Bye Bye Sissy

I've known today was coming for a long time.

..But it seriously snuck up on me..

Today is the day my sister moves to Hawaii.

I'm SO BUMMED for me and SO EXCITED for her.

 

Last night we went to dinner as a family for our last night with Fatalie.

After dinner she came inside to say goodbye to Winston, sat down, smiled at me & started bawling. This was the first time I had seen Nat actually cry about leaving.

 

My mom has had the hardest time sending her away for school.

It would be different if it was inland, but it's somewhere we've never traveled to nor can we afford to visit often. Natalie has always been the glue for our family.. And she's done an awesome job at making us all laugh and get along.

Fats told us she'll see us next Christmas. A year from now.

............

When I think back on how much has happened in the last year, it's sad to think this year may be just as eventful.. but without my sissy by my side.

 

I'm sure to many of you this seems completely insignificant.

Which is just fine..

But my best friend no longer being a few streets away is something I've never experienced.

Today I'm thankful for iphones, facebook, blogs, emails and texts.

At least I know we're only a phone call away!

 

This little Ginger is all grown up. Fats was born a little fishy and will be right at home running around on the beach.

 

 

 

 

Fats, I'm SO absolutely proud of you.

I'm so happy & excited for you.

You will meet some awesome friends & have some amazing experiences.

I can't wait to hear all about it!

 

I LUHH YOUU!!



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Christmas 2012

THIS YEAR,

Christmas really meant a lot in the Brockbank/Gordon home.

This was our last holiday with Natalie home (a post on this coming soon..)

& Our FIRST Christmas as a MARRIED couple. SO much fun!

 

Here is a glimpse of some of my Christmas Festivities.

 

Had Girl's Night Ugly Christmas Sweater status.. SO awesome.

(Forgive the CRAP quality of this picture from my sweet iphone..)

 

Wrapped Christmas Presents and let Winston eat the evidence..

 

Had breakfast with Santa & Mrs. Claus

 

Sat by the fireplace with Fatalie

 

Little America with the family (minus one..)

 

Christmas Eve Sibling Breakfast, Park City & Christmas Shopping

 

Had a good last look at the giant pile of presents under our tree..

 

Got our Christmas Eve Jammies..

 

Opened our Christmas Eve presents from Dad!

Oliver's People Sunglasses!

 

Drove to the homeless shelter Christmas Morning to hand out beanies, gloves, new socks, scarfs, coats & hand warmers.

 

Adored Spencer's wrapping..

 

Let Winston play with the paper..

 

Watched these two play with their new toys..

 

..And was completely spoiled rotten this Christmas.

 

Above all,

I'm so thankful for the Christmas Season. For all of the time we spent with family & friends remembering the true meaning of Christmas.

 

I was so sad laying in bed last night thinking it was all over so fast.

May we remember the Christmas Spirit all year long.

 

XOXO



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Friday Letters

DEAR FRIDAY 5:15AM

This is the time my alarm goes off to get to work.

All I know, is this morning I woke up & was feelin GOOD!

It's the first day all week I have woken up NOT feeling like I've been hit by a train.
It's FRIDAY, It's a LONG weekend & did I mention it's FRIDAY?

[thank you Friday]

 

DEAR ANTI-FREEZE LOCK SOLUTION,

Whoever invented you needs a kiss.

TWICE this week I had to pour boiling water on my car door & in the locks to get my car to unlock. Not okay when it's freezing outside.

My locks are now as easy as a high school girl on prom night!

[So THANK YOU wonderful solution. You made my life a little easier.]

 

DEAR FRIENDS,

I am SO EXCITED for our Ladies Christmas Party tonight!

Ugly Christmas Sweaters here we come..
Did I mention I have a friend driving down from IDAHO for this??
I have the best friends in the world. You can expect to see some awesome pictures from this.

[thank you awesome friends]

 

DEAR HUSBAND'S BOSS

I'm more than a little sad Spencer is seriously scheduled to work Christmas morning.

Enough said.

[No thank-yous for you boss man.]

DEAR KESHA

When your song came on the radio this morning & I was having my own jam session, it hit me like a ton of bricks. HOW APPROPRIATE!!! I thought the song "Like we're gonna die young" was the perfect song to be listening to since it's clearly the end of the world today..

Hopefully today when the world ends I'll go out looking like Kesha.

All sweaty and glittery..

 

 

Happy End of the World TODAY Everyone!
I can't wait to hear your stories tomorrow!



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New Blog Design!

As ya'll can see, I've got an awesome new little blog design with some minor changes.
These changes may look minor to you, but they are HUGE to me! My blog doesn't feel as cluttered because of those lovely little tabs at the top!

 

Jessica over at Living like a Lindstrom was BEYOND sweet to help me out with this!
She did an awesome job and was SO FAST I seriously couldn't believe it.
 

If you don't follow her blog now you should!

You'll love her blog & she's darling.

 

 

Thanks SO much Jessica!!

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THE WINNER IS...

 

AND THE WINNER IS...

Danielle J. Hastings!

 

 

CONGRATS DANIELLE!

email me at mikell.k@hotmail.com to get more info!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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LAST DAY TO ENTER!

 

Be sure to get any last entries in for the blog giveaway!
The giveaway ends TOMORROW at 12:00 pm!!

Find the giveaway & more info HERE

 

...and GOOD LUCK!!

 

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Prayers

As all of you know about the horrible and tragic shooting at a Connecticut school this weekend, we know many questions will arise..

Why? How could this be? Who has a heart to do this?

..or no heart for that matter?

One question I've heard multiple times from friends and posts on facebook is,

"Where was God?"

 

Watch this short news clip, from Mike Huckabee who couldn't have said it better..

 

Friends, regardless of your beliefs or stands with God, I completely agree with what Mike Huckabee said here.

Where was God?? He most certainly was there.

And is there still comforting those families going through such heartache.

 

My heart and prayers go to the families of all those involved with this sad situation..

 

God Bless.

 

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Friday Letters

DEAR FRIDAY: 

I merely look forward to you because I get to wear jeans at work. Which means once a week, I feel like I look decent while sitting at my desk. Thank you Friday.

 

DEAR DAD:
It's your birthday on Saturday and I'm kind of excited because that means I get dinner and cake! Even though you say you hate your own birthday, festivities and presents.. I think you're lying. I'm excited to give you the same wonderful gift I give you every year..
 The amazing gift of having me as your daughter.
BAHAH

DEAR POST OFFICE:
I don't know why I hate you so much. But I do. You give me the worst anxiety and make me sweat. I am literally fearful walking into the building. Maybe the phrase "going postal" has something to do with it?
Anyways, I had to visit you earlier this week to send one of many Christmas packages. Your long lines, hustle and bustle made me more comfortable than the typically quiet tile hall, flickering lights and the smell of fresh-licked stamps. Everyone working was actually nice too. Must be the Christmas Spirit!

DEAR HUSBAND:
Thank you for being patient with me.
Especially when you are volunteered to make gingerbread houses for the Ward Christmas Party you aren't even able to attend, and to clean the rain gutters at my parents house.
.I love you.


DEAR SANTA CLAUS:
In my mind I've always pictured you looking something like this:

Except growing up in the Brockbank Household we know you like Diet Coke better than regular.

False advertising.

 

..Well last night I went with family to take the girls and the triplets to see you, Santa. I was a little shocked when I turned the corner and realized you are actually Hispanic..

..I had no idea..

CLEARLY I wasn't the only one who was a little more than surprised...

 

 

HAPPY WEEKEND!

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Family Pictures

This year I decided I wanted to do Christmas Cards for our FIRST year of being married, especially since we now have a baby, err.. bunny.

 

We just drove up to my mom's house and had Fatalie take some quick pictures for us.

They turned out super cute & I fell in love with Winston Spencer all over again.
Since our Christmas cards have been sent out, I can actually post these now.

I had to post this one because Winston's huge foot is seriously out of control. HAHA 

This is right before I put Winston in the snow and he tried to escape..

It was all fun and games until I put Winston in the snow. He did NOT like that. Notice how it looks like he doesn't have any ears. He tucked them back to keep them warm.

 

So excited that the two feet of snow in these pictures is completely melted.

It's December 13th and NO snow- I only wore a light jacket into work this morning.

BONUS!

 

P.S. DON'T FORGET TO ENTER YESTERDAY'S GIVEAWAY!!

 

 

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The Body

Upon my insistence, Sebastien saw Stand By Me for the first time, last week. Have you seen it? I think one of the older kids taped it off TV because when I was about 8 years old, my little brother and I would watch it all the time.

For those of you whom have not, Stand By Me is a Rob Reiner film based on the Stephen King novella, The Body. Will Wheaton of later internet fame stars as Gordie in his first lead role.
Gordie is an introspective preteen coming up in the slick hair sterility of the 50s and will grow up to write professionally.  The audience knows this because the framing story is of him as a man reflecting on a death he reads about in the paper.
When the main story is introduced, Gordie's family is still reeling from the recent death of his older brother Denny, played in flashbacks by a fresh faced John Cusack.

The plot itself is interesting but the story arch of a man reflecting on his coming of age is hardly a new concept. Even done well, scrambled eggs are still just, well, scrambled.
But there is a bit of a minigame--or substory, if you like featuring a character named Lard  Ass. My brother and I would say his name like it was a secret, laughing each time in high childish giggles while squinty eyed smiles passed between us.
We binged on this film. It babysat us. Even so, we had an argument over the language at the end. I believe the line is, "He died almost instantly." I contended that the character in question died almost at once, but my brother felt that the word almost indicated the character lived. As in, He almost died. It was frustrating, but he was smaller than me, so I let it go, figuring it was better he believed in happy endings. 

The thing that makes any movie interesting, ultimately, if we're honest, is seeing ourselves in the characters. And sure, I do love to write, but I think I related to River Phoenix's character, Chris Chambers, the most--even though Corey Feldman and the hot guy from Sliders were in the film as well.
Chambers was sort of the mother of the group and had a hard time stepping out of the shadow his family cast. He's introduced with, "He came from a bad family and everyone just knew he'd turn out bad. Including Chris." I'm not ashamed of my family or who we are, but like Chris, I expected this would be my lot and for my early years in education, it was. Things got better once I headed off to school in Vermont. 

After not having seen the film for at least 20 years, it was interesting to see so many of my favorite 50s songs played back to me. I kept wondering if I liked them because of the film or if they were just that good. I'll never know. Also, mailbox baseball, playing chicken and a complete and total barf-o-rama, this is where I learned about all three of these hallmarks of my youth.
Watching it again, I can honestly say that both the cinematography and setting were wasted on 8 year old Erin.

And I had forgotten completely about the body.
But a good story stays in the back of your head just like a good song. Speaking of which, check out the last mix I made for my little brother by clicking the image. It's free for download.

Genre: Little bit of hip hop and a whole lot of Rock and Roll

I listen to it all day on December 13 and June 2nd. But if one of the songs comes up any day in between, I hit the forward button and I don't look back because there really are no such thing as happy endings.
I'm not being sullen, you should accept this: your whole life is nothing but waves--the energy moves, but the water stays right where it is. You'll have high tides and rip tides, changes in currents and a hundred hard summers swimming with the sharks. But sometimes you'll squint in the glare and smile just to be there. Christ, I don't have to tell you what you already know. Surfs up,  Kundun.

Sebastien and I leave for the States in 4 days. I should start practicing my "No sir, I have nothing to declare" face. Admittedly, I'm not overly excited to sit in a plane for 10+ hours but I'll probably eat a whole jar of pickles as soon as I land...or nachos. Or Both. Does that make me weird?

On verra. 

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Luxurious Scrub Giveaway!!

I was SO excited when Maggi from Scrubxury contacted me about doing a
 giveaway!

She sent me 10 mini samples of a few different scrubs, and honestly I loved them all! 

My favorite was the Whipped Sugar Scrub in Christmas Memories.

The scent was fantastic & the Whipped Sugar left my hands feeling SO SOFT!

I was so happy with how soft my hands were I had Spencer, my mom and Fatalie try them out as well!

 

Spencer
tried the Sugar Cube Scrub in Apple Crisp & really liked the scent! 

He was a total sport to help me out with this!

 

My Mom
tried the Christmas Memories and LOVED it. She was so impressed at how nice and creamy it was. She washed it off and looked at me and said, "My aged hands are so soft- they haven't been this soft in the longest time.."

 

My little sister Natalie
(who has eczema really bad)
tried the Earl Grey Tea scent. We both loved that one because it smells so fresh and clean!

She was shocked at how much it helped her dry little hands- She has tried every lotion and potion in the book for her Eczema and nothing has helped.
We all decided that we want our own scrubs. We will DEF. be ordering from Scrubxury!

 

Maggi has been SO SO nice and she's awesome to work with. These scrubs are a perfect little treat for yourself! OR if you want to order some scrubs for Christmas gifts NOW, you can find her Etsy shop HERE!

 

Enter this giveaway through the Rafflecopter link below- make sure you do all of the steps for more points! The winner will receive an 8 oz scrub from Scrubxury- your choice of scrub and scent!! Maggi from Scrubxury will include standard shipping on your order as well!

You are more than welcome to add more items to your order if you would like! If that's the case, you will need to pay for those items, as well as shipping!

 

I'll announce who the winner is Wednesday the 19th around 12:30 pm!

If the winner doesn't claim their prize by noon on Thursday the 20th, another winner will be chosen- So keep an eye out to see if you are the lucky winner!!

 

GOOD LUCK! 



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Best. App. EVER.

Ladies and Gentlemen.

I found the best. phone app. EVER!

 

.NUDIFIER.

 

Here are some examples of why this app is so entertaining.

A few of these literally made me cry I got laughing so hard..

 

 

 

 

 

If you don't find this slightly funny in some way shape or form

There is something wrong with you.

 

THE END.

 



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