What happens When....

You go from never eating properly or consistently while living at home, to eating three square meals at the MTC, and then eating southern cooking from generous members? Here are Brandons exact words;

"I have gotten a couple compliments on my butt. Well one of them was from my companion so it didn't really count and he only said that it filled out my pants, so i'm not sure it was a compliment, it might have been an insult. Then the other was from one of our investigators. She asked me if I had any Black in my blood and I said 'not that I know of why?' Then she asked why I have such a ghetto booty. Those were her exact words. Well that might have been an insult too so I don't really know. I'm not sure what a ghetto booty is, if it's good or bad but whatever, lol. Well speaking of my butt filling out my pants, I actually tore my pants. I was carrying a couple boxes and then I bent over to set them down and my pants ripped. Yep right down the crack- the whole thing. I knew I was gonna gain weight but I never thought that it would be so fast."

Isn't he cute... I miss him...:(

Another Day, Another Movie

****The Day The Earth Stood Still rated PG-13. I've never really been a Keanu Reeves fan and he didn't do much to change my mind in this one. It was kinda weird. Jennifer Connelly was quite good and so was Will Smith's son, but it was too Sci-fi for me and just, weird. Good graphics, so it gets 2 diaminds.






****Four Christmases rated PG-13. It's no secret that I'm a huge Vince Vaughn fan. What can I say, I like big brawny men. :) I liked this one. I'ts funny and fun and crazy. Don't take any kids to it that still believe in Santa. Luckily Bryce had found out about a week before this movie. It's fun to see Tim McGraw play in this kind of role. Fun Fun. 3 1/2 diamonds.





****Transporter 3 rated PG-13. How many times can they make the same movie with different girls being transported? Same everything it seems. The only good thing about it is Jason Stathams body which almost makes it worth it, almost. 1 diamond.

****Australia rated PG-13. Oh my gosh I LOVED this movie!!!! The little boy in it is so cute and Nocole Kidman was great, but can I just say, I have one word for Hugh Jackman, and it's the only word that fits; DAYAM!!! Holy cow, yeah, let's just say that the people who chose him as the sexiest man of the year were right on. It is 3 hours but to me it didn't seem long. It has romance, adventure, a villian, and BEAUTIFUL scenery. You will laugh and cry, you know I don't like sad, and there is sad, but oh it's good. I'm trying to remember if I have given any movie five diamonds yet? I think just a couple. Well guess what..

WHATS A MOTHER TO DO?

Well, Brandon has been in Alabama now since November 12th and I haven't been able to blog much about it because my mom has been here helping me de-junk and de-clutter my house, trying to get it ready to sell. Can I just say that she is truly an Angel in disguise because of all the help she has been. And here she is supposed to be taking it easy, oh the guilt.
The first e-mail we got from Brandon was quite disturbing to me. He said that he's in such a dangerous area that they can't go tracting, they're just doing media referrals. The neighboring zip code has the number 1 murder rate in the nation. Uh hum.. (???????????) They did go to an appointment of an investigator and had to run to their car after hearing gun shots. There are gun shots in the window of the church they attend, but don't worry, their just random cross-fire shots, not specifically aimed there...(? and thats supposed to make me feel better) He spoke of rumors of sorority girls drugging missonaries and having their way with them in order to get in to the sorority. In his exact words, "So don't worry, I'll be killed before I'm raped." HELLO!!! What am I supposed to do? I wanted to jump on the next plane and go drag him out of there. But he is doing so well, just loving every minute of it, and he and his companion, who is also from Utah, get along so well. I am trying not to worry too much. He's on the Lord's errand. Heavenly Father will bless him and protect him.

Another Day, Another Movie

****'TWILIGHT' rated PG-13. Well, I don't know if I was just expecting too much or what, but I don't think I loved it like I thought I would. I liked it, but I think I was just a tad disappointed. I had hoped that it would have played big time on the romanticism that I felt in the book. I felt that it was kind of rushed. I did like Robert Pattinson as Edward, I did, but sometimes he seemed like he was trying too hard or something. I think Venessa summed it up perfectly when she said she kept thinking,"okay, now it's gonna get good, and then it ended." I don't know, I think I will like it better the second time, which will be on Saturday with Kandis, Aunt Ellen, Shanel and co. I might have to re-review it. I did enjoy it, but it's only getting 3 out of 5 diamonds.

Guess who we saw!!!

Last Wednesday at approximately 4:45 a.m. I got to see my cute son before he flew off into the sunrise to Alabama. It had been 21 days since we had seen him and it was so great. He is doing so amazing and is so happy. We got to visit for about 45 minutes before we had to say good-bye. He really enjoyed the MTC and made some good friends. The good-byes were much easier than at the MTC, but it was hard for me to watch him walk away and know that I really don't get to see him now for 2 years. He is so excited to get to work in Alabama and I think he is going to touch many, many lives there. Here are the pics of us at the airport, and then the pics of him at the MTC that we got off of his SD card. So fun. I can't believe that my son is on a mission?! WOW! Doesn't he look cute with his name badge on? Here is his address in Alabama if anyone wants to send him a letter, he LOVES letters!


Elder Brandon Birschbach
Alabama Birmingham Mission
3100 Lorna Rd. Ste 102
Birmingham, AL 35216

MIS-SION-ARY; (noun) someone who leaves their family for a short time so that others may be with their families for ETERNITY

Thank you to my dear friend Lisa, who bought me a plaque with these words. It has helped me a ton!

Well, he's been gone for 6 days and I'm still alive, breathing, and even smiling on occasion. Wow. The MTC experience was amazing. It was very peaceful and comforting. We all cried, but he was so excited that it made it easier. I think that the days leading up to it were harder. I wasn't sure how I was going to feel or react, so I'm so happy that I feel this good and have been fully functional, which I seriously questioned before he left. I just didn't know what to expect. I don't worry about him anymore, not like I did before. We find comfort in writing him letters and singing 'Called to Serve' and 'God be with you til we meet again' around the piano. In the six days we have sent 2 packages and about 10 letters. Too much? Oh well. We got a letter from him a couple days ago. There are 4 missionaries in his room, including himself. 3 out of the 4 are going to the Birmingham mission, the other one is off to Nebraska. They are; His companion; Elder Hauck from St. Geroge, Elder Kendall, from Nephi, and Elder Whatcott from Pleasant Grove. 3 out of the 4 left girls behind. He said his companion is cool. And I quote; "I can only write once a week but you guys can write me whenever you want and you can send packages (which are really popular to get or exciting I mean) well anyway they are exciting to get and I can get them anytime out of the week so send whenever you want." He sounds great and I feel such a sense of peace that I just can't describe. Thank you everyone for all of your support. I got some great pics of Jeff's family, his sisters two boys who have both returned from missions, one in Denmark and the other in Brazil, with Brandon, doing a . . .cheer? My dad and his wife Julie, Mike with his daughter Courtney, her husband Chandler, and their kids Talon and Kylee. Mikes daughter Danielle. Melanies family, and can you believe, one with my mom AND dad, and all four of us kids, in the same picture! WOW. It was so surreal to see my parents talking to each other and my dad even put his arm around my mom! WOW. Oh, did I already say that? :) And at the end we all crashed, we were SO beat! But I feel so bad that I didn't start taking pictures until after some people had left, so sorry Aunt Ellen and Uncle Ken, Cade and family, Mark and Darcy, Aunt Kathryn and Katee, and our dear friends, Joel and Lisa, Todd and Julie, and Pam and family. Thank you so much for coming! Here is his address if anyone wants to drop him a line, he would LOVE it!!

ELDER BIRSCHBACH
MTC Mailbox #272

AL-BIRM 1112

2005 N. 900 E.

Provo, UT 84604-1793