Red Truck For Sale!!

The old red truck is finally for sale!! Hopefully we can find her a good home...

http://www.ksl.com/index.php?sid=0&nid=443&tab=list/view&ad=3181865

Telethon

Jaren and I got the opportunity yesterday to volunteer at the Primary Children's Medical Center Telethon. It was such a great experience. We were able to answer phones on their live television broadcast. We were able to see some of the children they treat and hear some of their great stories. Also we got to hear from so many great people who were willing to donate their money to help those who are unable to afford the medical care that their children need. They were able to raise over 2 million dollars. We were there for 3 hours, but it seemed like much shorter. It was a great experience that we will remember for a long time.

Lame...

So...I am sitting here at work, pondering the deeper meanings of life... Ok maybe a little more wishing for 5:30 than pondering. And I realized that for the May has come and went and neither Jaren nor I remembered to celebrate the 3rd anniversary or our very first date. Now I know this sounds lame, but we have done something each of the past two years. And it makes me sad to think not only did we not do anything, but we totally forgot. I think we have officially become lame married people, which is definately something I don't want to be...so I guess I will go wish my cute husband a belated happy 3rd anniversary.

Nothing much...

I have been so bad about updating this blog...I feel like our life isn't exciting enough or that there is nothing to really write about. But I have decided that I need to just do this for me... We have been working hard these last couple of months. We unfortunately we had a miscarriage in January. This has been something that has brought the two of us so much closer. It is our challenges that define us, and bind us together. I have learned to love Jaren even more than ever, and I have been taught once again about the Lord's tender mercies.

We have been hard at work on our house...we are currently working on finishing the family room in our basement, by ourselves (well with my brother-in-law's help.) It has been challenging, but a great experience because we appreciate it so much more doing it ourselves. We are also working on making our yard more aesthetically pleasing...right now there is only grass so there is lots of work to be done.

One of our big achievements was we participated in the first annual HeritageWest CU bike tour, benefiting the We Promise foundation. We didn't make it to the end of the route, but we made it 24 of the 33 miles. I am pretty impressed with us. The route passed by all the branches in Tooele Valley, starting at the Tooele dam, riding down to Grantsville, up to Stansbury and back to Tooele. I am proud of us being able to make it those 24 miles. Plus it has inspired us in our new diet endeavors. Jaren and I are both trying to get in better shape and be more healthy, expecially after Jaren's little health spill in April.

Well I guess that is enough for now. Hopefully this will become a more regular occurence...we will see.

Happy Anniversary

So this is a couple of days late...but I just wanted to make note of this wonderous ocassion. Jaren and I celebrated our second anniversary on Monday. What an amazing two years it has been. It is crazy how time flies when you get to spend every day with your best friend. Jaren and I have grown so much during these two years. We have accomplished so much during these two years, and we are excited to see what wonderful blessings this next year will bring. I will never forget the feeling two years ago sitting in the celestial room just before our sealing...what an amazing moment. I think about it alot and I am so grateful for the gospel and that I get to keep Jaren for not only time, but for all eternity.

I love you Jaren... Thanks for a perfect two years!

Blogging from the phone...

Good morning!!! Just wanted to see if blogging from my phone would work... Maybe I will blog more if it does.

New house!

So I have been really bad about posting on my blog...due to being SUPER busy. But I just thought I'd post that we are buying a house!! CRAZY! I am very excited and very nervous. We will hopefully be all moved in by the end of the month!! YAY!!

Texas & STAR TREK!

So with Jaren's buddy Chase in town we have done a lot this last week. Since his is living in California and only gets out here every couple of months we thoroughly take advantage of his visits. One of the nights we went out to Texas Roadhouse and then went to the new Star Trek movie, which by the way was really good. We had tons of fun...

Mac - Laura - Chase - Jaren - Aubrey

Laura & Aubrey

Cleaning...shooting...and just plain redneckedness...

So two weekends ago Jaren and his buddies decided to do this service project that they have been planning on doing for a long time. The gravel pit where we go shooting has become a dump pit for the lazy people of Tooele County who take junk out there to shoot and then leave it there. There was everything from car windshields, to rubbermaid containers, boxes, pallets, dishwashers, etc. It was awful. So in an effort to keep it from getting closed we decided to give it a little face lift. Now I know this should be the other way, but I have a hard time uploading pictures onto here in the right order.

After

Before

After we did the dirty work we decided to have a little fun and do some shooting. Here are a couple of pictures of Jaren and I shooting his AR-15, his baby. This is Jaren's favorite gun.

After the shooting and everything we ended the day with a big bon-fire to burn a lot of the stuff that was burnable...and to roast marshmallows and such.

So for those of you who are from Grantsville you know how big Prom is. It is the event of the Spring in Grantsville. And the talk of the high school all spring is who is going with who, who is promenading with who, etc. Well the hunt has started earlier today. Prom 2009 hasn't even been over for a month and the girls of the class of 2011 are already on a man hunt. It's a race to ask somebody so you get somebody good before they're all gone.

So about two weeks ago my little brother Josh got asked to Promenade and he has been harassing me to figure out how to answer her, (because of course you have to do something cutesy) and so today when he was in Salt Lake we finally did it.

So here it is...

Part One: Answer her to say YES he would promenade with her.

Part Two: To kill two birds with one stone, Ask her to Prom as well.

Bag #1 Flowers $20.00 Inside is a "corsage" I made out of fake flowers.

Bag #2 Pictures $30.00 Inside the bag is a disposable camera.


Bag # 3 Hot Wheels $100.00 Inside is a hot wheels car.

Bag #4 The big question!

Inside the last one is a picture of Josh giving two thumbs up with a sign that says "Priceless."

This totally reminded me of being in High School, and oh do I not miss it. :)

Well...apparently its still Christmas.

I obviously am not doing too well at this blog stuff. It's still Christmas here on our blog, even though in the real world it is really almost May. Things are still going great with Jaren and I. We have had a great spring. We got to go to Disneyland with the Bracken's for spring break. It is also almost the end of the semester, which is great for me! I am ready for a break! We've gone to Jazz games, played in Mesquite, I've become obsessed with this season of Dancing with the Stars, just lots of exciting (not so much) things in our world!

Me and this blog thing...not great friends...

So I must admit that I am not very good about updating this blog. By the time I get home from work the last thing I want to do is spend more time on the computer. But over the break I am going to try to catch up...

So what's been going on with the Bracken's you might ask...well alot, we've celebrated our first anniversary, been to jazz games, finished another semester of school, sent out missionaries, gone on road trips...so much to talk about and so little time.

One thing we did recently was we went to an autograph session with Kyle Korver after a Jazz game. The deal was you had to bring a child's coat to donate and then you got to get his autograph. So we did. It was tons of fun, the game was good...and we got to see Kyle, which if some of you don't know, he is gorgeous!! Anywho...my loving husband bought the tickets for our anniversary, and sat through the whole thing with me and his sisters. He's such a trooper!!






Isn't he just gorgeous!!!!
Yeah...that's Kyle, signing my shirt!!!

Jaren only wishes he could dunk!!!

Melissa, Leslie & I sporting our true colors!!!

Jaren & I at the game...

2 Weeks and Counting...

I have been an awful blogger. I don't spend any time doing it, but I keep telling myself I am going to be better. But I just wanted to make a special little note here...in exactly two weeks from today Jaren and I will have been married for 1 year. CRAZY!!! I know. It is hard to believe that a year has already flown by. It has been wonderful...and we look forward to many years to come!!!

Random Pictures

Jaren and I have had quite the year. Its crazy to think that it has been one month shy of a year. We have grown together and learned to love each other more and more each day. We have been on tons of adventures. We went to Nevada on vacation for my grandparents missionary farewell, visiting Lake Tahoe, Virginia City, and other interesting sites. This summer we bought season passes to Lagoon, which we thoroughly enjoyed. We "babysat" my little brother while my parents went to Arizona. It has been quite the year. We have made tons of memories and look forward to making even more!!

My First Post

Hi there, Jaren here.

I decided that I like the idea of having this blog, but as couple we're not doing too much to keep it updated and having done absolutely nothing myself, I decided I should try.

Just to update you a little on our lives, nothing much has changed. Aub is cheerfully cutting all sorts of immigrant hair at the SLCC student salon and I continue to break and then fix (most of the time) all things network at HeritageWest Credit Union, which shall be henceforth known on this blog as the H-Dub. Aside from the usual day to day schtuff going on, our lives aren't comprised of much these days. We get up at 6, Aub gets ready and goes to school at 7, and after a heathly dose of Family Guy I get ready and leave sometime before 8. After work/school/whatever else our schedules hold, which isn't much besides Young Men's for me Wednesday nights, Aub and I usually come home, eat dinner, (maybe) clean up around the house a little, catch up on some ER/Ghost Hunters, and then collapse in bed between 9:45 and 10:30. Yeah, thrilling eh? Definitely not the most exciting lifestyle for two young, newlyweds in the big city, but hey we kind of like it and generally enjoy the time we spend together no matter what we're doing. :)

Well that's a good little introduction and a nice place to leave you for now. I hope to be updating this more regularly, so until next time, enjoy this awesome photo of my wonderful wife and I on our wedding day. It's one of my favorites, so I've conveinently placed it in our profile. Over there ->.

Till next time, dis here Karl Malone.

So I have the most wonderful husband in the world, don't tell him that though, it will get to his head.

So I have, get, to go back to school tomorrow. I am very excited, yet a little nervous. Jaren has been telling me for a couple weeks we just need to take a day and go have fun before I go back. Well I procrastinated and didn't do it. I figured there will be time later to do that. But little did I know that Jaren had a little plan worked out already. When we went to bed Sunday night Jaren said to me, What would you say if I told you that I took tomorrow off work. I just said ok, and he followed with, well what would you say if I told you that I took off work tomorrow for you too, and I said well I can't take off work tomorrow, so you didn't. And went to sleep. Well the next morning when Jaren didn't wake up for work, I kinda realized he was telling the truth. We had the entire day to do whatever we wanted! We went to breakfast at IHOP and then went to the Zoo. I haven't been to the zoo in forever!! It was tons of fun!! Amongst his plans Jaren had made reservations at the Castle Creek Inn. So we then went to the inn and spent the night! It was tons of fun, and the room was gorgeous. It was a great way to have one last play day before school started!! Hence the reason my hubby is wonderful!!

New Job, New School Year...So much fun!!

The summer has just flown by. I was thinking this morning and nearly panicked when I realized that I go back to school in a week. It is crazy how quickly it has gone. I am ready to be going back to school and to be able to have more stuff to fill my time. I am also starting a new job on September 2nd. So it will just be an exciting time. YAY!!

Mini Golf...no bueno...

Jaren and I went to Lagoon last night with a buddy of his, Mac. We bought season tickets so we have already been a couple of times this year, and have really enjoyed it. We have decided that we want to start doing some things besides just the rides each time we go. So we decided to mini golf. Well let me tell you that was quite the experience. There were four of us, Me-Jaren-Mac-and Miranda (Mac's little sis). And we, to put it nicely, suck!! But it was quite the experience. It was probably 9:00pm and getting pretty dark outside, which didn't help us. In the end we had a lot of fun, but all of us finished 10 or 15 over par.

Jaren's (early) Birthday

Well...since I will be playing mom for Josh next weekend on Jaren's birthday, I decided to surprise Jaren and celebrate his birthday a week early. So when he came home there was a note on the door written on fake bills saying that we were going to be rolling with the big spender's to celebrate his birthday a little early. We went to Ruth's Chris Steakhouse. It was delicious. The atmosphere is pretty cool, and the food was really good.

Well, here we go. The first blog. Lacey suggested that I start a blog, and Jaren agreed. So here it is. Jaren and I have now been married for over 8 months. It is crazy to think that it has been that long. It seems like time has just flown. It has been a crazy 8 months!! Being married is definately an adventure. But marrying my best friend was the best thing I ever did!