B & K

A few days late, but true nonetheless...

2012-02-16T21:21:00.005-07:00

Phrases you will almost never hear....

2012-01-16T11:25:00.001-07:00

I just barely learned how to post videos to my blog. Clearly, I am just a little giddy about it. This video is too funny and the guy in it completely reminds me of my cousin-in-law, Preston. Enjoy!

What's being quoted in the Free house lately?

2012-01-13T15:03:00.001-07:00

When we're not quoting Kid History this is the YouTube video we're quoting this week...

Honestly this video terrifies me, as I have a wisdom tooth surgery coming my way in the near future. Brandon now fully plans on filming every glorious, post surgery moment. I doubt I'll be nearly as hilarious as this kid. But I am positive that I will share his same craving for a "Normal Diet Coke".

Happy Friday!

Fun > Fear = Happy

2012-01-05T21:45:00.007-07:00

Um, Is it bad that we are 5 days into January and I am just now deciding my resolutions?
Oh well.
Better now then in February... or July.

I mean, Brandon and I nearly forgot we were supposed to kiss at midnight on New's Year Eve. Big thanks to Ryan Seacrest, for reminding us just in time*.
Clearly, we have not really been up on our 2010 New Year's game.

Now, what should my 2012 resolutions be? There's the typical, unattainable list:

-Work out more (& by more I mean at all)
-Blog daily (will never happen)
-Eat better (I literally just had a Big Mac for dinner)
-Start on that long overdue 2nd chapter of my novel
-Start making better use of my mornings/waking up earlier

To tell you the truth though, I am going to keep eating big macs while intermittently blogging after waking up late. & I am going to focus on one thing...

Being happy (aka: more fun, less fear) and stoked for all of the awesomeness that is in store this year (i.e. Hunger Games movie, the official opening of the City Creek Center, Disneyland, a presidential election, another end of the world prediction coming to pass). I'm pretty excited for this year and I am going to try to enjoy every moment. Whether it be completing what feels like my millionth hour in my typical work day or riding the mickey shaped coaster in California. More fun, less fear.

Along with being happy I'm also going to attempt to floss and work out...more. Just for good measure.

* (Fun fact: when you start typing Ryan Seacrest's name into google and that helpful little suggestion list pops up the second thing on that list is 'Ryan Seacrest mormon'. Cute. I'm sure Brandon Flowers is working on it).

Goodbye December...

2011-12-31T22:50:00.021-07:00

Hello 2012.

So excited to see what's in store.

Love to all & a Happy New Year.

December so far...

2011-12-18T20:27:00.010-07:00

Made a Free Family Edition Guess Who Game for Bryan & Kathleen's family (still kind of a work in progress). Thank you, Pinterest.

Watched the nativity story reenacted my my adorable nieces and nephews. A yearly tradition that I always look forward to.

Became a vegan.... for a week.

Had a wonderful time at the DKO (Dewsnup, King & Olsen) Christmas party. Delicious food, great company (love my boss and co-workers) and I walked away with a $50 American Express Card. Brandon got a digital picture frame and best of all we figured out exactly what to get Gary (Brandon's dad) for Christmas- which is no easy task.

Saw the Christmas Carol with the Free clan at Hale Center Theater.

Had a terrific time at the Roger's Christmas party, playing kazoo's and searching for almonds in rice pudding.

Gas prices dropped below $3.00. Always a reason to celebrate.

Bought a real Christmas tree.

Went downtown with my beautiful Young Women to see the Christmas lights.

Plus, games, dinners and fun with friends.

It's definitely been a very merry season so far.

Still to come?

The return of my brother from another mother! My cousin "Bud" returns home from his mission on Tuesday. So excited.

Cat sitting.
Even more Christmas partying.
Much needed paid time off.
& time with family.
Can't wait.

Happy Christmas!

The Pinterest Way...

2011-11-27T16:17:00.009-07:00

The Kyra & Brandon Way...

This veggie turkey was a real crowd pleaser!

Hope your Thanksgiving was as wonderful as ours!

This year I am especially thankful for my family, Brandon, Pinterest, the gospel & soy milk.
Not necessarily in that order! :)

You Betcha

2011-11-15T21:43:00.005-07:00

When Brandon and I have a disagreement 9 times out of 10 I'll turn it into a bet.

{I also argue that 9 times out of 10 I win the bet, I'd even bet on it.}

Tonight's bet?

Was Matthew Mcconaughey in Sweet Home Alabama?*

Brandon claimed that he was.

I knew that he wasn't.

{This bet came to be because I started singing "You're So Vain" at Brandon and asked him to name the movie that it was sung in and the actors who sang it.

His answer? Sweet Home Alabama. Reese Witherspoon and Matthew Mcconaughey(whose name we will shorten to "M.M." because he has quite the last name. Google had to help me spell it).

I told him that it was How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days with Kate Hudson and M.M.

He told me Kate Hudson and Reese are the same person and that M.M. was in both movies.}

Looking back, I should have raised the stakes so much higher.

That said, I won myself a new book (my winnings range anywhere from frozen yogurt to a new article of clothing, whatever strikes my fancy at the time of our ever official handshake).

The boy should never bet against me on a pop culture subject!

But we won't tell him that. :)

*M.M. was not in Sweet Home Alabama. It was that cute guy who looks an awful lot like Ryan Gosling but isn't- Josh Lucas.

Women > Food

2011-11-05T17:24:00.006-06:00

Brandon: "do you really think that the $21 we spent at Chubs (slang for El Chubasco's- a delicious Park City resteraunt that for some crazy reason Brandon is not a huge fan of) was really worth it".

Kyra: "Brandon, we both got drinks and you don't have to tip there. It's a pretty great deal. I'm sorry that you don't have good taste."

Brandon: "I have good taste..."

Kyra: [cutting Brandon off] "In women!"

Fortunately for him, good taste in women trumps poor taste in food.

Seriously though, Chubs has a salsa bar and one of those fancy drink machines were I can sample literally every flavor of Diet Coke. What's not to like?

Cure for a bad day...

2011-11-02T20:17:00.010-06:00

I typed "cure for a bad day" into Google Images.

It's comforting to know that Google still has all the answers.

Goodbye 70's ...

2011-10-24T21:56:00.004-06:00

Hello 50's.

Not excited for the drop in temperature. I've been hanging on to summer for as long as I could but it's time to face the facts....

Winter is on it's way.

View from the 24th Floor...

2011-10-22T10:20:00.003-06:00

Best thing about my work day.

It's that time again...

2011-10-10T21:32:00.003-06:00

Love love love love October.

It may even be my favorite month of the year. The leaves are changing, my sweaters start moving from the back of my closet to the front, I start craving soup and pumpkin desserts in a big way.

Not to mention that halloween is easily the funnest holiday.

Brandon has again composed the music for the latest Manor Massacre scary movie!

After Footloose it'll be the second most exciting movie to air this weekend!

JK Brandon!

Why we don't have a home phone...

2011-09-27T12:19:00.005-06:00

It's just another way to try to get a hold of your spouse on the already long list of methods of contact to try if they aren't picking up their cell phone, responding to text messages, IMs, video chat requests, tweets, e-mails, etc.

Why we should have a home phone....

It's another way to try to get a hold of your spouse on the list of methods of contact to try if they aren't picking up their cell phone, responding to text messages, IMs, video chat requests, tweets, e-mails, etc.

It's a toss up.

& we can add blog posts to that long list of methods of contact.

Brandon, if you see this post please contact your wife. :)

Thanks.

iPod Nano Watches...

2011-09-17T16:28:00.004-06:00

These are genius....

An apple expert guy even told me that it's only a matter of time before iphones will be able to communicate with nanos. picture reading a text message on your ipod nano wrist watch. yep. genius.

My New August's Resolution

2011-08-07T20:12:00.004-06:00

At 10:50PM yesterday night I walked out my back door into the perfect night air. I plugged in my ipod and was greeted by the soulful voice of Mat Kearney as I started the engine of my car. While driving, I realized just how much I love driving on summer nights with my music up and my windows down. I also realized how many simple things I love that I completely overlook and take for granted every single day. I resolved that tomorrow (or today rather) I would savor those simple things, that I would take note of them.

But today has done it's best to ruin that resolution. The slight ache in the back of my throat last night turned into a full fledged and raging sore throat this morning. Sick, overly tired and peeling from two days of sunburns, my patchy and angry skin took up much of my attention and frustration. I spent the morning trying to sleep off this sudden cold, stressing over my needing to go back to work tomorrow and wallowing in my post-vacation blues.

While I was standing in front of the mirror for what seemed like the millionth time, peeling off yet another section of flaking skin, I remembered my resolution. I took a deep breath amidst my messy bathroom, thought back on my night drive and mentally began making a list of the simple, beautiful things that I took for granted today:

I spent the morning writing notes to a few of my young women. Wishing them a fun filled week at OakCrest and reminding them of their Heavenly Father's love for them and my own. I'm afraid I don't spend enough time telling others (or myself) that they are amazing, children of God and that they are ever loved. It's a simple thought that seems to get lost in my brain crowded with decision confusion and impatience.
My wonderful husband. He is truly the best thing that ever happened to me and I am thankful to have found him and to be building a life with him. Tomorrow is the 4th anniversary of our very first date. What a life changer that date turned out to be.
The half-full bottle of diet coke that happened to be in my fridge. Discovering that bottle was truly a day boosting moment.
My family. Yes, today was a pretty unfun, overall awful day but I just spent 4 amazing days in Bear Lake with the Free family clan. If one awful day is equal to 4 great ones those are not bad odds.

I need to make savoring the simple moments a habit or else life is going to pass me by and leave me with nothing but memories of gray skies and post vacation blues. I am a completely impatient person. Always trying to run for the next big event life has in store. Continually looking for our next house, a new job, trying to talk baby names with Brandon (even though kids are still at least 2 years away),planning the celebration cruise we'll take in 3ish years when Brandon officially graduates with his bachelors... I am terrible at living in the now. So this is my New August's Resolution: I will savor simple. I will enjoy the now.

Here we go....

Count Down...

2011-05-31T20:34:00.004-06:00

1 3-day work-week,

4 5-day work-weeks &

2 4- day work-weeks

until...........

The vacations begin!

I couldn't be more excited.

This is why I hope I have girls...

2011-05-29T15:28:00.004-06:00

Because this moment is too cute.

& Because every girl needs a sister.

My sister posted this gem on facebook today, titling it "best friends". I couldn't help but smile, tear up a little and immediately make it my profile picture- only to realize that she had already done the same thing. I love my Leanie Beanie. She truly is my best friend and I am so thankful to have such a fun, outgoing, beautiful little sister.

Yes, Every girl needs a sister.

Homeowner Headaches, Take 1

2011-05-28T21:50:00.006-06:00

This week we discovered that a charming pair of birds had decided to nest in our dryer vent. This was discovered and rediscovered the half a million times that I walked out the back door only to have birds fly out of the vent, cutting me off, causing hysteric screams for Brandon to "call the landlord!"

Our new tenants also moved in today and we discovered that we are completely unable to find the floor drain for their washer underneath the thick layer of linoleum and cement that some genius decided to put over the spot where the drain should be. A big thanks goes out to that guy/gal, wherever she/he may be.

Ah, the joys of owning a duplex. How many times have I threatened to sell it today? At least a million. if not more. But truthfully, it's a little bit satisfying to work on a project this big with Brandon (who is the true landlord) I'm glad he's a pretty handy guy. He masterfully fished the bird's nest out of the vent with a hanger while I watched supportively, eating mass amounts of Cheetos in between asking him if we could "go yet?". So thankful for that guy. For his patience and hardworking attitude, for his kindness and willingness to help. I am truly the lucky one in this relationship, but I'm pretty sure that's obvious.

Since we are novices at this homeowner business I'm sure we have quite a few more headaches ahead of us. The birds are probably the least of our worries. To tell you the truth, if they would have been lining their nest with dollar bills (or fives, tens, twenties, etc.) I wouldn't have minded them. I would have considered them our littlest tenants. Little freeloaders.

Time for Tea

2011-04-17T20:38:00.005-06:00

Happy Birthday Miss Sariah!

Such a lovely way to spend the afternoon.

Fact.

2011-04-14T16:27:00.003-06:00

I am obsessed with swimwear.

& this year I want every swimsuit I can get from downeast.

$223.00 on new swimsuits... that's not so bad.

Right Brandon?

.........

Brandon?

April Fools...

2011-03-31T19:31:00.005-06:00

Need a good prank? look no further... But don't show Brandon! He's gonna be getting a call from J Lo (his "celebrity crush") tomorrow. Such a great holiday.

Tired.

2011-01-18T23:04:00.004-07:00

There is nothing worse than when Brandon has a late night soccer game. He's out scoring goals while I'm up dreamily looking at houses and snacking on too many oreos way past bedtime. Brandon likes to point out that I could just go to bed, but it's hard to sleep without him. He argues that I've never really tried. I argue that I do try... just not very hard.

Since Brandon isn't home yet and I am now out of oreos I figure I had better blog. Since I am yet again trying to blog more often.....

It's officially 2011.

No major plans yet for the year but I'm loving the possibilities and honestly I am glad to say goodbye to 2010. It was a roller coaster.

So far this year:

We're back in school. ugh.

Brandon & I won an ipod nano at his company's work party.

Miracles are happening.

we're still looking at houses (With our lovely and most talented realtor, Ledah Andrew!)

I helped throw a baby shower for Ledah (so excited for you!)

We have a new, beautiful niece. Litte Ms. Victoria Bradshaw. Yay!

We're still playing indoor soccer (& loving it!)

We still have the best families two people could ask for!

We've already hung out with the infamous Nick & Mariah Barker.

All in all, we're off to a pretty fantastic start!

Hope your start has been just as wonderful!

Fair....

2011-01-16T16:49:00.002-07:00

Wise words from a wise woman...

"There are only two kinds of fair. Bus fare and the State Fair, the rest is just a boobie prize. Make lemonade, eh?"

- Cambriah Heaton

Thanks for my new favorite quote, Cam.

Lately, I have been amazed at the strong lemonade makers around me. On days where I all I want to do is cry and over indulge on chocolate because my life is less than perfect I am constantly being humbled by the great examples in my life. Examples of strength, patience, kindness and faith. Examples who smile despite life's challenges, who realize the beauty in all that they've been given...

& are beautiful themselves.

So thankful for these amazing women.

Thankful...

2010-11-26T17:21:00.003-07:00

Love Thanksgiving.

Such a great day for reminding ourselves how blessed we are.

With all the choas and madness in the world it's too easy to let life get you down. I'm thankful for the people in my life that brighten my day and lighten my load. For all of the examples of kindness, strength and goodness that I am continually amazed by. For my wonderful family that loves me always. no matter what.

I am a lucky girl.

Whoa, Dream Big!

2010-11-17T21:57:00.005-07:00

My Father-in-law once told me that people who have big dreams achieve them more often when they tell people about them. So here I am. Telling you. I am going to write a novel, from start to finish. No matter how rough my first draft is I'm going to plug through it.

All semester long I've been asked why I write. I've finally decided it's because I have a stories to tell and words to write. So write I will!

Spooky...

2010-10-24T15:53:00.002-06:00

Things are getting a little spooky around the Free house lately.

What can we say,

We loooove

HALLOWEEN!

stay tuned for more tricks & treats...

Why live anywhere else?

2010-10-23T09:46:00.005-06:00

These beautiful photos were taken by my amazing little sister Lena and I thought they were too pretty not to post. Such a photographer.

It's gorgeous outside right now, one of my favorite times of the year.

I think this calls for a hike...

Sicks

2010-10-22T22:20:00.005-06:00

Also featuring music from Brandon Free.

You won't want to miss it.

I Used to Believe...

2010-09-13T11:02:00.006-06:00

I used to believe that the world was black and white. That, like Batman and the Joker we were all simply good or simply bad. Such easy days those were, when right and wrong seemed so obvious and understandable. Drawing on the walls, bad. Drawing a picture for mom, good. I'm afraid that age and time toughen the questions we're faced with, making me long for the days were all I had to fuss over was whether to place my crayon in the lines or out.

I remember the day when I looked down to discover i was no longer standing black or white, suddenly there I was in yellow, surrounded by pinks, reds, greens, with only bits of black and white scattered here and there. That was the day I realized there are sometimes more than two straightforward answers and that life is beautifully and tragically unpredictable.

At first I was overwhelmed by the color, by the options and decisions that lay before me, asking for a choice, I wondered how I would I ever define myself when there was so much too choose from, so much to be. I find that I am still defining, that I am a work in progress and probably always will be. How boring would life be if it were all black and white, one or the other, this way or that? What on Earth would I write about, how would we ever discover new inventions or ever truly learn about ourselves?

Today I know that black and white is dull. That life is messy so that we build character, so we are challenged and compelled to choose for ourselves who we are and what is important to us. Today I believe in the chaos of color, the disorder of life. I believe that I am an artist with my very own canvas, that I am the clay waiting to be molded but I am also the sculptor, that there is no need to try to paint in only blacks and whites when there is a variety of color begging to be used.

Today I am a deliberate chameleon, changing colors on my own terms. I believe I am free to create my own masterpiece and that it needs to be shared with others, that our colors change shades as we incorporate others into our masterpiece. That they contribute to our work and we contribute to theirs. I believe that we need each other to learn, to grow, to be inspired, to truly make something of this mess of color I call life.

{photo via sodahead}

A Life Without Love is Like a Year Without Summer

2010-08-15T13:34:00.011-06:00

Here is our summer & our loves...

some of my favorite kids.

Nothing says eternal love quite like Lagoon.

The rarest of wildlife in the Grand Tetons!

my best friend.

Such photogenic animals.

Every occasion calls for a photograph.

love & miss Elder DeYoung (Elder Heaton too!)

Such a perfect summer.

Viva La Lena

2010-06-15T21:12:00.004-06:00

For those of you who didn't know that my sister is a rock star...

Now you know!

Congrats Lena! I'm so proud of you & so lucky to have such a beautiful and talented sister! I can't wait to see how you'll change the world!

25!

2010-06-13T14:11:00.010-06:00

Brandon turned 25 years old on May 21st!

For his birthday all he really wanted was a video camera, he has this crazy idea that we'll make movies together with it like he and his best friend Nick used to do. I think he's just sad he couldn't marry Nick. So far all we've filmed is me beautifully eating Indian food while I blatantly ignored the camera and my little rock star sister's graduation speech. No movies are currently in the making. I told him Ben Affleck and J Lo made a movie (with a name I doubt IMDB even remembers) when they were married and not only was it supposedly the worst film ever, but J Lo and Ben aren't even together now. Nothing ruins a marriage more that a bad movie review. Anyways, back to the video camera, a few weeks before his birthday we bought the most perfect, affordable camera we could and like a good wife I immediately hid it the moment we got home.

What I realized half way through my work day on May 21st was that I had absolutely no idea where I'd put it! I decided to sugar coat this situation with doughnuts. Brandon loves doughnuts, so I headed on over to Beyond Glaze and bought a half a dozen. I also stopped at the store to get a card, candles and matches and realized I had no idea what aisle to find matches on.

Finally, I made it home.

Naturally, this is Brandon doing his birthday dance as I walked it singing to him.

I knew after Brandon blew out the candles he was going to want his present, it was at that moment I was so glad that I couldn't find the matches...

Because a lighter is such a more thoughtful gift!

"Honey, I think you're old enough now that you can officially play with fire! Happy Birthday!"

Obviously, with a present like that to entertain you a camcorder seems kind of ridiculous.

HAPPY QUARTER OF A CENTURY BRANDON!

hopefully, we'll find that camera in time for your next birthday!

kidding folks, we found it an hour later. As my opening paragraph gives away.

The Sweetest Sounds

2010-05-09T18:53:00.003-06:00

The sweetest sounds to mortals given

Are heard in Mother, Home, and Heaven.

-William Goldsmith Brown

Happy mother's day to our amazing mothers. Thank you for being the best teachers, cheerleaders, and friends. Thank you for loving us unconditionally & believing in us.

Thank you for building us a home & teaching us of heaven.

We are so lucky to have you.

It's Over!

2010-05-09T15:15:00.003-06:00

Sorry, candy bowl that sits temptingly on the front of my desk at work.

It's over for us.

I will no longer give into your bright colors and your empty calories.

Summer's right around the corner & I've got to hurry up and get in shape!

Thanks for supporting me through all those tough work days.

I'll never forget that.

Sincerely (hopefully),

Kyra

Misleading Promos: 1, Kyra: 0

2010-05-04T15:29:00.004-06:00

I fell for it ABC.

Are you happy?

You tricked me with the ring & I'm still here waiting for Castle and Beckett's "sweet ending".

(Photo by fanpop)

Dear Beckett,
Just give in already.
You know you want to.
Love,
Kyra

From SINK to DINK...

2010-04-28T22:25:00.004-06:00

We're offically "DINKs" again!

Brandon found that perfect job he's been looking for! He's the new "Quality Assurance Analyst 1" for True North Logic!

Wondering exactly what that means?
So am I!
Guess we'll find out!

Wondering exactly what "DINK" means?
So was I!
My boss informed me it means "duel income, no kids".

AKA: more online shopping & vacations! Just don't mention the online shopping to Brandon, silly boy doesn't understand that you can never have enough clothes!

It'll just be our little secret... Thank goodness he doesn't check the blog unless I tell him too! ;)

His first day is monday & he couldn't be more excited! True North Logic is lucky to have him!

Yo Ho, Yo Ho a Disney life for me!

2010-04-15T21:03:00.009-06:00

Disneyland.... so my favorite place. Here's a glimpse of our recent Free family disneyland trip...

Holy cow! Not only did Kyle turn 10 during the trip but there's also been 10 years of Disney pin trading, and it's 2010 !!! That's a triple whammy!

If this is Uncle Bob after one coke... imagine what he's like after 2!

Whitney, Kaitlyn & Grandpa Gary!

James & I trying to close the exit to Mickey's house so we didn't have to leave!

Space Mountain closed down on us! Right when we were near the front of the line! Naturally, we decided to wait it out and pass the time with naps and foot wars. Honestly, I thought it was just fun being together, who needs space mountain!

.Magic.

The cutest kids in Disneyland!

Too perfect.

My favorite kind of tree.

Beautiful Hailey

I so love my Whitney

Princess Alyssa!

These are just a few of the magical moments we captured. It was a fantastic trip full of family, fast rides, doughnuts for breakfast (Brandon's favorite), smiles, pins, birthdays, fireworks, toon town, Whitney driving the Indian Jones car, Brandon running like a nerd and claiming that "Tom Cruise runs just like that!", African river safari's at night with the "tough crowds", yummy tortilla's from the tortilla factory, autographs, earthquakes, searching for the Cheshire cat mirror, Roz at the end of the Monster's Inc. ride, Brandon trying to wear Whitney's sweatshirt, Brandon's constant need for a churro, April Fool's day pregnancy texts, the Aladin show, sharing a carmel apple with Whitney at 1 in the morning on Main Street (making us even more hyper than we already were, much to Brandon's dismay), California screaming with James, Whitney, & Brandon, and lots more great memories! We loved every minute!

(I'll upload more photos from our trip soon, I have more to post but bloggers not letting me upload them! Stay tuned!)

When we fight, we fight dirty…

2010-02-26T16:24:00.001-07:00

Brandon: are we sure that wii party thing is tonight?

Kyra: I think so; your mom had it on her calendar upstairs…

Brandon: Yeah, well your mom's a calendar.

Kyra: Your mom's a mom.

Brandon: … That was too far.

Clearly I won that one. J

"People actually do this for fun?!"

2010-02-21T13:09:00.004-07:00

On Saturday the Free family took me skiing for the very first time...

...one million wipeouts later, when I finally stopped crashing into bushes and tree groves, I conquered the bunny hill at Brighton!

turns out, when you're not falling on your butt, skiing actually is fun!

I can tell this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship.

Olympics 2014 here I come! :)

(many thanks to my sister in law kerri for all her help, my father in law Gary for teaching me to step up the hill sideways, for the rest of the family who cheered me on and didn't laugh at me too much, for the wonderful Brandon who stayed with me all day and pulled me out of those mean trees and bushes and for the countless strangers who helped me up, asked if I was ok when I ran into metal objects, and offered me advice!)

Boondocks & The Cha Cha!

2010-01-26T16:09:00.002-07:00

A long time ago my Bro in law Burke handed me a pair of Boondocks passes and said "Don't say I never gave you anything". Between then and now those passes have been lost and then found again at least a dozen times but last Friday night we finally put them to good use. Well Brandon put them to good use. He spent the night kicking my butt at everything. Basketball, go karts, dance dance revolution and laser tag. I'm not bitter though, not a bit, it's nice to occasionally let Brandon wear the pants in our relationship. I like to wear skirts from time to time anyways. J

Despite the fact that I couldn't beat Brandon at anything we had a pretty great weekend. One of the best, probably thanks to the fact that Brandon finally got to experience In N' Out Burger for himself. Actually, I take that back. The reason our weekend was the best was because we watched the Hannah Montana Movie. I loved every cheesy minute. I don't care what anyone says, Miley is my girl. This weekend we also learned to cha cha! Brandon is always bugging me about taking dance lessons with him and I never agree but on Saturday night Brandon finally got his wish! His ward threw a big band night and I'm not gonna lie, it was a lot of fun. I think there may even be more dance lessons in our future!

Thank goodness for weekends! Without them I think school would officially take over our lives. I'm doing full time work and full time school this semester, which might be a crazy idea but so far, so good. Brandon is going to school full time and is still looking for the perfect part time job, he may have found it today, keep your fingers crossed for him!

……………………….

Is it Friday yet?

I just can't wait!

Resolution Revolution!

2010-01-02T19:58:00.004-07:00

Our resolutions for 2010...

Kyra: yes, this is a joint post
Brandon: no it's not!
Kyra: yes it is!
Brandon: ...ok...
Kyra: Brandon came up with the title.

1. Be more organized... aka save receipts, keep the house cleaner, keep the dishes situation under control...

Kyra: I don't want to post anymore.
Brandon: It's too depressing.

Obviously our resolution revolution is off too a roaring start! :)

Let me remind you...

2009-12-30T18:37:00.004-07:00

What the weather was like last year on December 30th...

Blue skies and sunny with a 100% chance of happily ever after!

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY BABE!

Thank you for the best year of my life.

The Greatest Time of Year...

2009-12-27T11:15:00.017-07:00

Happy Holidays!

Hope your December has been as spectacular as ours!

Twilighters....

2009-12-14T19:57:00.010-07:00

Oh yes, we did....

... Go shopping on Thanksgiving night/black Friday just to purchase Team Jacob tee shirts.

It's how we roll!

Edward Who?

Best. Thanksgiving. Ever.

Kids table for life!

Uno, apples to apples, inside jokes, rock band, delish food, LOTS of pictures, family, news paper ads, so much fun...

Clearly grandpa's had enough of the photo taking!

What an epic day!

Honesty is the best policy...

2009-11-26T10:33:00.007-07:00

HAPPY TURKEY DAY!

Ok, I'll be honest about why I haven't blogged in forever....

you see a few months ago people kept commenting on how funny my blog was. I'd smile, feel a little bashful but be pretty excited that people were actually reading it.

Then I would sit down at the computer to write a post and I'd start gulping alot and sweating bullets, and, well trying to be funny is way too much pressure. I mean I've restarted this post 3 times already this morning, I am seriously struggling.

This struggle might have something to do with the fact that I now work in law. I am a legal assistant at The Lance Firm for attorney's who specialize in personal injury law. It's pretty serious business and it is definately messing with my sense of humor...

Take this conversation I had on the phone with my mom while I was at work for example...

Mom: **laughing and the punch line of some story she's just finished telling**
"um Kyra, you're not laughing..."
Kyra: "I know mom. I work in law. What did you expect?"

This lack of sense of humor may also have something to do with the fact that my boss carries a gun around the office from time to time. You'd be a lot more serious too if the man who signs your paychecks also has a gun in his holster.

So anyways it's now "magic burger Brandon's" job to provide the funnies on this blog because it's a downhill slope for me.

There are a few quick updates...

This is the absolute best time of year. Minus the snow/cold part (& by cold I mean temperature as well as the fact that it's the flu season).

Brandon and I have been married almost a whole year and it just keeps getting better and better. Some of the betters: we have discovered a deep love for Costco, Brandon is now used to the fact that I am going to sleep on his side of the bed and we are just pretty much unstoppable from here on out.

Frogurt is life changing.

This was Brandon's last week at NetDeposit (a temporary job that I should have blogged about months ago). He is now on the look out for a job with a gaming company, and by gaming I am not talking twister or apples to apples (lightbulb! apples to apples for the itouch! I'll get Brandon going on that one), think Zelda or Halo. If anyone has any connections, hook us up!

Hope you all have an awesome thanksgiving. It is one of the very best holidays. There is just so much to be thankful for!

Seriously, 2 thanksgiving dinners, a couple rounds of uno/texas hold em, New Moon tomorrow and St. George for the rest of the long weekend! Maybe even some In & Out Burger if Brandon is lucky... :)

We are just living the life!

P.S. Brandon would like me to inform everyone that he hides secret links in his posts. Happy searching!

The IN-N-OUT Event!

2009-11-21T09:15:00.003-07:00

Hey everyone, this is Brandon. you may remember me from such posts as "Brandon, you're trying to turn this blog from Brandon and Kyra to Brandon vs. Kyra!" While the urge is still there to try to make this Brandon vs. Kyra, I'm trying my best to keep the peace. Did you see that underline action babe? Anyway, moving on before Kyra deletes this post.

I'm not sure that I've heard rantings about any non-local restaurant as much as I've heard about In-N-Out Burger. Seriously folks, it's the best. Lucky for us Salt Lakeians, the non-local has become the local. I've never been to this burger place, and it does look delicious.... and as excited as I am to try out a double-double with extra toast and the satisfaction I'll feel when they know what I'm talking about when I say that, I wasn't about to wind through the massive drive through line that was formed with what looked like thousands of construction cones.

So yes, Kyra was in the car with me. You might be thinking this long wait would be sweet and romantic and we'd have a lot of bonding time. To that I'd respond that Kyra is only married to me due to our stimulating conversations. If we went through a line that long we would be forced to run out of things to say. If that happened, Kyra would realize that she is married to a boring and useless diabetic. Surely a divorce would follow. There is no way I'm letting that happen, so the In-N-Out will have to wait until the construction cone made lines go away, for the sake of our marriage.

Instead we went to Del Taco for a shake, and while there Kyra convinced me that I wanted a hamburger. Del Taco's hamburgers are surprisingly delicious, In-N-Out might have to be careful.

In-N-Out is something that must be experienced, and playing around with the Secret Menu definitely gives it added appeal. I can't wait to try it out, but I keep telling myself that it's just a burger so I don't leave disappointed. Sometimes I find myself believing that there will be some sort of magic dust and suddenly I'll have a million dollars somehow because this place is so great. It's just a burger Brandon, a magic, million dollar burger.

Even better than that though, it's awesome to be able to have a night as exciting as going to Del Taco and still be completely happy just because Kyra is there:) She sure is lovely awesome!

Charmed

2009-09-23T16:26:00.006-06:00

Pardon my lack of blogging.

I tend to feel like I can only post when something exciting is happening and school has started and killed all chances of excitement.

Work. School. Daydreaming.

That's pretty much our life right now.

I said to Brandon once that I was excited for our struggling years, for the years where he can't afford flowers for me so he picks sunflowers growing along the road and where we anxiously await the ding of out little toaster oven (best. gift. ever.) signaling that the cookies are ready. Well, those times have arrived.

Charming.

Not as charming as I'd hoped, but charming none the less.

We are completely blessed, which I often forget as I'm stressing over the budget and drooling over clothes/houses I can't afford. But we have everything we need and then some. I'm thankful Brandon always keeps his head.

When we go from two full time jobs and a part time job, to one full time job; when school is slowly stealing what little time we do get to spend together, when we buy a car that was worth so much less then we got it for and it attempts to drain every penny we have out of our bank account, when we go from lots of space to no space and I'm near tears Brandon always knows just how to make things better. He's such a silver lining type of guy and is just what a girl like me needs.

Charmed. I am completely blessed & charmed.

Life is wonderful...

( *Taken @ in Jackson, one of our awesome night photos)

Now if you'll excuse me the cookies are done. :)

The Hard Way...

2009-08-25T14:24:00.004-06:00

Things I am learning the hard way parts 981-986...

#981. People who are trying to sell you a used car, don't always tell you the whole truth. I guess an oil leak, a shorting radio and a nearly stalling vehicle are minor details. who knew?

#982. Money does not grow on trees. Or on bushes or vines. Trust me, I looked.

#983. Not all textbooks are rentable. Work on that Chegg.

#984. Everything looks better at night than it actually is during the day.

#985. Just because you bought a used/new car does not mean that you still won't get rear ended at a red light.

& hardest of all, #986. It is never easy to say goodbye.

Oh, how I'm gonna miss those kids.

(the young women and men of the Colony West ward, aka: best. ward. ever.)

It's moving week.

darn it.

Hot Dog & Crushed Tortilla Chip Pizza...

2009-08-18T13:28:00.002-06:00

that's the combo you get when we're out of pepperoni's at our house...

Atleast on Brandon's half. I'll stick with veggies on my side. :)

He seriously ate 3 pieces.

I wonder what would happen if we were out of pepperoni, hot dogs & tortilla chips.....

A Mobile Update...

2009-08-17T14:31:00.010-06:00

Yay for "pixel-ated" cell phone pictures!!!

This is me at my part time ninja job. Pretty fierce huh? Ok, actually this me at the instacare. yes, I to gave into the swine flu hysteria and went to the doctor's office not once, but twice, certain I had strep or swine flu or some other kind of animal named disease. Turns out I had none of the above. I've learned my lesson... That is until the armadillo virus errupts. That one just sounds lethal.

Here are the infamous animal shaped pancakes I made for Brandon on his birthday. Much like McDonald's food on advertisments the animal shaped pancakes I made looked no where near as awesome as the picture on the box. But they sure are fun for special occasions!

Plus look at the excitment that they bring (only mostly prompted by yours truly)!

Album cover anyone?

This is the alligator also known as Trevor. He's pretty dang cute. & he knows it.

See, I wasn't kidding about the alligator part. He's ferocious. :)

This is how Trevor pretends he's a ghost. As you can see he does a pretty convincing job of it. It's pretty spooky.

& this photo confirms what some of you already knew... My father-in-law. AKA Gary Free. AKA Brandon's father. Is superman. (Hence the superman get up, lousy picture I know but of course he's a bit camera shy!) I'm sure he'll be calling me from a phone booth in about a minute asking me how i could just blow his cover like that. But seriously if you were related to superman I'm sure you'd blog about it too. Don't try to deny it.

& This is our lovely painted (by my wonderful dad) living room! It's so the opposite of green and I completely love it. It's so great we got it painted just in time to move back to Sandy! :(

sigh.

I said the "M" word in type.
I think I'll go cry now...

"Well that kicked our a**!"

2009-08-04T15:47:00.017-06:00

and by that I am refering to the river.

oh the river.

I'd say that our river tubing trip can be best filed under "worst. yet most hilarious. idea. ever."

I'll start at the beginning.

Brandon & I were lucky enough (understatement of the century) to get work off so we could go join my family up in Jackson Hole for the weekend. I love Jackson Hole, it can be filed under "most. awesome. place. ever. period." We've been going every year since I can remember and this year we added Brandon and the Beeah's to the mix. so of course it was epic. Next trip I will be there for the whole week. vacation days or no vacation days you can count on it. you miss a lot of hilarity in my family if you're late by even a minute.

It was a weekend full of suprises, card playing, shopping, huckleberry ice cream, extreme night photo shoots, death defying (unless 8 years old or younger) intertubing trips, hostpital visits (don't ask), celebrity moose, same room facebook wall posts, picnic table formal dining and so much more. basically it was a weekend so radical it can only be truly described by photographs...

This was right before we got in the river, before all the of red flags started popping up. For instance, it took us 20 minutes of getting adjusted in our tubes before we could finally get going. Once we had floated oh, 20 feet down stream we realize there was a bridge we could not get under. So we had to climb out of the river, walk around the bridge and start all over. The best part was at the very beginning as we were all trying to get settled an intertube- clad- group- averaging- the- ripe- age- of- 8- years- old passed us, pausing every now and then to watch and giggle over our struggle. We wondered why they weren't getting in the water. We realized why as soon as we got to that wall of a bridge. Thanks for the warning kiddos. We floated calmly down stream for a while, laughing and taking pictures with our water proof cameras. All was well, we even got off to a better start than the 8 year olds and had taken the lead! Then the river decided to challenge us a bit. It started throwing rapids our way, suddenly we weren't just floating we were hanging on for dear life. There were huge rocks to avoid, bridges with beyond low clearance, water falls to tumble down. At one point my cousin Sariah yelled "were going to die!". it was terrifying. Tubes were going everywhere. Clearly the river owned us. & boy did it want us to know it. The most dramatic moment that I can't even think about without laughing was when we were all hanging on to reeds on the side of the river, anything we could hold on to, trying to figure out how to get Karissa's tube (which had floated further down stream) to her without any casualties, and all of a sudden those 8 year olds came floating down stream not even struggling at all, screaming and laughing, there were even 2 to an intertube on some! I can just imagine how hilarious we river rats must have looked! All in all, we made it about half way before my cousin Karissa lost her tube for good and we all decided we were done. We climbed out of the river, wet, bruised, bleeding, minus 2 pairs of sunglasses, down one intertube, paralyzed from the face down in Lena's case and Preston pretty much summed the river trip up for us... "Well that kicked our a**! We all couldn't help but laugh.

Well played river... well played.

But you better believe we will beat you next year!

right guys?!

.....

guys?

Our night photos rock!

Such an AMAZING trip! Can't wait for the next one! San Fran here we come!

This is Brown Torpedo callin' Free Fallin'...

2009-07-14T10:09:00.018-06:00

Now that my password's been changed and Brandon is no longer able to post cheeky blogs about my blogging skills, I will soon be changing my background to zebra print and renaming my blog "Kyrampage", or "Kool Kyra" or some other alliterationally charged title.* :) However before any of these changes take place I want to take a moment to tell you all...

LAKE POWELL IS AWESOME!!!

it was my first trip ever & I already want to go back...

my dad thinks we should blow this picture up and hang it in our living room! :)

There's cute Hailey and London!

Pretty!
I am such a tree hugger!

Skills. enough said.

Here's the kiddos driving the house boat!

wait, who let the kids drive the house boat?!

Alyssa and Kyle!

Me and my Whitney!

There are just a few highlights of the trip, I meant to take at least a million photos but I found out just a little too late that the mysterious cell phone charger that appeared in our bedroom wasn't really a cell phone charger after all! It was my camera charger! At least I'll be prepared for our next trip!

It was a wonderful week full of laughs, card games, trips down the slide, sun shine, boating, smores, camp fire games, walky talky's, trying to scare away fish, swimming and so much more!

It was an absolute BLAST!

* joke folks, I am joking. but i do so love zebra stripes!

Brandon is an expert blogger

2009-07-03T12:41:00.002-06:00

So here is the deal. 3 months, 6 days, and 47 minutes after I was born, Kyra has been telling me how lame I am because I never post a blog. You may remember her from such shenanigans as, "Post a comment telling Brandon you want to see a blog from him," or "Brandon you better blog about those dang ants before I do," or "Brandon, where do you want to go to dinner tonight." Well the reason why I've come here today is to set the record straight on regarding the activity of my blogging.

I would blog several times a day, but I refrain because Kyra would feel bad about my superior blogging skills. I have the advanced blogging techniques such as Changing the font color, Blogging boldly, Italicize, and even... All THREE AT ONCE!!! But that's not all!!! I can also make symbols look like faces... ô¿ô... He's looking at you! Or she, gender is subjective in this case.

So considering Kyra's emotions here... I've decided not to overwhelm this blog with my superior beauty because than Kyra would never want to blog simply because hers cannot compare.

So now that you know the secret, I hope you will be kind to Kyra and support her blogging efforts.

If you want to comment about how my post is so great, feel free to do so.

2009-06-29T16:04:00.025-06:00

Last week we took a much needed trip down to Bryce Canyon for the Nixon family reunion! (That's Brandon's Grandma's family...? -I'm still not quite sure.) It was a reunion to end all reunions! & I mean literally because apparently this is the last year the Nixon's will have a formal reunion, so we had to go out with a bang! After Brandon & I paid our bribe (an apple fritter & a glaze doughnut to the part time manager at the storage units we live/work at) we started our journey with our itouches fully charged and cinnamon rolls on hand...

One viewing of The Day the Earth Stood Still, 1 beef jerky sells man, 2 pit stops and 4 hours & 13 minutes later we had arrived!

& thanks to my new camera took some pretty nice photos of our fun trip!

Well some nice pictures of the scenery at least. Brandon was just not having the photo taking this particular weekend. Hence the goofy face two photos up...

& the angelic look in the restaurant...

Finally I just asked him to just smile for me because he loves me... This photo above is what we got... yeah... this is our love in a nutshell. makes me laugh every time I look at it. :)

Then i threw him in jail for being so blatantly un-photogenic!

So he threw me in jail for being way to concerned about our bloggability (yes, I was guilty).

Brandon & I decided to rent bikes one day and go mountain biking where we found this really cool tree half burnt but saved for the benefit of the wildlife. totally green and earthy, I loved it. Peace and trees baby, peace & trees.*

The bike path led us to this awesome view!

& we saw lots of "cantaloupes" (as my cute nieces & little cousin in laws would call them)

Speaking of cute nieces & cousins...

There's a few of them!

I found these girls hanging on the fence yelling at the top of their lungs trying to scare the "canatloupe" that were eating in the field. Adorable. Those cantaloupe were fearless.

Here's a few more gems from the trip...

cute kiddos!

as you can see things got a little wild! But as the saying goes what happens in Bryce, stays in Bryce... yeah?

& I'm loving the blond hair with brown bangs! it's a look that would make Cruela Di Vil green with envy!

two of my favorite guys!

all in all it was such a fantastic trip. filled with swimming, memorable talent shows, countless mafia games, a capture the flag game that just screams rematch, over priced in room movie rentals, family, diet coke, ice cream and absolutely beautiful scenery.

it just couldn't have been better.

*yes I sometimes do make rediculous comments that seriously so blessed would just love to make fun of.... & i would be honored.

Twenteen?

2009-06-11T17:41:00.008-06:00

You know what I'll miss most about being nineteen?.......... All the teenage jokes Brandon and my brother-in-law Tyler used to make, those jokes just never (insert sarcasm here) ceased to be funny. How I'll miss those "remeber when Brittany* used to be a singer?..... oh wait that was before you're time" (which, by the way... it was not!).

yep I'll sure miss those jokes..............

Oh wait, no I won't.** :)

I am officially 20! & it was such a great birthday (more like birthday weekend)!

Complete with,

~a scavanger hunt

~roses

~Brandon calling me twenteen. :)

~Dinner with my favorite-friends-till-we-die girls!***

~Cake & ice cream with Brandon's amazing family!

~& dinner with my fam! plus, a movie with my mom and sister {my FAVORITE!} !

What a GREAT weekend! Thanks everyone for making it AWESOME!

*by Brittany i mean Brittany Spears of course. Last names are so 2007, i can't believe I am even taking the time to explain this. ;)

**by 'won't' I mean 'will say I don't miss said jokes but secretly will miss them more than a little'.

***Yay us for getting together for every birthday this year! & a special thanks to thiaphoon for their delish chocolate volcano- the real reason we all take the time to get together! haha kidding! love you girls!

24!

2009-06-06T11:26:00.006-06:00

May 21st was Brandon's 24th birthday!!!

It was a great day! Not only was it his day off from work but he also enjoyed homemade animal shaped pancakes (elephants, lions and seals, oh my!), he got his very own ipod touch, a piano from his wonderful parents, and to top it all off we threw a improptu bowling party!

Why yes, we do party like rockstars. :)

why so sad Brandon? oh well, it's his party and he'll cry if he wants too!

I'll post pictures of the pancakes and piano later! I wish we'd gotten more of the party, I told my mom to bring her camera and she forgot, these were ones she took at the very end with her camera phone... good news though, we got our very own camera (thanks mom and Lena!)! So I'm pretty much a real deal blogger now. :) Soon to be complete with un-pixel-ated (is that even a word?) photos and everything! Can't wait! Now I just need to run to get a memory card! Whoever thought, "hey, let's sell memory cards seperately from cameras..." was a real genius. :)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BABE! I love you!

12 Reasons why i'm thankful families are forever...

2009-06-05T15:16:00.007-06:00

There they are... all 12 of them (plus Emi's guy).

Geez it's been sooo long since I've last posted! We've been super busy, June is always my very favorite month of the year, it's been great so far and we have a great summer ahead of us!

Yesterday was such a fun day, it was one of my absolute favorite cousin's graduation! I can't even believe how much we're all growing up! Seems like just yesterday we were playing lifeguards in the swimming pool and running around the house pretending to be spies! I am so beyond proud of this amazing guy!...

BUD YOU ARE SUCH A STUD!

plus it was Ledah's Birthday so we went to Bonsai for dinner (So delish!) to celebrate and then to my amazing aunt Linda's for cake! It was such a great day!

Love you Ledah & Bud!

It's pretty much a big deal...

2009-04-22T15:23:00.006-06:00

Well we are official everyone.
The wedding was a big deal, but this is even BIGGER!
we own our own furniture.
furniture, I mean can you imagine!?!
We so love it.

Here you can see our cute new side chair, coffee table, and end table!

Here's all that plus our new tv stand!

& last, but not least, our console table!

I so heart world market!

Finally our apartment is starting to feel like it's ours! This weekend we will be painting those green walls! so I'll definately post pictures when it's all complete!

You know what else we love?
The boxes the furniture came in!

We can't even bring ourselves to throw this one away!

the possibilities are just TOO ENDLESS!

We so lucked out. We not only got new furniture, we also got a free race car that doubles as a spaceship/spy base! can you say hours of fun? be jealous. :)

Dear Popcorn...

2009-04-17T10:56:00.004-06:00

Thanks for giving me a reason to like Hot Tamales!

seriously folks, it's a delish combo! Don't believe me? just ask Preston & Ledah!

I'll never see another blockbuster without them!

p.s. 17 again... total must see.

Snow what are you looking at?!?!

2009-04-02T16:05:00.000-06:00

I was going to entitle this blog entry, "Ode to Snowball", however I made Brandon search and search for a picture of Snowball and when he finally found one and sent it to me over MSN the picture was saved as "Snow what are you looking at" and once you see the picture i'm sure you'll understand why that just had to be the title!

.......................

Ta da! it's Snowball!*

Don't you just wanna pinch his feriociously cuddly cheeks?!?!

Anyways, I never met snowball but I have heard countless stories of his charm. But I'm going to let Brandon do the honors of telling you all Snowball stories since he was actually there to witness them. However, getting Brandon to write a blog might take some convincing, how about a little reader support?! Anyone who wants to read a blog by Brandon leave an encouraging comment! (*I think he's a bit blog shy, he feels like he's really lost his touch since his livejournal days.*)

But let's get to the real reason I'm mentioning snowball. I've wanted a cat or dog ever since we've gotten married practically. & Brandon has been a little bit reluctant about the idea until last night...

Brandon: I really miss Snowball.

Kyra: Oh babe, I'm sorry.

Brandon: It's Ok, I just don't think I've ever missed him this way before.

Kyra: aww, how long have you been feeling this way?

Brandon: Well... Since right now.

Kyra: Hahaha

Brandon: I miss the way he stretches and sleeps............

I told him I am good at stretching and sleeping, he said it just wasn't the same.

Maybe we'll be getting a little Snowball Jr. sooner than I thought! :)

* to learn more about snowball to hold you over till Brandon blogs (which could be a long wait) please visit www.snowballisdead.blogspot.com. & go to the very first entry ever posted. This is my bro- in- law Tyler's blog & really doesn't have a whole lot to do with snowball. But how many cats do you know who have blogs named after them?! :)

"We should invite him over more often, he is a riot!"

2009-03-13T11:03:00.000-06:00

What I just don't understand is why Brandon leads such an amazingly hilarious life while I just live the boring day to day! Seriously people, it's just unfair! I have decided I need to hire a camera man to follow Brandon around because I am always too slow to catch most of these funny moments!

The other day we were leaving Fazoli's after lunch.

I was chatting about something that must have been important cuz boy was I talking up a storm!

Brandon opened the passenger door for me & I got in the car, still just chatting away.

Once I was settled, instead of closing the door, Brandon asked me to hold his drink.

I took it, still talking.

Then he asked me to hold his keys.

I took them, still rambling on.

He closed the door and opened the door to the backseat while I slowly realized I was holding the car keys.

The next thing I knew he was riding around the parking lot on his skateboard that pretty much lives in the back of his car.

I sat there laughing, keys and drink in hand, until I realized the complete bloggabilaty of this moment & began rummaging through my bag for my camera phone. Unfortuanately as most women can understand I couldn't find it in time! (ah, women & their purses! gotta love it!)

So no picture for this event but once I get that camera man on board it'll be non-stop Brandon footage!

He is hilarious! constantly making me laugh with all the ways he lives life to the fullests & makes it as fun as it can possibly be! I'm pretty sure if Brandon ever got the chance to meet homestar, homestar would think "He is a riot!"

I could also tell you the stories of the ripped jeans and the & Magical music playing computer but I'll save those for another post! (which may end up being written today! cross your fingers!)

Here's our life in pictures!

Here I am in our kitchen admiring our cups. I love our cups. So much. especially the blue mugs. I'll post a better picture of my kitchen later cuz I promised I would post apartment pictures!

speaking of which, here's an apartment picture!...

This is one of our bathrooms that will one day be painted blue! As soon as we can find some time to paint!

And here is Nick & Brandon! Mariah and I thought it was so cute, they both were sitting on the floor, indian style, & look how they are both wearing black! could friends get any bester?! :)

And finally this is a picture of what Brandon & I would rather be doing right now... Wakeboarding! That's me on Utah lake last year! Love it!

Be careful what you wish for…

2009-03-03T16:52:00.001-07:00

Brandon had a very traumatic moment happen to him last week and I feel it must be shared…

One drab afternoon I was blandly chipping away at my work when I got a text from Brandon:

"Babe we are out of spiral mac and cheese! I don't know what to do."

Bahaha we had regular mac and cheese, but for some reason that just wouldn't do. I told him to run over to ab's to get some lunch since we live pretty much right next-door to a little drive-in but he wouldn't have it. He texted back saying…

"I'll just have some bread, with a banana* on it, and maybe some salsa… babe I'm scared."

(* note he was trying to incorporate the banana because his shins hurt way bad at his last soccer game and he was worried about his potassium level, I tried to give him one of my multi vitamins but he told me "those are woman pills." Huh, I never knew. haha)

in case you were wondering… that boy is my favorite.

I'll try to keep our cupboards better stocked from now on.

So pretty much life rocks.

Brandon is currently hating Obama's proposed budget, being awesome, making me laugh, playing soccer two times a week + basketball, and he bought a new TV his first and greatest want ever since we tied the knot. I tried to get him to let me take a picture of him hugging his TV- which of course he does regularly ;) – but he said he needed a haircut first. So that's a work in progress!

We are still super busy but we are having so much fun! I'm still working hard (or hardly working!), sleeping in on purpose, trying to figure out the sneakiest way to tan on top of the storage units (winter= a tans worst nightmare), and hating my extensions. This Saturday they are coming out. This relationship has got to end!

I told Brandon I wanted dreads a little while ago (because this girl I know has them and she looks crazy cool!).

He told me they were gross.

I said they were hot.

He told me to stop washing my hair and I'd get them… he was right. (With extensions you are only supposed to wash your hair twice a week!)

Yesterday (which a particularly awful hair day) I saw my sister and she told me I looked like I had dreads.

Be careful what you wish for!

On that same note, however…

Sunday was fast and testimony meeting in our new/awesome ward and a cute young woman got up to bare her testimony; I promise she was the happiest cutest girl in the world. I leaned over to Brandon and whispered "If only I was a young woman leader than I would be as bubbly as that girl… *exaggerated sigh*". Brandon rolled his eyes and told me I'd be happy no matter what. Later we had a meeting with Brother White, our super neat first counselor in the bishopric, where he asked us to speak in Sacrament meeting next week and then told me they had a calling for me… my name had been submitted to be the young woman's secretary! Brandon started laughing and so a tiny part of me thought it was a joke so responded with a laughing/excited "SHUT UP! REALLY?!" to my shock he said yes and then I said YES!!!!!!!!!! probably not the most appropriate response but hey, alteast he knows I'm excited about this calling! (understatement of the century! )I could barely contain my happiness but I at least made it to the parking lot before my jumping up and down with joy commenced. Did I mention that this ward rocks? It does. I am beyond excited.

Clearly I do need to be careful what I wish for and only use this power for good. I think I'll focus my wishing efforts on a new car and a million dollars next. Oh and world peace of course! J

Picture time!

These are from our nephew James' BMX race! He totally took first in his age group! I took a picture of him in all of his gear with his trophy that was practically bigger than he is but i forgot to save it! shoot! Not to worry though I bet I'll have tons more chances to get that picture! Love these two boys!

We owe it all to Pauly D.

2009-02-26T17:21:00.001-07:00

I feel it is necessary to give a little shout out to the Salt Lake Free and Associates office! Basically this office is the very office in which our love story began! On July 3^nd I reluctantly quit my job at discover card, went to an interview I'd found via the news paper at Free and Associates that very same afternoon and got the job that very night! It was quite the day! One month later after being called "kai-rah" countless times and already deciding who my office crushes were (they will always and forever remain anonymous, absolutely no exceptions.), I was sent to the binding room to add a whatsit to Pauly D's reportsit.

I need to mention that the binding room doubled as the office of our two alternating data entry guys. One of which happened to be Mr. Brandon Free. I also should mention that before this moment I had only talked to Brandon Free twice, ok three times and had some pretty strange opinions about the kid, but really who wouldn't? On one occasion Brandon was polling the office on whether or not we believed in aliens, once he clocked out of work and instead of going home came into my office to watch the corpse bride on DVD, and on another occasion he was offering me a Sacajawea penny if I could figure out what happened between Josh (the other data entry guy) and the robot. Oh, the robot, boy am I glad I didn't forget the robot, Brandon had built him out of two computer PC's for legs, a box for his stomach, and a wicker basket for his head, and his name was most likely Kevin (I say this because Brandon names most everything Kevin). This robot lived in the binding room/office until one fateful day when a loud crash was heard after Josh was seen entering the room and the robot was no more.

Any ways, I waltzed into the binding room, hands full of reports when I was greeted with a surprising, "hey Kee-rah". We are talking perfect pronunciation here. I froze and turned to face quite honestly, one of the cutest boys I had ever laid eyes on. Maybe I had never given him a close enough look because he was definitely crush worthy, tan skin, brown eyes, great hair, dressed awesome… wow. So when I was younger I had this really embarrassing habit of turning really REALLY
red and splotchy whenever a cute boy would talk to me, I thought it was something I had grown out of but unfortunately I was gravely mistaken……………….

TO BE CONTINUED!

I wonder what will happen next

It looks like even Brandon doesn't know! J

The day Brandon made Kyra Free...

2009-02-11T15:25:00.002-07:00

Hey Honeymooners!

2009-02-10T14:53:00.005-07:00

What a fantastic honeymoon we had!

We went on a cruise to Cabo and it was beautiful. There is nothing I like more than a sandy, warm beach. I loved the sound of the waves and the culture of Mexico. The buildings, the language, food, people; after going there I decided I must have been born in the wrong country! I would have loved to stay. But the cruise, or “floating buffet” rather, was fun too! We definitely want to go on another vacation soon!

Some of our favorite parts of the cruise were the food, the towel animals, our "gold chariot" ride, the piano bar (where Brandon played and sang one of the songs he's written for me), the food, the shows, the room decor, the movies, and did I mention the food? :)

But the thing we loved the very most was dinner time! but not for the reason you might think (although the food was delish), we loved it for the company! We so loved our server and all of the people seated at table 201 with us! One of the couples at our table were LDS, also on their honeymoon, and were married the very same day as us! They were so cute! But the couple we really liked the most was Jenna & Drew, the couple seated right next to us. They were two way fun California natives that we really hit it off with! We loved getting to know them! & we totally miss those dinners the very most! yay for cruise friends! :)

One thing we'll have to remember for our next cruise is to bring a real camera! All of the pictures in our slide show we took with a little disposable camera we bought on the ship, except for the really gorgeous Cabo pictures those are brought to you courtesy of Jenna & Drew! :)

Enjoy!

I'll post wedding & apartment pictures soon, I promise!

"& I'm always pretty happy when I'm just kicking back with you..."

2009-02-10T14:34:00.000-07:00

I thought I was deleting drafts but I was actually deleting posts! :(
So all of my old posts are gone...
atleast I didn't have too many!
Here's the latest...

Brandon & I have moved! Into our own humble abode of sorts, it’s been exciting as well as stressful, all rolled into one little ball of exhausting. We are so thankful for Kerri, Bryan, Kathy, Tyler & our super cute nieces and nephews for helping us (especially Kyle, Alyssa, Hailey, & Ashton)! It’s a cute little place & I can hardly wait to paint it and really make it our own! Brandon & I are sure learning a lot about each other right now. Change brings learning every time, & boy are we learning! We are sort of lacking in the furniture department but honestly I don’t mind… I am happy with an oven and bed… We don’t really have time for much else. It’s just nice to have a place to call our own. I am loving just taking everything one step at a time and breathing in the newness of it all; the-grown-up-ness & the foreverness of us & of everything that lies before us. It’s definitely exciting!

We are both still super busy & I wish we had more hours in the day but I am thankful for the moments I get to spend with him; the moments where I really feel complete. While I am the crazy, impatient, get-stressed-at-the-drop-of-a-hat kind of gal, Brandon is the calm, easy-going, doesn’t-get-stressed-over-anything type of guy i'm so grateful we're not both full of fire...he is the water & I am the flame & we need each other in so many ways. Mostly I need him because without water fire can spread for miles… so when I am next to him everything feels more balanced & I know that I am where I need to be.

In other news we have some serious TV show catching up to do! Too bad we don’t like any of the same shows other than One Tree Hill! Guess we’ll be fighting over the laptop until we get a desk for our real computer!

We are liking our new ward so far & are excited to become more involved in it! Brandon’s going to start playing ward ball with the men and I am hoping for a calling soon! Preferably in young woman’s since I am practically a young woman myself, we’d have a ton of fun! But Brandon assured me that the nursery is where I’m headed since I want so badly to be a young woman leader. & I am pretty sure he is right! You never know though!

We both cannot wait for summer & for lake Powell!!!

He also assured me when I asked whether or not he like the name ‘Brynnlee’ for a girl’s name that we will have four healthy sons. Thanks babe. :) …. Not that children are in the works now or anywhere in the near future (calm down dad and mom)! We have way too much exploring and too many adventures to go on before we’re ready to settle down and be parents! We’re young & we plan on living our lives to the fullest!

All in all we are loving life & are so thankful for all of our blessings, family, and friends!