Today's Feeling Is...

This is exactly how I'm feeling today. I can't wait til we just own our house and the paperwork is all behind us.

Christmas Tree Hunting

We went Christmas tree hunting with my family over Thanksgiving weekend on Cedar Mountain. Usually we'd be wading through snow drifts up to our waists, but this time there was hardly any snow on the ground! It was so strange! Here are some snapshots from the day:

// Alexa and I being awesome! // Dallin, Alexa and I- can't figure out which faces we're doing for which photo // My honey and me! I just love that man so much! //Our family in front of the trees! Dang, we look gooooood!

It was such a fun day filled with rock hard snowball fights, hot chocolate, yummy smelling firs, leftover turkey and no-bakes! I love my family so much! They are the best friends I've ever had!

When do you get Christmas trees? Do you cut your own, buy from a lot, or have fake ones? Jared and I are trying to decide what we're going to do for ours this year. Hope you all had a fantastic Thanksgiving and are having fun getting in the Christmas spirit!

Family Fun at Thanksgiving

This year we went to my family's house for Thanksgiving. We have a family tradition that has gone on almost a hundred years that we have our Thanksgiving dinner out at the Valley of Fire.  Well, it's more of a lunch. It's potluck style, but everyone's got their certain dishes they bring every year. Our family's is turkey, dutch oven potatoes and sometimes an amazing yogurt fruit salad! It's so much fun to see all of our cousins and catch up on everyone's lives. The kids climb all over the red rocks , we all eat til we can't move, then make ourselves get up and hike to Mouse's Tank. There are petrogylphs all over the canyon walls and we slip and slide on the sandstone trail. This hike is best if you are accompanied with children. Everything is so new and fresh to them and they are fascinated by all of it. I am so thankful for my family and how loving, kind and caring they all are! It's so nice knowing all my cousins and aunts and uncles, especially being so close to so many of them! Here are some pictures from the day.

We are so awesome! 

 

My Aunt Nan and I, I love this lady so much! 

 

Little rock towers, I remember making them as a kid!

 

 

Some of the family at Mouse's Tank, oh I just love them all so much!

Hiking up over Mouse's Tank, yearly ritual!

 

Jumping for joy! Haha I'm so blurry!

 

Some of my dad's wood working, he's basically amazing!

 

The bees looooved the cranberry sauce! It was a little ridiculous!

I'd say it was a successful week! It was so nice being with family- it's always so hard to leave! I miss them all so much already. 

How was your Thanksgiving? What are your family traditions? I'd love to hear about them!

Giving Thanks

Since Thanksgiving is right around the corner, I thought I should make a little list of things I am thankful for. There are a hundred million more things I'm grateful for (like chocolate chip cookies!) but here are a few that I've been thinking of today.

1. I am truly thankful for the amazing husband I have. I know, this is one of those every days, but seriously, I married the most selfless and hard working man I've ever known. We are definitely two parts of a whole and I can't imagine my life without him.

2. I am so thankful for my family. I am amazed at how all of us get along so well and have so much fun together. I miss my family so much. This is the farthest I've ever lived from my closest relative (3 1/2 hours) and it's really weird. I'm so glad I will get to see them all this week!

3. I am thankful for the technology that makes it possible to talk to my friends and family whenever and wherever I want. It really helps with the loneliness that comes from moving far away from everyone I know.

 4. And lastly, I am thankful for Doctor Who to keep me company on those days I just don't want to get out of bed. Seriously, a chaser-away of depression, I love that show.

5. And lastly, I am thankful for all of you who come and read my blog. I don't know who you are, but I would love to hear from you and get to know you!

I hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving and hold your family and friends close! I love this time of year, it's all about showing love to those most important to you. It's such a happy time of year for me. So, go eat lots of turkey and pie, and as for the Shurtliff clan in Overton, we will go climb some beautiful red rocks and eat turkey in the wind :) It's going to be amazing! I can't wait!

Breaking Dawn Weekend!

Our weekend was pretty relaxed, so the highlight was that Jared went to Breaking Dawn part 2 with me :) I have the greatest husband in the world! The movie was really good, it had been awhile since I read the books so it was fun to remember the story as I watched it!

The rest of our weekend went a little something like this...

When we heard the Hostess news, we ran out in search of twinkies. The first two grocery stores were completely sold out but we finally found some at a Maverick! It hadn't been raided yet. So crazy, these will be the last twinkies I ever eat... 

We had our house inspected, nothing too serious so we're stoked about that!! Then we had a bunch of documents to sign at the realtors. I love this scarf, seriously my favorite!

Over $4.00 for gas this weekend... All I can say is :(

Hand Lettering Goodness

I spent a lot of the weekend practicing my hand lettering while we were watching movies. Here are the results:

It was so much fun! Have any of you done hand lettering? I'd love to see them!

Piquing My Interest

Here are some things that I've been pinning and looking up a lot lately:

 

Hand lettering! It is so beautiful and I've been practicing, photos of those coming soon!

Handmade stuffed animals. I want to learn to make these, I think it'd be so fun to give my nieces and nephew their very own one-of-a-kind animal :) They're just so cute!

I've been seeking writing motivation and found this photo of Albert Einstein at his desk. He said, "If a cluttered desk signs a cluttered mind, of what, then, is an empty desk a sign?" It's so true! And it made me realize that I don't always have to be super organized. Maybe if I let myself become cluttered I'll find inspiration in the chaos. 

Parks and Recreation is my new all time favorite! Andy and April are my favorite! Well, they all are my favorite... I just love this show so much!

What has been piquing your interests lately?

Police Officer Wake Up Call

So I basically had the craziest morning ever in my life... I am so sick to my stomach right now, but I have to write it out. There is a lot of this I have put together after the fact, so don't judge me on my thoughts and decisions... I'm doing enough of that myself.

So Jared left for work this morning around 4:00. Soon after he left, I could hear crying coming from next door. The couple next door to us in the hotel has a toddler so I thought nothing of it. The crying continued for awhile, and I started to get a little nervous. I realized it wasn't just teething crying, it was desperate crying. I didn't want to call the office on them, cuz if that was me and my kid was crying so hard I couldn't get them to stop I'd be embarrassed if people started calling about it. Looking back, I shouldn't have cared about dang embarrassment.

Finally, I'm about to call the front desk, when I hear a knock next door and a guy asking the kid if he was okay. Then a knock on my door. But I am not dressed so I hurry to see who it is first (because I've had creepy guys knocking on the door and I didn't want to open it for just anyone, paranoid I know). I see a guy in a reflective mining coat pick the kid up and leave. Then I start to panic. Was that his dad? I couldn't see his face through the peephole. Did I just witness a kidnapping? Why did they knock on my door? What is happening?

<<<I've put together that I think the toddler was outside crying the whole time, that's why I could hear him so well, and the guy was a guest on his way to work and saw the kid and took him to the front desk.Trust me, this makes me feel 10,000 times worse that I just sat inside thinking his mom was just having a hard time with him.>>>

I'm standing there, mulling it over, trying to figure out if I should call the cops (yes, I am annoyed that I worried about waking someone up needlessly in this situation... it was 4 in the am, I wasn't thinking straight and to be honest, never dreamed that someone would leave their kid outside alone, so my brain was trying to put together another reason for all this happening...)

As I was about to call the police, there's a knock on the door and a man saying, "Police Department, is anyone in there?" I hurried and threw some clothes on and went out. At this point I am just feeling sick because I don't know where that kid is or if he's okay. I ask them first, is that kid okay?

<<<Also looking back, at this point I didn't realize that he was probably standing outside in the cold by himself, so how I acted probably made me look like a total jerk who ignores kids crying outside my door>>>

They said he was safe and getting warm (this is why I think he was outside). I told them I'd heard him crying then someone knocked and I wasn't dressed but by the time I got to the door a guy in a yellow mine coat had picked him up. I thought it was his dad. They confirmed all that but didn't say it was his dad (which I know now that it wasn't).

They were pounding on the door for about 5 minutes until the manager came and opened it. By this time I was back in my room, but still looking through the peephole. They went in, were in there for a few minutes, then came out with two guys about my age. Are you freaking kidding me?!?!?! I was so irate and sick I seriously almost threw up right there. By this time I had figured out the little boy had been outside the whole time, and these two guys were just sitting in there, knowing he was out there, and probably had put him out there?! And wouldn't answer the door when the POLICE knocked?! I hope they freaking rot in jail!

I was just shaking at this point. It honestly never even occurred to me that someone could really do that to a kid, I mean I see it on the news and stuff but when it's happening right in front of you... I guess I'm pretty naive. It just makes me sick that the whole time that little boy was crying, all alone, he was only about 5 feet away from me and I didn't look out the door. I know I can't beat myself up about it, I had no idea and what's done is done, and the kid is safe now, but my eyes have really been opened.

About 10 minutes after the cops left, I saw the dad run up to the room and run in and then run back out like he was looking for something. He looked desperate. I'm assuming those two guys were friends and were supposed to be babysitting. I don't know though, I only know what I saw. This guy was pretty torn up. Then it looked like the mom, with the kid, came walking back and into the room... That's why I'm guessing it wasn't really the parents fault because they gave the boy back to them instead of taking him to child services. I have no idea what the real story is, but that's how I saw it. At least he is safe and (hopefully) with people who love him and will continue to be safe. I'll definitely be more aware, and if something seems weird or off, it's probably because it is and I should act immediately.

Living in a hotel has made me a bit paranoid and I think I've lost quite a bit of my naivety. Although, let's face it, I'm still pretty naive. I can totally understand agoraphobics. I know that panic disorder comes on slowly, but the beginning stages are completely understandable to me. I freak out a little every time I leave this room, because what if someone is out there waiting for me? I've had enough guys knocking on the door then facing away so I can't see their face to warrant this one. What if someone mugs me? What if I get shot in the cross fires of a feud? What if someone attacks me in the parking lot?

I know it's irrational, sometimes I laugh at myself about it, but I'm hoping it's just because I'm in a new place and living in a hotel where you never know who your neighbor is. Obviously. Hopefully once we're in our house, this fear of people and being around them will go away.

I'm still so sick about that poor kid.

Well, that was my morning... kind of a long post but I had to get all this out so I don't feel so terrible about it all. I'm going to try to eat something, try to make this shaking go away. I hope all of your morning's have been better than mine! (Not that I feel bad for me at all, I just wish I could take all kids that have things like that happen to them and find them good homes. But I know I'd just bring them all home to live with me and I'd have a million children.)

At least I remember praying for the little kid when I thought he was only crying in his room with his parents. If I had realized the situation, I would have raised hell with whoever they found in that room.

Now, after reading this, read this article. Luckily I found it right after I wrote this and it has helped me believe in people again. There will always be terrible people in this world, but there will always be great people too. I want to dwell on the good stories.

http://espn.go.com/espn/story/_/id/8579599/chy-johnson-boys

Instagrams from the Weekend

I forgot to add my instagrams from the weekend. If you want to follow me, my username is breeatanner.

We went to a restaurant, La Fiesta, on Friday night. All of the walls were covered with Polaroids taken of people on their birthdays wearing sombreros! It was amazing! The food was really good too :)

Haha, these are our excited it snowed faces :D

And these are our after haircut faces... We actually really like our haircuts haha this was just more fun!

Sleep Writing...

So apparently I sleep write sometimes? I looked at my phone the other day in my notebook and I found this poem of sorts there...

The fragile state of mind is only replicated by the

Tantamount uncertainty of life and death.

To yield to such deceits as these,

Proves destructive on all accounts,

Until the defender and the defended

Keep their commanding secrets on the forefront of humanity,

And all that is left in the world

Will be taken capture in grief. 

I'm not quite sure what it means but here are the key words (in my opinion) written throughout:

fragile, uncertainty, deceit, destructive, commanding secrets, humanity, capture, grief.  

A possible reaction to the election results? Haha! Anyone have  any thoughts on this random bit of my unconscious? I love finding things like this that I don't remember writing. 

Thought I'd share that funny tidbit, hope you all have a great day!

Weekends in Elko

We got our first real snow this weekend! It has been freezing cold and we've been obliged to stay inside, curl up together and watch movies :) We did venture out into the cold Saturday morning to check the mail and stopped by the park to take some pictures in the snow. Enjoy!

Our snowy feet! There wasn't much snow but it sure was cold! 

Jared in camo, blending in with the trees :)

 

Winter Wonderland!

 

Bundled up with the only winter stuff I have! It was still warm when we moved here haha....

After the park we checked the mail, then were headed back to the room when we saw that the main (Idaho) street was blocked off. We totally spaced that Veteran's Day was Sunday! So we happened upon the parade and couldn't have been happier! Small town parades are the best!

 

Us waiting for the parade to begin, funny thing is- I don't remember that heart being on the glass... Perfect placement though! Yay!

High School Band!!! I was so excited when I heard the drums! It seriously makes me miss drumming so bad. They were really good for how small they are! I'm impressed! I love that they're going the wrong way too :) The band teacher yelled to us that there was a ton of candy back a ways that no one picked up, made us laugh. People were throwing candy at empty sidewalk... The parade was a beautiful tribute to all the veterans though, really moving!

 

Our house in snow! It is seriously EXTREMELY difficult to see our house all vacant and beautiful while we're stuck in the hotel. Oh well, December 7th will come soon!!

The rest of the weekend was spent watching movies, eating yummy little treats (like gelato and pumpkin pie!), and napping. It'll be nice to be in our house, then we can be busy on the weekends! I hope you all had a great weekend!

Found a Pretty Grove!

Jared and I decided to go out to Ruby Valley today. His dad worked there a long time ago and it's supposed to be really pretty. Most of the area had gotten past all of the changing leaves but we did find one gorgeous grove of aspens filled with bright yellow leaves! It was a magical little grove. Here are some photos I got, enjoy!

It's been a fun Saturday! I hope your weekend has been most excellent!

Also, do you like the new design? I feel like it's a little more streamlined... I might be changing it around a  bit every now and then. Let me know, yay or nay? :)