Friday, October 29, 2010

October 29, 2010

Ok. I'm not going to write a whole post about dropping Austin off at the MTC, simply because I'm sick of crying and it would make me cry, again. I've spent way too much time the last couple of days in tears.

SO...On to more exciting and happy news! I got accepted into the History Teaching Major! It's official! I'm super excited and now I just have to wait for my background check to clear (shouldn't be an issue, right) and I can finish registering for classes. When I turned in my application, they said I should get a decision by early to mid October, the end of October at the latest. Well then my registration date came and I still hadn't heard anything about my application, so I assumed I hadn't gotten in and registered for classes thinking I'd just go the History Major route. I decided to send them an e-mail just asking when decisions would be going out, because I needed to know what classes to register for. And then I got this email in reply:

Greetings History Teaching Applicant,

We are pleased to inform you of your entrance into the Social Sciences/History Major Entrance History Teaching Major. However, we have been having difficulty sending your official acceptance letter via snail mail. You can expect that letter early next week. But to help facilitate your registration we are sending this ‘official/unofficial email’.

Again congratulations!


HAPPY DAY!!!!!!!!! And you all know me, what did I do when I read this? I started crying, while at work. Oh well.

I'm so grateful to get to do what I want to do with my life. I have really been blessed. I wasn't really sure what I was going to do with just a history degree, especially since I don't want to get a masters degree any time soon.

Friday, October 22, 2010

Mission Farewell

Last weekend we went home for Austin's mission farewell. It was a great weekend. We watched Lance play soccer, they won 7-0. We ate LOTS of yummy food with our friends and family. I cried LOTS on Sunday at the Farewell. Stupid Brynn moment, I forgot tissues, and didn't realize until sacrament meeting had already started. Lucky for me, Grandma had some extras. Needless to say, by the time Austin spoke, he was last, I was down to using my jacket sleeve because I'd used all my tissues. Let me tell you, that boy is going to be one great missionary. Dang it! I'm gonna start crying while I'm writing this! I think that him going will not only bless the people of Argentina, but also our family. For those of you who don't know, my mom was the first member of the church in her family. She joined the church when she was 19, after coming to BYU. Her brother, my Uncle Dirk, joined the church about 10 years ago. All of the cousins in the two families that are over the age of 8 have been baptized and we all go to church regularly. We all love the gospel and sometimes we wish there was an easy way to share it with the rest of our family. We have been given such a fantastic gift and we want to share it. But we don't want to offend them or have them think that we are trying to push our religion on them. What we can do is live our lives the way that we know is right and hope that by our example, they will be able to come to see the greatness of the gospel. In the last year and a half, the family has gotten a pretty good idea of how important the gospel is in our lives. Last summer when Matt and I got married, there was a chance to get to explain why we were getting married in the temple, and not in a civil service at a church. And you know what...I feel like my family, even those who aren't members would have been disappointed in me if i had not been married in the temple. Someday they will all understand the wonderful blessing that it is to have an eternal family and to know that I am sealed to Matt for eternity, not just till death do you part.
Anyways...Back to the weekend. After church we all got together to take family pictures. It can be kinda interesting to get that many smiling faces at once.

Cousins with Grandma and Pap (we're missing 2, Recil and Riley)



Family Picture (Emily wouldn't change out of her PJ pants...)



Sibling Love, I'm gonna miss him!




















































And then there's Me and Syd... Yeah, we kinda rock that double chin look..





And we don't do serious very well either!

Thursday, October 21, 2010

obsession

Ok. I've officially become obsessed with a pair of shoes....not an exact "pair", more a type of shoe. I want some so badly! You all should be proud of me, they aren't sky high heels or flip flops, they are practical shoes that I'd probably wear every day, would keep my feet warm and dry in the winter, and wouldn't cause me to fall flat on my face. I know, I know...you're shocked. I am too. It all started when my mom got a pair of Dansko clogs that are Zebra print! I fell in love with them! I don't think that the zebra would be a good choice for me, simply because it wouldn't match much in my closet. I think I want a pair of black ones.

My favorites are:Black Patent leather (classic, will match almost anything, dressy enough to wear to church)Brown Leather (again, classic will match lots, especially my khakis)
and if I could just have a pair to wear just because and not worry about their practicality, I'd get these ones:I love the red! It's probably my favorite color ever! But, it wouldn't match...

Friday, October 15, 2010

Brain Dump

Ok. I'm at work again, and it's been a few weeks since my last post, so lets see what I can do to catch up on everything that's been going on!

1. Matt and I were sitting in bed watching a movie, I think it was Clash of the Titans, when we noticed that there was water dripping from the ceiling onto our bed. uggg... It took us a couple of days to get the repair guy over and have him fix it. Turns out that this had been a problem before we moved in, and the last person who fixed it, didn't do it right. Joy. But it's fixed now and we don't have to worry about that anymore.

2. General Conference! I LOVE getting to listen to the Prophet speak. He's such an amazing man. Actually I love all the General Authorities, I don't think there was a talk that I didn't like. I loved President Monson's talk about being grateful. This is something that I need to work on. I have been so blessed, and I need to focus on the many good things that I have in my life. I also really liked Elder Holland's talk in the Saturday morning session. I think that all too often we aspire to have great callings in the church, and we don't realize that the church is a pyramid. The Prophet is at the top and it goes down to the "small" callings that are at the very base. With out those, the church wouldn't function. There is no such thing as a small calling, some may take more time than others, but each calling furthers the work of the Lord. I once heard a story about a woman that everyone thought was going to be the next Relief Society President, but someone else was called and she was called to be in charge of the sacrament bread. Everyone was shocked that such a talented lady would get such a "small" calling. Yet week after week, the ward had the most wonderful, home-made bread. This woman didn't complain, she simply magnified the calling she was given. I hope that I can be able to do this for all my life.




3. On September 27, 2010, Matt's Grandpa Larry Piffer passed away. As sad as the whole family was to have him leave us, we all know that he is in a better place and that he is no longer in pain. Last weekend we went to Glenwood for the funeral. It was a beautiful service. As we were at lunch after the funeral, we were watching a slide show of pictures from Larry's life, and I realized how much Matt looks just like his Grandpa Piffer! Matt says he doesn't see it, but everyone else does! He looks so much like his Grandpa and his Uncle David. It was nice to get to see all of Matt's family not in the chaos that was the wedding. I can't wait to get to go visit Nate and Mindy in North Carolina some time! Their kids are all so cute! Mindy and the twins (3 years old), Katie and Jake, and I played tea party in the basement, it was so much fun! I had forgotten how much I enjoy playing with little kids. None of the kids on my side of the family are that little anymore. Matt's cousin Ashley came with me to Collin's football game, we had so much fun. I guess her school's football team isn't very good, so she was excited to be able to cheer for a team that won! We had a great time.

4. Austin's Mission Farewell is this weekend! AHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!! I can't believe that he's leaving in a week and a half! I'm not sure if I'm ready for that! And I'm pretty sure that if I'm not ready, my mom's not ready either. I', gonna miss that kid so darn much. We were talking last weekend and we realized that Christmas this year is going to weird in that we won't be able to have our "Annual Big Kids Meeting in the Basement" because the room won't be a big kids room anymore. Austin, Collin, and I have been having this meeting for as long as Eli's been alive (That's 8 years! and that's when I moved from my upstairs room to the basement). Because we're crazy about Christmas, we all wake up super early, but can't go upstairs until mom and dad come get us. We usually play card games or something like that. But with Austin leaving, it's likely that mom will move the little boys into that room, and we can't have a Big Kids Meeting in the Little Boy's room...that just wouldn't be right.