The Intern Widow Takes Control

Michael is going to be in Culver City, CA living the high life at an internship with Sony from now until August 19th. This could be a potentially very sad eight weeks without the love of my life/live in BFF so I have decided to make a to-do list that only a mad woman could conquer. I'm letting you in on it so that when I tell you that I have spent yet another 46 hours stripping wall paper or something that you know why. I've also found that love = joy and goals = overwhelming happiness... so I'm definitely going to set myself up for success here. Also keep in mind that I have been sworn to a $71 budget since that is the amount we currently have in Home Depot gift cards...

Around the house:
-Re-do the guest bedroom. Strip the wallpaper off of the one wall it's on (I'm not sure who decided that the accent wall should accent the ugly closet), paint the top half of the room, then learn how to install bead board.
-Have the 2nd half of our blinds installed
-Replace the bathroom mirrors and repaint the master bathroom
-Decorate kitchen
-Refinish kitchen cabinets
-Install new stair rails
-Put together our travel wall that we've been talking about for at least 2 years
-Decide what the living room is missing
-Decorate wall above bed in master and find night stands
-Replace the bathroom mirrors
-Secret office project

Personal:
-Come up with at least 10 light staple-dinners
-Ride my bike 3 times a week
-say kneeling prayers (I've had a hard time with this one - I swear my 3rd grade teacher is still living under my bed just waiting to grab me. Call me crazy but she is there... Mrs. Galusha...)

Along with goals, I have several exciting guest visits and trips planned!!
June 24th Dani gets back in town
July 1-7 My Padres are coming from California
July 15-17 I'm going to go visit Michael
July 21-24 Joyce is coming
August 2-5 I'm going to Girl's Camp with my Beehives
August 5-7 I'm going to visit Michael again!
August 19th Michael comes home!

I will miss my Michael but I am feeling good about the wonderful friends and family that has been so eager to spend time with me... and all of the planned commotion that will take our minds off of the distance! He is world's most wonderful husband and I'm excited to keep you updated on the things he is doing down in paradise!

Jon, Savanna and I went to drop him off in CA this past weekend. More details to come on our awesome trip but here is a sneak peek of the happy couple at (creepy and freezing, yet fun) Venice beach:

Alight - A short animated film

This is a film that was recently finished by several BYU animation students. Michael did the compositing and fx on it (basically like a beautiful top coat that adds and enhances detail). I have my own theories as to its meaning but I would love to hear what you get out of Alight:

Alight from Jason Keyser on Vimeo.

Disneyland TOMORROW!!

Are you ready for some MAGIC!?!? I AM!!! Disneyland HERE WE COOOOOOOOMMMEEE!!!!

Cha Ching!

My dad shared a beautiful quote with me today:

"I believe the recipe for happiness to be just enough money to pay the monthly bills you acquire, a little surplus to give you confidence, a little too much work each day, enthusiasm for your work, a substantial share of good health, a couple of real friends and a wife/husband and children to share life's beauty with you."

-- J. Kenfield Morley

And on that note... A couple of things that make me happy:


My hot husband and his facial hair... and green feet...

My family... Especially when I give my dad a reason to make this face. This says, "Brittany!? I think I was pretty clear about you not being allowed to drive the rental car... Especially when we're still in the car lot!" But he doesn't really mean it. He was dying for me to set all the radio stations to all his favorite rappers.

Double date nights with Savanna and Jon... the boys are there somewhere, we probably just forgot about them for a sec.

Girlfriends. This is Ashley, Merrick, Me, and Margo.

Babies!!! This is Benson, my favorite god son, with his beautiful mother Merrick.

Disneyland. Where we will be visiting again in just TWO DAYS!!! Be sure to check out Michael's awesome DISNEY BLOG!!

The Food Pyramid

There are some foods that are just GOOOOOD! For example:
frozen yogurt
graham crackers
mandarin oranges
yams
marshmallows
pears
dinner rolls

There are others that are just NAAAAASTY:
olives
pickles
beef jerky
cottage cheese (I want to like it so bad... but its gross so I can't)
cucumbers
ketchup
doughnuts

And some that have gotten better over the years:
grapefruit
french fries
nuts of all kinds

You're not sure why you needed to know this?? 'They' will probably redo the food guide pyramid again soon and I want to make sure that it doesn't distort your understanding of what is good and what is not good.

The Spring Travel Trilogy Part 3: Phoenix

All of the family that could be there to support!

I know we're a bit delayed here but that's ok! Over Memorial Day weekend Michael and I took the FUNNEST TRIP EVER to Arizona for Stephie's baptism (Michael's sister). The drive there was fun as we stopped in Beaver, UT on the way down to meet up with Grandma and Grandpa Murdock at Wendy's for dinner. It was a quick stop but SO GOOD to see them. The rest of the drive was... really long! We are used to maxing out our road trip time at the 9 hours it takes to get from American Fork to Irvine, CA so adding an extra 2 just about killed us. Either way, we arrived safely and were welcomed with open arms! Chad and Rachel (Michael's Murdock padres) had waited up and were anxious to show us around Stephie's new Arizona house. Apparently little Zoye (our niece) had waited up until 30 mins before we got there at 1:30am to try and see us but just couldn't make it. So cute!!


We slept like rocks until the next morning when we woke up bright and early for Stephie's baptism. We helped get the kids dressed and ready, Zachy all the while wondering why he was being forced to shower with this strange lady as he wasn't quite used to us again yet, then skipped off to the chapel. Stephie is such a sweet person. She has touched my heart so deeply and I am grateful to have her as a sister. She is proof to me that the stronger you are, the more you will be asked to face and has strengthened my testimony of the fact that a person will never be asked to take on more than they are able to. She is a terrific woman and mother, and has worked to become such. I loved seeing the peace in Stephie's face the day of her baptism. She had kids running every which way around her, 2 million people crammed into her home, food waiting to be piled on the table and still seemed to handle the situation with composure. I am so grateful that when I am a mother that I will have Stephie to answer questions.

At her actual baptism I was asked to give a talk on the Holy Ghost, which I felt good about giving and I think it went well. She is so ready for all of the blessings that the Lord has in store for her! After my talk and a talk by Chad on baptism I went with her to help her get into the font. You may have gathered from the pictures of Stephie that she was blessed with two beautiful legs - one is original and one came to her after a bout with cancer at age 7. Well we got through the doors and Stephie had her eye on the prize. Without thinking twice she started for the water. I stopped her and asked if she was planning on wearing her prosthesis in the water, as I knew I wasn't supposed to get wet! She laughed and unhooked her leg so that I could pull it down out of the leg of her jumpsuit. Well, Stephie is TINY TINY TINY. She is 33 and wore a 'child's large' sized jumpsuit. As the thigh of her prosthesis got to the ankle of the jumpsuit it was clear that the opening would not be big enough. We weighed the pros and cons and decided that trying to pull it through would be a good idea. We pulled and pulled and should've stopped pulling but we didn't... until her leg was wedged into that pant leg so tight that my fingernail wouldn't even fit between the two. We considered cutting the pant leg but were able to work it down far enough to break the leg free and bring it up through the top of the jumpsuit. It felt like an hour but Michael said it only took 3-4 minutes and ended up being a really sweet, and sisterly funny, experience.



Once zipped and ready, Stephie made her way down into the font and faced me as she stood beside Chad. I was overwhelmed by the greatness of the situation as I watched her listen to Chad's words and baptize her a member of the church. Stephie came up and got dressed before going out to see her friends and family. Michael confirmed her a member of the church and gave her the gift of the Holy Ghost. It was a beautiful blessing. After her confirmation the bishop of her ward welcomed her into the ward family and asked her to stand up and look around at the people that were there to support her. Stephie cried as she thanked everyone for being there and the spirit was so strong.

I am so happy to have Stephie, her kids, and her mother in my life. They have a huge part of my heart and I'm so grateful for them.

Little Zachy Buns!!

The Cone of Shame Chapter 2

I know this has turned into a Ruby shrine these last couple of days but I just couldn't leave this sitting on my desktop... Ruby's new eating technique!!