Christmas/Yellowstone with the Brockbanks

This was a Brockbank Christmas year so we headed to Utah for 2 weeks.  Traditions...the Brockbank's are all about traditions.  If you try to leave any out...like cinnamon pull-aparts you will not hear the end of it.  Just ask Ben's mom :)

We went to see Santa...Santa didn't want Ben to sit on his lap so I had to. 

       We went to see the Christmas lights and nativity on Temple Square.

We acted out the story of Christ's birth on Christmas Eve.

On Christmas we went to church, called Brandon, opened presents, and went to Grandma Prince's house for lunch.

Ben and I felt pretty dang lucky.  Ben's parents flew us out to Utah, spoiled us with clothes, games, candy, hair clippers, etc.

A couple days after Christmas we headed to Yellowstone.  We were worried there would be no snow but as you can see there was no need to wrorry!

Out to lunch at a Pizza Place

We stayed at a place called Three Bear Lodge and ate at this restaurant that had 3 bears several times. A picture with the bears was a must :)

Early Christmas and Birthday

My mom sent presents early to Virginia so we had an early Christmas/birthday opening party!

My gifts from my mom were pearl earrings, a new ornament and a gift card to use for crafts! It was very appropriate because for my birthday Ben and his parents got me a Silhouette Cameo. Let the crafting begin!!!


Ben got a new Hawaiian shirt! I still need him to model it for me.
He also got a gift card and from me he got a new game :)

Thanksgiving in Williamsburg

Ben's parents helped us rent a condo for Thanksgiving and we were able to invite some friends along. Ben and I weren't exactly excited about cooking a Thanksgiving meal so we invited the right families! The Vanhille's and Johnston's came up the whole weekend and the Hinrich's came up on Thanksgiving with us.

Highlights of the trip were: Eating, hanging out with friends, Vanessa gave us cute aprons that she made, and shopping. The boys highlights would probably be: eating, eating, modeling the girl's cute aprons, and disc golfing.

Awful picture of me but it shows the cute aprons Vanessa made for us!

These guys are special...


The Vanhille's and Johnston's are responsible for the delicious meal and
decorations...I just did the dishes :) Lara and Vanessa put a lot of
thought and hard work into the meal and it paid off.


Vanessa made rolls with slips of paper in them that said what everyone was thankful for.

Everyone ready to dig in!

Getting ready for Black Friday shopping. Somehow we didn't get a picture of Matt but he was definitely involved in all the shopping. He may or may not have been more excited than his wife even :)


1:30 AM and ready for bed but excited about the deals we found.

The kids we got to spend the weekend with...minus Kara :/

We went to a park so the kids can play and shocker....so Ben could play frisbee golf and had a picnic.

Well that was interesting...

We had our ward trunk-or-treat Friday night and dressed up. Ben was so excited about his white overalls we bought for $1 so he came up with costumes for the both of us. He even went shopping for the costumes! We were Paul Bunyan and Babe the Blue Ox...problem was Ben and I were not together for a lot of the ward party so people wondered why I was blue with yellow, devil horns. :/


Yesterday was my first day at my new job, and today was my LAST day at my new job. When I interviewed I had asked to not be placed working with the oldest group who had students from the ages of 16 - 22. When I was hired I was not told what age group I would be with. When I showed up to work yesterday I was placed with the exact age group I had asked to not be placed in. I tried to keep an open mind and I really did enjoy the kids and the employees there were soo nice but it was not the right fit for me. I really enjoy working with elementary age children. LUCKILY my job from before had not been filled so I will start back to work on Monday! Kind of a crazy, silly, not recommended way of getting a 3 day vacation from work :P

Definitely Unexpected!

Today was my last day at work. I'm starting my new job at a school for autism on Monday. I didn't realize how close I got to the kids in just 2 short months. It was hard to say bye and there were A LOT more tears than I thought. As I was walking out to my car and then later talking to Ben about it, I realized I have never had such a hard time saying bye to a group of kids. I then realized that these kids are special. They really need good teachers who care about them and they grow especially close to those teachers. I hope they know how much I love them!!

Corolla, NC

The Waters invited us to stay in their parent's beach house in Corolla, NC this past weekend and of course we had to say yes! We had soo much fun relaxing, going down to the beach, eating, playing games, watching movies, etc.

We never got a picture of the whole group. The Larsen's and Bennett's are not in this picture.

The Tracy's, Ben and I trying to be artistic....

Ben was very proud of his heart.

Don't you just love that guy?

Just to make you jealous :)

You is to anyone who isn't enjoying a beautiful Fall where leaves change colors, jeans and a T-shirt get you through the day, and snow doesn't ruin your plans for a nice long season! (you = all my family and friends in Florida and Utah)

This is a tree right outside our house :)

I went on a field trip this week to Lewis Ginter Botanical Gardens. You know it was beautiful when the crazy third graders I work with were running around saying," Mrs. Brockbank, it is so beautiful," or, "Mrs. Brockbank, come smell these flowers. They are amazing!" No joke...those words came out of their mouths. One girl told me, "Nature is just so wonderful."

Don't judge my attempt at taking a picture to show the pretty colors.
My picture does not do it justice!

This was a cool house made out of sticks we saw on the field trip :) The kids ran around inside picking their rooms!