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2013 was a busy year, and had a lot of monumental milestones for us.  Hence my absence here for almost the entirety of it.  I tried to make myself sit down and write, but inevitably, something else always got in the way.  I'm hoping 2014 will allow me more relaxation and time for myself.  

The biggest, and most exciting of those milestones, is that we bought a new home.  We had been living in a basement apartment of a family member's home for the past six years while Brett finished college, so this move was extremely exciting for us!!

We are not only in our own place again, but closer to our offices so our daily commute time has been cut nearly in half.

We already have a lot of projects planned out, and things we are hoping to improve as time goes by.  It's actually not at all the style of home we were looking for in the beginning, but once we walked through it with our agent, it just felt right.

I've already had the opportunity to do some entertaining, and it has been fun to be able to have the space to do that.  I can't wait for summer, when the snow will be gone, and we can take advantage of the back yard some more.

Even though 2013 was a good year, I'm glad it's behind us.  I'm looking forward to seeing what 2014 will bring! 

Happy New Year.

Milestone

I am elated.

I can't believe that I finally get to say this, but mid December marked Brett's final days of college.  He graduated on the 14th, officially, with his Bachelors Degree in Art and Visual Communications.  It has been a long road to get to this place, and I couldn't be happier that this leg of the journey is finally over.

This means that we are moving forward.

Many good things are in the works that I will be blogging about soon, so hang in there.  I will be back in full force before you know it.

A place without background music

The countdown has officially been on for a while now, but it is getting so close that I can almost taste it. 

Brett finishes school one week from today.

It's a surreal feeling to think that soon we will be packing all of our things and relocating.  We have lived in this apartment for just over five years now, and even though we are outgrowing it, I think I will miss being there.  Just a little.

We have started looking for houses closer to where we both work, in hopes that our daily commutes won't have to be as long.  It's been fun to think about all of the possibilities, and sad to see some of the ones we really liked being sold, but it's exciting. We are ready to be home owners again.

Soon things are going to settle down a bit, and I will have more time to update this blog.  I'm looking forward to that, too. Things have been so busy for both of us between work and trying to get all of the final school projects completed, that I don't feel like there has been any time to sit down and breathe, let alone write.  I miss it.

I'm curious to know.... is anyone still here? 

Do you dare to take a RISK?

As of last night, when he finally fell asleep around eleven thirty, my poor husband had been awake for close to sixty five hours straight. He woke early Monday morning, and between work and class, he didn't have much free time to work on a big project he had due for his finals. This meant that he really only had the option of working through the night to ensure that it was completed on time.

As I slept, he worked.

I felt so bad each morning when I would awake, and walk down the hall into the office to see him sitting there in front of his computer, still. Lack of sleep has never really taken too much of a toll on him because he has always been somewhat of an insomniac, but I still felt horrible knowing that I was completely rested, and he had been staring at a computer screen all night long while consuming mass quantities of energy drinks. Knowing that he wouldn't even get to take a morning nap, because he had to go to work for the morning and then to class after.

The project was turned in on time, and the teacher proclaimed that it was success. Everyone who has seen it has been impressed with the detail and effort that he put into it. He is definitely an overachiever.

I feel so lucky to have such a dedicated man that I can call my own. He inspires me everyday to become a better person.

For your viewing pleasure, Brett's final project for his AE animation class:


RiskCommercialProject from Brett Scothern on Vimeo.

I am the luckiest girl alive

If it wasn't for him, I'd be completely lost.

He has done so much for me in my life, and has made so many sacrifices for us to better our situation.  He is the most thoughtful person I know.  I've never met anyone who works harder than he does. He would go to the end of the earth and back to help someone that he loves, and he would give anyone the shirt off his back if they needed it. 

It's hard for me to imagine what life would be like without him.  I have known him for almost half of my life, and I can't even remember what things were like before he was here. I don't want to.  He is my number one fan, and he encourages me to be the best person that I can be. He supports anything I do, and that means the world to me.

The best thing about him though, is the incredible amount of fun we have together. I can't even begin to tell you how often he makes me laugh. I love spending my days off with him, even if we are just hanging out at home.  He is my favorite person in the whole world!

I love him completely.

Happy birthday love!  I hope that this one is the best one yet.

If the zombie apocalypse happened tomorrow

I was looking back through my archives today, and I have realized that I don't take pictures anymore. I used to have my camera with me everywhere I went, which in turn gave me a lot more to post about.

I used to be fucking snap-happy.

What the hell changed? I still have a camera, so that's not the issue.

I think that I need to try and motivate myself to start taking pictures again. If I do that, maybe the content on this blog won't be so boring or sparse.

In the spirit of Halloween, I recently downloaded an app for my phone that turns people into zombies. Maybe that's a good place to start.

Zombie Scotherns:

Zombie Schlange's:

Night and Day

Something that I failed to mention in my previous post about our camping trip was the final hike that we went on a few days after we took Belle home.  The reason that I have waited to post about it, is because I was hesitant to let you in on a secret of mine.   

Let me explain.

A few years ago, Brett and I went on a bike ride.  If you have been a long time reader, or possibly sifted through the archives, you probably know where I am going with this one.... If not, take a quick pause and read this.

Remember now? Yeah, that.

Okay, now that you are acquainted (or reacquainted, rather) with our first encounter with the trail I am going to tell you about, we can continue.

Turns out, when I posted about the trail the first time, I was being a little dramatic.  What?  I can admit when I'm being ridiculous if I want to...... It's true though.  I had a serious case of over exaggeration, mostly because I was bitter about the situation. 

About half way through our camping trip, we made the mutual decision that we needed to make another attempt at conquering the aforementioned trail.  It would be a lot different this time, because I would not be stuck pushing my bike the whole way, and we were going to pack more water.  The trail was not going to win. 

This time around the trail was pleasant.  It was tough in some spots, but seriously so much more enjoyable!  We had great conversation the whole way, mostly reminiscing about the first time, and the views were amazing. I don't think that we even stopped when we were up there before to enjoy any of it.  There were no injuries involved, and no crying on my part. That right there has to say something! This time we also wised up and took the GPS with us to map out the trail and see how far it actually was. 

Would you like to take a guess at how many miles it really was?

We were told that it would be ten miles, ended up thinking that it was more like twelve miles, and we now know that it was just under six miles.  SIX! That's it. Here is the GPS image of the trail:

The only part that sucked at all was the last ten or so minutes.  We were in an open area, with no tree cover, walking uphill.  The majority of the trail had some gorgeous tree cover, and there was wildlife running around all over the place.  We even took a second to stop for a picture in the same spot as last time:

I would definitely do it again, as long as there is not a mountain bike involved, and next time we will probably take Belle with us. She would have loved it. 

Burning History

Brett has been working on a project for one of his art classes in which he has to depict a historical event with mixed media.  From the beginning he knew that he wanted to choose an event that no one else in the class would be doing so that his could stand out.  We spent some time brainstorming and he decided to go with Hitler's book burnings.  While doing some research for ideas I came across this quote, and I really loved it so I decided to share:

"Wherever they burn books they will also, in the end, burn human beings"    

- Heinrich Heine

A Look Back at 2010

Looking back on the posts that I did in 2010 makes me realize how uneventful the year was for us.  It seemed like we had a lot going on, but obviously not much was worth blogging about.  I'm hoping that in 2011 we will be able to experience some great new adventures that will make for some great stories to better entertain you.

Here's a look back at some of the more interesting moments in 2010:

• In January I had my blog reviewed over at Ask and ye shall receive which was an interesting experience, and I have to be honest, I thought it would go over a little better than it did.  But I guess it could've been worse. Also, I discovered Skype!! 
• February brought on a new job.  I was so nervous to start a new job because I loved my old job so much that I just didn't think that anything could match it.  It may not be quite as good as my last job was, but it's a close second and I am extremely lucky to have found it.  
• March showed me what a party was.
• In April I made contact with my biological father.
• June brought me In n' Out Burger.  Which I didn't think would impact my diet as much as it has because I don't even like Hamburgers.  But I do like In n' Out Burgers. 
• In August I got a new tattoo in honor of my mom on her birthday.
• October was the month that we discovered Dexter and had our Hollywood Undead party.
• November was pretty much devoted to more Dexter.
• I spent the bulk of December trying to convince Brett to get me a Guinea pig and trying to decide what to send my recipient for blog secret santa.

How was your 2010?  Any great plans for 2011??

Happy Birthday Brett

Here's to at least 28 more birthdays!!  I love your fucking guts. 

Why can't all teachers be good ones?

I understand that college is supposed to be more difficult than high school, but I think that some teachers take it way too far. Brett's art history teacher is one of them.

He had his final for the class this morning, and to prepare for it, he has been studying his ass off. Yesterday alone, the two of us spent around eight hours cramming to try and make sense of it all. I think that she enjoys torturing her students. It's not like she gives them a review with an idea of what is going to be on the test and tells them to study it. No, instead she gives them a study guide a million miles long, and then only puts a fraction of it on the exam. So instead of being able to know that you are walking into the classroom ready, and confident in knowing what is coming your way, he ends up walking into the classroom having memorized as much as he possibly can about all of the items in the study guide, and doesn't have a clue until grades are posted whether he did good or not.

I think that my main problem with this particular style of teaching, is that he hasn't actually learned anything about any of the art that they have been going over. Instead, he memorizes as many small, useless details as possible, just to hold him over until the next test where he has to do it all again.

Aren't you supposed to come out of a class feeling like you have learned something on the subject?

It's pointless.

Update: Brett ended up with a B for his final grade in this class. Hallelujah!

You could save 15% or more on car insurace

One of the reasons that Brett is my hero is because he is always thinking of other people, and putting their needs before his own. Since our Halloween party this year was actually the day before Halloween he offered to work on Halloween night so that other employees that had kids could have the night off to spend the holiday with their families, and take their kids trick or treating.

Since he was going to be working on Halloween he decided that he wanted to dress up to go to work, but he didn't want to wear his Sweeney Todd costume again because it takes a while to pull it all together, and he just didn't want to deal with it. So we spent some time online looking at all of the hilarious costumes that are available, and finally settled on this:

Older, but maybe not wiser

{On the beach in Carmel, CA 2007}

Today is the first day of Brett's 27th year. There have been many times that I worried about not having him around to celebrate him turning another year older. He's a bit of a thrill seeker, you know. Luckily though, that is not the case, and I can't wait to celebrate many more birthday's with him!!

He truly is my best friend, and my life would be incomplete without him in it. I am the luckiest girl in the world to have a great guy like him as my other half.

Happy Birthday Love!!!

Xterra Utah 2009

Brett finished 119th out of 252 racers!
overall: 2:23:50
swim: 18:26
bike: 1:39:21
run: 26:03

Curtis finished 112th out of 252 racers!
overall: 2:22:13
swim: 22:43
bike: 1:34:30
run: 25:00

It was such an awesome race to watch! The swim was my favorite part because right when the gun went off for the race to begin all of the racers just rushed into the water at the same time! It was crazy. It looked like the water was full of sharks in a feeding frenzy. I can't imagine how intense it was to be down in the water at that moment. Brett and Curtis both said that they kept running into the other swimmers, and either kicking other people or being kicked themselves.

Brett came out of the water about 3 minutes and 20 seconds ahead of Curtis, but he ended up making up for the lost time during the bike ride. Since Brett was the first one out of the water I was expecting to see him come around the corner off the bike trail first, but Curtis was ahead at that point, and we almost missed him. I think that having each other out there on the trails definitely had to be a good motivator to keep going, and not give up. That's got to be why they finished the race within 45 seconds of each other!

I would have to say that the worst part of watching the triathlon is the anticipation. Watching as each racer passes you and moves onto the next leg of the race, waiting to see when Brett and Curtis were going to come around the corner. I am so glad that they both did so well!

The race was challenging for both of them in different ways, and now they each know what they need to work on for next time. Yes, I said next time. They are obviously crazy because they are planning on putting themselves through the pain again in Lake Tahoe's Xterra next year!

Congratulations Brett and Curtis!! You both did great!

Round two

{Click map to enlarge}

This coming Saturday Brett and his brother-in-law, Curtis, will both be participating in the Utah XTERRA triathlon!!

This race will be quite a bit different than the last one though. Last time he swam in a pool and then rode his bike and ran on pavement. This time it's going to be a lot more difficult because they will be swimming in open water and riding their bikes and running on uphill trails. {see map above}

This race will consist of a 750 meter swim in the Pineview Reservoir followed by almost 12 miles on a mountain bike, and finishing up with a 3 mile trail run at Snow Basin. It's going to be AWESOME!

If you are going to be in the Ogden area Saturday, and you've got some time to kill, I think you should come and cheer them on!

When: Saturday, September 26, 2009 - 9:20AM start
Where: Port Ramp Marina, Pineview Reservoir

If you need more information feel free to call or text me and I'll make sure that you know where you are going, and what time to be there.

Hope to see you there!!

Guess what?

Today is Brett's first day working at Home Depot! He has been trying to find a job for a few months now, but with the economy in the shitter like it has been, no one has been hiring. He had an interview about a week and a half ago, and they hired him on the spot. Today he went in to start his training. Isn't this news wonderful? I am so happy for him!

Congratulations babe!

Jackson {part 5}

One of the things that we had to buy before we went on our trip to Jackson was a pair of sunglasses that Brett could wear down the river. He has a nice pair of sunglasses that he didn't want to take on the river for fear of losing them. So we had gone to Target a few days before the trip to grab a few other things that we needed, and he found a pair there for $20. Mission accomplished!

The first day down the river we were at the one slow stretch where you can get out of the boat and swim around, and Brett had taken his hat and sunglasses off, and handed them to me to hold for him. The sunglasses must not have been very good quality, what do you expect for $20? When he was pulling them off of his face they broke right at the bridge between the two lenses. Though they were still technically in one piece, they were useless. So after we were done rafting for the day we drove the 15 minutes to the nearest town, and found another pair at a local gas station. They looked similar to the other pair, just plain old black sunglasses, but they were five dollars cheaper. Bonus!

With new glasses in hand the following morning we set off on another rafting adventure. The glasses survived. We got back to camp, had some lunch, and loaded everyone into the truck to make the second run of the day. There is a spot after the two biggest rapids where you can stop to cliff jump, and Brett couldn't resist. So again, he hands me his hat and pulls his sunglasses off. Once again, they broke. He was having the worst possible luck with those damn sunglasses. At least it wasn't his nice pair, for that I was grateful. So once again we ventured into town for a new pair. There really weren't that many to choose from in the first place, but by now there are only like eight pairs left, most of which have reflective lenses, Yuck. We realized that he was going to have to settle for something a little less normal, and venture out of his bubble a little bit. That's when we laid our eyes on these babies:




They looked like they had been shipped in straight from Jamaica. We all had our little jokes about them, and most of us sang the theme from Cool Runnings to him on a daily basis. But, the funniest part is those $10 sunglasses, fit for a Jamaican king, lasted the rest of the trip. So for the next five days, everyone at camp had a good laugh at Brett's expense everytime he wore them, but at least we didn't have to buy anymore sunglasses.

Cache Valley Super Sprint 2009

Brett did such an amazing job at the triathlon this morning! He finished 30th overall out of 260 participants, and we couldn't be happier. It was such an interesting experience, and he learned so much about the process that will help him in future races.

The number that was assigned to him for the race was 60, which we thought was pretty cool because Brett's lucky number is 6. The first leg of the race was the 500 meter swim, and he finished it in 10:13. Then he went through the first transition and got ready for the bike leg. He finished the 12.5 mile bike ride in 41:03. After the second transition he did the 3.1 mile run, which was the final leg of the race, in 23:23. After you factor in his two transition times he finished with an overall time of 1:15:28. It was awesome!

My own triathlete

Brett is participating in his first triathlon on Saturday. He will swim 500 meters, bike 12.5 miles, and then run 3.1 miles. He has been training really hard everyday, and his times are getting really great. I am so impressed with his determination and focus! I just know that he is going to do well.

I will take pictures and post all about it on Saturday. I can't wait to finally see it happen, and I'm sure he can't wait to do it!

Clean up on aisle twelve

Last night Brett and I ran to the grocery store to grab a few things. We prefer to shop for a few things here and there, when the need arises, rather than spend hours buying everything we need all at once. We had been shopping for about ten minutes, and had almost everything we needed. Just two more items on the list, and we would be on our way home.

We decided that it would be faster to split up, so I went one way to grab dog treats, and he went another way to grab the milk. Then we were going to meet back in the middle. One problem. I couldn't decide which dog treats to choose. It's a hard decision to make these days, because there are way too many options. How am I supposed to know what is going to taste good to a dog? Maybe she doesn't like the taste of lamb, who am I to decide? As I stood there staring at the selection of dog treats, trying to make a decision, I see Brett out of the corner of my eye. He was apparently much faster with his task than I was with mine, so it was perfect, he could help me decide. I had a bag of Beggin' Strips in one hand, and some rawhide bones in the other hand. Apparently it's too tough a decision for one to make on their own, so I needed backup.

I turn to show him what I am holding, and ask his opinion. Right as I am beginning to speak, I see one of the two gallons of milk he is carrying fall from his hand in slow motion and explode as soon as it hits the concrete floor.


Nothing like this has ever happened to us at the grocery store before, and we reacted in the only way we knew how. Hysterical laughter. I'm sure that the look on both of our faces was priceless.

After the reality of it all set in, Brett found the nearest employee and proclaimed "I made a huge mess." Then we stood near the spill taking full ownership of what happened until the same employee returned with a mop. Then we laughed some more, and continued the conversation about which dog treats to buy.

We ended up going with the Beggin' Strips.