2012

2012 in photos and journal snippets:

January:  "I somehow ended up at school without my backpack yesterday.  How the heck does that still happen to me?  So, yesterday turned into a stay-at-home day."

February: "Today I accompanied Scott (Bruening) in his district solo festival.  He did well, and almost fell down the stairs on the way out."

March: "After getting offers from all three of my top choices, I accepted the offer with Tax Hawk.  I'm beyond excited."  "Church went well.  My class wasn't too out of control despite the fact that the lesson was about animals."

April: "I did not expect our final WIB event to be so...validating.  I feel like I really did make a difference out there.  I'm so grateful to have met so many of these people over the past 3 years.  I will miss it."

May: "It's my final day at IBC.  Things I will miss include seeing my dad so often, talking to Alvin & Kryzstof, learning about chemistry, and reading books at work.  Things I will not miss include mosquito season, babysitting the ICP when it decides to be temperamental, smelling con HCL, and safety meetings.  Actually, who am I kidding, I loved those meetings."

June

July: "Scott just got a new job offer, which I think he'll be taking.  This means we'll be moving soon.  It's exciting." 

August: "We're watching a little bit of the Justin Bieber movie right now.  Arnold was right, it's pretty good.  Haha."

September: "Scott and I had a fun weekend filled with the Comcast man, BYU football, and yes, you guessed it: painting outside." 

October: "Tonight for our Halloween festivities, we'll probably just hand out candy and watch FNL.  We didn't get pumpkins this year, so at least we won't have smashed pumpkins in our yard this year (punks)!  Come to think of it, we haven't done a single Halloween thing this year...besides buying overpriced candy to feed the neighbors." 

November: "We went to Grandma Bruening’s on Friday to play games.  I played one of the funniest Loaded Questions games of my life.  Playing with Connor and Scott (husband) is hilarious.  Ironically their answers were often along the same lines."

December

Les Miserables Review

We saw Les Miz.  Being the super fan of the play that I am, I have a long list of complaints.

The first one being, Hugh Jackman bore a disturbing resemblance to the dad on Little House on the Prairie.  Am I right?

It's the hair.  Anyway, I had a hard time getting past that.

I won't bore you with all of my other complaints, but I will say that Liam Neeson is still the best.  Stick with that movie for your Les Miserables needs, and then pick and choose the best tracks from the various recordings to listen to the music.  Or just go see a quality version of the play.  I have a copy of AF High's if you want it.  Haha.

It is your birthday.

I may or may not have put my pajamas back on after I got ready for the day today.  This is because today is a really good day.  When you get the day off during your busy season, it's like the equivalent of two regular work days.  These days are meant to be spent in pajamas.

Anyway, today is special for another reason as well.  It is my favorite person's birthday.  Therefore a sappy blog post is in order.  Wouldn't you agree?  Here's a random list of reasons why Scott is the best.

This one time, Scott helped me figure out the DC Low Income Credit problem I was having at work.  No one in their right mind would look at how to calculate that credit...unless they wanted to claim it, so this was substantial.

We laugh a lot around here because Scott is very funny.  He's constantly searching "the Pinterest" for hilarious things to show me or asking "the Google" about things I'll find funny.

Early one morning, I was not happy about waking up.  Scott, knowing I needed help getting out of bed, started the following conversation:
     S: "Do you need help?"
     Me (sounding mad about getting up): "With what?"  
     S: "Staying in bed or going back to sleep?"
     Scott is quick to make me smile.

Never, has Scott gotten upset with me.  This is either because I'm super awesome or because he's extremely patient and kind.

This boy of mine is oh-so-handsome.

You may or may not know this, but Scott has a really good Texan accent, and he will use it for hours on end.

Nearly everything Scott does, he does well.  (I would say "everything" instead of "nearly everything," but I need to start this sentence with "N.")  He's really good at his job. He's been at his new company for 4 months, and he's already secured over a million dollars worth of contracts.  And he acts like this is no big deal.  He's also really good at his calling, and he often saves me from mine when the sunbeams are especially mean.

I often find happy/funny things he's left around the house.  Like "the book" or the addition of strange things on my grocery list.

Now that we've been married for a little while, Scott's adopted many things that I like.  It's common to hear him singing Adele around the house or requesting movies like While You Were Sleeping.  By the way, he thought the chorus to "Rumor Has It" actually said, "Who's Your Daddy?" instead.  Just had to throw that in there.  Haha.

Every day with Scott is the new best day.  Seriously.  Except for last Monday when Scott had the flu.  That was not our new best day.  Luckily we've had 4 since then.

*Scott is 29, but in his mind that is really more like 46.  Please do not bring this up.

Oceans 2012

We returned from our trip to Wendover today.  Yes, Scott and I took a road trip to Wendover, Nevada.  To answer a few of your questions about Wendover:  (1) No, there is nothing to do there besides gamble, and (2) No, they don't even have a Denny's to eat breakfast at.

So, why Nevada, you may ask?  Every year, Scott's company invites all of the employees to come eat dinner and spend the night at the hotel/casino: Montego Bay.  It was quite a contrast from my work party which involved tons of kids and a reptile show.  Anyway, we joined with LCG at the casino and had a fun night.

This was my first casino experience, so I feel like it's worth mentioning the strange things I noticed.

Such as...

You would not believe how many old grannies were there with their fanny packs full of quarters trying to work the slots!

Everyone on the slot machines looked like zombies.  So I decided to try to look like one of them, pretty much just so I could blog this photo. Haha.  No, I did not try to win anything.

Also, there was a lot of teal and purple going on in the entire hotel (Mardi Gras theme?) in addition to a million mirrors and shimmery ceiling tiles.

(Steer clear of this room if you are prone to seizures....or headaches.)

Also, apparently you can smoke in a casino, no problem.  (So it smelled like you might expect it to under those conditions.)

Also, people went crazy over the free drink cards.

Also, the workers really do wear red suit coats, vests, and bow ties.  It was like being in Oceans Eleven minus George Clooney.

So, in conclusion, we had a really great time talking with all of Scott's co-workers and eating delicious food, but the casino part we could have done without.

Survival and the Christmas Wreath

This weekend Scott got sick...so I went into survival mode.  Literally.  I made 36 freezer tortillas, scones, zucchini bread, and rolls.  All to survive...and fill my time with something.

Anyway, it was a long, sober weekend since I didn't get all the attention I usually get.  Poor Scott was so sick he didn't even have the strength to scratch my back every night.  It really was quite horrible.

On the plus side, I finished my Christmas wreath.  It turned out pretty great.   There are shreds of burlap all over the house, but it was a fun project. :)

We also finally took our Christmas card photo and ordered the cards!  Now to write something clever for the insert about how much of the year was spent painting our darn house all the awesome things we did this year.