Great Start to the New Year!

Yes i know... it's been FOREVER! I promise we haven't died or fallen off the face of the Earth... things are just crazy (I should be used to this right?)

Here is a quick recap:
December: Wow where did this month go?! Brandon quickly fell into his new routine as a Police Officer for the IFPD (Idaho Falls Police Department) and he relished every minute of it! He absolutely LOVES being a cop and I can't imagine him doing anything else. In the middle of Dec. he switched from day shift to Swing Shift (4pm-2am) That was quite the change! It was hard on both of us because from Tuesday-Friday we only got to see each other when he came home and got in bed at 3am and when I left for work at 7am. Bronco LOVED it because he was almost NEVER alone and he got a ton of sleep! I continued to teach. I did get to enjoy a nice week and a half break from school for "winter holidays". I got to relax and finish up my Christmas shopping.
Christmas was wonderful. We spent it with my parents and got to skype and talk to Brandon's side of the family as well. We cannot wait for Brandon's  mom and dad to move closer (hurry it on up spring!!). We were spoiled as usual, we have the best family and friends.

our first Christmas lights! I was SO excited!

Bronco helping to unwrap his present

Hiding with his MONSTER bone!

Merry Christmas!

enjoying some playtime in the snow

Such a snow dog!

Christmas care package from Mammaw & Bapaw!

Brandon snowmobiling with my Dad

My BEAUTIFUL Christmas present

Shooting guns on Christmas :)

As many of you know we are in the search of buying our first house! It is an extremely exciting phase in our lives but definitely somewhat stressful too. We decided (with help from my parents) it would be easier to sell our apartment contract NOW (as the new semester of BYUI was about to start) then a few months down the road so we made the plans to move back to shelley while we looked for a house. I was astounded at the number of responses I got with in just a few min. of posting our ad on Craigslist! It was a crazy time but with the help of my dad, we had packed and moved in just a few days!

January: was quiet... very quiet! Brandon left for P.O.S.T, the police academy in Boise, on January 6. He will be there until March 15, 2013. It feels like basic training all over again with one huge exception! Brandon does get to come home almost every weekend. We have been extremely fortunate for somewhat good roads and Brandon is carpooling with 2-3 other people that also live in this area.

When I get my computer back to normal I will post some of our pictures from lately. Till then, we are sending our love <3

Oh what a day! I'm so thankful...

I am thankful... SO thankful!

I am so thankful to live in such a wonderful place... and no this isn't a post to say that I'm so happy Obama is in office again because to be completely honest, I wouldn't have been happy at the end of the night no matter who won. I didn't like either candidate, both for different reasons. So why am I so happy??

I am so happy because I live in a beautiful place. A place where I have freedom to make my own choices, a place where I can work and play where and when I want. I have the freedom to choose my religion and speak freely about it. I live in a time where I always have my heavenly father to turn to. I'm so lucky to know that whatever happened tonight, the Lord has a plan for us and we need to turn to him with faith. 

My favorite thing about today was not to see who our new president is... 

It's reading all the ridiculousness that pops up on my facebook stream.

It just cracks me up and puts a smile on my face. I'm glad that I don't have such right or left wing ideas. I'm not an extremest in anyway (except when it comes to education views haha). I really want to write on some peoples posts (because I'm really honestly curious) What is SOO  bad?? What do you really think he is going to do that is going to make our country THAT terrible? 

Yes we are facing some BIG issues, but what is your worry going to do about it?

Here is my favorite quote from the night:

"Our country is screwed! Might as well move."

My comeback: 

"Please start packing your bags.. If you really think that a different could ever be better than this beautiful country, WE DON'T WANT YOU!!!!" 

But I am too nice... and don't think facebook is the place to start a political fight because at this point it doesn't matter anyways. 

You have your views and I have mine and to be able to speak them openly is the beauty of this country.

The 4 month long interview....

I wish I was exaggerating! 

So back in July Brandon started the very long process of interviewing for a Patrol Officer spot with the IFPD.  It started with 169 candidates. Everyone that applied got to take the "test". The candidates that scored in the top 30 then went on to participate in a P.T test. Brandon rocked both his test AND his PT test, he was one of the top scores on his test and had THE TOP SCORE on his PT test! Whoever passed their PT test was invited to participate in an Oral Board interview. Brandon got a call and was told that he was number 4 on the list! As bummed as he was, we thought it was so cool that he was #4 out of an original 169! 

After that we waited and waited and waited! During our long wait we kept having neighbors and friends say that the chief had contacted them and had grilled them about Brandon but we had to just keep waiting!

In September, Brandon got a phone call to come into the police department and take a polygraph test. We were so excited because it meant that they were getting ready to hire! He took the test and after talking with the officer found that he was most likely in one of the first spots! After the poly... we got to wait some more! (lame I know!)

Finally last week on October 9 (our first anniversary) Brandon had an interview with the chief of police. He was fighting for a 1 of 2 spots against 6 other people. He was told that we would have an answer by the end of the week. Well Friday rolled around and there was no word. Brandon's hopes went to the dump! I am always the optimist and kept trying to cheer him up.
Well Monday the 15th came (our 2nd anniversary) and I got the most wonderful text in the middle of 2nd hour! 

Brandon has been waiting for this for so long.. July seems like it was forever away! We are more than excited about this opportunity and the doors it is going to open for us! Can't wait to share more :)

Hello Fall!

Don't worry, Brandon and I haven't gone into hibernation... yet! haha

I can't even begin to express how busy we have been. Yet, at the same time if feel like we've had much more time to relax than normal. Funny how life works like that when everything (most everything) seems to be going according to plan. I'm still waiting for some life altering event to come and uproot us!

Anyhow.. let's get down to what's been happening.

For me (Jessie) life is stressful (like thats new). But I've heard that most of your first year teaching is just  surviving! 7th grade isn't anything like I remember it. This age of students I think has to be by far one of the toughest. They aren't new to whole changing classes things, they think they are Pro's! They are also the top dogs of the school, and act accordingly! They are also experiencing a new rush of hormones.. and don't know how to control their feelings apparently! Hence the conversation that took place on Wednesday: (*names have been changed!)
Me: "Sit down and stop chatting we need to get started."
Class: ignoring me
Me:"5..4..3..2..1.. That's a loss of a point and there goes ALL of your points.. great job!"
Class: "SSSHHHHHHHHHH she's serious!"
Me: "Katie and Kellen you aren't exempt from this, sit down and look up here."
2 min later.....
Me: "Katie and Kellen you have 3 minutes between EACH class and a 30 min lunch to flirt.. stop doing it in my classroom."
Katie: "oops"
5 min later....:
"Katie this side of the room. Kellen this side of the room. I don't know what's in the air but you need to STOP FLIRTING in my class.. you'll still like each other in 40 min when class ends!"


Seriously I don't make this crap up! So my kids are going to hate me but we are splitting up the class into girls and boys sides! Maybe they will get the picture!

I will fill you in on more later.. for now it's time to get some DINNER! yum!

Bandwagon leaping

Yes I've jumped on the sign making bandwagon.. more like leaped. (leaped is such a better word, it makes me feel like the money mom and dad put into dance class was well placed and I indeed came out a ballerina... haha well one can dream!) I don't blame myself though, I blame Pintrest, gosh darn pintrest =] 

I've seen so many people produce these beautiful signs. Barn Owl Primitives is one of my favorites. If I had hundreds of dollars laying around I would buy SO many, almost all of them definitely! I love that she hand-paints each and every sign. It makes them so much more personal. I also love Say It On The Wall. I especially like their religious and holiday vinyl. I like the look of vinyl and how it is easy to use (not that I really have ever used it but it looks like it will be fabulously easy!).  Again.. wish I had the money to spend and decorate our BRAND NEW APARTMENT(that will be another post!). 

So since I don't have all the money I want to spend on the things I like, and I still really want them... I've decided to LEAP on the bandwagon and try to make them myself! So here is my first attempt...

The letters are really white, the lighting in the kitchen at night just isn't the best! 

This is one of my absolute favorite songs.

Back in the fall of 2010 Brandon and I were living in a tiny apartment. As difficult as it was trying to find a place for everything, I loved that place. It was our first apartment together and we were always close to each other when we were at home. It was in this apartment that we found out Brandon was going to be deployed. That whole fall we had loved this song and once we learned he was going to be leaving it quickly moved to my favorite song. We would lay in bed and Brandon would softly sing to me as I fell asleep. Every time I hear this song I think back to those nights. 

Stay tuned for more signs to come!

Getting my sewing on!

I started this summer with a LONG list of sewing projects.. some got done.. others are still just patterns in my mind :) but slowly, ever so slowly they will get done! 

When I first got my sewing machine I started on some projects for my niece Lyric (who was not born at the time) these are the project's I've done for her:

A banner for her baby shower and birthdays or whatever Holly wants to use it for :)

This is a bad picture but some onesies were done. I didn't get a
picture of all of them individually :(

And my favorite.. The two stuffed owls. They turned out SO well! I loved them!

So for the first few months of my machines (I haven't decided on an appropriate name quiet yet!) life with me was all about Lyric! But finally I started doing something for myself! I made a couple of dresses. Two were just plain black swimming suit cover-ups for our time in Mexico and on the boat. I don't have pictures of either unfortunately. One of them worked SO well.. the other was a bust! 

BUT I had a dream of making a maxi dress. I thought about it for a month or two and then one day I was in Downeast Outfitters with Kim and we were talking and I had a sudden inspiration as she was trying on a maxi dress... I had on one of their cropped Half tee's and I said, "What if i just sewed on fabric to the bottom of this! It would be super simple and I wouldn't have to worry about a top!" 

So....... a month later...... I finally bought fabric and started...

It wasn't as simple as I thought.

But after much pinning.. unpinning.. repinning. and sewing I got it done. Here is the finally product. (sorry for the bad pictures.. I'm still learning, bear with me!)

The front

Close up. notice the sash?

Back

Side view

I think I have the sewing bug! Sometimes I wish that's all I ever did, and then their are other times I'm glad I have a teaching job to worry about! The dress was such a success that I'm in the process of making one almost identical for my sister. I also have two skirts that I'm formulating in my mind and a dog bed for Bronco... This next week will be busy but it will help pass the time that Brandon is at A.T (annual training). 

Things are changing around here

Yes yes, again things are going to change! I feel that's all our lives are right now.. just moments between the changes :)

So what is going to change you ask? Well, for starters: our address! Tomorrow is the start of our move to Rexburg. We are moving so that I can be closer to my school and Brandon will be starting college again up at BYUI. It just made more sense to be in Rexburg than to drive all the way each day!

Both of our summer jobs are done with! I had such a great time managing the pool. It was a lot more work and responsibility  than I was anticipating but it was a good experience for me :) I did get to teach some of my favorite students and got a great tan while I was at it! I was super bummed to say goodbye on Friday but I know that I'll see them again and I'm headed toward another time in my life!

Brandon's  work at the country club was a good experience for him as well. He didn't like the early hours or the hard labor but he learned a lot and got to play golf for free which was worth the work!

Our summer has been a great one, filled with seeing family and friends. I know this is a random, not well put together post but I just wanted to fill everyone in on what's happening. Hopefully when we are settled there will be a better post!

Till then!