See You Soon, Arizona, I will miss you

We went to Green (vegan) for Lunch (my choice) and In N Out Burger for Dinner (Dan's choice)... These were like our last meals that we could not have in Utah... (I finished off the night with a trip to Bahama Bucks but no one would go with me so I went alone!)

Happy Half Birthday!

To me! We had an adventurous day... but we didn't actually do any of these things for my half birthday... oh well its okay to imagine!

We road on the new light rail in Phoenix!

We then went to Marjerles Sports Bar for Lunch!

Dan and Mom waiting for the next train!

That night we went to a glass art exhibit at the Desert Botanical Garden!

Dan, Mom and Brett were so excited!

Brett "picking" up a ball from the boat!

Sunday Pictures

6 Months of Marriage

In the last 6 months....

1. I have learned that I can be hard to live with
   
2. I have earned straight A's in school
   
3. I have learned that I prefer doing laundry but don't prefer putting it away and that Dan likes things cleaner than I do
4. I have started going to church every Sunday
5. I have learned that I can actually sleep without a TV or Movie on
   
6. I have learned that I don't cook or clean nearly as much as I thought I would once I got married
7. I have lost weight
8. I have paid all our bills and keep us on budget (even if that budget is sometimes bigger than it should be!)
9. I have been trying to keep an open mind about living in snow (its a battle)
   
10. I have never been so happy or grateful to have someone to experience everything with!

The past 6 months have gone by so fast, but so has the past year and a half. And I anticipate that next 6 days, months and years will fly by as well. We bought an ornament this Christmas that said "Our first Christmas together" and I told my mom... we will never have another first Christmas together so might as well celebrate it.

This is something I have realized, there are a lot of first, especially in the first year of marriage. Some first are amazing, others not so much. We learn from each first and can try and celebrate all the fun along the way.

I love this photo because its back before we ever knew we were going to be married. It was back when we were just starting to get to know each other. How little do we know that some small decisions will change our lives in such great and lasting ways.

Valley Farms, Arizona

I had so much fun showing Dan around Valley Farms, where a lot of my family lives, as well as where my mom grew up. I was shocked to realize its been 3 years since I have been down to Valley Farms! Way too long! We got to see my cousins and some of my aunts and uncles as well as take my Grandma to lunch! We also got to play with puppies! I am glad we were able to make it down there on our trip!

Merry Christmas from the Lanes & Calkins

We opened presents at my Dad's house Christmas eve. This morning we did presents at my moms! My Grandma came over for lunch and then after my mom and I went to see "Marley and me" at the Theatre, both of us bawled like babies (our dog Mario is getting really old and sick and so I kept thinking of all my memories of him!). Then Mom, Dan and I went to the Mesa Temple to see the lights. It was a great Christmas!

From Our Kitchen to Yours, Merry Christmas

I just googled "Wooshing"

I decided yesterday that between the internet and a public health background I am practically a doctor!

Not really but my doctor upset me a little bit yesterday. I won't get into great detail why but I don't think my age had anything to do with medical advice. And a doctors conversation shouldn't end like a fight, "You do whatever you want I guess." - My Doc

So anyway I just googled Wooshing. I have a wooshing noise in my ear and I know it has to do with my Pseudotumor. It happens to be one of the symptoms I don't remember having but am having now. My head does not hurt and my vision is good. It is my goal to be able to get off medication this year.

However I can't find anything other than the fact that wooshing noise in the ear is a symptom.

Run for your life, its Snowing in Provo!

Finals are OVER!

I just walked out of my last final about 30 minutes ago! I was so relieved to be done, and a little irritated that I remembered a part to one of the questions a minute after I turned my test in. Oh well. My scantron score showed up on the TV screen downstairs and it was my best grade out of the 3 exams I had to take in that class, so I am hoping to hold onto my A- status in that class!

I was also pleased to see that one of teachers already posted grades! It happens to be the class that my group presented for yesterday (30 minute presentation on Asthma Incidences amongst Hispanics in Utah County). Its not one of the grades I have been watching out for but was very happy to see that I received an A- in that class. It was such a long semester of weekly presentations along with the 30 page final report and 30 minute presentation! I am eagerly awaiting to see what my grade are in my other courses! I am dying to know, well all of them, but especially Health and Aging, I never once saw a grade in that class the entire semester, not even on the exams... for all I know I could have an F and not know it!

HLTH 438 001 Social Marketing 3.00
HLTH 439 001 Program Planning & Evaluation 3.00 A-
HLTH 450 001 Women's Health Issues 3.00
HLTH 466 002 Hlth & Aging Proc 2.00

Dear Santa

Here is my list for this year, I'm not asking for much!

Thanks Santa, Love Brittany!

10) A Washer and Dryer! (requirement: they must be beautiful!)9) A brand new Toyota Highlander Hybrid!! (If you can bring a matching Camry Hybrid for Dan!) 8) A real DIPLOMA! I want to Graduate! 7) Get me into Nursing School, ok!!6) Get Dan an AWESOME full time job after he graduates in June!5) I really want a Mini Dachshund Or a Pug..... Or BOTH!
4) I definitely need a Beautiful House! If you can't bring a House, I will take a Beautiful Condo with a large kitchen!
3) Bring me 1 wonderful pregnancy so I can have 1 beautiful baby!2) Make me healthy so I can run again!
1) Lastly can you make it June so Dan and I can get sealed already!

Medicity

Dan is taking an enterprise class this next quarter, which means he works on a project for a real company! Once he signed up for the class he had to let the people in charge know his preference for the teams. One team is off campus and the other three are on that Dan was interested in. Some of the other teams (I don't know if these are any of the ones that interested Dan) but they included Ebay, IBM, Fidelity, Mobitech, etc.

We had a long talk about what the options were and Dan really wanted to do the off campus enterprise team with a company called Medicity. I was a little (or a lotta) nervous about it because it meant he would have to leave campus, meaning MORE driving in the snow that usual. I already have to talk myself off a ledge with him driving 30 miles just to school.

Anyway Dan thought that I said "no" to the Medicity team so he emailed them back and told them he couldn't do that team. Later that night according to him (I think it was the same time we were having the first conversation) I told him that I wanted him to do it because I know how much it means to him and that it will be a good opportunity. I had no idea that he had already emailed them in and said no to it. He quickly emailed them again and told them that he wanted that as his first choice. I found this out a few days later.

Today Dan called me to let me know that he did indeed get on the Medicity team! I will have to figure out how to deal with the snow issue but we will be okay! I love him and am so excited for him! We both will have fun adventures next semester, him at Medicity and me at the Health Department!

Plus I am excited that Dan will be working on this project for a medical company! So fun!

Neumont Ornament

So my mom has round university Christmas ornaments for each of our universities we have attended hanging on her Christmas tree...

U of A for herself, Kirk and Kate
ASU for Chris and Brett
BYU for me

But she is missing a Neumont Ornament for her FAVORITE son-in-law, Dan. For those who don't know, Neumont has maybe a max of 500 students. They only have 2 t-shirts on their online bookstore let alone a Neumont Christmas Ornament.

We thought of all of these different ways that we could fashion a Neumont ornament. I figured we would just make a sticker and stick it on an ornament... Dan dreamed of designing one that wrapped around and having someone make it for us...

We came up with a simple compromise! We googled it and found this website called Speedy Signs, I am not even sure how we found this particular ornament because its not even on their ornament page. So we created a little logo using Neumonts Logo and made the following:
I am curious to see what it looks like in real life. It could possibly be the cheesiest ornament on the tree but it totally gets the point across and according to Dan it will be "the only Neumont ornament IN THE WORLD!"

I love him!

Daniel's Amazing!

I am so proud of my sweet husband! After years of Dan's parents hoping that he would become an Elder, he became one today! I feel like Dan and I have been waiting a while for this as well and am so happy that Dan did it at the right time for him! It was so nice to see how much support we have in our ward. I honestly believe that we were supposed to live in this ward. We have felt so welcomed and loved. Our Bishop has been such a blessing and help to us. We have a wonderful calling and we are surrounded by such good people. I am visiting teaching companions with the Relief Society President and she is so encouraging to me and teaches me so much. Dan is lucky to have the Second Counselor of the Bishopric as a home teaching companion. I really know that we have been blessed to be a part of this ward!

It was also so wonderful that Dan's Dad was able to do his ordination today. I am really happy that Dan's parents were able to be there and be a part of it because I know this is something they waited a long time for. I know they really wanted Dan to serve a mission but it is wonderful to know they support us in everything we do. It was also neat to talk to Dan's Dad afterwards and find out more about who gave him the priesthood. Dan received it through his Dad, who received it from a Stake Patriarch (I need to find out his name), who received it from President Joseph Fielding Smith, who received it from Brigham Young, who received it from Joseph Smith!

Anyway to say the least I am proud of Dan. I am excited to go to the temple and receive our endowments and look forward to being able to go back as often as we can and I cannot wait for the day (in June hopefully) that we are sealed as a family for time and all eternity! We have both made our own mistakes but doing this together and getting sealed is one thing I can say is a huge blessing to us. It has taken us a little longer than others to get where we need to be but we are happy none the less.

Happy Birthday Mom!!!

My mom is on the far right! She is so beautiful!

I wanna be like my mom!
Family Photo from way back when!My mom and I at Ally's wedding in May!

I'm so busy!

I can't even breathe!

I had a final on Tuesday that is OVER! 1 down 3 to go! Today I will have ALL of my work turned in for 2 of my classes and will only have the finals left. The last class (shiver) has this huge group paper and presentation that my group and I are going to work on this weekend! My sweet friend Alicia gave me a completed copy of our study guide for one class! I didn't even ask and she totally didn't have to but it took her 6 hours to complete it and its 26 pages and she just gave it to me to help me study! SO SWEET!

Yesterday I had a fun time at the doctor's office. I had a cyst removed from my upper leg and a mole removed from my arm. I had NO idea how they were planning on removing the cyst but lets just say they went a whole lot deeper into my leg than I anticipated.... I have a bunch of stitches on the inside and outside that I have to go back in to get the stitches taken out on the 23rd, the day before we go to Arizona!

I got my hair cut short yesterday!And I am deep in the depths of studying and won't resurface till next Thursday!

Avoidance

I am ignoring the fact that I have a test in 30 minutes! Instead for the last hour I have been playing with our pretty pictures! This is not helping me with Gerontology, but much more fun than studying!

Finals are going to be the end of me

I am so exhausted... I have been sitting on a hard wooden chair in front of my computer for more hours than I can count... OH PLEASE LET THIS BE OVER!

I should be happy with my 11 credit hour schedule plus 25 hour work week this semester... Because next semester... I get to live this fun little schedule! Thats right... 20 hours at the Health Department unpaid, 17 hours paid at the University Accessibility Center and 15 Credits of classes!!!!!!! (6 are my internship credit hours)

I cannot wait for the day I GRADUATE! I walk April 23rd however will still need to complete my Gerontology internship in spring... so I will OFFICIALLY be done with BYU the end of June!

Emotionally Drained

Sweet Susan Mortensen Turley passed away from Colon Cancer on Friday at her home in Tempe, Arizona with her family at her side. She documented her journey through colon cancer on her blog and she will be greatly missed. She was a track and field star at our High School as well as the University of Arizona. She and her husband Justin got engaged right after Dan and I did last year and were married the first week of January. She comes from an amazing family and their faith will always resonate within me of what the gospel truly means. Sweet Justin has lost his beautiful wife far to early in this mortal life but not for long in the grand scheme of the eternities thanks to the sealing of families for time and all eternity in the Temple.

The following is something Susan's father shared with her and her family.

"… the tests of life are tailored for our own best interests, and all will face the burdens best suited to their own mortal experience. In the end we will realize that God is merciful as well as just and that all the rules are fair. We can be reassured that our challenges will be the ones we needed, and conquering them will bring blessings we could have received in no other way.

If we constantly focus only on the stones in our mortal path, we will almost surely miss the beautiful flower or cool stream provided by the loving Father who outlined our journey. Each day can bring more joy than sorrow when our mortal and spiritual eyes are open to God's goodness. Joy in the gospel is not something that begins only in the next life. It is our privilege now, this very day. We must never allow our burdens to obscure our blessings. There will always be more blessings than burdens—even if some days it doesn't seem so. Jesus said, "I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly." Enjoy those blessings right now. They are yours and always will be."

As of yesterday, I realized there are some decisions I need to make. I have had lots of things happen to me while in college and right now I feel like I need to make my health, happiness, and sanity a priority in my life. I never anticipated having to make these decisions about my job and school, but now I am faced with deciding how I want to spend the next 6 months of my life.

I hate to let people down, but for some reason I never mind letting myself down. Hmm...

Dan is taking me out tonight to get my mind off things. We are going up to Salt Lake to see the Temple Lights and go to Cafe Rio. I love my sweet husband. Whenever I start to get anxious and stressed about life, he brings me back to reality. He reminds me that no matter what choice I make we will be just fine. I love him.

Live and Learn

Something I have learned over the last 5 months is the fact that I know less than I thought I did. Go figure. I have learned over the last 10 months that I know a lot less about the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints! I have had an interesting journey over the last years with the Church and have learned a great deal from the "journey" I have been on.

We have been preparing to go to the temple since February and it will have been almost a year and a half since we decided to go when we get to go!

We have been taking a Temple Preparation course from a fantastic couple in our ward and really enjoy meeting with them. We currently are getting ready for Dan to receive the Melchizedek Priesthood (possibly this Sunday!) I thought that we would just pick a Sunday and that would be it. I didn't realize that Dan would have to have multiple interviews and some counsel would have to approve it. I feel like I don't know enough about the Priesthood. I read this article and helped me feel better. What Every Elder Should Know - As Well As Every Sister!

Anyway I am so proud of my sweet husband for the steps he has made!

May We So live

At the beginning of the semester I was assigned to present a 15 minute presentation about death and dying in my Health and Aging course.

Today I attempted to muster through it. My heart was full of emotions on this topic.

I read today President Monson's Ensign article entitled May We So Live. It helped me have a greater peace with the subject and reflect on what death means to me.