"Love is the master key that unlocks the gates of happiness."

This past weekend Mark and I took a mini-vacation and went up to Logan, Utah to go to the wedding of one of his best friends, John (they've known each other since middle-school or something back in Alabama). Mark was excited to see his friend get married, he figured it would be a lot longer til John got hitched but he found an awesome, wonderful red-head up in Idaho and she won him over and now they're married! :) We got to meet her earlier this spring when she and John came down to SLC to see Wicked and we all went out to dinner beforehand. Mark had to give his "approval" of sorts I guess. :)

Anyway, we went up the day before cuz we didn't want to have to get up super early and drive there. Mark had just finished his last final for the summer term and we both took off work for the occasion so we were able to spend some nice, relaxing, non-stress time together. :) We got to Logan, checked in our hotel, drove around, and then decided to go see Ice Age 3 at the movies. It was pretty good, I love Sid! He's my favorite. After that we wandered around and went out to eat so overall it was a pretty good day, despite the long drive which surprisingly went pretty quick.

Friday was the wedding, which was at the Logan Temple, which is SO pretty! It really was a beautiful day for a wedding, except it was a bit windy. The sealing was wonderful though, they were both SO happy! Cassie (the bride) looked gorgeous and John was just beaming. It's really wonderful to be able to witness such a happy event! After the ceremony we all waited outside for the couple to come out. We got to talk to the Alder's, who are good friends of Mark's family. Brother Alder was Mark's (and John's) stake president in Alabama but they're now living in Utah so we've seen them quite a bit. They've had us over for dinner a few times which is always a lot of fun and very delicious! They are such a wonderful, nice couple and we love seeing them so it was nice to spend some time with them.





(The happy couple! We didn't really get any good shots of just them)

So after John and Cassie came out we took group pics by the temple and then went to a luncheon where we ate yummy food and got to talk with the newlyweds a bit and some other people. After we were done there Mark and I went back to the temple to do some temple work and then started driving back down to SLC. We stopped by another wedding event (a reception) for a girl that grew up in my home ward in Missouri and is best friends with Monie. Mark and I went out to eat again and then picked up Monie and Kady from the reception and finally got back to Provo. It was a pretty long day but it was a great one! I loved going to the temple and I loved spending time with Mark! :)

(Mark, me, Cassie, John, and Brother and Sister Alder)

(Mark, John, and Brother Alder)

(Mark and John)

"Marriage consists of learning how to handle living with the person that you absolutely cannot handle living without."

(I apologize in advance for the lengthiness of this blog and won't feel hurt at all if any of you just skim through and look at the pictures :)

Since the happy couple is now back from their honeymoon, I guess I should get a post up for the wedding. So the weekend before this past one (July 31/Aug1-2) Mark and I spent up in SLC with his fam for Amy and Calvin's wedding. Friday night we met up with everyone and had dinner at Red Robin before we headed over to the church to set up for the reception. We got to see Mark's parents, JoAnn and Dennis, and his brother and his fam, Michael, Jessica, Isabella, and Jacob (who are both so cute and getting so big!).

At the church we set up decorations, tables, chairs, etc. Amy is currently working for a lady who does linens for weddings so she got some really pretty linens and chair covers which really made it look so nice! We were up semi-late that night setting stuff up and then went to Amy's where we stayed the night. We had to get up way early to get ready cuz the ceremony was at 8:20 and we had to get Amy there by 7:00. Her cousin Kathleen stayed over that night and got up to do Amy's hair which turned out so great! It was so pretty.



Well everyone got to the temple on time (they got married in the Salt Lake Temple), it was a beautiful morning, and the ceremony was just wonderful. It's so great to be able to witness such a wonderful event, especially when it's family or friends who are getting married. I've got to go to two of my best friends temple weddings and now Amy's and on Friday Mark and I are going to go to Logan to his best friends wedding. It's just so great to be there with them all on their special days. :)

Afterwards we all waited outside the temple with all the fam and friends for the newlywed couple to come out. I got to hold Mark's cousins new little baby who is SO utterly adorable. She was a month old and just too cute. Her name is Sophie Sunshine and unfortunately I don't have any pics of her from that day. I'll have to steal some from Chris and Angie when they put up their pics... :) Mark was a little afraid to hold her though, or nervous or something, but he didn't hold her long when I gave her to him. It was slightly funny.


(Chris and Angie, it was actually their anniversary that day.)




Anyway, Amy and Calvin finally came out, both looking fabulous. Amy's dress really is spectacular and looked so great on her! We took family/group pictures and hung around the temple until Amy and Calvin went and changed back to regular church clothes and then we took them to Calvin's parents house where everybody met up for a luncheon. Such yuuuummmmy food too! They had these yummy rolls with homemade strawberry jam and they were just wonderful. Ask Jessica, she'll tell you :) Then they had waffle cones and about 10 different types of ice cream for dessert. Wonderful plan right there I say. Waffle cones are the best!







After we were done at the luncheon some of us (me, Mark, Kathleen, her mom Janet, and Jessica) went back over to the church to finish setting up the reception. We put together the table centerpieces, which were another brilliant creation of Kathleen's. They looked really great, even had real peacock feathers in them. Then we all took a break until it was almost time for the reception to start and then we did the finishing touches with the food. They had fruit kabobs, humus, pita bread, tortilla wrap sandwhich things, and mini-cupcakes which were really yummy. And then of course they had the wedding cake which looked pretty awesome. Calvin's brother Carter and his wife (I think?) made it. He also was the one to take their pictures (engagement, bridals, and wedding). He has an awesome Canon camera which I really, really am jealous of....someday...






(Mmmm...humus...)

The reception went pretty good though. We mostly spent the time sitting around with Mark's family and friends, just chillin' and chattin'. His cousins are great fun and I wish we could see them more often than we do. And then of course it was great to see Michael and Jessica who we see even less of since they're in Alabama. The funniest part of the night was when they had a little bit of dancing. Amy and Calvin danced of course, and then Michael and Jessica with their kids, so cute, and Dennis and JoAnn with the kids, and then they put on "Beat it" and Mark's cousin Russell went out there and it was just too funny. He sang beat it on Rock Band at Thanksgiving which was hilarious and this was just as funny. Up until he pulled me out there and he and Kathleen ganged up on me...not so nice. Then they did it to Mark and that was funny. :) Good times...





Not long after that the newlyweds headed off in their "tastefully" decorated car and the rest of us set to cleaning up everything. We were the last ones to leave since we had the key and then we had to head over to Amy's where we stayed the night again. It was pretty darn late and we were exhausted so it was so nice to finally go to bed!



The next day was slightly busy again though so we didn't get to rest up too much. We met Mark's parents and Michael and Jessica for breakfast and then said goodbye to Jessica and the kids (she went to CA to visit more family). Then we headed up to Ogden for baby Sophie's baby blessing, drove back to SLC, picked up Amy and Calvin and dropped them and Michael off at the airport, drove back to Ogden for the after baby shower luncheon thing, hung out there for a bit, went back to SLC and met Mark's parents and went to dinner at this Mexican restaurant called the Red Iguana. I saw it on the Food Network on their show called "Drive-in's, Diners, and Dives" or something like that. Then Kathleen was raving about it so I wanted to try it out and it was pretty darn good! I've been trying to find a really yummy authentic Mexican restaurant here and this one pretty much hit the spot. SO good!

After that I headed back to Provo alone cuz Mark stayed with his parents to take them to the airport the next morning. Boy was I tired driving back! I went to bed pretty early that night let me tell ya. It took a couple of days to recoop from the weekend but I made it and am still alive. :) It was a really great weekend though, so great to see family and to be at the temple with them and to celebrate Amy and Calvin's wedding! Congrats you guys!

Little girl under construction.

So I've been slightly slacking in putting things up quickly but better late than never I suppose! This past week Mark and I got to go do another ultrasound since we were earlier along than we thought at our first one. The doc wanted a second one done so he could make sure everything was looking good. Fine with me! Who would pass up another chance to see the baby before it's born? Anyway, everything is looking great so far so we're pretty glad/excited about that. She printed three pics out for us although they definitely aren't as good as last time, but here they are anyway!

(This was the best face/profile shot the lady got. The baby had her arms in her face so it's not as good of a one as last time. I think it was because this was at one of her "quiet times" and she didn't appreciate it being disturbed by someone poking around at her so she decided to be fight back and hide her face...tsk tsk :)

(We did get a nice shot of her leg though!)

(And with this one you can OBVIOUSLY tell it's a girl... :) I can't read these things very well...Mark was disappointed but she kept pointing things out during the sonogram and he couldn't tell what the lady was talking about, I told him he should have spoken up but he's a pansy sometimes.)

Well there you have it! In 10 weeks or so we'll be putting up lots and lots of actual pics so get excited! We are! :) :) :) :) :)

The King of Country Returns to Utah!

So I got a phone call one day a week or so ago from my good friend Shauna who said that she had gotten tickets for a George Strait concert and the person that was going to go with her bailed and would I like to go? Um, heck yes I would!!! Who would give up a chance like that? NO comments from all you country haters out there...if you don't like country then just skip this post...cuz I LOVE country music and I LOVE George Strait, he's fantastically amazing and there's nothing you can do to change how I feel. :)

Anyway, the concert was last Friday night (the 17th). We were both running a little late so we missed the first opening act (some new girl who I don't really know), but we did get to see most of Blake Shelton's opening act which was pretty darn good. The concert was at this HUGE amphitheater up in West Valley which was pretty darn cool to have a concert at! The traffic was RIDICULOUS but I think the concert was worth all the waiting. :) Anyway, the two openers were about 45 minutes each and then George came out and sang for two whole hours...it was so great! He sang like 23 songs AND came back out and did 3 encore songs. How awesome is that??? It really was one of the best concerts I have ever been too!

It was pretty cool to be there too because it was the first time he's performed in Utah in the past 11 years. His band was really great, he was great, the weather was great...pretty much it was just a fantastic night! George is a wonderful performer (which seeing that he's been performing FOREVER, he's put out a cd almost every year since 1981, has OVER 50 #1 hits and is the king of country! can't get much better than that!) and I'm so glad that I got to see him live in concert! Thanks Shauna! You're the best!

(Blake Shelton)

(The King himself! George Strait!)

(Me, Shauna, and George! I was pretty proud that I got the screen in the background with this shot :)

(You gotta love the hat)

(And who doesn't love a man who can sing AND play the guitar?)

(This is part of his song "Write this down", I was trying to put up "The Fireman" but I can't find it :(