Wedding Planning

When Andrew and I were planning our wedding we had little to no idea what we were doing. 

We were both the first siblings to get married.

One of my best friends got married when I was on my mission, so I was completely un-involved there. 

When we were planning our wedding I wish we had some sort of rough guide of what people before us had done.  

We did not know where to look for so many different things. 

All things that follow are in the Utah Valley area. 

Our photographer was Maddie Thomas. She was wonderful and a complete life saver. 

We had her do our Bridals and Wedding Day

(the person for our engagements we didn't like too much so we found Maddie instead).

You can find her website HERE and her Instagram HERE.

And all pictures that follow were all taken by her! She's wonderful. We love her. 

For our luncheon we had it at a local church, that way we could invite as many people as we wanted.
We had a lot of people from out of town that we wanted them there as well as our local family and friends.
This worked perfectly! We had Kneaders cater and it was delicious! 

We also had our reception at a local church and these pictures do not do the place justice. It was absolutely beautiful! People were so amazed when they came in and many people told us that they had never seen a church reception so beautiful.
I was completely in awe. 

We had Michelle do it and her company is called Ivory Gables. 

Her website it HERE and her Facebook is HERE.
She was absolutely wonderful to work with.
She showed us so many different options and ideas and we got to pick exactly what we wanted.
Loved her! 

We had VIP Catering do the food at our reception. They do all sorts of food. We choose to do desserts. 

We ordered for 500 and when the reception was over we had over 600 of one kind of dessert. 

Their serving size is more than just one per person. 

Their website is HERE.

We had Emily do our cake (we found her through Thumbtack which is a kinda nifty site). She was so professional
and really worked with us for what we wanted. The cake was so beautiful AND she made those flowers out of sugar.
She did that!!! Talk about her talent! She doesn't have a website but I'm sure if you look at Thumbtack her information
will appear and I have her contact information if needed. 

~ ~ ~

We ordered our wedding cake topper off of Etsy. It shipped from China so it took around a month to come. I didn't realize
that fact and it came about a week before the wedding. Ah, sweet relief! Online it did not have "and" for
Mr. AND Mrs. so I asked them to include it and they did! 

To order this one or one similar the Etsy shop is HERE.

And today celebrates 6 months since we had this wonderful day that all this wedding planning 

work went into. Totally worth it. We loved everything about our wedding day!

Yesterday We Drove though a Blizzard

Not the best idea. 

It was snowy all day. The kind that is thick and it tells you that winter is here to stay.

Andrew and I were meeting my parents at Ikea.

They were coming from the north and we were coming from the south. 

When we left there was a break in the storm and the clouds were clearing.

But when we got to Lehi that was a completely different story! 

It was a full on blizzard. Viability was about 500 yards (that's what my phone said but I think less).

We saw a truck start to slide into another lane. 

We even did a little ourselves which was terrifying knowing that you have no control.  

I was shaking! The heater was on full blast but I was terrified! 

How in the world did this happen? Why were we driving? 

Nothing at Ikea was worth this. 

We wanted to get off at an exit but the next exit available was the one right before Ikea. 

Might as well go to Ikea. 

We braved the storm and we made it.

I was praying so hard. 

The Ikea parking lot was basically empty. 

For obvious reasons. 

This is the best picture I have of the storm and the picture does not do it justice. 

It was much worse than what this picture portrays, but it gives a good idea.

We got parts of an entertainment center.

They were out of certain pieces. Even if some where in the store they wouldn't get it down

off the high shelves. Ok then... We risked our lives for this? 

Loading up our enteriainment center pieces. 

We'll be back this weekend. 

Haha. 

That's our blizzard story.

Don't do it.

A blizzard is much more enjoyable in a warm house 

watching it from your windows with apple cider. 

When we left the storm had cleared but that was after spending

three and a half hours at Ikea. At least it was warm, 

Our Thanksgiving Weekend

Happy Thanksgiving! 

I am so excited that the holidays are now here and we get to celebrate! 

I love this time of year!

On Thanksgiving morning Andrew and I woke up and were talking in bed.

We hear this noise and we ran, grabbed our shoes and went outside and saw this!

It landed outside our apartment complex. 

Well, good morning! 

Andrew and I spent Thanksgiving with his family this year. 

I have not spent Thanksgiving in Utah in forever! 

My family usually goes on a vacation to Disneyland, Knott's Berry Farm, Universal Studios

or we go and see family. But not traveling made for a relaxing weekend. 

 This is one of my favorite party games. 

It's memory but with a small twist and it's fun to figure it out. 

How neat is this butter?

I want one for every year! 

My family was in Nebraska visiting my mom's side.

Before the trip, my aunt was telling my mom not to dress nice

and to just come as a pilgrim. My mom thought it would be funny,

so she did and she got my brother and dad to join in too.  

We got gym passes! We've been meaning to do this for months and

we finally decided to buckle down and do it. 

Wish us luck!  

We went to the BYU vs. USU Football Game!

I was wanting to go this game all year and we were able to get tickets! 

 We went inside the tent for dinner and snacks during half time. 

That is the way to do a football game! 

And these things were the best! 

Graham Canyon or something. 

I died and went to heaven every time I ate one. 

I went to the gym that day so it cancelled out, right? 

Do you see our different hoodies? (I love Utah State!) 

The weather prediction was rain and snow. 

That didn't happen but it was a little chilly. 

I was cheering on my Aggies the whole time but BYU won.

It's ok. I still love USU (and I want to go back). 

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving Break. 

We are so blessed. We have our family close.

We have a wonderful apartment and a ward we love.

We both have jobs, the gospel, and each other.

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

And counting down the days till Christmas Break! 

(26 more days.... LESS THAN A MONTH!!!)

Arches National Park

I think it took me 3 different times to upload these pictures. 

Waiting. Almost done. Check back in and the blog posting is gone. Start over. 

But over Fall Break (one of the best things ever!) Andrew and I went with my parents

down to Arches. Andrew has never been there before which in my mind is crazy. Skiing and Arches are on the Utah 

state licence plates and he had never done one of them. 

Plus he has lived in Utah his entire life! 

Arches was a must and I've been wanting to do it forever! 

We had so much fun! I knew we would have because if not, why go?

I just did not realize how much fun we would have! It was the best! 

We went to my cabin before to help my parents chop wood. 

This is my Paul Bunyan.  

 So here we are at Arches and no joke, we've been in the park for only a few minutes 

and we decide to go to this arch because night it almost coming and this arch is easy to get to.

My parents run into people that they work with in the temple.

Out of all the places and all the people? Small world. 

 Delicate Arch. 

It's amazingly huge. 

 This picture is my mom to a T! 

 We were walking back from Double O Arch (it's a long hike but worth it) 

and that is the trail behind my mom and dad. That's it (don't fall). 

We almost didn't make it to this one but we thought we should try and it was the best!

This is Delicate Arch- the one on the Utah licence plate and it was amazing. It's huge! We turned a corner and then there it was just waiting to for us to see it! Beautiful! And if you can see those two things under the arch- that's Andrew and me! 

Arches was beautiful and we loved our time there! I wish we were there at least one more day.

Go in the fall. It's not hot and you're not dying. It's perfect weather. 

Casper's Christmas

You know how people mix up Halloween and Christmas.

Examples like;

+Nightmare before Christmas

+Casper's Haunted Christmas 

and that's what happened yesterday. 

Last week Andrew signed us up to go to the BYU Vocal Point Christmas Concert 

and I was so excited for a fun Christmas activity but what I did not realize was 

that the concert was in October!

Yesterday was so busy and we were scrambling to get out the door on time! After work I had to run 

to Walmart, and on my way I realized my gas needle in my car was on empty and I had 

no idea for how long. When I mean empty, I'm not kidding. It was as low as it could go. I am 

so glad I caught it before I ran out of gas in the middle of the road. That would have been bad. 

Andrew got off work later than planned. When I got home I had to change and I could NOT 

find my black pants.  I just had them on Sunday. I looked through all my drawers.  All my 

pile of clothes that we have no room to put.  I could not find them! (and I still can't- even 

when I cleaned the apartment tonight.) So I had to settle for a pair of jeans. 

We did make it out the door on time.

We went to Subway with gift cards I had received on my mission. Thank you Anaheim Mission

 Members who gave me those gifts cards. I saved them and they made for a wonderful 

dinner for date night. Thank you so much! 

The concert was for Vocal Point to film so the concert could be broadcasted.  The concert was 

WAY cool!  It was a 3 hour deal but we were able to see how it all runs. 

Those guys are so talented.

It was a perfect night and it got me in the mood for Christmas. I'm ready to start playing 

Christmas music, get a tree, decorate, make cookies, and do all the Christmas things.  But it's 

still fall, and there is no snow (thank goodness for that) and I'm really excited for Halloween! 

The concert airs on BYUTV on November 26. We may or may not be on TV.  

If we are, I might not be smiling because when the cameras were on us I was listening

 to the song which was a very calming spiritual song.  I was enjoying it. But not smiling.

Does anyone know what I mean? 

And FALL BREAK is now!

School was over, we put the kids on the bus, and then we were done.
Hello Fall Break! 

I'm FALLing for You

Excuse the pun, but I kinda like it. 

We went up the canyon after church 

because we kinda wanted some fall pictures. 

 ^We did this quite a few times and I loved every minute. 

If you don't throw leaves, it's simply not fall. ^

^Our cute friends came with us too. Seriously, so photogenic.

And I really want her hair, it's so long!^

We had a lot of fun.

It's so nice to get pictures that are not selfies

(which we love, but switching it up is nice too). 

I'm so in love with fall and all that comes with it.

Especially fall break.... which is in 3 days!!! 

Yahoo!