Merry Christmas

I just wanted to wish you all a Merry Christmas!! Curtis and I had a wonderful day spending time with our family and soaking the day in. I am so grateful for my Savior and for His birth. To be able to reflect and remember Him at this time of year. I am grateful for the love of friends and family and for that contagious holiday cheer!


Christmas Eve my sister-in-law Kristi set up for us to go sing at the Veteran's Nursing Home. We were their dinner show! It was fun to do some service and to be together as a family. It was a great opportunity and I think would make a wonderful tradition! Above are my cute niece's and nephew's at the home. They are getting so big! For Christmas this year Curtis and I decided that our present for each other would be a new TV. Our old TV wont exactly work after the switch come February and we have been drooling over them every time we went to Costco.... So we got one. When we made the purchase we weren't exactly thinking about the vehicle we drove and had to somehow get this massive box into our little Altima somehow!! It took a lot of shoving but we finally made it so we could at least shut the doors. The terrible thing was that when when we got home we COULD NOT get our present out of the car. It was STUCK!!!! After like a half hour of useless attempts to get the box unstuck Curtis finally just opened the box while still in the car and pulled out the TV. We are loving that we jumped on this band wagon! I just don't think Jack is used to it yet. Whenever funky sounds come on he runs up to it, caulks his head and just stairs straight at it all confused!

We have many different Christmas traditions in my family. One that I love is when we get together and make gingerbread houses. I obviously am no master of the gingerbread and this was the first year I decided to buy a kit rather than make it homemade mainly because we didn't have time to. JR and Kristi always impress us with their creativity and mad candy skills! Sorry I don't have a picture but just to give you an idea Kristi cut out a house design in cardboard and the one by one glued little pretzels sticks and made a log cabin! It was extremely impressive! Merry Christmas again everyone!

CHRISTMAS CARD

This year found us Brinkerhoff’s with many new adventures. As a kick off Curtis started a new job working for a software company which has been a great fit and growing experience. We welcomed a new niece and nephew into the family and look forward to our next niece due shortly after Christmas. We celebrated our first anniversary this last August, how crazy that it has now been over a year since we began our journey as husband and wife. We also celebrated our year anniversary with our ludicrous dog Jack. Bekah just finished her last semester at the University of Utah graduating in Public Relations and looks forward to the extra time she is going to have! We are grateful for this holiday season and to spend time with our family and friends in celebration of our savior’s birth and reflect on the blessings and the joy we feel in this season. We hope you all have a Merry Christmas!
Love,
Curtis, Rebekah and baby

What happened to Saturday mornings?

I remember when I was little I would love waking up Saturday morning, pooring myself a bowl of cereal and sitting myself down to enjoy to Saturday cartoon lineup....... I just want to know what happened? Curtis and I finally had the opportunity to watch Saturday morning cartoons today and I am extremely disappointed! What happened to the good cartoons like animaniacs and kid shows like ghost writer? There is nothing to watch Saturday morning, I guess I am just getting OLD! As another update, I finally finished up school! As long as my teachers don't fail me consider me a graduate from the University of Utah. I have been going to school for so long now that it honestly doesn't feel like anything has changed. Even right now as I type this post I feel like I am ditching class. By the way I have A LOT of catching up to do and I plan to get that all taken care of this weekend! Missed you all and its good to be back!

What a tragedy!

I realized something today while wandering through my loved ones blogs. I was checking out JR and Kristi's blog and noticed something.... On their side bar they have links to everybody they know that blogs and my blog and my moms blog lie right next to each other. The feature of her link list is to also display the latest post and how long ago it was posted. This is when I discovered a tragic fact. I have always teased my mom for never updating her blog and having the same old stuff on it, it was now that I saw the cold hard fact that the last time I have posted ANYTHING was 3 weeks ago the same time frame as my dear mother! What has the world come to? Well in my defense, Curtis and I got rid of our Internet leading to no longer being able to conveniently update everybody! No worries though we are signing back up and when that happens I will once again be up and running in the blogging world! Miss you all!!!!!

Where's Waldo???

Happy Halloween! So my work gets pretty in to Halloween and they do a costume and pumpkin contest. A lady I work with wanted me to join her in an idea she had. We can as members of KISS! Can you tell which one is me?

I know I look pretty freaky but hey its Halloween and its the only time you can get away with this type of thing! Also it won me 3rd prize!

Easy Peasy!!!

My sister-in-law Kristi just starter a children's apparel business. She currently sells in a couple of boutiques in Park City and Sugar House and if any of you are ever in the area you should check out these stores: Mary Jane's, Paisley Pomegranate Park CityPaisley Pomegranate Sugar House. Soon they will also be available at the online boutique The Pat a Cake Baby.

You can also check out her full line at her Etsy shop: Easy Peasy Shop (easypeasyshop.etsy.com)
In the mean time, feast your eyes on her awesome collection bellow being modelled by my adorable neices and nephew

Gotta love the tags!!!
Jennine you were right I do enjoy these..... I got tagged and here is what I have to do: I have to go to my pictures and in the 4th folder I have to find the 4th picture and here it is.


This was a picture of our anniversary breakfast. Curtis is such a romantic, he refused to tell me where he was going to take me. He is so big on suprises and I LOVE suprises. He took me to the Hilton downtown Salt Lake. It was an amazing celebration and we had so much fun not having to worry about schedules, we just did whatever we wanted when we wanted... with the exception of our schedules massage!!! Love you babe!
I now tag:
Brooke, Tiki and Doll

OOPS HOLD IT......
My beautiful sister in law reminded me that I completely spaced on the second part of this tag. I have to share six quarky things about myself.

1. I think I am the least frugal person out of my whole family. I group up in a household where the Happenings book was what ruled our activities. I also inherited a love for clothes, mostly the kind I can't afford. On occasion I will splurge on something if I can't stop looking at it and justifying the hours I would have to work overtime to pay for it.

2. I am a cereal-holic. I love a bowl of cereal right before bedtime. The only bad thing is I HATE drinking the milk. Curtis always gets mad when I dump it down the sink.

3. I am like a bird when I eat food. I pick, pick and pick at my meals all day long. So instead of eating 3 meals a day I eat more like 15 snacks a day. At work I am the one who has a filing cabinet dedicated to satisfy my munchies

4. When I think something is extremely funny I laugh so hard that no one can even try to interpret what I am trying to say through my laughter. And as an added embarassment I end up crying half the time because I just can't stop laughing even if it is something extremely stupid. Depends on my mood

5. I love my TV shows: Monday: Chuck and Hereos Tuesday: 90210 and Priveledged Wednesday: Pushing Daisies Thursday: The Office. Dont worry I am not a complete couch potatoe I do my homework with the TV in the background:)

6. I am not a massive clean freak but when it comes to making the bed I am obsessive compulsive. As soon as the sheets come out of the dryer I spend probably about an hour making it perfect, and then after our extra sheets are washed I am super particular in how they get folded before they go back to the closet. The crazy thing is, is that I don't make the bed everyday I only really care when everything is crisp and clean.

FALL has finally shown its face!

Today was such a beautiful day. I was so frustrated when it snowed last week, seriously Mother Nature completely skipped over fall. To my surprise, as I was taking my LONG commute home I noticed how truly beautiful Utah is. The Wasatch Mountains had over night turned into a fiery red and reflected stunningly across the valley. It was a perfect fall day today, the temperature cool enough to the skin that jackets were optional. How lucky we are to live is such a magnificent place!!! I just wish the snow can hold off for a little while longer.

Vegas BABY!!!

So last week Curtis' uncle needed a rhino type machine transported down to their home in Vegas. Curtis and I decided to take advantage of the opportunity. It was the perfect chance to reboot the burned out mind and spend sometime with my honey.... Not to mention the shopping! My two favorite stores, Zara and H&M, are in Vegas and I couldn't resist that temptation. I just simply can't believe how trashy Vegas is. The men and women who stand on the street corners flapping the nudy cards trying to get absolutely ANYBODY to take them. Not to mention the drive-by billboards with naked ladies hardly covering up. It just makes you sick to think about how trapped people get n that town. Sex and money.... there you go. It was fun to see the sites and visit the strip (again minus the nudies) and I wouldn't have wanted to do it with anyone other than Curtis. I got to say In and Out Burger really isn't all ts talked up to be. Yeah its cheap and its OK i guess but honestly I don't get it!! The best part of the trip was to finally met more of Curt's family that lives down there. I absolutely loved spending time with them and am so grateful they let us stay in their beautiful home. There pool had a zip line.... A ZIP LINE!!! How awesome is that? What happens in Vegas, absolutely does not stay in Vegas! Oh yeah and I guess this is the first time I have posted any pics of my dark hair. Its different and freaked me out at first but I like it.

One Last Summer Bash

Over Labor Day weekend Curtis and I took my brother JR and his wife Kristi to the One Last Summer Bash. It was supposed to be this big awesome party with like 7 bands playing and the highlight of Augustana. It was fun to spend time with JR and Kristi and hillarious to watch some of the perfomers particularly, Love You Long Time. If you ever have a chance to see them perform I highly recommend you do so mostly for entertainment purposes. They use a lot of old school sounds with extremely cheesy lyrics. Such as "I hope you choke and die.... swallow.... and die" and "I got steps in my fade and a brand new tape in my boom box, in my boom box" it was AWESOME!!! Needless to say we were even more excited to see Augustana more than anything. They were so great! Even better live!

Introducing Love You Long Time





Over Labor Day weekend Curtis and I took my brother JR and his wife Kristi to the One Last Summer Bash. It was supposed to be this big awesome party with like 7 bands playing and the highlight of Augustana. It was fun to spend time with JR and Kristi and hillarious to watch some of the perfomers particularly, Love You Long Time. If you ever have a chance to see them perform I highly recommend you do so mostly for entertainment purposes. They use a lot of old school sounds with extremely cheesy lyrics. Such as "I hope you choke and die.... swallow.... and die" and "I got steps in my fade and a brand new tape in my boom box, in my boom box" it was AWESOME!!! Needless to say we were even more excited to see Augustana more than anything. They were so great! Even better live!

LARRICK!

Jack and Larrick sitting in a tree!!! A couple of weeks ago our friends, the Bush's, went out of town and had us watch over their dog Larrick. Jack has found a new love/ best friend. Suprisingly enough she has more energy than Jack so it was a lot of fun watching the 2 of them play. I no it is pretty gross to see all of the drool on the window but if you can look past that you will see just how cute they are together!

A day to remember

I know I am a little late to express my gratitude to our country men and women but I was looking over some of my pictures and figure any day is a good day to remember. I remember September 11th, but not as great as I wish to. It was my Sophmore year in high school, I remember it was rare when I would eat breakfast at the table. On this particular morning I had done just that. I was eating a bowl of Lucky Charms and watched the Twin Towers burn. I remember hearing the reporters frantically trying to make sense of what was going on. I just didn't get it! I made it to school and even then it was all that I heard in the halls. In gym class I remember Ms. Dutcher telling us about the Pentagon and the other plane. It just didn't make sense again. It is a shock today to think that that was seven years ago. I am so grateful for the brave men and women who serve our country and have sacrificed so much to maintain our freedoms. Not just today but everyday past and present. Thank you!!

DWIGHT'S OLYMPICS

Happy Anniversary BABBY!!

August 11.... How wonderful this last year has been. As Curtis and I refelcted on our last year together we both were amazed to see how truly blessed we are. We laughed about our courtship and the never-ending car rides back and forth, from Logan to So Jo. About how we both started flirting with the idea of marriage on our second date and after one whole month we had our temple appointment!We have experienced everything from death to life, school to work, our first home, our first trip, JACK, experimental dinners (personally I am suprised Curtis survived this one) and many many other adventures. Before our wedding day we, like many other new couples, received many words of advice. Many people told us their first year was the hardest and some said it was the second. No matter what year, I am so grateful to wakeup day after day next to my partner in crime ready for what my come. He is everything I ever dreamed of, I love you Babby!!!! Happy Anniversary!

MOM JEANS

MOM JEANS!!

Yup thats me right in the middle. Doesn't the forrest green accentuate my curves? This was our demonstration of MOM JEANS. Even JR couldn't resist trying on a pair! Jennines were fantastic they had about 10 buttons down the front!!!

SUPRISE

Rachael is having a GIRL!! My sisters, mom and I decided to throw a suprise baby shower for my sister. We didn't have a whole lot of time considering her and her husband would be leaving back to Italy that weekend. It was a fantastic party. We had a wonderful turn out and had a lot of great friends and family. It was fun to see Rach's face when she walked in the door!

Classic Party!

JR and Kristi rented out Classic waterslides for a duo birthday celebration! What can I say I loved feeling like a little kid again, running up to the water slides and racing my husband on the way down. I would also have to mention the train made up of all of my sisters. What a great time!!

Sunday Sunday Sunday

Last Sunday was baby Rori Anna's blessing. Like always it was a blast getting together with the family. I adore my neices and nephews they are a hoot to have around. Rachael is starting to get a baby bump and is looking so beautiful. Its funny how pregnant women really do have a glow!

Boatin with the fam!

My brother-in-law Giovanni came to town for a visit and in celebration my family went to our condo at Pineview. We had a great time together. It is always so fun to have the whole family together and hard to say goodbye!

Fourth of July

Happy Fourth!! I know its a little late but this was our Fourth. First off we went swimming with our great friends Kit and Nat. It was really my first time being out in the sun so I got fried. The boys impressed us with their diving tricks. Curtis and I then met his parents at the Western Stampede and I absolutely loved it.... Saturday we went joined our friends Brooke and Josh to Cafe Trio and then to the Salt Lake Bees game. We really only went for the AMAZING firework show at the end. We had a wonderful weekend and feel very blessed to live in this country!