Of Bachelorettes and Bruises

July has been a super busy month for me so far!

So while I haven't blogged in a bit, I do have lots to blog about!

Two weeks ago was Darci's wedding weekend. Cass was on-call and had lots of work responsibilities, so I drove myself up. It wasn't a bad drive, and I got to listen to my nerdy podcasts, until it started raining. Turns out the driver's side windshield wiper isn't very effective! 

The bachelorette party started with a pole dancing class at Onyx Pole and Aerial Fitness Studio. As you can see from the name, the focus is more than just looking sexy. And WOW! It is hard work! I found myself thinking, "Gosh! I can do all this stuff without a pole in dance, why is it so hard now?!?!" Plus, I have absolutely no upper body strength! Hard stuff, ya'll!

All sweaty after class!
Natalia, me, Whitney, Jessie, Darci, Jill

Sassy!

Jill's baby, Kylie

Darci, showing off her new abilities!

"Go upside down!"

You can't see it very well, but I got an awesome bruise on my calf and shin!
I got more little purple bruises on my inner thighs, but I thought I'd keep those out of sight . . .

We played some crazy games after the pole dancing class and Jill made us dinner. It was delicious and we had a great time, and Darci gave us some super cute stuff! 

bridesmaids presents: including self-made earrings and necklaces!

the note she included

The wedding ceremony was on Saturday and we were all to get ready together at Darci's apartment. However, I woke up super sick that morning. I slept as much as I could before it was time to go up to Darci's, but I still felt gross. Unfortunately (for everyone!), I kept throwing up at Darci's and they sent me home! I'm sad I missed out on all the wedding fun, but Darci and Tyler had a great wedding day and it was great to see Darci! 

Welcome to the Family!

My cute cousin Kenzie married her sweetheart Jeremy this weekend, and we were able to attend the wedding and reception. Kenzie was beautiful! 

The Happy Couple

Bella & the flowers

Bella & Jordyn, Cute Cousins!

Congrats to the new couple! Love you guys! 

Wedding: July 18, 2011

Cassidy and I were married for time and all eternity in the Salt Lake Temple on July 18th, 2011. We were very blessed to have many of our family members and close friend with us on this special day! Here are a few pictures!

Here we are exiting the temple! Cassidy took forever to change and I ended up being the one waiting for him! I was worried he was waiting somewhere else or that someone let him leave without me!

Pictures outside the temple with the fam!  (Flowers! Love them!)

Flirting for the camera! ;)

At the reception

My "Princess Chair" where I would escape to sit whenever I had the chance! 

Overall I had a great time! Everything went perfectly!

*Hopefully the professional pictures will be coming shortly!* 

Running Towards Death!

Wedding Countdown: 11 days!

The Checklist is almost completed. Saturday Mom and I took a vanful to Cedar and Cass gave me my keys. I also totally unpacked and organized the kitchen. Monday, Distribution Center Shopping. I picked up my dress and met with the stake pres. on Tuesday.  Today, I got my nails done. Bridals and Endowments on Saturday. All the announcements are sent. [more or less. I think I only messed up a few :)]

Somehow I managed to read, too. (but only Matthew books) 
-The Throne of Fire by Rick Riordan -- good book, not my favorite of his, but a nice sequel to The Red Pyramid. I'm not as into the Egyptian stuff and at times the story is disconnected, but I will surely read the next in the series.
&
ALL of The Underland Chronicles by Suzanne Collins -- which I totally loved (hence the super fast reading of the 5 books). They were written for children, which aided the fast read, and are totally at a children's level (which is why I made Jenn get them for Matthew for Christmas) and I'm not sure why I didn't read them earlier. Probably school! :P
The books are about Gregor, from the Overland, and his travels into the Underland, where humans live among various creatures of unusual size. Gregor is presumed to be the warrior in prophecies left by  Underland's founder and it is seen as his duty to fulfill them.  I really enjoyed the serious, the thought and plot were original.  Nerdy me really enjoyed the use of language and the differences in syntax between the Overlanders and the Underlanders. As well as the linguistic styles of the speaking animals. And character development was great -- even in the animals, of which there were many! I really grew attached to all of the characters by the end of book five. They were all fairly realistic.
However, I didn't love the ending, but I can see what Collins was doing, as well as why.  I just would have ended the series differently. But my ending would have been fantastical whereas hers was realistic.  Even though it was a fantasy series. Regardless, I totally recommend this. Go. Read. Enjoy.

The good news is, I don't really have that much to stress about! And please forgive my scattered crazy post! Eventually I will be normal! Or back to my normal. . .
  

Sweet Grandmas, Quilts, and Weddings

My grandma passed away January 15, 2007. She was the mist kind, loving, selfless woman I have ever met. I won't go into brag-mode, but suffice it to say I consider myself blessed to have had her example. I sure hope she wore of on me.

As I plan my wedding, I am oft thinking of how things would be different if she were here. She was both an expert seamstress and quilter. She made stockings for all of us by our first Christmas, would randomly make us quilts, sewed my baptism dress, and was apparently finishing my mom's wedding dress on the way to the temple! While Grandma probably would've sewn my wedding dress, what I wanted most was a wedding ring quilt. You know, one of those old school ones that take forever to make and represent eternity. Well my mom loves my brother-in-law enough to make him a stocking last Christmas, but she doesn't love me enough to make me a quilt. And so I was resigned to store bought quilts until someone taught me to make my own.

This weekend I was thrown a lovely shower by my sweet new aunts and girl cousins. Grandma Swallow was able to leave her mission for the afternoon and come as well. And she made me a gorgeous quilt! I was just blown away that she would take the time out of her busy schedule to make me -- someone she hardly knows-- such a wonderful gift. Even the aunts and Grandma McCoy. I have met these people once before, and they were also so kind and welcoming. It was great!

And yes I love and miss my grandma. But these women will be wonderful togave in my life as well.

Cuz crazy is perfect, so I will be perfect. . .

So . . . my life is a little crazy. I've been a little busy. But here's the run down on my haps as of late. 

Saturday I took the kids to 7 peaks. I sunscreened them and totally forgot about myself.  That sure hurt, and I learned my lesson! It was nice to just relax and read in the sunshine though. 

Tuesday I headed up to Salt Lake to have dinner with Cass and his boss. BBQ -- Delicious!

Wednesday the lovely ladies in the ward threw me a shower, and I was pleased with the attendance of ladies from the old ward and some friends -- as well as a very special friend's mom! Highlights were my new cookie press, my stack-able cooling racks (which I'm way too excited about!) and being able to chat it up with Nattie Cat :) Downside: I don't know Cass we'll enough, apparently, and ended up having to stick about ten pieces of gum in my mouth, which really isn't that big!!

Saturday was a crazy busy day! I had the eye doctor- lovely- and am not too much worse (yet I never ever ever! drive home from the eye doctor -- not safe!!). Then Cass came down and we headed to the Stone Family Reunion for lunch and some games. For dinner we headed up to meet Cass's best friend (and his wife, sister, and brother-in-law) who I have never met before. I was a little nervous.  I don't like meeting new people.  But I think it went okay.  They were nice. I don't think I was too weird. Afterwards we continued north towards Cass's homestead for the night.

Sunday we went to church and played with Cass's fam.  His baby sister is a doll. She's hilarious and I love her.  She's crazy fun. However, that evening I fell ill.  Cass drove me home and I took to bed for quite a while.

But! I still made time to read in the last little bit, leaving me with these lovely reviews to dispense for ya'll:

The Center of Everything : A Novel
I have had quite an adventure reading this book. You see, I got to page 214. And I read it, and finished it. And then my eyes went up the next page, and it didn't make sense. I read it again. Nope. And I checked the page number. It was not 215.  So I trekked to B&N where they didn't believe me that I bought the book there-- but we finally got sorted. About a week later it came and I was finally able to finish this lovely novel about the coming-of-age of a Midwestern girl in a America with a crazy mom, a crush on the neighbor, and a hottie friend who  dates the neighbor.  Best part: the mom was a teenager when she had our main character and has younger sisters close to the age of her daughter. At a family dinner, the Mom's sisters think their dad called her a Horse. Nope. Not it. Not horse.  I found this to be a great novel with both hilarious and touching moments. It's cited as akin to To Kill a Mockingbird.  I'm not sure I would classify it as such, but close as a coming-of-age novel.

 

 

And now I try to ---

-finish my thesis . . . Oh Isadora Duncan. How you plague me. I wish we could be friends. But I think we're on to the easier part now. . . I hope.

-print, address, and send announcements.  They should be done on Monday from the printers, so I suppose I shouldn't stress until I actually have them in my possession. 

-I also work every day, which I nerdily spice up with my myriad of howstuffworks.com podcasts.

-I also babysit twice a week, which is a nice respite from life. :)

-I have a busy, busy weekend!

-My mom's gong out of town next week, which doesn't really require any extra work from me - unless there is an emergency

-Not go insane! :)  

Beaches by Iris Rainer Dart 

So. No lies. I picked this book up because it had Bette on it and cost a dollar. I originally took it with me to 7 Peaks on Saturday because  I figured it would be easy to read in a loud, crazy environment.  Which it was.  But it was still a cute book. I enjoyed it, as I enjoy most books about friends throughout the years. Beaches is nothing special, but don't let that turn you off.  It's still touching and cute.

 The Red Pyramid (The Kane Chronicles, Book 1)

So I guess Rick is starting to rival Philippa, but I really enjoy reading "Matthew" books! They're easy to pick up and put down with my schedule and don't require too much thought. This series is similar to the others of Rick's, but it is about the Egyptian Gods and magicians.  I did like that he switched it up with the mortals being "blood of the pharaohs" and magicians instead of being demi-gods. I also like this because I do not know as much about the Egyptian Mythology as the Greek or Roman. Similar to my prior review on Rick, I just love that he can get kids to read. I don't care what kids are reading, as long as they are. However, I did not like that the chapters switched back and forth between Sadie and Carter (the main characters are brother and sister), and at times the action got a little rushed. However, if you're into "Matthew" books like I am, I'm sure you'll enjoy this.  

A Reliable Wife by Robert Goolrick

I did not enjoy this book at all. It was not fluid. It was consumed with sex. It tried to be literary, and I just feel that it really failed. I will not be recommending this to anyone anytime soon, nor rereading it. So if you love it, maybe you can talk me into it. But I doubt it. I'm sure part of the problem was that I had misconceptions about the book when I picked it up, but even after I figured the setting and everything, I didn't like it. It took me quite a while to get through it for a book I thought I would enjoy. I almost didn't finish it, but I have moral issues with not finishing a book. So I trucked through and hoped it would get better. It didn't.  Don't waste your time.  

Engagements

Last weekend, Scott Myler took some fantastic engagements for us! Here are my favorites :) 

Once upon a time . . .

. . . there was a young girl who dreamed of a wedding in August with the reception outside.  She had it all planned out. But then her betrothed received his dream (for a college student) job. He would have to be in Cedar for the entire month of August. The wedding date had to change. 


The girl was crushed, but also excited.  This job was a blessing; they would now have a place to live. But the yard would not be done. She started stressing. Would her dress get here in time? Could she plan everything in time? What if their wasn't an opening at the Salt Lake Temple? Could she really get married in Provo?!?!


And then she took a deep breath.  And things began to come together. They decided on a Monday wedding because of all the business of the job, and the temple was open.  Her dress was scheduled to arrive at least three weeks before the wedding. And family friends were able to arrange a bargain on a reception hall. The colors had already been decided on, making dressing the siblings a cinch. 


And the evil stress was crushed!

Now, to find a job . . .