30 Day Picture Challenge: Day 2 - A Wonderful Friend

Day 2: A picture of you and the person you have been close with for the longest.


Me and my Mushy Girl! Though she is now far far away, living the grad school high-life in Washington D.C. she will always hold a special place in my heart!

30 Day Picture Challenge: Day 1 - Info on Me!

My sweet sister in law Savanna is doing the 30-day picture challenge and I think she is wonderful so I’m jumping on the band wagon! Feel free to join in yourself!

Day 1: 15 Facts About Yourself and A Pic of Yourself


On a "bike ride" in Mexico

1. My favorite color is white – a recent discovery
2. I love love LOVE chocolate but only eat it on my birthday every year
3. I want to be just like my dad when I grow up
4. I have the sweetest husband in the world that has centered his whole life around following his passions while providing for his family with love, time, the priesthood, and the necessary mula to get the job done
5. Fourth of July is my favorite holiday
6. My favorite foods are yams, whipped cream, and smoothies
7. I like buying new clothes and then leaving hanging them in my closet with the tags on so that I always have the option of wearing a new shirt
8. I love everything about the sunshine: being warm, being tan, being burnt, not being able to see when it shines in my eyes, everything
9. Down time makes me sad
10. I am slightly obsessed with Disneyland and Carrie Underwood… Not necessarily her music… just her.
11. I LOVE traveling – whether it is driving to Salt Lake for the weekend, spending a week at Lake Powell, or flying to Europe… I love it. Someday I want to do a cross-country road trip and meet people from the south.
12. I owe all that I am to my parents, brother, husband, friends, hard work, and my testimony of the gospel
13. I want to serve a couples mission when I get old… but I want to go somewhere like Hawaii or the Florida Keys… Where it is warm and there are no bugs
14. I love to learn… If I could be a part time student my entire life I would do it in a heart beat
15. When all is said and done I would like a four bedroom house, three children, and a boob job… in that order

Let's Hear it For the Girls!

There is just something special about having girl friends. I love my husband dearly, can talk to him about anything, love to spend every waking moment with him… but the one time I tricked him into a clear coat of toenail polish after a foot massage he scraped the polish off with a rock because he “wouldn’t be caught dead swabbing his toe nails with a cotton ball to get it off” (true story). We definitely could not survive without our sweet husbands, brothers, fathers, father in laws, grandpas, and guy friends. Despite the fact that they are really strong (one time Michael picked up the back end of THIS and moved it like 6 feet when we got stranded in the wilderness up at Bruce and Lisa’s cabin… it weighs the same as a small car!), handsome, sweet, logical, and bless our homes and lives with the priesthood… we also need our girls. I feel so blessed to have Malyce and Lauren that I can talk to about all of my health, fitness, and work concerns; Merrick that I can talk to about family, parenting, and the BIG PICTURE (aka everything); Savanna, Hillary, and Dani that are such LOYAL soul mates of mine that listen and are invested in everything that matters to me; Michelle that I can call for FRESH insight, inspiration, and spiritual guidance; my MOM that has her feet CEMENTED to my side of the story and will always answer and listen and listen and listen to what I have to say; and so many other sweet women and positive role models in my life. I’m also grateful for my blogger friends, former roommates, high school confidantes, and girls I meet at wedding receptions... they always seem to say just what I need to hear.


During our marriage I have tried to explain the concept of girl friends to Michael and it didn't really click until a couple of days ago when my mother-in-law Cindy sent me the following article. I forwarded it on to Michael and he felt like he understood where I was coming from a lot better.

"I just finished taking an evening class at Stanford. The last lecture was on the mind-body connection - the relationship between stress and disease. The speaker (head of psychiatry at Stanford) said, among other things, that one of the best things that a man could do for his health is to be married to a woman whereas for a woman, one of the best things she could do for her health was to nurture her relationships with her girlfriends.

At first everyone laughed, but he was serious.

Women connect with each other differently and provide support systems that help each other to deal with stress and difficult life experiences. Physically this quality “girlfriend time" helps us to create more serotonin - a neurotransmitter that helps combat depression and can create a general feeling of well being. Women share feelings whereas men often form relationships around activities. They rarely sit down with a buddy and talk about how they feel about certain things or how their personal lives are going. Jobs? Yes. Sports? Yes. Cars? Yes. Fishing, hunting, golf?

Yes. But their feelings? Rarely.

Women do it all of the time. We share from our souls with our sisters/mothers, and evidently that is very good for our health. He said that spending time with a friend is just as important to our general health as jogging or working out at a gym.

There's a tendency to think that when we are "exercising" we are doing something good for our bodies, but when we are hanging out with friends, we are wasting our time and should be more productively engaged—not true. In fact, he said that failure to create and maintain quality personal relationships with other humans is as dangerous to our physical health as smoking!

So every time you hang out to schmooze with a gal pal, just pat yourself on the back and congratulate yourself for doing something good for your health! We are indeed very, very lucky. Sooooo let's toast to our friendship with our girlfriends. Evidently it's very good for our health."

The Waiting Game

Back in mid-September I got a strong feeling that I needed to apply to the University of Utah's Master's in Social Work program. I was drawn to this program in particular because they offer two different emphasis that perk my ears, because I would get in-state tuition, because it is relatively close to my home but not the same university that I received my undergrad from (they don't like it when you get them both at the same place evidently), and mostly because they offer an Advanced Standing program. Advanced Standing just means that if you received your Bachelor's degree in Social Work (which I did) that you can skip the first year of their program and finish school in one calendar year! Pretty sweet deal, right?? So... I got all of my transcripts, letters of rec., essays, and forms together and submitted them on November 1, 2010 and the waiting game began.

About two weeks ago I got a letter in the mail from the university letting me know that I had been placed on the 'alternate list'. Having no idea what that really meant I gave them a call and they spent a good couple of minutes letting me know what a big accomplishment it was to be an alternate given the hundreds of applicants and small number of students admitted (60 p/year). They then let me know that I was basically put into a pool (not a ranked list) with the other alternates until those that had been accepted in the first round responded to their letters of acceptance on February 15, 2011. After receiving all of their responses they would then go through the applicants in the alternate pool completely fresh, as if they had not previously been evaluated, and admit as many of the alternates as they could. The promise was that I would know by the end of February/beginning of March what the verdict is on my application. Well... it's February 17th and I would LOVE to know what they are thinking over there! It's an exciting time. If I get in I do not know for sure that I will go but feel pretty certain that all of the sacrifices that would need to be made for this to happen would return to our family at least 10-fold. AAHHH!! I'll keep you posted!

The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

This past Christmas Michael and I were able to travel up to Citrus Heights, CA (near Sacramento) to spend the holiday in the sun with my wonderful family. During our time there we spent some time on the phone with one of my mom’s brothers that has had a bit of a difficult year in his personal life. As we talked he brought up a Christmas letter that we had all received and commented, “Isn’t it just AMAZING that NOTHING ever goes wrong in _____’s life???? Nothing! More grandkids are coming, they’re all getting thinner, the sun has started rising earlier, they have 36 hours in each day, they hit the California jackpot, on and on and on…” Though my sweet uncle was exaggerating… to the HILT it was interesting to hear his perspective, also keeping in mind that he did not send out a Christmas letter of his own. Knowing the family he was referring to in his analysis: I know of several struggles that they have faced and dealt with throughout the past year, but these were not mentioned in the letter.

After this conversation I got thinking about other cute Christmas cards that I had received several of them with DARLING top ten lists from the year 2010 and I started wondering what my list would’ve looked like… if I had sent out Christmas cards that is. It started out as a cute list that I would’ve changed to ‘candy cane’ font and felt good about… but then I looked over it again… Are these REALLY the 10 most substantial things that happened during my year? No. Would I ever really send out my real list?? NO!! I had a great 2010 but I’d say that if we were just basing my top 10 things off of substance… not all 10 would help spread Christmas cheer. I love blogging, facebook, Christmas cards, and all of the wonderful social networks that keep us connected with those that we love… but I also think it is important to give Mr. Reality a little pat on the back sometimes. We commonly blog about things that make us happy because that is what we like to write about and what people like to read about: it is what keeps them reading and what offers the little pick-me-ups that they deserve when they click on your link. That being said, people have imperfect lives that cannot rightfully be compared to the things in a "BEST DAY EVER!!" post. Don’t compare your home to the pictures posted by The Decorologist, just allow those pictures to make you happy and spark ideas. Don’t compare your screaming child to the Mormon Mommy Blog ‘Post of the Week’, just let it help you bring light and fresh activity ideas into your home. We post about reality with rose colored glasses because nobody wants to hear it all, not because life really is flawless. Keep your positive posts flowing and it will remind you of all the good in your life… keep reading everyone else’s and it will kindle the fire… but definitely don’t let yourself fall into the trap of “comparing your backyard to someone else’s front yard” –Ashley Elison.

*Thanks to Merrick, Ashley, and Margo for our convo the other day about this very thing… Love Love Love

Wings and Roses

Yesterday was WORLD'S BEST VALENTINE'S DAY!!! Michael and I met after a long day of work in our garage (so romantic) as I pulled up to the house. My sweet man was standing there waiting for me with ten beautiful roses. Why 10 you may ask?? I had no idea... I thought maybe they were discounted or something?? The reason was unveiled later.



And I emerged from my car with a heart plate full of super hot buffalo wings from Texas Roadhouse... It really didn't take long to get from that to this:



We took a minute to tidy up and primp before jumping in the car and flitting off to a ROMANTIC couples massage given by Jill. Find more information here. We have never been so relaxed and happy. I just LOVED glancing over at my little honey so happy and pampered. As we were walking to the car he pulled out another rose and started on this speech about how he had been having a really great time so far tonight and said "Brit, this is the 11th rose. Do you know what that means? It means you have made it to the final week. Please accept this rose and be mine forever." I DIED laughing!! DIEEEDD!!!! For those of you that think I am a horrible person - go watch the bachelor! There are 11 episodes in a season. A rose = immunity from being sent home that week. The girl that receives a rose on the 11th week, therefore, is proposed to... AND I MADE IT!!!! You should also know that I accepted the rose...

We then headed home to meet up with Michael's cousin McKay and his gf Lydia to play a Valentine-themed game at WalMart (they schooled us). And enjoy part of a chickflick... though littered with Mucinex commercials... I don't recommend pirated movie sites to anyone any more... It was a WONDERFUL and ROMANTIC night that could have only been topped with... a card ;-) Michael wrote me world's sweetest note and gave me a gift certificate to go buy the swimsuit I have been in LOVE with for the past month!!! CAN'T WAIT!!!! LOVE YOU HONEY!!!

Gramsy Lee

My sweet grandma wanted to send Michael and I our own quick little hello's. I thought mine was so cute that I forwarded it to Michael. Here it is:

HELLO YOU BEAUTIFUL CHILD: I AM SO O WORRIED ABOUT YOUR SWEET WONDERFUL MOM....SHE JUST CALLED AND I THINK SHE IS GETTING A COLD..........SHE CLEANED MY FRIG LAST NIGHT....NOW, THAT IS ENOUGH TO MAKE
YOU REALLY REALLY SICK!!!!!!!
I WILL WAIT UNTIL SHE IS WELL THEN WE ARE GOING TO LOOK FOR A NEW CARPET FOR MY HOUSE......I NEED IT......
BRITTANY,,,THANK YOU FOR SHARING YOUR AMAZING TALENT AT MY LITTLE CHRISTMAS PARTY.... YOU ARE SOOOOOOO
GOOD ... I AM GOING TO WRITE YOU SOON WITH A LIST OF YOUR VIRTUES...I DON'T THINK YOU KNOW THEM ALL.... I DO ~~~~~ GRAMS Y

Then Michael's hello came... so he forwarded it to me:

HELLO SWEET MICHAEL..............WHAT'S GOING ON? AT THE MOMENT I AM SO ENGROSSED AT WHAT'S HAPPENING
IN EGYPT......... IT'S A BIT SCARY....ACTUALLY, QUITE A BIT... I WOULD HATE IT IF THE MUSLIM BROTHERHOOD TOOK
OVER......THEY ARE OUR ARCH ENEMIES...................OH WELL.......... LOVE YOU................GRAMSY

Gotta love Grandma!!!!!