Bret's best of 2013

2013 was awesome.  I got a new job, had some great trips, and enjoyed health.  Here are some top things from 2013.

Favorite songs.  It was hard to narrow down my top 10, but in the end, here they are.  Yep, Miley has not one, but TWO of my fav songs of the year.  

Red Hands by Walk Off the Earth

Naked Kids by Grouplove 

We Can't Stop by Miley Cyrus

Wrecking Ball by Miley Cyrus

Sweater Weather by Neighborhood

We Own It by 2 Chainz and Wiz Khalifa

Come & Get It by Selena Gomez

My Songs Know What You Did In the Dark by Fall Out Boy

Just Give Me A Reason by Pink and Nate Ruess

Pacific Rim by Ramin Djawadi

I wanted to embed this, but I can't from the chromebook and I'm too lazy to go to the other computer.  So here is a link to listen to the songs.

https://play.spotify.com/user/darevco27/playlist/4Bu6Ns1gLRLOJjpiSzBXsP

Favorite Book I read in 2013: Chasing the Prophecy (Beyonders 3)

Favorite Movie in 2013: Fast & Furious 6

Favorite New TV Show I watched: Arrow

Most Addictive Game I played: Candy Crush Saga

Favorite Sports Moment: Attending the BYU bowl game (even though we lost)

Here's to a great 2014.  Happy New Year everyone.

Addition to Thanksgiving

I forgot (cuz my pictures to remember were on my phone, not my camera) that we got to finally eat at the cute little diner in Cottonwood with Bret's parents. We ate dinner there after everyone split up from being in Sedona. The food was pretty good, and the the atmosphere was fun! I think the kids enjoyed eating there too. I got some onion rings and they were hands down, the best onion rings I have had in a long time. Delicious! Bret was happy to finally eat at this cute little place.

San Francisco Trip - 2013

For years I have been told that San Francisco is a great place and I should visit.  So when BYU made the deal to have the bowl game there this year I decided it was a good time to go to our first BYU bowl game.  Tevia seemed on board and eventually Jake and Cari also decided to go for it.  Tevia and I decided to use the trip as a getaway and like a Christmas present.  I bought our tickets the first week they were available and we have counted down to the trip ever since.

The day after Christmas Tevia and I drove down from Lakeside where we had spent Christmas and went to the airport to fly out.  We didn't arrive until late that night.  We took the subway to the hotel and pretty much went to bed shortly after arriving.  First impressions to me were it reminded me a lot of Asia; Hong Kong in particular.  This was probably due to the hills and many of the Asia stores found in Hong Kong (like UNIQLO).

Friday we decided to do breakfast at a place down the street called Sears Fine Food.  Jacob and Cari came with us.  There was a line, but we had no deadlines, so we waited in line for some time before being seated.  I ordered the Eggs Benedict.  I have to admit that this meal was fantastic.  I loved it.  In fact, we loved it so much we returned two days later before leaving SF.  We then took a taxi to the fisherman's wharf (Pier 39 to be exact) and spent some time wandering that area.  This was also fun.  I loved seeing the sea lions.  While watching the sea lions we also happened to notice Dave McCann from BYUTV.  He hosts TrueBlue and does many of the sports shows.  We love this guy.  Oddly enough, he eventually came and stood by Jake and I began talking to us.  So we said hello and talked about the game and team and it was kinda fun.

After our celebrity encounter, we visited the aquarium which I also enjoyed.  We then wanted some seafood and even though the place was very crowded, since we weren't in a hurry we waited at a place there on Pier 39.  We had some scallops with a great jalapeno sauce and fish and chips and chowder.  The best was a non-alcoholic raspberry mojito, which was good enough that Tevia and I went back for another at the bar on our last day, too.

We then headed up towards Lombard Street (famous "crooked" street) which was fun walking up the hill and then down the street.  We could see the Golden Gate bridge and Alcatraz.  We grabbed a cable car and headed over to China Town.  We had fun looking at the shops and food and eventually stopped where Jake wanted to try some egg custards (egg tarts) that they eat a lot in China.  The bakery also had sesame balls which I was quick to order one.  Jake tried the egg custard and liked it so much he bought the rest.

At this point it was about time to head to the game.  We went back to our hotel and bundled up a bit and realized that the game was over a mile away and we weren't sure we wanted to walk that (after walking a lot that afternoon).  We were thinking of getting a taxi when a guy approached us and offered to drive us over in his limo/suburban.  We decided to go for it and I'm glad we did.  This was the craziest taxi ride I have ever been in (and I've been in a lot of taxis).  He drove this Suburban like it was a motorcycle and I couldn't believe we didn't hit more than a few cars.  He got us there in record time and we headed into the stadium sporting our Cougar gear and looking forward to our first bowl game.

When I purchased the tickets they didn't provide seats but instead would provide them later.  But you could pay extra to try and get better seats or do some other tricks to get better seats.  I didn't do any of those things but did put a funny note in the note section.  When I got the tickets in the mail I immediately looked online and put in the seat numbers and they looked pretty good, but not as low as I would have liked.  So when we arrived at the stadium and looked for our seats, we couldn't find them in the lower section so I was disappointed and thought we had to go up a level.  But when we went up there they said our seats were down in the lower level.  So we went back down and asked where our seats were.  They guy said these were down by the field and we had to go through a tunnel to get to them.  Wow!  Crazy.  So we went through the tunnel and at the door we had to enter to get to our seats was a line of people.  We asked what they were lining up for and they said the team was going to go by.  So we stayed in the small line and got to see the team come out of the locker room.  Then we went to our seats... which were ... front .. row ..SEATs!  It was awesome.

The game was a blast.  We lost; so that sucked.  But it was fun and the experience was amazing.  We stayed after for quite some time to cheer the sad players on as they entered the locker room.  Many of them (especially the seniors) were in tears.  It looked like Bronco was, too.  We then walked home for a great ending to our day.

The next day J&C went home, so it was just Tevia and I.  I told Tevia to pick what she wanted to do.  We started off going to breakfast (early lunch) getting a Banh Mi at a small Vietnamese place.  We then packed them and took a taxi to Golden Gate park.  The sandwiches were amazing.  Then we walked through the gorgeous park (think the size of Central Park) and went to the Japanese Gardens and some of the lakes.  We eventually ended up on the beach at the end of the park and were amazed to see such a huge beach.  There were surfers even though it was cold.  This park was also the first time I've seen someone wearing Google Glass.  From the beach we hiked up to the baths which was cool area where a guy had built swimming pools long ago.  There was also a tunnel in the mountain.  It was fun hiking and viewing right along the ocean.  From there we took a bus to Ghirardelli Square and waited in an amazingly long line for some ice cream.  We then walked the wharf again and walked back to our hotel.  We rested again before heading out for dinner.  Neither of us were starving so we just walked around and eventually settled on a little Italian joint that had gnocchi (I'm a sucker for gnocchi) and enjoyed a fun meal.  After that we were exhausted (at least i was) and went to bed.

Our last day we had breakfast at Sears again (I ordered the same thing).  We then packed up our stuff and checked out and left our baggage at the hotel.  We then took a cable car ride again and Tevia was excited because we were able to hang out the side.  The driver was very fun and we went to the wharf again to visit one pier Tevia wanted to see.  We eventually made our way back to Pier 39 where we got our mojitos again and then some awesome tiny donuts.  We then took the streetcar back to Union Square where we sat in the sun for some time before gathering our stuff and heading back to PHX.

It was a great trip and I had a lot of fun.

What I am learning from my calling

I received my first Christmas gift last night. It was sweet, thoughtful, something I can actually use, and probably from the dollar store.  It was heartfelt and sincere, and I was humbled by it.

A few hours earlier, a young man was posting hourly on our YSA FB page, "who is coming to Institute tonight?"
Time went by, and no one answered.  By 2 pm, I was worried it would end up being just him and I.
I also posted, requesting others to let us know if they were coming or not.
If no one else answered by 3:00, I would cancel.  Dad & I started thinking we could end up going to a movie.

There are two sweet girls in Pok 2 ward that are special needs of some sort. They are roommates, and one joined the church this past year, and one when she was 17. One has a 5 yr old child who lives with the father's mother.  Neither work, nor drive,  and I know they live in some kind of government assisted housing.
They immediately answered and said if they could get a ride, they would come.  They love coming. They called around their whole ward until they  found a ride.  Kevin would bring them, and I would bring them home.  They live in the center of the city of Poughkeepsie.
And so it was. There were now 3 'for sure'.
The young man, finding out it would now just be him and these 2 girls, wrote, and I quote, "well, since basically no one else is going, I probably won't come now."  I was floored.  These girls are not invisible. They deserve to be included, and feel the Spirit.
Jen, one of the girls, did not even notice the dis, and continued texting and calling others, hoping some of the local boys were home from college and could come.
I geared up my lesson for just them, (they both know very little about the Book of Momon or the Gospel)
Last week  I spent 1/2 hour with just them and we had  a great lesson about angels.
So, I get lazy, and it is super cold and snowy, and I ask dad, "since it is only a few people coming, do you think I can just wear jeans and boots and my warm sweater I had on?  Now, dad is over me, speaking in church language, and he gave me permission.
I head out the door with 10 wrapped, flavored chap sticks, lots of Christmas cookies, hot chocolate, and a good attitude, thinking how I will bless these 2 girls lives.
ha ha. and then The Lord says, Karen needs to learn something here.
I get to church, and there is Eric, a returned missionary from Brazil, and 2 new missionaries from the 2nd ward, sitting in the front row, ready for a deep, well-taught Institute lesson.  I sneak in, embarrassed to be in jeans, and my mind starts racing. I had to do some rearranging of my lesson, and quick.
The girls come, and, low and behold, so does this young man.
So I had 6, and we had a great class, and the Lord blessed me with some semblance of sanity, and we had a great discussion.

1. I will never wear jeans again
2. I will never cancel Institute due to how many respond on FB
3. I will always do  my best on my lesson, no matter who is attending
4. I will continue to learn real Christlike love for all, even the guy who faked me out and I judged him out and then he came through in the end
5. people are wonderful, and all have something to give 

The gift was from Jen and Nicole, along with a card that said they loved me.  And they really do. Not because I am a good teacher, or because I help them, but because they know how to really truly love people. And it is I who learn from them.