Have a Very Merry Christmas!

I was just thinking about my childhood Christmas traditions. These are the most vivid and fun things I can remember:
* We go down to Grandma McKee's for Christmas Eve. Exchange family gifts and we would watch the news to see where Santa was so we could make it home in time to be in bed before he arrived. On the way home we would watch the sky and could SWEAR that we could see Rudolph’s nose in the sky, never did we think it was a satellite or airplane.
* Before we would go to bed we would have Egg nog and read a new Christmas story in front of the tree as a family. We would usually get new PJ's as well. We would finish our drinks and make sure Santa got Fudge and Eggnog left out for him.
* It would be so hard to sleep, especially since mom let us put lights up in our room. We would leave them on all night long and BreAnn and I would talk about what Santa was going to bring us. Sometimes if we got brave, we would open our door and peek down to see if he had came yet.
* Christmas morning was very structured. Whomever was awake first boys or girls, would be in charge of waking everyone up. But before we woke up mom and dad we had to brush our hair and teeth. We would line up on the stairs from oldest to youngest. Brandon was on the lower stair. Our stockings were usually hung on the banister, so we could peek in them while waiting. We would be waiting for mom and dad to get up and brush teeth. Just a peekin over the railing at the tree checking out everyone's Santa gifts. Santa NEVR wrapped our presents! It was so exciting to imagine which doll or whatever that was left out was for me.
* we would all pile downstairs and we would all take turns opening one gift at a time, so we could all see what we each got. The room was always piled to the ceiling with paper and boxes.

I can't wait to have kids on Christmas. It's just not the same as a couple. (Secretly I still wish I was a kid!)

Happy Holidays!
-Britt

Meet Rusty

This is our new kitten we got on Saturday. Todd really wanted a kitten so I gave in. He is super cute, playful and affectionate. Nothing says I love you from a kitten like the first time he purrs for you. He is totally into everythig, likes to talk and explore. But he does sleep through the night.. nothing better than that!

Tis the Season of being Thankful

This year has had it's ups and downs. Nevertheless, I am and have always been thankful for more than I can even think of. There are so many things that we take forgranted on a daily basis. Since today is Vetrans Day, I wanted to take a moment and thank all the brave men and women who gave their lives for me to be able to live the way I do. Freedom is such a natural, normal day to day lifestyle for us, we totally forget that we have a strong back bone of Soldiers who are giving their lives so we can live and do as we please. Thank you Vetrans! I am proud to be an American!!

My favorite things about October:

*Wedding Anniversary
*pumpkin carving
*decorating the house all spooky like
*costume shopping
*dressing up
*haunted houses
*going to parties
*checking out the trick-or-treaters costumes
*fall weather/ colors
* CANDY!!

I hope you have a fun and safe month! Happy Halloween!

Something new about me:

So I am an official Scentsy girl. I just got my stuff yesterday and am really excited about all the new scents and warmers. Holla if you want to have a party or something! here is my Scentsy website: http://www.scentsy.com/brittneyellison

L.P. Awesomeness

Lake Powell was such a blast! If you have never been, you have to go! I think this is the first time that all of my siblings has gone on a vacation with any of our parents in well.. since they got divorced. My mom was so happy for all of us to be there and she and her husband Randy played awesome hosts. We had so much fun riding the water weenie.. thank goodness for the awesome helmets mom bought or we might have been concussed.. dangerous playtime but it was dang funny. We got to ride their 2 wave runners, boat and just relaxed on floatie chairs in the water. We had one crazy day that I named Bird Tuesday. It was around 9 am and everyone kept talking about this hawk, by the time I realized what they were talking about that it wasn’t in the sky, there was a boat that was stopped by this floating thing in the water. Apparently this Hawk nosedived into the water and couldn’t get out. The other boaters got the bird on land over by our house boat. about 45 minutes it had gotten enough energy back and dry enough it took off on top of a cliff that over looked us. Later that day Me, mom and Todd were floating across from our house boat into a cove like thing, and I saw something else floating in the water. ( the wind had been pretty bad and we had seen a lot of candy wrappers and water bottles fly off the boat that day) so we start swimming towards the object, mom got there first and identified that it was a baby bird. she scooped it onto her lap and paddled back to the house boat. She said that it was barely staying afloat when she got to it, but after letting it too dry off and re-gain some energy it flew away. Crazy birds, you can't swim! Well except birds like ducks, which we saw a ton of too! We played a little experiment. We put some bread in the water by the house boat with loud music on. The ducks didn't want anything to do with the food. Well they wanted it but stayed about 25-50 feet away from the house boat. We turn off the music and they came right up to the boat to get the food. It was pretty funny.
A week with no TV and only family and water sports to entertain you.. minus sunburns It was spectacular! (speaking of sun burns.. I have a white hand on my thigh. no idea why I have a handprint.. whether it be sunscreen or just sitting in one position for a long time.. but it’s pretty hilarious!)
Thanks Mom and Randy! We all had a blast! Pictures to come soon, I forgot my camera so mom took pics for us!

It's Official:

Todd and I are totally and completely moved into the new house! (pictures to come soon) HIP HIP HORRAY!! We are still spending every spare moment since Saturday night trying to organize and unpack. The most daunting thing yet is the master closet that fits both of our clothes! That’s right, both of ours. Now that we have so much room to hang our stuff, we have run out of hangers. The other exciting adventure lately has been the laundry room. not only is it full of clothes that need to be washed, the dryer hose has no outlet.. well so it would appear. Todd's brother Clay pointed out to us that there is a working vent, the builders just must have just dry walled over it. so now we have a makeshift hole Todd cut out with a little saw and we have to go buy the collar that fits on to the actual hose.. I swear, this better be the last 'fix it' we have to do until we get back from Lake Powell.





Which reminds me, 2 days!! We are super excited. We definitely need a long va-cay after the last hellish 3 months. It should be a great time. Brian, Brittony, Kaleb, Trevin, BreAnn, her new guy Curtis, Jaxon, Sydnee, Brandon, Melissa, Me, Todd, Mom, Randy, step brother Gary and his family are all coming along, half of whom are leaving on Monday. We are going to celebrate Miss Sydnee's 4th birthday on the boat! she is really excited, hope she likes her Princess Ariel Barbie, she has been talking about it for a month now!

House Update, why not?!?

So Todd and I finished the flooring on Sunday. We went to the home depot yesterday, bought some base molding to go around the cabinets, rented a nail gun and wend to town. We only had 4 hours to do around 200 sq feet of molding, but we sure got it on the wall and Todd made it back to the HD with seconds to spare! While we were doing that, my wonderful mother come over and help clean the house. She scoured and caulked the heck out of the house, it looks great! We have to go back and paint and caulk the base boards tonight, and put the powder room toilet back but then hopefully we will be done! We get our Refrigerator tomorrow and we are so excited to start moving Friday!!

Fine, how are you?

WOW it's been a crazy couple of months! Camping trips in the snow in Kamas, birthdays, and
if you didn't already know we bought a house! We are still in the process of painting and putting down new flooring. With both of us working full time, it makes it hard to get done, but we are inching along! My new work at home system is going to be installed next Monday so we are giving ourselves the deadline to be moved in before we go to Lake Powell 8/20/09. Unfortunately we have to keep paying on our apartment until our lease is up 9/30/09. So technically we have till then to be fully moved in. but as we just sent our first mortgage check, it's stupid not to move in as we are finally paying for it haha :)

This summer has been filled with so many exciting events, and some not so exciting. My cousin Aubrey's one year old daughter Jenna was diagnosed with Leukemia and has been doing fairly well with her Chemo treatments. It was a huge shock to our family and we have put Jenna and her family in our daily prayers.
Besides that life changing news, we had a fabulous Independence day weekend and so far July has been a fun one! Painting, BBQ's, ATV Rodeos, Fireworks, Demolition Derby's and just good times with friends and family. We are heading out to my Delange family reunion tomorrow morning. It should be a good weekend of fishing, tanning and 4 wheeling at Joe's Valley Reservoir. Todd and I are super excited to get away for a couple of days.

Hope all is well with everyone else! have a fun and safe rest of the summer!

Cynical or Stressed?

So the past month has been complete and utter stress. If it's not one thing it’s another. Our real estate agent said that buying a home is as stressful as going through a divorce. And I will admit that I stated that when I get this house I am divorcing Todd. Of course I don't mean it.. but that’s how tight this thing has me wound up. I never in a million years would have thought that money would be the strain on my marriage. We never get in fights, we make more than we spend and somehow 3 old $400 ghosts in Todd's closet about made me go mad! I will just be happy when things settle down. We are due to close on the townhome this week. We are just in a race to get the $6,000.00 down payment money from Utah. As of today there are only 187 left.

The reason I say cynical is everyone around me seems so happy –go- lucky. I am in my own inner hell. Not only do I have things to be happy for and about my mind just can't seem to grasp them. Apparently the bad outweighs the good in my horrid mind.

I just feel bad for my husband. I keep taking it all out on him, yes a lot of our financial issues were his 'fault' but some part of me can't seem to drop it. Medication needed? I am beginning to think so! Hopefully we will get this house thing figured out before I completely unravel!

wow!

So today was a big day for my car. I hit the big 100000 miles! hope she holds out for antother 100000!!

ugh..

So I am pretty bad at this blog thing.. But here is a re-cap in what is going on whith us the past few months!

We are looking for a home. We think we may have narrowed it down to one brand new townhome community, however not exactly sure if we are going to get the unit we would like. The home is in Saratoga Springs, before the crossroads, and about as far west as you can go with out running into the field.

We have also had a few birthdays the last few weeks and more to come this month! Marlie turned 3 on the 10th, Jaxon turned 8 on the 16th, Grandma Buddy Ellison is 89 on the 20th and Trevin turns 3 on the 31st!

And last but not least DUNES BABY!!! We are planning our Memorial weekend trip to the dunes as we speak. We are leaving Thursday night and coming back on Sunday. It's going to be Todd, Me, Brandon, Melissa, Brian, Brittony, BreAnn, Curtis, Brock, Ashley, Jeff, Jessica, Megan, and Heather and her guy. And probably more to come! Todd got word from his friend Jace, that they are planning on going down as well so we should see many friendly faces. We will just pray that everyone stays safe! Especially since it's a holiday weekend, and also the 4 stroke wars is the same weekend. so we are looking at 20-40 thousand people showing up to ride along side of us! wish us luck and pray for us!!

Good News???

So last Monday I went to the OBGYN for my yearly girl bits exam (fun stuff, I know). I had a few concerns over the last few months that I decided to run by my Doctor. His name is Dr. Lash, awesome guy! Since being married I have gained a few 20 pounds, not wanted to be "close" with Todd and am just really ornery all the time. I tried to pawn this off on the new generic birth control I was taking, which I assumed was different than what I had been on previously and he wouldn't buy it. He just suggested that it's the newlywed syndrome.
A) that I need some space because I'm not used to being around Todd all the time - this one Is probably true.
B) I'm a really good cook and am not being as calorie conscious as I could be- sure I am a good cook, but we don't eat all butter and French fries (think of Mrs. Butterton from the commercials)
C) I am not as active as I used to be before we got married- yeah I sort of fell off the work out wagon, especially with the winter and my weird work schedules
D) I could have a thyroid problem. – sure it runs in my family, but I never have thought of it for myself.

After going the rest of the visit with a tear in my eye.. secretly wishing he would have blamed the generic birth control with me (which he wouldn't because it is exactly the same as the one I had before, except the last 7 days which I hadn't taken yet) on the weight gain, moodiness and no libido; Or tell me that I was 4 months pregnant, though I am not ready for a baby, having a reason for the extra poundage would be sufficient. NO I AM NOT PREGNANT, JUST FAT. He recommended that I head down to the Lab to take a quick blood test so we can rule out the Thyroid. He said it was a small chance that this would be the issue with all the change/newness that happened in my life the last 6 months. And in a roundabout way said I probably would have to dust off my running shoes.

So I headed down to the Lab. If you know me very well at all, you know that I can't do blood. It's not the needles, it’s the actual blood. I can't stand gory stories, or real life experience stories because I imagine that the story is actually happening to me and I can literally FEEL the pain. I sit on down, wearing a long sleeved t-shirt which I had to cinch it up around my bicep, which of course pissed me off because it stretched out my cuff! And then prepare for the blood. The phlebotomist was laughing at me and I tried to tell her that I had to grip something tight and close my eyes. She prepares for the needle and gets it in. And then says, " You are dehydrated, nothing is coming out." I told her quickly that I was not planning on bleeding to death for her that day and only drank enough water that morning for my 10:30 am urine sample. So she starts examining my other arm, vein not as visible as the other one and with the dehydration she wasn't even going to try. (again stretching out the other cuff of my sleeve) So she asked me if she could draw out of my hand. I was about ready to say "peace out woman, if it won’t come out, it’s a stinking sign! I didn't sign up for torture today!" .. Thinking of the fun hospital visit I had in Wyoming a few years back. She said my hands were too cold and to run my hands under hot water and she would be right back (had to help another nurse.) Because I am not the rebel rouser that I claim to be I did what I was told. I hot watered my hands, thinking that maybe the hot water seeps in your hands to help you become less dehydrated? no no no that’s dumb Brittney, it brings the veins to the surface. So I strap in for vein #2. She actually got it.. I almost passed out from not breathing but she got it. I gave the damn blood that I didn't want to give, and it hurt really bad! She said to leave on the tape for 10 minutes so it didn't bruise my hand. So I drove from downtown SLC to Draper thinking of that mornings events. And how I probably needed a glass or a liter of water. On the way there I called my sister BreAnn, also a phlebotomist, and asked her how long really I had to wear the tape thing she said 10 minutes too.. but by that time it had been an hour and a half and then I figured I'd wear my badge of honor for 4 more hours! I'm a dork, but I sure didn't bruise!

After all that drama was over, this last week I pretty much put the whole thing out of my mind. But Today I just got my blood test results. I DO have a low thyroid. So the torture test was worth it. On my results, my doctor listed that he wants me to go get another blood test in a month. Gag! But at least I know why I'm having issues and that I knew that somewhere there had to be a scapegoat.. not just my love for couch potatoing! So wish me luck! hopefully I can drop my extra lbs and be back to feeling normal. God knows Todd is wishing the same thing. He has been an awesome support and husband. And I know that not all guys would put up with the garbage that I throw at him on a weekly.. okay.. daily basis!

Good Times

BreAnn and Sydnee stopped by our apartment on Saturday to show Todd and I Sydnee's new dresses. She has a fantastic love of dresses and has to throw a fit and cry if she has to wear pants. So while they were visiting Sydnee saw our rock band stuff and decided to give it a go. Now she is only 3 and too tiny to actually play, but man was she sure pretending! She is such a little fire cracker. She asked me to play the drums and I said I didn't want to, and she asked me what I wanted and I said 1000 million dollars. She went running into our bedroom and came back with a dollar bill she stole from Todd's change dish. She is just so cute and smart. Love her. This is Syd Wailing on her guitar making her rock face in her new dress that she couldn't just show me, but had to put on, along with the tights! And this is Syd and Todd playing pretend rock band.

Oh Todd...

So Todd went in for an eye exam last Wednesday, and yes, he too has to wear glasses. He is liking that he can see better, read the board at school, street signs, license plates and pretty much anything that was far away. He prefers to wear his contacts, but I like him in the glasses, he looks pretty damn sexy to me!

Happy V-Day!

So Saturday was the Ellison's first married V-Day!! We had gotten home from Wendover about 3 hours before our dinner reservations, so we were pretty tired. After a much needed shower to get the casino out of my hair, I started to get ready. Because of a mis-hap during a shopping trip, I had bought the wrong size of pants, thought I returned them and went to try on my valentines day outfit only to find out that I had bought the same pants back! So not only am I really tired from playing all night long, till 3:30 to be exact, I have nothing to wear because none of the stores have the size I need! (yes I tried to exchange them at 4 different stores) So by the time we went to this romantic dinner, my hair fell, my makeup was sweat off and I had already yelled at Todd for telling me I look great when I was not happy with an outfit I put on.

He took me to Log Haven.. it was amazing! I totally didn't deserve it and felt like a total jerk of a wife for freaking out about clothes and spoiling the date. I did apologize to Todd (after a glass of wine.. to settle my nerves) and realized that being with the one you love on Valentines day, and really any other day is way more important than what we look like or what we are wearing. And I seem to always take for granted all the wonderful things that my life has handed me and everything Todd does for me. He married ME for heavens-sake! So for the last time regarding this awful holiday mishap- I am sorry Todd, I love you very much and am thankful for the thought and patients you showed me on our first married V-Day. I love you!!

Groundhogs Day..

Well Punxsutawney Phil has made his decision, to my dismay, 6 more weeks of winter.. eww.. After seeing a budwiser commercial last night, I got an idea.. http://www.hulu.com/superbowl/55644/super-bowl-xliii-ads-bud-light-bud-light-lime.. If this is all it takes I better head to the store! ;) Happy Groundhogs day!

Where's my apron?

I have a confession to make.. All the years of telling my mom that I am allergic to doing anyone elses laundry, dishes and or other cleaning things.. I have actually begun to enjoy this housewife junk! I just made my first crock pot roast, to the liking of the husband. I have a routine with the laundry and dishes and the other house cleaning stuff, and i try to put a full week of work in to boot! But a few weeks ago I about had a melt down when doing the third load of laundry.. "Is this what my life is now?" but seeing the look on Todd's face when I whip up some delicious dinner, not unlike how my mom used to, or the smell of fresh clean laundry, I know its all worth it. You may laugh at me because like my friend Terill said, 'there are only two of you, wait till you have kids, you will be doing laundry non-stop for the rest of your life." It makes me feel good to help out the house. And feels even better that it is my husband and my new life that I am doing all this for!

Sydnee Has Glasses!

We found out last week that Syd is farsighted. So she has to wear glasses. BreAnn just sent me a picture of her.. OMG how cute is that?

Happy New Year!

Hope everyone had a fun safe new year! Todd and I had a good time. We went to dinner and then the movie The curious case of Benjamin Button. It was pretty good. but it was long! In fact it was so long that by the time we got home, it was almost midnight! Todd and I had our first married new years kiss... so romantic! haha I was reading Eragon and Todd was playing a video game. Yep, we have been married for THREE MONTHS today, and we ring in the new year doing our own things.. But hey, That's how we roll! Happy Happy New Year!