The Close of 2014

Friends & Family,

 So... As we conclude this year, I wanted to show you a slideshow I made for Michael for our anniversary. (3 years baby! and still in love!)

<iframe src="//player.vimeo.com/video/115520227" width="500" height="281" frameborder="0" webkitallowfullscreen mozallowfullscreen allowfullscreen></iframe> <p><a href="http://vimeo.com/115520227">2014!</a> from <a href="http://vimeo.com/user24731093">Haley Brooks</a> on <a href="https://vimeo.com">Vimeo</a>.</p>

Also, just in case you never got our Christmas Letter:

 Dear Friends & Family,

Though we haven't been the greatest at staying in touch, we think of you often and hope you and your families are well and happy this holiday season. We've been well and wanted to give everyone an update on our little family, and wish you a Merry Christmas!

Michael graduated from BYU with a degree in Exercise and Wellness. He also certified as a Personal Trainer, and a Health Fitness Specialist. He now works full time at karate, and loves that he can finally put all his time and energy into his career.

Haley picked up a second job at Kneaders, which she enjoys. Between Kneaders, Karate,  her 4 year old primary class and 3 dogs, She keeps herself busy. In her free time, Haley loves spending time with her mom.

3 dogs?! Yep you heard right... I guess we may be slightly crazy. Maisy and Finn are  our golden retrievers, but this year we've also had the opportunity to raise Meeko. Meeko is a husky/malamute and belongs to Michael's sister, Kimberly. Meeko is a cute dog, but is also a trouble maker. She's probably gotten into more mischief than Maisy and Finn combined! Our sweet dogs are like our children. They love to cuddle, play and go on walks. They bring so much happiness into our lives. We love all three very much!

This summer, we had the opportunity to fly back east for Haley's Grandparents 5oth wedding Anniversary! We spent a few days in Boston, 2 nights in Rhode Island, and then drove to New York. We enjoyed spending time with family, going to the beach and visiting some historic church sites. One of our favorite moments of the vacation was when we took a ferry to Block Island and spent the day exploring the island on a moped scooter.

We want to publically thank Haley's Grandparents Bill and Barb for helping with air fare, and making this trip possible. We also want to congratulate them for 50 years of marriage! You set an example of what a happy marriage should look like.

A few months ago, Michael had an accident. He got kicked in the face when he was sparring a seven time world champion! He fractured his orbit in several places, and had to have immediate surgery. The surgery went very well, and he has healed up nicely. He's currently taking a break from sparring.

Aside from Michael's incident, we've been very blessed this year. Can you believe we've been married 3 years! Time flies! We're looking forward to the future, and to what the new year has in store for us.

We want to wish everyone a Merry Christmas. We love you all! Thank you for all your love and support.

Love, The Brooks

And finally, I wanted to share this Pop Danthology video I found for 2014 - because it's awesome!

Happy New Year!

Let's Go to the Hop

I sent Michael on an Easter Hunt to find his basket. Each clue was hidden in an egg. The dogs had fun chasing him as he raced through the house finding clues. Check out the music video I made. Don't tell Michael I posted this... He would be embarrassed. :)

Let's go to the Hop from Haley Brooks on Vimeo.

And of course I had to post this as well:

HAPPY EASTER!

The Puppy Movie

This meme really made me laugh. This is exactly what went down in August; except, I convinced Michael to let us adopt 2 puppies! And just for the record, he loves our dogs more than anything!

Finn is a male Golden Retriever, & Maisy is a female English Cream Retriever. 

They love to wrestle, snuggle, go on walks, play fetch and dig holes. Finn especially likes to chew on socks. He threw up one of mine the other day... Ewww! I guess it just teaches me to put my clothes where they belong. 

We both adore our sweet puppies. They bring so much happiness into our lives. 

Instead of overloading this post with endless pictures and footage we've taken over the past 6 months, I created this video. It's a little long, and I know it won't bring anyone as much joy it does for us... but if watching these cute pups doesn't bring a smile to your face, I don't know what will!

The Puppy Movie for Vimeo from Haley Brooks on Vimeo.

My Hubby & Tom Cruise

One of his professors conducted an activity the other day in Michael's public speaking class. He would state a comment such as "Dogs are better than cats." If you agreed with the statement you stood on one side of the room. If you disagreed, you would go to the opposite side. Everyone who was neutral stood in the center of the room.
When the professor was out of statements, he asked if anyone in the class would like to use a statement of their own. One kid raised his hand and shouted, "Mike looks like Tom Cruise!"
Everyone in the entire class moved to the "agree" side. Ha ha

Michael literally has people tell him the same thing everywhere we go! The movie theater, karate, the grocery store, from the pizza delivery man...
I don't know about him, but I definitely wouldn't be complaining if people compared me to a handsome actor. Well... I guess in my case, a beautiful actress. ;)

We're Home Owners!

We've now been in our home for a couple weeks now.

Both mine and Michael's parents helped us to move in. Lance, also came and helped with the heavy lifting. That was extremely nice of him.

 Let me tell you, we are absolutely loving our new home! We unpacked fairly quickly. I guess that how it works when you've had less than 2 years to accumulate stuff. (I'm sure it will take longer in the future; Michael likes to call me a hoarder.)

Let me tell you all the things I love about it:

• We have a dishwasher!! We don't have to hand wash dishes anymore, and it is sooo nice! We also have a garbage disposal. (You can tell how much I really despise doing dishes since our new dishwasher is the first item on my list!)
• We have a big tub that actually holds water. I took a bath the night we moved in. 
• We have air conditioning! Michael, being the penny pincher that he is, doesn't like us to use it, but I've convinced him to turn it on a couple of times. :)
• We have so much space! There's so much closet space for all our possessions. Both our parents brought over boxes of stuff we were keeping at their homes because our apartment was too small to hold it all. 
• We have a well kept yard with pretty flowers in the front. We also have big fenced backyard. Now... to convince Michael we need a dog to keep in it. :)
• The previous owners planted a vegetable garden. We're benefiting from it right now! We have grape and cherry tomatoes. (I'm not a tomato girl, but I tried a grape one yesterday and it actually wasn't that bad... don't tell Michael.) We have zucchini and summer squash. We have green beans. We have brussels sprouts. I have no idea how to cook brussels sprouts, and am pretty sure I wouldn't like them if I did, so if anyone wants some, come on over!
• The laundry room is upstairs. 
• The fridge is big and has a drink and ice dispenser. 
• The Master bedroom and bathroom are HUGE! We each have our own sink! I'm loving it. We have a walk-in closet that actually holds both of our clothes. (In our apartment, I had the closet in our room all to myself, plus I shared half of Michael's who kept his clothes in the 2nd bedroom.)
• We have a big pantry.
• There's 4 bedrooms and 2 1/2 baths. We have a lot of room to grow. 

Here's a funny story. The day after we moved in, a Realtor came and knocked on our door. The first thing he asked me was if my mom was home. When I told him I was the home owner, he replied "oh sorry, you look so young." After, he asked me if we wanted to sell our home. I told him we just barely moved in yesterday. He left our house feeling very embarrassed. 

Just to let everyone know, I feel so blessed to be able to have bought a house. Especially one as nice as this one. I know that some people have wondered how we could already be at this stage in our life. It's true, what 19 year old can say she's happily married to a loving husband and they own a house?! Let me just say, it's not something we decided to do overnight... We've studied it out and have come to realize for ourselves that home ownership is a good investment. We both have been blessed with good jobs, and I've been blessed with a frugal husband who has made it a priority to save money. I think I wrote this in a prior post, but we were also blessed to have been able to live in a very nice apartment for the previous 18 months with low rent. Michael has been blessed with half tuition paid for and has been able to cover the rest with pel grants. Without all these blessings, we wouldn't be in the position we are in today. I'm so thankful to my Father in Heaven for all the blessings he has poured upon us at this time. I hope I can live my life in such a way to be worthy of everything we've been given. 

Summer Break

We had a week off of karate. So... We partied. :)

Michael and I played tennis, went long boarding, and saw Superman Man of Steel

 Fourth of July with the Brooks

We went camping and Kyaking with the Freemans. It rained the entire night!

I got to spend a day with my best friend Chloe. It was sooo good to see her!

Grandpa Bill and Grandma Barb came to town. As well as Jolie and Stan House. We spent a lot of time with them and ate yummy food! We had a Mobbs family talent show. I'm making a music video of the talent show. Hopefully that will be soon to come. :) 

Wop

I don't understand why watching these videos make me laugh so hard... These are even better than the Harlem Shake!