Golden Birthday

25 years ago Jacob Brock was born and my life was changed forever!  I just want to say happy birthday to my husband as he turns a quarter of century old.  I feel so lucky to have him in my life.  He makes everyday special for me.

This particular birthday is extra special since it is his "golden birthday."  I was informed this summer by my niece Emery that your golden birthday is when you turn the age of your birth-date. So Jacob is 25 tomorrow on August 25th.  HAPPY GOLDEN BIRTHDAY!

We have a tradition in the Brock home (that Jacob started in his family when he was 13) where everyone goes around the room and says why they love the birthday person.  I would like to do that today, but I don't just have one reason why, I have a million.  But for now I will stick with 25 reasons why I love Jacob:

1.Jacob is so funny!  One thing I love about Jacob is that he gets a kick out of his own jokes.  I love it was he laughs really hard because he has the best laugh.  I love to see him so happy.  I also love that he thinks I'm funny. :)

2.Jacob is optimistic.  He has the best outlook on life and stays positive.  He has so much hope and trust in the Lord and that spills into every aspect of his life.  Because of this, he is really good at helping me when I don't feel as optimistic.

3. He puts my happiness first.

4. He has the best sayings: Fruit Loopio, Judas Priest, man alive, etc.

5. He gives the best foot rubs.

6. He's not afraid to show PDA

7. He is a good example to me.  

8. He is good at sports.  I love watching him play on his BYU intramural football team.  I also love playing sports with him on our dates (Frisbee, racquetball, basketball)

9. He's good at planning dates.  The other day, I had a bad day and came home to the house clean, a homemade dinner, a letter, and a fun night planned. 

10. He gives me a lot of attention (I can be pretty needy... )

11. He is so fun loving and outgoing.  I always wanted to marry someone who was fun and outgoing.  Jacob is exactly that and he makes life fun.

12. He is silly.  I feel so lucky to know and see the real Jacob when he is completely himself.

13.  He lets me get my way most of the time ;)

14. He is "fiercely loyal."

15. He's good with kids.  I love watching him play with his nieces and nephews.  They love to jump on his back or shoot nerf gun bullets at him.  He makes them laugh.

16. He has the most handsome smile.

17.  He knows how to comfort me better than anyone else in the world.  He knows how to turn my day around.

18. He is super smart!  He is my human calculator!  I never have to use a real calculator.  The other day I went out to breakfast with my sister and when we had to leave a tip I felt so lost because usually Jacob does the math in his head so I don't have to worry. :)

19. He is a go-getter.  He gets things done and makes things happen.  He is graduating a half year early and already has a job lined up for 10 days after he graduates.  Smart baby!

20. He makes me happy.  I am so much happier when he is around. 

21.  He is good at serving me and other people.  One way he serves me is by coming into my classroom and helping out.  He also is the one who goes grocery shopping in our house.

22. He is very sassy when he wakes up.  I love when he says funny things.  One morning I told him to stop snoring and he said: "You stop snoring."  And then he did his half asleep laugh.  He never remembers these conversations we have when he wakes up.

23. He's very good at organizing the cupboards and fridge.

24. He is a great host and loves having friends over to play games and talk.  He makes the bomb milkshakes and popcorn.

25.  He is so sweet and kind.  He is always improving and trying to be a better husband and person.  I admire him so much.

I just love everything about Jacob.  He is perfect for me and he is my best friend.  I look forward to the next 25 years.  

I love you baby!  Have the best birthday ever!

SUMMER IS OVER????

When did THIS happen?  I feel like it was just yesterday that I had the last day of school.  And now there are exactly 10 days left until the first day of school again.  

This has been a great summer.  Let's recap...

Jacob got an internship.  I decided to be unemployed for a few months. :)  Jacob's job turned out to be a great blessing because when we decided to stay in Utah for the summer we had no plans...  Jacob really liked the work and I really liked the free time.  Plus, now he gets to work there during the Fall semester too!  Great blessing.

I went to teacher training for a week at the beginning of the summer, worked in my classroom, and helped out for a week at summer school.  It was definitely fun to see some of my old students (I can't believe they are second graders now!!)

We went to our first Real game (that might have been right before summer started actually...) with the Harris' and got free food.

I did some deep cleaning in our apartment (didn't seem to last very long).

We went on our trip to Vegas.

Went camping with the Snowdens.  The guys had a great time using flint and steel to start a fire.

 It took a long time.......  But it was worth it.

We roasted hot dogs on a stick and then visited the creek nearby.

We bought a third car.  We call this "The Brock Armada":

One car is for me to drive, one for Jacob to drive, and one for us to drive together.  Haha, just kidding of course.  We're trying to sell our white RAV 4.  Any takers???

We said good bye to our great friends Craig and Whitney Harris.  We miss them terribly!! :(

Trafalga in Lehi with Dave and Natalie and their kids!  This included lazer tag, bumper boats with squirt guns, rock climbing, race cars, and rides.

My parents came to visit for a week while my sister Rachel went to EFY.  My brother Kevin was an EFY counselor that same week, so they got to see each other a little bit.  While my parents were visiting we went shopping, took Rachel to EFY, got me some new retainers, made dinners together, visited with the Ouimette family, played loaded questions, spent the 4th of July together, went to the This is the Place Monument, toured Salt Lake City, and had dinner at The Roof Restaurant in the Joseph Smith Memorial Building. 

 Three generations of Relief Society members

This goat was yelling at us!

 We had fun visiting the village next to the This is the Place Monument.  My favorite part was the reindeer and the school!

 They are REAL!!!

 Me wearing the Dunce Cap.

 I'm grateful for all the resources we have for schools today

(especially since I'm a teacher)!

Jacob joined us for the last part.

 We love to see the temple!

The 4th of July is one of Jacob's favorite holidays.  So we made sure to make it special.  First we hiked Stewart Falls with my parents and the Snowdens.  Jordan and Jacob walked under the waterfall, so my dad had to prove that he could do it too. :) Then we went swimming in our apartment's pool.  We played two intense games of basketball in the pool and my mom was the star player!  In the evening we watched fireworks at Kim and Andy's place.  Jacob enjoyed starting a bunch of his own fireworks.  Then we drove down to a church parking lot to watch "the big fireworks."  It was a great day.

 The girls' great accomplishment was making it across the freezing, rushing river.

After my parents went home, we went straight into the Brock Family Reunion.  It began with our nephew, Taylor's baptism.  It was a wonderful experience and I had the opportunity to play the piano.

The reunion was in Capital Reef, Southern Utah.  Unfortunately I forgot my camera, so I don't have any pictures from it, but we had a blast.  We rented out the bottom floor of this nice small hotel in Torrey, Utah and basically took over the hotel's eating area and pool for the week.  

We had many adventures including:

brand new $80 shoes 

(left my shoes at home, and there were no Walmarts around),

 a 6 mile hike there and back to a beautiful waterfall,

 devil's backbone,

 a 3 hour drive out of the way to see the infamous Hell's backbone,

 FHE,

trust fall,

card games,

missing toilet paper,

TV in our room,

 squirt guns,

 petting horses,

 kubb,

the park,

volleyball tournament,

free hamburgers and frys (thanks Jason and Meaja!),

 a disastrous trip to a seaweed infested lake,

 nephew's dancing,

 cars getting stuck in the sand/lake,

 leeches stuck to the guys feet,

 muscle flexing contest,

pool volleyball,

no hot tubs :(

yummy dinners,

park again,

bocce ball,

 petroglyphs,

picnic with strawberries,

hike through the river,

natural water slides,

milkshakes,
reading aloud "Children of the Promise,"

and road construction.

=BEST FAMILY REUNION EVER!

Jacob was the star quarter back on our ward intramural football team.

Jacob flew to San Jose and Roseville, CA for some summer leadership trainings.  He also went to a training in Salt Lake City. We can't wait to find out where we will move after Jacob graduates!  While he was on one of his trips, I got to go to the ward camp out for the evening with Elena and Mitch Davidson.  They were nice enough to drive me and keep me company while I was Jacob-less.  We played ultimate frisbee, ate good food and socialized.

The rest of our summer was filled with lots of trips to the park, Monopoly deal, movies, cleaning, learning new recipes, Trulia, The Chocolate (don't worry, it didn't burn down!), helping people move, babysitting, the Olympics, new cell phones, and TONS of reading.  I don't even remember how many books I read.

I think I'm now ready for all those first graders to enter my classroom.  Can't wait to meet them! :)