I could not love Harry Potter more than I do at this moment.

Okay... when does this version come out in theaters??

best quotes of the day

It was an exceptionally funny day. Some proof:

Older guy a couple cars down after I parked in a pretty premo parking spot for church: "That's living right."

Sunday school teacher talking about how Alma the younger was fasting for many days before running into Amulek: "For those of your who know me, you know that I don't get hungry--I get hangry."

Sunday school teacher wrote on the board: "What is frustrating right now?" and the first answer was from my disabled roommate: "Not being with an eternal companion." Not quite sure why, but it was completely hysterical.

Relief Society teacher: "Don't you ever just ask yourself, 'why does life suck?'?"

After explaining how I burned my finger for the second time making decorations for a friend's wedding (the first time was while making the decorations for the bridal shower of a different friend):
"Those damn weddings." -Jesse

Referring to the smoke up against the mountains in southern Provo: "It looks like Mordor." -Jesse
Me to 6-year-old Logan (after grandpa pulled out his tooth): "How much is the tooth fairy going to give you for that tooth?"
Logan: "Twenty bucks!"
Dad: "If I were your parents, I'd be poor!"
(don't worry, I don't think Logan put 2 and 2 together)

My sister to 4-year-old Lucas: "We don't hit guests!"
Lucas: "I wasn't hitting--I was spanking!"

And then there was just Lucas trying to figure out "head, shoulders, knees, and toes." Funniest thing I've ever seen. He kept getting his elbows and his shoulders mixed up.

Logan--the city, not the nephew.

So it turns out, I'm not the only one whose job has perks-- Megan's job gave her a free night's stay at the inn on the USU campus, and guess who she invited up?? That's right. Me and Gav. I don't know if it was just because it wasn't a weekend, or because Gavin and I had stayed up too late the night before watching dumb crime investigation shows on TV with our mom (those are much too addicting), but either way, we were all a bit tired and grumpy. We still had a good time, though, although we ate way way way too much junk food. Bleh. That's going to go well with my recent stomach ailments, eh? Not so much. 

We started off day one with a little late breakfast at this lovely place:

Megan and I shared a breakfast one and a strawberry/banana one. They were delicious. I love crepes. I'll decide exactly how "authentic" they are in a few weeks.  

Next, we went over to "second dam," which is much more beautiful than first dam, in case you ever get the choice, although there is a serious lack of grass on which to lay down blankets. We almost had to set them out on the bridge.

We saw this adorable muskrat swimming with some moss in its mouth. It was almost as cute as an otter.

Basically we just laid around, enjoyed the view, and did nothing, and then half-heartedly took a walk, which didn't last very long since we weren't walking so much as just shuffling our feet.

This would be a cute picture... if they were dating. Haha. That's what Megan said about it, anyway.

THEN, we went bowling. Before we started, Gavin made it very clear that he was horrible at bowling, and Megan said she was too. Guess who won? That's right. Not me. 

In case you can't see, that screen says that I got destroyed. I'm the one who's awful at bowling, apparently. 

Here's Gavin's string of blurry pictures--his speciality. 

This one isn't blurry, but he got his finger in it and I'm blinking. He's so good. 

I just love Megan's face in this one.

Sad because I lost.

Happy because she won.

Here's where we just started playing around with settings on my camera...

Megan could not get over how weird-shaped the key was. It looked more like a flashdrive. 

So yeah. We bummed around our hotel room, watched Harry Potter, took a nap, and then went swimming at the aquatic center, where we definitely did not burn off enough calories for all the "snacks" we ate. We tried. I jumped off the high dive. 

The next day, we gorged ourselves on pizza for lunch, and then Megan sent us off with a little tour of the campus and some famous Aggie Ice Cream. It was good, just not as good as BYU creamery ice cream. Sorry.

And here I am changing my tire after it just kind of split open as we were driving home. A big thanks to whoever hit my car a few months ago, causing it to ruin that tire. I hate you. And yes, I really did change the tire on the side of the freeway, even though I look like I'm doing nothing in the picture. This older man pulled over just as we were getting the tire off, and he was like, "oh, I guess you really don't need any help, do you?" But it was nice of him to stop anyway. I definitely had some flashbacks to my first tire-changing experience in the flamingo hotel parking lot with my 4 of freshmen roommates. Good times. 

So, yeah. We had a good time in Logan. I'm not sure, however, that a free night's stay was worth the $155 I had to pay to get my tire situation taken care of. OH WELL. Until next time, Logan.

new summer do.

Lately I've been feeling a bit careless (ambivalent, indifferent, whatever) about my hair, so I decided to chop it off. Why not? I showed the stylist this picture:

 And this is how it turned out:

(yes, I realize that I'm not as cute as Jessica Alba, but whatev)

I still need to color it a bit darker to get the full effect, but you get the idea. 

My June 3rd

This day is always full of emotions for me--some painful, some sad, some regretful, most meditative--all inevitably leading to this one simple question:

Sometimes, life just doesn't work out the way you planned. Case in point: my life. And sometimes, it's because your plans weren't as good as the Lord's. He's really trying to help me get the most out of my life, I think. Which is pretty great. Did I mention how I just read Kristin Oaks's book, A Single Voice? Well, I did. And it's great. I especially love the subtitle:

The Unexpected Life is No Less a Life.

Seriously. And most days, I have to admit that my life is full and happy and wonderful and 100% blessed. And on days like today, I have to remind myself (and yes, make lists) of all the blessings that I have received because things did NOT go the way I planned. I know that this scripture is a bit cliche (can you say that about scriptures?), but this particular one has really helped me through some hard times:

"To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven."

-Ecclesiastes 3:1

It's such a comfort to know that the Lord has a purpose for me, and that He is timing it perfectly. What a relief, because I probably would mess things up big-time. 

Haha, so I just busted out my journal from last year, and guess what scripture I have written down there? You guessed it. (In case you didn't, it's the same one as above.) Anyway, back to that book. I just loved how Sister Oaks talked about her single years and how they gave her the opportunity to make Heavenly Father her best friend. That's not to say that married people can't (or shouldn't) do the same, because obviously they should, but there is just something about being single that forces you to turn to the Lord. For so many years, I have felt that Heavenly Father has been teaching me how to be alone (And with some of my best friends getting married this summer, the lesson just keeps on going). I think that the biggest part of learning to be alone is learning to trust in Him and turn to Him for everything. I don't know why it's so hard sometimes, but it is. I'm still trying, though. And it's comforting to know that He is always there, even when I mess up, or when I forget or am just slow to remember. 

I've been reading through the Book of Mormon kind of quickly lately, which I like to do sometimes because then I get more of the "whole story" view of it, and it helps me see so much Heavenly Father's dealings with His children. And I am always reminded of how constant He is. He is always good, always great, always merciful, always kind, always loving, always there. And He is always so ready and willing to bless. For that, I am grateful. And I feel like the more my life parts from my plans, the more He is willing to bless me. I can almost hear Him saying sometimes, "Okay, life isn't going to follow your plans, again, but check out this awesome thing I have in store for you instead." Last year I had a long list of wonderful blessings because of how the "what might have been" well, wasn't, and I'm happy to see that I have another long list to add to that this year.  So, yeah. Life is hard sometimes. But O how great the goodness of our God, which in turns makes my life so good, even today. 

Dance, dance, dance (with a french accent, by the way)

Last week I went to THIS little girl's ballet recital:

Check out that costume!!

 They performed sleeping beauty, and it was just wonderful. What made it even more fun was that my niece danced the "music box" dance that I (along with most if not all of my sisters) danced when I was little. I was happy to note that I still have the dance about 98% memorized. And check out those cheeks! When I was little, we used lipstick to make those perfect circles--the old-fashioned way.  Now-a-days, they just stick them on like stickers. Blew my mind.

Going to this recital just reminded me how much I love ballet!! Remember the fiasco with the opera? Well it's possible that there is still some culture left in me somewhere, because I love ballet. Granted, this was a little kid ballet and I'm not sure I've actually ever been to a real one, but still. I guess 15 years of being constantly surrounded by dancing girls doesn't just go away. I'm looking forward to any Nutcracker performances in December, because if you think I love dance, that's nothing compared to how much I love the Nutcracker.

Speaking of dance, here's a delightful little song for you. Enjoy!

New temple number three

So before my stunning digestive pyrotechnics (name that movie!) in St. George, my friend Holli and I stopped by a little town called Las Vegas. What does Vegas mean, anyway? And okay, so we didn't actually go into downtown Vegas, but we did see it from afar. We skipped the filthy city and stopped by the cleanest place in town--the temple!! (In case you're wondering what the deal is with LDS temples, read this!) The Las Vegas temple never struck me as one of the most beautiful temples, but boy was I wrong!! It was incredibly beautiful, and despite the windy day, we took a nice little tour around the grounds. 

 Yes, I'm holding my skirt so it doesn't blow away.

 This picture courtesy of my camera timer and a wedge-shaped rock that propped my camera up.  

Next time you drive through sin city, make sure to take the time to look at this little piece of heaven along the way!

Ooh la la!

Now that my life is no longer consumed by planning and preparing for this long-awaited bridal shower, I can finally blog about it. Did I not say that this would be the best party I ever threw? I think yes. But I have a pretty great party in the works for next year, too, which might rival this one. But here are some of the highlights from this French-themed shower that I threw for the bestie.

The food:

 This was by far my favorite thing: a cheese cake. Obsessed. Not to mention that it was two of my very favorite French fromage--brie and boursin. Deelish.

Thanks to Lindsay for bringing those cute pink cupcakes! They were perfect :)

 Please notice the bronze French coq. Had to.

The people:

the bride-to-be herself.

 Haley, Haleigh, and Cory:

 Tatiana, Dresden, Kristina, Cassi:

 Missionary friends! Holli, Lindsay, Britney, Harmony:

 Jenny, Irene, Sari, Dani, Kelly:

 Somehow I think I was just laughing the whole time...

 She really tried her hardest to not be embarrassed:

 So excited by her madeleine pan:

 Tout le monde! Let's just say, I definitely don't have this many friends. Everyone loves Laurel :)

 How I love these girls! We decided that seeing each other only once a year is definitely not enough.

The games:

I made up little advice cards corresponding to the letters of the married's names. Here are my favorites:

Questionnaire about the bride and a French word search:

Bingo for when she was opening presents:

I was really sad that we didn't have time to play pictionary. So if anyone is up for a game of bridal shower pictionary sometime, let me know because I'm really dying to play.

The decorations:

I had this mirror that I bought from the DI a few months ago. Luckily, my sister had some chalkboard paint just lying around in her garage, so I took advantage!

Welcome!

 That's one of the invitations in the frame there... Yes, I became an InDesign pro because of this party.

 I don't even know how many hours I spent (and forced several co-workers to spend--thanks again Haley and Melissa!) folding paper to make these adorable pinwheels. I made a few more than I had planned...

 We made little favor boxes and put some French macarons inside. Again, had to.

The cute napkins: 

 Oh, the classic tissue paper puffs.

 Another of my favorite things: the "Ooh La La" banner. Luckily we already had that giant gold mirror in our living room. 

 So, yeah. It was a pretty great shower. I was so happy with how everything worked out, and how many people came to celebrate with Laurel. It was a great time. But, to be honest, I'm happy that it's over!! I need to get back to planning other things, like my trip to France. But I guess this was good preparation anyway, right?