The Happy Little Family

Once upon a time, there lived a boy and a girl in a magical little town called Springville, UT. They loved each other VERY much and decided to start trying to have a baby. They had some complications last year and had to wait A WHOLE YEAR to start trying again, but they were very patient and really enjoyed the extra year they had to spend with one another.

On June 5, 2009, something miraculous happened and three and a half weeks later they discovered they were pregnant! Now she's ten and half weeks along, has had three ultrasounds, all indicating that it's a viable and very healthy pregnancy, and everyone in the land is SO happy for them! The boy, Russ, is especially excited to be a daddy and is having so much fun with the whole process. The girl, Brie, has been extremely lucky in that she really hasn't been sick at all and has really enjoyed being pregnant. The time has already flown by so quickly that by February 26, 2010, they'll be wondering where their alone time went! :)

Grandma Smith, Brie's mom, has already gone crazy with the preparations and is buying everything baby that she can get her hands on... and Russ and Brie ARE NOT complaining in the least! Both sides of their family are super excited, especially Brie's side since this will be the first niece/nephew/grandchild in her family, and Russ's family is all hoping that they have the first boy. Russ is the only link to the Schafer name, so if they don't have a boy, the Schafer name dies... no pressure, though. :) Russ and Brie will be excited and grateful for either. Actually, on the second ultrasound, the tech couldn't decided if there were twins, but two weeks later it was confirmed that it was only one. Whew!!!! Brie was incredibly relieved.

Now that they have a baby on the way and it's far enough along to tell everyone, they're finally making it public. They are so happy to finally be able to add a new member to their family and can't wait until February. It'll be one of the best days of their lives... if Russ can stay coherent and not pass out when the baby's born. He has a tendency to get nauseous and dizzy and almost pass out when it comes to things like this, so we're praying that Daddy can be there... the WHOLE time. Brie's confident that he can and will do everything in her power to make it as easy as possible for him.

It's not "The End", but a To Be Continued.... :)

Oh my goodness, you guys... Has it been forever or what?? I'm so sorry! It's all Russ' fault! ha ha ha! Just kidding! Our computer has been way lame lately and won't upload any of our pictures from our camera, and who wants to read a post without pictures? I don't! I have a few from September and October, but after that... well, you'll just have to wait. :)

OK, so this is kind of going to be a throwup post from the last 5 months or so... Ok! Here goes!

I got a new job, as most of you know, back in September at a physical therapy office in Lindon and I really like it! I don't have to sit down at a desk for 8 hours a day, which is absolutely perfect, and I get to interact with a ton of different people on a daily basis, which is a blast! I've really enjoyed working there and it's been good for me to do something other than nanny. That was a fun job, as well, but it was time to go. Russ is still really enjoying his job at The Red-X, as well. He's been doing AWESOME these last few weeks and the larger paychecks have been SO nice! He works hard and I appreciate it so much. He's working fulltime PLUS going to school... He really is Superman! :)

Ok, so Halloween was fun! We went up to Brittany and Tyler's and had a blast carving some pretty interesting pumpkins! I've gotta say that Brittany's was DEFINITELY the funniest pumpkin I've ever seen! Hers is the goofy looking one on the far left. We also went to our ward Halloween party and it was actually really fun! The Activities Committee in our ward did a fabulous job and I must say that my chili/taco soup was the best one there! :) (Or so I like to think, anyway!)

Then we went to a Dashboard, Panic At the Disco and Plain White Tees concert and it was so fun!












And then it was Thanksgiving, which we spent in WA with my family. It was the first time in 4 years, since my parents' divorce, that my dad has had all 7 of us kids with him for a holiday, so it was pretty awesome for everyone. :) We drove up there and back, which was SO MUCH FUN! Ok... no it wasn't, but it was better than paying for flights for 8 people, so we got over it. I have a ton of fun pictures, but our computer still isn't working with our camera, so I'll have to post those as soon as I can.

Christmas was spent in CA with Russ' family and we had a lot of fun. It was surprisingly really relaxing with all of the people in the house, so that was good. :) Robin, Russ' mom, always makes everything beautiful, so Christmas was really nice. We got a ton of presents, our favorite family one being our Food Saver! We LOVE it! I've been stressing about food storage a lot lately, so I was way excited when we opened that. Russ got me a ton of clothes (that I picked out!) and a pair of really cute brown boots (again, that I picked out!), so that was fun! I got him a baseball glove since he lost his a couple of years ago, and I swear it was like watching a little boy with his first glove! It was so cute! He wouldn't stop playing with it, so I was glad that I got him something that he really liked. And, of course, we got money from Meme and Grammy that was very appreciated! Money's always nice. :)

New Year's was a blur... we were busy moving into our new condo in Springville between Christmas break and New Year's, which wasn't the most fun thing in the world, especially since it had been snowing/was snowing. But it's over now and we like our new place. Our new ward is great and we've really enjoyed it! We've already made some great new friends and are looking forward to making more! We (mostly me) miss Wymount, mostly the people, but are glad we're here. And we live right off the freeway, so no more Utah lights and traffic and all of the crowdedness (yes, that's a word... in my dictionary, anyway!).

All in all, it's been a great couple of months and we're looking forward to the rest of the year. Russ keeps telling me that it's going to be a great year for us, so I'm excited to see what it has in store for us. I just can't believe we're already in March pretty much! Craziness! This year is going to fly by!

Again, sorry I don't have any pictures... I'm working on it, so stay posted for those! And I promise I'll post more often! Jeeze, Kelsie! ha ha ha! We love you all and hope you're all doing great, as well!

Love, The Schafer's

The 5th Season of "The Office" Is Almost Here!!!

For all of you who are "Office" fans like Russ and I, you'd know that we're only a week away from the season premier for the 5th season!! We can hardly wait! We just finished watching all of season 4 on DVD about a week ago, so it's been almost agonizing waiting this long! It's crazy how addicting this show is... it took us a while to get into it, but 64 episodes and 100 Dundees later, WE'RE ADDICTED!! We can't wait to find out what happens with Angela and Dwight and Andy, Michael and Jan and Holly, Jim and Pam, Ryan "The Jailbird" and Kevin "The Retard"... it's going to be AWESOME!! It starts at 9pm on NBC next Thursday. :)
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Michael Scott: Myth: Three Americans every year die from rabies. Fact: Four Americans every year die from rabies.

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[Michael gives Pam his jacket]

Pam Beesly: Oh, thank you.
Michael Scott: You're welcome.
[long pause]
Jan: I'm so, so sorry for the temperature in here. The, uh, sliding glass door shattered. It's actually a really cute story. Do you wanna tell it babe or should I tell it?
Michael Scott: I don't like that story, babe.
Jan: Come on! It's a cute story. Michael ran through the sliding glass door because he thought he heard the ice cream truck.
Michael Scott: Stop! Stop it! I mean.. I like ice cream, ok? Sue me! Oh- no, don't! I shouldn't say that jokingly because she will sue me. She loves to sue! She loves lawsuits. You know, honey, that door was extremely clean, and it looked invisible.
Jan: You are so right. You are SO right! Because before I lived here the glass was always covered with smudges and- and I moved in and I cleaned it and I guess that makes me the devil!
Michael Scott: [laughing hysterically] You are! She is! She is the devil! I'm in hell! I'm burning! Help me!
Angela: You shouldn't joke about that.

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Michael Scott: I am downloading some N3P music--
Jim Halpert: [quickly] That's not it. Yep?
Michael Scott: --for a CD mix tape--
Jim Halpert: Close.
Michael Scott: --for Holly. And I am looking for perfect songs that work on two levels.
Jim Halpert: What are the two levels?
Michael Scott: The two levels being, welcome to Scranton and I love you.

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Dwight Schrute: So what do we know about her?
Michael Scott: Well.. we know that Toby thinks she'll be great. So strike one, I hate her already.
Dwight Schrute: I hate her too.
Michael Scott: Why do you hate her?
Dwight Schrute: Because she... stinks. With her... ways. And her... head.
Michael Scott: You know Dwight sometimes... I dunno... I think you say things just to agree with me.
Dwight Schrute: Would that be such a bad thing?
Michael Scott: Yeah, it would! Just have a thought! Have an original thought! [pause] Although I will agree that her head is weird.

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Michael Scott: Thanks to Toby I have a very strong prejudice against Human Resources. I believe that the department is a breeding ground for monsters. What I failed to consider, though, is that not all monsters are bad. Like ET. Is Holly our extra-terrestrial? Maybe. Or maybe she's just an awesome woman from this planet.
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	[talking about Toby's going away party]
Pam Beesly:	You mean leaves as in dies? You want us to throw Toby a New Orleans funeral?
Michael Scott:	If the devil were to explode and evil were gone forever what sort of party would you have?

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Michael Scott: Today is Toby Flenderson's last day. I couldn't sleep last night. [cuts to clips of Michael dancing around the empty office] I came in extra early, so much energy. There's certain days that you know you will remember for the rest of your life. And I just have a feeling that today is one of those days.

Our Sea World/ San Diego Trip!!

I cannot even begin to tell you how long I've dreamed of going to Sea World and it's FINALLY happened! Russ and I got to go to San Diego for the weekend and we had a blast! We spent ALL day at Sea World... we got to see the Shamu Show, the Dolphin Show, the belugas, the penguins, the polar bear, the Busch-Anheuser Beer Clydesdale horses :), and everything in between. It was one of the most perfect days of my life! I still get goosebumps thinking about it! And Russ was such a sweetheart that day (not like he isn't everyday!) and went to every exhibit I wanted to go to. He really is the World's Greatest Husband!

All of was amazing. However, we're just getting to the best part... I got to be in the water with the dolphins that day!! At 4:00 that evening, I was able to get in the water with a dolphin named Maggie (she was so adorable!) and do tricks, hug her, kiss her, walk with her, AND dance with her! It was by far the coolest thing I've ever done in my life and the fulfillment of a life-long dream. It was awesome! Again, still get goosebumps just thinking about it! I can't thank Russ enough for this birthday present... the best present EVER! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!!!

We also got to stay at a beachfront hotel right on Pacific Beach in San Diego. It was so nice! We were super tired on Saturday after Sea World, so we checked in to our hotel, went and got some Taco Bell for dinner and to the grocery store for some breakfast for the next morning, headed back to the hotel and watched a whole DVD disc of the 4th season of The Office. What a great way to top of a perfect day, right?? ha ha ha! The next morning we got ready and went for a long walk on the beach, which again, was perfect. Pacific Beach is so pretty! It was so warm, but with the breeze off the ocean, it was great!

Before heading back to the airport, we had to stop and see the San Diego Temple. This temple is, in my opinion, one of the most gorgeous temples ever built. It's breathtaking! You can't help but wonder at that temple and how beautiful it is! We walked around it for a while and took a bunch of pictures (for other families, too, so that was fun! One was even from Orem, UT! Small world!) and then headed to his sister Reilly's house to say our goodbyes to his family.

This, by far, was the greatest birthday I've ever had! If any of you has not been to Sea World, you need to go! Even if you're not a marine freak like I am, it's incredible and you'll love it... trust me! Russ and I had so much fun! I can't wait to go there again someday... maybe y'all can come see me when I'm one of the trainers there! :) That's also been a life-long dream of mine, and since most of my dreams have been coming true lately, maybe that one will too. :)

Check out these videos!

Disneyland and My 24th Birthday!!

I've been so spoiled this summer... Russ and I have been up to Washington for a week, to California for 5 days, and I just got back from Disneyland where I spent 4 days with the Mills family (the family I nanny for). This summer has been a blast!! And there's a surprise trip in a couple of weeks! I'm not giving it away until the end of this post, so you'd better read on. :)

As you can see, this year's theme at Disneyland is "A Year of a Million Dreams". What a fitting theme! This year has been amazing for Russ and I and we've been so blessed in a more ways than I can count. He's been extremely blessed in this new job of his and I've been blessed with my calling of being Relief Society President, as well as my job. We've been married for almost 2 years now (crazy!!) and are loving every minute of it! The Mills have been so good to us and I was really lucky to get to go with them. Our trip was a blast!

Me and the girlies on Disneyland's Main Street

Beauty and the Beast: My favorite!

We got to see all of the characters and Kenzie (the 9-year-old) and I went on almost every ride there was. We got passes to California Adventures, as well, and they have so many new, fun rides! Our new favorite is the Toy Story ride... it sounds way cheesy, but it's awesome! If any of you have ever been on the Buzz Lightyear ride in Disneyland, you'd LOVE this one! You put on 3-D glasses and shoot things. The next time any of you go there, be sure to check it out! Also, there's a new inter tube/rafting ride that gets you SOAKED, but it's so fun! Haley (the 8-year-old) wouldn't go on any of the crazy rides with Kenzie and I, so most of the time Kenz and I just split up and did our own thing, which was fine by me! I also got sung to at Goofy's Kitchen by all of the characters and staff, which was hilarious, and of course, I loved it! It was definitely more of a vacation than I thought it was going to be, other than I was away from Russ for 4 whole days. :(

The Girls and I on the Toy Story ride

Goofy singing "Happy Birthday" to me!

Which brings me to my next story.... MY 24th BIRTHDAY!! It's so weird to say that I'm in my mid-twenties now... I'm so old! lol We flew home from Disneyland on my birthday and I got a "Happy Birthday to Brie Schafer" over the intercom on the plane ride home!! :) I was so anxious to see Russ, so I had Russ come pick me up from the Mills' house. I was so excited to see him! We drove home and when I walked in our house, Russ had decorated it like a pro! He had streamers, balloons, each present wrapped carefully, and he even made a cake!! It was perfect! I seriously have the best husband in the world... I don't care what anybody else says, it's true. :)

My cute birthday presents and decorations!!

Me and my cute Russ before my birthday dinner

We went to dinner at Tuscanos first, and then came back home to have our own little birthday celebration. I was dying to open my presents!! My first present was long-shaped and when I opened it, I couldn't help but bust up laughing! He bought me a light-up wand because I'm his "princess" and it was MY special day. :) My second present, which was in a slightly bigger box, had a bunch of newspaper and at the bottoms, a box of chocolates. My third present, which was in a bigger box than the second, also had a bunch of newspaper and a pack of gum and a tube of Carmex at the bottom. Now, if you were me and you saw that you had ONE present left, and again, it's bigger than the rest of the previous presents, what would be going through your mind at that point? I'll tell you what went through mine: all right... I've got a wand, a box of chocolates, a pack of gum and a tube of Carmex. All of these boxes are pretty big, but they have these tiny, weird presents in them, so I'm assuming that the next one, again, has a bunch of newspaper in it with a rinky-dinky present in it, just to fake me out. To be honest, I knew he was saving the best for last and that he had something up his sleeve (he's notorious for doing stuff like this), but I couldn't for the life of me figure out what it could be. I even shook the present and NOTHING shook or rattled... great.

Russ, at this point, looked as though he was going to burst out of his seat at any moment, so as I unwrapped the present and took out ALL of the newspaper, to my surprise, there was a large manilla envelope at the very bottom that read, "Happy Birthday Brie. Love, Russ". I took it out and opened it and there were three pages inside. The first one was a confirmation page for two flights to LAX. I looked at Russ with this really confused look on my face and asked, "What's this?" He patiently told me to look at the next page, but the second page stuck to the first one, so I looked at the third page first and it was a large picture of a hotel on the beach. I was getting even more excited and just thought that we were going back to CA for a nice getaway trip before school started, but to my utter amazement and pure joy I realized that there was a middle page, and as I looked at it and realized what I was, I couldn't believe it!!! He got us tickets to go to Sea World in San Diego, and not only that, he got me a 2 hour swim with the dolphins!!!!!!!!

I'm so surprised with my present to Sea World!

AAAAHHHHHH!!!! For those of you who know me well, you know that I've been obsessed with whales and dolphins since I was a little girl. I've ALWAYS wanted to do this, but I've just never had the chance to, and my sweet, sweet Russ knew that and got me the present of my life! I honestly couldn't ask for anything better!

My Sea World Present that Russ put together for me

We'll be gone from September 5-7 and we're staying at a beach literally right on the beach! It's going to be the best trip ever! :) I'll definitely post again as soon as we get back from that! Hopefully I'll have a video of me swimming with them so you can all see it. I'm so excited!!! And thank you to all of our family for helping out! We love you!! (Especially me right now!)

Thanking my wonderful husband for all of the awesome
presents and for the best birthday EVER!!!

California Trip!!

We had a FABULOUS vacation in California this July with Russ' family! We were able to spend a whole day at Pismo Beach which is always one of my favorite parts of the trip because I miss the ocean! We're not pro surfers yet, but it's still way fun! Just being able to hang out on the beach is enough, right? :) We had boogie boards, too, so just riding the waves was awesome. And then eating at the famous Splash with their yummy clam chowder to end the day... It was PERFECT!

We also got to go see Meme (Russ' grandma) and Grammy (his 98-year-old great grandmother) up in Fresno for the afternoon. Meme made us all sing to the Nursing Home residents... so much fun, especially since I knew NONE of the songs!!... but they loved it, so it was more than worth it. Grammy had to ask us who we were about 5 times, but she's the sweetest thing in the world and we all just love her!

Saturday was the funnest day... for Russ and his dad, anyway. We went down to LA to the Dodger's game and Russ was like a kid in a candy shop! We were 4 rows back from the field, right behind 3rd base, and I swear Russ could have had a heart attack if he got any more excited. lol No, but seriously. :) We won, of course, and that totally topped off the night. (Even though they didn't have my churros at the game! Who doesn't have churros at a baseball game??)

We left on Sunday and didn't want to. :( It was a fun-filled vacation and we can't wait to go back in December for Christmas!!

From the Beginning

We met in the Spring of 2006 and, although Russ thought he was sly and clever at playing "hard-to-get", I had a few tricks of my own. :) It took a while for him to ask me out, let alone get my number, but when we finally did go out, there was no turning back. We dated for about 4 1/2 months before he purposed on Sept. 8 and were married on December 23, 2006 in the Salt Lake Temple on a gorgeous morning with fresh snow on the ground, which made it perfect for pictures! We moved right in to Wymount Terrace, right up the street from BYU and literally right across from the Provo temple, and we love it here! We've made so many friends and love the atmosphere. We love to hop the fence (try doing THAT in a dress!) and take long walks around the temple, or go to one of the nearby parks and star gaze (tribute to our first date... cheesy, huh?).

Since we've been married, we've been on a ton of fun trips to WA and CA (where we're from) and are always planning on our next one. I come from a family of nine and Russ comes from a family of 7, so we're super close to our families and try to spend as much time as possible with each. Holidays are always an adventure! :) We love it, though, and wouldn't trade it for the world.

We love being married... we think it's the best thing in the world. No more long goodbyes at the door, no more having to driving home at nights wishing you didn't have to, or super-long nights with no sleep because you don't want to leave each other and barely functioning the next day because of it! It's so nice to come HOME to EACH OTHER! Marriage is AWESOME!!! :)