My Best Friend's Wedding

I would hate myself if i didn't record this event for our posterity...

my best friend got married a month ago and i just cant contain how incredibly happy i am for her and her new husband.

Everything about the wedding was wonderful, but i do have to give a shout out to the Bachelorette party that i hosted a few weeks before the wedding... I won't go into much detail, but here are some pictures to let you in on some of the fun ;) 

Bra & Panty Cookies

Devil's Food Cupcakes

Chocolate Pretzels 

it was an awesome party ;)

Also, they had a rehearsal dinner which was so fun! Mexican Fiesta Style.

the happy couple

Photo Bombing at its Finest

The Wives.

sorry it's blurry... i just love the sombreros.

And then there was the wedding.... /sigh

Wedding manicure:) i did it all by myself 

My amazing hair, courtesy of the lovely Taylor Olsen

Right out of the temple... look and that heavenly glow :)

my handsome man just hanging out.

Cupcakes.

Adorable Cake Toppers

Cake

BEST FRIENDS

love her.

Cutting the cake.

Tango.

Seriously people. this was the wedding to beat. so fun. 

I wish every happiness to the newly established Douglass Family. :)

Love you guys! 

Whatever.

I don't even know what I'm going to talk about today... I'm just typing away with no actual purpose in mind... So I apologize in advance.

Sometimes I wish I could be a professional interior designer. I watch hgtv and get all teary eyed at a beautiful home renovation. I can't wait until the hubby and I buy a home and I get to go all out! There is only so much creative license I have when living in an apartment. I'm not allowed to paint any walls, change out anything in the kitchen or even add curtains to the windows... It's painfully restricting.

I've found cleaning to be incredibly therapeutic. This weekend I helped the best friend clean her new house before she moves in this weekend after getting married!! We had to clean the carpets, scrub the walls, disinfect the bathroom, organize the cabinets, steam the floors and polish the wood. It took all day, but it was surprisingly a great way to spend my Saturday. Also, it's always more enjoyable to clean when you have your best friend there to talk and laugh with.

Alex and I had a great anniversary yesterday, and since we are celebrating in a couple of weeks when Alex is on Spring Break, we didn't do anything but sit in bed and eat ice cream and watch HIMYM. I couldn't have asked for a better anniversary! Although I am pretty excited for spring break when we get to go to a baseball game and eat at a fancy restaurant and watch movies in the theaters and maybe go on a little out of town adventure :) but more on that later.

Sigh... I just don't even know what to talk about. I think I'm gonna go take a nap.

Have a great day bloggers!!

This one is for you.

Hope: Noun. Having an expectation for something good to happen

That is what most people think of when they here the word Hope. And while that is the correct definition on Hope, I prefer a different definition.

Hope: noun. An amazing friend, an example of love, patience and understanding. Wonderful musician. Comedian. Support group. Friend. Wife (In a few day) sister, daughter, kindred spirit and soul mate.

Hope Andersen (Douglass) is seriously one of the most amazing women I have ever had the privilege of knowing, and no, she isn't paying me to write this post ;)

I met Hope almost 2 years ago through my Husband. She was actually dating my husbands little brother Ian and so she was always around at the house and at movies nights and such. And although we weren't best friends while she was dating Ian, I am really glad that we took the time after Ian left on his mission to get to know each other better.

It didn't take very long for hope and I to become inseparable, and now that I think about it I can't even really remember life without her in it... It seems like I've known her forever, she knows so much about me and I know she always will be.

It's funny, you know how when you are little and you talk to your best friend and you say, "when we grow up we are going to marry boys who are best friends, and we will live by each other and our kids will grow up together and we will have play dates with our babies and double dates with our husbands and it's just going to all be so fabulous!!" well, with most of my best friends that isn't the case, but with Hope, it is!! Our husbands have been best friends since elementary school!! How fabulous is that?? We have already gone on two Couples Vacations together, one to Mexico and the other to Disneyland.. And I know that those are just the beginning!! I know that even if they do end up moving away (mark and hope love the snow and so they want to move to Utah or Colorado or something.... Weirdos) we will still see them multiple times a year. We will always love to have them in our home during the holidays!! They are practically family, and I've only known them for 1.5 years!! Isn't that amazing? How people come in to our lives who you know are simply meant to be with you!

I can only imagine that Hope and I were friends in heaven :)

I love Hope so dearly and I can not wait to watch our lives develop together! She and Mark are getting married next Saturday, and I am so excited to see the two of them make an eternal commitment to one another in the temple.
I know Hope will make an amazing wife and mother!! And an amazing auntie to my babies!! She is caring and loving and thoughtful and forgiving and she is okay with sitting outside the church building every Thursday after choir to listen to me talk and talk and talk while we freeze our little bums off... Thanks for that Hopey.

Hope, I am so glad that you came into my life, and I'm so sorry that you are stuck with me and Alex for the rest of forever ;) sorry, but there is no getting rid of me now!

Now, everyone needs to go check out Hopes blog, bitofhopey.blogspot.com

Seriously she is hilarious.

Huzzah for best friends!!!

One year

It's amazing how quickly 12 months can go by.

One year
12 months
52 weeks
365 days
8760 hours
525600 minutes
And lots and lots of seconds

One year ago my life completely flipped upside down. I kneeled across the alter with my best friend and made an eternal commitment. I became a wife, a support group, a cheerleader, a working gal, a therapist, a shoulder to cry on, a believer, a fighter, a peacemaker and a lover. I'm not saying it was always easy, trust me, I will be the first one to say that marriage is not easy and that it takes a lot of work and a lot of compromise and patience... But my my, it is DEFINITELY worth all of the hard work, late night talks/ fights, give and take, and sacrifice.

The first few months of marriage were a mix of bliss and torture. It was so nice to finally be married, not having to drive home to separate houses at the end of the night, or try and refrain from being too physical ;) but we were both use to being independent, and being raised by different families we didn't exactly see eye to eye one every issue that arose. I was overly sensitive and easily hurt, and alex was a little too brash and at times hurtful with the way he handled situations. I cried and gave him the silent treatment and he put on a headset and ignored the problem... Not exactly the best approach to new marital problems.

But slowly, over time, and with lots of coaxing, we learned how to handle each others emotions. I became less sensitive to the little things, I learned how to pick my battles, and when I did have a concern I have leaned how to voice my opinion in a way that is not abrasive or naggy. Alex learned how to manage his time so that I felt loved and appreciated, instead of ignored. But most of all we learned how to show our love to each other in the best way possible, through service. I'm thankful for a loving husband who goes out of his way to love me and I will always be trying to make sure he knows how lucky I am to have him in my life.

Things have been blissful since we finally figured out the best way to keep our marriage full of love. I can't remember the last time Alex and I had a disagreement. I couldnt be happier with the life I have chosen, and I'm pretty sure the rest of eternity is gonna be great. Now, I'm not naive enough to believe that just because we have not fought or had issue these last few months that we will never have problems... Heavens, if I new the trick to no marital problems, I promise I would share them.... But I know that whatever the issue, I will have Alex by my side, backing me up, fighting with me instead of against me. And I will do the same for him. I think that's part of the reason we need to have a partner in this life.. It gets hard and we need someone to believe in us when we can't even believe in ourselves. Someone to be at home to hug us after a hard day at work. Someone to call when you have an embarrassing moment, and you know that they will laugh with you and not at you. Someone to love you even though you are HORRIBLE at getting the laundry done in a timely manner. Someone to love you even though you haven't cooked a real dinner in weeks, and someone who is okay with pasta roni and Costco rolls on the couch almost every night. Someone to share your dreams with and someone to wake up in the middle of the night when you have had yet another nightmare. Someone to say, "I love you" to multiple times a day.

I can't imagine this life, or the life after this one without my husband by my side. I can't wait to see him graduate college and begin a fabulous job in finance. I can't wait to see him hold our babies. I can't wait to travel the world together. I can't wait. And it's wonderful to dream about the future and even though I may not know what we will be doing in 5, 10, or 20 years, I always see Alex there, in the future. He's always there. :)

I love you Alex. Thanks for making this last year the best one ever.

And my advice, for anyone reading this who is struggling with their marriage, or is about to get married, is to be patient. Don't sweat the small stuff. Don't yell or scream or say hurtful words in the heat of an argument. Even if you have to ask 5 times for your spouse to do something, don't let the fact that they didn't take the trash out the first time you ask turn into a fight where you say things you can't take back. It's just trash... In the grand scheme of things, it doesn't matter. Always put your spouses feelings first... Before you yell and and become accusatory, think about how you would feel if they reacted that way to you.. 5 seconds of reflection are usually enough to help calm emotions and keep the situation under control. Pray together. Whether you are religious or not, the act of kneeling hand in hand with your spouse and praying with them, and for them, is extremely bonding. Let them know that you are thinking about them, and that you want what is best for them.

I dont consider myself an expert, but I do wish someone had given me these small tidbits of advice before I jumped into my marriage with absolutely no grasp of reality. :)

Now get out there and tell that special someone that you Love them!!!!

happy to do nothing.

I got to work this morning and my boss asked how my weekend was.

Without hesitation, i said "It was AMAZING!!"
My boss smiled and wanted to know what i had done over the weekend to make it so AMAZING...
I paused to think... "We didn't do anything..." was my reply.

We didn't do anything. And it was AMAZING.

Friday night (date night) consisted of going across the street to get Subway sandwiches and Fry's ice cream and then coming home to eat cross legged on the couch while we watched Oceans' Eleven and swooned over George Clooney's incredibly good looks... yes even my husband was swooning ;)

That night we were in bed by 10:00... amazing!

Saturday, Alex had work in the morning, so i slept in til 9:30 (AMAZING)!!! then got up and took a shower that lasted longer than 3.7 minutes... I even shaved my legs <GASP>
 I then made a tasty luinch and prepared a picnic for Alex and I once he got home... but we didn't feel like going to far, so the picnic ended up happening on our living room floor while we watched episodes of How I Met Your Mother... amazing!

Then we went birthday shopping for my father-in-law. He turned 50, so we had to get something clever! We wrote him a not that said something like:

"As the prime of youth fades, the stench of old age sinks in... 50 STINKS!!!"

and we provided him with a bunch of things to help combat his new found stinky-ness. A candle, air freshener, breath mints, deodorant, cologne, and odor blocking garbage bags. Everyone got a huge kick out of our gift! I'd say it was a success.

Sunday was full of church, and tasty food, movies, popcorn, birthday cake, belly laughs, cuddly kittens and a loving husband.

And while we didn't do anything extravagent, we didn't spend very much money, we had an amazing weekend. It's amazing how spending a few days in your sweats, eating on the couch and snuggling for hours  is made so muich better when you get to spend it with one hunky hunband!!! I mean, come one! how lucky am i??

i'd say the rest of eternity is going to be pretty amazing as well :)

resolute.

i know its a little late, and a little cliche, but i wanted to write about my resolutions for this year before I forgot.


sometimes it's easy to have a mile long list and get a little over overwhelmed and chicken out of your resolutions before you even begin.

for example:
be a better wife.
eat healthier.
exercise.
cook more homemmade meals.
eat out less.
drink more water.
drink less soda.
no sweets.
more service.
more chores.
more kind words.
more patience.
more time with my husband.
More money saved
more more more!!!

Man oh man, I get exhausted just reading that list...

But it is definitely a list full of things I need to work on. So how do you whittle down the list to the most important things?

I think for me it comes down to doing the things that will definitely make me the most happy! Who wants to make a year long resolution to something that is going to make to unhappy and anxious every day? Not me, that's who! So I think I need to choose one resolution for each aspect of life. Mental, emotional, physical and spiritual!

So my top 4 resolutions are

1. Cook healthier meals, and promote healthy eating!

2. Have more patience and understanding when it comes to my husband and the little girls I work with. Lots of times it is easy to get frustrated before really understanding a situation and so having more patience is definitely needed in my life.

3. Have more charity and show more service to those around me.

4. Have a consistent work out routine and be confident in the body I was blessed with, but also be excited to work on improving the features that are unique to my body type :)

And there you have it! 4 easily manageable, yet still life changing resolutions. :)

I think this is the first year that I have been really excited about my goals and that today, 10 days into the new year, I have truly stuck to my goals and can already see and feel changes within myself :)

I hope to keep y'all updated on the successes of my goals and I hope to hear all about your goals!!

Good luck and happy New Year!! :)

twenty twelve :)

hey there! told ya i'd do better at blogging! although i will admit, this post is going to be pretty awesome cliche... i just feel like i have to let the blogging world know how thankful i am for this past year, and how pumped i am for the upcoming 12 months!!! so athough it isn't original, it is necessary... 

my 2011 timeline of happiness

january- alex and i got a head start on the wedding planning process and took our engagement pictures... it was a BLAST... 

February- had my bachelorette party! i am so blessed with amazing friends and family who all supported me and my marriage!

March- this one is easy. i married my best friend in mesa temple for time and all eternity and we honeymooned on a fabulous cruise to mexico... i mean come on... :)

April - alex and i stuggled to get into the swing of things.. being married, living together, understanding each others feelings was hard on both of us, but we made it out alive, and we grew and changed for the better within this first month of marriage and i wouldn't have changed any of it. Also, it was baseball season so he took me to a few games! 

May - school was out and it was time to party!! it was finally warm enough to go to the lake, so that is what we did, every chance we got!!

June - We celebrated my brothers birthday, went to the Aquarium, had more lake trips and just enjoyed the lazy days that summer has to offer :)

July - I turned 20, and was doted upon by my sweet husband. We also hosted our very first 4th of July party :)

August - We took a trip to mexico with our dearest friends Mark & Hope. It was an awesome trip!!!

September - we attended sports games and had our last lake trip for the year. 

October- went and visited Hope at Disneyland where she was working for the semester :) 

November - Started my new nanny job, enjoyed thanksgiving and black friday :)

December - put up our very own Christmas tree, celebrated Alex's birthday, got a new kitten and celebrated Christmas and enjoyed the season with our families!

i feel so blessed to have had such a fabulous year. 

and now that i've over loaded you with photos, i'll sign off and talk about my love for 2012 another day :)