Commitment Ceremony

I have decided I am officially re-committed to blogging again.
In order for me to start fresh, let me sum up everything you've missed in the year I left you abandoned.

Nothing.

Okay, just kidding. Here's a quick list.

1. We are still in my parents basement, and lovin it.
2. Zane is still in school at UVU, but there IS an end in sight.
3. I went to dental assisting school, finished dental assisting school, and got a dental assisting job. I think...
4. Dallas is still alive
5. A plethora of different hair styles and colors

Which brings us to 6, the final and most important update, we got a DOG!

How many blog entries did I mention my puppy hunger? too many for you to find it interesting I am sure.
My parents made my dream come true in November by buying a perfect Australian Shepherd puppy for me and Zane. Zane named her Red. She is about 5 months old now, and we are truly obsessed with her. Which anyone following me on Instagram, or Facebook, has been painfully made aware of.

Let me promise you right now, I refuse to let this blog be taken over by my dog. But she will me mentioned, and photographed, occasionally, so bare with me.

It's not my fault my dog is as photogenic as Kate Upton, and smizes like a canine Tyra Banks.

Okay, now that you have been introduced to my dog child, we can move on.

See you on the blogosphere peeps!

02.03.2014

I was looking through old pictures, papers, and other saved documents on this laptop of mine.
It has begun to run so slow because the memory is so chock full. Thus, I have promised Zane I will work on clearing up some space. While scrolling through some old papers from college, and old church talks, I stumbled upon a document titled "Zane's Ring".

Some of you who know me may know that occasionally I'll write little silly poems to go with gifts that I feel like need an extra somethin'. It can take a gift from simple, and unsurprising, to a cute little memorable package.

The Christmas before Zane and I got married, as one of his Christmas gifts I gave him his wedding ring. He obviously knew it was coming, but it's a pricey little sucker, and a symbol of something very sacred. I didn't want it to go over looked I suppose, so I wrote a little poem.

This morning I stumbled upon that poem, and value it more now than 2011 Brooke realized I would.

It goes as follows...

Poems are cheesy, I know. 

But it’s supposed to be cute, not a talent show. 

You already knew I would get you this ring.

But I want you to remember it’s a special thing.

It means that I’ll love you for better or worse,

it means that I’ll never make you hold my purse.

It means that I’ll kiss you good morning and night,

it means I’ll still love you after a fight.

It means that you’ll have to kill all the bugs,

but I will reward you with kisses and hugs.

It means you’ll have to check under the bed, and in the closet,

it means that you will have to fix every leaky faucet.

It means I’ll tickle your arms and play with your hair,

it means “I promise to always play fair.”

It means that you never have to be alone anymore,

It means that we’re blessed, no matter how poor. 

This ring means that I’m yours forever,

and honestly my love, what could be better?

Looking back on these words, I realize now, I basically wrote Zane vows. 

Although I may not have kept my word when it comes to holding my purse, everything else rings truer today than ever before. 

I am no Keats, but this long lost document just became a very special keepsake, and I think I shall keep it.

Who knew I was such a romantic?

Viva Las Vegas, kind of

Wednesday night, or at least I am going to claim it was Wednesday night because I don't remember, and it doesn't particularly matter, Nate and Sagan called to ask if Zane and I would be interested in spending a couple of days in Vegas. 

The hotel room, for two nights, was only going to be about $45 total. And though the idea of a $45 hotel room makes me want to take a shower, we just couldn't say no to that deal. 

It was 70 degrees and sunny the entire time, so basically it was amazing. 

If I was to complain about anything (which I would never do because I am incredibly positive and  always see the best of every situation) I would complain about the fact that there was too much damn walking. So much walking that I think the d word was completely necessary, and in no way an exaggeration.

Some might say that if I had chosen more practical shoes, I might not have ended up with 5 blisters.

But those people would be wrong, it was an unavoidable consequence of all the damn walking. 

But since I never complain, we won't talk about it.

Okay, okay, curse words aside, it really was a much needed break from the doom and gloom that is life in a cubicle. I've said it before, and I'll say it again, I'm so grateful that sometimes your family can be your best friends too. 

I'm also grateful that I married into such an easy going family, because there is only room for so much high maintenance in a family, and I'm enough work for the whole lot of us. 

Seriously, if we were pioneers, I'd be eaten before the family cow, because after 3 days of walking on the strip, I can promise you no one wants to trek it with this lady. 

p.s. just looked up the definition of high maintenance, "a system which requires a high degree of maintenance to ensure proper functioning and without which it is likely to break..."

I think I just found my new Instagram bio.

hero

I never blog, it's fine.

but my sister did, and I just think she is the coolest thing.
She is my hero in so many ways.

READ HERE FOR A GOOD TIME

a long weekend

This past weekend was a weekend of firsts for me.
My first night away from Zane, and my first time flying by myself.
I was pretty nervous about both, but having a sister weekend out in Burbank out weighed the cons.  Thus, I left Zane to sleep alone, and braved the airport all by my lonesome to visit Bri in California.

Unfortunately, in addition to being a terrible blogger, I am a terrible photographer. I took hardly any pictures, and even less worth sharing. (two new resolutions right there, add'em to the list)

My favorite part of the weekend, other than seeing my sister's pretty face, had to be touring the Warner Brothers lot where Bri works. Between being able to set foot on the set of one of my all time favorite shows, Gilmore Girls, and pretending I was a celebrity, it was basically a dream come true.

Hello Stars Hallow.

Other highlights include hot-tubing, giant pancakes, a comedy show, shopping, multimillion dollar house stalking in Beverly Hills, and last, but not least, the grilled cheese and pickle found below. 

It was a very laid back weekend of exploring Burbank, West Hollywood, Beverly Hills, and sisterly bonding.

Though I was very sad to leave a sister behind, I am very happy to be home with Zane, 

who buys me pretty flowers to show he missed me.

I hope everyone had a fabulous holiday weekend!

 

anniversary

Zane and I have officially been married for 1 year. I can hardly believe it. 

I' can't remember the moment where I said to myself, okay, this is forever, what's it gonna be?

Being with Zane has always just been second nature. And here we are, 365 days of marriage later. 

He makes it easy, that Zane of mine. 

So happy anniversary to me. 

We celebrated with a weekend in Salt Lake City, and some very old wedding cake. 

happy holidays

We have been thoroughly enjoying the holiday this past week.
It basically felt like a little piece heaven to take off a couple days of work to sleep in, and spend time with family. Plus the non-stop snow is just the icing on top of my winter cake.

Lately I have been kind of terrible at taking pictures. Please forgive me and enjoy my favorite 2 pictures of the few I did take this Christmas.

 

  

I hope everyone had a happy holiday!

ps. I instagram more often than I blog, so if you're missing me something terrible, you can find me at @brookeogwin

I'm still here

just neglecting the blog. 

Do you ever read other people's blogs? Their fabulous, witty, adorable, original blogs, and think... 

"I'm totally out of my league over here on the blogosphere."

I do. 

It's in these moments, like every time I face decisions and chores in life, where I choose to ignore the problem completely, and hope when I hope my eyes the problem somehow solved itself. (rare.)

Well I opened my eyes today, and this old blog is as plain Jane as it was when I left it.

Would you let it go for awhile if I told you I'm still figuring out my blog identity? 

Thanks.

In the meantime, the real life identity just got herself some bangs.

That literally is the most exciting thing that has happened around here in weeks.

And that's fine by me.

that one time I went to Disneyland, again

And it was filled with pure Disney joy..

I was team Donald,

I saw this pretty sister of mine, 

we had tender marriage moments,

We ate churros, and wrapped sweatshirts around our waists,

We went to cars land,

I got pretty excited about it,

I ate this tiny tiny, delicious, taco, 

I got sick of looking chubby and greasy, so this became the go-to pose,

we tried to look cute, 

we hid from the rain,

Zane rode Splash Mountain by himself, ruining some poor families photo,

And this guy, looked this handsome, the whole time. 

What've you been up to?

things I should probably never say out loud

This wonderfully long holiday weekend was supposed to be fabulous, like all your pictures I watched pop up on Instagram, but, well, it wasn't. Blame it on my Uncle Jon.
Zane got a nasty stomach bug Friday night. The first of our marriage.
I think I handled all the grossness pretty well, if I do say so myself. Except for the fact that I spent most of the weekend feeling sorry for myself.
Granted, I wasn't the one sleeping on the bathroom floor, so like any normal human being, I should of been grateful. Except I was bored out of my mind.
I couldn't just leave Zane home alone on the bathroom floor. What are spouses for if not to wait on your hand and foot, and medicate you, when sick? Thus, I sat at home, and watched a looooooot of television. Which led to the extreme boredom, and the sulking.
(Being able to twist any situation till it becomes about me is one of the few talents I possess. Something I inherited from both of my grandmothers I'm sure.)
I mean, at least if I was the sick one my mind would be preoccupied with my own suffering, and I would lose a couple LB's, right?

So there it is. The cat's out of the bag. I'm a horrible person. 

On the bright side, where I rarely find myself,  we were able to decorate for Christmas before all the vomiting began.

Our first tree.

hellooo baby

Friday Zane's brother Sonny, and his wife Kara, had their first little baby, Noel.
I have a lot of cute, special little people in my life, but I think I am going to have a soft spot for this one.

She is the first one I'm able to be a part of from start to finish, and be old enough to appreciate it all.
She is the first one I will get to watch Zane adore from start to finish. (Which is pretty dang sexy)
She is the first one to make the old uterus ache. Yeah, I said uterus.

 

Seriously, how cute is that picture?

 With a new baby in the family, Christmas, and a tuition payment around the corner, I have too many conflicting desires. My goals in life seem to be mutually exclusive.
Ain't that the way it goes.

Welcome to the world Baby Noel!

lets talk about breaking dawn

Breaking Dawn part 2 has come and gone. It's bitter-sweet to see it end.
Hopefully Kristen Stewart's career goes no where from here. I'd like to avoid her, and Taylor Lautner, for the rest of my movie-going life.
Robert Pattinson, on the other hand, can stay.

To no surprise, I loved the movie. I laughed, I cried laughed some more, I smiled awkwardly at the plethora of vampire love scenes. It was an epic finale to the last 5 years of my life.
I am going to miss having such a great a reason to get my friends, and my dad, together.
We will have to come up with a new tradition that requires us come together for at least one magical night a year.

From 7 friends down to 3. It's a dying tradition, but a tradition nonetheless.

What we really need to talk about is the best and worst at the Breaking Dawn part 2 premier. 

A. WTF Stephanie Meyer? You make way too much money to be wearing something so hideous. The top looks like a Relief Society president about to give a talk on the importance of motherhood at General Conference. And the bottom looks like half of an embarrassing Halloween costume.

 

B. Kristen Stewart went in a nude number. And even though its kind of bizarre (I don't even want to talk about the back view) I like it. 1 Point to Kristen; making her score -4, since her face, those teeth, her acting, the cheating scandal, and her overall personality, had her at a whopping -5.

And that's all I have to say about that.

the weekend that seemed to last a lifetime

This weekend we decided to pick up, and road trip it down to St. George with Zane's mom.
She needed someone to keep her company on a little business trip, and we were up for the challenge.
If only we knew what a challenge it would be... just kidding Missy!

Friday we spent behind the scenes at the Tuachan, watching Katherine Nelson, and The Nashville Tribute Band sound check before the show. I thought it was pretty neat. It was like I was famous, or maybe more like a groupie...

 

There is a band hiding from the bitter wind under that tarp. 

And that little nugget down there is Zane enjoying a little sound check.

Saturday we spent in Beaver.
I don't know if any of you have ever had the privilege of visiting Beaver, but it is a ghost town.
We were trying to find somewhere, other than Dairy Queen, to eat, and I kept telling my mother-in-law to keep driving, there has got to be more of a selection once we get further into town. I mean, people can't live like this.
False. They can. 3 miles later, we hit the bottom of Beaver. Top to bottom, 3 miles, and nothing but Dairy Queen, Butch Cassidy Inn, and this lovely place called Arshels.
Where we ate dinner, and just soaked up the ambiance.

 

Just some light reading on each table, to pass the time. 

 

 

And the lovely pink lace window coverings.

After dinner we spent the rest of the night at the local high school. Watching more sound checks, and sitting on our little bums.
The music was amazing, and Katherine was very nice, so it was worth all the time on our pockets.

 Most of the time, at least it felt like, was spent in the car. Like this.

He tried to blackmail me with a picture of me sleeping, but it didn't work. 

Muahahaha. {Probably a video we only find hilarious.}

If I am being honest, which I try to be, I spent a lot of time this weekend being rather bored. Like watching paint dry, and grass grow, bored. Still, I would do it again in a heartbeat if Missy needed. I love my family, and being bored with them is a blessing.

Once home, Zane and I made sure the first thing we did was finish season 3 of Vampire Diaries on Netflix. Yeah, we've got our priorities straight.
It's over now, and I feel a little part of myself has died. 

I want to continue living vicariously through fictional characters, preferably extremely attractive vampires.

I'll have to pay for Hulu Plus to continue living out my fantasies now. That, or live my own life. 

I think we all know who's going to win that battle...