THE GOOD-GOODS || A happy list.

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I remember my freshman year I stopped in the middle of campus to take a picture of the snow-capped mountains

+ a boy called me a zoobie. Ummm, whatever dude. The mountains are pretty and I am going to keep taking pictures

to my heart's desire. This one is for YOU!

Clearly I have moved on from it.

Also I just listened to This American Life podcast about how you never really move on from anything. Your feelings just

lie there dormant but perfectly in tact until POOF! You remember! Hey! I really don't like that kid who called me a zoobie! 

Fascinating, no? 

I digress.
On to a HAPPY LIST! (scroll, scroll, scroll...)

Dec. 29th - Jan. 5th HAPPY LIST : 

* literally running into my funniest friends, Jack + Jordan, + catching up 

with them at my kitchen counter just like old times. You bet I peed my pants laughing.

* failed gym attempt turned sauna session turned awkward interaction with Nikki.

* NEW YEARS! I love the fresh start. Also we celebrated by going to WalMart to look for crafts (ha!) + 

watching the ball drop begrudingly. I know this is a happy list,

 but like, why do I have to stay up if I don't want to? I AM TIRED, FERGIE! Also why was Fergie sing-talking everything?! 

* (on second thought) Fergie sing-talking everything on New Year's Eve. Woof.

* starting a friendship in Relief Society almost entirely based on The Bachelor.

 What better indication is there of true friends than a mutual love for trashy reality television + Prince Farming?

* I know I am late in the game, but the This American Life podcast. SO good. I feel so cultured and hip.

* Breakfast with my Kylie friend. 

* Coming back to a clean house. Is there anything better?

* Soft-serve + gyros with Paige. 

* City league basketball! Though we kind of, totally stink. Ha. This is the

hard truth. But the entertainment factor is always a perfect ten.

FALALALA! 

Happy December // Brrrrr...

HAPPY DECEMBER! 

I have been so looking forward to this month.

I feel like this December is going to be one for the books. I'm turning 22 + can finally use and abuse Taylor Swift's song lyrics (you have to! You're feelin' 22!), Jeff + I are headed up to Idaho for two weeks(ish), and I can now openly indulge in all things Christmas. Because I've been hyping my December up, I made a list of things I wanted to do/see/eat. Here's a few :

|| Go iceskating (I used to hate iceskating; I'm blaming it on sexual tension?
Too much pressure to hold hands. NOW I'm excited to just blade, y'all)
|| MoTab Christmas Concert // Savior of the World
|| Survive working seasonal in retail (oof...)
|| work my way through the 'Folksy Christmas' playlist on Spotify. SO GOOD.
(...and Justin Bieber's Christmas album. Ha. Ain't no shame.)
|| See the lights at the Temple + in Lewiston, Idaho (...almost the same thing, ha).
|| Visit CDA + hike Tubbs.
|| Ski!
|| Read the B.O.M. every single day for at least 30 minutes.
|| Go see Unbroken, Selma, + The Christmas Story (at the Kenworthy)
|| TURN 22!

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p.s. Jeff + I are back in Utah! Why is it that any time you finish a road trip, you feel the need to ravenously eat? We were basically plum out of food, so we had some interesting combinations from our pantry (peanut butter + figs are shockingly tasty, wouldn't you know?).

p.p.s. this picture was taken last January in Coeur d'Alene with my mama; we were hiking/walking Tubbs hill + it was so freezing but so pretty...a star jump was an obvious choice. 

A recap of May because it is JUNE(!!!!)

Today I walked out the door for my Sunday stroll with Jeff and he looked bemused. I did a little twist and twirl for him because I thought it was heading that direction and he just kept blinking on.

"Whaaaaaaat," I begged.

"You just look so..."

Twist, twirl, flutter of the eyelids.

"Butch."

Apparently long shorts, black flip flops, and a baseball tee aren't the most feminine look. Noted and noted. Ha.

On our walk we recapped May and decided that it was equal parts hectic and happy. I was living in Utah for half of it and was mostly homeless. I mooched off friends and lived in their apartments for a few days (I'm the worst roommate. I am totally out of the 'compartmentalized fridge' game -- I see almond butter, I eat all the almond butter. Oops.) while shooting weddings and feeling totally exhausted/totally thankful for having the world's best friends. I'm just going to throw it out there that every one needs a Morgan Randall. She let me bunk with her for a week straight and fed me and didn't even complain that I ate all her bananas...every time she bought bananas. One day I was locked out of my car and texted her early in the morning asking for a ride to which she responded immediately, "Sure! Coming!" without even asking why. Oh, bless her heart fifteen times over and promise I'm done being gushy.

I missed Jeff like crazy and became a much better Skype-date because of it (I just stare at myself...the whole time). But it was also so fun. It was like every time we saw each other and I was back in California, we had to get all of our fun out. We hiked and biked and Disney'd and played at the beach and lounged...all in a week's time. Now I'm off to Utah for more weddings and more mooching (just kidding about that last part).

Here's our May in pictures :

from left to right :
UT -->> CA : I came a week after Jeff did and enjoyed my Diet Coke + Audible filled drive.
REUNITED! 
This trail is right by Jeff's house and I love it. It's so beautiful!
With my best babe Nikki after a little Tropical Diet Coke + shopping trip. She thought my 'candid laughing' selfie was a bit much.
Disneyland! We went with Jeff's family from Michigan and had so much fun. 
A little trip to the Newport Beach Temple where we got married!
...ewww, gross.
Beach'n it at Table Rock. 
A bit of my Whole30. I massively failed this round (ha, having no kitchen was a struggle!) but loved my first round in March. I felt amazing.
Jeffrey thinking thoughts.
A wedding! I loved this couple + their big day. 
We spent Memorial Day at the beach like the rest of California.
A sunset after a bridal session. Heavenly.
Disney'ing round two. This was on Radiator Springs. The line was an hour and a half long and we actually had no idea what we were in line for the whole time. Ha.
Beach'n it part III with Jeff's brother Kevin and friend Don. I was so impeding on 'bro time.'
At the Bee's baseball game with Morgan. Free hot dogs, y'all!

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Happy June!

june! june! june!

it's juuuuuuune. (ha. announcing dates always reminds me of how my dear and wonderful and perfect dad would walk in to a room and announce the time with raised eyebrows and then just walk out, as if we were supposed to understand what he meant by, "it's five thirty two.") when did this happen?!

i'm notorious for loving the month of may, so much so that i've written a few love notes addressed to it. may makes me want to slooooow down and ease into the summer because once it's here, it's gone just as fast. may is season finales + the final weeks of high school + wasn't i just starting to enjoy spring? man, i miss that rain (i don't miss the rain).

meh, now i'm babbling. onwards! to better things!

like june! it's june, dudes. let me say it one more time for good measure : june, it is. and what the heck does june means?! june means bike rides to work that make me want to gauge my eyes out because heavens, a twelve mile round trip + a backpack can make for the sweatiest of backs. june means two (count 'em : TWO) trips up to my beloved northern idaho to pick up my sister + win a three-on-three basketball tournament (are you reading this team?! we are going to win. i'm not driving twelve hours for nuttin'). june means a bug bite riiiiiiight by my nostril that most probably could be mistaken for a nasty pimple...but it's a bug bite...i swear it is (...it's a zit. it's totally a zit). june means my sisters here + weddings + monsters inc. III + driving around with the windows down (and a.c. on...utah heat is dry + deadly).

cheers june, cheers.

vegabonds (see what i did there?)

all last week i was bursting at the seams. i had planned a list minute getaway to vegas for the semester break. jeff had been putting in some nauseatingly long hours at the computer lab and i was anxious to steal him away for some undivided attention. well, mostly undivided -- our hotel room had cable and boy, have we been missin' out!

when we were driving home, we realized that we did basically everything we do in provo: feed my fountain soda addiction, go grocery shopping, walk around aimlessly, see dollar movies we really aren't interested (but warm bodies! that was good!). but we did it vegas-style so that counts for something, no?

anyways, here's a buttload of pictures. like, a buttload. feel free to scroll.

we stayed at a timeshare a bit off the strip. i think we were the youngest people there by, like, 95 years. 

...eh, we are messy. also i grocery shop like such a woman. poor, poor jeff.

cable, y'all. 

we were matching! in bro tanks? ...what happens in vegas?

the boiling crab! we got a pound of crawfish and destroyed them. i am still not entirely sure if you were supposed to eat the brains? do they have brains? 

we explored a bit and found this sweet park with a flash flood...precautionary...pool? i don't really know what it was. but it was sweet. feel free to roll your eyes at the hipster vibes of these pictures. if it's any consolation  we were chatting about the kardashians the entire time (did anyone see their tell-all with ryan seacrest?!).

the dirty dr. pepper! like, what?! mind. blown. 

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viva! las vegas! 

because it's raining and i'm having a bad hair day: summer twenty thirteen.

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apparently my spontaneous bone has shriveled up and disappeared because i keep meticulously planning and plotting my days, weeks, and months. last night jeff + i sat down with a calendar and mapped out our summer. well, i had previously mapped it out on a google document and jeff just nodded along as i sold it to him like a movie preview. "coming this june....love, war, and the biggest three-on-three basketball tournament in-the-world: hoopfest."

 it only seemed right after the crummy day that was yesterday. wasn't it just crummy?

we decided to enjoy this summer and adventure...even if it's just fifteen minutes from our house. last summer, we were both stressed with wedding planning and...actually, no last summer was really fun. but every good day seemed to pale in comparison to getting married. it was always on our mind and in some weird way it made us enjoy the summer less because of it? i don't know, i don't know. we're weird.

onwards! 2013 summer to-do list! because i have nothing else to post about! 

:: hike around zion's. mostly because james franco filmed a movie there. yummy. 

:: be river rats. or lake rats, rather.

:: california! twice! or thrice, maybe? so far there's a wedding in san diego, a mini-family reunion in dana point, and kevin, jeff's brother, gets home from his mission! (...who i, by the way, have never met. holy goodness, this might be awkward. do i hug him? call him brother bear? pinch his cheeks? massage his back?)

:: move into our new apartment + redecorate + survive through it. people, this might be the demise of jeff + brooke. something about paint fumes + cheap swedish furniture gives us both angry sweats. 

:: idaho! idaho! idaho! idaho in the summer is my favorite place to be. i'm excited.

:: viva las vegas!

:: host my sister paige! she is hopefully coming to live with us this summer. provo is always hiring and jeff + i are a hoot so, why not? i'm so excited! my paige!

:: whip out that tent we were given for our wedding and watch jeff swoon me with his eagle scout skills.

:: play in hoopfest. well, i'm playing with my cousin, brother, and nikki. our team name: ld(yes!). it's...cute? jeff can't wait to watch and will really take any opportunity to see me in basketball shorts. that was a joke. 

:: twilight concert series, le duh. so much sweat, pushing, and...is that weed? in utah? aww. wonderful.

disclaimer: i know, i know. this was a pain to read and kind of obnoxious but it's raining outside and i'm having the worst hair day and all i wanted to do was make a picture collage and a list or three? bear with me.  or bare with me? that could be interesting? 

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in other news, i worked with the third graders today in class and santa was brought up. holy saint nick! there were the kids who were clearly still believers, and the kids who felt holier-than-thou because they had just found out this year and they know something you don't know!, and the kids that were kind of up in the air about it. and then there was the kid that was jewish. just kidding, there wasn't. it's provo, people. ;)

jonesing over this weekend.

my peeps are here + general conference is this weekend + i have fully accepted the fact that my goal to kick diet coke will have to take a backseat while these sonic-crazed ladies are around. 

the perfect weekend and it just hardly started. 

au revoir, january!

january was my month of complaining. you have to have one, right? i complained about the freezing weather + lack of snow, and then i complained about the taunting blue skies + piles of snow, and then i complained about the rain + the black ice it created (understandably so!), and finally i complained about all of the slush. what was my deal? why did no one shove a pillow over my face?

but now that january is going, going, gone, i sort of miss it? as i was looking through my pictures taken this last month, i realize that amidst the plummeting bank account (january was expensive) and frozen car rides (...i'm too impatient to wait for my car to dethaw in the mornings), there was a whole lot o' good. or maybe i'm just really good at looking super happy in pictures? maybe?

:: we celebrated our one year of knowing each other!, oh heavens...is that embarrassing? :: moscow friends that are also provo friends are the literal best :: ...i was happy about my eyebrow shape? :: we have been forfeiting our date nights to groupon and this place was t h e nastiest :: 

:: fortunately, the aforementioned mexican restaurant felt bad and gave us a complimentary dessert? :: my new year's secret resolution to eat healthier went to the crapper the second i started making brownies. i was in a grouchy, grouchy sugar coma :: i got a new self-timer app and have been using it to capture all of our sweetest memories that are coincidentally always at mcdonald's over ice cream sundaes + dollar drinks ::

:: i said goodbye to one of my sweetest friends, avery. she is off on a 18 month mission to serve the people of atlanta! it was a sad + happy night. also, please ignore my outfit?

:: no explanation necessary :: i got a new job as a bridal consultant and i love it and all of my coworkers! happy days! :: waking up to this face. the simple things in life. :: blue skies! ::

:: i've discovered that the showers at the gym have consistently hot water + so much counter space. more gym incentives! :: ...we are that annoying tablet couple. :: my well dressed man! who poses so wonderfully? no wait, this is candid... ;) :: my new job is right next to firehouse subs (...and yogurtland; hello, love handles!) and it has a magic drink machine. 44 oz. always.

goodbye, january! 

to die by your side is such a heavenly way to die (the meet-cute of jeff + brooke)

i've said it once and i'll say it again: the courtship of brooke mosman + jeff stapleton was fast. but it really didn't feel all that speedy. i never felt rushed or panicked or out-of-control. rather i felt excited and invigorated and alive! exclamation point and more synonyms for the word excited!

that said, exactly one year ago from today, i met jeff stapleton. it was a frigid january day, much like this one, and i was skipping class to grab a diet coke (school is hard, you know?) and ran into my avery-friend. she begged me to walk her to class and we sat outside on a bench, freezing and chatting, when jeff + his friend walked up to chat with avery. they were family friends from california and cafeteria-buddies.

all i can remember is that we shook hands and he went on and on and on about how he had spray-painted the design on his baseball tee-shirt he was wearing. i was freezing and diet coke-less and was mildly interested...mostly because i though the was cute and partly because i found it interesting how interesting he found himself (self-indulgence will be a trait our kids will surely inherit). also how did avery have a friend i didn't know about?! i cute one, at that? the dreaded possessive friend, ready go!

intrigued and bored, i told avery about how i thought he was cute. and tan. and was he always like that? we facebook stalked him to insure that he was single (he was! very!) and normal (he was! sort of!). i remember scrolling through his statuses and one of them was: to die by your side is such a heavenly way to die.

...a sensitive type? or aren't those smith's lyrics? ...is he stable?

nonetheless, avery + i composed a hilariously forward message laced with wit and delight and movie quotes. in the light of the day, we composed one hell of a creepy message.

...and one week later, he called me and we went out (i think he needed some time to stew over the message)
and the rest is history. or something like that.

happy friday, friends! feel free to celebrate the meet-cute of jeff + i with some cryptic facebook statuses and a diet coke or three...i'm making up for old time's sake because, thinking back about it, i don't think i ever had one that day.

edited to add: jeff peeked over my shoulder and said that i am such a liar! apparently he mumbled three words about his shirt and claims that our whole encounter lasted less than thirty seconds. pffft.

and her small heart grew three sizes that year...

this past year, i feel like i have learned how to love things so hard. let me explain:

i never really bought into the idea of love and all of its trappings. the thought of a guy somewhere in the world holding half of my heart really made me want to vomit (the visual!). i always scratched my head at the stories where a homely girl meets a vampire and falls in love with him and becomes this sparkling goddess vampire slayer (...twilight...). why did i need a man to make me glitter in the sunlight? turn up the destiny's child, will ya?

i already felt complete. unquestionably single, but complete.

my roommate in college and one of the three people i feel comfortable using the term best friend with, avery, is your token cool friend. you know what i mean? we had a sort of hunter-gatherer relationship where she would hunt and gather all prospective friends...and i would sit in our room watching netflix with my retainer in. it was a truly beautiful thing. she validates the fact that, because you are friends with her, you are partially cool. you have to be! 

"sorry ma'am, but you are not allowed to be at this party for the world's most elite, i'm going to have to ask you to..."

"...but i'm friends with avery miyahara!"

"oh! in that case! come on in, person dressed like a colonial lady! welcome to the world's most elite party! have a mini corndog?"

you following? i swear, if sweet mary and joseph and just told those pricks of innkeepers that they knew avery miyahara, the entire christmas story would have gone a lot differently. they would have been put up at the finest establishment! is this irreverent? this is irreverent. onwards!

avery and i performed magic in our tiny dorm room at 1121 chipman. those two semesters together, my cool-avery silently helped me to whittle away all the dumb stuff that had burdened my soul all through high school. suddenly, all my insecurities just seemed kind of, well, stupid. thick thighs? pffft. a permanent food baby? pfffft. more-than-occasional upper lip hair? pff...actually, no. that one still sucks. 

in sum, i became complete. 

and then i met jeff.

oh, jeff. 

this past year together has helped solidify the fact that yes, i was still a complete person without him and am still that same complete person with him. meeting him didn't make my skin glitter or freeze my blood or anything major. he didn't come bearing half of my heart (the visual! gross!) or suddenly make me realize that i was a ten-cow woman. t-rust me, i already knew that (joking!). 

but he did make me love things harder. it was like on the grinch where his heart grows three times bigger; i loved things more. three times more, in fact! fountain drinks, television shows, even my idaho and family, things i already loved, i loved more. 

...and, unfortunately for you all subjected to my selfies or occasional brag-fest, this i loved myself more, too. jeff took all the things i already loved about myself and shouted them back at me lovingly. you do have the best taste in apples, brooke! you are suspiciously attractive when you sweat, brooke! (i glisten guys, i really do!) you do find the best drive-through salads, brooke! 

it's like jeff has blown up my heart so big that it could burst; case-in-point: i commented on a friend's instagram the other day that 'my heart was warm' after looking at her pictures. what? when did i become affectionate? (answer: still not; let's not hug, ya?)(kidding!)

i love that boy. more than i love myself, i promise. and i love that 2013 is like this big plot of land with fresh snow that i can't wait to defile. 

and for that, i am thankful (pt. 2!)

+ my sweet, sweet jeff. he is seriously the most funniest and easy-going-est person in the whole universe. i was dreaming up some major plans for his birthday and a crazy surprise of sort but, alas, they all fell through. walmart lost my order (hurricane sandy...understandable), i burnt the breakfast sausage + pancakes, and we both had to study like mad people all day long. at the end of the day, i realized it didn't really matter-- jeff was so, so happy and grateful for the crunchy/crispy pancakes and birthday present that he had hand-picked himself the night before after my call from walmart. twenty three looks good on you already, jeff!

+ my dad coming into town. his visit was quick (we only saw him friday + saturday) but he left us with a fully stocked pantry, a new movie to add to the best-movie-we've-seen-in-november list (skyfall! see it.), a vow to stop eating out so much (...but i mean, my cubby's salad!), and little pieces of wisdom about life, love, and how to keep your butt warm at a football game.

+ at-home hair remedies. i tried an olive oil + honey hair treatment yesterday and my hair is singing this morning! i keep running my hands through it and flipping it around like some sort of crazy. at first, i must admit, that my hair just felt like i had put olive oil + honey in it, you know? it was sticky and oily and...olive-y (...my writing...what is happening?). and then! then! then it started to transform itself into this shiny mane of goodness.

+ that my nervous-laugh can sometimes, sort of pass as cute? we had to teach sunday school this last week and...oh heavens...i was quite unprepared. jeff loves that sort of stuff and was getting all biblical and metaphorical and such. i think he even paced the room a few times? meanwhile i stood nervously at the stand, gripping the pulpit so i wouldn't shake of nerves, and haphazardly taught about the spreading/gathering of israel. yeah, what? ha. luckily my mom had sent us a box brimming with cookies and brownies earlier that week so i passed them out to the class and reminded them that, if anything, i contributed the cookies. and what is israel again?

+ this snow! (besides when i'm walking to school, driving to work, or sloshing through parking lots...then, not so much) ...and warm socks, thick sweaters, and a space heater.

+ dance central, baby. jeff's parents/brother gifted us an xbox kinect and the game dance central for jeff's birthday. holy mama! my man can boogie! last night morgan, hanna, + avery came over for dinner and we wound up just watching jeff dance most of the time. as morgan said, "it's funny because he's actually kind of good?"
our kids will be blessed with the ability to pop, lock, + drop it. or at least i hope.

+ my job. i have kind of, really developed such a crush on it these past few weeks. i love the people i work with and the opportunity to write (even if it's just about vacuums or business-taxes!) every single day. and the fact that my co-workers are passively having a full-fledged bake-off doesn't hurt either ;).

+ ...and being able to stream friends, up all night, and real housewives during my long work days. this past week, i watched all the episodes of real housewives of miami and my editor-type-lady told me that she noticed some latin flair in my writing. ha. perfectly trashy!
 
+ my membership in the church of jesus christ of latter day saints. i had one of those this feels so right moments the other week. it wasn't during sacrament meeting or even on a sunday. it came slowly and quietly and overwhelmed me as i ran through the provo streets on a particularly cold night.

+ oh! and i'm also thankful for runs, no matter how slow i may go.

+ and! and for my body. weird, no? i often speak poorly and beat up on my body (holy bruise on my shins! appropriate-sized shin guards are just so lame!) and fill it with too much diet coke + peanut butter, but i am thankful for all that it can do. like run!

+ my staple lunch of an english muffin + laughing cow cheese wedge + shredded romaine and loooooots of sriacha, please. (i'm a creature of habit when it comes to lunches -- in high school, i ate beets almost every day an entire semester. my pee was constantly pinky-purple.)

+ novembers. and sundays, too.

p.s. i know my layout is...lacking at present. but last night i deleted all the formatting on a whim and was left with all this...white. and now i'm hopelessly and gloriously confused on how to make it pretty. any takers? 

the society of halloween-likers

i think the international society of halloween-likers heard my halloween grumpiness this morning. did i tell you i don't like halloween? i don't like halloween. but i did like this halloween.

this halloween, you see, was different. i almost felt like the byu student body decided that the theme for this year's costumes was 'brooke's favorite things.' link from legends of zelda was serenading me on the piano with the overworld theme, sporty spice was sitting three seats away from me in statistics, and there was a 'binder full of women' washing her hands in the bathroom. and i'm 30% positive i saw a few von trapp children? stop it halloween, now you're just showing off!

and my test was easy today? i answered questions with confidence? when does this happen!

this halloween (i've committed to bolding this...just go with it) i ate four servings of the most delicious tortilla soup from a chili cook-off at my work. even though tortilla soup isn't chili? and i even snuck some home to the jeff-man so i didn't have to cook dinner. because i do that so much anyways.

side-note: my work is fun and young and hip and decided to mandate dressing up. well, sort of. i didn't want to be a party pooper and poop on their party (gross...), so i scrambled for a costume five minutes before leaving. i decided to be a forest ranger. or maybe i was a girl scout leader? i really just ended up looking like a butch, if we're being frank.

see?

on the bright side, i was the designated candy-passer-outer for my side of the building and i think my ovaries about exploded from all the little kid cuteness. my favorite was a bashful little boy dressed up as the old man from up. or maybe it was the princess who responded "i know..." when i told her she was the prettiest princess in the whole wide world. be still my soul...

this halloween, we ended the night at a obligatory (but so cute and slightly spooky!) holiday-appropriate movie at the dollar theater paranorman. the send-home message was adorable-- people are different and we should love and listen to them, no matter how crazy we may think they are. plus there was some gay-tolerance subliminal messaging, or at least i'm almost sure, and that coupled with a large tub of popcorn never hurt anyone! and it was a little risque? but it's halloween. and risque, we shall!

so this is me throwing my hands up, dearest society of halloween-likers, because this halloween was actually pretty darn great. and now my sugar-high begins to fall...

happy halloween!

promises for a daughter || happy birthday, mom!

this may sound silly, but i always tell jeff that my one wish in life is to have a daughter. and maybe a garden. and also a lightening-fast metabolism? but mostly a daughter.

i make little promises to the high heavens, too. they're bargains, almost.

promises like, 'i promise if you will give me a daughter, i will teach her that what really matters, what's really beautiful, is what's on the inside...but i will also have the dignity to share with her the powers of an under-wire bra, the importance of eyebrow maintenance  and the magic in m.a.c. makeup (and danger in the wrong shade of foundation + liquid eyeliner) at the appropriate times.'

promises like, 'i promise if you will give me a daughter, i will do my very best in shaping her to be a kind and gentle young lady and will protect her from all that's stinky and scary in the world for as long as humanly possible...but i will also let her get her heart broken if she must (and will give him-who-breaks-her-heart death glares into the eternities) and watch her make a few mistakes and bad haircuts.'

promises like, 'i promise if you give me a daughter, i will always, always be there for her-- i will be there at her mind-numbingly boring sixth grade graduation, at her middle-school choir concert where she mouths the words all-too-obviously, and perched on her bedside with chocolate chip pancakes and a good pep talk in tow when she is in one of her inevitable 'napping seven hours a day is normal, mom!' slumps that generally mean something more.'

promises like, 'i promise if you will give me a daughter, i will be her very best friend and sneak her out of school just to guzzle down 32 oz. of diet coke goodness and split appetizers at the over-priced peruvian restaurant a few times...but i will also be her mother and will lecture her till my voice is hoarse if i have to.'

but mostly, promises like 'i promise if you will give me a daughter and beat out the curse (i mean blessing!) of the all-boy-stapleton-streak, i will try and be half the mom that my mom was to me.'

happy birthday mom, you truly are the most wonderful creature. 

(p.s. yes, she was the cheerleading captain! her pep talks are extra peppy and usually end in 'GO LAKE OSWEGO LAKERS!')

(...and no,  i'm not pregnant. or trying. i'm like, thirteen years old, people!)

honeymooning.

i almost titled this post ‘honeymooning…each other’ but then i thought it’d be weird for everyone and didn’t. but now i just told you so…now you know.  jamaica was probably my favorite place that we stopped. i loved the atmosphere, the scenery (…it was really pretty…we just didn’t take any pictures of it–when i have the camera, all i take pictures of is my handsome devil man-boy), and the people (do i sound well-traveled or what?!). though we did get suckered out of $40 in jamaica. jeff is the second sweetest person in the world and can’t say ‘no’ and i freeze in times of confrontation so…

at least we got some beads we will never wear and mini-statues with our names on it (too bad the guy spelled mine ‘b-r-o-o-k-k’ …almost right?).

…and that’s the extent of the honeymoon details. ha.

side note: traveling with a husband, particularly a jeffy-husband, is the literal best. i think i fell in love with him 435263 times over.  you can borrow him sometime?

R&R.

…so married-student wards are weird (and so are married students. ha! self deprecation!) at least ours’ was. there was no before-class gossiping or after-class lingering or even during-class note passing! it’s like these people are adults or something! thus, i decided to start shopping around for a new ward (…or go test our other option). you guys, there were SIX babies blessed that day. SIX! and all of them were trendily-named, it was like a competition! (that i will gladly participate in when it’s the appropriate time; it’s inevitable that my kids are going to get beat up on the playground if someone doesn’t intervene with my name options…)anyways, we were still exhausted on monday from listening to all of those cutesy names and were in desperate need of some rest and relaxation. the local park seemed fitting! aren’t we trendy! …is park-going trendy? probably not, but seeking out concerts is! and that’s what we did. we sat down and listened to the music for awhile until we realized that we were in the midst of a park-church of sorts…and then we got up and started swaying with them! the people there were all so nice and the guy conducting had a voice like rafiki :) (…even while he was condoning polygamy?)(no, seriously. but he did bring up some valid points…just kidding!).we ended the night at cubby’s, a new restaurant in town right next to little ceasar’s. recommend, recommend, recommend! i ordered the beet and goat cheese salad because i have a mad-crush on beets…and goat cheese (WIN!) and jeff got the philly sandwich. my salad was one of the better salads that i’ve gotten at a restaurant (it was actually seasoned!) and the generous bite i had of jeff’s sandwich was tasty. plus i am obsessed with the interior of the place.

also i’ve watched all three seasons of arrested development this week, are you judging me? (i have a post of my favorite AD quotes sitting in my draft box–it’s a bit out-of-hand!)

hippity happiness!

 

last night jeff worked until eight and i decided to make a full-fledged dinner; foil-baked tilapia with parsley, rice with collared greens, and some frozen yogurt with baked apples (COMPLIMENT MY DOMESTIC ATTEMPTS!). as i was putting the finishing touches on the meal and staring out the window like an anxious puppy dog waiting for him to hurry up and come over, i decided that i could be perfectly happy doing this for…ever?  well, maybe not for ever. but for now. isn’t that funny how that works? i mean, i do want more…of course! i want more education and more clothes and more kitchen-counter space but, even if that never happens–even if i had to use the makeshift fold-out counter-top forever–i know i could be happy with this and most of all, with him…and i think that’s pretty neat!

that good-good.

 

::waking up obscenely early and hiking Y mountain…holy, polynesians! there were so many cute families up! and by cute i mean huge! each family consisted of like, twelve kids!

::finding my phone and my engagement ring. yes, i temporarily lost that little sparkler…worst(ish) six hours of my life! i have a sleep-walking problem and evidently slept walk over to my dresser and placed it inside the hood of a gray sweatshirt? thank heavens for answered prayers! bumper sticker that!

::a homemade meal made entirely by jeff. delicious whole wheat macaroni and cheese with spinach and olive oil and extra love…and strawberry shortcake for dessert! he is a dreamboat…so much so that i will disregard his affinity for outfits that make no sense– a button up chambray with basketball shorts? funky?

::long talks with my mother dear on the phone while slurping down a vanilla diet coke (with fresh lemons! thanks jennie!).

::swimming some late-night laps at the gym. wait, actually i am not thankful for this at all. i realized how terrible i am at swimming; i blame my parents, they only forced me to get to the minnow level! let us take from this: i went to the gym.

::saturdays….enough said.