More than lucky... I'm blessed!

WOW! To say a lot has happened since my last post would be a gross understatement! The Lord has blessed me in SO many ways! I am indeed a lucky girl! So taking the advice of one of my favorite hymns I am going to "Count my Blessings" (not that I'll even be able to make a dent in them!) Also, these are in no particular order

1. My amazing little brother is serving a mission, working hard, seeing miracles. It has been amazing to see him change! He comes home in just over 2 months! We are so excited!

2. I have amazing friends! Roommates, former roommates, mission friends... I just couldn't ask to have better people in my life!

3. My family! They are seriously the best! On my mission I would pray that Megan would get pregnant (missions bless families!) but that she wouldn't actually have the baby until I was home. We sure love little Beaudee! We are so grateful to have him in our family!

4. Work. I got a job (on call) as a Mentor at Discovery Ranch for Girls. This is a residential treatment facility. It has been so fun to get to know these girls, they really are amazing! I started working mostly swing shifts and about a week after I started I was offered a full time job on that shift. I talked to Wes and he wasn't thrilled about it but was supportive if that was what I wanted to do. I told the supervisor I would take it after the wedding. But after a week or two of working swing shifts all the time, I was exhaused and cranky because I NEVER got to see Wes. He went to work in the morning, I left mid afternoon and didn't get home until about 11:30. So I told the supervisor that I wouldn't actually be able to take the shift. As soon as I told him that a whole bunch of day shifts opened up. So I was able to work full time on the day shift for about 3 weeks. This is the shift I actually wanted to work on originally because it is Monday-Friday 7-3. No late nights, and no weekends. Happy day! WELL... the girl who I was going to replace on the swing shift (who was going to go on the day shift) actually got accepted to a grad program in Chicago (CONGRATS!!) and decided that the best thing for her to do would be to continue on the swing shift and find another day job. So the shift I had been offered originally didn't even exist anymore! That being the case, the day shift had an opening. They fill it by finding out who is interested and then going in seniority. There was only one girl ahead of me and she decided that she couldn't take it right now. So I was offered a full time day shift position! I am so excited! I love my job!

5. My future in laws. I am so grateful for Wesley's family and how they have just accepted me into their family. Immediate and extended. I just love them!

6. Wes and I are in the process of buying a house! It is a cute townhome! 2 bed, 2 bath, 2 car garage, MY OWN KITCHEN!! And the complex is super nice, it is really new. The buildings are 2008-currently being built. Ours is 2011. And it has a clubhouse complete with gathering room, kitchen, gym, THEATER ROOM, swimming pool, and hot tub! Come and visit us!

7. (BEST FOR LAST!) In only 23 days (really 22 1/2 but who's counting? ...Oh, I AM!) I get to marry the love of my life, my best friend, Wes. I am so excited to be his wife! Nothing in the world will make me happier! Not even Disney!

Well, I definitely have more than 7 blessings in my life, but let's be honest, it would take waaaay too long to list them all. I guess overall the biggest blessing in my life is knowing that Heavenly Father is aware of me and is taking care of me. Things have worked out so well for me since I got home for my mission. I know that is in large part because I served. When I was on my mission, I got a blessing that said that I would receive blessings 100 fold of what my sacrifices were on my mission. I've only been home for almost 5 months and I can already see that coming to pass. I am so grateful for this gospel For the peace and joy that it brings to my life. For the knowledge it gives me that I can be with my family forever. I can be with Wesley FOREVER!! I couldn't ask for anything more than that. 

To any of you who are looking for peace, or blessings of any kind I invite you to reflect on your personal relationship with God and bring yourself closer to Him. I know I have been able to do that through the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Check it out. If it isn't everything I've said and more... well it is. 

This is one of my favorite websites!

See how faith has changed lives, how it can change yours!

Sit back for a moment and consider your blessings. Something I've learned working at the ranch is how easy it is to only see the negative things in life. There are so many of them. But I promise, life is much better when you focus on the positive! It's fun to count your blessings, see how many you have! I'd love to hear about them!

Perfect time, perfect place, perfect ring, perfect man, PERFECT PROPOSAL

So here's the story you've been waiting for. Let's back up a couple of years... To April 1, 2012. This was a Sunday and happened to be general conference. I thought it would be fun to go to conference and of course, the only person I would want to take was Wes. Naturally. So we went to conference and had a lovely time. After the morning session we were planning on having a picnic. So we packed all the right food. Chicken, cheese sticks, juice, cookies...you get it. It was POURING so we had a lovely picnic in the car. Fast forward to January 20, 2014. We were getting read to go mountain biking and Wesley found a cooler in Trevor and Kirsten's garage that he forgot he had so we decided we should go on a picnic and soon! Tuesday dawns and Wesley and Trevor head to St. George for work. Little did I know...they also picked up a ring that had been picked out the previous week! Wesley loved to tease me about how he had to save pennies before he could buy a ring so I was convinced it was a long time coming. At least a month. We had just found out my work schedule. I work every night but Monday, Wednesday and Sunday. So he had to figure out something fast so he could propose on Wednesday. So Tuesday night after I got off of work I went to Wes's house and he told me that it was supposed to be great weather tomorrow so we should go on a picnic! We had just talked about it so it wasn't suspicious at all. I was very excited! I love picnics! Wednesday I happily think about the picnic that we are going to go on as I get ready and wait.... for Wes to get off work and come pick me up at about 4 so we could have our picnic and then hit our institute class at 5:30. He picks me up and we run to the store (he told me work had been crazy all day and so he hadn't had time to go shopping yet) and get great picnic food. Chicken, cheese sticks, juice, cookies...you get it. And then we drive out into the hills for our picnic. We find this perfect place with a fire pit and get out our picnic. Oh! The weather was BEAUTIFUL... so I was wearing flip flops! Summer weather...summer shoes! I should know better than to wear flip flops when I'm out with Wes. So while we are happily eating our lovely picnic...

Trevor comes home from work and asks Kirsten if she wants to go on a hike. She says sure! Kirsten is 6 months pregnant. So they hop in the car and Kirsten sees a beautiful bouquet of roses. She thought Trevor was so sweet!....until he tells them they are not for her. He then explains that he and Wes got up early that morning and went out to find the perfect location for Wes to pop the question. They found it, and spent the rest of the day setting everything up. What is everything? Keep reading to find out! So Kirsten is game and they go up the the backside of the same mountain Wes and I were at and follow the deer poop trail...straight up. Poor Kirsten. She would throw the flowers and climb up after them while Trevor was hurrying her along carrying a laptop and kerosene. yes, kerosene. FINALLY they make it. Trevor tells Kirsten to push "play" on the laptop when she hears us. Meanwhile back at the picnic...

Wes asks if he can use my phone for a work thing. I go to hand it to him and realize I don't have it. That was just fine. So he walks to the other side of the vehicle, grabs the ring from it's hiding spot under the chair, throws his keys on the seat, locks it and shuts the door. 5:20 rolls around so we start packing up. I go to take some bags to the vehicle and realize...IT'S LOCKED! So I ask Wes for the keys. He doesn't have them. That is SO not a Wesley thing to do! He doesn't ever lock his keys in the car...but sure enough, there they were on the seat. So he tells me he is going to call Trevor and have him come save us. Wes had had some extra keys made that day so Trevor would have one. So he calls Trevor, lets it ring twice (alerting Trevor that we are coming), discreetly pushes the end button and begins to talk: "Hey Trevor, I locked the keys in...Trevor?... Hello?..." He turns to me, informs me that we don't have service (we did, which is why he tried to get my phone away from me) and that we will have to hike the mountain to get reception. Dang flip flops. I'm always up for an adventure so we start to climb the mountain. One of Wesley's employees calls and I can hear him, clear as day. But Wes plays it off. "Hello...are you there?" and hangs up. So I didn't think anything of it and we continued. We heard some music playing for just a second and Wes suggested we go that way to see what it is.

Kirsten had heard us and pushed play. The music started and Trevor frantically told her to STOP because it was too early! Then she sat on a pokey bush :-( Poor girl, she was having a rough day!

So we get to the top and Wes tells me to stop. He turns around and grabs....THE ROSES from behind a rock. The exact moment he hands them to me there is a whoooosing sound. We go around the rock and there is... a sign that says "WILL YOU MARRY ME" and it's in FLAMES! Trevor and Wes had made it earlier by putting two metal poles in the ground, running wire between them and haning the letters on them. The letters were made by wire, covered with the outside part of a rope which had been drenched in keorsene. Trevor lit a pool of gas on fire underneath the letters causing the flame. Not all of them caught so Wes took a minute and got all the letters lit up. He then came back to me, got down on one knee, pulled out the most beautiful ring I could ever imagine and asked me to marry him. OF COURSE I SAID YES!! Music started playing and we danced on the mountain to Tim McGraw "It's Your Love." After about 5 minutes, Kirsten popped out declared she was hungry and wanted to go. So they ran down the mountain and ate the leftover picnic food while Wes and I came down more slowly. It was perfect. And Trevor and Kirsten were such great sports! Having them there was just the "icing on the cake."

So, on April 23 in the Mt. Timpanogos Temple... Wesley Bradford and Annie Webb will BEGIN our

Happily Ever After

Sunflower Seed & Honey Wheat Bread

This bread is super easy to make and really good! Plus it's healthy! I like to grind my own flour when I make bread, thank goodness mom has a great wheat grinder! That's definitely on my "must have" list...someday. Along with a kitchen aid... Someday, someday.

I have also made it without sunflower seeds...which I actually like better but I'm not a huge fan of sunflower seeds. Either way...good bread!

Ingredients

• 2 packages (1/4 ounce each) active dry yeast

• 3-1/4 cups warm water (110° to 115°)

• 1/4 cup bread flour

• 1/3 cup canola oil

• 1/3 cup honey

• 3 teaspoons salt

• 6-1/2 to 7-1/2 cups whole wheat flour

• 1/2 cup sunflower kernels

• 3 tablespoons butter, melted

Directions

1. In a large bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water. Add the bread flour, oil, honey, salt and 4 cups whole wheat flour. Beat until smooth. Stir in sunflower kernels and enough remaining flour to form a firm dough.
2. Turn onto a floured surface; knead until smooth and elastic, about 6-8 minutes. Place in a greased bowl, turning once to grease the top. Cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 1 hour.
3. Punch dough down; divide into three portions. Shape into loaves; place in three greased 8-in. x 4-in. loaf pans. Cover and let rise until doubled, about 30 minutes.
4. Bake at 350° for 35-40 minutes or until golden brown. Brush with melted butter. Remove from pans to wire racks to cool. Yield: 3 loaves (12 slices each).  

with sunflower seeds

 



without sunflower seeds

 

 

 

And I've only been home 2 months!

These are the two projects that have received a lot of my attention since I have been home from my mission...not quite two months! I had a ton of fun making both of them!

A camo quilt for Wesley for Christmas. This was so fun to make! The camo fabric was a little stretchier than I'm used to, but it worked out really well because I could make it go where I wanted to better. That's why the seams actually line up like they should!

Wesley's plan is to take the blanket hunting, lay under a tree and take a nap, wake up, sit up, and shoot a deer. Sounds like hunting just got a little more relaxed! He loves his blanket :-)

 

 

 

Next, I love making games, and I decided that there really needed to be a Book of Mormon version of Hasbro's "Clue" soooo...I made one. It's debut was on New Years Eve. The players? Me, Wesley, Elder Allen and Elder Barcarse. Yay for missionaries!

Now...how do I get it made into a real game...?

DIY Laundry Detergent

I love this laundry detergent. It works great and is cost efficient! About $20 to make 20 lbs! Here is the recipe:

1 box borax
1 box washing soda
1 box baking soda
1 container oxy-clean
3 bars fels naptha soap
1 container purex crystals (your choice of scent, optional)

*BE SURE TO GET THE BIGGEST AVAILABLE BOXES OF EVERYTHING!*

grate the fels naptha soap (you can do this by hand...OR use a grating attachment for a kitchen aid. That's a better idea I think!) Mix all the ingredients together. All the ingredients can be found in the laundry soap isle at walmart.

When you're doing your laundry you only need to use 2 TABLESPOONS of detergent! It goes a really long way! I love this soap, and my sister, who is a bit of a germ-a-phob also loves it. If it's got her stamp of approval, it must be good! Enjoy!

Blog Change For 18 Months!

I know I'm super terrible at updating this blog as it is...but for the next 18 months, there should be a weekly update on my new blog wyomingsiblingsserving.blogspot.com That is where all my missionary letters/pictures will go thanks to my wonderful sister, Megan. so starting after April 4 (the date I enter the MTC) check out that site! Love you all! I'll blog in 18 months! :-)

I FINALLY HAVE A CAMERA CORD!

so that means a new blog! So the last time I blogged was...in August. So, I guess we'll just have a a catch up! In September I started a project for my Shakespeare class. I made a Tudor era dress, complplete with a bum roll and stuffing for boobs. Why? So that a guy could wear it and look like a woman, like how plays were done in Shakespeare's day! I also learned that I am related to Shakespeare! Actually, both of his grandmothers were Webb girls. Cool huh? The greatest playwright is more Webb than Shakespeare! It's a really pretty dress, so I'll try to get a picture of me wearing it (they exist, they're just not in my posession) so I can post it on here. Okay, So then at the end of September I moved out of the house I had been living in for over a year to Spanish Fork with my Aunt Jan and Uncle John. Let me tell you, moving was stressful! I had a ton of stuff (I had everything I needed to furnish a house) so most of it now lives at DI. But I got moved. Then 3 days later...





I got hit. Rear ended by a Subaru Outback which sent me Careening into the Sion in front of me. So my car was totally killed. We couldn't even open the trunk to get stuff out, we had to rip the back seat off. Thankfully, the guy who hit me had really good insurance and they took care of me. For about a week I got to drive this baby.

2011 Toyota Camry. I really loved this picture. However, there were other repercussions from this accident. Due to some whiplash I had several medications (which I didn't take) and I got to wear

a neck brace. It was awesome, I'd be at school and walk into a room and all eyes would be on me, kind of like Cinderella at the ball. Then I remembered I wasn't a mysterious beautiful princess arriving at the ball, nope. I was wearing a neck brace. The attention was significantly less flattering when I realized that.

So at Student Services I was the "fun enabler" (student services lingo for event coordinator) and I loved it! We did all sorts of fun things, water parties, bonfires, games, auctions, and of course Halloween and Christmas parties. So for the Halloween party I wore my beautiful dress (mentioned above) and I made these adorable cupcakes.

Then for the Christmas party I made the simplest center pieces ever. I used noel snow fabric, glass bowls, water, green glass beads, cranberries, and peppermint scented tea candles. It turned out really pretty.





I had a fun Christmas outfit, I looked kind of like a candy cane, and had a photoshoot. All the pics are on my facebook page, but here are some of my favorites.





Oh! The other stuff I've been up to, playing partying fishing. That's right. I went fishing last week from like 7-10 PM with Wes and Aaron and it was SO FUN! it was really cold. I caught 11 fish! in Salem pond. Which had really pretty trees floating in it and there was a gorgeous relfection of a tree but I didn't have my camera so I don't have any pictures :-( Okay, I really caught 8 fish. But one of them was an albino! So he counts as 4 fish. I caugh the very first albino! Eventually Aaron caught one, but Wes never did. Ha. So much for being a lucky fisherman. Actually, he really is, the fish just seem to jump onto his pole. It's ridiculous. I also hosted two murder mysteries. The first was called Pasta, Pistols and Passion. It had the Characters of Mama Rosa (me) Bo Jalias (Phil) Angel Roni (Dayla) Marco Roni (Chase) Clari Vouyant (Amy) Father Alfredo (Charlie) Rocco Scarfazzi (Steve) and Tara Missu (Camille) We had a lot of fun! We ate pasta, breadsticks, salad (very olive garden) and solved the mystery of who killed my husband, Pepi Roni! Unfortunately, my camera was dead so I don't have pictures.
The other one I did was called Murder on the Grill and it was totally different. It was set in the 50s so I had fun decorating.





We entered the world of the 50s. We grilled hamburgers, drank soda from glass bottles, listened to Chubby Checker, hula hooped (Jenny was by far the best) and uncovered the murderer of Tom Dooley! The suspects are:

Johnny Angel the Greaser Mechanic(Wes Bradford)


Bobby Sox Tom's little sister (Jenny Bradford)


Chubby Cheddar rock musician famous for hits like The Twist (Jess Tuttle)


Barby Q the dazzling divorcee who gets any man she wants (Mandi Peck)


Ivan Spudnick Russian scientist (Aaron Morse)


Tiara Diamond Tom's beautiful fiancee (Me)


So that was a lot of fun. Well, that pretty much sums everything up. I finished out the semester finally and now I'm all ready for Christmas! Stay tuned for Christmas goodies! :-)


MERRY CHRISTMAS!