Nerd Fest at the Stokes' Home

Meet Reggie,

He is one fun fuzzball...
And when you take a photo of him he has to be perfectly still or he looks like a fuzzy carpet like in this picture when Bryant was rubbing his tummy.

He is my Aunt Nicole and Uncle Brad's new dog. They also have a Blue Lacy named Boo. If your wondering what a Blue Lacy is, its a mix between bloodhound, greyhound and Coyote, and they are only bred in Texas.

I need to set up a play date for Ace, Reggie and Boo. I have a feeling they would be best friends...

As for Bryant and I here at home, it was...
NERDFEST!!!
I had geography and art history homework tonight and I needed my "thinking glasses".

Now that the dishes are in the dishwasher, the cloths are in the washing machine, the homework is done and I get to sleep in an extra couple hours tomorrow before class so what does that mean???

Another couple episodes of Dexter!

One tough weekend.

This whole weekend was pretty tough. Saturday I had to work all night, and I hate closing, especially on a Saturday night. Not to mention, literally 5 minutes before we closed I had a customer come up and say "I have ten books I need for class ASAP". So I looked them ALL up on the computer, wrote down where they ALL were, dragged her around the ENTIRE store to get them all for her. After I help her, I do a walk through of the store to gather up all the books people leave on tables and on the floor, and I get a call from a manager that the last customer to leave left a pile in the cafe. So I head over and what do I find??? ALL ten of the books that I had just grabbed for the customer next to a pile of about 30 magazines. That, in my opinion is probably the rudest thing you can do in any retail store. If she just wanted to know if we carried them, she could have told me and I wouln't have had to go find them all for her, just to turn around and put them back. Grrrr....

So that kind of put me in my weekend-bad-mood-funk.

Sunday, however, was the worst. I was still groggy and irritated and I really didn't want to go teach my primary class. Bryant is the best though and he offered to go so I could stay at home, but that just isn't fair to him, plus, I really like church, just not my ward. So we go, and as soon as we walk in the kids are hitting, punching, biting, pushing, and yelling and nothing in the world can make them stop, no amount of threatening, begging or bribing can get them to calm down.

As we leave the primary room, a lady hands me a paper that says something along the lines of "this is what you missed in relief society this week cause you never get to come" (ok, ok so it doesn't really say that, but thats what it made me think of...) and she says "how's is going sister Francom?"

I can't even begin to tell you how much this irritates me. Apparently just before we moved in, another new couple moved in and got thrown in primary named the Francoms. So now, every new couple in Primary is now "the francoms". Thankfully, it's not just us no one cares to get to know. It doesn't make me feel like such a loser. But come on people, we have been here 8 months! You see us every week, and every week, we tell you our last name is Stokes.

Class was just as bad, we handed out brownies and watched a cartoon movie of the 2000 stripline warriors. The first thing Gabe does with his brownie? He sets in on the floor and steps on it, then asks for another one.... I was ready to smash one in his face.

Once again, I wake up this morning feeling really crappy and still in my bad-mood-funk. My apartment was a disaster, so I set to work getting it in shape. I was about to just sit down and be grumpy over just about anything, when a message on my ipod popped up saying that I had a message from my friend Tyler Robbins mom Valinda. She is amazing, I have known her for ages and she sent me the best advice. She told me that she understands that it's hard to make friends in a ward where we don't get a chance to meet anyone, but that she was sure the bishop (who, by the way, we have only met once and had a 3 second conversation with) appreciated that we had taken the calling. She also said that she had to teach primay for many years and that there were a few times that she basically had to tell the parents of some kids that they were not welcome to come to primary unless they could get them under control first. She also told me not to take any crap from the kids, that if they are acting up and won't stop, to just take them straight to their parents. I always thought that was a little mean, but she said that my calling is to teach them, not to babysit them, and that it's not fair to the other kids if I have to spend all my time taking care of one instead of teaching all of them.

Her note really cheered me up and I was happy to learn that I'm not the only one who has problems with primary. I think the real problem was that I was upset that Bryant and I are not really a part of the ward. I signed up for vollyball and he signed up for basketball, neither of us got any info on games or anything. We both go to all the ward parties and activities, not one person says hello to us, and we end up wandering around until I pretty much just want to cry.

Bryant is the best at cheering me up though. Every night this past weekend, he gets me a bowl of ice cream or a glass of coke and we sit down and watch my (new) favorite show Dexter. He is also really good at being calm and helps me see the logical side of things when i'm upset and not thinking straight. He even helped me finish cleaning up the kitchen. What a good sport.

So thank you Valida, for thinking of me and giving me the support and advice I needed.
Thank you Bryant for always putting up with me and listening to me, and loving me and being the best husband in the entire world! I definitly don't deserve you, but I'm so glad you found me and are willing to deal with me for eternity :) haha.
And thank you Dexter, for keeping me entertained when I need time to relax and unwind, and for being available on Netflix.

The Italians know how to eat!

I love Macaroni Grill for 2 reasons:

1-Their bread is amazing and I love the oil and balsamic vinegar they give you to dip it in and

2- I love that I can draw while I eat ON THE TABLE

Best. Idea. Ever.

Thats Bryant (with his football jersey on) me and of course Ace.

Thank you macaroni grill for allowing my creativity to flow while feeding me yummy food.



Also, everyone should watch (or read) Hoot. It's super cute and Jimmy Buffett plays the teacher. Plus, they save adorable baby owls.

Dear Winter

Dear Winter,

You always make the holidays wonderful, and you make the earth really beautiful. You're good to ski and snowboard on, and you are wonderful for forts, sledding and snowmen. You are a good excuse to cuddle up and a reason to pull out the hot chocolate. I like to wear my scarves and slip into my slippers. You help to bring on the Christmas spirit and incite charity and love.

But it's time for you to go.

You have overstayed your welcome. The holidays are over. You are too cold, and too icy. The sky is gray and you are drowning out any color. I would love for you to take your own personal holiday for the next 11 months. I think I am ready to run outside in shorts or a summer dress rather than bundling up like i'm going extended deep sea diving.I want to go hiking and swimming, and I want Bryant to take me to school on his motorcycle. I want to go on picnics and read out on the deck. I'd like your icy lakes to melt so I can go kayaking and Ace really needs to learn to swim. You wouldn't want my puppy to be scared of water his whole life would you? Would you!?

So for my sake, but more so for his, please, take a break, take a vacation and let spring and summer do all the work for a while. You would really be doing everyone a favor. We'd love to see you again, believe me. But just not for a while.

Loves and kisses,
Brooke and Ace

Bigger is better

Overall, it was a great week.

I started my spring semester classes on Wednesday and I have a feeling this is going to be a good semester. One Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays I have Geography. I'm retaking it because last semester the professor was a huge jerk so I never wanted to go. This time around the professor seems pretty nice and in my opinion, his class is a LOT more interesting.

On Tuesdays and Thursdays I have art history through the renaissance. This class seems like it will be the hardest. The professor said that if you were a freshman or wanted an easy A, to drop his class. I took AP art history my senior year of high school, and going through the book, I know most of the stuff. So hopefully I'll do alright.

By the way, this is one of my favorite statues ever. It's called Nike, or Winged Victory of Samothrace. I was lucky enough to get to see her when I went to the Louvre.

And finally, On Wednesday nights, I have a 3 hour long South African history class. I have been avoiding this class as long as possible because it's only offered once a year and it's a 3 hour long night class. I get fidgety after about 45 min... But the Professor is nice and he really loves his subject, so we will see how it goes.

Plus I like the lady that drives the shuttle at night, she dropped me off at my car rather than at the bus stop so I wouldn't have to walk alone in the dark.

Outside of school, I didn't have to work a whole lot (I have to work tonight though...) so I got to spend a lot of time with Bryant in the afternoons. We have also both been really good about going to the gym every day (except for yesterday, we were too busy.) And I've been eating a lot healthier. Woo! yay for resolutions that you keep.

Last night, we were invited by Bryants boss to go have dinner and watch movies at his house with a few other couples. We had pizza and watched most of Farris Bulers day off. We had to leave early because we had tickets to see Avatar again. This time we went up to the Jordan Commons theater in Sandy to watch it on the IMAX 3D screen. It's definitely even better the second time around. This time, we also went with my friend Janine and her husband Jon, and Julie and Natiel, who are two people who work with Bryant.


Today, we were able to sleep in, which was nice because the movie didn't get done until 12:30 and by the time we got home and ready for bed it was super late. There is nothing better than sleeping in on a Saturday and then Curling up on the couch and eating peanut butter toast with Bryant while watching Groundhog Day.

Resolutions

So I don't really ever make new years resolutions because I know I wont keep them. But this year, I decided to be a little more disciplined about my goals and made a resolution to keep my resolutions this year, and my mom keeps telling me that if I write them down, then I'm more likely to actually do them. So here is my list (don't worry, a hard copy is going up on my fridge and another copy on my itouch as well, so I see it every day)

1. I'm getting in shape! I was always doing sports or in a dance class
and so I never had to do anything about being healthy or in shape.
Then what happens? I go to college, I get married, and BAM! I'm in
the worst shape I've ever been in. (minus that time I had
pneumonia) I have already been to the gym this week and I'm going
again tomorrow morning at 6am!


2. Get all A's (b's are also acceptable) in all of my classes this semester.
Geography, South African history and art history to the renaissance?
I can totally pull off all A's...


3. Cook more, eat out less. I've made every meal I've eaten so far this
week, including breakfast (one perk of going to the gym so early)
This also means that I'm going to not only cook, but i'm
going to cook HEALTHIER.


4. Get my scrapbook of my wedding and honeymoon done by my 1st
anniversary (this gives me roughly 4 1/2 months.)


5. Work more on some art and little crafties. (per request of Bryant)
I intend on using up that craft store gift card he got me for
Christmas! Woo!


6. Keep up on housework. We may live in a small apartment so it's super
easy to clean up, however, that means it's also super easy to make messy.
One shirt on the floor or one dish on the counter and it makes the place
look like a truck ran through it.

7. Update my blog at LEAST once a week, hopefully twice.

8. Make at least 1 new set of "Married couple friends"/Get noticed in the ward.

9. Play with Ace a LOT more, and get him fully potty trained (he has had only
1 accident in almost 2 months! woo!)

10. And most importantly, tell Bryant I love him more and let him know how
much I appreciate everything he does everyday.

So there you have it, my major resolutions for this year. 1o is a lofty goal for someone who has never really set any new years resolutions, but I think they are all pretty important and worth accomplishing. Bring it on 2010!

Happy New Year!

So it seems like you don't update a blog for a while and suddenly there is too much to write about. So reader be warned! This blog will be mostly photos. A lot happened last month so this is just going to be a quick overview: Bryant and Sawyer got to go to a BYU basketball game up at the energy solutions arena (I still like to call it the delta center...)

We helped my parents decorate their Christmas tree.

We went to the Spanish Fork festival of lights.

We went to Bryants Christmas work party and saw this super cool tree.I made this gingerbread house...
We went up to Temple Square to see the lights....And ate at the Garden on top of the Joseph Smith building.

We drove up to Idaho to watch his Brother Jacob graduate from BYU-I, and Sally got to walk too! (She will be graduating this spring.)And we drove through heavy fog almost the whole way home.


The week of Christmas, Bryant went down with his parents and his sister Chantel to Las Vegas to watch the BYU vs Oregon game. (Unfortunately I had to work so I wasn't able to go.)
They had lots of fun, dispite that fact that it was freezing!We had our last Sunday with our first primary class. They were a great group of kids and we are really going to miss them (especially since they are really our only friends in the ward.)
And I think they are all going to really miss Bryant, especially the girls :)

Our New Years was great! We went over to my parents friends house for dinner and games and lots of rock band.

2009 was the best year ever! It was the year I was married to the greatest husband in the whole world!
I am so excited for 2010! I'm looking foreward to a great semester in school, I love my job, I can't wait to celebrate our 1 year anniversary, and I have some fun things planned for the summer. Hello 2010, come right in!