WOW is MOM upside down

"Women of God can never be like women of the world. The world has enough women who are tough; we need women who are tender. There are enough women who are coarse; we need women who are kind. There are enough women who are rude; we need women who are refined. We have enough women of fame and fortune; we need more women of faith. We have enough greed; we need more goodness. We have enough vanity; we need more virtue. We have enough popularity; we need more purity." --Margaret D. Nadauld 

at my graduation

trouble....

what, you don't model your shoulder pads??

As my mom read me this quote the other night, I couldn't help but think that it exemplified and personified my mother to the "t." She has always had her priorities in the right place, and has done a good job of teaching me the things that are most important: faith, virtue, and refinement. Yes, I have a long way to go before I reach the point to where my mamasita has, but I love her for her example she is to me.


Happy Birthday, mamita!
xoxo

When you wake up...WAKE UP!

WARNING: this is journal-entry-like, and may or may not contain some bragging.

now that you've been sufficiently warned, i will continue.

the last two (and a half) ish weeks have been a complete explosion of magnificence and my face may just fall off from smiling way way way too much. sadly enough, i can't post a some of the awesomeness on this public forum, as i'm not sure i want everyone to know yet, but i'll share a minor snippet of the moments:

1. i saw imogen heap in concert. let me tell you, she's just as (if not more) brilliant in person. i will dedicate a whole future post to my love for her, so no worries about that.

2. RSL won the Eastern Conference Finals (in over-over-over-over time). No I am not a fair weather fan. I've, as a matter of fact, been a fan since May. I also may or may not be a jumbo tron (big screen) regular, making an appearance in the last 7 or 8 games. No big deal.

3. I went home and went through the temple. Absolutely gorgeous experience. Fun to be home with my parents, fun to eat fresh seafood on San Francisco, fun to have 70 degree weather in November (but not fun to go back to Utah and 30 degree weather), and fun to have a good excuse to take pictures.

4. Real Salt Lake won the MLS CUPPPPP!!!!!! (in over-over-over-over time...AGAIN). I have included pictures below to prove my undying and unconditional love for the team (and more specifically, Kyle Beckerman--not to be confused with the over-paid diva, David Beckham). My only beef is now that Utah has a somewhat successful professional team, everyone has jumped onto the band wagon, and those that have been fans for the whole season (through thick and thin) have to suffer for over-crowded lines for signatures, and over-priced tickets. I, however, never lost faith.

5. BYU WON!!!!!! (in over time) Go cougs!

6. I got an ulcer from all of the over-time winning games.

7. I found out that I passed my CHES exam, and will now be signing all important things

(including this blog) as "Brook, CHES." Okay, that's ridiculous, but I'm really excited about

having passed with flying colors (even IF I didn't beat my boss' score and my other boss has no idea what a CHES is).

Now, if you know where the title of this blog post comes from, i will give you a big treat (no seriously, i will!). that song has become my anthem, because although the last few weeks have been INCREDIBLE, they haven't been without hardship or trial (but who wants to revel in those??). These instances have in fact been my "tender mercies" and what has kept me smiling and going (besides you all, of course).

Well, i guess that's all for now.

xoxo,

Brook, CHES (just kidding. kind of.)

Vivianita

Mamita,

You are absolutely incredible. Thanks for being an example of virtue, integrity, honesty, beauty, love, for encouraging me in my ridiculous persuits, for taking me seriously when sometimes no one else does, for teaching me how to attempt to be crafty (you're way better than i am!!), for always teaching me to study, to read, to love to learn, to love the gospel, and to love others. Today, I am celebrating your life, as you have almost been taken from me one too many times. Love you tons. Happy bday.

xoxo

Brookie Baby, Pumpkin, Sweetie (all names my mother affectionately calls me)

ps. picture line up: my mom sends me love notes via pictues, the second one is not my mother, but me with an amazing quilt she made me for my 21st!!, and the last clip is about the women in our lives. i loveeeee it.

home

i'm loving the little "project" that is asking people to submit

what home is to them....

i posted the post card that i think describes me perfectly.

home.........................(for me (now i'm sounding like randy jackson))

-changes every year

-is not defined by any possessions, as each one is completely temporary

-will always remind me of these beauties:

Princess Scratch

jaja...(that is like "haha" in español, which means spanish in spanish)

anyhoo, my dad is awesome. the following were three stati on the book in one day:

"is laughing because a friend accidentally sent him a love note via text message intended for someone else..." (the best part, is he received this aforementioned message during early-morning seminary while my mom was teaching and started to uncontrollably giggle...the text message from a MAN friend called the recipient of the text princess. oh dear....) 

"is hoping Dan Hesse (the CEO of Sprint) has forgiven him for scratching the screen on his Pre last week." (at least the Sprint team lovingly dubbed him "Scratch" after that)

"is laughing because last week he went to Ted's Grill in Kansas and when it was time to pay he took the one that said "Ted's Copy" thinking it was clever of them to put my name on there. When I got the credit card bill they charged me an extra dollar. I'm not laughing anymore." 

i am now going to start calling my dad princess scratch. 

and well, since i'm talking about him, i'm going to put some pretty awesome pics up of the only man in my life. he is pretty awesome.

well hello there

hi.

so this is a quickie update since i've been virtually MIA (pun intended).

1. my work is taking over my life. imagine me and my life being water, and any other additions as food coloring. so lets say that exercise is red food coloring. eating is blue food coloring. makes for a gorgeous purple. and church and other wonderful things are just purple, so it's still a gorgeous purple. and THEN you add green and yellow to the mix and all of a sudden it's poop brown. well that's what work's done to me recently. try responding to THIS beast of a grant and see how sane you remain.

1.1. on a side note, a lot of people ask me what it is i EXACTLY do, and i don't even bother to explain because it's really quite confusing. well here's a wonderful video that explains it pretty well (it's short i promise).

2. i'm going to....*drum roll please*....ECUADOR!! remember how i was going to go to peru for a whole semester after graduating? (if you've forgotten, there are several posts here, here, and here). well, i'm going to ecuador through the same organization on an expedition the first to weeks in july with my roomie. it is going to be wonderful as we'll be working with orphans and drop-in centers. on top of service, we get to do a little trip to the middle of the world (the equator, where you can supposedly balance an egg--i'll take a picture to prove it) and we'll get to slink over to the galapagos islands. you have no idea how excited i am.

3. my favorite parents came out for conference. i love and miss them dearly. pictures coming soon (don't worry mom, i wont post those pictures i promised i would never show anyone ever).

3.1. how awesome was conference?? i loved every single second of it.

well kids, that's about it. i must go work on my grant some more.....

Merry Christmas!!

well, our family did an electronic christmas card again so go and check it out!

i hope you all have a lovely christmas and that you feel the <3.....(i know i'm a total dork for the picture above...i just love field hockey)

g.l.a.m.o.r.o.u.s.

oh how i wish i lived in that time period....


how absolutely glamorous is my grandma? and my grandpa's cute too, of course....


merry christmas from way back when....


and my favorite....the honeymoon express


oh an a hilarious one of me. what the heck am i doing anyways? probably trying to be cool like my cousins bryan and janel

the ghost of thanksgiving past....

i just have to say that i've been sooo fortunate to have been able to have SUCH wonderful friends that have become family to me.

this is evident whenever i get sick, as people are SO willing to help me, comfort me, hug me, text me, call me, bring me movies, ask me how i'm doing, or even facebook me. 

i am honestly blessed beyond words to be able to have people in my life, and i can honestly say i've never been alone.

well, in addition to all of those instances mentioned above, i've had 4 out of the last 5 thanksgivings where i haven't been able to go home, and i just have to commemorate each one individually:

1. thanksgiving with the parrishes in park city, utah--one of my good friends marissa invited not only me, but another bestie to join her family in one of the best memories from my freshman year. we did everything from text our freshman boy crushes, to sleep, and experience my first thanksgiving in the snow:

2. thanksgiving with the hutchisons in some southern utah town near st. george--whitney and her family invited me in to their beautiful cabin for a crazy adventure in 4-wheeling, christmas-tree-decorating, antique shopping, watching at least a dozen movies, and not to mention a tv marathon for i think 14 hours (although i can't remember what show it was.....i'm pretty sure it was the amazing race):

3. this was the year i actually got to go home. we hiked around 'frisco, went to the beach, decorated for christmas, and mostly just had fun being together. it was so wonderful!!

4. thanksgiving with the cotterells--this was an unforgettable family-packed thanksgiving. i honestly have never been to a function that big other than a ward function, but i ate up every second of: apples to apples, adorable nieces/nephews/cousins, chocolate, enchanted, and the most memorable spiritual thanksgivings so far. unfortunately, i didn't take any pics so sorry (i was embarrassed cuz i went tanning right before thanksgiving to boost my Vit D levels. needless to say i was a lobster...).

5. thanksgiving with the robinsons--i have never seen a more elaborate center piece and place settings in my life! we even each had our own see's candy. we also: played clue (i kind of won), taboo (our team won), and guesstures which i prefer not to talk about. it was so great! Thanks Allie!

dear chile,

dear land of my forefathers (sounds biblical, doesn't it?),

feliz cumpleaños!! today marks your glorious independence, and what better way to celebrate than to make delicious desserts and a blog post?

here's a little snippet of chile:

the national flower:

the national bird (a condor, one of the largest birds in the world):

the national dance, the cueca:

and last, but not least the national anthem (beware, it's VERY majestic and is about 7 hours long. okay, they usually only sing the first verse and chorus, but with all trillion verses-maybe 7 total?-it's super long):

oh and here are some desserts i made to celebrate the occasion! 

they're called alfajores, and i think you should all try making this simple and delectable dessert. here's the recipe!

for the cookie part:

1 C (plus a little) of flour

1/2 C corn starch

1/4 tsp of baking powder

1/8 tsp of salt

1/4 C sugar

1 stick of butter

1 egg

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

for the insides:

buy dulce de leche already made....

or you can cook your own by cooking condensed milk in a double broiler in the top part until it's the color/consistency you want

preheat oven to 35o degrees

1. beat butter and sugar until fluffy

2. in another bowl mix everything dry (1C flour, cornstarch, baking powder, and salt)

3. add egg and vanilla to butter and sugar mix

4. add all dry stuff and mix until it starts sticking all together. if it's too moist, add a little more flour until it's a good consistency. not too moist, not too dry, cuz it has to stick together

5. grab bits of dough to roll up into your hand (should be like the size of a bouncy ball) and then smash them so they're about 1/8 of an inch thick. you could also roll it out, and then cut it into any shape you want. whichever you prefer.

6. cook until sides are a little golden brown (somewhere between 12 and 20 minutes)

7. allow them to cook off

8. put about a teaspoon or more between two cookies, and then roll the edges in powdered sugar!

from: http://nookandpantry.blogspot.com/2007/12/alfajores.html