a snowy wedding

Halie and Brett got married yesterday, December 27. It was a stressful week with illnesses, Christmas stress, technology issues, etc., etc., etc. I never thought I would be so relieved to take down a Christmas tree.

Halie and Brett had a fresh snowfall for their pictures. Halie didn't even feel the cold--I say it was the adrenaline. They took beautiful photographs and are after a luncheon and reception, are now spending their honeymoon in Salt Lake City.

Christmas Cookies

I decided to have some Christmas fun making Christmas cookies. Along with these, I made some pretty great memories with my Papa who sat at the kitchen table talking to me, and sleeping on the floor, while I listened to my favorite Christmas music and baked my cookies. Once they had been cooked, I was just going to frost them simply and quickly, but after a while, I began to really enjoy myself. I grabbed some toothpicks to give the frosting texture and created the fur on the top of the red stocking. Then, I carefully created a red and white candy cane and it went from there. It was a lot of fun. The only downside is I have only decorated about nine cookies in the last hour... At least their pretty!

I got the sugar cookie recipe from AllRecipes.com. They were really delicious with a hint of nutmeg and almond flavoring. I suggest both the recipe for the cookie and the frosting. Delicious.

Is the picture big enough, Camie? ;)

belated update: halie's bridal shower

I know this really late, but I wanted to show some pics from my sister's bridal shower. I did a lot of the planning, especially when it came to refreshments and decorations. It was a lot of fun and Halie felt like it was Christmas with all of her gifts.

Halie and me


The party planning committee.


Halie's future sister-in-laws and mother-in-law.


Halie, my mom, Elise, and me.

more Thanksgiving goodness...

I cooked the turkey...

I also decorated the table. It wasn't as pretty as I'm sure Camie's was, but Dollar Tree was my friend for this little creation...

I also made pumpkin pie, salad, salad dressing, and cherry pie.

[special thanks to cindi for her cooking advice and help]

Happy Belated Thanksgiving

Here I am, two days later, still full after two Thanksgiving dinners one at my house and the other at Jeff's. Despite the unruly amount of amazingly delicious food, I had such a great time getting to know Jeff's family more and getting to know their friends, Paul, Pam, and Jake. I wish I had taken a picture of sitting around the table with them. We talked about a myriad of different things for about four hours.

First we ate with my family. Brett and Halie had it worse than Jeff and I. Three Thanksgiving dinners...

Thanksgiving Break

Can you say, it's about time? Not that I won't have plenty to do with three group projects due the week I return from school, I am excited to be able to lay around and do the projects from home. I am working on a magazine for my Visual Rhetoric class, and I am loving it. Who knew that creating a magazine would be so fun? I'm kind of excited to spend all my time designing it.

rough draft of thought

I just read a very interesting essay by Mary Wollstonecraft called "A Vindication of the Rights of Woman." It was eye-opening for me. I have never been so caught up in an essay from the Romantic period of literature as I was by this essay. She made some amazing points about how genders are raised to be the way that they are. The sentence that really got my attention was in the first paragraph. "Men, in their youth, are prepared for professions, and marriage is not considered as the grand feature in their lives; whilst women, on the contrary, have no other scheme to sharpen their faculties" (Wollstonecraft 189). I am a romantic feminist, I suppose. I really enjoy reading a lot of the feminist literature of this time period because it isn't too far reaching, and it makes sense to me. Mary Wollstonecraft discusses the importance of a mother's education. "In the regulation of a family, in the education of children, understanding in an unsophistacated sense, is particularly required: strength both of body and mind" (Wollstonecraft 192).



For me, this essay meant a lot because it described to me why sometimes I depend a little too much on emotion instead of sense. I believe the strength of the female sex can come from being able to balance sense and sensibility, not going too far in one direction or the other. Just some thoughts of the day... They may not make sense, but it is a rough draft of thought.

A lot of my Titanic pictures can be found at Make it Count.

versailles and more

Jeffrey and I are going to Europe. Oh my gosh, it will be so, so much fun!!! We leave in May for some of the most amazing places on Earth, including Versailles, a place I have been dying to see since I can remember. YAY!!!

engaged

Brett finally proposed to Halie. YAY! They will be married on December 27th. Congratulations. I love you, Halie!

a new layout

Landon had Titanic playing on the TV while I was on my computer, and I realized how much I really love that movie. Obsession. Adoration. Whatever. My new layout is dedicated to that amazing, romantic, epic film... I'll never let go...

a few of my favorite things

I don't know why, but I just had the desire to write some of my favorite things.

Grey's Anatomy:



Making music videos (see above)

Ingrid Michaelson


The piano in the song I am listening to right now...
ADELE - Hometown Glory
via FoxyTunes

I love spending time with the people I love...



I'll add more later...

pondering over broken glass

I was preparing to cook scrambled eggs and the top of the pot fell out of my hands and shattered quickly and easily on the tile floor. A surreal feeling overcame me as I swept the larger pieces. I looked at the sparkling glass a bit closer and realized that they weren't larger pieces at all, but tiny pieces of broken glass still clinging to each other, refusing to break free.

two weekends in utah

I just had two great weekends in Utah.
Last weekend, Jeff and I went to hang with our families--my cousin Amanda and her boyfriend, and then Jeff's fam, Collin, Meagan, Caitlin, and Tina. It was super fun. We saw Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist, which is so cute. I loved it.

Then, we got to go through the temple for the first time with one of Jeff's recent converts. She took us out to eat Saturday night at Crown Burger, and then Collin, Jeff, and I went to the Nickelcade. Unfortunately for Jeff, Collin beat him at air hockey and the next day Collin kicked all of our trashes at Screwy Lewy... Good for Collin, not so much for Jeff. ;)

It was a mission weekend with Jeff spending time with his two companions, and then I got to go to Hermana Long's homecoming and see Hermana Casper and Hermana Bingham. I love them tons!!!

***
Weekend 2:

I just returned from Utah with Jeff and his parents, Mike and Cindi. We stayed at Nate and Camie's to celebrate Joel's and Nate's birthday. Joel is so super cute. I had a blast. We hiked up Timpanogos, which reminded me how out of shape I truly am, and then Saturday we went to Snowbird.

Then, Collin, Caitlin, Jeff, and I went to the Haunted Forest, which was really pretty scary--I really hate chainsaws! Yeah, so we had a blast. Fun times.

GOAL: Jeff and I have decided to do kettle bells every day early in the morning. It's supposed to be pretty intense. Wish me luck!

My First Blog

I've never done this before, and I am kind of excited. I need something to take my mind off the mundaneness of life and maybe even to complain about the mundane... I don't know. I love the design, especially web graphics and I plan to create my very own for this site. Designing for me is a very cathartic process and I am super excited to have an outlet.

I'll think I'll explain a little more about me later, but if you are reading this, chances are you know me. So there you go.