Best Christmas Gift on the Block

Ok, maybe its not the BEST but hey, its affordable and very cute! I've set up a blog where I'm going to be selling flower headbands and clips. They are handmade by yours truly and each one is unique. Feel free to check out the blog & if you'd like a custom one...like specific colors or what not, I'm all up for making something that you'd love! :) And feel free to spread the word to your friends and so on so forth :)

http://brooke-sweetnsimple.blogspot.com/

here's a quick sample of what they look like:

(this size of headband will fit a child as well. I normally will just put one

flower for a child headband but I can make smaller flowers if you'd still like two)

Weather Girl!!

Guess what? I got it! Ok well not all of it but its coming along. I just want to show you some maps that I can understand now. HAZZAH!! Today we were forecasting for VA and some other states & my teacher made the comment of "How cool is this?! You're forecasting!" My reply was, "Yes, but it hurts my head!" haha. Its good to know that my brain is growing.

This map shows the warm front, cold front, an occluded front, the current weather conditions, the air pressure, the current wind speeds and direction. YAY that's right. All in this map!

Ok...this map basically shows similar things as the previous map BUT I just wanted to add it because...whelp it looks nifty.

Ok, you see this bad boy well...I drew a map like this today in my class. Holy hannah it was beasty! Just look and admire. You can see the air pressure, wind direction and speed, the dew point, and temperature.

Its definitely not art though...its a weather map :)

Weather Women here I come!

Its that time of year again

I am a HUGE fan of Fall.

Maybe that's a biased opinion because my birthday is in October but STILL!

I love it.

The crisp air

the crunch of the leaves as I stomp on them on the way to the bus

Having a plethora of candy corn

racking leaves & then jumping in them

wearing scarfs to school to keep my neck warm

the smell of autumn

handing out candy on Halloween

watching the Charlie Brown Halloween movie

admiring the beautiful mountains whenever I'm driving

eating squash

AND MOST OF ALL...

carving pumpkins!

Look at the amazing colors these trees have. Gorgeous.

In a few weeks I'll be racking some of these leaves into a pile.

Its weird to think I'm 22. The last year has been such a blast!

I'm excited for what awaits this year.

And my birthday couldn't have been better.

My mom made a delicious dinner,

I got rain boots, an insulated mug and the new David Archuleta CD

AND THEN...

my mom made me a very yummy neapolitan cake.

After that my family played Mario Party together and had some good laughs.

Seriously what more could a girl ask for?

I love my family.

Its All Happening At The Zoo

Labor Day has now come and gone.

It was such a great day because...

WE WENT TO THE ZOO!

The photo on the left are some Fruit Bats. The employee made sure that none of us had eaten fruit in the last few hours before we entered their exhibit. Come to find out, Skyler had but luckily the bats didn't notice. Also, above is a picture of a Rhino. We definitely got an up close & personal look with this Rhino. Luckily for us, there was a

glass window separating our communication.

Then while going through the zoo we found these nifty Chinese hats.

It was a must that we got a photo with these amazing hats.

Just disregard that my face is rather white due to the sun. haha.

But I dare say we look quite lovely. We were so ready for some Chinese food, more specifically some chow mein. Oh we craved that all afternoon. I blame the hats for reminding us of some fabulous food.

We just loved the zoo and seeing the wide variety of animals.

If this video works, you'll see the best singing monkey I think I have ever seen.

I could have watched this monkey for hours.

Then the very best part of the trip was seeing Zuri, the baby elephant. She has such a spunky personality. For example. The picture above is of her trying to sit in a garbage container. She was funny to watch because her trunk is too big for her to handle so she'd trip over herself and just sway as she would walk. haha.

By the end of the day I thought of the song by

Simon & Garfunkel "At The Zoo"

So enjoy some of their great music. Man, I have missed them in my life.

After the zoo we went to the Stewart's house for a BBQ &

it was great to spend time with my family.

Another great Labor Day has come and gone. Until next year...

Swiss Days and More

Today was a life changing day.

I went to Swiss Days with

my mom, my Aunt Vicky, my Aunt Bonnie & my cousins Haley, Shyanne, Tawnya & Shontel. It was definitely a girls day to say the least. :)

Swiss Days is held up in Heber City which is kind of near Kamas

(where Oakcrest is located)

so I LOVED visiting Heber for the day with my family.

There was a lot of cute crafts and here are some of the things I bought:

These headbands tie in the back and they are SO cute!

I told the lady that created these headbands that it was a brilliant idea.

If I can figure out how to make the roses then I could make

some of these nifty headbands.

We'll see...

Now this flower clip is SO neat. Guess what its made from? Go ahead, Guess!

Its made from pop cans!

Its such a great idea as well. Seriously people are so inventive these days.

AND speaking of inventive....I've been in a crafty mood lately

and here are some of the things I've made/refreshed:

#1

I bought this white board back in 2008 for Oakcrest.

After Oakcrest I never really used it because well...

the markers would never erase very well.

It has sat in my room for the past 2 years & finally I decided

that I wanted to turn it into a memo board SO...

after using modge podge, ribbon, clothes pins, and paper

I have a MEMO BOARD!

#2

Now I won't take the credit for thinking up this nifty headband.

My cousin Haley has a headband like this and I really liked the idea

so I came home & the next day, wa-la I have a new headband.

I made it out of a shirt, a bandanna & a headband.

It adds a fun, spunky taste to my attire.

#3

Now I don't know what it is about me & headbands lately BUT

I thought about this idea one day so I came home and whipped out a few.

Its just those old-fashioned headbands made from cotton fabric

with buttons hot glued on the side.

These are fun to wear, especially when I just want my hair out of my face.

I can't wait to go to Swiss Days next year and see some

more cute ideas from very creative ladies.

A New Page Has Now... BEGUN!

I now have a new school & a new adventure.

Since I graduated this past May from SLCC (which I will always love) I decided to transfer to UVU for my Bachelors Degree. I will be going into Deaf Studies, hopefully certify as a state interpreter and then who knows what from there. Yesterday was my first day and man oh man

the campus is HUMONGOUS!

I think I asked 20 people for directions.

And don't worry, I carried around my map the WHOLE day.

Some highlights are as follows:

*Got a FREE Institute shirt

*Ran into a couple of friends from High School

*Signed up for a few committees at the Institute

*Met new people in my classes

*Caught my bus with no sweat because it came 40 mins LATE.

*Decided that I'm going to pack a pillow so I can sleep on the bus

on my way home.

*My teachers are SO friendly and approachable. That's a relieve.

*I admired the glass elevator in the Business Building. its SAWEET!

SO...

now my blonde story of my first day of school goes like this,

I go to my meteorology class. I'm super excited to learn about the stars and how to find specific stars when I go stargazing. The teacher asks us to get into groups and write down why we want to take this class. The whole time I'm thinking about the stars. stars, stars, stars. I LOVE the stars. Then as she starts asking for answers I notice that everyone is relating it to the weather. THEN...it hits me.

Meteorology isn't about STARS....its about the WEATHER!! duh!

I'm still excited and GUESS WHAT?!

By the end of the semester I'll be able to look at a photo

(similar to the one below)

and tell you what is exactly happening.

That's right, I'm going to become a WEATHER WOMAN!!

This will become my new home.

This is the UVU Institute of Religion.

I'm taking 2 classes here this semester & I love it so far!

The teachers that I have met thus far are SO nice!!

But my goodness its HUGE! To put it into perspective for you,

I'll give you this following stat:

SLCC's institute had roughly 1,800 people last semester

AND...

UVU's institute had about 6,000 people!!

Let's pray I don't get lost too many times.

My Sweet Cousins

I love these girls so much & GUESS WHAT?! They are starting college this week! I'm so excited for both of them & know they will do great!! You know why?! Because they are my cousins! Shyanne (the one of the left) is going to Snow College & Amanda (obviously on the right) is going to BYU.

I thought I'd share some flashback photos of these beautiful girls with you:

I've been talking to both of them about how they feel about college and man I remember being in their shoes just a little bit ago. I remember feeling everything such as:

• All my friends are all moving away.
• I'm the only one living at home.
• I don't want to replace my high school friends.
• I'm scared for the homework load that college will bring.
• I don't know anyone going to my school.
• How do college students even act?!
• What if I get lost on campus?
• My guy friends leaving on missions and they'll be gone for 2 whole years!

And the list could go on & on. BUT now that I've been in college for 3 years I realize that college is FUN!!! Here's my 2 cents for some of my favorite cousins:

• Don't be afraid to meet new people!
• You will always have your high school best friends, don't worry! They will return to visit or you can visit them :)
• Read your textbooks & study to the best of your ability.
• Don't let the homework load get you down. YOU CAN DO IT!
• Don't be afraid of your professors. Deep down they really want you to succeed. So feel free to talk to them.
• Get involved at school. Go to dances, activities, tailgates, etc.
• Be yourself! You don't have to be a serious college student. Its ok to have fun! :)

There you have it. If you need help with ANYTHING, you know my number. I love you girls!