2010...what a year this is going to be

This is going to be quite a crazy year for the Shudfarken tribe - soon to be McSharklersens tribe. (Mc - Shan & Pat McElgunn, Sh-Mel & Shoaf, ark - Greg & Erin Marken, ler- Layne and Josh Fuller, sen - Brynne and Brady Jensen, s-Carol & David Williams).

March 2010 - Baby Boy Marken "Drew"
July 2010 - Shan & Pat's Wedding
August 2010 - Baby GIRL Fuller "TBD"
October 2010 - Brynne & Brady's Wedding

To add to more 2010 events, Shoaf's knee replacement surgery (success) in March. Shan and Pat GRADUATE from Hope in May, and who knows what else.

A great year 2010 is shaping up to be. Ah!

What am I marrying in to?

That is a question I pose with an actual positive connotation attached.

I am currently sitting on my couch watching my wonderful fiance find the best "come back at you" photo to tag of his brother after finding that Will (Brady's brother) had posted a picture of an ugly giant squid and tagged it as "Brady Jensen" on facebook.

Yes, this is what I am marrying into? Do I need to be worried that I will stumble onto facebook to find that a Jensen member has decided to tag a naked mole rat as "Brynne Shoaf"?

Oh the joys of FB.

Brady and I are engaged!

So most of you have heard by now that Brady and I are officially engaged! Hooray, Yippee all of those exclaiming type words.

On Sunday (Feb 21st) Brady and I had a pretty normal start to the day, or so I thought. We got up and went to church and had already planned to take the dogs for a nice long walk. Saturday Brady and I went snow shoeing with our friends Paul & Joel - unfortunately leaving the dogs behind for the day. We both felt guilty about that so a nice Sunday walk was in order. The weather was very snowy and beautiful. Not very cooperative to a long walk - but I was determined to get Gauley and Lloyd out and about.

We decided to take them to a park in Evergreen - a place the both of us consider to be "our place". It was where Brady took me when I came to visit him in the Fall of 2008, and where we like to take the pups most Sundays. He made a CD of songs that have meant a lot to each of us and our relationship over the past years - very sweet. However, I did not even think one bit about that - Brady LOVES music and making the "best mixes". I just figured he had the itch to make one. The walk at the park was beautiful and cold. Brady wanted us to go further into the woods, but I was too cold so I suggested we go to a different spot. :) Brady continued to just talk about us, our relationship and how far we have come. Then he suggested that we sit for a minute (which I figured was due to the soreness from Saturday) to enjoy the scenery and the quite of the snow. Once seated, he pulled out a CS Lewis book I had given before his trip to Wyoming and had me read a passage about Love and how God gave us the ability to love. By the time I had finished Brady said something as he got on ONE KNEE and I just started crying and the rest is a blur! we hugged, I cried (a lot) and finally Brady pulled away and asked me to finally put on the ring so he wouldn't have to worry about dropping it in the snow! :)

The ring is beautiful and perfect and the whole day/moment was better than I had ever dreamed up! After the moment, we got back in the car, called family and drove back to Denver to have dinner with our friends. Everyone was actually very good at keeping the secret from me and what fun time to share with everyone.

Brady and I could not be happier. I am so blessed to have him in my life. He is definitely my better half - cheesy, I know - but true!

God is Good....All the time

I got the job! Wow, after posting and thinking about what my next step would be, God was, as always, one step ahead of me. Goodness.

With many many thanks to my dear sister Erin, I was given the opportunity to interview at her office (aboutskin.com) and got the job. What I will be doing is still to be determined, but I start Monday. Whoa. I am so thankful for her, for God and His amazing way to always work things out.

We celebrated with an amazing dinner to chipotle.

I will sleep well tonight - with a huge smile on my face and many thankful blessings going through my head.

Number 14 on the charts - Number 1 in our hearts

Its that time of year again - well, not really again, but the time has come. My finals days as a Division of Wildlife employee are upon me. It has really been a great experience and I'm so thankful for the people here giving me a chance. Because of them, I was able to really commit to this move. Shout out to Reid & Brenda for suggesting the job!

This whole job market/search/sell yourself process is exhausting. You fill out application after application to realize that the likelihood (that word looks the name for an Hawaiian island) your resume was even noticed in the giant pile, is minimal. So how do you get noticed? In the end, how do you get a job? I personally believe is all about who you know, where you live and what field you are in. I know a lot of great people, live an economically, somewhat sound, location and hopefully I will find a field that I can excel in. For those of you who have known me since childhood, you are aware that I have been known for changing my mind. I was really dedicated to learning to play the flute (insert laugh here)... for a year. Learning to play the guitar long enough to realize Layne was going to be better than me, so I gave up. The list goes on. Really the only hobbies I actually made it through most of my life committed to were horseback riding, DVR and finding ways to annoy Layne. Well, I'm ready for a change. I want a career - a job that I can have passion in doing and be at for years to come. I'm part of the generation that hops around till they find that right job. Well, I'm done hoping - my legs are tired.

It's kind of a cloudy day in Denver - more so reminiscent of an average day in Michigan. The only thing that keeps this Denver day on top - the fact that is February 4th and 40 degrees at 8 o'clock in the morning. Today, I'm going to continue to clean my office - if I'm going to leave, I might as well leave it cleaner than ever possible. Sometimes I wish I could go back to school to become a professional organizer. Mel and I could open our own business traveling around to places and straighting things up. Maybe A&E or Bravo! would give us a TV show. Can't you picture Mel having some stranger on national TV through all of there stuff onto the floor in the middle of the room? :) Watch out Hoarders and Clean House - there's a new team coming through. Would you hire us?

I guess that should be it for now. Have a great day.

Why blog?

Because everybody is doing it? Nah. That is too easy.

Basically, I realized that I moved to Colorado without informing a lot of the people in my life and I'm absolutely horrible at staying in contact, whether it be via phone calls or emails, I just do not follow through. So, this blog is my way to stay in touch with those of you who choose to read it - and for those of you who do not read it, well fine. I didn't want to talk to you either.

Why move? Michigan is awesome (www.michiganawesome.org)

While I am, as my T-shirt states, "smitten with the mitten", for the past two years I have felt that it was my time to leave MI and find myself in Colorado. Yes, Colorado is one of the best states by far as one can see by the amount of transplant citizen living here, but to me, it is more than that. It is home (sorry Mel, 5724 Bloomfield Dr will always be my home base). Ever since I was 8 years old and visiting DVR for the first time, I knew I would live here. And after 2 years post grad living Holland, I realized it was now or never. I called John Woolmington, begged for a job & a place to live for me and my little dog, and headed West within a month.

SIDE NOTE: What a blessing Deer Valley has been in my life and the life of my family. The Dewalts and Woolmingtons gave me the childhood memories to last me a lifetime and the work experience that will continue to get me through my professional years. They are my family whether or not they consider me theirs.

From May - August, I worked at DVR and continued my Denver career search. And thanks to Reid & Brenda, I was able to find a temp job at Colorado Division of Wildlife. Yes, that is right. Your little vegetarian worked the Division of Wildlife and even went pheasant hunting. (It took me three flushes to even shoot at the birds, so needless to say, I didn't kill anything that day). It has been a great experience working here. I've learned a lot about hunting in Colorado and about myself as a person. Unfortunately, today is the first day of my last week here at the Division. What my next job will be, I have no clue. I'm ready to settle down in a long term job, so lets pray for that shall we? That God will continue to bless me and guide me to the career/job I can fulfill His plan for me.

QUESTION: If you could pick a career for me, what would you pick and why?

Besides my working life, what else has been going on you ask? Well, to be quite honest, this girl fell in love. After an off and on relationship of 2 years, Brady and I are finally at the right place in life to be fully devoted to each other and it is wonderful. Living only a few blocks from each other, we're able to spend a lot of time together taking the dogs (Lloyd & Gauley) for long walks and growing in our relationship together. Ah. I love this place.

I'm living in an adorable little house in a neighborhood called the Highlands with a good friend from DVR, Chandler. She's awesome. Laid back (which is a nice pairing with my crazy antics), kind, hilarious and a southern charmer. Who knew the word "ten" was two syllables?

I spend a lot of my time taking the dogs for walks, skiing on the weekends and just enjoying the fact that there is 90% chance of sun everyday.

I should probably end this blog as there will be plenty of time for more. So I leave for now... as Mel would say, xxoo.