las Cruces for a couple days there was nothing but thunderstorms that entire week. And when it rains in the desert...boy, does it RAIN. The morning before we left to drive back to Utah, Las Cruces was on a Flash Flood warning. Well to me, that sounded like no big deal. It rained all the time in Georgia, what was the big deal here? Ha, little did I know. It was raining all morning and we wanted to get out of the house by 8am. We got out by about 9:30 instead, only because the rain slowed us down. Dustin's family lives in a flood zone so whenever it rains like that....they have to watch it. There is an arroyo right outside his house to keep from all the flowing water to stream right down into his entire yard...however, the arroyo will only hold so much water. Once it gets too full it just starts flowing down his street!! So, his street literally looked like a flowing river!! So, we had to get out of there fast. It was so so crazy, I had never seen anything like it before! Kinda ironic? I am from Georgia...one of the rainiest places in the south--yet, never seen anything like that. Then of course we got to drive through even MORE rain the whole way up to utah--by the time we got to North New Mexico the rain finally stopped and we have seen clear skies since then, but man! That week was so crazy. Firstly, I have never seen New Mexico wet...and the next thing I know--Dustin's yard is filling up with huge water puddles! It was definitely a sight to see!I just thought this picture looked like a huge tornado from far away when it was really just rain so I had to take it! :)

Happy 4th of July

2008-07-04T15:14:00.000-07:00

The 4th of July is just my favorite Holiday...

Every year on the 4th of July we have a family reunion type thing with my Dad's side of the family on Lake Lanier, and this is the first year we have gone without doing it because everyone saw eachother at my wedding in May. It's just weird not being around my family this year.

.and i just really miss my family.

Happy 4th of July everyone!

Finally, looking UP!

2008-07-03T12:47:00.000-07:00

So, I can finally say things are starting to look up for us. Seems like this is the first time all summer something has actually decided to go our way. Well, unfortunately things never seemed to workout for us down here in Mesa. We looked for jobs everyday for a month. Well we couldn't just keep looking so we all had this grand idea that just decided to hit everyone of my family members at the same time. "Why not just go back to Utah?? You both have secure jobs, and that's where you will be staying all year anyways!" Yeah, why we didn't decide to do that in the first place...well, I guess we will never know. So, we started looking for apartments and as of two days ago, have an apartment signed and ready to go! It all just seemed to work out perfectly. Yea, so it sucks that this is our 3rd time moving this Summer--but it will be the last time for the next year. ANND, I get to have friends again! yeah! SOO, everything thus far is looking up for us. We are leaving Mesa with his parents after this weekend. They are coming out here for the 4th! Then we will head up to Utah by Thursday; so we will be working by Monday! Thank goodnessss! It will be so nice to get settled into one place that we know we wont be leaving, and to just get everything back to the norm. We are definitely much more positive and feel that this is what we should have done from the start. But hey, you live and you learn...

Aside from all that, we have enjoyed being in Mesa. However, I really do not know if I could handle the heat forever. It has been SOO hot. Like, no cooler than 110 degrees everyday. So, basically we have gone swimming in the pool every single afternoon. Only way to keep us from going insane from the heat. It's been a good time! We are excited for his parents to be coming tomorrow for the 4th of July...oh, how i looove the 4th of July! However, this is definitely my first year without being surrounded by my whole family. Every 4th of July usually everyone from my family flies out to Georgia and we spend 4th of July on Lake Lanier. So, it probably won't be quite so fun this year...but it will be a good time with Dustin's family. Had we still been in Sacramento we would be on our own with no family! That would have been a bummer. So we are definitely grateful for Dustin's family!

Grey's Anatomy

2008-06-26T23:07:00.000-07:00

So I have yet found another series to get myself addicted to. We finally got all caught up on 24...which totally sucks cuz now we have to wait until January until the new season; however, we managed to find our way to another series to get attached to. I had been trying to get Dustin to watch all the seasons of Grey's Anatomy with me forevvver now but he never would. Well, because we would always just watch 24 instead. But now since I have his sister to watch it with...I can watch it with or without him!! :) Yet, somehow I knew he would eventually get sucked into it...and I have almost succeeded!! Me and Trish watch a couple episodes every night and he always ends up on the couch by the end of the episode. Ha, it will only be time before he gets completely sucked into it. Ya! haha...anyway...this is my first time seeing all the episodes of Grey's anatomy and I am absolutely LOVING it!! ahh, i just had to write about it. It's just soo good! I highly recommend it!

When it rains, it poors

2008-06-20T22:17:00.000-07:00

They really do mean it when they say "when it rains, it poors"! But hey, it can only get better from here right?? Yeah, well I hope so! We have done nothing but job hunt all week long and still nothing. I do not know what the deal is with our luck...this has never happened before! I have never gone a week without getting a job. In fact, this is the first time I have not had a job since before I got my first job at Cracker Barrel. We are slowly running out of options. All we can really do is keep our positive attitudes and keep trying to get something, anything. I blame ourselves for deciding to take that pest control job. If we had just decided to come back to Utah after the wedding we would both be at our normal jobs..working full time and everything would be just dandy! Well, I guess you live and you learn. We lived, and now we are definitely learning. Note to self: Don't trust the too good to be true kind of jobs. Chances are they are too good to be true. Unless, you are just a really good salesman, then it's another story.

Well, as a wise woman once said...If you don't have a plan B...you don't have a plan. I guess it's a good thing we are thinkin about a plan B. Along with counting down the days until September so we can just be back in Provo and to the normal lives we live...sick of all the state hopping around. I will be so ready to get in one place and stay there!!

And might I add, it has been a minimum of 110-115 degrees out here all week! I don't know how I am going to live with this heat the rest of the Summer!! Everyday by the end of the day...I am completely dehydrated!! It is sooo hot! Oh, how I miss the humidity...as crazy as that sounds..!

How about some rain??

Too much driving.

2008-06-15T22:48:00.000-07:00

Well we packed up all our stuff as soon as we had made a decision to take off for Mesa, Arizona. We got in late late Friday night. The drive took absolutely forevvvvver; probably because I had to do all the driving since Dustin had lost his wallet and couldn't exactly legally drive. Well because of him losing his wallet we had to make an extra trip down to Las Cruces, New Mexico so he could get himself a new drivers license so he could get a job. So this afternoon we left from Mesa to Las Cruces and it once again drug on because I was the only one driving. Luckily the drive wasn't 12 hours this time, only 6. :) Ok--so this is the funny part. We get to Las Cruces, visit with his family for a while and then they give him a huge pack of mail and of course...one of the packages in the mail was....HIS WALLET! ha. yep, we drove all the way down here so he could get himself a new drivers license...and well now he has it! So we made an extra trip for nothing....BUT now we get to just visit with his family for a day instead of sitting in at the DMV all morning long...so that's the good part. :) We also got our Official Marriage certificate in the mail as well! woo!! We are finally OFFICIAL! On file and everything!!....wish I could get my name changed already...but I will be more patient and just wait for Utah.

Well besides all that traveling stuff, things are going much better already. Dustin and I spent the whole day job hunting Saturday and Dustin has an interview on Wednesday with Dillard's so we will see how that goes. I haven't had any luck quite yet...but I still have a couple applications to fill out as well. I am planning on making some phone calls by Tuesday and see where that gets me. The area we are in Mesa is soo great. We love it. There are soo many different job opportunities that we should be able to find a job in no time.

Well Dustin got lucky enough to spend the last hours of Father's Day with his Father. It was good to see them. I was really bummed I didn't get to spend Father's Day with my Father but I guess that's what I get for living so freakin' far away from him. :( They were all in Florida and I am sure enjoying the amazing weather in Panama City. I am very quite jealous. I am sure he still had a great Father's Day...and all you other father's out there...Happy Father's Day!!

Gas Prices! suck...

2008-06-12T19:39:00.000-07:00

So, I just found out that Sacramento, California has the highest gas prices in the Nation! ...and we just so happen to be living here. Wow. We just drove past a gas station that was 4.75 a gallon! That's even 25 cents more than the one right by our apartment! Man, it sure is a good thing we are heading to Arizona tomorrow!!

Anyway, that was just my spill about Gas Prices in Sac Town!

Everybody's doing it...

2008-06-11T19:28:00.000-07:00

Hey ya'll! SO, I have recently noticed that blog spot seems to be the new thing! Well, at least for couples that have just recently been married; so we thought we would try it out just like everybody else! Then we can find out what this is all about...

Where do I even begin?? Well here is a little bit about the new Brandons'! I am Jessi, 21 years old, from Lawrenceville, Georgia. Dustin who is 22, and will be 23 in March is from Las Cruces, New Mexico. Yes, very different places in which we both grew up in, but somehow we managed to find each other! We just got married on May 10th of this year in the San Diego, California temple. The wedding was beautiful and there could not have been a better day for it. We spent the reception in La Jolla Cove and enjoyed all the time we spent with our families. It was so good for all of us to be together again! We went on a Carnival Cruise to Mexico. We stopped in Cabo San Lucas and the Ensenada. The whole week was perfect and we are already wanting to go on another cruise! I love him so very much and am so blessed to call him my Husband!

Honeymoooon!
The Elation!

Amazing Cabo!

Interesting Ensenada!

La Bufadora!

La Jolla Shores, California!

Dustin and I have spent the remainder of the month in Sacramento, California for his job. He was working for Bell Pest Control, but unfortunately it didn't work out for us, so we are soon moving to Mesa, Arizona to spend the remainder of the Summer before we have to head back to Provo in September.

Downtown Sac!

Me and Becca...the only friend I had in Sacramento! ha

California, State Capitol!

Dustin is attending BYU and so we will be stuck in Utah for the next few years of our lives. Not so bad, I am finally getting used to the idea of Utah. :) He is majoring in computer science for the time being and are both hoping it will stay that way. I will hopefully be attending real estate school in Utah with my sister in-law come this fall. I don't exactly know how that will turn out but I thought I might as well give it a shot.

We are both very excited to get settled in somewhere more permanent and enjoy every moment we spend together. We are having so much fun being married and starting our lives together! Though, nothing is ever easy...it sure is worth it!