Benny the Jet

first comes love. then comes marriage....then comes the baby in the baby carriage....ugh....I mean....DOG!

That's right! We are officially the happy owners of the the cutest little pup on earth. (Don't worry Kierra, Sugar is in a close 2nd). Ever since moving to Yuma, we've been keeping our eyes peeled on the far too many dogs who arrive at the Humane Society. We visited the Humane Society on various Saturdays (convinced that we'd come home with a dog), but something always would happen (the dog we thought was "oh so cute" in their picture would be too jumpy, too yappy, etc., etc.)

And then, on MLK Day, I just happened to scroll through the Humane Society's website and stumble upon this picture.....

c'mon. who can resist that little face!?!!?!? I e-mailed the Humane Society, put Benny on hold, and we rushed out the Humane Society immediately after work on Tuesday. 

He is just the sweetest little thing. He's the most easy-going dog, but so loving (at least so far). He is already becoming Wes little garage buddy and just loves to follow us around. 

Welcome to the family Benny!

lost in the desert

Yesterday, my adorable husband asked if I'd like to go for a hike. Sure...why not? I love to be outdoors and it sounded like a great way to spend the last day of my wonderfully long 3 week Christmas break. Without any questions asked (as to where we were going, how long it would be, etc), we simply headed out the door and drove off for our little adventure.

What I have learned in 2.5 years of marriage is that I really trust Wes...perhaps occasionally even a bit too much. 

Back to the hike....We headed out into the middle of absolutely nowhere and began hiking around the very large Muggins Mountain. The trail quickly and unexpectedly faded away. Not after long, we were miles away from the car, hiking through canyons and ravines on the complete backside of a ginormous mountain.Frankly, as much as men like Wes hate to admit it, we had no clue where we were or where to go. This was one of the instances when I realize how much I trust Wes. He ALWAYS knows what he's doing and where he's going, right? Wrong. Perhaps, he was a bit too confident in his internet-based info of the area, it was entertaining nonetheless to realize how many times I have simply trusted him and tagged along in his wild adventures. 

We made it out alive. Thankfully, some genius had made rock structures around the entire mountain, so we simply followed her rock formations and footsteps....of course, I'm assuming the genius was female :) We laughed A LOT and learned a few solid lessons along the way (for example, never simply trust the internet about a hike and head out the door). 

the beginning...when we thought there'd actually be a path. LIES!

sun ray ruining our self-time pic

thank god for these rock formations around the entire mountain. genius!

canyon/male model awesomeness

I wasn't joking when I said we were in the middle of stinkin' nowhere

I love you Wesley....even if you get me lost in the middle of the desert. At least we packed water.

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