Brandon & Melissa

Pirates of Penzance...Goes West! Preview

2011-02-22T18:16:00.004-07:00

Come see Starlight Mountain Theatre's production of Pirates of Penzance...Goes West! in Boise, Idaho! :D

Christmas Cooooooookies!!

2011-02-13T19:39:00.003-07:00

So, I know we're posting this stuff really late, but at least we're getting around to it, right? :)

So here we are baking Christmas cookies! Yay! :D

Ann Marie & Co.

2010-10-13T18:00:00.003-06:00

Here's an ad I made for my new store on etsy! (Not real, like on TV, just on YouTube) Enjoy!

In Response to The Human Rights Campaign: Mormon Leader Gives Anti-Gay Sermon After Suicides

2010-10-07T22:23:00.000-06:00

*Note: This post is not intended to be bashing on anyone, and/or said with hatred, anger, etc. This is simply me stating my own personal opinion on the matter along with thoughts and feelings of what I know to be true.*

A friend of mine on Facebook just posted a link to a Human Rights Campaign page. I was curious what the argument was about, seeing the word Mormon in it. Being a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints myself, it caught my eye and I wondered what was going on.

The article stated that recently, many homosexual teenagers have committed suicide due to terrible bullying at schools due to their sexual preferences. I find that very sad that anyone would bully someone so much to the point of them feeling so trapped that suicide is the only way out. I don't care if you are atheist, Catholic, LDS, whatever, no one should be harassing other students that way. I feel bad for the families and friends of those teenagers who took their own lives, and I feel bad that that teenager felt like they had no one and no where to turn to in their time of need.

However, the article then went on to say that it was wrong for Elder Boyd K. Packer to openly say in his talk just this last week in General Conference that homosexual conduct is morally wrong, "impure and unnatural," and "against God's law and nature." The article says that this only encourages intolerance and all of the bullying that has been occurring. Personally, I feel that this person perhaps misunderstood the intent and meaning behind the talk that Elder Packer gave.

First off, this person makes it sound like President Packer choose this time specifically to give this talk, as if he heard about the suicides and decided to talk about how their sexual orientation is morally wrong. But the talk was given during General Conference, a gathering of the saints at which they can listen to the words of God through the prophets and apostles, which is set at a certain time every year. Consequently, the conference happened to land at about the same time these suicides happened. Furthermore, there have been many talks given at previous General Conferences about same-sex marriage, homosexual behavior, etc. being morally wrong in the eyes of God. President Packer, along with all of the apostles, prophets, and leaders of the church, are always inspired in what they should talk about during General Conference. It is what the Lord wanted His people to hear.

Second, I disagree that this talk influences people to harass those who are homosexual, and if anyone takes it to mean that, and acts upon it in that way, then the sin is on them. President Packer's talk was merely conveying that 1. Homosexual behavior does not agree with God's laws. 2. Although some suppose that this is the way they were born and cannot overcome what they feel, it is not so. God loves each and every one of us. We are His sons and daughters. Why would our Heavenly Father do that to anyone if it is contrary to His law? 3. Paul promised in the scriptures that we will not be tempted above that which we are able. Those who do struggle with this have the potential to overcome it, if they truly desire to do so, and will come to the Lord for help. (I fully believe this to be true). 4. These feelings are not only against God's law, but against the law of nature. It is impossible to set a law against nature. "What good would voting a law against gravity do?"

If you look very carefully, President Packer's talk is not intended to bully or harass homosexuals or encourage such. It is merely stating a spiritual fact, and actually giving a message of hope for those who are like this that they are able to change. Now I know that some would argue that this is intolerance, and why should they change? First, I do not believe that my views and beliefs are intolerance. If this is the choice someone is to make, then that is their decision. I will not go out with a sign rallying others to do away with all homosexuals, or go to classes to bully someone who is. I will not shun my friend if they confide in me of their feelings, although I will have to tell them that I disagree, and let them know that I am here to help them out of it, if God's will is what they desire to follow. But the reason they should "change" is so they are not acting contrary to God's law and will. His will cannot be altered or changed by mankind. It is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow. Therefore, with what I have said, I believe that I am tolerating their decisions, although I do not agree with them. Tolerance does not mean agreeing or changing my views and beliefs, and with my tolerance, I expect those who are homosexuals and supporters of them to tolerate my views as well.

Near the end of the article, it asks for people to please sign their name to an open letter addressed to the leaders of the LDS church and post it to Facebook so that everyone may know that "these views are scientifically wrong and misguided." Well, here's some news for you. I am not a person of science. I am a person of faith. I follow God's laws and commandments before I follow anything that mankind has "proven." I find it interesting that people try so hard to defy Him, boasting in our technology, as if we know everything. Although mankind has come a long way scientifically, I know that there is so much more that we do not understand and cannot comprehend simply because we are mortal. God knows everything, and all things. I would much rather put my faith and trust in someone like that more than millions of people who have worked throughout the ages to uncover mysteries that God knew all along.

As for the letter addressed to Elder Packer, I have pasted it here:

Dear Elder Packer,

I'm appalled that you chose this moment to deliver a sermon saying same-sex attraction is unnatural and same-sex unions are immoral. You have risked further alienating LGBT youth and potentially contributing to suicides of even more vulnerable young people. You've told them that their very identities are "impure and unnatural" and you've incited the violence and bullying that often drives them to suicide by repeating lies disproven by both science and the experience of millions of Americans who know their LGBT neighbors and care about them.

I hope you will cease putting young people in real peril and acknowledge the scientific truth: sexual orientation cannot be changed, nor should it be.

1. As I stated earlier, Elder Packer did not choose this time. General Conference is always conducted at this time of year. Also, if you choose to argue that he could have chosen another topic, you are correct, but God specifically impresses upon the minds of those speaking what they should say and speak about.

2. If Elder Packer has risked more teens committing suicide due to what he has spoken (which are God's words, by the way [D&C 1:38]) then they have completely missed the critical spiritual information and message of the plain and simple truths he has stated. God does not mince words or sugar coat things. It is what it is.

3. Naturally, a girl's very identity is to be attracted to a boy, and a boy's very identity is to be attracted to a girl. They are to be united in marriage (which marriage, by the way, is not something set by law only, but is a holy union- but that's a different argument I won't go into right now) and have children so all of God's spirit children may have a chance to come to this earth. Producing babies can only be accomplished by a man and a woman.

4. Again, inciting the bullying is not what Elder Packer intends, nor is it what he says for people to do. If people do that, they are acting on their own accord.

5. Stated earlier: I am a person of faith, not science. I don't care what mankind has "proven."

6. Just because I don't agree with someone doesn't mean I don't care about them. I can like chocolate ice cream while my friend likes vanilla, but that doesn't mean we hate each other.

Perhaps we don't understand each other's views, but I won't hate her because her beliefs are different from mine. Nor will I encourage her desire for vanilla if I do not agree with it.

7. The real peril here is that so many people do not understand God's will or know about Him. In order for people to know, they must be told the truth. The real peril is in lack of spiritual knowledge.

8. The last statement in here is very contradicting. Perhaps I am misunderstanding what they mean or are saying (which is possible) but isn't saying that "sexual orientation cannot be changed nor should it be" is like saying (according to the dictionary) "your natural preference in sexual partners cannot be changed nor should it be?" Wouldn't natural selection mean men and women, women and men? And if that's right, then isn't that just what Elder Packer and so many others have been talking about? Just saying...

In conclusion, I just don't think that this is something that people should really be targeting The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints for. Saying that stating our beliefs in what God has told us is true may cause people to commit suicide is ridiculous. People bullying and harassing those who are homosexual because they don't agree with them may cause people to commit suicide is a reasonable thing to say. But ultimately, even if these people get loads of people to sign this letter and send it to the LDS church leaders, it really doesn't matter. They aren't going to stop the laws that God is set on, and they won't stop Him from commanding His apostles and prophets to tell us that this is impure and unnatural, can be overcome, and against His law. So you may wonder why I took all this time to write this thing up. It is simply because I want to show that I stand faithfully beside the leaders of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints and beside my God. I know that He lives and loves all of us. I know that He has blessed us all with strengths that will assist us and weaknesses that will define and shape us into better people if we allow them to. I know that the words of the prophet Thomas S. Monson, his counselors, and the apostles are words straight from God our Father to us, His children. I stand this day forever beside Him, determined to follow Him until the end of my days.

Video Making

2010-05-06T18:24:00.003-06:00

Hey everyone! I've had some fun lately with music video making, and I thought I'd share the results! :) Enjoy! (For full description of videos, please go to the actual video on YouTube.)

Southern California Trip Part 3- Sea World!

2010-03-07T14:40:00.005-07:00

Day three we went to Sea World! We loved the Dolphin show and we loved seeing Shamu and all the other water animals! We even got to pet the sting rays!

Here's the dolphin show. They are Melissa's favorite!

Here's Melissa with all the pink flamingos!

SHAMU!

"Baby Beluga in the deep blue sea...."

Here's a video of the Shark Tunnel. They have this small tunnel through the shark's tank and a moving walkway that you stand on to go through it. It's pretty cool!

I want this car. :D
On our way home, we stopped by the beach real quick while the sun was setting. It was pretty. :)
Then we went to Medieval Times for dinner and JOUSTING!!! :D The place looked like a castle inside and out. Lame picture of the outside, but we were driving, so it was hard to get. :P

Everyone was assigned a specific knight to root for. We had the black and white night. Here he is! He didn't win (or come all that close to it either), but we thought he did great!

Here are all of the knights, ready to compete!

We got a picture with the "king's assistant" (we don't remember his exact title).
And here's us with the black and white knight!

Awesome day, awesome place! We'll have to go again sometime! :)

Southern California Trip Part 2- Disneyland!

2010-03-07T13:32:00.005-07:00

The next day of our awesome trip, we headed down to Anaheim to go to DISNEYLAND! Melissa's favorite place! :) Here's a video of the Sleeping Beauty Castle!

Melissa gets a quick pic with Bert from Mary Poppins and Alice and the Mad Hatter from Alice in Wonderland.

Here's Brandon in front of Splash Mountain, just before we got soaked...like, really soaked. Well, actually, just Brandon got really soaked. We were in the very front, and lucky for Melissa, she had a hoodie sweatshirt to cover her face and hair from getting wet. Melissa stayed mostly dry, while Brandon got a face-full of Splash Mountain!

Melissa with her Fairy Godmother! ;)

On our way over to Star Tours (LOVE that ride!) we stumbled upon a Jedi battle!

Cute kids! Fighting Darth Vader is something they'll probably remember forever!

While we were there, we also noticed a ride neither of us had ever been on or bothered to really check out. The ride was Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters, and we're sure glad we did try it! It's like Mr. Toad's Wild Ride and laser tag combined! You get to blast lasers at all of these targets and while riding it and help Buzz defeat the evil Zurg! Here's a fun video of the awesomeness of the Disneyland technology! I love these robots!

Here's Small World all lit up and pretty! This ride is classic! It was also neat to see that they added some Disney characters into the ride, like Cinderella, Ariel, Lilo and Stitch, Nemo, Mulan and Mushu, Peter Pan, and a whole lot more!

Now, you can't go to Disneyland without seeing Mickey and Minnie, although we kinda did. BUT, we did get this fun video of them dancing in the parade that night! Check it out! Mickey has some pretty good moves too! :)

After a long and awesome day at the Happiest Place on Earth, we went to dinner at Bubba Gumps! It was yumalicious and we ate lots of shrimp!

We had a great time, and loved going to Disneyland again! Maybe we'll have a few more people with up when we go next time. ;)

Southern California Trip Part 1

2010-03-06T20:31:00.000-07:00

Brandon and I took a very needed vacation in January to Southern California with the money we won from the Honey Bunches of Oats vacation giveaway. :) Our first stop was Universal Studios Hollywood!

Here is Brandon at the entrance!

A Mitsubishi Eclipse Spyder car! Pretty cool, no? :)

Me and Jason hanging out by his cool car... ;)

The Simpsons ride. It was pretty fun and ended up being one of Brandon's favorites!

We got to take a tour of some of the sets around Hollywood. Here are a couple of pictures.

The Dolorian from Back to the Future!

The whole beach from Jaws. Crazy small, huh?

JAWS!!! AH, MY NIGHTMARES HAVE BECOME REAL!! I knew I shouldn't have watche dthat movie... ;)

Here's a scene from War of the Worlds. They had to take apart a whole 7-47 just to make it look like it crashed in a neighborhood! So cool!

Look what Brandon caught! ;)

I got to meet Spongebob! YAY!

We also got to meet Princess Fiona! We noticed afterward that she and I were doing the same pose. It just proves that I'm a princess even more! :)

Brandon would make a great astronaut, wouldn't you say so? :)

Dinosaur!

Donkey's Waffles!
Universal City Walk.
The Hard Rock Cafe! We went there for dinner after a long and awesome day at the theme park.

White Christmas

2010-02-22T20:42:00.005-07:00

I was in yet another play this winter called White Christmas! It was a fun show to do. I had two parts: Cigarette Girl and Mrs. Snoring Man. Not the best character names ever, but I did have a few solos in one song as Mrs. Snoring Man, so it was a good deal, and it was a good show. :) I didn't get a whole lot of pictures, but here's what I took.

Here I am in my finale costume with my friends Hanna and Abby, who were awesome dancers! Cute costumes too! :)

Here is Hanna, Ty, and Woody all being exactly how they are every day... ;) lol!
This is me in my Cigarette Girl costume. Pink and black. Two colors that always go great together! :)

Halloween!

2010-02-22T20:19:00.003-07:00

Okay, so up first on our list of things to put on here is Halloween! We went to the ward trunk or treat and had a great time! Then we had some friends over and watched Wait Until Dark starring Audrey Hepburn. It was a great movie, and we had a lot of fun!

I dressed up as Giselle from Disney's Enchanted! I made the dress my self, and it was A LOT of work, but the outcome was so worth it! :) Brandon borrowed a princes costume from my friend Rachelle, and together we made a great pair! :)

"I AIN'T DONE NOTHING!!!"

2010-02-17T21:28:00.004-07:00

We realized, just now, tonight, that we haven't posted anything...in forever...not even Halloween...sad...
When I (Melissa) realized this, I said, "Man, I ain't done nothin'!" which is from the comedian Brian Regan. So, until we get all caught up, enjoy watching Brian Regan. The line quoted above appears at the very end, but the whole video is hilarious!
Sorry we haven't updated for sooooooooo loooooooooooooong! We promise we'll get to it soon! In the meantime, just know that we are alive, happy, and well. Enjoy Brian! -Melissa and Brandon

ZOMBIES!!!

2009-10-23T15:26:00.001-06:00

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAA!!!! Check out this funny video! It's on my blog called Melissa's Attic. http://melissasattic.blogspot.com/

New Blog!

2009-10-01T15:42:00.001-06:00

I have a new blog called Melissa's Attic, where I just ramble about what I like, what I think, and what I'm up to. :) You can check it out if you want! It's pretty fun!

http://melissasattic.blogspot.com/

A Day at Daybreak

2009-09-25T12:53:00.004-06:00

We then spent Labor Day at a beach area around a place called Daybreak. We had lots of fun! (Note: In case you are wondering why I'm not in a lot of these pics, it's because I spent most of the time on a walk with Andrea, Sarah, and Liz. Also, I got these pics from Joe and Kristin, and I'm thinking I just must not have been int he same place as their camera).

Here we all are!

Cute Jacob playing in the sand and water.

Ha ha, color coordination?

This was when we went to Kristin and Joe's and got to see baby Kate! She's sooooo adorable!! I loved getting to hold her!

What an angel! We all really love her!

Thanksgiving Point

2009-09-25T12:00:00.006-06:00

Over Labor Day weekend we went to Utah to visit Kristin, Joe, their kids (and new baby Kate!!!) and Ben and Andrea! Mom, Dad, Liz, Sarah, and Michael got to come too, so it was really fun to see the whole family! :)
We were going to go to Lagoon while we were there, but my chiropractor told me not to ride the roller coasters. So, it was pretty much pointless to go, because what else do you do at Lagoon?
So instead we went to the Dinosaur museum at Thanksgiving Point, and it was really cool! We had a great time!

Here's the front entrance.

We found a cave! Hmm, maybe we can live here? It'll be closer to lots of family.... ;)

Liz and Sarah! Cute sistas!

Brandon's new friend. ;)

Aw, what a cute wittle dinosaur!

Ha ha! They found some dinosaur things to put on your back so you can "dress up" like one! Kind of funny really. They look good though, huh? I especially enjoy Michael's face!

"Are you asking for a challeeeeenge?!?!" Ha ha, can you guess who says that?

A pretty impressive T-Rex! Funny thing though is that yes, they are really big, but they actually aren't as big as they portray them on TV. I figure that if I would have been standing up on the rock it was on, I would come to it's thigh, which is big, but not as gigantic as the movies make it out to be.

A Velociraptor (not sure if I spelled that right).

This was soooooo cool! It's a giant sea turtle!

Ha ha, this one's for Brandon's brother Matthew! He has some joke thing about Llamas, and this looks like a prehistoric Llama (although I'm not sure if it really is...)

And here's its skeleton.

This dinosaur was sooooooo cool! There were two long necks (sorry, I can't remember the real name...thanks for making me look dumb Land Before Time...) and they stretched across the room they were so big! It was awesome! This one is trying to eat me!!! ;)

This is what I was looking up at. Pretty cool!

They have this part where you can design your own dino. We used every single part that they had!

Aaaaaahhh!!! My nightmares from Jaws have come true!!!! ;)

Brandon gives the shark a high five!

Brandon assists in helping to slay the Mammoth!

And this is what they do to you if you touch the exhibits...j/k!

Such fun! I love museums!

Funny Dino Pics with the Family....

2009-09-24T13:08:00.003-06:00

So, one morning, as everyone was eating breakfast at Mom and Dad Brodhead's, Steve found something fun on the back of the Cinnamon Toast Crunch box: A mask to scare your friends with! (Seriously, that's what it said!) So we all took turns trying it on, and I'm pretty sure I would be scared if my friend was wearing that... ;)

Here I am...I like the hair!

Here's Bob (Mom)
And I think this one is Kimberly

We had more, but Steve got those pics, and I think you get the idea with just these few. :)

Dave and Melissa's Wedding!

2009-09-24T12:54:00.003-06:00

Brandon's brother Dave got married to a very sweet and pretty girl named Melissa Prete in the Seattle temple on August 7th! (Hmmm, sweet and pretty...it must come with the name ;)
Aren't they so cute?

Josh, Jamie, and little Stephen.

Isn't he adorable?! :D

Aw, and little Hallie! She's a cutie!

The reception was very pretty! (And so was the luncheon, but we were silly AGAIN and forgot to take pictures :P)

Hee hee, cute babies!

A Fun Date

2009-09-24T12:45:00.002-06:00

Brandon went to donate blood a while back (because he is so sweet and brave) and he entered into a drawing to win tickets to see Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. Well, guess who won? :D Then, about a week later, Brandon's team won at bowling at a bowling party for work, so he also won a $10 gift card to a Hawaiian restaurant! So we had a date night and got to use both. The movie was good (although the book is always better) and the Hawaiian dinner we got was really good and fun! :)

I love chop sticks! I can't use them very well, but I think they're fun anyway!

My New Haircut!

2009-09-24T12:27:00.003-06:00

So, just in case you couldn't tell that my hair was shorter in all those older posts, I got my hair cut! It's grown out a little since these pics, but this is what it looks like. :) I like it a lot and its sooooo much easier to take care of!

Okay, this pic is only here because I thought my outfit was really cute. :)

Yay for hair!

4th of July and My Birthday!

2009-09-24T11:56:00.004-06:00

The 4th o f July and my birthday were both celebrated on the same day this year in Twin Falls, all of which was awesome! :D In the morning, we had a big neighborhood breakfast and 4th of July parade which again, I did not get pics of. Oh well! :) But we did have a fun BBQ with the cousins and family and we even got to take a family picture all together! :D

Here are my birfday pictures!

Kristin got some earrings for me and they are so super cute!

Here's everything I got, kind of jumbled up together... :) thanks everyone for the great birthday!

We then did fireworks later that night, and I was soooooooooooo tired! I don't even remember Brandon taking this picture...

Summer Fun!

2009-09-24T11:42:00.004-06:00

We visited Twin Falls during July and had a wonderful time with everyone! I got to stay for a week along with Kristin and her kids, Jenna and Jacob, while Brandon went back to work, and joined us again later that week. :) We had lots of fun swimming and tying quilts and we even got to have a fun girls night too! (Which I forgot to get pictures of...what seems to always happens with me is that I'm having so much fun that I forget to take pictures). Here we all are swimming at Bass Lake!

My handsome sweet husband! :) <3

Cute Jacob!

What Happens When Your Little Brother Steals Your Camera...

2009-09-24T11:39:00.003-06:00

Here's what happens...

Crazy kid... ;)

Elizabeth's Pageant

2009-09-24T11:22:00.004-06:00

Ah! I can't believe how long it has taken for us to post these pics! Sorry everyone! :P
Well, here are the pictures from Elizabeth's Pageant! She won first runner up for Miss Magic Valley! Liz was totally stunning! (And I LOVE her dress!) Her solo she sang, Time to Say Goodbye was gorgeous!!! :D Being her big sister, I'm so proud of her (because she's awesome!)

Happy Father's Day!

2009-06-22T12:34:00.003-06:00

Yesterday was Father's Day, and although Brandon is not a father yet, I decided that he probably will be, so why not include him in the festivities? ;) Hee hee, seriously though, Brandon is going to be a wonderful Daddy someday!

Ooh, presents!

Blackbeard's Ghost! Brandon really likes this movie! We watched it later that day, and it was hillarious!

What's in here???

A box!

A cool shirt in a box! That color looks really good on him! :)

Great Mouse Detective! Another of Brandon's favorites!

And last, but not least, a kiss for the winner! ;)

Happy Father's Day Sweetie!

Happy Early Birthday!

2009-06-22T12:20:00.004-06:00

Brandon and I decided last week to organize a game night with our friends. So we invited people over for Friday night at 7:30. Our friends own a house, so they offered to have it at their house, which we thought was great since we were going to have quite a few people over. So, Friday night, we show up at John and Pamella's house, and there in the middle of the table was a birthday cake that said, "Happy Birthday Melissa!" I was a little confused, and then discovered that my dear husband had turned our game night into a birthday celebration for me! :) He was pretty sneaky too, because I had no idea about anything!

Playing games!

The cake! The cake was banana with walnuts and custard filling! Really good!

Make a wish!

Blow 'em out!

It was lots of fun, and I was totally surprised! Thanks everyone!

Cabin Camping Trip

2009-06-22T11:36:00.007-06:00

A few weeks ago, we were invited by our friends, Dallin and Maren, to spend a couple days with them at their family cabin. Our friends Jennifer and Jarom also got to come, and we had lots of fun!

We played games the night that we got there, and the next morning we had canoe races! We timed each person rowing from one point to another and saw who got the best time.

I got the best time for the girls! Whoo hoo!

Here goes Brandon!
Yay! Brandon got the best time out of everyone! That's my sweetie! :)

Jennifer and Jarom getting out of the boat.

Racing as couples!

We had to touch the dock to stop the time, but we missed! Oops!

My handsome husband!

The scenery was really pretty! Yay for Idaho!

I loved the purple flowers!

All of us but Maren (who stayed behind with her two napping boys) on a hike!

Engagement pics? No, but kinda looks like it, huh?

One of the funnest parts on the trip was whenever I got to hole baby James (Dallin and Maren's new little guy). He's such a cutie! :)

We had tons of fun! Yay for camping and great friends!

Melissa Learns to French Braid

2009-06-22T11:28:00.002-06:00

So, I never knew how to French Braid, but I always wanted to. I tried to teach myself once when we were living in Idaho Falls, but I didn't quite get it. Then, magically, one day I was playing with my hair, and I somehow FINALLY understood, and now I can French Braid! Here are some pics of one French Braid hair style I tried. Kinda cute!

Looks like it would probably work better for formal than casual, but hey! Next time I have a formal event, I know a fun way to do my hair! :)

Mother's Day and Celebrating the Finished Semester!

2009-05-17T18:55:00.006-06:00

Aren't our Moms cute? I made these aprons for them for Mother's Day! They look so cute in them! :D

Brandon gave me some wonderful things for Mother's Day! Although I'm not a mommy yet, Brandon says I'll be a great one someday, so he feels the need to spoil me! ;) What a sweetheart!

He got me a Denise Austin workout DVD, the soundtrack to Enchanted (the best movie EVER!) and a gift card to Build a Bear!!!!!

We played Hoopla, and had lots of fun, although I think we'll play it with a group next time... :)

The game master! ;)

This is my Cindy Bear! We went to Build a Bear yesterday and I brought her to life (thanks to my sweetheart!)

Isn't she sooooooo CUTE!?!?!?! :D :D :D :D :D :D

Brandon knows me well, and knows what I like! :)

We then went to the Cheesecake Factory for dinner. It was one of the best places we have EVER been! Sooooooooo good!

If you go to the Cheesecake Factory, you have to get Cheesecake, so we did! :) We shared the 30th Anniversary Cheesecake! It was really good, and really rich, so Brandon had to finish off the rest of it. :)

I have the best husband in the entire world! He is soooo sweet! :) Thanks sweetie for the fun day and all of the great gift! I love you!

Easter!

2009-04-20T09:13:00.005-06:00

Easter Sunday was great! Our ward choir sang "Savior of the World" (not the play. It was an oritorio type thing with speaking in between). I got to sing a solo too! It went well, even though I was listed as Sister Hale in the program instead of Sister Brodhead. ????? Not sure why or how that happened, but oh well! What can you do?
Anyway, the program went well, and I had the lesson for nursery, and that went well too. It was nice enough outside to take the kids on a walk around the temple! They really enjoyed it, and we did too!
Here are our Easter baskets! Oh boy, look at that candy! :D

I thought Brandon deserved a cookie, so I got one out of the cookie jar for him. :)

Brandon thought I deserved a candy cane (since we still have some from Christmas). Cute! lol!

Brandon gave me flowers earlier in the week, just because. :) It was really neat to come home after work and see a beautiful boquet of spring flowers! Aw!

It's us!

*MUAH!*

We colored eggs and watched Here Comes Peter Cottontail. It was a cute Rankin Bass stop animation movie, and we enjoyed watching it! :) The eggs turned out so cute and pretty!

I was a little sleepy that day and not feeling perfect. I meant to just rest on the bed for a little bit, but ended up falling asleep instead! Brandon made sure to get a picture of me, of course. (Oh, and when Brandon is not there to cuddle with, I enjoy cuddling with stuffed animals instead. It's true.) :)

We had a great and fun Easter together!

A Saturday Together!

2009-04-20T08:39:00.005-06:00

The Saturday before Easter Sunday, Brandon didn't have any homework to work on, and I had a day off from work! We haven't had a Saturday together for a VERY long time, so we thought we'd do something fun together. We decided to go to Wahooz to do some miniature golfing. It turned out to be a really fun place, and we had a great time!

Here I am posing in front of a hillbilly house in the golf course!

Brandon was really good!

Our heads are cut off in this picture because we had to put the camera on a bench. I still liked it anyhow. :)

This arch was sooooo cool! The whole course was awesome!

Brandon preparing for the last hole!

This picture shows what an awesome golfer I am (because of Dad, ;) )

Brandon ended up winning by about 6 or 7 points, so we were a pretty good match (but of course, we already knew that! ;) )

They had Dippin' Dots there, and Brandon had never had them before, and I LOVE Dippin' Dots, so, of course, we had to have some! They were yummy and fun! (Notice the excited face) :)

There were two courses, and the other course (that we didn't see until after we finished our game) had this awesome tiki man that would shoot out flames and smoke every now and then! It was cool!

Wahooz also has go-carts, bumper boats, and arcade games. We didn't play any of the arcade games because we didn't have $1 on us, but we looked around. I spotted this sweet Spidey Car, and I knew I had to get a picture with it! lol!

Looks like I'm the new side-kick! :D

We had lots of fun and it was so great to have a fun day date together!

Sewing Skirts!

2009-04-20T08:27:00.005-06:00

I've wanted to learn how to make clothes for myself, so I decided to start with skirts! They were really fun to make and I had a great time choosing material with my mom! :)

I made up this skirt as I went along. My sister, Sarah, had a really really cute skirt and I wanted to try and make one like it. However, I couldn't find a pattern for what I wanted, so I decided to make it up myself. The end result wasn't exactly what I wanted, but I think it turned out really cute anyway. :)

I think I looks weird in this picture, so just look at the skirt. :)

These were fun projects! I love sewing! :)

Visiting Family in Utah!

2009-04-10T22:10:00.006-06:00

A couple of weeks ago the whole Dodds family got together in Utah for some spring break fun! Our first stop was the Hogal Zoo! I love the zoo. :)

I love elephants! They are sooooooo cool! And really cute!

A funny black bear! He was fun to watch.

I love red pandas too! They are really cute! It's funny, but I think that it's face looks like Happy's (the family's dog).

Giraffes are sooooo cool!

Tigers are awesome too!

That's a BIG tortis!

We thought this was pretty funny! All of the drinking fountains were lion's mouths, but this one must have had something wrong with it. Anyway, we thought it was funny though because it looks like a Dementor! lol!

A PINK bird!!

We also went to the park and all the girls went shopping later. We'll post more pictures of those things when we get pics from everyone. :)

St. Partick's Day

2009-04-10T22:03:00.005-06:00

So, we know that this is really late, but we wanted to post our St. Patrick's Day breakfast! Brandon was soooo sweet! He made a green breakfast for us! (Not my best picture, by the way...)
Yay! Green breakfast burritos! :)

Yummy yum yum!

Swimsuit Giveaway!

2009-04-08T07:47:00.002-06:00

So, I entered into this contest to win a free swiming suit, and I could have gotten entered three times for posting a link to their page, and I thought I did (I thought all I had to do was add to the side with all the rest of my friends blogs) but I think I was supposed to make a posting and have a link in here. Well, hopefully this still works! Fun stuff though! You should check these out! They're waaaay cute! :)

Here's the link to the blog!

http://onmyperch.blogspot.com/2009/04/lime-ricki-swimsuit-giveaway.html

She's a Wonderful Wife!

2009-03-08T16:12:00.006-06:00

So last week was a really hard week for me - it was pretty much non-stop every day from 5:00am until whenever I got home (usually around 7:00pm), not to mention the day where I was up until 2:00am working on homework...

Needless to say, I was pretty tired by Friday. Melissa picked me up from the bus stop around 6, and when I got home, this was waiting for me...

You can't top coming home from a long day and getting a kiss from your sweet wife who has dinner all ready for you. But then when she's made a cute card and sign and rocky road brownies for you? I'm a very lucky guy! :)

YUM!

Oh, and One More Thing to Our 1 Year Anniversary...

2009-03-03T10:03:00.004-07:00

While we were in Ontario, we stopped at a little purple and green house called "The House That Art Built." Inside were lots of things for sale that local artists had made. In one room, we found some really cute little lunch boxes that look like a purse! I thought it was sooooo cute, and Brandon is sooooooo sweet, so he got it for me. :) Here it is!

It comes with a little tupperware box that fits perfectly inside!

The tupperware has either Japanese or Chinese written all over it (I can't tell which it is)! I thought it was cool! :)

Food Storage and Dinner Calender

2009-03-03T09:49:00.003-07:00

We've been pretty busy lately with a couple of projects! We decided that a really good way to save on money and to make sure we are eating healthy would be to make a dinner calender for each month. It took lots of work to find all of our favorite recipes and ones we want to try, put them on small cards with ingredients included, and arrange it all on the bulletin board. But we are very excited and glad we finally got this done!

We've been doing a bit for our food storage too. We really didn't start it when we were living in Idaho Falls, but we've decided to really try hard to get it up and going! It's not all organized and in the containers yet, but here's what we've got so far!

These are really nice for storing cans, as long as they are the same size as Campbell's soup! :)

Valentine's Day

2009-02-24T17:21:00.006-07:00

On Valentine's Day, we had Mom and Dad Dodds, Michael, and Elizabeth over! We made a really nice dinner for them and got to use our china, nice silverware, and goblets! It was sooooo much fun to have them here, but...of course....we forgot to take pictures of it all. :( Buuuuut, we did get some nice pics of the cupcakes I decorated! :)

I'm really happy how they turned out. They were so much fun to make! :D

I think this cupcake sums up how we feel about our marriage. :)

Our 1 Year Anniversary!!!

2009-02-22T17:28:00.008-07:00

February 15th marked the day of 1 year of married bliss! :) We went to a really nice bed and breakfast in Ontario, Oregon and enjoyed wandering the town and relaxing for the weekend!

This is the Creek House Bed and Breakfast!

Here we are!

These are pics of our really pretty room. We were in the "Southern Comfort" room.

Pretty pretty, huh? ;)

Here is downtown Ontario. Not a whole lot, but hey, we live in a city, so small and quiet isn't bad. :)

Here we are with a random oxen team!

So, we stopped at an Eddy's Bakery, hoping to get some Hostess Pies (I know they are TERRIBLE for you, but hey, it was our anniversary!) but they were all out. So we got donuts instead. However, they were kinda falling apart, and while I was trying to keep them together, they just fell onto my lap instead! So, here is me, with a lapfull of messy donuts!

We went to a pizza place called Dolphie's Pizza House! Brandon couldn't wait to get his pizza!

He was sooooooooooo hungry he started to eat his plate!

While I waited patiently and prettily!

Our pizza came and we were both very happy and no longer hungry!

See?

I Made it All By Myself...

2009-02-09T09:14:00.005-07:00

Here are some pictures of an apron I made! I'm really happy with the way it turned out. It's reversable, so you can choose if you want stripes on top, dots on bottom, or dots of top, stripes on the bottom.

Brandon's Birthday!

2009-02-07T18:02:00.009-07:00

So, it was actually on January 18th, but we're just slow in posting. :)

I made this cute sign for him :) In my family, we always make a Happy Birthday sign for birthdays.

These are the decorations! We had some friends over for games and cake and ice cream. It was so much fun that we forgot to take pictures of everyone while they were there. So, even though we didn't take pictures of the actual party, just know that we had a good time. :)
Here's the German Chocolate cake I made for my sweetie. It was delicious, thanks to the Pilsbury Dough Boy!
Here's the Birthday Boy with all his fun presents! Ooh, what's in the big one?????

Brandon opened presents from me and Mom and Dad on Sunday (his birthday day). Nicole and Asmir (my cousins) got him some really good chocolates! Yummy! Thanks!Brandon got a two-disc DVD of The Apple Dumpling Gang and The Apple Dumpling Gang Rides Again from Mom and Dad Dodds! These are sooooooo funny!
Here is one of the funnest games (in my opinion)! It's called, There's a Moose in the House! Sooooooooo funny!

A box of M&M's! YUM!
Here's what was in the big present! A Brave Little Tailor Mickey Mouse! This is definetly a Brandon Mickey. Oh the joys of working at the Disney Store! ;)

Happy 11 Month Aniversary!

2009-01-15T15:48:00.004-07:00

Today, we are celebrating our 11 months of marriage! Next month on February 15th, we'll have been married for 12 months! That's a whole year! Wow, how time flies when you're having fun!

Brandon is so sweet! He surprised me this morning with flowers and a cute card! :) What a wonderful husband! :)

So pretty! I love the yellow! It brings sunshine into the house during the dreary weary winter. :)

This is the card he gave me! Doesn't that look awesome? I love custom-made homemade cards!

Here we are together!

And of course, he got a BIG KISS from his dahlink! :) Love you sweetie!

Jamie's Baby Shower!

2009-01-13T17:46:00.004-07:00

We surprised Jamie by planning a baby shower for her over the Christmas break! We had it at Kayla's and also had a lot of fun! :) On the far left is Brad's sister, Mel. Her little girl, Evie, was sooooooooo cute! She loves Blue's Clues and her mom sticks them to things in the room for Evie to find. When Evie finds one, she gets a surprised look on her face and holds her hands to her mouth in amazement, then points and says, "Look! A clue!" lol, it was adorable!

Watching Jamie open presents! I made a little baby hat and booties for Jamie and Kayla (since they are both having babies). They were really fun to make and turned out cute! :)
Here's Jamie with all of her fun little things she got for little Stephen! :)

This is the hat that I gave to Kayla for her little girl! :) I like the hippos and the bow on the side.
And these are the booties!

Here is Pooh Bear modeling the cap. Awww, he looks so cute! ;)
Here is that cap for Jamie's little guy! Brandon had the idea to put buttons for the boy cap.

These are the booties, with a button on one side.

Pooh Bear modeled this cap as well. :)

Thanks to Brandon, it seems that Gengar wanted to be a cute model too. Sorry Gengar, but I don't think there's ANYTHING that will make you cute...

Christmas Part 2

2009-01-12T10:58:00.006-07:00

Here we are! The whole Brodhead clan (minus Matthew, who is on a mission)! Starting from top left, we have: Dad, Mom (aka, Bob), Josh, Brad, Dave, Steve, Brandon, and Kurtis. Bottom Left: Jamie, Kayla, Kimmy, and Melissa! Explanation of who is who: Josh and Jamie are married and have a little boy on the way due in April. Brad and Kayla are married and due this month (Jan.) with a little girl! Dave just returned from his mission to Chile, and Kimmy is the awesome author of The Osarian Tales, and expecting her papers for a mission soon! Steve is working hard delivering packages with UPS! Kurtis is a Junior in high school and working at Arby's!
Here is the pretty Christmas tree!This little santa belonged to Brandon's Grandpa Brodhead, and was given to him when we was really little. Grandpa Brodhead recieved it as a present when he was little. This ornament is 70 years old! What a priceless heirloom! :)Here we have Kimmy, Santa's helper for this year! She got to wear the hat and distribute the presents for everyone!Kurtis was Santa's helper's helper ;)Jamie and Josh relaxing on the couch, and Buddy (Kurtis) in his blow up chair.Bob and Dad gave Melissa the DVD of White Christmas. We tried to watch it the night we arrived in Everett, but Melissa was so tired she fell asleep. We tried again on Christmas Eve, but that night was not successful either. You can imagine how happy she was to have it so she could finally see the end!How many people can you fit on a loveseat? Comfortably: 2 Uncomfortably (according to Dave): 3.Look what Kayla and Brad got! It's Buddy in a Bag! ;)Here's Mom with all of her cute daughters!Oh the weather outside is frightful! More than a foot of snow accumulated while we were there! Wowzers!

We played lots of games while we were there. Here is a very intense game of Settlers of Catan.

Dave got Monopoly for Christmas!

Here's Dave, probably thinking, "How dare you take a picture of me, po!" ;)A picture with Brad and Kayla! It was great to see them!

We make a cute cup-le, don't we?

Christmas Part 1

2009-01-11T16:42:00.000-07:00

We had our own little celebration the Sunday before Christmas since we were flying to Washington to be with Brandon's family. We couldn't take all of our gifts to each other with us, so we decided to have a Christmas Part 1!
Here is our fun Christmas picture! It turned out pretty good, huh?Melissa holding her Christmas orange! We got them in our stockings from Santa. :)This is Melissa's stocking! She made the whole thing herself! It reminds her of her family's dog, Happy. :)Here's Brandon showing off his new shirt and tie that he got from Mom and Dad Dodds! They look great on him!Brandon got a niiiiiice pair of Mickey Mouse slippers. He loves to wear them because they are "super warm and comfy!"

Melissa shows off her new Tinkerbell pj's without actually putting them on. ;)

So, Melissa was at work at The Disney Store one day, and saw that they had gotten in a new PRINCESS blanket. She called Brandon as soon as her shift was over and told him, "So, is there still room in the Melissa's Christmas budget for one more thing?" Brandon said there was, so he was a very sweet husband and got it for his sweetie! :) She loves it and uses it a lot!

Melissa got lots of wonderful gifts from her dear Brandon: the princess blanket, ABBA's Greatest hits CD, Tinkerbell PJ's, a princess calendar, princess Uno, and an Anastasia DVD! She also got a REALLy cute dress from Mom and Dad Dodds, along with leggings to wear under it, and jewelry! Thanks everyone!

Brandon's collection consisted of the shirt and tie from Mom and Dad Dodds, a Mickey Mouse long sleeve T-shirt, Mickey slippers, a pair of warm, non-ski gloves, and new socks! (Needless to say, we took advantage of Melissa's discount at work. ;)

Kristin, Joe, Jenna and Jacob were all so sweet to get us this adorable book! Melissa and her sisters used to read it every Christmas when they were little! There are many wonderful memories with this story, and we hope our future children will enjoy it just as much as they have! :)

Although these are Disney movies, we didn't get them at the Disney Store. Target was having an awesome after Thanksgiving sale: Disney movies $7.99 each! What a deal!

These are more of the Christmas cookies that we made. We had lots of fun making them! :)

Christmas Part 1 was really fun! Stay tuned for Christmas Part 2 where we spend Christmas day with Brandon's family in Everett, Washington!

Christmas Cookies!

2008-12-16T16:05:00.000-07:00

We've been busy baking up a storm of cookies for our friends! Check it out! :)

"Messy, messy, messy...!" -the magaician from Frosty the Snowman.

Christmas Time is Here!!!

2008-12-07T20:13:00.000-07:00

Here is our cute little tree! Even though it's small, we think it is adorable and we love our little tree!

Da moose, da moose!

Here's our first Christmas ornament! We still have yet to put a picture in it though. :)

This is Melissa's ornament! She loves Tinkerbell, but the best part about the ornament is that the wings light up and change color!!!!! How cool is that?!?!

This is Brandon's Jiminey Cricket ornament! We thought this one suited Brandon the best!

This is our Mary, Joseph, and baby Jesus Willowtree ornament we got last year! It's beautiful!

Here is one of Melissa's favorite ornaments! She got it when she was a baby and has had it her whole life! (And it looks like the rocking horse has almost had it too!)

Here is one of Brandon's favorites that he recieved when he was two years old! How cute!

This is our beautiful nativity that we receieved from Uncle Brad and Aunt Juanita last year for Christmas! We love it! :)

Wonderful Town!

2008-12-07T19:56:00.000-07:00

And it certainly was! Melissa was invovled in a play here in the community. The play was called "Wonderful Town" where she played the role of Helen! It was really fun and Melissa was happy to be back on the stage. :)

Theater people are crazy! And entertaining...duh...

Melissa's family came to see the show! What a wonderful family! It was soooo good to see them! (Michael never passes up an opportunity to get his sugar in!)

Make-up! It's showtime!

A kiss for the winner!

Disney On Ice!

2008-12-07T19:12:00.000-07:00

We went to Disney On Ice: 100 Years of Magic, and it certainly was magical! ;) We had a wonderful time, and here are some of the awesome pictures we were able to get! Enjoy!

Look at that pretty castle stage! :)

Mickey, Mini, Donald, Goofy, and Chip and Dale opened act one. We thought it was amazing that anyone could skate around in those costumes!

Aladdin came on next, and it was really neat to watch the Geanie duplicate! They were really good! :)

It's us!

Here is Beauty and the Beast!

This was one of my favorite parts! The castle rotated around to make the Small World castle and they had skaters from all around the world in the most amazing blue and white cultural clothing! Loved it!

Then they turned out the lights and turned Small World into an ice skating parade! :)

Here are the army soldiers from Toy Story! They looked sooooooooo cool!

This is Woody and Buzz, in a not very good and blurry picture...

Here are all the Disney Princesses and Princes! Well, almost. I guess that Sleeping Beauty was injured the night performance before, so she and Prince Phillip weren't present.

Cinderella and Prince Charming skating away!

Mulan was another favorite part!

At the end of Mulan, a big Chinese dragon of Mushu came out! That was cool!

This is the Mickey Mouse March! "Mickey Mouse- DONALD DUCK!- Mickey Mouse- DONALD DUCK!" lol, love it!

Here's everyone at the end! We also tried to get pictures of the Finding Nemo crew, but this was the best we got. They're up in the upper right hand corner. They were awesome costumes!

And here's everybody's favorite alien experiment, Stitch!

Wow! What a grand finale!

HALLOWEEN!!!

2008-11-02T14:24:00.000-07:00

We went to a corn maze and pumpkin patch and picked out the bestest pumpkin ever! And, as everyone knows, the best pumpkin needs the best carving! :)

These are our awesome costumes! Brandon was Donatello, a Ninja Turtle! Melissa was the colorful Rainbow Brite! We had lots of fun making our costumes, and Melissa did a really good job sewing them! After Melissa's performance and Halloween party with the cast, we needed something at Walmart, and decided to go in our costumes! We got a few funny looks, but mostly compliments! :)

Our New Car!

2008-09-09T10:17:00.000-06:00

Our New Car!

2008-09-09T10:05:00.001-06:00

Here is our awesome new car! :) We're happy to have found something that is good for us, at a good price, and that we'll be able to use for quite a while! :) When we told Dad what color it is, he laughed and said that everyone needs to have a yellow car at some time! :)

We're Here!

2008-08-31T12:18:00.000-06:00

This is us.