gratitude

As many of you know the past week has been a difficult one for us. We appreciate everyone's love and support. We are still heartbroken, but we are starting to get back to life. I debated how much to share on here and because our blog is public I've decided to leave out the details, but if you are a family member/friend that would like to know what is going on feel free to message me.

My goal of this post was to update everyone but also to express my gratitude for the gospel. We have felt a strong feeling of peace this past week and for that I am so grateful. The following verses of scripture have been on my mind.

17Verily, verily, I say unto you, ye are ^alittle children, and ye have not as yet understood how great blessings the Father hath in his own hands and prepared for you;

18And ye cannot ^abear all things now; nevertheless, be of good^bcheer, for I will ^clead you along. The kingdom is yours and the blessings thereof are yours, and the ^driches of ^eeternity are yours.

19And he who receiveth all things with ^athankfulness shall be made glorious; and the things of this earth shall be added unto him, even an ^bhundred fold, yea, more.

Thank you for your thoughts and prayers. It has made a difference for us, and we appreciate you.

Rebuttal: The Truth Exposed

This is Brent, and I am going to take advantage of this forum, that for one reason or another, has chosen to post scathing slander regarding my trustworthiness with electronic items.

The prosecution calls Katie Pickett to the stand.

Me (in a very official sounding, lawyer-like voice): Is it not true that it was in fact YOU that were in charge of the original Ipod in question when it was originally lost?

Katie: Why yes, I do believe that it was.

Me: Indeed it was. Is the person that found the originally lost Ipod here in the courtroom?

Katie: Yes, he is.

Me: Would you point him out for me, please?

Katie: Certainly. (she points to ME)

Me: Let the record show that the defendant pointed to the prosecuting attorney!

(general rustling from the peanuts gallery)

Judge: There will be order or I will have all of you thrown out and held in contempt of court!

Me: Ms. Pickett....

Katie: It's Mrs. Pickett.

Me: Mrs. Pickett? Oh, well... my (blushing) your husband must be a VERY lucky man.

Katie: He most certainly is.

Me: Yes I am. Mrs. Pickett, after the new Ipod Nano was found, who was it that located the item in question?

Katie: Why, it was the same dashing Zeus-like hunk of a man that found the first Ipod! This man has the sleuthing instincts of Sherlock Holmes himself!

Me: So it was your husband, or as you put it, this "dashing Zeus-like hunk of a man" that found BOTH lost Ipods in question.

Katie: Yes, I believe that it was. He did find BOTH Ipods and I did not find any lost Ipods. If there were a contest for finding lost Ipods, I would be down 2-0.

Me: Let the record show that the defendant is ogling the prosecuting attorney.

Judge: Noted. Can you blame her?

Me: Not at all. The defense rests.

Note: this actually DID happen and Katie DID actually admit this. Once again, the prosecution (or in this case, the defense) rests.

lost and found

Sometimes you just have to laugh, because is life is funny. And today's funny story really had me rolling.

This story starts last summer on our last day of the after school program. Immediately following work we hopped in our car and headed for Yellowstone to go camping with my family. We made a quick stop at our apartment and that is when the trouble started...

I had been playing with our ipod trying to get the right song ready to start our road trip. We ran in the house made a couple of quick trips and when we sat back down the ipod was nowhere to be seen.

We looked everywhere. Our car was stuffed and I was sure it had fallen between our seats. We kept digging in the car and looked all over the house. No luck. We left without the pod. We got back from Yellowstone and cleaned out the car. STILL no luck. We looked everywhere and finally gave up hope. Brent was convinced it fell out of the car and I was convinced it was still stuck underneath one of the seats in some tiny nook.

Fast forward 5 months and it is Christmas time. I decided to splurge and get Brent a new ipod because-- depending on how you look at it, it might have been... maybe just a little bit, my fault that our old pod was gone. So I got him a new nano. It was risky because it was even smaller and our record at losing things is high. But we thought we'd give it a shot.

Brent definitely did not expect it, but really liked having an ipod again. Especially as he started running it was great to have some tunes. All went well at first, we managed to keep it safe, until this week. It was lost, nowhere to be found. Brent tore apart the house with no luck. Then he took the car and cleaned it out (which I was thrilled about) but instead of finding the new ipod he found THE OLD POD! hidden in a tiny crevice underneath his seat! (LIKE I SAID ALL ALONG!!)

He came in and we laughed and laughed. We still couldn't find the new pod but we figured it would turn up, and sure enough he dropped his pen in between couch cushions tonight and pulled out the pod.

So now we have two ipods and both are in my sight. Let's just hope we can hold on to them a bit longer this time :)

finals week

It's

almost

OVER

just

a

few

more

tests/projects

We promise to blog at the end of this week, when finals are over and hopefully I am not sick anymore. In the meantime, enjoy these dancing penguins:

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!