Best Wedding Ever!

I have been planning on writing a post about the the wedding since I got back from California, but I keep postponing it... no more. Since this is my journal of sorts, I wanted to write down the experience. First of all James and Taylor looked absolutely amazing! I am serious, they are such a gorgeous couple if I do say so myself. James had on an ascot tuxedo, which my aunt Alicia says is worn primarily in Europe (she is the family world traveler!). It was unique and super classy, and James pulled it of quite nicely! It matched with Taylor's style of dress, which was vintage looking, and she designed it herself! It was so perfect, and she was radiant in it!


To start from the beginning for me, I arrived a week prior to the wedding, and was able to help with the last min stuff, which was nice because I honestly felt like I hadn't been able to be much of a help here in Utah. It was a busy and expectedly-stressful week, but still pleasant, and we had fun. Taylors friend, Bekah, flew in and was a huge help, especially since we were helping pack both of them up to move to Texas. Taylor and I got pedicures and spray tans, and it was just fun being there with them before the wedding. It also made me realize just how much there is to do for a wedding... so many little things that add up to lots of $$ and time. But there were lots of amazing people that contributed so it went perfectly.

I honestly thought that on the actual wedding day, it would be super stressful, and things would probably go wrong that we weren't anticipating, but honestly everything seemed to just go smoothly. There were a couple of things we forgot but thanks to friends and family's help (thanks Alicia and Ash!), no one noticed, and it was acutally REALLY fun and enjoyable! I noticed that a lot of people came and stayed though out the ceremony and reception, and enjoyed themselves. No offense, but a lot of mormon weddings seem to go like this: Show up in flip-flops, drop off gift, shake bride and grooms hand, grab food, and run. It was hardly that, and fun was had by all. I think the big hits of the night were the cute and yummy candy station, and James' song he wrote and surprised Taylor with. Lots of people were in tears.

The part that I did not mention yet was the temple. Of course it is a sacred experience that I don't want to make light of on a blog, but I do want to say that most everyone there agreed that it was one of the most spiritual wedding ceremonies they had attended, and we were all taken aback by how strong the spirit was and the emotions we felt. It confirmed to us that this was a union blessed by the Lord. I think our family gained a lot of closeness in many ways by that beautiful ceremony. The patriarch who gave James his patriaracal blessing, Pres. Borquest, did the ceremony, and it couldn't have been a better person to convey the spririt like he did. I have never seen James and Taylor so peacful and happy as they were that day.

We had a lot of family (and friends) travel far (Utah, Az, Canada, etc.), sacrifice time and money to help with and be a part of the wedding, and it was so fun, thanks to everyone! I saw how much my parents put in to all of this too, and am in awe of them too, they are truly amazing people.

James and Taylor went to Mexico on a cruise for the Honeymoon, and had tons of fun, and when they got back, they loaded everything into a trailer, and moved to Austin, Texas where they both had great jobs waiting for them. (and a beautiful apt!) So far they seem to love it, and their jobs are going really well, and they are loveing married life. Looks like I will have to take a few trips to Austin!








Taylor, James and Taylor's dad, Bill





Kenny(James' friend), James, Chris (James' friend), Alex (Taylors Brother, James' new Bro!)

The grooms Family

Julie, Laurel, Michelle, Addie, Christopher, Ron




Ashley, Aubree, Kim and Alicia decorating the get away car :)

I stayed the week after the wedding, which was nice and spent some more time with family, and friends (I miss you Heather and Emily!!!), and even took a surf trip to San Diego with friends, and while I didn't catch a wave, I got severely burned which was just super. (how many times do I have to be burned from an overcast day to finally learn my lesson?!) It was worth it though, because I am hardly ever with these girls and had an awesome time in spite of the scalded epidermis.

Roxy Premier of "Dear and Yonder" about the amazing women surfers around the world
Christi and I and our free Roxy Flip flops!
Some cool surf chicks, Suzette, Gina, Christi, and Jeni

Apples are Yummy

Someone had a little Christmas in July, and got a Macbook!

I am thoroughly enjoying it and, had a little fun with photo booth.... Ok a lot of fun. 

I think its written in the contract that you have to take these pictures when you purchase a Mac. 

Don't hate....you'd do it too if you had a macbook.   ....what?  you have a Macbook?  you haven't done this and published it on your blog? .....oh.....

Some Things of Note....

Just thought I would share some things I have been up to, nothing incredibly exciting, but since this is my "journal" (ha), i thought i'd write it down.

So a couple weeks ago, at work there was something called Summer University, which is just a couple days of workshops, and service projects, and activities for the Faculty and Staff at UVU. At first I thought it would be something that I would do just to get out of a little bit of boring office work, haha. When I went to it though, I found myself enjoying the speakers and workshops. My favorite was a keynote speaker, named Mike Schlappi, who is a paralympic athlete and has won 4 medals in basketball.




He became paralized in H.S. when he was shot accidentally by a friend. It really is amazing to hear peoples stories who have overcome so much and not just overcome it, but absolutley excelled in thier life in many ways. It makes me feel so inspired that I really can do whatever I want, no matter what I think my limitations are. The bullet that paralyzed him was stuck in his spine for several years until technology was more advanced and they could remove it. He said that when they finally took it out and he held it in his hand, he was able to let go of a lot of things, and move past all the things that upset him, and do what he wanted in life. He asked the audience to go home and think about what our "bullets" were in our lives. As corny as that sounds, I really wanted to think about it, and try to pin point something that was holding me back in my life, and try to overcome it. So I have, and I am excited to work on overcoming and getting past those bumps in my life. So what is your bullet in life??


The other thing that was of note, was last Friday. I went and volunteered at the MTC pretending to be an investigator for the missionaries who are learning ASL.


It was so fun! I loved it, for many reasons. It was the first time I had been back to the MTC since I was there 5+ years ago. (I can't believe its been so long) What a flood of memories! I saw missionaries sitting exactly where I sat not so long ago. Its weird becaue I sometimes forget that I actually went on a mission. I feel like it was dream, so it was fun to remember those feelings again. Also, it was so funny to see the missionaries struggle with teaching the lessons, and cute at the same time. They were so nervous, and it was so funny to see that one was SOO awkward and nervous, and the other seemed to want to take control(and he did) because he knew the other one was weird. :) oh memories. Plus, they were just BARELY learning the language so it was SOOOO slow and while there were a lot of hand and arm movements, there were not a lot of signs. haha. One kept looking at his companion desperatly for help in how to sign the door approach. They were SO nervous, poor guys. Luckily they only practiced door approaches in ASL, and then just taught the lesson in English. Anyway, it was fun and there seriously is a definite unique and amazing spirit there. I hope to go more often now. I was reluctant to go because I didn't want to be one of those return misisonaries who can't let go, but it really was a great experience. I can see why people enjoy teaching there.

Also, I finally moved. I live less than a mile from UVU, so its jus mins to get to work! I have my own big master bed and bath, and at a great rent. Its nice to finally get settled with all my stuff, but I can't believe how much "stuff" I have! I have 6-7 boxes I just don't know what to do with. I have accumulated and its so hard for me to let go!

Sorry this was long and boring, if you made it this far, you should get a small medal. And if you just skipped to the end... smart.

I know what I want for Christmas!

I was skeptical at first, but after reading the description of this delicate duckling, I think its a must have.
You gotta love Engrish.com.

Grateful

I am in St. George right now for a work conference, and most of the people I came with brought their spouses/kids so are out with them tonight, which leaves me with out a car or anything to do. So here I sit in my hotel room sort of bored, but enjoying the fact that I get a couple days to not do anything, but not feel guilty about it!

The past couple weeks have been sort of crazy, or at least eventful, but I realize that with a good healthy portion of perspective, things look a lot different to me in life, and I am grateful for the things I have, and realize what the most important things are to focus on in life. My grandma and Mom had surgery within a week of each other, and are impressively strong, and resilient and I am so impressed and grateful that they are healing well (so far). They are 2 of the most important people to me in my life, and I wish they didn't have to go through yucky things like that but they both have SO much faith in the Lord, and get through hard times because of that. That is so great for me to remember, because I need to rely on the Lord so much more in EVERY aspect-big, or small- in my life because it makes for a better experience! They both are such pure examples of trying to be the best they can in this life while having full trust in the Lord for they things they don't have control over. I love them SO much.

My car also died yesterday morning on the way to work, just a couple hours before I was to leave for St. George, and while my stomach dropped when I realized my car was dead, I also had such a feeling of relief for the blessing of being in a position where even if it were to cost a lot, I knew I had the money for it. I have NEVER felt that way before. Thanks to a good friend I was introduced to a book that has helped me get a handle on my finances and the first step was to save $1000 for an emergency fund, "just in case" any thing unexpected happened that I would normally have to go into debt for. I have also paid off a big chunk of my previous debt, which is a HUGE weight off my shoulders, and while I still have a bunch of school debt to get down, I have felt very in control. I also got a TON of money back from the govt. this year, and so I have that as well as surplus. So even after paying off the $700 car problem (which still sucks), I will have my $1000 emergency fund replenished immediately and some left over! I am blessed that I was able to start this before these little things started bogging me down. I am grateful for the Lords blessings when I see what could have happened from a different perspective.

I am also moving next week, and my dad was going to come up to help, but he hurt his back, so that is still TBD on if he can do all that heavy lifting! When it rains it pours, right!? I am excited to move, and have been so grateful to have had a place to live this whole time while saving money, and appreciate my Grandparents and love them so much.

My life is (very) far from perfect, and I still have a LONG way to go to always have a positive attitude about it, but I am trying. Even when I don't feel like it, I am trying to force myself to feel positive, which seems silly, but it actually works sometimes :)