Holidays!!!

Life has just been crazy busy, but absolutely wonderful lately. (By this statement you can see finals are not affecting me too much). So much has happened I guess I'll just really quickly recap.

Thanksgiving: Idaho. We had lots of fun. The roads weren't terrible and with our new tires, we made way good time. We went to Harry Potter, ate, went sledding, ate, boys went hunting, ate, put up the Christmas tree, ate, played games, ate, boys played in the turkey bowl and other stuff too. It was just fun and relaxing. Here are a few pics and a few explanations to go with (some will need it). Like I said, the boys went and played in the ward turkey bowl. It was football in the snow. They came back tired, wet, and cold. Andrew even came back with a battle wound on his neck. You can tell the game got pretty wild. Some ruthless player gave Andrew a run for his money and left him with that mark to remember it. Sadly, the perpetrator was my dear brother, Jeff. Welcome to the family, Andrew.

This picture is of Andrew on Mikenzy duty while the rest of us do dishes. Ever since they have moved to CDA, Mikenzy, who also loves the movie Enchanted (remember this detail), has decided that there is one Ken doll that is Andrew and one Barbie that is me. There is no tricking her and pretending another Barbie is KateLyn or another Ken is Andrew...she knows! Well, one night, she was playing with Andrew and KateLyn (the dolls). She gets this soft tilt of her head and looks at the dolls then leans them together and says, "True love's kiss." It was the funniest thing I've ever seen.

When we got back, life was still cruisin'! I found out that I passed that test I needed to to get certified! I found out where I am student teaching! Andrew has a countdown for his last semester of his Bachelors! And Katie got home from the mission! It was really fun to see her/really meet her for the first time! I'm really excited to get to know her better and it will be nice for the Jenks to be back together again.

Can I get a Whoop Whoop!

This week was finals week for the girls I tutor. (They have tri-mesters.) One night I was studying with the eighth grader till 11:30 at night. When I got home, I laid in bed for an hour thinking about what we had studied. The weird thing is, it was about Ancient India and Egypt...neither being my forte. So, my mind was just making up terms for vocab words. Heck, I was even making up vocab words I think. It was nuts. The whole time I was saying to myself: KateLyn. Go. to. sleep. You. are. a. nutcase. But, it didn't help. I just laid there.
This is why I could never study right before I went to bed. I go crazy. My roommate use to go to bed way later than I did. She would tell me that sometimes I would sit up in my bed, turn to my desk and write something down and then go to sleep again. I was not keeping a dream journal. I was writing answers to my math homework. I wouldn't be able to get the answer as I was working on my homework, but I'd dream about it and sometimes then figure out how to do it. This is what school does to you. It makes you looney. It haunts you to the end that even in your dreams you can not escape its looming effects.
Thank goodness for graduation.

Three days till we head up North and I don't think I could be more excited. The one thing I dread is the fact that I know it'll go too fast. But, yay that it's finally here! We will prob leave Tuesday night and stay at the parentals' house in South Jordan (heck it saves a half hour of driving the next day plus get to see some fam). And then get up early Wednesday and head on up. We're hopefully going to stay till Tuesday morning. I wish it was longer, but school calls us back :) Dang.

But, it's going to be good. Time for Food Fest Thanksgiving Stlye 2010! Yeah, Baby!

It's Over (for now)

My test is over! Hopefully it'll be over and I won't have to take it again! Now I just have to wait four weeks to see if I passed the state requirements to get a license. If not... I guess I'll be taking it in a few months :) Oh joy!

This week was pretty normal, except I have to admit Andrew was in pretty high spirits the past week. For good reasons though. The Jazz had five amazing wins. The past five games they have made quite the comeback to take the W's on all the Eastern courts they visited. D-Will's name is not only allowed to be spoken in our house again, but is spoken with a bit of reverence :) Ha. Okay....maybe not that far. Let's just say the Jazz rocked it and D-Will is the man.

Friday night we went to study (me for my test, Andrew for classes). But, before we went to the library, we headed to Fuddruckers for dinner. Oh. My. Word. The best grilled chicken sandwhich I have ever had I think. It was awesome. I want to go back and eat it again very soon. Mmmmm!

I just wanted to publicly announce that Andrew is pretty cool. I have to do it on my blog, becuase I know he doesn't read it, so he won't be able to make fun of me for doing this corny little paragraph. But really, when I say D-Will is the man, I really mean that he's a cool guy, but not THE man. Andrew definitely gets that title. He is not only taking his last 12 credits of his B.A., but also working 25 hours. It's not an easy job either. I know it stinks and he is working his booty off. He's great. He's good. Glad he's my hubby.

The end

And then there were none....

Down the Toilet

Let me tell you a little story about a boy named Gordy. One day, Gordy skipped lunch. By dinner time, his mother knew he might be extra hungry, so she provided him with a few extra of the goods. Even though Gordy was so full, there was still some food left in his bowl and he could not resist. When his mother checked on Gordy the next morning, he was not sick, but in fact dead. Cause of death: eating himself to the grave.
Story two: After the loss of his brother Gordy, Shri was taking the news pretty hard. Luckily, Shri had his other brother, M.P. who would never leave his side. They were close in looks, attitudes and understanding. In fact, you could hardly tell them apart. Shri and M.P. had been inseparable for quite some time and had made it through some horrific events in their lives. This was not the first death they would help each other get through. Unfortunately, Shri was past the point of help. One day, Shri grew upset with M.P. With the emotional trauma of losing Gordy, Shri was not in his best mental state. Shri had hit his limit and pushed M.P. off a huge rock. M.P. was caught between the rock and a wall with no way to escape. Shri left, only to leave his dear brother M.P. to die.

This stories are terrible to tell and hear, but must be told. These are indeed true stories that hit very close to home. I was their mother. Yes, I was in the middle of all this. I could have prevented it. I could have been there more often. I could have listened better. Now, I am only left with one murderous shrimp to call my own. What has this world come to? I do take full responsibility for the deaths that have come and promise not to go to Wal-Mart to purchase any more living things that would come to the same fate as the late Gordy Goldfish and M.P. Shrimp.
To the boys flushed down the toilet I say this: Rest In Peace.
And, as you can see....This is why I am not an animal person.

Boo!

This Halloween was pretty uneventful. The only scary thing was how much it cost to put 4 new tires on my car. We didn't know I needed them, but I did. Joy. But they are really good tires, so Andrew and I think it solved all our other car problems (even though it probably didn't). My brakes don't squeek. My car rides smoother, etc. Those tires solved all of our problems. :)
We spent the majority of Saturday taking care of that. Then Saturday night, we got on hulu and watched the Halloween episode of a bunch of shows. Needless to say, we were entertained.
Today we had pumpkin waffles and will attempt to watch a some-what scary movie. We don't like scary movies, so it won't be one I lose sleep over...but it's in the name of the spirit of Halloween right?
Friday, I bought a 28 cent goldfish to be friends with our ghost shrimp. I named him Deron Williams to try to make Andrew like him better, but Andrew has a few bitter feelings toward D-Will after the past two games...so we settled on Gordon or Gordy, depending on the mood (after Gordon Hayward).
Other than that, nothing too out of the norm!

Grrr

Tonight was a reminder about how much I hate driving in snow. Florida anyone?

Changes

This week was one of changes! Here are a few:

1) My block classes are done! I now am only in one class. Yes, it is nice.
2) It is cold and rainy. Time to welcome winter? Dang.
3)Andrew and I enjoyed ourselves a lot playing games with three other couples. We don't usually have that big of a group. A change...yes. But way fun...yes!
4)Michael and I are the only Parks left in Utah. Very sad? Heck ya. For better? Absolutely (for those that moved at least :)).
5) Beth and I have decided we actually enjoy long distance running. It's a good new hobby.
6) It was payday. In no way could this be a bad thing.
7) BYU won Saturday. (Thank goodness)
8)We have two pet ghost shrimp. Long story...sorry for fish who didn't survive.
9)Andrew and I stayed up pretty late each night and had to wake up early every morning. This is not so good. I actually took a nap today. Hopefully this change won't last long.
10)Andrew and I spent a few hours at the library together on Saturday night. He was studying for a test. And I was studying for my certification test that I have to take in 3 weeks.

Well, as I look at the list, I can officially say I had a pretty good week. Besides the weather and having to say a few good-byes, no complaints. Life is cruisin'.
And we'll see what this week brings!

Hee Haw Farms!

This story begins three years ago when I became an official free-loader. My wonderful sister and her husband moved to Utah. For three years (especially the latter two years when I had a car), I have made the half hour drive to visit them often. Not only was I gracing them with my presence, but also using their laundry units, detergent, and dryer sheets. I was eating their food. I was crashing on their couch or lovesac. I was using them as a very handy excuse.. "oh, sorry...I can't do that this weekend, I'm going up to my sister's house" or for an excuse to have something to do when really I didn't have anything to do.
We went to the zoo. We had girl days. We had birthday parties. We went to midnight showings of New Moon (and Jonathan even got us tickets to see the showing of Twilight in the theatre right before it). We discovered IKEA and Tai Pan. We had Halloween parties. We looked for houses and got Subway. We went to conference (or at least tried). We went to that bird place in Salt Lake. We played WII. We went shopping.We made a new love for Paradise Bakery. We complained about boys (before I was married of course). We made Halloween costumes. We went to the Jenny Phillips fireside. We went to the Bean Museum. We (Jonathan) fixed computers. We fed the ducks. We went swimming. We had a photo shoot. We went wedding dress shopping (I'm afraid to admit how many hours we spent doing that). We went to Zoolights. We went to graduation.

And for our last hurrah.....we went to Hee Haw Farms. It was a perfect ending to our Utah adventures.

BYU is back in the game....

After quite a few losses
And some terrible playing
Our boys seemed to kick it up
and win our homecoming.
(How embarrassing if we lost...
but with our record this year,
it would have been no surprise).

The best part is
that Andrew and I
got to see the team
make its comeback.
It was our first time
going to a BYU football game together.
Bonus.

Before I officially feel
that our boys
are out of their funk,
I'll wait to see how they play
next week. But till then....
GO COUGARS!

Everybody say a thank-you prayer

This week I got a job! Yay! And it's absolutely, utterly, 100% perfect (so far). I had an interview with an assistant Monday night, an interview with the boss Tuesday afternoon, and started working Wednesday night. I'm tutoring/homework help for a family wiht 5 girls. The majoring of my time will be working with only two of them. I go to their house M-Th from 7-9 at night. So amazing that I'll be able to keep it while I student teach!!! And the pay is better than any job I could ask for. It rocks. So everyone...just say a little thank-you prayer for me. Things always work out for the best.

Random Notes

Well, no job yet. Ha. But at least now instead of like stressing about it I'm to the point that I know the right job will come when the time is right.
This weekend we had Lindsay, Andrew's sister, stay with us. Andrew's parents are in the Mediterrean (which I am quite jealous of btw), so it was a good excuse to have her over. Saturday we went for a little jog, then made french toast. Yummy. Then in the afternoon Lindsay and I went to her car to go to the gas station. Easy errand that wasn't so easy. As we started to drive, it felt really weird. We got out and saw that the tire was flat. And not just flat. It was to the point where the car was turning on the hub cap. Never seen anything like it. Needless to say, Andrew taught both Lindsay and I how to change a flat tire. Good thing to know, so I'm quite grateful for the experience. We got done with the car just in enough time to hit up the creamery for dinner and head to a dollar movie. It was fun and a reminder of just how good the creamery is.
Friday, Andrew did something naughty, but I gave him permission. He didn't go to his morning class and we snuck and got a jamba juice...but only because I had a 2-for-1 okay? Don't judge me. And no matter what you say, I don't regret it and neither does he.
I cleaned the house really well and was going to take pictures of the house to put on the blog to show everyone while it was still clean..but then I got distracted and only took a pic of the bedroom. And now it's too late. You'll just have to the next cleaning day to get the pics. My bad. Better luck next time.
P.S. Tomorrow it's time to get down and dirty and finally get back into shape. Time to eat healthy and go 100%. I've just been doing it so-so the past few weeks and am getting no results. So it's go time tomorrow. I figure if I let you know, I'll be more likely to keep to my word...blubber--you're going down.

I've been terrible

It's September 12th, school has started, life is movin' and I haven't written for a few weeks. My apologies. School is weird this semester...because it's easy. I only have six credits. I don't know what to do with myself. I am looking for another job. My other job just isn't keeping me busy enough. The fact that I can only work one semester (because I student teach next semester) is slowing the process, but I will continue to look. ..and look...and look :)

Today we had regional conference. Not only was it nice to only have two hours of meetings today, but it was a great experience. President Packer presided and spoke and Elder Holland and Sister Beck spoke. We have to take advantage of these opportunities while we live in this valley, because not many other places in the world are so accessible to these experiences. Elder Hales is even giving the BYU devotional this Tuesday. Should be another good one.

Andrew is keeping busy between school and work, but still finds time to play a little ball once in a while and check a few sport stats on the internet. Taking the good and the bad...the only way to survive hard classes and the last semester of accounting classes:)

What the?!?!

So, Andrew's in class right now. I haven't started classes. No homework. It's not time to make dinner yet...so...I'm watching "I didn't know I was pregnant." The first story had me tearing up..it was touching.
The next story just makes me want to laugh in disbelief. Ya know one of those Ga-haffs that comes when in disbelief. It's nuts. The girl had a baby coming out of her and she had no idea that she was even pregnant. Like...what?!?!? Totally nuts.
As the story continues it just gets crazier. I hope it's not true. It's too creepy.


I hope that doesn't happen to me. Thank you very much.

Oh Boy!

Here I am. A free woman. Just waiting for Andrew to get home. I'm ready.

I am now free. And boy does it feel good. Summer term is over. Tonight we are leaving for our summer trip that is long overdue. How exciting! We're staying with one of Andrew's friends at his cabin in Lava Springs. Then we'll head to the pool in the morning and around noon finish the eight hours left on the drive. We're both secretly kind of excited to get on the road because we got some books on tape to see how that entertains us while we drive.

A little scary....got my oil changed yesterday. And of course the mechanic said something was wrong and I needed a new water pump. Weird because that's relatively new so I shouldn't need a new one yet. So, we're guessing it was just someone trying to make a little extra...but what if I actually do need one. . . and we find out in the middle of Montana. Gross.

Last night had his work summer bbq. There was a bunch of activities planned. We built rockets, decorated a little backpack, and made vases filled with color sand. In the middle of the activities, we realized that all these activities were for all the kids there. All of Andrew's co-workers and spouses weren't actually doing the activities, but helping their kids do it. Ha. It was funny. But we did come home with some good little crafts....I bet all the adults are jealous they don't have their own.

Well...Andrew's not home yet. Dang. I guess I'll just keep waitin' as a free woman.

This is when you gotta love that Utah is just a little bit different

Pioneer Day. A day when the state of Utah decides to celebrate the Pioneers (which we are very grateful for) and take the day off of work and school. Believe me, I wish we celebrated our heritage more often with perks like that. Needless to say, this week rocked because no class, no work Friday. Though it was spent cleaning my apartment and doing homework, at least it meant I had a real Saturday. Right on.

We got up and spent an awesome day on the lake and getting some sun. We saw a motto on the back of a boat that said: Wake and Bake. I think that sums up perfection pretty well.
After that, we gorged ourselves at Tucanos. Man, that place never disappoints. The only problem is that no matter how bad you don't wanna, you just gotta. It's not because you're hungry, just because it's so stinkin' good and you know it'll be a few months before you can have it again. I decided Tucanos should have the slogan "Seize the Day!" Maybe Christian Bale will even come and be the spokesman. I wouldn't mind that :) Seriously though, that place you just gotta put down...and put down good.

I was going to be so good.

Yep, blogging was going to be my Sunday morning activity and I was going to be so good at doing it! Ha. We all know how that lasts. We all know about those Young Woman lessons that give us that new determination to write in our journals every week. And we do so good! But, that only lasts for a while. And this is a vicious cycle. One where only a few survive and break the chain. No wonder we had to have so many lessons to remind us to do it.It's just like dieting and getting healthy. It's just like those first few weeks of school where we actually try to read the textbook before class.


Summer semester is almost half over now. It's awesome how fast it's going! I do a lot of homework, but if I pass all the classes, I'll only have six credits in the Fall which just sounds way to good to be true!

Yesterday, we had an awesome day with the Jenkins on the lake. It was awesome. Pretty much perfect. It was sunny, the water warm, the activities a blast: a much needed break from a week of you-no-what at school.

Jeff started driver's ed in Idaho and drove for his first time. Scary. Stay off the roads. J.K. I'm sure he'll be an awesome little driver...but thank goodness for insurance... just in case :)

Andrew is free!!!! (Well at least from schoolbooks for a while). Now at least he has time to put a little TLC into his basketball. He needs the break before another hard semester this fall. But after fall semester, he is done!
(Well at least till graduate school):)

Spring??

This week is the last day of spring classes. I just really can't tell you where the heck it went. It went so stinkin fast. I'm not sure I really want it to end because that means summer semester (probably going to be like living in you-know-where). But, we'll get it done...and if I pass them all, I will never have to take a ridiculous math class again. The day those are over I'll throw a huge party and you're invited.

Last weekend we headed up to Idaho for our reception. It was a blast. Long hours in the car, but the day we spent there was well worth it. We left Thursday night and headed up to the parentals in South Jordan and stayed the night. Friday we got up and started our journey. Bonnie, Lee, Andrew and I were in close quarters the next eleven hours. But, needless to say, it was enjoyable. When we got into CDA, my mom had a feast ready for us and we started our two day eating spree. It was great. Prime rib, salads, rolls, etc. etc. Yummy. I'd take a little of that right now if I could. Then we went to Gooey's and walked the boardwalk.
Here's some pics of our early morning car ride, our morning to breakfast and our day on the lake.




So, CDA had been raining the past two weeks, but just like our wedding--right when we needed a little cooperation, the weather pulled through. It was sunny that day. Not warm, but at least nothing falling out of the sky and it was mid-sixties. Pleasant. We spent a few hours on CDA lake looking around at the landscape and mansion cabins that are there, dreaming about the one that Andrew is going to buy for me someday when we're rich and famous.
That night was the reception. It was beautiful. Everything I could have wanted. Elegant with little tasters for food. Chinese lanterns. Nothing could have been better.

This weekend though Carlee Jenkins came to visit. It was so fun. We watched movies, went shopping, bugged Andrew (it was nice to have another girl around), ate some treats (obviously), and just talked. One of the best things is that I had a personal interior designer to help me figure my little apartment out! I think we got it pretty much situated. I just need a dang drill. But, overall... It was great.
The decorating may have been good....but the best is that CARLEE BOUGHT A CAR! And I'm quite jealous because I love the car she found. I felt like a nerd because of how excited I was when we were looking at it! But let's be honest--it is a sweet car! So, the excitement came oh so naturally. And I'm so excited for her to get it and start cruisin around in that sexy thing... and then maybe get a ride in it once in a while too :)

 

Only eternity minus one month left to go.

So, we made it one month. And honestly it hasn't been too bad ;) The thing is, some people freak out saying that it's so hard to get use to living with each other...but I haven't found that at all. It's easy so far. Of course there were little things like I don't like when he leaves his cereal box on the counter and he doesn't like when I leave a rag in the sink. But those type of things are actually funny to learn about. .
This week we just kept with the flow. Andrew sold his scooter, we spent all day Saturday washing our clothes in South Jordan at his house, worked and did the school thing. We went to the temple and out to dinner. (Johnny Carino's...the bread was to die for last night). So it was a good, busy Saturday with family.
Oh! Friday we saw "Seven Pounds" for the first time...wow. Andrew hadn't seen me cry so hard before. It got me bad, just in the last five minutes too.
Well, off to our wonderful 2:30 church:)

Addictions

I’m starting this blog with a confession. It’s awful. Andrew and I have an addiction. This is not an addiction as menial to a TV series where at least in a few months you get a break till the new season starts. This is a bad one. There's no end. It's only been three weeks and I've already driven Andrew to addiction. Ever heard of nutella? Growing up, Andrew and I always wondered what the big fuss kids had with nutella. Well, last week we found out.
We had received a little jar in a basket from our wedding. Needless to say, that jar is gone and we stocked up at Costco. I think Andrew has had atleast something twice a day with nutella on it and I’ve had at least one. It’s so tasty. He even compared it once to the tree of life. We enjoyed the taste so much, we couldn’t help but share it with those we love. You know something is good when you can compare it to the tree of life.
The first three weeks of marriage are over. Crazy how fast it goes sometimes. It still sometimes doesn't sink in that we are married. Like the other day, I was picking up the living room and Andrew's shoes were in there and I thought to myself, Why did Andrew leave his shoes at my apartment? I wonder what shoes he wore home? Well, of course a second later I shook my head and thought that I was a nut. It just takes some getting use to I guess (not me being a nut, but the fact that I'm married.)
Some of the funny stories of us first moving in: We were storing all of our gifts at Andrew’s parents’ house. While we were in Park City, his parents had brought a few things down along with our bed and dresser. So on our way back to Provo, we stopped by the house and loaded everything we could get into the car.
I wasn’t thinking. I just grabbed bags, no matter what was in them. Really, what I should have been doing is grabbing the bags with the essentials to live. But, nope, didn’t happen.
So as we started to live in our apartment, I realized it’s hard to cook and eat with only one metal spoon and a rice cooker spoon (one of those big white plastic ones). But, that’s what we did. Let me tell you it was very interesting to make stir-fry with frozen chicken without anything else. It was almost just as entertaining to eat with only those utensils. I would have taken a picture of us sitting on the floor with boxes everywhere around us trying to eat like this, but Andrew said he wouldn’t want to remember us in our weaknesses.
And let me tell you, taking a shower without a shower curtain was also a little iffy. We got a beach towel (that luckily was in some of Andrew’s stuff) and hung it over the bar with a clip. Who knows if it helped. Plus the fact we couldn’t get our shower to warm up. (Turns out there’s a little trick…thank you dad.) But that weekend we went back up to South Jordan and got the rest of our stuff so now we are very functional.
These past few weeks Andrew has had his work to do. Between school and assembling all of our new furniture, he has been the man. I think there’s a light at the end though—I don’t think we’ll be buying anything for a while that needs assembly. His next projects just consist of hanging pictures and shelves. Oh he loves those projects  But, it’s coming together and besides a little pick-me-up décor, we are pretty much settled. Just in time for the Coeur d’Alene reception.
This weekend was the first weekend we actually spent in our little apartment. Last weekend my parents and Jeff came down to watch Michael run the Ogden Marathon and to celebrate Mikenzy’s b-day. So we spent the day up there. The previous weekend we spent up at the Jenkins’ for mother’s day/Katie’s call from Boston. Both were very fun. This week will also be our first week at our new ward. Scary. ; / I am sure our neighbors upstairs think we are inactive because we haven’t gone yet, so it’s probably a good thing we don’t have any excuses not to attend our ward that starts at 2:30!
This week we did something very exciting. I got reimbursed by the government for some of the tuition I paid last year. So Andrew and I decided we’d get a deal and go on a little vacation with some of the money we got for a second type of honeymoon. Well, as we got thinking, we had another brilliant idea. We’d spend a little bit of money on a new TV and then go up to Idaho for the week we would have spent on the other vacation. This kind of worked out perfectly as my parents really wanted us to come visit and we really wanted to go up there. So now we actually will have time to do it. Plus, Andrew doesn’t mind having a new TV.  We spent Wednesday night shopping for the TV and went to three stores, and were there for a VERY long time. I feel like a TV expert and Andrew is like a TV master. Let me tell you, it was one of the only times in our whole marriage where Andrew was the one enjoying the shopping and I was the one that really just wanted to buy a dang TV so we could go. But, we came out with a sweet deal for a sweet TV. And if anyone needs advice on TV’s, you know who to call.

The Newly Weds

Now that I'm married, I've heard the rule is I must start a blog. Well, here you go Jordan. I could not break tradition.

So.... the wedding....perfect.

The Honeymoon....so fun.

Start of a new life....hectic. But that's predictable.

I suppose I should expound. The week up to the wedding was great. Just crashed at different people's houses and worked. I don't I realized really that my wedding, one of the most important days of my life, would follow at the end of the week. Still kind of a dream. On April 29th, I went to the temple. One word: Amazing. My family (Mom, Dad, Carlee, Jonathan, and Michael) was there, along with my new family: Lee, Bonnie, and Carlee. Oh, and Andrew was there. It was an experience like none other. And I'm so grateful I got to do it. Jeff got to watch Mikenzy...no one really knows how that went. (Ha. I would have liked to record some of that activity). But, I guess for Jeff's first babysitting experience, you couldn't have asked for a better kid to watch:) Emily and Lindsay did baptisms while we were in there. The temple is a great start for the Park/Jenkins Family extraveganzas. After the session, everyone went to the Jenkins' house for soup. Super tasty taco and potato soup. I need those recipes!
Then, I went to the hotel with my parents and Jeff. Jeff and I had a wild bachelorette last hurrah. He did great stepping up for the job :)

April 30th: The BIG day. Duhn, duhn, duhn. And I slept till like 7:30, went to the hotel gym and did a little morning work-out. No stress at all. It was AWESOME. Then, Andrew came over. The whole gang went down for the hotel breakfast. The breakfast was great. They had donuts, cereal, waffles, toast, sausage, bacon...okay, I better stop; I'm getting hungry. Moral of the story, it was good. My mom trimmed Andrew's hair and then he was off to get ready, clean his car (which turned out spotless), and do whatever else he had to do before his hours of being single were up. I started the process of getting ready....hair, make-up, get dressed--nope, not get dressed because I realized I couldn't find my clothes. Luckily, I left them at Andrew's so he brought them when he came to pick me up. It was awesome getting married in the afternoon. It was so low-key. We had time to get ready. I highly recommend it to anyone :)

The time came and we left for the temple.

The ceremony was perfect. Another bonus about getting married in the afternoon at a smaller temple. I was the only bride. So, I had the place to myself. Wah-ha-ha. But, it was so peaceful and everything went so smooth. Andrew and I were surrounded by people who helped, taught, loved, blessed and strengthened us. It was special to have those people in the room as we officially started a life together. Which, truthfully is one of the scariest, but one of the most awesome journeys I could ask for. Even though it's only been two weeks, I still can't express how excited I am to have Andrew be the one by my side as I experience whatever life throws at me.

The dinner that night was great. Hopefully, everyone else thought so too. The food was from Tucanos and was tasty. The littel gym was beautiful. And again, went so smoothly.

Our honeymoon was great. Andrew hadn't told me where we were staying the first two nights. And until we drove up, I had no idea. We stayed at an awesome bed and breakfast called the Anniversary Inn in Salt Lake. It was gorgeous. http://www.anniversaryinn.com/south-temple/room/1-the-anniversary-inn-suite Check out the ceiling and the chandelier. It had such an elegant, romatic era-type of a feel. Andrew definitely did good with his choice. And in the morning, a tap on your door, and breakfast was sitting right outside on a stool. My kind of service for sure. Ha.

The next few nights we stayed up at my aunt and uncle's house on The Canyons Resort. 17000 square feet to ourselves. http://www.resortswest.com/rw/browse.detail.aspx?id=9_colony
(These pictures don't really capture the house though.) We played in the indoor gym, watched movies in the theatre room, went shopping, ate, slept ten hours a night...it was great.

I took notes of some of the major events during those wonderful five days that help define us as a couple:
1) Together, we ripped apart the movie New Moon and discussed everything it had wrong with it. A few hours later, we talked about our plans to go see the new Twilight movie coming out next month.
2)We are are officially an old couple. Everynight we were in bed, ready to go to sleep by 11. Dangerous. I know.
3) We have a new addiction to the show "Wife-Swap." We are kind of learning the do's, but mostly the don'ts that we are going to do with our own children. And maybe Andrew likes it to remind him how lucky he is to have me. Maybe I like it because I realize what crazy I could have been stuck with. But, for whatever reason, we like it. And we'd prob be watching it right now if our TV was set up.
4) We've decided that since we can't find boys' names that satisfy both of us perfectly, we're just going to let fate decide. Let destiny take its course...and draw them out of a hat.
5)I learned the only way to get Andrew really mad to the point where I can hear him yell from across a mansion-cabin is to have the Jazz (particularly CJ Miles in this situation) do something stupid.
6) We played chess for 1 1/2 hours and neither of us won. So, now I can say that I am as smart as Andrew. Sucker.

Now, we are in our apartment. I'll have to write about our adventures here next time because really I'm tired of typing and if by some miracle you're reading this, I'm sure you're tired of reading.

P.S. Pictures will come :)