love actually is all around

(forewarning: this post may be un poco cheesy, but it is oh so true)

I absolutely love going to weddings. I swear, weddings are the best thing for already married people to attend. They truly remind you as to why you married your spouse in the first place.

 Let me explain.....

Today, my dear friend Amy was getting married after 2+ years of waiting to bring her fiance here to the States from El Salvador and we were invited to join in the exciting event. Literally 15 minutes before we were supposed to arrive at the wedding I was "griping" (actually....more like throwing a giant 5-year old tantrum) about how fat and ugly I looked in my dress (ugh...lady drama). As I whined away, Wes was patiently trying to iron his clothes and continually compliment me and avoid getting sucked into my "negative Nancy" trap.  My not-so-niceness continued, as I yelled, "HURRY UP, WE'RE GONNA BE LATE AND I HAVE NOTHING TO WEAR!"

And then.....we went to the wedding. We saw two BEAUTIFUL people who are madly in love gaze into each others eyes, hug, kiss, and proclaim their love for one another in front of their dearest family and friends. It's truly a beautiful thing. And while I am sitting quietly in the third row watching all of this beauty occur in front of my eyes, I daydream about my perfect wedding day, where I did the exact same thing and looked at Wes the exact same way Amy looked at Raul. And suddenly those ugly moments (just like the one 15 minutes prior to the wedding) start to drift away, as I remember that I am lucky enough to have married my best friend who will stick by me through thick and thin. That life with him is better than anything else in the world.

So....to Amy and Raul, I say CONGRATULATIONS and thank you for reminding me of the joys of marriage.

And to Wes, I say...sorry buddy for my ridiculousness this morning. Thanks for sticking by me and making me laugh even when I have my not-so-pretty moments. I love you more and more every day because of it.

Finally, since I am in a major mushy mood and my husband is out for a much-deserved evening with his car buddies, I shall finish the evening with my favorite Christmasy movie of all time, Love Acually, because c'mon people, "If you look for it, I've got a sneaking suspicion... love actually is all around. "

october

holy moly. time is flying by. I cannot believe that October is almost over! We've had a wonderful month. Here are some of the things that have been keeping us busy.....

room 100

I am absolutely loving my second year of teaching kindergarten. I am teaching an ELL kindergarten class, which means nearly all of my students started the school year back in August speaking little to no English. Their progress is jaw-dropping and I simply feel blessed to be their teacher. And...they say some pretty funny things when attempting to speak English. 

painted walls

After nearly 7 months of home-ownership, we finally painted the walls....sandstone cove and garden meadows (aka, grayish, brownish, beigish, neutralish) This picture doesn't really show much, but oh well...perhaps you'll just come have to visit. 

Funny story of the day: Today we hiked Telegraph Pass. I was wearing a bright green Duck shirt (typical Saturday attire in October) and the bees were just loving serenading me with their presence. After a while, I was started to get a little tired of them and told Wes to "make them go away!". He followed my directions and decided to kill one with the water bottle. Thankfully, he killed the bee attacking my calf, but gave me a wonderful Charlie Horse. I limped down the rest of the trail, laughing and wondering what the people around us must have been thinking.

note to self: I just used the phrase "followed my directions" when telling a story about my husband. poor guy. I am such a kindergarten teacher. 

fall and football

I never really realized it until this year, but I absolutely love fall....and football. I guess you learn things about yourself when you move away from everything you know. 

Although, I will be loving Yuma in about a month or two...when all of you back home in Oregon are freezing your tushies off and I will be basking in the warm 70-80 degree weather, for the time being I miss the way Oregon so beautifully transitions into fall (my goodness, I am starting to sound like my mama). 

Not to mention, I especially miss watching Duck football games with our family and friends. A Yuma bar atmosphere just cannot offer the hilariousness of my dad and the females of the family having repeated battles over the amount of lights to turn on during the game. In a public place, I cannot do my best " Let's Go Ducks!" cheerleader voice impression. And high-fiving Wes over and over again gets a little old. Ok, I'm kidding about that last one. 

This year especially, the TV broadcasted games have especially been against us. The first game we watched on a the tiniest TV you ever did see at Buffalo Wild Wings (simply because none of our favorite local spots had the Pac-12 network). Last night's game we watched at a local bar. The first half (yes nearly all 2 hours worth) we had to watch standing in the entrance of the building as the entire place was packed for some stupid cage fight. The second half, we finally got a table, but had to crank our necks just to see the one TV that was playing the Duck game. 

Oh well, as my dad would say..."Quit your whining and GO DUCKS!"

Thankfully, we have been able to watch one game live-streaming on the internet thanks to our friend Jamie. Wes watched it on my interactive board at school, while I did school prep. What a perfect way to spend a Saturday.

To commiserate our recent and unfortunate football viewing experiences, I decorated for fall, just to make it feel a little bit more like we were back home, watching with our wonderful family and friends. Thankfully, I never get tired of watching the games on whatever form of media with handsomest Duck fan of them all :)

I'm famous!

Yesterday, I got the sweetest most unexpected text from my old boss (side note: my school closed down and I have moved to a school just down the street. Yes, I'm still teaching kindergarten and school started this Wednesday).

Anyways, the text read as followed: "Great picture in the paper. I miss seeing that beautiful smile of yours everyday" Awww, how sweet. Thanks Becky.

Wait, what? My picture in the paper!?!?! I drove down to the library to get ahold of a Yuma Sun and see what in the world she was talking about. Sure enough, smack dab on the front of the local paper, there I was, greeting one of my sweet new students. Ironically, I didn't even see the photographer at the school and would've never known about my newspaper debut, had it not been for the text. Now I know why the neighborhood paperboy, Robert, has been leaving that "Free 14 day Subscription" ad on my doorstep.

So, thanks to 13 years of orthodoncia and a hidden cameraman, I'm famous. Ha ha.

P.S. Even though my kiddos hardly speak of word of English (another side note: I'm teaching an ELL kindergarten class), I love them already!

date night

This last week was a bit of a rough one for Los Bryants. My car and the house A/C both managed to break down on the same day. As my dad would say...groovy. So, after spending some unexpected money to fix both the car and the house, two nights of sleeping in a 97 degree house, and learning to laugh at our circumstances, we thought it was time for a little date night. Nothing keeps a marriage hot and steamy than an occasional date night....oh wait, a lack of A/C in 110 degree weather keeps you plenty hot and steamy.

For our date, we dressed up in our nerdiest golf clothes, went golfing, and tried to pretend like we knew what we were doing. Wes is such a good sport putting up with my shenanigans. Golf was followed by a nice dinner (thank you Mom & Dad for the gift card!), and a midnight showing of Will Ferrell's latest comedy, La Casa de Mi Padre (by midnight showing, I mean a redbox rental viewed via laptop.) We are such old people, that we fell asleep trying watch the movie. Note to self: Don't rent a movie with subtitles after 10 pm.

check out those golf clothes!

another date night in paradise

life is rough

my handsome date

home sweet (overcast, rainy, green) home

When I left Oregon last July and moved myself, my husband, and all of his possessions to the sunniest place of earth (aka Yuma, Arizona), everyone kept telling me how much I was going to miss the green that Oregon has to offer. Perhaps because I was a bright-eyed first-year teacher desperate for a job or desperate for some much needed sunshine, I refused to believe that I would miss the green. I was determined to get out of the rain and cloudy skies, that I simply didn't think I would "miss" it.


But here it is people. For all of you who told me, "You'll miss the green", YOU ARE ABSOLUTELY RIGHT. Don't get me wrong. I have thoroughly enjoyed our adventure in Arizona. I've learned to appreciate the desert for its unique beauty, I love traveling to Mexico bi-weekly, and I love teaching kindergarten.


However, now that I've been visiting Oregon for the last few weeks, I must fess up.....I love the green.  I love the smell of crazy fresh Oregon air. I love hiking in the trees. Well, technically not in the trees, but I'm sure plenty of Oregonians do that too. I've been snapping pictures left and right of "green things". Oh great, have I become a tourist in my own hometown? Crap. 


Ironically, as I write this post, it's pouring down rain on this June "summer day", but for the sake of this mushy-gushy environmentally romantic post, let's just say...I LOVE YOU OREGON! 


Here are some of my touristy shots....

I made Wes park at the very top of a parking garage so I could take this shot.(Eugene, OR)

view of Portland from Pittock Mansion

(Portland, OR)

My sister is one lucky gal. 

This is the view of Mt. Hood from her bedroom window.

(Portland, OR)

hiking Spencer's Butte

(Eugene, OR)

hiking Spencer's Butte

(Eugene, OR)

DeBows in the Desert

This last week, my wonderful sister and momma came to visit Wes and me. It was a best treat after finishing my first official year of teaching. Even though Wes spent a week outnumbered and surrounded by girls, we had a wonderful week.

Here are some highlights.....

1. We birdwatched, and birdwatched, and birdwatched some more (My mom is the Bird Whisperer and Yuma was a perfect place for her to come visit)

2. We hiked the Grand Canyon

3. We enjoyed simply being outside and letting the Oregonians soak up some heat and defrost their frozen little bodies :)

4. We enjoyed many delicious meals (thanks for spoiling us Mom!)

5. We did plenty more, but frankly Wes old brick of a computer is starting to bug me, as it takes minutes to load each picture, and I need to go jump in the pool. I lead such a rough life, huh?

P.S. Please come visit us! We love having visitors! Thanks Mom and Kierra for a wonderful first week of summer.

bienvenidos a mexico...apparently not

So, Los Bryant's have done it again. We've officially been kicked out of Mexico twice. See the first time here. Only this time included a high speed car chase. We decided to bring the dirt bike again today, but we thought we had dotted our i's and crossed our t's by bringing the bike's registration. Apparently not.


Ironically, we were given the green light when we passed through Mexico's border patrol and cruised right on into San Luis. Just as we got ready to crank up our favorite local Mexico mariachi radio station, we start to hear sirens. Sirens? Behind us? I looked at Wes and said "Are you being pulled over?". Apparently so.


A "lady on a power trip" (according to Wes) from the Mexican border patrol chased us down Calle 2 (aka Street 2) and told us we needed to go back to customs. I didn't know you could be given the green light, only to be chased down and told you need to go back. So, we diligently followed the border patrol agent, as she caused a dozen traffic jams just to make sure we followed right behind her. We showed her the registration and thought we'd be good to go in no time. Apparently not. Today, they decided that we couldn't have the gas can, that was accompanying the dirt bike. We are learning that Mexico's border laws tend to change daily hourly. We laughed and decided just to go home for the day.


So, instead of a relaxing day in Mexico, filling my tummy with homemade tortillas and deliciousness, I am sitting at school filling out report cards. Back to the life of a nerdy teacher.


At least I can cross off "Being chased down and kicked out of a country" off of my bucket list. Yes!

random road trips

Yesterday while hiking Telegraph Pass, midway up the trickiest part of the hike, I blurted out, "Let's go on a road trip today". An interesting fact about Wes and I is that we have an uncanny ability to hop in the car and go on, shall we say, "random road trips". The kind of trips where you don't necessarily have a planned destination, you lack any form of an itinerary, and you simply go where the wind blows you (or rather, where the car drives you).


So, after a great morning of calf-killing hiking (leg calves, not to be confused with baby cows), we literally jumped in the car and drove north on highway 95. Thankfully, we ended up in Lake Havasu City, a great little touristy town, located perfectly on Lake Havasu. We enjoyed a day of exploring, swimming in the lake, and laying out in the good ol' sunshine. I am so thankful I have a husband who is just as spontaneous as I am.

the real london bridge

lake havasu

swimming

view from the towel. life is rough.

just another az sunset

FUNNIEST STORY OF THE DAY: for all of you who made it to the bottom, this is by far the best part. on our way home, we stopped at a mexican restaurant in a little podunk town. as you can tell from the video below, here are some of the locals at their best. awesome

date nights

Wes and I are pretty cheap people. So, this Friday night, when the temperatures started to kick it up a notch (into the 100's), we just couldn't bring our cheap selves into turning on the air conditioning (despite the fact that the thermostat claimed that the indoor temp was a whoppin' 92). I decided to use the opportunity to be cheesy and have a cute little movie night date in the backyard. As the evening went on, the temp outside dropped much lower than the temps inside our oven (I mean home) and we enjoyed sleeping outside in the 70-something degree weather.

here are a few pictures of cute little date night. awwwww......

taco fest

you know you live in yuma when you have an annual taco fest. if any of you know us, you know that we love visiting taco trucks. how perfect that all the local taco trucks came together for us to enjoy their deliciousness!

mariachi wes

we ran into our old neighbor carl 

taco fest delicousness

arlene (wes' grandma) decided to show up at the taco fest 

(ok, this isn't arlene, but this woman is her spitting image!)

lessons learned

a few weeks back Wes and I went to the fair. We learned a lesson.....until we have cute children to entertain and take cute photos of on the little kiddie rides, the fair is frankly a big waste of money. We spent $18 to ride two rides, not to mention the additional money to buy the corn dogs. Lesson learned!

house project #1

Holy moly, a lot has happened since my last post 19 days ago.

Well....let's see, since then we've bought a house, had a great visit from the in-laws and the Wrights, and managed to keep ourselves plenty busy moving into our new house during my Spring Break week.

Since our house is "so cute yet so small" our first home project (and the consumption of my Spring Break) was to build an attic space in the garage. Ironically, building in the Desert Southwest during Spring Break is nothing new to Wes and I, as we've been building houses down here in Mexico since we were little immature teenagers.We always joke it's where we first fell in love. Awwwww.

So friends, here's how you build an attic.

Step 1: Go to Home Depot to buy materials (only to realize that this store will soon be your second home over Spring Break)

Step #2: Build and work late into the evening (hoping and praying that you are not pissing off your new neighbors)

Step #3: Tada!

On another note, we are loving our new house and feeling so blessed. We already LOVE our neighbors. Our goofy next door neighbor, Simon, who always managed to forget our names, has given us new nicknames, Julio & Spuds (I am Spuds after the Budweiser dog, Spuds McKenzie, and I have no idea why Wes is Julio). Yesterday, as we were spending our Easter Sunday installing the insulation in the 92 degree weather and sweating our buns off, Simon came over and said, "Hey Julio and Spuds! Why don't you two stop for awhile and come join us for Easter." We spent the rest of the evening forgetting about the work that needed to be done, filling our stomachs with deliciousness, and simply cherishing the joy of living next to great people. Oh, and did I mention that these great neighbors have two young toddlers. YES! Anyone who knows me, knows what good news this is.

P.S. Oregon friends, please come visit us. We can't wait to have visitors! Thanks to Wally, Melinda and the whole Wright gang for your visit. It means the world to us!

husband of the year

occasionally on this blog, i have selfishly given myself the wife of the year award. (see here and here). however, today the tables have turned. my wonderful husband has officially won husband of the year.

here is why....

This week is "Career Week" in Social Studies. A few weeks back, I sent a letter home to my students' parents asking if anyone would come to our class and share about their career. However, I only managed to get a response from one parent. So, I turned to my only other local option....my husband.

He kindly obliged and came and corrupted 20 kindergartners into thinking they want to build cars and motorcycles when they grow up. He did an awesome job and the kids LOVED him.

A few funny kindergarten comments....

Wes walked in the room. Before he even opened his mouth, one of my boys said, "YOU ARE AWESOME!"

Wes: "When Mrs. Bryant and I moved to Yuma...."

Student: "Wait, you call her Mrs. Bryant too?"

Wes: "All the time."

"Mrs. Bryant, your husband is much more handsome than I expected"

vintage fridges, drive ins, and taco trucks

i've been a little lazy at keeping our oregonian families updated on our life in the desert. here are a few things as of late....

1.we bought the sweetest vintage fridge.

(Note to Norris Crew: sorry for not listening to your advice about not buying vintage fridges. it was just too dang cute...and cheap...$40)

2. we went to the drive-in movies.....in march!

the "chilly night" felt like a typical summer oregon night.

3. we tested out yet another taco truck. so freakin' delicious

4. here's just a shot of the beauty i see every morning on my way to work. such a beautiful way to wake up.

(p.s. my cell phone camera hardly even does it justice.)

feliz presidents day

I am so thankful that I married a boy who refuses to sit on his butt for longer than a few seconds. Wes is always in the mood for fun adventures and thankfully the long President's day weekend provided plenty of adventure for Los Bryants.

Saturday AM: A bike ride to downtown Yuma for a Mardi Gras Festival and some good ol' cajun food.

Saturday PM: We headed down south to San Luis, Arizona to the "Taste of San Luis". However, it was a little less exiting than we expected, so we just crossed the border into Mexico for a some din-din at our favorite "chicken place". (Yes, we just call it the "Chicken Place" since it doesn't even have a sign on the door).

Sunday: Desert Picnic with the Norris Crew. That's right, I think it is fair to say that Wes and I officially have some friends (woohoo). We rode dirtbikes & rhinos (I still don't know why these golfcart-like things are named after an African safari animal) around the desert. So different from what we'd be doing in Oregon in February. Enjoyable nonetheless.

I'm sure our holiday festivities would've made the presidents proud. So our adventures are for you....George, Abraham, and the rest. Feliz President's Day!