Woohoo!

I'm going to get measured for my wedding dress tonight! Pretty excited! Weddings sure take a lot of work, but a lady told me that if I'm not having fun doing it then I'm not doing it right! Pretty wise, I think. I am enjoying planning and organizing everything, which is surprising me since I am normally kind of a flake :) Things are coming together one thing at a time, but all of a sudden you realize that you're making some serious progress!

xoxo
Bren

For those of you who know my sister...

Melissa just found out she is having a baby GIRL! Baby is due May 27. She and her husband, Shane have been married since August, and are VERY excited! Congratulations to the McCrae family!

Pictures of the Ring

I've had some friends and family ask for some pictures of my ring, so I figured I'd give the people what they want.

Love! I'm a lucky girl!

Exciting News

Joe has a new brand new niece (His first one!) who was born this morning at 9:25 to Charlie and Amy Tulikihakau. She was 9lbs. 3 oz. Sounds like quite a healthy baby! It is traditional in Tongan culture for the sister of the first born baby in the family of the baby's father to name the baby (Sounds complicated, but it's not really!). Joe and Charlie's sister, Sekola, named the little one Lineti Mele Feinga Tulikihakau. She was named for their mother who passed away several years ago. Sekola was a stinker and wouldn't tell anyone what name she chose for the baby until little Lineti was here, but she chose a beautiful name. Here is a picture Joe sent me of him holding Lineti! I wish I could have been there, and I can't wait to meet her soon!

The picture isn't great quality -- it was taken with a cell phone -- but it is precious none the less! So tiny and perfect!
Meanwhile, here in Kansas we are in the middle of our THIRD snow storm in just two weeks. We don't usually get much snow, so this is crazy! The high on Friday is supposed to be -2! Yuck! Joe is somehow jealous. Who would think an island boy would be a snow bunny! He loved every minute of the snow when he lived in Provo, Utah where it snows all the time! I can't say that I'm a fan, myself. Too bad he isn't here to shovel it! :-) The back deck had snow on it that was about knee deep and we are supposed to be getting up to five inches more. It started snowing around noon and has been snowing steadily since. I got a call saying they were closing early at work today and that I wasn't needed today, so I got the day off. I was told to watch the news tonight to watch to see if I have work tomorrow. My sister has a snow day tomorrow, which  would have been her first day back from Christmas break. Winter is definitely in full effect in Kansas City! Oy! I help it all melts soon!

xoxo
Bren

Having a Good Attitude

I heard something great in church today I wanted to share. In Relief Society, a sister was giving the lesson on being positive and told this story:

There was a woman who had cancer and was losing her hair due to chemotherapy. She woke up one day and looked in the mirror and found that she has three hairs left. She smiled and said, "I'm going to braid my hair today!" She did and had a great day. The next day, she woke up and looked in the mirror. That day she had two hairs left. She smiled and said, "I'm going to part my hair in the middle today!" She did and had a great day. The next day, she woke up and looked in the mirror and only had one hair left. She smiled and said, "I'm going to wear my hair in a ponytail today!" She did and had a great day. The next day, she woke up and looked in the mirror and had no hair left. She smiled and said, "I don't have to do my hair today!"

I will have to be honest and say that if I had three hairs left, I would not be smiling nor would I braid my three hairs. I think I would have shaved it all off a long time ago and gotten a wig. (This shows my vanity: My wanting to  look like I have hair being strongly outweighed by how creepy I think wigs feel. And are in general. Same thing with fur. I don't know - It's a sensory thing.) I hope this story made you laugh. It was a great reminder to me to be positive even when things get tough. I hope you are all staying warm! And if you have warm weather, I am JEALOUS! It's FREEZING here in Kansas and won't stop snowing! It's beautiful though! (That's me being positive!)

xoxo
Bren

Happy New Year, Friends!

Wow, I can't believe it's 2010 already. I spent the evening at a friend's and her dad pointed out that when you say the year now it's quite a bit shorter (i.e: two thousand and nine vs. twenty ten). Interesting. What I like even BETTER about the year being 2010 is that 2010 is OUR year. We get married THIS YEAR! We're so excited to be able to say that! Yahooo! I hope this year proves to be a great one for all of you.

xoxo
Bren

Let me tell you about my FAVORITE blog!

It's called "PostSecret" and people from all over the world mail in their secrets annonymously on postcards. There is something so fascinating about reading strangers' secrets -- things they have never told anyone else. What's more fascinating is that there is a chance that one of them may not be a stranger at all. Maybe one is about YOU! The secrets are updated with new secrets every Sunday. Reading them either makes me feel grateful that I am not in that situation or envious that these people have something worth writing. I would have to write something average in a deceitfully interesting way. Here's to people with crazy things to share! :) Check out the site. I'm addicted!

PostSecret

xoxo
Bren

We have some news!

We FINALLY set a date! We wanted to include all of our family and friends and to do so we have set the date of our wedding on July 17th, 2010. We hope to see you all there! More details to follow.

merry christmas

we want to wish all of our friends and family members a very merry christmas. we got a white christmas here in kansas city which doesn't happen often. i could probably count the ones i've seen here, but none specifically come to mind. it's so pretty out and so Christmas-y, thought it's supposed to reach blizzard status overnight and through out tomorrow. snow is beautiful, but i hope no one is stuck driving in dangerous conditions. joe and i are apart for the holidays unfortunately, but next year we will have a great first Christmas together as husband and wife :) we send our love out to all our loved ones out there. be safe and have a happy holiday.

xoxo
bren

love.

shout out to my boy dexter