Ohio Trip

I was so lucky to have FABULOUS college roomates. My first semester started out a bit rough, but once I fell into the college groove, I met a few girls that I will consider life-long friends.

I am a Lucky Girl!!

Jenna Elyn Martin is one of those girls! She was such a blessing in my life and I love everything about her. She is such an example to me and I have a feeling that one day, our dreams of picket fences, matching houses with dormers, a few kiddos that adore each other and a dog or two will come true. *Here's Praying!*

Two weeks ago, I had the wonderful opportunity to go to Ohio for my Jenna's wedding. It was wonderful. Everything any bride would dream of. We did lots of DIY things and everything turned out BEAUTIFUL on a BUDGET! It was amazing. Anyone that knows Jenna knows how spectacular she is. She lights up a room when she walks in. And she was nothing short of RADIENT on her special day. Bear with me... there's a *PICTURE OVERLOAD!*


Who doesn't love a good roadtrip? The gps said it would take us about 7 hours to get there. Because of the time we left (3pm on a Wednesday afternoon), Matt was convinced we'd hit rush hour traffic and be stuck for hours around DC. So he decided to go an "alternate route". Oh boy... you can imagine how that went. Even with the gps we had to call his dad for directions since the gps kept trying to take us weird ways. His dad said take 80 to 270. (According to him and Matt he said TO 70... of course it was my fault!) Oh well, who doesn't love a 9.5 hour drive with their hubby every now and then to liven up the marriage? We talked, played "I'm going to Grandma's house", sang, read... you name it. Minus the direction 'mishap' (which I still refuse to take full responsibility for! haha) it was a great trip!

We crossed quite a few state boarders, yet somehow I missed the "Welcome to Ohio" sign. It must have been dark!

This was my view the entire way... heck a girl's gotta be comfy right?!

Like any normal girls would do, as soon as we got to Jenna's house on Wednesday night, it was *SPA NIGHT*!!! We painted nails, and toenails... and did these awful stinky 'Indian Clay' masks that smelled like vinegar and dried so hard we couldn't even smile (*note Jenna's grimace below!). Our faces were bright RED for about 2 hours... but let me tell you, that stuff was a MIRACLE MASK! My face felt amazing after that thing, totally worth it!





We finally crashed around 3am after changing our polish colors 8 times and giggling like we used to in college. Believe it or not... our futon in the basement was COMFY!! lol

First thing in the morning we were up and putting together the flowers. I don't know why I didn't take any pictures of us doing that. I suppose the fact that my hands were covered in sticky eucalyptus and half of the time I was trying not to chuck a vase of cala lillies across the room. But, I have to say... the end result was GORGEOUS! And totally worth the effort and time it took to save that much money. There are some pictures of the flowers further in the post... read on!

We drove to Columbus that afternoon (3.5 more hours in the car, fun!!) for the rehearsal dinner.

How adorable do these two look at dinner??




Dusty's mom, Bridget had these gorgeous cakes made for the rehearsal.
So yummy, and CUTE!



Should anyone really be allowed to be this stinking cute?






After dinner (at the Spaghetti Wearhouse, YUMM!!) we played a game with Dusty and Jenna. They sat back to back and each held their shoes in their hands. We asked silly questions like, "Who will leave the bathroom door open first?" or "Who will take out the garbage?"

Apparently they disagree on who will get the first speeding ticket.






After this game they did a Newlywed game.
"What is Jenna's favorite flavor of ice cream?"
"What is Dusty's favorite sport to watch?"



Can you guess what the penalty was for a wrong answer?







You got it... GUM!!! Emily was the "Gum Nazi" and handed out the penalties.
Dusty won... by a landslide!







And... my cute hubby and I at the rehearsal dinner.



The hotel we stayed at was so nice! They kept the hot tub and pool open all night for us. Needless to say this picture was taken around 1:30am!! We had a blast :)





Friday started bright and early! I got up and did Jenna's hair.

What do you think?



WEDDING TIME!
After all of the preparation, it was finally wedding time!!

Isn't she GORGEOUS?! The big day is FINALLY here!!



Here's us waiting for them to come out of the temple.



Columbus Ohio Temple



Jenna's cute niece Aurora waiting for Jenna!
(With Jenna's bouquet! Did we do a good job?)



Another angle of the Columbus Ohio Temple.
It was a gorgeous clear day... but SOO CHILLY and WINDY!



Isabella and Aurora (Jenna's nieces) braved the wind and cold during picture time!



It was rather bright outside as well haha...



Since we were in all of the pictures, I didn't get any cute ones of them coming out of the temple... but how ADORABLE are these two??



After they came out of the temple, we set up a luncheon. It was yummy! Sandwiches, fruit, chips, brownies, cake... yummmm. Jenna and Dusty were frozen by the time they finally came inside from taking pictures. But their photographer got some amazing shots, it was totally worth it!! We brought them a sandwich or two during the whole process so nobody passed out. Once our pictures were out of the way, I totally caved and changed my clothes.



Jenna's cute little cousins decorated the car for them.
Isn't this shot neat?! I love the shadows of everyone you can see on the car.



This is how Matt felt by the time we finally got on the road home. :)



RECEPTION TIME!!!!
Saturday morning, we got up early and spent the day decorating the reception site. It was beautiful and completely "Jenna".

Here's us getting ready to leave for the reception.



And again...
We didn't look to shabby huh?



I decorated the cake table... I think it turned out great!



And how cute were the place settings??
(Those truffles were YUMMY!! lol)



One of us after dinner... we were STUFFED!

Menu:
Italian Wedding Soup
Tossed Salad
Chicken Cordon Bleu
Roasted Garlic Mashed Potatoes
Fresh Green Beans

Cake:
Banana Split (yellow cake with strawberries & whipped cream filling)
Chocolate with ganashe and raspberry filling.

No wonder we were GRINNING!!!



Cuuuuute couple!



Father/Daughter dance.



First Dance



Cake SMASH!!



Shoe aftermath...



This is how I felt after the reception... POOPED!



Sunday after church, Jenna and Dusty's family came over for present opening!

I think she likes ours!! :)

I can't get over how flippin adorable they are!!

And Matt saying,

"I want YOU to stop taking my picture!" hehe

WHEW!!! What a weekend!!! We ended up staying through Monday to get in some much needed relaxation and shopping time! We had so much fun spending time with Jenna and her family. Dusty is such a great guy, and his family is awesome. I can't wait to see them both in 2.5 weeks!!!

Book Worm

At the beginning of the year I thought it would be neat to write down all of the books I read this year and post about it at the end of the year. I took a peek at my list today as I finished another book this weekend, and decided this may have to be a quarterly post as my list is already getting pretty large. What can I say... I LOVE to read!! I really enjoy a good series. So if you see anything that's not on my list, PLEASE send it my way!!

1. Hunger Games
2. Catching Fire
3. Uglies
4. Pretties
5. Specials
6. Extras
7. City of Bones
8. City of Ashes
9. City of Glass
10. The Last Song
11. The Lost Symbol
12. Grave Secret
13. Where The Heart Is
14. Made In The USA
15. Shoot The Moon
16. The Honk and Holler Opening Soon
17. Fried Green Tomatoes
18. The Host (re-read)
19. Time Traveler's Wife
20. Wicked
21. My Sister's Keeper
22. Dead Until Dark
23. Living Dead in Dallas
24. Club Dead
25. Dead To The World
26. Dead As A Doornail
27. Definitely Dead
28. All Together Dead
29. From Dead To Worse
30. Dead And Gone

WHEW!!! 30 books by the end of April... I'm sure at this rate it will be at least 31 :) I am going to the library tonight to scope out my next read! 30 books already... geez. That's 1.75 books a week. I love to read!! There are a few books that I'm REALLY looking forward to right now:

-Spirit Bound
-Dead In The Family
-The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner
-City of Fallen (not until 2011!!)
-Midnight Sun (PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE STEPHENIE MEYER- I'M BEGGING YOU!!!)

Does anyone have any suggestions for me while I bide my time until May 4th when 'Dead In the Family' comes out?? Can't wait!

Be Clean

I consider myself a fairly clean person. Sure every now and then I let the laundry build up, or forget to scrape a dish in the sink (sorry Matt!). But I LOVE a clean home. 'Cleanliness is next to Godliness' right?
Thank goodness I don't let my house look like this!



Or this...



I LOVE the show Hoarders. Why, I don't know... maybe it makes me feel better about my cleaning habits, or maybe it's nice to see that people with a sickness like that can get better!

When Gordon B. Hinckley gave "Be Clean" as the third "Be", he focused on 6 main points within this councel.

1. Media: Internet, TV & Music
2. Evil Talk*
3. Tattoos
4. Pornography
5. Drugs/Alcohol
6. The Law of Chastity

Most of these are things that can be simple to change in our lives. Once you make the decision to not do drugs, it's easy to stick to that. I'm proud to say that I haven't drank alcohol since September '09! Once I made the commitment to not drink... the decision was easy! Of course there is temptation... but I know why I made the decision, and I know I have been blessed for it.

The one that I wanted to focus on... because it's the one that I struggle the most with... is LANGUAGE or as he put it, "Evil Talk".

President Hinckley said,

"Avoid evil talk. Do not take the name of the Lord in vain. From the thunders of Sinai the finger of the Lord wrote on tablets of stone, “Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain” (Ex. 20:7).
It is not a mark of manhood to carelessly use the name of the Almighty or His Beloved Son in a vain and flippant way, as many are prone to do."

In a different talk given in 2007, entitled "I Am Clean", President Hinckley gave this councel:

"In a world that wallows in filth, be clean—in language, in thought, in body, in dress.
To each of you I say, be clean in your language. There is so much of filthy, sleazy talk these days. Failure to express yourself in language that is clean marks you as one whose vocabulary is extremely limited...

Be clean in thought. Said the Lord, “Let all things be done in cleanliness before me” (D&C 42:41).
A filthy mind expresses itself in filthy and profane language. A clean mind expresses itself in language that is positive and uplifting and in deeds that bring happiness to the heart."

I don't know about you, but I want to be 'positive', 'uplifting' and have 'happiness'! For me, swearing has been one of the hardest habits to break since I've started going back to church. As I surround myself with people who do not swear, and work on it with my hubby, it gets easier. Sometimes it takes personal struggle to realize how true a prophet's councel really is. President Hinckley said this, "Choose your friends carefully. It is they who will lead you in one direction or the other." How true this is! When those around you swear, or enourage you to swear, drink, watch R rated movies (another struggle!), etc. it makes it even harder to stick to your guns and make good decisions. I can definitely say that as Matt and I have made an effort on this together, we have mad a LOT more progress! There have been lots of hand slaps and rubber band snapping reminderes... but how blessed I am to have someone willing to committ with me!

Until I started trying to weed swearing out of my life, I never realized how harmful it really is.

“Language is the dress of thought; every time you talk your mind is on parade" -Unknown

I can honestly say that I feel better, I feel happier, when I use clean language. I portray myself differently. When my mouth is clean, it's easier for my brain to be clean! How often do we roll our eyes or look down on someone for using foul language in public, around children, or anywhere that seems 'innappropriate'. Would you shout those words at church? [I would hope not!!] Then why use those words at all?? It's been said to live our lives as if Christ is in the room, or walking wtih us daily. What we sometimes fail to realize, is that He is. I can't imagine using filthy language in the presense of my Savior, and it has certinaly helped me to remember that He is alwasy present, and using dirty language can offend the Spirit... and who wants to be without the Holy Ghost?! I know I need it in my life!

All in all, this has been a BIG learning experience for me... but I am working so hard to "Be Clean" in my language and thought!

Happy Easter!

Food, Fun & Family!

What could be better?

I had so much fun putting Isabelle's basket together!

Let's face it, the candy and toys is just as much fun for adults as the kiddos! I loved putting the baskets together and seeing Isabelle's face as she went through her basket.

I promise she liked it, although the picture doesn't show it! lol

You want me to do what with these?

Precious curls!!

You got me chocolate?!?! :)

Bella & Aunt E

Bubbles!!

We played outside all afternoon with bubbles, toy cars, and sidewalk chalk. I am so glad warm days are here!! Finally!! As you can tell, besides cooking, I spent most of the day playing with Miss B*. We had a blast!

"He is risen! He is risen! Tell it out with joyful voice. He has burst his three days' prison; let the whole wide earth rejoice. Death is conquered; man is free. Christ has won the victory!"

**Happy Easter**

Mark 16:6