If Money Grew on Trees...

If only money grew on trees.... That would make my life a whole lot easier! This post is a "monetary minute" as G would call it. With my new job and G's raise at work we have some unexpected funds coming our way. So for family night we talked money. Although we try to save money here and there (by using coupons and shopping the sales rack) sometimes its amazing how quickly we can burn through our hard earned mulah. So we started our savings.....

approx. $12.50

In all honesty once we started saving our change we were surprised how quickly it added up! This is the start of our travel fund! (next summer G and I plan on traveling to Spain!) But G seems to be an expert in the art of saving money... our last trip to California produced this gem:

Its a can that says "I Garrett, can be a missionary." The top is sealed off and only a small coin sized slit was made on top. G saved up for his mission in this can. (although you can see where he tried to use a can opener in his moments of weakness!) When we brought this home we opened it up and counted it out of curiosity. Here was the results:

A whopping $30.47!! G saved up that money about fifteen years ago. As you can tell, we are now "rolling in the dough!" So back to our family night... G and I looked at our incomes and set up a budget!!! You may think this sounds like a boring family home evening, (and ten years ago if my parents had suggested a budgeting FHE they would have been shot down pretty quickly!) but I really loved it! G taught me how to set up a spreadsheet and how to track our finances through Excel. Now I know exactly where all our money is going (and let me tell you the 'eating out' category was much bigger than I had anticipated!) After the spreadsheet we were feeling ambitious and went on to do more adult-type things by setting up a real savings account at USAA as well as our car insurance and renters insurance. Who knew being an adult could be so cool? We ended the night with a game of monopoly! G won. However, I gladly admit defeat because monopoly isn't real money so it doesn't count, right?

Ups and Downs

Lately my life has been filled with some ups and some downs.

I got a new job as the Supervisor of Pink and Beauty at Victoria's Secret!
DOWN's:  I've been at Icing for nearly two years. I will miss my friends from Icing. Its always scary to start over... what if no one likes me... and I have no friends at my new job... what if I'm no good at supervising? Starting at VS changes my school schedule and graduating timeline.
UP's: New opportunity to expand my talents. They recruited me and wouldn't take NO for an answer! (a huge compliment!) I will receive a raise from my current salary, always a blessing!

G starts school next Monday!
DOWN's: It means even less time with G. We might need to take out another student loan.
UP's: G is getting closer to getting a degree!!!

I was asked to teach a lesson at Enrichment Night on making homemade cards!
DOWN's: I was nervous to teach in front of people. I've never made homemade cards before. I just gained an expensive new hobby...
UP's: I know have learned I have a great talent for making homemade cards! My teaching wasn't so bad and I made lots of new friends!

G and I have now been in the nursery for one month!
DOWN's: I haven't been to Relief Society in a month. I come home from church feeling sticky.
UP's: Snack time. I've made friends with the cutest children on the planet! I get to spend all three hours of church with my sweetheart!

I went school shopping with my nieces and nephews.
DOWN's: I didn't get to buy any new clothes....
UP's: I HAVE THE WORLDS CUTEST NIECES AND NEPHEWS! After we were done shopping Shan took us out to cheesecake factory for dinner! My nephew Rocky and I wore our matching t-shirts.



Basically Im the coolest aunt ever!



G and I celebrated our six month Anniversary!!

DOWN's: Fastest six months of my life. (I want time to slow down so I can enjoy every second!)

UP's: Six months down... eternity to go!! Plus G and I are basically pro at this whole marriage thing!

So in conclusion I've decided perspective is everything. You can choose to focus on UPs... or you can focus on DOWN's. Also on a completely unrelated side note... I watched an extremely wonderful Youtube video. It helped me get prepared for my first week at VS. I think you should all watch this video and be inspired to do great things this week!!  

Life is good!

Hello one and all! I'm back. My mini blogging vacation has ceased and I am updating you all on our summer adventures and our current lives! First of all can I just say what a fun summer this has been! With G starting school in a few weeks I am visited by the familiar feelings of excitement and anxiety that a new school year brings. But the best way to cure the school-year blues is to look back on how much fun you had during the summer. So here is the recap ( with pictures ) of our wonderful first married summer!

First I got to go to my first official O'Brien Family Reunion. And let me tell you it was SO much fun! The O'Brien family is SO BIG! My father-in-law was one of eight children. Which resulted in 45 first cousins in the second generation (not including their spouses) There were even some children in the third generation who were older than me! It was a lot of fun to get to know new cousins I had never met before, and re-unite with the ones I haven't seen in a while. We participated in the talent show (basically I've deducted that to be an O'Brien you need to have extreme musical abilities) by doing a synchronized swimming routine! It was a huge success! And I was able to learn more about G's grandparents. It was a fun weekend!


Synchronized Swimming routine for the talent show.



Not even the whole family! This was just those
 who were present for the picture!

Immediately following the big O'Brien reunion we did a small O'Brien reunion- just our immediate family. Unfortunately G's older brother and his family couldn't stay but the rest of us went up to Park City for a week of fun! We hit up the Park City Outlet Mall and got I got to pierce Mariah's ears! Then we played games, went swimming, rode the apline slide and mountain coasters, and ate good food! I just need to say upfront that I have the worlds cutest nieces and nephews and this week totally proved it! See for yourself!

After Park City G and I did a quick spur of the moment trip to Las Vegas to celebrate my Papa's birthday. It was a quick weekend trip, but it was sure nice to know that we are always welcome at their home.

Papa's birthday sundae!



We had a camping trip with my family up American Fork canyon. G and I got to try out some of our new camping gear we got as wedding presents! (Thank you Jones family and Regis aunts and uncles!) We did an awesome (but difficult) hike to silver lake and relaxed at our campsite! It was good to spend time with my family out in the wild! (except for Helen... we missed you Helen!)



One of my favorite parts of this summer was attending weddings of good friends and family! First was for Emily and Jason. Emily was one of my original roommates. I've known her for over two years now and she will always be very special to me! She was absolutely beautiful! Jason and Emily were married in the Draper Temple and had a great reception at Le Jardin. I am so happy for them! (two roommates down, two to go!) The next was for Lauren and Grant. Grant is G's cousin. You could not ask for a better looking couple!! They had a dream wedding in the L.A. temple followed by a reception in Huntington Beach. And seriously I mean DREAM wedding!! Everything was perfect and everyone looked absolutely gorgeous! G was Grants best man so he got to get all dressed up and make a speech! We are so excited to add Lauren to our family!! I love her so much, and its fun to have a girl my age!! 

This summer was so much fun and we still have two weeks left! We went to drive-in movies with friends, and celebrated G's 25th birthday at Tucanos. (is he really that old!?!) I got a new job (which I will tell you about later when its official!) and G and I were called to serve in the nursery!! Life is good!! We got to spend lots of time with family and in the temple (two of our favorite things!) But must importantly we got to do lots of things together!