No friendship can cross the path of our destiny without leaving some mark on it forever.

Basically I just have to start out with that I have the best friends in the world! My three closest friends from high school, Jeanie, Rori, and Cheryl, drove all the way from Missouri (a good 19 hour drive, one way!) to see me for a couple days and we had a brilliantly fun time! They arrived Thursday afternoon right exactly when I got off work, perfect timing guys! We didn't do too much that day cuz they were tired and we just basically chilled at my apartment, talking, watching tv and reminiscing of the old days :). It was pretty great.Friday was a great fun day. We went up to the only themepark in Utah, Lagoon, along with Mark, his sister Amy, and her boyfriend. It was so much fun! We went on roller coasters, played in the lazy river, and went down some water slides. It was so great! Although we did do a lot of walking and for the past two days my knees have been killing me! It was worth it though. I haven't been on a roller coaster in such a long time and I've been wanting to go forever! I love roller coasters and am sadly disappointed in Utah for not having very many at all. I also love water slides, especially the ones you use tubes for, although we didn't ride any of those cuz they charged you for the tubes....so retarded! Themeparks are dumb that way, they charge you for every stupid little thing and it's quite ridiculous. Oh well though. We did have a great day. After we were done there though we all went out to dinner at Red Robin cuz we were Starving and Jeanie and Cheryl had never been. Such a yummy place!
Saturday was another day of new experiences. I took them all to Ikea, yes I know that's pretty much the same as when Sarah was here but they've never, ever been and I couldn't help but introduce them to the coolest store ever. And they loved it! Then I took them to Cafe Rio which they've also never had and quite enjoyed. Then we came back to good ol' Provo and went to the mall where we had a delightful time at the bridal store where we tired on the most hideous dresses we could find and then we went to a store called "Forever 21" where we also tried on hideous clothes. It was SO much fun! I think Jeanie won the best hideous outfit with this lovely contraption. (she actually bought it too! For Halloween anyway, just picture it with tall, striped socks and a sweat band. SO funny!!!).

That was pretty much the whole weekend though. They couldn't stay too long cuz they had to get back for work and school and such but it was SO much fun to have them here! I usually only get to see them once a year and it was great to have a couple days with just them. I do miss my girl time and this sure made up for the lack of it these past few months! :) Not that I don't love being with my husband but a girl does need girl time. Guys just don't get it sometimes :) Mark was a little worried about this weekend cuz he didn't know what he was going to do when I was with my friends but he worked most of the time and went with us to Lagoon and then one night he went shooting with a friend from work so he lived through it quite fine. Although I guess I should be glad that he doesn't like to do much without me right? :) Such a sweet guy I have, let me tell you! :) Every time I even mention the thought of me going home sometime to visit, he's like, but what would I do? goodness gracious...and this is just after 3 months of being married! Apparently I'm just so much fun to be around or something. ;) Anyway...he's great. He even enjoyed having my friends here, well he had fun at Lagoon with us, that's pretty much the only time he spent with them.So that's pretty much all I have to say right now, I'm still somewhat worn out from my long weekend, but it's back to work tomorrow, joyful day.... :)

Mawwiage is what brings us together today...

Continuing on with my week...first of all, Mark finished his last final for Summer Term on Wednesday so we were pretty excited about that cuz now we can actually see each other! :) We both took off this past weekend since we were going to Whit's wedding on Friday and then we just wanted to play and have fun on Saturday. Also, since we were going to be driving a lot we decided to rent a car as part of our fun. We had wanted a Dodge Charger (they're my favorite right now), but unfortunately they didn't have any available and we had to go with a 2008 Mustang Convertible...so sad I know!!!! :) It was SO much fun to drive though. I even got somewhat of a tan on my arms from driving with the top down :). I was pretty excited.Anywho- so Friday we drove down to Manti, UT in the convertible to go to Whit's sealing ceremony. That was pretty cool to go to, the Manti Temple is awesome! So gorgeous! Whit looked gorgeous though and they were both blissfully thrilled and happy. They were a bit busy/preoccupied with being married so we didn't really talk to them much that day, although we did let them borrow the convertible for a few pictures. That was fun :) Mark and I got a bit bored though while she was taking all her pictures and decided to take some of our own, provided by my friend Amanda :) We don't have many pics of us besides our engagement and wedding pics so I thought this would be fun.
When we were done there in Manti, we drove back up to Provo to where the reception was going to be held and helped set up for that. It was slightly crazy and chaotic but we all finally got things figured out and it turned out pretty well! The cake was pretty awesome looking. Her colors were lime green and lemon yellow with chocolate brown accents so they had the cake decorated with lemons and limes and it turned out really cute and tasted good (it was a lemon poppyseed cake, interesting choice for a wedding, differen anyway, but good!) I got to see a few people I hadn't seen in awhile so that was nice. Most of the time though I just chatted with Mark, my friend Amanda, my friend Shauna, and Whit's parents, who are pretty awesome people I might add :) So much fun they are!So on Saturday Mark and I headed up to SLC in the convertible to spend the day with his sister, Amy and her boyfriend, Calvin. We walked around the Gateway Mall for a bit, went to dinner at a nice Italian restaurant, played Rock Band at Amy's apartment (that's the first time I've ever played it and it was so much fun!!!!), and then went to a Drive-In movie theater and saw a double feature of The Mummy and Batman! We got home really, really late but it was worth it and so much fun! I've only been to a drive-in theater once and I was like 8 or something so I don't remember but I quite enjoyed it. It was so nice to just be there in your own car with the sound the way you want it with company you enjoy and it was great! The weather was perfect too. Sunday we just went to church and then went up to his aunt and uncle's house with Amy and Calvin for dinner which was very good and very fun.

So that was pretty much our entire weekend of fun. Yesterday we both went back to work and no more fun :( That is until this weekend!!!! Three of my best friend from Missouri are driving all the way out here to see me and I'm so excited! So I switched a few days around at work to free up my weekend for them and it's gonna be great. So I'll be updating at the end of the week about my adventures with them. It's definitely going to be an interesting but thoroughly fun weekend with them!

Every new beginning comes from some other beginning's end.

Today was both an exciting happy day and also a rather sad one. One of my best friends and old roomie went into the Missionary Training Center (MTC) to begin her mission for our church. She will be gone for 1 1/2 years and is headed for Kiev, Ukraine. She has to spend the first 12 weeks in the MTC though here in Provo, UT, which is just a couple miles away from my apartment and is going to really stink being so close to her and not being able to see her. Of course Whit, Maria, and I have made lots of jokes and such about how we're going to break in and see her or "accidentally" run into her at the temple or something, which of Course we're not really gonna do but it would be fun :)

Anywho- this afternoon Whit and I met Maria and her family at the Sizzler to have lunch before she headed over to the MTC. It was so weird and somewhat unreal to think that that was the last time we would see her in person for 18 months!!! We were talking about how a year ago when Whit and I first met Maria, we never thought we'd be where we were today...so much has happened to the three of us this past year! It's just so weird to think about it. I mean, less than 12 months ago Whit and I didn't even know Maria at all and now us three are so close and they are two of the closest/best friends I've ever had. We call ourselves "The Three Musketeers" and we've had the best times this past year. I can't believe how close we've all become in such short of a time and I'm so grateful for such AMAZING friends! The Lord really knew that we needed each other this past year and he brought us together and it was seriously two of the best semesters I've had. They have been so great to me and really have helped me so much this past year and I couldn't have asked for better friends (I still love you Sarah! :). I really can't express the love and gratitude I have for these two girls though. They have just simply been amazing and I love them so much and I love their families (The Packs are SO awesome and SO much fun! Whit and I have been up to there house so many times and they treat us just like daughters....they're the greatest! And Whit's parents are So awesome too, I don't know them as well but from the few times I've been around them, I've had lots of fun and really like them too :).

Anyway- none of us could have imagined how great this past year has been and all the great things that have happened to us. Well Maria pretty much knew she was going to go on a mission but didn't know where or when, but neither Whit or I would have thought we'd be married/engaged (Whit is getting married on Friday so I'll post more about that later, what a big week though for us three!). It's been an awesome year for us and will hopefully continue as such :). We've had so many fun/crazy/random memories from this past year which we'll always remember. Here are some key words/examples for these memories (sorry for those of you not in our trio and won't understand hardly any of these but believe me, they are significant and special to us and often come with some random, hilarious story. this is strictly for the benefit of the three of us): donkey, I hate you, weasels, mountain, chihuahuas/chickens, midnight/Wal Mart, random photo shoots at Temples, Otter Pops at midnight, Dark Chocolate Peppermint Ice Cream D-liciousness, Cobble Stone Pizza, Mario Kart, Dr. Pepper, clean bedroom :), Wicked, Les Mes, Sweeney Todd, Mamma Mia, loud obnoxious singing, loud neighbors, Renaissance camping neighbors, twins (Abrahm and Matteo), pirate kitten, porcupine bush, khaki wedding pants, go-karts, slide/bruise, bruises in general, red umbrellas, red flip flops, hobos, pilgrim dress, distractions in Relief Society/Stake Conf/other church meetings....I think that's all for now.....my memory SUCKS and I can't think of anything else at the moment. But there was a lot of good times we had together and you all just missed out. :)

Just to make life a little better though, Maria decided to go out with a bang....a big bang which totaled her truck :). She got in an accident on Friday and just happened to bruise some ribs and broke her big toe which required surgery to put screws into it. So now she is on crutches for the first 6 weeks of her mission and is going to have a dandy of a time with it :) We think it happened on purpose though cuz otherwise she would have gone crazy in the MTC for 12 weeks....this was to give her some patience and such :) (Maria already knows Russian so learning Ukrainian really wasn't going to be too hard for her, plus she's a freaking genius and learns way quick....crazy girl...). So yeah, she gets to sit around a lot with her companion (poor girl!). She'll get to help her companion out with the language though so maybe that will help her through her time there as well :). Anyway- it'll all work out and she'll get through it splendidly :) She is going to be such a FANTASTIC missionary and really is going to do so well in Ukraine. I couldn't think of a better/more intimidating person than Maria to send to Ukraine :) She's going to blend in so well. :) I LOVE YOU MARIA! Really....I do... So yeah....I guess that's all I have to say for now except that I'm going to miss Maria SO MUCH! Whit and I said good bye to her and hugged her and then got in our separate cars to leave and we both immediately started crying...sad, but true... it was hard to say good-bye though! It's for a good cause though so I can forgive her for leaving :) Good Luck with everything though, Maria, and don't frighten your companions too much!!!! I guess all that's left is a bunch of pictures taken of the three of us at significant/fun times this past year.... enjoy! Sorry for the massive amounts of pictures though....there were too many to choose from!

Mt. Timpanogos Temple

Bountiful Temple
My Bridal Shower

My wedding weekend

Arizona Adventures
St. George
St. George Temple
Mesa, AZ Temple

I am my mother's child after all!

So I know it's only been a short while since I put up my post about our apartment but already it's changed :) I wasn't very happy with the setup but didn't have enough time or help before the wedding to move things around and then didn't really get around to it when we got back. But I finally moved things to the way I want (if I'm going to live in a place for a year, I want it to be set up the way I like ya know?). The main enforcing factor here is that we got a new TV. Before we just had a 13" that my friend gave us, but Mark's work just got a new plasma so we bought the old TV from them. It's pretty nice though cuz it has the built in DVD/VHS so we didn't have to buy a DVD player...very convenient and it's definitely a step up from the 13"! :) Anyway, I didn't like where our entertainment center was so I moved it before we got our new TV and then moved the couches a bit and now it's more open and spacious...ish... :) I'm very much into being open and spacious...I don't like things cramped, which has hard not to do in such a small space but I am quite happy with it all now :)

I also had some time to work on some new things to put on the walls. My sister had told me of something to do with scrapbook paper and then Mark's Aunt sent me a link to something similar so one day I got some cute paper and made this! It's a very cheap, cute way to decorate and since I can't paint the walls, :( :( :( this helped a lot. I hate blank walls and our bedroom walls have been pretty bare so far. My sister also gave me the idea of doing a painting to hang up. I must admit I'm a bit of a doodler (and very geometric :) and have some nifty designs I've done in the past so I decided to do one of those as a painting which I hung up in our room as well. Mark has yet to do a piece of artwork for me but someday...it's not quite done yet (needs some touching up and refining :) but this is it so far.

I've also done quite a bit of scrapbooking in the past couple months. Mainly from the wedding and surrounding events but also some stuff from my last semesters as a single woman :). My roommates and I had some darn good times this past Fall and Winter semester. The best being that we took a little trip in February down to Arizona and went camping and hiking (we hiked this amazing mountain...so much fun!). It was kind of a celebratory trip for Maria and my birthdays/president's day weekend bash/NEEDING to get out of Provo and it was so great! Anyway, I did quite a spread on that whole weekend, then my weekend with Sarah after the wedding, and the wedding/cruise/everything else! That kept me quite busy for awhile, and gave me a lot to do at work when it was slow!

P.S.- Stepmom update- my grandma called again yesterday once again bearing not so pleasant news. It turns out that my somewhat of a stepmom :) has lymphoma. She's going to start heavy duty chemo tomorrow so keep her in your prayers that things will go well and that she will at least be comfortable. Thanks so much!