Day 7 - What I wanted to be when I grew up...

When I was little I wanted to be a vet. I remember that very clearly. I'm not sure when it changed, but I know at one point I wanted to be preschool teacher and then it changed to cop. And my mom won't let me forget when I wanted to be a cowgirl. We had gone camping out Right Hand Fork and met some random cowboy. He let us girls ride his horses up and down the road. I was last and my mom mentioned that I liked cows so he let me help herd the cattle. I was riding a horse that used to be a wild mustang in Nevada. Funny thing, I actually saw some wild horses in Nevada like 15 years later!

So I have changed my mind a lot. When I started college at USU I went into the Elementary Education program at first. I had a 7:30 class in the second semester which was El. Ed. I slept in a lot. Funny how I didn't miss a day of school in high school but I missed a LOT in college. Anyway, I decided because of that class that I didn't want to be a teacher anymore. My roommate Crystal was a psychology major and she was taking a behaviorism class and she got to train a rat. I thought that sounded neat, so I changed majors. I ended up graduating with a B.S. in Psychology. You can't do much with a Bachelors and I really don't have any desire to go back for more school, or to be a therapist. So I stayed in the restaurant business until now.

Now I have the best job in the world. Wife and mom! I wouldn't trade it for anything.

Day 6 - Favorite Sports Team

Well this is a fitting post for today. I love football. I always preferred it when it came to sports, but I didn't really understand it until I was in college. And I understood it even more after I started dating Mike. And my favorite team is the Steelers. And they lost the Super Bowl today.

I think I should be more upset that I am. But it wasn't that good of a game. They had a chance to win it in the last 2 minutes and they failed. Oh well. Football isn't my life. Although it's fun to watch and it's fun to bond with my husband over it.

One day I'd like to go to a NFL game. I was in the colorguard in high school and college so I've been to a lot of football games, but I think I would really enjoy a NFL game. Too bad the closest stadium is in Denver and I'm not a fan of the Broncos. Maybe someday we'll head back East and get to see a game in Pittsburg. Maybe.

Day 5 - A Picture

Grace and I like to take pics using the Photo Booth on my laptop. Sometimes she sneaks on there without me knowing. She's such a cutie.

Day 4 - Favorite Quote

Ok I'm just picking random ones now cause I lost the list I was originally looking at.

So today's in my favorite quote. I actually have two. One is a quote I heard (in a song) when I was in high school. Now, originally it was cause I thought I was cool for having picked this as a quote, but I really feel it means something. Ready...

"Live to win, dare to fail" - James Hetfield

Ya, that's the lead singer of Metallica. And that quote is from a song. And for the life of me, I can't remember what song. Hey, I have kids now. The CD that's currently in my car is a Fisher-Price sing-a-long so forgive me for not rockin' out Metallica lately.

But when I was in HS that quote really stuck out to me cause it made me want to live life to the fullest. Not saying I ever did, and hey, maybe I liked it cause it was from a Metallica song, but I did really like it, and I used it as my favorite quote a lot.

So, a more recent quote that is my fave is actually a Bible passage.

1 Corinthians 1:18 "The message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God."

When Mike and I got married he had to attend RCIA so he could receive communion and confirmation and then we could be married in the church. After that we were attending weekly Bible study where we'd go over the readings for the next week. I started reading the Bible at home. Now I've never sat down and read the Bible from cover to cover, but I did go to Catholic school for 9 years and church for 29 years so I've probably heard about 90% of it. But I did start reading the New Testament and when I got to Corinthians, this passage really stuck out to me.

I wear a cross every day. Usually it's the one my parents got me for my Confirmation, but sometimes it's the one Mike got me for our first Christmas, or the one his Grandmother gave me before she passed away. Members of the faith that is predominate in Utah do not wear crosses and one time someone asked me why I do. I think this passage sums it up perfectly. It is a reminder of what Jesus did for us so we could be saved. It reminds me of the sacrifices He made so I could be saved. I am a sinner. He died for me. By wearing a cross, I have a constant reminder to ask for help when I need it (and I do that a lot) and a reminder that He is always with me and guiding me. And I feel this passage is the perfect response when someone asks why I wear a cross. And it helps remind me of what Jesus did for us. I helps keep me humble and reminds me I'm not going through anything alone. And that God will not give me anything He knows I cannot handle. Sometimes I need that reminder.

Day 3 - A Memory

There's so many that it's hard to choose, but this one has been on my mind all day. Not sure why.

When Mike and I had been dating for a year or so, he had heard about a place called the Spiral Jetty. It was up near Promontory Point and someone in one of his classes said it was really cool, so we decided to take a short trip out and check it out. We had film in the camera (this was back before digital cameras were common) and some snacks and we took off in the Jeep. Promontory is about hour away from Logan and we were told the Jetty was on a driving trail past that.

Ok, time out. We had NO clue what a jetty was before we went. The girl in his class said it was spiral and out in the Salt Lake. That was all the definition we had so we were pretty much guessing what we were looking for.

So we drive for a while. It's cold out but there's no snow. We get to where we can see the Salt Lake and we see these huge wall looking things built out of boards and logs. This must be it! But it didn't really look spiralish. The cool thing is it's all covered in salt. So it looked like snow. We think there must have been oil drilled because there was piles of salt/dirt with black stuff dripped around it. We wasted about half the roll of film, or more, on what we thought was the Jetty.

Then we drove more.

Then we saw the REAL Spiral Jetty.

And it was a spiral. I guess it was man-made and someone has just built up the land so it spiraled out into the lake. It wasn't very big, but we walked around it anyway. The cool thing was, the salt was all tainted pink because of the brine shrimp (aka sea monkeys).

These aren't pictures that we took, but you at least get the gist of it. I do have some cool pictures but I'll have to find them in one of a million photo albums (remember, no digital).

So the reason this memory sticks out so much is because Mike and I can have some intense conversations. On our first date we stayed up talking until 3 in the morning. We agree 95% of the time as well and of the 5% that we disagree, we debate with no bloodshed :)

But this was really the first time we had spent a long time in the car together and it was great to be able to talk to each other and not really have any awkward silence. In fact, I don't think we've ever had any awkward silence. We've always been extremely comfortable around each other.

I can't remember what the conversation was about, but I do remember how much fun we had exploring together. And that has continued on for the 8 years we've been together.

Day 2 - Favorite Location

My home.

Mike and I decided back in 2005 that we were ready to buy a house. We contacted a local realtor and unknowingly signed a contract that stated we would use them to buy a house, or we'd owe them money. So we went with our newly licensed realtor and checked out some houses. We were approved for a ridiculously high amount but we were reasonable and looked for a house in the lower end of our budget. We had a few things we needed: 3 bedrooms, 2 baths, garage, yard and preferable a fence because we wanted to get a dog.

We looked a a few houses. Most were old, and were really run down and needed a lot of work. One had a fire in the kitchen, which our realtor only mentioned when we commented about the smoke stains on the ceiling. One had the master bedroom in the attic and Mike was too tall to stand straight in it. One was great but no garage. One had a garage but it was so beat up it would take us way more money than we wanted in order to make it livable. One was perfect.

We made an offer. They countered and we just walked away because we didn't want to spend as much as they were asking. We found another house and were going to make an offer, but someone else beat us to it. We had only been looking for a few months, but really, we were doing all the searching. Our realtor would call and say she had a house and we'd tell her about 4 more that we had found on our own. Then our mortgage broker mentioned Highmark Construction.

I didn't think we could afford to build a house. I mean, brand new?? That's gotta be pricey, right? Wrong! We ended up building a house for the same amount we were going to buy a pre-exisitng house. And we got to pick the layout, the paint, the carpet, the appliances, etc.

Sure I'd change things now if we could go back and do it again. I'd get the basement finished, and the landscaping done. We'd have a larger master bath. But oh well. The house we have isn't just a house, it's our home.

Mike and I moved in just the two of us, but now we are a family of 4. We put in the sprinklers (with the help of my father in law) and the lawn. We're going to finish the basement ourselves. We have had Christmases and birthdays in this house. It holds so many memories and we've only been here 5 years.

The other day I mentioned that I don't think we need to move any time soon. We still have plenty of room, even if baby #3 comes along soon. We have a list of the things we want to do (fence is next and then the basement), but it doesn't mean our house doesn't work for us now, as it is.

Ok enough of the physical part, the other part of my favorite location is the "home" part. Being here, with my family, is the best part of my house. I could be in any other building, but as long as I'm with my family, it will be our home. And right now, with the way the economy is, I'm very thankful that we have a roof over our heads to keep my family safe and warm.

30 Days of My Life

I totally copied this from Little Sarah, but I like it.

Day #1 - Introduce Yourself

My name is Briana. I'm a 29 year old stay-at-home mom to 2 beautiful girls! Man it feels good to say SAHM. Up until a week ago, I would have introduced myself as "Briana, General Manager of the Logan Ruby Tuesday" but we closed down last Sunday. So now I'm sitting on unemployment and being mommy to my kids. I LOVE IT! I've definitely become more domestic over the past two years. I cook dinner almost every night (I can say that now, cause I'm home! Hard to have a meal on the table when you work at a restaurant cause the hours are crazy). I have a routine for cleaning, which makes me feel warm and fuzzy inside. I coupon, as you probably have noticed. I'm getting more and more crafty by the day. Now if I could just finish a craft before starting a new one :)

I was born in Ridgway, Pennsylvania which is a small town in western Pennsylvania. I moved to Bloomington, Indiana when I was 11 and then moved again when I was 16 to Smithfield, Utah. I swore that I was moving out of Utah as soon as possible, yet I'm still here. I was born and raised Catholic and living in Utah for 14 years has actually made me stronger and more knowledgable about my own faith. I went to Utah State University after graduating high school and graduated with a Bachelors of Science in Psychology in 2004.

In 2001 I started working at Ruby Tuesday, and it was there that I met my husband Mike. It took him 6 months to work up the nerve to ask me out. He essentially moved in on our 3rd date and never left. And I never want him to. We were married two and a half years later. Another two years later we were blessed with our first girl, Grace. She's an amazing, free-spirited little girl who loves tigers, SpongeBob and I Spy. Four years after that we were blessed with baby girl number 2, Mercy. She's only 3 months old, but she's such a chunk! She sleeps a lot, eats a lot, and is all-in-all a pleasant baby! I want baby #3 soon, but Mike says we have to wait.

Some things many people don't know about me and could be surprised to find out:

• I have the motorcycle endorsement on my license. When I was 19 I had my own bike and rode for about 3 years before my bike was sold.
• I am a gun enthusiast. I was in the NRA for a long time, but my membership lapsed and I haven't gotten around to renewing it yet. I'm a pretty darn good shot, too.
• I like video games. Especially MMORPGs like World of Warcraft. I'm a nerd, I know.
• My favorite band is Metallica. Second fave is Smashing Pumpkins. I also like country music too.
• We use NFP and I'm extremely pro-life. Which leads to...
• I used to classify myself as a Republican. Now I'd say I'm more Libertarian. However, I do not believe in killing babies, no matter the reason. Ask me about why Planned Parenthood was started and I'll make my husband explain it cause he does a better job than I do lol
• I am a couponer (as previously mentioned) but I'm not crazy like the people on the TLC show (which I haven't watched). I do have a huge coupon binder and I do stockpile and have a mini grocery store in my basement, but I don't go overboard. And my husband said he doesn't care how many boxes of cereal I have...

And I think that's all for day #1...