flawed and fabulous

My sister in law Ashley started this fun thing called flawed and fabulous friday where we celebrate our flaws. So here goes:

Last night I got out of class around 10. It has been a long week and I was ready to get home and crash. Brent and I had both been sick all week. But as I got in the car Brent told me that he was in desperate need of a bran muffin (new diet = weird cravings). We went to Smith's and looked through their baked goods, NO LUCK! We went to whatever Albertson's is called now, NO LUCK! Brent was really frustrated and then I realized he had been wearing his shirt inside out all night I started laughing. Instead of going home I called Macey's and they said that they sold them in packs of 4.
We rushed to Maceys and looked through their muffins. They had bran muffins but the four packs were variety packs and had lots of different flavors. Brent was really upset, so I did the only rational thing and started marching to the service desk to demand they put 4 in a box, they did tell me they sold them after all. Brent stopped me and dragged me back to the muffin stand where we finally found one box with 4 bran muffins. He was one happy camper and we giggled the whole way home.

yes we are ridiculous but we love our silly adventures. Flawed and Fabulous :)

KNIVES.

I HAVE THOUGHTS!

So... this is Brent. I have decided that I have some thoughts that I want to blo g. Some of them, of course, will involve basketball; more specifically, the NBA Playoffs coming up. Also, I am going to post some of the convoluted craziness that I will extract from the manic maelstrom that is my conscious process. Buen provecho. Enjoy.

1. Our neighbors, Jake and Hannah Garrett, are moving. That stinks. We've really enjoyed having them so close. They taught us pinochle and gave us our first real "couple friend" after we got married. Good times. We know that they'll be off on a new adventure in a new apartment, but if one of you is reading this, WE STILL WANT TO BE FRIENDS! We need another pinochle summer!

2. I enjoy drinking out of large glasses. Small glasses stink.

3. One of Katie's students, Sarai, invited us over to her house for some authentic Central American food on this upcoming Monday night, including pupusas, black beans, tortillas, and a few other things. I think that I will be fasting until Monday. For those of you that know how amazing this stuff is, be jealous. For those of you that do not know this food, I feel bad for you. Legitimately. Your life is awful.

4. (Insert sports rant) The Chicago Bulls will win the NBA Championship this year. They have size, length, athleticism, and "that dude" (thanks to Charles Barkley for that), Derrick Rose. Though they may not have the proven playoff mettle of the Lakers, Spurs, Mavericks, Celtics, Heat, Knicks, or the Magic, they will have enough to dethrone the Lakers as champs. Here's a team-by-team breakdown of why:

1. Celtics- the Celtics are the presiding elders of the eastern conference. However, the loss of Kendrick Perkins opened up the door to Father Time's withered hand that is now firmly choking greatness out of the Celts. Joakim Noah and Carlos Boozer will make Jermaine O'Neal (yes, he's still playing, and yes, he's starting for the C's) look 10 years older than he is, effectively putting him into the geriatric ward. Luol Deng will bother Paul Pierce enough to lower his effectiveness. Kevin Garnett will do well on defense, but his "O" has retrogressed to the point where he is a shadow of his former self. Rose v. Rondo is compelling, but Rose is in a league by himself. He makes Raghib Ismail look like Wilford Brimley and will make sure that this year the Toros take down the C's if they meet.

2. Heat- Containing the Big 3 will be a tall order for any team in the league, and whether or not it can be done remains to be seen. This will be the season where Lebron must step into legendary status or continue on in his past of playoff frustration. Luol Deng, Ronnie Brewer, and Keith Bogans will be able to do their job against Lebron and D-Wade, which means that they just have to make them take hard shots (jump shots) and keep them from simultaneously averaging 40 points over the course of the series. Joakim Noah will nullify Chris Bosh with his physicality and manic defense in the pivot, and Joel Anthony, Erick Dampier, and Big Z will be disappointing reinforcements. Derrick Rose will dissect the Bibby/Wade/Chalmers mod squad that will attempt to put a dent in his production. Though the Bulls will not win by 20 every night, I think they will be able to eke out at least a 1-point in victory in four out of seven.

3. Knicks- Noah will beat Stoudemire up, Boozer will get the better of Knicks C Jared Jeffries, and Deng/Bogans/Butler trio will be able to keep Carmelo from a 30 ppg average. Once again, Derrick Rose will be the force behind the frontcourt battering ram of Deng, Boozer, and Noah that will power the Bulls to a victory in this possible matchup. A Chauncey Billups from the 2004 Pistons championship run would make for an intriguing matchup against Derek Rose, but this year's Billups model has too much mileage. His craftiness will win him some battles, but Rose will win the war.

4. Magic- Outside of the Lakers and the combined 21 feet of Lamar Odom, Pau Gasol, and Andrew Bynum, the Bulls may have the best matchup possibilities against Dwight Howard. Coach Thibodeau can run Joakim Noah, Taj Gibson, and a bevy of double teams zones that will effectively confuse Superman and force him to do what he does not do so well: pass out to the open man. He hasn't been able to throw a exit pass to anyone but his teammate standing directly in front of him. If the Bulls can force him to look cross-court to pass out and stay solid on their rotations, they should be fine. Though the Magic shooters can burn it up from outside, the perimeter team defense with Bogans, Brewer, Deng, and Rose will have the length and quickness to cover a larger part of open 3s than most teams in the league. Advantage: Bulls.

5. Lakers-Whatever anybody may say, the championship still comes through L.A. If the Bulls meet them in the Finals, Kobe's and Bynum's knees along with more apparent vulnerability on defense will spell the Lake Show's downfall. Nobody in the league can cover Rose; don't even try. Joakim Noah will give Pau a run for his money, which means keeping him under 20 pts and 10 boards a game and outside of 10 feet from the hoop. Though Kobe's knees may be ailing, he's still the deadliest clutch player in the game. If Brewer/Deng/Bogans can keep the Black Mamba from getting to the hole with regularity, Kobe may be less effective. His knee will be banged up, his jump shots may come up a little short, and Showtime 2.0 will fall.

The Bulls have the size, athleticism, and star power in Derrick Rose to bring the O'Brien trophy back to Chicago. If I'm wrong, I'm wrong. If I'm right, I'm smarter than you and you should seek my opinion on future life decisions. Ha!

Thanks for dropping by. Katie will be making the future posts; I'm just glad that I can have the floor every few months for a rant. Thanks!

The Way We Were

I sometimes wonder what would have happened if Brent and I had met in high school. We were both such different people then. We might have gotten along as friends or we may have hated each other. When Brent and I first met in October 2008 we could not stand each other. It was only through a summer of working together that we got over it. But this post is not about where we are now, it is about who we were before.

Brent-the jock

Brent has always had a love for the game of basketball. He played on all the city leagues and made the high school team. He was the kid who was in the gym everyday, even in the summer. He practiced and practiced and practiced. It definitely payed off, Brent was an amazing basketball player. He started for varsity his junior and senior years, averaging 16 points a game his senior year.

Brent playing in the Spectrum against Logan... MC won :)

One of the greatest blessings in Brent's life has been his friends. I am so grateful that he had the friends he did growing up. They all grew up together and stayed close from elementary school to now. Even though they all have very different personalities, they still did everything together. We don't get to see everyone as much as we would like, but every time we get together we laugh a ton :)

Here are a few of the guys at Ryan's wedding (Ryan had not come out yet)

Brent's ambition in life was to be a high school basketball coach. He decided to go and play basketball for year at a junior college in Wyoming. He learned a lot about basketball, made some great friends and had some interesting roommates. Although he had fun that year, he still hates everything about the state of Wyoming.

The summer of 2006 as I was graduating high school, Brent was leaving for Quetzaltenango, Guatemala on his mission. Brent's mission is a big part of who he is today. His mission president, President Morales, is an incredible man who taught Brent about being a husband and a father. Brent really grew up on his mission and I am grateful every day that he had those experiences.

Brent as a missionary

Katie-the geek

In high school I was very much a "red" "type-A" personality. I was voted most likely to be President of the US by my graduating class. I was the overachiever who was involved in as much as I could possibly handle. I had a flair for the dramatic and I now regret all of the drama I dealt with.

I was on the yearbook staff and was co-editor in chief two years in a row. I loved being a part of something creative. I was on the debate team. I spent weekends at debate tournaments: running through schools in heels pulling carts with heavy boxes of evidence around. I can say without a doubt that debate is the reason I can write as a grad student. I played cello in the chamber orchestra for three years of high school. We were a very close group. The tours to Seattle, St. George and San Francisco were a blast. I participated in pit orchestras for two musicals, was in National Honor Society and took 4 AP classes.

This was one of the orchestra tours... I think Seattle?

Looking back it was probably too much, but I don't know what I would change. I envy Brent because I did not have that group of friends he did. In fact, I had a hard time keeping friends. It wasn't until the end of my senior year that I became good friends with Lee, Libby, and Tess. I had friends in all of my activities, but they all had friends to hang out with on the weekends. For the most part I stayed too busy to worry about it. If I could do it over again I would build more friendships.

This was taken a few days before graduation. It's a shame we didn't become close sooner.

After high school my ambition was to be an investigative reporter. I headed to USU as a double major in Political Science and Journalism. The first two years were tough. Really tough. I survived and made it to my junior year which is when I found the greatest group of friends. Maren, Kelsha and the boys of 105 made me a much better person. They loved me for being a geek and showed me that I could be other things too.

On the left: the combo meal at the Preston Parade. On the Right: me and three of the 105 guys playing after finals week.

And Now?

A lot has changed. Brent wants to be a pediatrician. He is preparing for medical school (and doing an awesome job). I am becoming an ESL-social studies teacher. For health reasons Brent cannot play basketball (which makes both of us very sad). I can barely play my cello, because I stopped practicing. Brent has become more confident. I have chilled out a lot and am not nearly as red as I once was.

I never imagined anything like the life we have today. I had a lot of dreams about traveling, scholarships, law school, politics, etc. A friend asked me if I regret marrying young. If I wish I had done more, accomplished more, seen more before I tied myself down. The truth is I have no regrets about where I am. Falling in love with Brent was like finding a pair of shoes that fit perfectly. I had no doubts he was my someone. There was once a Katie who would have been a great lawyer, but that's not me anymore. I am different and so much more than that person was. Brent has grown as a person too. He still loves sports but he is so much more than that. He has new interests like: photography, fly fishing and playing mah jong.

Our life might not be what others expected for us, but in our eyes what we have is so much better.

Coming out of the temple as newlyweds