FAMILY

I think it must be because I just spent a week in Georgia with all of my family there but today I have been feeling really grateful for the family that I am blessed to call mine. Are we perfect...no, not at all. In fact we have been through some really hard times together. But I wouldn't trade those hard times for anything. They have taught me how important family is and that if you don't stick together life will be really hard and tough. You will feel lonely and like you have no one to turn to. I am so blessed to have such a supportive family that has always shown their love for me {although at the time I may not have seen it that way}. Each member of my family plays such an important role in our family dynamics.

Everyone meet Mo and Faddah

They make a cute pair, huh?! I sure think so, I'm thankful for genetics to say the least. My mom and dad are the best! I know everyone says that but mine really are. They are the best example of Christ like love that I know. They love us no matter what and make sure we know it daily. They love us for who we are and what we can become. They see our full potential and do everything they can to help us get there. They are our number one cheerleaders. They are also best friends who love when we love and who hurt when we hurt. They have taught us that family is always supposed to be there for each other even when its hard. Seeing them take their roles as Honey and Dude {their grandma and grandpa names} when my niece was born last September has made me love them even more. Their love for little Zoe radiates just as much as it does for us girls. They have so much love in their hearts. I hope to one day be the mom that my mom is for me. She is my best friend and I truly treasure that relationship. My dad showed me what qualities to look for in a husband and I really appreciate his wisdom and tender heart.

Meet the Brinkerhoff Clan

This is my older sister, Afton, her husband Gregg, and darling baby Zoe. First confession: I have ALWAYS coveted Afton's voice. She has the voice of an angel and I loved growing up hearing her sing, plus she is a lovely piano player. Afton also has the perfect complexion, something I have been and always will be super jealous of. She is an elegant woman, like a timeless beauty. She is a wonderful mom to little Zoe. Gregg is an awesome brother in law. He is quick and witty and a excellent dad to his daughter and loves my sister so much. He does everything he can for their little family, and we all appreciate that he takes care of two girls we love.  Zoe has blessed our family in so many ways. She has brought us closer together and she is our little ray of sunshine. She is the prettiest baby I have ever seen and she has such a happy spirit.

Here is the baby sister

Everyone this is Colby. Possibly one of the sweetest girls I know. This girl is beautiful inside and out. Her heart is SO big. She always sticks up for the underdog, and won't let anyone get bullied or bashed. She is so smart and beautiful. She has the longest legs in our family and I am so jealous of them, she has my dream body...and her eyelashes are to die for. She is a great aunt to baby Zoe. I know she has so much potential in this life and I can't wait to see her accomplish everything that is in store for her!

And last but not least

This handsome man is my husband! I feel so blessed to be his wifey. He makes me so happy. He is such a hard worker and such a tender hearted boy. He is kind to everyone even when I feel like half the time they don't deserve it. This boy has overcome so much and I know how much he has to offer. I can't wait to see what our future holds!

I am so blessed to have THIS family and to have the knowledge that I can be with them forever. I am trying to become a better daughter, sister, and wife and I am so grateful to have these people by my side to encourage me and help me along the way. I love you all so very much!

There's No Place Like Home

Sorry I have been a little MIA on the blog lately. Last week we headed down to good ole Georgia for the baby sisters high school graduation! I had such a great time and really got to see a lot of my family that I hadn't seen in what feels like forever.

Monday morning we got in and first stop was Chickfila. Never has a chicken biscuit tasted so good. After our Chickfila run we stopped by my parents house so that I could say hello {it's hard knowing that you are so close to your family but you can't spend time with them}. The thing about both of our families living so close is that we have to make sure that time is spent at each place. So the beginning of the week we spent at Brad's side of the family and the end of the week with mine!

On Tuesday morning we went to the aquarium with Brad's relatives. We saw lots of fishes and other sea animals. I was impressed with how great of a job Atlanta did on the aquarium but I probably wouldn't go again, basically it an "I can say I've gone to the Georgia Aquarium" kind of thing.After the aquarium I headed to get my hair done, that was interesting to say the least.

On Wednesday I went to the Braves game with my family! It was so fun to just hangout, catch up, and watch some baseball. I remember many times going as a family to Braves games during the summer! Colby would always ask for dippin dots and I would always go for the frozen lemonade! Later that evening we met up with Adam and Ashley {our friends who set us up} for dinner and then just caught up on whats going on in our lives.

Thursday morning we headed over to my parents for the rest of the week. It was so fun to see everyone who had come for Colby's graduation. Everyone was there and it's been awhile since that has happened! Thursday evening we had foil dinners and dutch oven lasagna. It was so delicious and of course we ended the evening with peep s'mores!

Friday was the big graduation day! Colby graduated with honors and it couldn't have been a more perfect ceremony. It was short and we were blessed with amazing weather. They even played banjo music which was PERFECT for Colby. After the ceremony we all got back to the house and she opened cards and we ate cookie cake!

Saturday we drove up to Canton to go to my cousin, Dallin's graduation. After the graduation we headed back to the house to eat {cafe rio style}. After dinner we headed to the lake to take family pictures since everyone was in town.

Sunday was church day. It's always weird to me to go back to that ward. I'm not sure why it just is. There have been a lot of new families to move into the ward but other than that it's pretty much the same. Once we got home it was lunch, naps, and then good ole wackee six. I seriously LOVE that game but I am not as good at it as I once was. {womp womp}.

Monday and Tuesday Brad and I headed to the beach. I am a beach lover for life and wish I could live there {maybe one day}. It kind of felt like a mini honeymoon. It was so fun to stroll down the beach and the little beach town hand in hand. It was also nice to have sand and waves in front of our faces instead of piles of snow for a change.

I am so grateful that we were able to go to Georgia for Colby's graduation and that my whole family was able to be there. It is so fun to see the different stages of life that everyone is going through. Words cannot describe how thankful  I am that families are forever. I know we may not always get a long and see eye to eye but I know that each one of us loves one another more than anything in this world and would do anything to make sure that we are all happy and healthy. I love my family and I am grateful that I get to be with them for eternity!

Mother's Day 2013



please don't hate me for the last picture, I secretly love it because it's totally us! :)

Let's take a second to talk about Mothers shall we. Well actually let's talk about the best one EVER, her name is Sabra Lynn Newberry, but I like to call her Mo :)

Being married and on my own has taught me a lot. One thing for sure though is that I am beyond blessed to have such a wonderful, loving, and supportive mom. 

Not only is she my mom but she is also my best friend. I don't think one day has gone by that I haven't called her at least twice.

I love that she is always there when I am happy and sad. She knows my pains, struggles, and imperfections and still loves me anyways. 

One day I hope to be just like her because she is really the best mom. I know growing up I didn't appreciate her as much as I should have. Recently my eyes were opened to exactly how blessed I am to have her in my life and I don't want to imagine a day without her because my life would be very dark and depressing. So it's a good thing families are forever! :)

She came to every dance recital, cheer leading event, sat through many hot and long chorus concerts, attended graduations, and some of my favorite memories are from when we would stay up talking till early am hours. She was there for all the biggest days of my life. From graduating high school, to receiving my endowments and getting sealed in the temple, and I know she will be there for big future events too, she wouldn't miss them for anything!

My mom has always made it a point to be involved in our lives and illustrated that being a mom and a wife were and still are her priorities in life. 

So here's to you Mo! I love you so much and thank you for being my mom! You are my Mary Poppins, practically perfect in every way. I know that my Heavenly Father knows me perfectly because He sent me to YOU, and I couldn't ask for anything better! 

Happy Mother's Day!

Love you!

p.s. Here is a BIG B-rett hug via blog!

{___________________________________________________}

p.s.s. It was more than 10 seconds ;)

Lions and Tigers and Bears, Oh My!

After having my share of the sinus infection I was itching to get out of the house. Luckily for me, work did not take my call in and mother nature decided to bless us with a beautiful day. So what did we decide to do...go to the zoo, of course!

We both got ready, packed a picnic lunch, hopped in the car, rolled the windows and sun roof down and made our way to the zoo. Luckily for us the Rosamond Gifford Zoo is only about 20 minutes away from our house and has a cheap admission fee of $8.00 for adults.

With such a cheap entrance fee we figured that the zoo would be kind of lame but boy were we wrong! The exhibits were awesome and we saw so many different kinds of animals. It really was the perfect little outing. My favorite animals at the zoo are always the elephants so I was overjoyed when we saw new baby elephant! They even had a maternity ward building for the elephants which was so neat to walk through.

It was so neat to see so many of the animals up close, though I'm pretty sure it was nap time for over half of the animals there!

After we finished at the exhibits we found this field near the entrance of the zoo with an awesome staircase and of course a picnic and mini photoshoot was necessary.

I have tried up loading some of the pics but blogger is being a little iffy so I'll keep trying another day. Until then Happy Tuesday! 

Hump Day Randomness

We recently joined Brad's company kickball team. There is nothing that confuses me more than when his coworkers are looking him in the face and calling him Brandon. I sit there thinking "why the heck are they calling him Brandon?!" Oh yeah...that's his real name. You will never catch me calling him that though he always has been and will be Brad to me.

Speaking of that man...he has been sick as a dog this past week. Poor guy over works himself all the time. He was nice enough to share his sickness with me, hello sinus infection. At least he is thoughtful, today he texted me asking how I was feeling and if I needed him to pick up anything from the store. He's a real catch I tell ya.

In 25 days I will be back in good ole Georgia. We will be going for the baby sisters high school graduation, can't believe she is old enough. You know I will be eating my fair share of Chick-fil-a. I miss it oh so much! Plus I'm super excited because ALL my family will be there, it will be wonderful.

I have been loving the sunshine and warm days we are having here in New York. It makes living here bearable will I can open up my windows and feel the spring breeze and then hop in the car, roll down all the windows, and get funny looks as I jam to my country music. I'm nervous to put my snow boots away just because I don't want to jinx it.

Anyways, life is oh so sweet. Happy Hump Day

Protecting What's Important

It's been awhile since I've blogged, I'm sorry. Life has picked up again and Brad and I seem to always be busy with school, work, and church callings. A lot has happened lately that has me thinking about the future. 

 

Last weekend was General Conference. I absolutely LOVE conference weekends. I find it to be such a blessing that we have modern day prophets who receive revelation from God just for us. I personally think this was the best conference ever. A favorite for me was Marriage: Watch and Learn by Elder Clayton. As a newly wed I learned SO much from this talk. My favorite was at the end when he stated "Marriage is a gift from God to us; the quality of our marriages is a gift from us to Him." What a perspective to have on Marriage. Marriage is not always fun and games, it does have its ups and downs. After this talk Brad and I had a long and loving conversation about this talk. It was just what the two of us needed and we both learned so much. We decided that we need to make a more conscious effort to make sure that we are doing our very best to make sure that we are giving the best gift we can.  I know that just in this past week our home and relationship has been a lot happier and healthier.

 

After the bombings in Boston this Monday, the whole thing with the legalization of Gay Marriages, all the shootings, and the ordeal with the Boy Scouts, I can't help but cringe when I think of all the evils of the world. It makes me sad to see all these people suffering or thinking that they are finding "happiness" in their choices. It makes me sad to what society now finds acceptable. I often find myself contemplating not having kids because I don't want them to be raised in a society like we have now. I don't want to put one of God's children here and see them suffer. However, I know that it is all part of His plan. We are all sent here to be tested and we all have our agency (which I am not a big fan of, at all). Boyd K. Packer gave an excellent talk this past weekend at conference titled These Things I Know. In the talk he states " We will not always be safe from the adversary’s influence, even within our own homes. We need to protect our nestlings.

We live in a very dangerous world that threatens those things that are most spiritual. The family, the fundamental organization in time and eternity, is under attack from forces seen and unseen. The adversary is about. His objective is to cause injury. If he can weaken and destroy the family, he will have succeeded.

Latter-day Saints recognize the transcendent importance of the family and strive to live in such a way that the adversary cannot steal into our homes. We find safety and security for ourselves and our children in honoring the covenants we have made and living up to the ordinary acts of obedience required of the followers of Christ." This really spoke to me. It got me thinking am I doing all that I can to make sure my home is a safe haven? I took a look around my house. We have Ensigns on our table, Quotes from General Authorities on the fridge, pictures of the Temple, and we read our scriptures, but is that enough? As I was looking around I realized that I didn't have a picture of Christ in my home. I was shocked and to be honest, embarrassed. That is now top on my list of things to get. I was slapped in the face with another thing I need to make a conscious effort to do, not just when I have children but now when it's just Brad and I.

I am so blessed to be a member of The Church Of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and I'm so grateful that twice a year I have the opportunity to hear from modern day Prophets and Apostles. 

Pilates

I figured now that it's almost been a week since Easter I should probably post about how we spent our Easter Weekend. Friday night we dyed Easter Eggs for our date night. It was a lot of fun! I even made a pink polka dotted one (my fav) Saturday we were blessed with beautiful weather, it was almost as if spring was right on our doorstep. I also did some Easter crafting! Sunday morning we woke up and went to church! I wore my new chevron maxi skirt which has to be hands down the most comfortable piece of clothing I own. Our sacrament meeting was all about missionary work which bothered me a little bit because it was Easter Sunday for crying out loud. I personally feel like it should have been about our Savior's Atonement and Resurrection, since that is what we are actually celebrating at Easter. Anyways, then we went to Sunday school which was again about missionary work. Then it was my turn to teach in young women's. Just a little heads up, I hate teaching. I love making handouts and doing all the fun things that go along with a lesson but asking me to teach, it is not my favorite. I sometimes feel as if I'm not qualified enough for the job. I'm not much older than these girls and sometimes it's a tad bit intimidating. I have a really embarrassing story though. I know everyone enjoys those. I was so focused on my reading in my lesson that I pronounced Pilate as Pilates (like the exercise). SERIOUSLY?!?! Can't even believe that happened. At least non of the girls noticed. I cried. So embarrassing. Also I had this wonderful Easter dinner planned out but half of the things didn't get made because I forgot to buy half the things I needed. However, we did have a delicious ham, green bean casserole, a hash brown casserole, and of course a bunny cake! 

Easter Egg Date Night

Easter Sunday!