Happy Engagement Anniversary... or Halloween

One year ago Dan tricked me into thinking he was staying at school all evening and I was so sad. I drove around after work with nothing to do and nowhere to go. I finally went back to my house and found my Daniel there with a dozen roses! He took me to Rock Canyon park and proposed along the path! I nervously laughed and of course as you all know said yes! It was so perfect, he was so sweet, he got down on one knee and he had the most beautiful ring in a beautiful box.

We have been married 4 months now and I am so blessed to have him in my life. We are still learning new things everyday and adjusting to all the new things that life throws at you when you are married. I am still trying to learn how to be a better wife and I know that will be a life long journey. I love my sweetheart and since we both aren't big on Halloween I am excited to celebrate our 1 year mark since our engagement by going to the movies tonight and having a nice night to ourselves!!

Sweeney Todd

Mary and I went tonight to see Sweeney Todd at the Castle Amphitheatre near the State Hospital in Provo. It was a really neat place, really beautiful with a great view and it was a perfect night for a good creepy play! I love Sweeney Todd the movie so I was a little worried that this play would disappoint me but it was AMAZING! They all had amazing voices and I loved that the characters did not interact with each other.

Pumpkins!

But not the kind you carve and make a mess with! I actually went to a relief society activity and I can't tell you how many years its been since I have been to one (or now that I think about it, if I have ever been to one!). It was fun to get to know some of the girls in our ward. I am still trying to learn names and meet people.

Green Fingers

Today I decided to do an art project that was on my 101 things to do list! I decided to do make a piece of art for the bathroom since we have such pretty greens in there but nothing on the walls!

Today I bought the wrong colors of green at the store... the ones I bought were bright and light but I mixed the greens with white, yellow, and black and came up with colors that matched our bathroom!
I have a problem... I paint over carpet... so far I have had no accidents.
This was the pattern I was basing it off of. I decided to not do the whole canvas with it and just do two parts on the canvas... you will see.
Dan was pretty excited about our new bathroom art!Ta Da!

101 things!

I have seen this on a few blogs and decided to do it for Dan and I. We also started it from our wedding day because we have had a list of things we have wanted to do once we were married since about a month before our wedding!

Start Date: Saturday June 28th, 2008
End Date: Saturday March 26th, 2011

Brittany and Dan = 1-39
Brittany = 40-89
Dan = 90-101

1. Get Married - Completed Saturday June 28th, 2008
2. Get Sealed in the temple - Completed Saturday June 27th, 2009
3. Stick to Weight Watchers for 1 year - Postponed till after Baby
4. Tube down Provo River - Completed Saturday August 9th, 2008
5. Have a baby!!! - March 2010
6. Take a vacation to the beach
7. Visit each of Dan's Siblings (Idaho - Done May 1-3rd 2009, Texas and Washington)
8. Watch all four sessions of conference!
9. Graduate from BYU and Neumont - Neumont June 2009, Britt postponed Dec 2009
10. Go Camping
11. Buy a House
12. Put money from each pay check into our savings account for 6 months without taking any money out
13. Have couples prayer and scripture study daily for 3 months
14. Take Temple Prep Class - Completed January 2009
15. Get our Endowments Out - Completed Saturday April 25th, 2009 Draper Utah
16. Send out Family Christmas Cards
17. Visit 5 temples (Draper, Provo, Rexburg, Timp & Salt Lake) Complete May 2009
18. Go to a concert
19. Don't eat out for 1 month/Make dinner at home for 1 month!
20. Recycle our aluminum cans for 2 months - Completed Wednesday December 24th, 2008
21. Go hit a bucket of balls at a driving range - Completed Friday October 24th, 2008
22. Hang out with 5 different Couples - Complete (Hubners, Cranes, Fillmores, Deshazers, Hunsakers, Jones)
23. Get all of our tax information together from all jobs in 2008 (Acumen, BYU, Smokehouse, Acentra, Manpower and Vision Security) and file taxes for 2008 - Completed February 15th, 2009
24. Get a puppy - Complete June 20, 2009
25. Play Tennis together
26. Play Basket Ball together
27. Visit Grandpa Rex's grave at the Salt Lake Cemetery in Utah
28. Visit my sister Allison's grave at the Green Acres Cemetery in Scottsdale, Arizona
29. Make Sunday dinner for Dan's Parents - Completed 1st Sunday June 2009
30. Take a road trip to Las Vegas – Planned for Thanksgiving 2009
31. Take Carley and Chainey out for a fun day trip - Completed Saturday December 27th, 2008 (plan another one!)
32. Go to a Kempton Family Party
33. Speak in Sacrament Meeting
34. Buy nicer couches for the living room
35. Make copies of each of our Patriarchal blessings for each of our scriptures (get new scriptures!)
36. Have family pictures taken
37. Drive the Alpine Loop
38. Get our wedding rings engraved
39. Hike the Y - Completed Saturday October 25th, 2008
40. Be healthy enough to stop taking Pseudotumor Medicine (down to 250mg as of May 2009!!)
41. No longer test positive for insulin resistance (Insulin resistance went down to Moderate Nov 19th, 2008!)
42. Write a wedding diary - Completed Monday August 4th, 2008
43. Don't use my credit card for 1 month - Completed Friday December 4th, 2008
44. Run a 5k Again
45. Run a half marathon
46. Get an internship and finish all paperwork before I start it - Completed Thursday December 18th, 2008
47. Finish internship - Completed April 14th, 2009
48. Finish all of my online classes - just need to finish Physical Science by Dec 2009
49. Finish a quilt - Completed 2 baby quilts Saturday November 29th, 2008
50. Take a Joann's Sewing Class - Completed July 2009
51. Use my new sewing machine to make something for my Mom
52. Register for Graduation - Completed Wednesday January 7th, 2009
53. Go to the dentist to get my back molar fixed as well as make a plan for what to do about 2 missing teeth - Completed March 2009 (still need crown)
54. Renew my CPR and First Aid Certification
55. Take the Ches Exam
56. Become a CNA
57. Go to Nursing School
58. Finish reading the Book of Mormon
59. Compile College journal entries (including blog posts)
60. Give testimony in church
61. Read 5 novels that have nothing to do with school
62. Create a new set of paintings for our bedroom or bathroom (like the ones in the kitchen) - Completed Tuesday October 28th, 2008
63. Go to a play - Completed Thursday October 30th, 2008
64. Vote in the presidential elections - Completed Sunday October 12th, 2008
65. Get A's in most of my classes for Fall 2008 - Completed Tuesday December 30th, 2008 (Only 1 B+)
66. Write at least one Public Health related blog entry each month for a year
67. Do the dishes for 1 month straight (poor Dan always does them)
68. Go to a relief society activity - Completed Wednesday October 29th, 2008
69. Submit a letter to the editor (Daily Universe)
70. Perfect 5 hymns on my violin (learn because I have been given much)
71. Learn how to sing and play the guitar at the same time
72. Write down life stories and lessons learned
73. Make a skirt with a cute peek-a-boo underskirt
74. Hang up all the pictures in our apartment to complete our home - Completed Saturday October 18th, 2008
75. Finish my engagement photo/wedding guest book/wedding photo scrapbook - Finished Friday October 31st, 2008 (just need to print out wedding diary to put in the back of the scrapbook!)
76. Get handbooks and things ready for the Volunteer Coordinating and Accessible Book Creation programs at the University Accessibility Center before I leave
77. Try 10 new recipes out of our healthy cookbooks in just 1 month
78. Sign up for the Gerontology Minor - Completed Monday September 15th, 2008
79. Send a secret into Post Secret
80. Get a rear tires and find out what is wrong with alignment - Finished Friday January 30th, 2009 (Keep getting them rotated at Big O every 3000!)
81. Make a binder for appliance manuals, receipts and important documents – Completed Document File Box made in October 2009
82. Make treats for the neighbors using my Kitchenaid Mixer
83. Organize the files on all of our computers and put them on an external hard drive
84. Volunteer somewhere new
85. Buy a Bob Boyd photograph of the temple we get sealed in
86. Take a photography and an art class somewhere
87. Buy a plant and keep it alive
88. Work in a hospital
89. Get a professional massage
90. Develop a Dan Website - Started November 2008
91. Make a video game for Xbox 360
92. Write an application for android (Google G1 phone) - Started October 2008
93. Receive the Melkezidek Priesthood - Completed Sunday December 14th, 2008
94. Invest some money - Completed March 11th 2009
95. Get a full time job after graduation - Completed April 10th 2009 (accepted SpectraSoft offer)
96. Get good grade car insurance - Completed Saturday October 18th, 2008
97. Suprise Brittany with Flowers - Completed Tuesday October 7th, 2008
98. Take a motorcycle class and get motorcycle license
99. Buy a new car
100. Get Lasik-eye Surgery
101. Start paying back student loans – Started paying back in July 2009

Turn Cans into Keys

For my Health 438 course this semester we are doing a social marketing project with Habitat for Humanities in regards to recycling in Provo. We are trying to raise awareness of the needs for recycling in the communities around BYU as well as help Habitat for Humanities raise money to build new homes for families in our community!

Protecting Marriage?

Marriage in the United States has become so sad in and of itself. The statistics show that more and more people are getting divorced and of those who are still married, many are unhappy in their marriages. I have seen people here at BYU marry people they don't love, knowingly marry untrustworthy and dishonest partners, as well as marry simply because they want to fulfill their animalistic need for sexual intimacy. I won't even go into how I feel about the youth of the church haphazardly entering into sacred temple marriages, because honestly thats a whole nother volume in my encyclopedia of thoughts.

At church on Sunday the Neiswenders in our ward (who are also our neighbors) gave very good talks about friendship and fellowshipping. I really enjoyed hearing Haley reiterating what Bruce C. Hafen of the seventy said in 2002 in his talk entitled The Gospel and Romantic Love when he said that we should "be friends first and sweethearts second. University professor Lowell Bennion once said that relationships between young men and young women should be built like a pyramid. The base of the pyramid is friendship. And the ascending layers are built of things like time, understanding, respect, and restraint. Right at the top of the pyramid is a glittering little mystery called romance. Now, you don’t have to be very smart to know that a pyramid won’t stand up very long if you stand it on its point instead of its base. In other words, be friends first and sweethearts later, not the other way around. Otherwise, people who think they are sweethearts may discover they can’t be very good friends, and by then it may be too late."

If we want to protect marriage we need to start in our own homes looking inwardly rather than outwardly. I feel that more people would live more fulfilling and happy lives if we spent more time evaluating how we are doing in our lives, how we are treating our partner and how our marriages are doing as a whole. Thats how I want to protect my marriage, by staying best friends with my husband and not letting the world defile our love and devotion to each other. Does anyone need to vote on that? No.

Right now a hot topic in regards to marriage is California's Proposition 8. I am not one to get into great debates with people. I don't voice my political opinions much. This being said I have been very saddened by the recent publicity amongst the youth at BYU and in the church over Proposition 8. It saddens me to see families put at arms because certain members support Proposition 8 and others do not. I believe we all have a choice in this battle. I feel that those of us who do not live or vote in California have even less of a say on what is happening with Proposition 8.

I have felt somewhat awkward since hearing the churches stance on Proposition 8, I simply believed that they would not make a political stance on this issue. I understand the churches stance and I feel for the issue both ways, although I feel that we should not sit on the fence because its easy. I have heard a lot of things that seem less than true about why the church supports Proposition 8 so I did some research and now feel more confident in understanding why the Church supports it and knowing that some of the rumors I had heard were wrong. As citizens we have every right to make ourselves as knowledgeable about the issues as possible.

The church made its stance at the end of June. "The Church’s teachings and position on this moral issue are unequivocal. Marriage between a man and a woman is ordained of God, and the formation of families is central to the Creator’s plan for His children. Children are entitled to be born within this bond of marriage."

However it was nice to read that "Latter-day Saints are free to disagree with their church on the issue (Prop 8) without facing any sanction", said L. Whitney Clayton of the LDS Quorum of the Seventy. "We love them and bear them no ill will."

Literature written by Proposition 8 proponents are freely distributed in Mormon wards, giving the impression the church approves of these pamplets, but much of it is "misinformation," said Morris Thurston, an LDS attorney in Orange County. Thurston has circulated a point-by-point response to an anonymously authored document that has been widely disseminated by Mormons, "Six Consequences . . . If Proposition 8 Fails." Thurston argues that most of its arguments are either untrue or misleading. "The general church authorities I have spoken to have been understanding and compassionate," he said. "They counsel respect, civility and open mindedness toward those who disagree with the church's position."

Mormons for Marriage

Stuart Matis

Stuart Matis 2

Sunday at the Calkins

Hiking the Y

I hiked the Y today with two of my fantastic friends, Cynthia and Mary! I couldn't believe they talked be into going... They had never gone and I had gone once a year a half ago. I had so much more fun this time with these girls, I wanted to give up so often but they were so encouraging and we all made it up alive! We had an amazing view and could even see the full foot ball stadium!

Golfin Calkins

Did you know Dan can Golf?!? Neither did I! He even has a golf glove... uh!I was far more concerned with taking pictures than golfing!

My new favorite Breakfast!!! So yummy that I am actually eating Breakfast

I need a Break before I Break

This is not my week!

When all the little things in life seem to go wrong... what are we to do? I feel like throwing big massive angry fits of rage instead of dealing with them like an adult this week.