Missing in Action!

Not sure if anyone noticed...BUT I just realized I haven't blogged in a month and a half. Thought I'd give ya an update about what you've missed in the Brockbank life.

Ben started school again! He was ready to start back up so it was a good thing. It was nice to realize we have 1 year down but bad to realize we have 3 years left! This year started out stressful and with a lot of work and I am fearful that the whole year will be like that. It will definitely be nice when we can say year 2 is done with :)

This summer I have not been working a whole lot so I have had lots of time to go to the pool (my white skin doesn't show it) and to read. I've read some way fun books that you might want to try. They were:

• Wither by Lauren DeStafano - it reminded me a little of Hunger Games. It's set in the future and cancer has been cured but along with that another huge problem has been created.
  
• Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness - If you liked Twilight you'll like this. I loved it and couldn't put it down!
• A Stolen Life by Jaycee Dugard - You probably have heard of Jaycee Dugard's story. She was kidnapped when she was 11 and was help captive by a man for 18 years. She had 2 children with him before she was rescued.
  
• The Room by Emma Donoghue - This book was so interesting! It was written from the point of view of a 5 year old boy. His mother had been kidnapped when she was 19 and this little boy and his mom lived in a room his whole life. He didn't realized there was an outside world. Definitely worth reading.

I got to go to Florida to see my brand new nephew! My mom was awesome and bought me a plane ticket to see my family. I was there for a little more than a week and my nephew made his debut smack dab in the middle of my trip! It was perfect. The first half of my visit I got to spend lots of time with my sister and her kids and the second half of the visit I got to spend lots of time with my mom (when we weren't bugging Alyson to come see Dominic). Here are the pictures from my trip!

A trip is never complete without the beach. Went once with my mom and once with Sarah :)

Hanging out with my niece and nephew at the pool!

Marina Jacks!

Dominic!

He looks just like his older brother when he was born!

Christopher was sick of hanging out at the hospital so my mom treated Christopher and I to a movie (Smurfs) and a yummy BBQ dinner.

Dominic's brother and sister love him tons!

It's 2 in the morning and I am an emotional wreck!

I've been laying in bed for a while and my brain won't shut off! I went from thinking about a billion crafts that I want to do, to thinking about what I need to do to lose weight, and then on to thinking about friends and family that are struggling which led me to thinking about the gospel and the knowledge and blessings it brings to my life. Don't ask me how those all go together but in my mind they do!

Summer has created lots and lots of free time in my schedule which means I am back to browsing craft blogs like crazy. I CAN'T stop...

I need to lose weight! Ask me in a month how I'm doing. 3 goals: 1. Eat more fruits and vegetables during the day 2. Get out and at least go for a walk during the day 3. No Pepsi for a month (not sure if I can do it)

I live a blessed life. People around me are hurting. Some of them can't help the things going on and others can. Either way I am glad I have the gospel to give me a brighter perspective on things. I am grateful for the blessings I have received. Lately, I am realizing one of the biggest blessings I have been given is an amazing husband who I get to spend eternity with.

Happy 4th of July!

We didn't do much for the 4th of July but we enjoyed what we did (minus the 100 degree weather). Monday afternoon we went to Meadow Farm Museum which has a lot of open land. There was a big 4th of July celebration. IT WAS HOT is probably an understatement. I'm the only crazy person who wore pants. We watched pig races, the kids went for a train ride, we watched sky divers, and had some ice cream. After that, we went to a BBQ with some people in our ward. Then, Ben and I had some friends over to play games. We didn't watch any fireworks but we were both okay with that. It had been storming big time so we didn't feel the need to go out.

Ben said he was wearing 4th of July colors because his shirt
was blue, his socks were white, and his lips are red.

Cara and Aryana :)

The advantages of being small and having a big guy around.

Aryana got to see the pig races from Ben's shoulders.

Ben and I started reading Ranger's Apprentice around Christmas time. We were waiting for the 10th book to come to the U.S. and it did. Ben finished the book way before me but I finally finished it tonight! I loved it and would recommend it to anyone looking for something fun to read.

Utah/Vegas Trip...all because 2 people fell in love!

After almost 10 full days of a fun vacation I am back in Virginia to blog about it. We had a blast but it sure does feel good to be home. It is amazing how a year ago Virginia wasn't home and now we are both happy to be back and are able to call it home. Ben's little brother, Bry, was getting married so his parents bought us plane tickets to Utah! Here are the bullets of the main things we did...

• I visited with some awesome friends while Ben visited with some of his and sadly only got a picture of these amazing ladies! I missed my 2nd grade team from Riverview so it was AMAZING to be able to catch up. Love you guys!! (Special shoutout to Jess and Dave, Emily, Dre, Melissa and Katelyn, and Savannah! I had my camera and fully intended to take a picture with you all! Jess and Dave...thanks for driving all the way to see me, Emily-thank you for staying up way to late to visit with me, Dre: thank you for taking a break from work to walk around the mall with me, Melissa and Katelyn-Thank you for spending an entire evening with me! and Savannah...thanks for running my errands with me!) I've decided being a girl is tough because you have way tooo many friends to fit into a visit and you feel awful if you didn't get to see everyone you wanted to see.
  

• Majority of the trip revolved around these two!Bryan and Sarah were married for all time and eternity in the Vegas temple! We had many get togethers, 2 receptions, and a temple ceremony to go to for them. All of it was FUN!
  

• We went to the strip to gamble!!! SHHH...don't tell. I won a little. Ben lost a little but in the end since I married the guy we lost together so I guess we don't need to worry cause we don't pay tithing on zero dollars gained...

• We went to a baseball game to watch the Salt Lake Bees play which just so happened to be our first date 2 summers ago! The difference between this game and the previous game is we both watched this one a little more. We talked and flirted so much at the 1st one that neither of us knew what was going on in the game!

Life Lately

Well, Ben has been out of school for 2 and 1/2 weeks now. I am working on my last week of school and we are very giddy to get to Utah to see our family and friends again.

2 weekends ago Ben went paint balling for the day with a bunch of guys so I hung out with the Pattersons! Cara is the 3rd grade teacher I work with and her daughter is quickly becoming one of my favorite people. We went to a work party together, then went to see Aryana cheer, and then went to their church for a carnival.



This weekend I got to take Aryana for the night! We made a craft (we both love them), played games, and watched cartoons. I had a blast and she is excited to come back. (That may or may not be because she saw our pool and hasn't had a chance to get in it yet!)

We made a mess but we had fun doing it!

She made a magnet to put on the fridge with clips to hold her pictures.

Memorial Day Camping Trip! (Finally)

We went to Peeks of Otter in the Blue Ridge Mountains for a 3 night camping trip! It was so much fun to get away but it was no fun not taking a shower for 3 days. I think all the husbands secretly loved being dirty and getting away with not taking a shower but the women sure didn't. Here are pictures of our fun trip with our amazing friends.

We started off every morning and ended every evening with delicious meals. These 3 took charge a lot of the time to make sure we were fed :)


Our first day there we found a frisbee golf course (Ben is obsessed STILL). We played 18 holes which definitely starts to wear on your arm. I made it the whole way and surprised myself by having a very fun time.


That night we sat around the campfire and I brought out my favorite treats! I am not a smores girl at all (I don't like marshmallows). Camping and sitting around a fire is not right for me unless I have my oreos and twizzlers!


The next day we went on a hike and it was beautiful!



After the hike we went to a waterhole that Evan grew up going to. My husband is a goof ball and definitely gets sick of me taking pictures!


But I thought he was an even bigger goof ball when I saw he was sharing the water with a bunch of cows.


It may look like Ben and I were by ourselves for the trip but here are a few group pictures to prove we weren't. We've made some really great groups of friends out here. The group we went camping with is special to us because we have family night with them every Monday. We love them tons and appreciate their friendships!

"You know who I thought you was?"

I was pumping gas yesterday when I noticed a big guy staring out me from his SUV. He wasn't pumping gas so I was a little weirded out. He took off and then circled back around. Then I really thought it was weird. He rolled down his window and said, "You know who I thought you was? At that point I had an idea but I didn't say it. I said, "Uh...no." His response was, "I thought you was Kirsten Dunst. Man, I got the biggest crush on her. I had to come back around to get a second look."

I laughed and told him I've been told that my entire life. I told him I should on a celebrity look alike show. Ben has been around when when many people have told me and he just doesn't see it. What do you think?