My sister.

We may be opposites in some things....I tend to be a quite the pushover. Amber...well, she has more courage than anyone I know, even though she may not see it. And....if you think I'm funny (which...of course I'm practically a comedian).....she can have me dying on the floor laughing in a matter of seconds. I'm talking record breaking. 

Not to mention, if you have ever been around Amber, you know she has a knack for thinking up some of the most bizarre words that you can't help but love. And food combinations? I can't even get started with that one. I'll just leave that at the words....hot tamales and cheese wiz.

She's eccentric. An amazing cook. Beautiful. Selfless. An incredible mom. And apologizes way too much. She gives everything for her family. She can make my cheeks go red in the flash of a second. She is my main source for what's going on in the world. Above all though...she's my best friend, and she's always helped me to feel like I could conquer the world, no matter what I was facing. 

Happy Birthday my dear! When most people would have tried to ditch their un-cool little sister....thanks for keeping me in tow. And even though we currently have a gap of 573 miles....thanks for always being there for me. I have no doubt that Heavenly Father knew how much I was going to need you! 

Here is to the big 2-4! 

When I grow up, I hope to be a little more like you!

I just had to include this one! I have no doubts they're just as grateful for you!

June already?

Wow, how did that happen! Sometimes it definitely seems like you blink and suddenly a couple months have gone by! I can't believe it's already the middle of June!

Life has been going pretty well here in the Land of Vegas, just keeping up with the rush of school and work. I realize more and more frequently how blessed we truly are living here. I also daily remind myself how wondrous air conditioning is (props to you pioneers for living without it!).

In the past month....We both celebrated our birthdays (I've finally legally enter adulthood..whooo!) We've spent lots of time traveling in the car. Date nights. Finishing school....only to start up summer semester. A new promotion at work. A trip to Utah. And beginning to grow accustomed to a desert heated summer. Instead of writing a long monologue of all of the great things we've been up to the past month, here are some pictures to enjoy!

I'm still happily married to this dream boat. All geared up for Iron Man!

 Best movie watching experience ever. I could have slept in those seats!

Date night! Ice cream and air plane watching!

 Oh how we've missed Utah! Green mountains!!

 We absolutely loved spending time with family (especially endless games of tag!  However....in those moments.....we forgot to take pictures! So...this is the scenic portion of our Utah trip.

Next lead role for James Bond. 

Meet Jordan. She's incredible! One of our greatest friends down here!

We're really great at loosing our sunglasses. That's ok...bring it on scorching sun.

Also, a big shout out to our family....for everything they've helped us to do. Even when it's just a simple phone call from hours away. We love you guys! As for the summer.....it's here whether I'm ready or not!

Hall of Fame-ers...

I should currently be writing one of those...."All about me and why you should think I'm really cool" essays... however....I've reached a brain block. I'm beginning to think my writing skills are a little fried...or maybe on a long hiatus.

So, in an effort to help me reflect on my great life accomplishments, I thought I would share the inside scoop of our current claim to fame.

After a long day of studying (on David's part of course), we took a mental break and drove to one of the hidden gems of Las Vegas: The Pinball Hall of Fame. Intrigued already? You should be. This place has more "old-school" arcade games and pinball machines then you can imagine! All of which you can play for the mere price of a quarter....or two.

So there we are.....in a riveting game of Looney Tunes Adventure, pinball style, when all of a sudden....we lost our last ball. Just when all hope was lost.....we realized.....we made the high score list!!

That's right, we're currently the 4th place holders of Looney Tunes Adventure. By now, your jaws may be dropping with amazement. I know, it's an incredible feat. We are Hall of Fame-ers. What more could one want out of life?

Maybe I should include that in my essay. After all, what could possibly be more impressive!

A Lining of Good...

I feel like the past two weeks I have been so absorbed in the news. I find my self fascinated, shocked, nervous, and sad with each different story I read.

It's true. There are a lot of terrible things that have happened, happening and will happen in our world today. There are people who do cruel things, people who hate, and people filled with anger. There are families left fatherless, homes left in ruin and children who never again come home. In that light, it seems like we're living in a world of heartache.

In reading countless news stories, I find that it's almost like walking with blinders on. Tragedy strikes...and it seems like the focus is placed on the horror of the incident. I've seen facebook posts, news tweets and various blog posts about the "loss of humanity and hope" of our generation... Or articles titled "Will Such and Such recover from these dire circumstances?" (The news tends to use words other than Such and Such of course).

What the news and media often fails to include is the immense amount of good that we have in this world. It's not just suddenly our generation that is facing tragedies or wars or the effects of mother nature. People have been overcoming adversity for thousands of years. They just didn't have facebook to post about it.

The reason I have become fascinated with these stories, is because I can see the outlining of good in so many. I see people with lives and families of their own sacrificing everything for a mere stranger. I see people with a variety of background coming together and finding strength through each other. There are so many acts of pure kindness and even miracles through tragedy.

So my opinion? We live in a world full of good. True, there are many horrible happenings in our world. But through the right light, the good will always be greater. In a woman's conference I went to a couple months ago, they brought up the tragedy of the Provo, UT Tabernacle burning down. It was heartbreaking to thousands to see such a historic building destroyed. Yet, out of the ashes of destruction came something even better. A Temple. 

Will Boston Find Peace? Will China Overcome? Will Texas Recover? Yes. Undoubtedly. Because that is what hope and love can do. It can take the hardest of circumstances and turn it into something even greater.

Hopefully you've stayed reading long enough to get to this point. Here is a pretty incredible story that sums up almost exactly how I feel:

How a 7-year old Renewed My Faith in Humanity
(Click that link to go to the story).

Tourists....

It's been a few weeks since we have actually spent a weekend here in Vegas (literally). So how did we decide to spend it? We took an adventure to the Hoover Dam!

Little did we know that people travel across the country to witness such incredibly dammed water....We met a couple who had traveled from the great state of cheese (Wisconsin) simply to see it. To think we live here and were just barely visiting it.....

You know you've had a great day when you come home and accidentally take a 4 hour nap. All in all, I loved it!

 Quirky...funny....handsome.....No wonder I love him!

He even picked me some flowers! Am I still a hopeless romantic for such things? You better believe it.

Hooray for April!

Well....after just about a full month of being sick, David has finally rejoined the world of the healthy! I'm still feeling pretty ecstatic about that. March was a little rough....for the both of us....but especially for Mr. Brown. I think a few virus strains....and bacteria strains got together and decided to rage a full war on him smack during the middle of his mid-terms....

However, through it all....he was quite the champ. I don't think he even complained. And tackled each mid-term. Take that sickness.

The past week has been perfect. David had spring break, so we decided to take a trip to the great state of Colorado! Before kicking off our trip, one of the nicest couples in our ward gave us their tickets to go see Shrek the Musical. Talk about incredible! We both loved it....the set, costumes, acting, music....it was all amazing. Times twenty.

Then we got to spend the weekend with my sister and her family. The long drive was worth it, it was so good to see them! After countless coloring pages, Mariokart, and watching some Ninja Turtles, David instantly won over the hearts of my nieces and nephew...(don't worry....I'm still holding the title for favorite aunt!)

Our adventure didn't end there! We are lucky to live semi close to family, and were able to spend Easter with them. My eyes were opened to true, competitive Easter basket hiding. David and Christian have quite the battle going for Master Easter Basket Hider. It was pretty funny to watch. I loved being able to spend the weekend with them.

Most of all right now, I am just feeling so grateful. Grateful to have good health, a new month, wonderful family, and grass green enough to wiggle your toes in. (It's currently like summer here in the land of Vegas). Not to mention that conference is this weekend!

In an effort to keep my rambles short....here are a handful of pictures!

After the play!

This picture doesn't even do it justice, but that indeed is a life-size dragon! 

The drive.....after 5 and 1/2 hours....we needed to take a break.

The scenery was amazing! But alas, you get to see our faces instead.

Saying good-bye... I loved seeing them!

They've grown so much! My little mini me turns 3 today!

Rusty taking us out for a ride...We went from the 80's in Vegas, to snowing in Colorado 

Back home! How did we celebrate saying goodbye to March? Eating ice cream of course! Before dinner. We're quite the rebels.