Budgets 2.0!

Just finished an update on the individuals and couple's budget. Totally new sheets. New features too including alerts, ease of adding/removing categories, "secret income," and much more! Take a gander :) Let me know if you have any questions! :D
Individual's Budget http://goo.gl/ZRGzw
Couple's Budget http://goo.gl/HXRyF

My Testimony

I want the world to know that I can personally witness that God, the Eternal Father, lives and loves each one of us and each of us is His spirit son or daughter.
I want to bear witness that because of this great love He has for us, he sent His only begotten son, Jesus Christ, to be our Savior and Redeemer.Through the miracle of the Atonement, which Christ performed, everything that is unfair about life can be made right. Through that miracle we can be forgiven of the sins we commit. This forgiveness makes it possible for us to return to live in the presence of God again.
I testify of the truthfulness of the Gospel of Jesus Christ as restored through His prophet, Joseph Smith. Just as prophets of old like Moses or Abraham, Joseph Smith was called of God to direct Christ's church on the earth: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.
Joseph Smith had the special responsibility of restoring this church after hundreds of years of apostasy. As evidence of this restoration, our Heavenly Father provided The Book of Mormon: Another Testament of Jesus Christ. I bear witness of it's truth and divinity. I also testify that we can draw closer to God by reading its pages and abiding by its precepts than by any other book.
I bear this witness in the name of our Savior, Jesus Christ. I do so with the knowledge that there are those who do not yet have this assurance for themselves. I invite any who are honestly seeking for the truth to pray to Heavenly Father, read the Book of Mormon, attend church, and ask me any questions they have. I promise the greatest happiness to those who pursue this course. I can promise that because it is not my promise, but the promise of my God, and your God. Consider yourself invited.

Best Budgeting System Ever!

**Cross-posted from Bright-Side of Life**
So, as Brooke and I have been preparing to get married, we've taken care to watch our finances very carefully. We've been so very fortunate. We talked a lot about how we'd like to do our finances, and she told me a system that her sister and husband did their budget. Dave Ramsey calls it the Envelope System. With a few tweaks of theirs and our own, I have come to call it "Backward Budgeting."

Traditionally, when I would budget, I always had trouble because I wasn't sure how much I would make that month so I wasn't sure how much I could allocate to different categories. With backward budgeting, instead of budgeting the money you're going to make this month and spend it as it comes, you save it as it comes. Then, you budget this month based on the money you made last month. So, if I get 2 paychecks in July for $500 each, then I can budget $1000 in August. The money I spend in July is based on money I made in June. This way, you're always sure to budget money you absolutely have because you already have it!
Anyway, because I'm such a spreadsheet nerd, I've spent several hours working on the ultimate budget spreadsheet based on this idea. It's pretty incredible, and I really want to share it with the rest of the world. (Which is why I am posting on my blog). I created a sheet for Brooke and I specifically, then I adjusted it to make it a little more generic. Take a look at it, it's really cool. There's one for Individuals, and one for Couples. Please let me know what you think. I can update it, just let me know your thoughts :)

Yep! I'm married!

How bad is it that I haven't posted about being married yet and it's been a few weeks already!? Well, I'm married now and it's the greatest ever! We couldn't have had a better wedding day. It started out at 6:30 AM with pictures. Doing pictures so early was so great! We were pretty much by ourselves at the temple, so we were able to get really great temple shots with nobody to compete with like this one:

We're so thrilled! We were married later that morning, had a great family BBQ and a good reception that evening. We went to St. George on our honeymoon. And even though Brooke got strep throat a day into our honeymoon, we still went to the Music Man in Cedar City:

It was very good! We had a great time. Somehow I managed to not get sick. Anyway, we're back now and we're so happy to be moved into our place in Orem.
Brooke starts teaching her 2nd grade class tomorrow. I'm so excited for her. She's been a bit stressed getting her classroom all together, but it's going well!
I'm studying to take the GMAT. I took my first real practice test today and scored higher than 65% of the people who had taken that particular test. I did get into the Information Systems Program (which is why I'm still studying for the GMAT, that's the test that decides whether I get into the Masters Program :D) Wish me luck! It's August 22nd, so less than a month away now!
Well, that's a really short update from us here! I hope you're all doing happy and looking at the Bright-Side of Life. I've never been happier in all my life. I love Brooke so much!! :D

Countdown to the wedding!

Yep I'm getting married! Here's the countdown! But who's counting anyway? ;)

Osama Bin Laban

My sister and I texted a bit today about the recent news of Osama Bin Laden's death. I sent to her "Well, I hate for life to be lost, but call him Laban..." I really do feel that way. (If your unfamiliar with who Laban is, refer to the chapters 3 and 4 of 1 Nephi in the Book of Mormon here). Then later today I was doing my Book of Mormon reading in Alma 46 and came across this scripture which I found very interesting.
"9 Yea, and we also see the great wickedness one very wicked man can cause to take place among the children of men."
1 Nephi 4:13
"13 Behold the Lord slayeth the wicked to bring forth his righteous purposes. It is better that one man should perish than that a nation should dwindle and perish in unbelief."

Fun with the Brouwers!

Just wanted to post these :) I love these kids! They were riding my feet and that was fun :) I look forward to next week and doing more with the family :)

My Thoughts - D&C 116 - 138 & OD 1 & 2

For my D&C class, we have to write our thoughts as we read the sections. I thought I'd share them on here. This is a "living" post, so changes in the following document will be updated pretty readily after I update it. Please excuse my loose language (ok, it's just fun, I don't swear or anything). I've split them into sections so you don't have an ultra long document (though it is still relatively long). Enjoy!

Read it here or here:

Join.Me - Easy Computer Help Solution

Hey family (and especially Mom). Here's the solution to all of your computer problems. When you need my or Brett's help, this is a really really easy way to get it. This video explains it really well, but basically, if you ever have computer problems, I don't have to try and explain what you're seeing on the screen. Using something as simple as Join.me, I can show you. It takes literally seconds (under 10, I'm serious) to connect our screens. It's so easy and awesome! Just go to http://join.me to get started. Mom, maybe we can do this tomorrow so I can show you how it works. I think you'd really appreciate it. Anyone else who wants help with this, I'll show you, it's awesome!

My Thoughts - D&C 94 - 115

For my D&C class, we have to write our thoughts as we read the sections. I thought I'd share them on here. This is a "living" post, so changes in the following document will be updated pretty readily after I update it. Please excuse my loose language (ok, it's just fun, I don't swear or anything). I've split them into sections so you don't have an ultra long document (though it is still relatively long). Enjoy!

Read it here or here:

My Thoughts - D&C 77 - 93

For my D&C class, we have to write our thoughts as we read the sections. I thought I'd share them on here. This is a "living" post, so changes in the following document will be updated pretty readily after I update it. Please excuse my loose language (ok, it's just fun, I don't swear or anything). I've split them into sections so you don't have an ultra long document (though it is still relatively long). Enjoy!

Read it here or here:

Our Thoughts - Entertainment and Media Mormon Message

My Ward is participating in the Church's World Wide Video Contest. It's mostly to promote missionary work in the ward (I'm the Ward Mission Leader, so I'm all about that). It turned out pretty well I thought. :)

Wark.... Werk.... Wurk... WORK!!!

I work in different ways. I got a new job this semester. After eight months working at the BYU Conference Center as an Audio/Video Technician, I've moved on to the Office of Information Technology. I work in the Open Access Computer Labs as a Computer Lab Assistant.

I'm hoping to stay there for quite some time. It's a great GREAT GREAT job (you could also say it's a grrrrrrrrrrrrrreeeeeat job, which ever suits your fancy). I'm hoping to move up the ranks pretty quickly. I want the leadership experience, the training, and the opportunity to make a real different (of course the extra pay and the resume boosting power of "Shift Supervisor" doesn't hurt much either ) I'm loving it though. Mostly because helping people with technology is what I do for fun. Just ask anyone who's ever gotten an iPod Touch or iPhone and allowed me to help them get it set up. Or anything with Google. (I'm just about as Google Nerdy as a person can get  " is awesome!")

I'm still working at the temple as a Temple Worker, and it's still so incredibly wonderful. It's so great and I need it to stay on the right track. Like the sacrament each week, it's a weekly reminder of what's really important. I would totally be lost without the temple. It fills my life with light and drives away the darkness. I work the Saturday morning shift from 6:20 until about 11:10ish. I've been thinking about going to the ASL session on the first Wednesday of each month at 7 pm. I think I'll go to just volunteer or be a patron or something. That would just be so cool. I've never been to a deaf session before, and I'd love it!
So that's me and working. Of course I have school work and other church work. It's all great. I am happy and content at this time in my life :) And that is the bright-side of life! 

Back to School, Back to School...

Recently, things have been a bit of a roller coaster for me. I've changed my major over this last semester from Electrical Engineering. After testing the waters with Chemical Engineering and Physics, talking with a lot of people and professors (and even applying to be a Chem 105 TA, which I didn't get), I finally decided... Accounting. Yes, I know, it's a bit odd. But I prayed a whole lot about it, and then I took an aptitude test from the Career Center in the Wilk and my counselor and I narrowed the results down to point directly at accounting. A week before the semester started, something possessed me (I'm certain that's what it was, because there's no way I would have done this on my own) and I switched my Physics class to an Accounting class. I really really really liked it. This last semester was so much better for me than all the math, computer, and science classes I've taken the other semesters I've been at BYU. So with that, the prayers, and the aptitude test, I just knew that Acocunting was for me. So I changed.

I'm looking forward to my schedule next semester. Here's what an normal week will look like:

My Classes are:
Accounting 310
I Sys 201
M Com 320
Dance 280
Men's Chorus
Dance 185
Astronomy 127
D&C 77-138

So it's going to be a lot of fun :) I'm a tad nervous about it, but all's well. I will be fine :) And that's the Bright-Side of Life :D

My Mom's Birthday :)

Here are just a few photos from my Mom's birthday :)

My sister Becky gave mom this really awesome pancake recipe and pan. Perfect for our family tradition! (On your birthday you get the number of pancakes you are old). Just when we thought we couldn't make enough pancakes, Becky pulled through for us!

Don't ask....

We went to "The Chronicle's of Narnia: The Dawn Treader" in 3D for Mom's Birthday/New Years. Debbie and I thought we looked pretty stylish (sorry for the quality, you can't ask for much better with an iPod and no lighting :))

Happy Birthday Mom!!! I love my mom, and that's the Bright-side of life :)