A Marriage: Being Old Part Deux

Last Friday one of my very best friends in the world got married!

It was so exciting, and it means that I have officially started a new phase in my life -- 

the one where my CLOSE friends start getting married and having babies. 

WOOO--EEEE! That's huge!

That's the being-old-part of this post, but to tell the truth there was so much anticipation for the day and so much pure joy on the day that the being old part quickly lost importance!

So here's a look at the festivities:

MANICURES AND PEDICURES:

In preparation for Darcee's big day/her bridals -- Darc and I went to get our nails done.

This marks the second time I've ever got my nails done -- both times were with Darcee -- what a blessing to have her in my life! :)

Getting her nails shellaced!

My pedicure!

DARCEE'S LAST DAY IN THE SINGLE'S WARD!

Darcee and I took this picture because it was High-Heels-Sunday and we were rocking our heels, but also because Darcee had forever graduated from the Single's Wards! - She's an old married lady now!

Please note the rocking heels!

FINALS WEEK/WEDDING PREP:

Darcee's family showed up and moved her out of our humble abode, and that's when things started getting really, really real! It was so crazy! We also had a huge baking party to make the treats for the reception. Darcee's awesome family did all the food and decorations for her reception, so we as her friends and roommates helped out with the desserts.

Unfortunately, the week leading up to her wedding was also finals week for me -- so I was super focused on memorizing a sonnet from Shakespeare and getting ready for my oral exam in my parenting class. Both went pretty well, but I was sad that I couldn't be more help!

Thursday night Alexa and Matt showed up on my door and it was fun to catch up with those two love-birds!

THE WEDDING DAY!

 Darcee's family recruited us as babysitters so we woke up early -- got all dolled up and headed off to the temple in our purple attire.  We ended up with about 15 kids! Chelsea handled the bathroom trips and changing a few of the kids, while Lex and I played with the kiddies.  We played red light green light, went on a reverent walk, colored, and had a talent show! They were so sweet and they were all super match-y, so it was fun to be associated with them for the duration of the sealing!

Then we waited for FOREVER for sweet Darcee to come on out. While we waited we did some impromptu photo-shoots:

If only Darcee could have been in this with us!

These two are next!

When Darcee came out of the temple -- she looked lovely! I was so excited to see Stephen and Darcee looking so happy. You could just tell how much they loved each other!

I was privileged enough to get to live with Darcee this summer, and living with her gave me the opportunity to again realize why Darcee's amazing! While Chelsea and I were helping making cookies for the reception, we started playing "Why We Love Darcee..."

Here are just a few of the reasons I love that girl:

1. She is the most generous person EVER. Darcee is always willing to help you out and sacrifice a little herself to help you do what you need to do! 
2. She is also very encouraging, by making you feel like you're good at things! Darcee always makes it seems like you're doing a fantastic job.  I really enjoyed feeling like I was equal with her in whatever we were doing - even though we both in knew our hearts that she could blow me out the water at it! 
3. She is very tactful and good at listening. In our YEARS and YEARS of friendship, we had to talk about some tough stuff or some awkward stuff, and Darcee is really good at doing that.  She can listen for hours and then give a really good opinion/new point of view to help you see the problem in a new way.

These are just my top 3 but there a billion more -- trust me. If I didn't get to know Stephen this summer, and see how happy those two are together, I almost wouldn't believe that someone was good enough for my sweet, sweet friend/roommate/soul sister, but I did get to know Stephen and I did get to see how happy they are, so instead I just feel ecstatic that Darcee gets to be so happy! :) 

You Are What You Read

     Anyone that knows me knows that I love to read. Like the annoying kind of love to read. Like stop-talking-to-everyone-put-off my-homework-stay-up-all-night-and-skip-meals-to-finish-a-book-love to read. I also have the most annoying habit of finishing a book and then re-reading all of my favorite parts, repeatedly. I can't help it. I've always been this way, and while I do have a little bit more self-control these college days, some books get the best of me.

Pure Bliss

    Another weird thing that happens -- I'm VERY easily influenced.  I really do become what I read.  

I read about some girl who does/is __________, and suddenly I want to do/be that too. This can be a bad thing or a good thing depending on what I'm reading.  Recently I've been reading some summer chick-lit (insert groans/eye-rolls here -- it's not really "summer" chick-lit as much as "all seasons" chick-lit.... my family is always teasing me about my chick-lit addiction, but I just love it so much even though I KNOW it's cheesy and stupid) about some really cool characters, so it's been a very good thing!

   One book that I really LOVED was called "The List" by Melanie Jacobson. It's about a girl who made a list of things to do before she got married. She was very committed to not getting married until after her list was complete. Of course some Romeo sweeps her off her feet -- she questions her list -- throws it out the window -- and her and Prince Charming get together!

 

  After reading this book, my friend Chelsea (who also read the book) and I decided to do the same, except the part about refusing to get married until after all the goals are all done.  More like I want to have things to do and goals to accomplish to keep my life upbeat, fun and adventurous.  So here's the list to date, but I want to get it up to 25 (suggestions are encouraged):  

1. Get a passport. 
2. Leave the country
3. Learn a foreign language
4. Road trip 200+ miles (with friends)
5. Stop at a U-Pick Farm
6. Go Camping!  (accomplished -- see last post!)
7. Read all of the standard works
8. Try internet dating
9. Go kayaking
10. Complete a race (harder than you've done before)
11. Redevelop a musical talent
12. Try a (new-crazy) diet for a week
13. Learn to eat with chopsticks
14. Learn to tango (I'm pretty positive I want to replace this one!)
15. Eat an authentic Chicago Deep Dish Pizza/Boston Cheesecake/Philly Cheese-Steak (pick one)
16. Go hot air ballooning. 
17. Go slack-lining
18. Buy myself some nice jewelry
19. Read a (foreign) classic 
20.   
21.  
22.  
23.  
24.  
25.  

To calm my sweet mother's heart and redeem myself in your eyes-- I have also been keeping a steady diet of the textbooks, Shakespeare (for my Shakespeare class), and the scriptures these past few months so not everything I'm reading is totally pointless.. just most of it! :)

What Happens in the Summer

WARNING: This is an epically long post to make up for lost months! The only promise is that there are lots and lots of pictures! :)

KELLI'S DAY!!

As always.. Kelli's Day was celebrated in style with spaghetti and meatballs, a ladybug cake, confetti, and a movie to watch.  We chose "We Bought Zoo" for this year's movie. So inspiring.. Chelsea left ready for her 20 seconds of courage! I ended up falling asleep for the middle of the movie, but the beginnings and end were fantastic!! 

Ready to get our party on!

 

Sweet Alexa and her mother sweet Holly sent me a package for Kelli's Day which included some sweet tatoos. So the Kienlen's were definitely there in spirit! 

In the end, it was a fantastic holiday, and I'm glad I have so many friends that remember my day to make it special! Hopefully the tradition will continue! :)

A CARE PACKAGE!

New wards are always a challenge for me. My social nature fights with my natural inhibitions,

 and so I hate it.  So my mother aware that I was having a rough month sent me a mixer! I now have two kitchen appliances to my name! Woohooo!! What a sweet mother I have!

ROOMMATE LOVE!!

Stacey and I did some twinner hair one Sunday.

And we thought we looked fantastic so we took pictures!

The month of June was Carl's Jr. month, because we had so many coupons.

This meant a lot of roommate dates, which were super fun!!

 THE 4th of JULY!!

Ty was sweet enough to come down to Provo to hang out with his lowly, pathetic sister! I was so grateful to have some family to hang out with.  We started the day off at the parade!

We sat with a rowdy bunch of people who were heckling all the parade people.  It was all in good fun which made it all the better.  Ty and I were right behind them and we thought the whole thing was hilarious. They often shout things like "turn the banner" at the people and most people were willing to comply.  One time a banner or something was coming up and one in the heckler group said to his family: "You know what to do!" And the whole group started up. 

Here's an example:

We were supposed to go to my Uncle's house for dinner, but since he had just moved we got very lost. So there was no All-American picnic for us chumps.  So instead, Ty and I really got in touch with the melting pot idea and had some Cafe Rio.  

We then headed up to the temple for some fireworks.  We moved a billion times. People in Provo are intense about their 4th of July rituals and they had already been camped out for hours by the time we go there.  Ty and I are pretty unassuming people so we didn't know where to go -- so we ended up in some pretty random places, trying not to infringe on anybody.

At the temple area...

 Ty and I then thought the Stadium of Fire was lamer than ever and it was getting late so Ty dropped me off and headed back up to Salt Lake.  20 minutes later the show started. 

So I booked it up to campus by myself and watched the show.  Stacey joined me for the last little bit of the show.

Blurry picture, but that's all the smoke from the fireworks!

 A ROOFTOP CONCERT!!

Provo does some pretty cool things, and one of those things is the Rooftop Concert Series. They usually have local artists put on a show for everyone, and it's super fun! This time they did a Tom Petty song night and had a bunch of different local artists do some songs.  

Me, Stacey and Christy!!

One of the local artists they had come to the show was the Neon Trees band. They are not so local anymore, but they remembered the little town they got their start in! It was just the drummer (who is pregnant and an amazing singer as well!), the bassist, and the lead singer.

The Neon Trees guy is crazy intense! Way fun to watch! I'd love to go to a concert! 

A BRIDAL SHOWER!!

Sweet Darcee is getting married in 19 days!! So we threw her a bridal shower. She requested no games, which I'm fine with because.. really bridal shower games can be pretty lame. So instead Chelsea and I threw together a fantastic fiesta! Just a bunch of taco stuff, but it was delicious! I would call the evening a success! 

The spread -- minus the chips, tortillas, and meat, which were still heating up.

These were a Pinterest find but I thought they turned out really well,
and they taste super good!! 

Cake Pop Favors! 

We only played the "How well does Darcee know Stephen" game.  Turns out she knows him pretty darn well! :)

Darcee in her natural state!

The LAST HOORAH/weekend get away!

With Darcee getting married so soon we decided we needed one more time just the three of us! 

So last Friday, we headed up to Salt Lake for a vacation!

Trax ride!

Darcee got her dress fitted, and then we did some shopping for friend of the bride clothes, 

because of course we need to look great for her wedding too! :) After finding nothing worth buying, we camped out at the KOA in SLC, which felt really more exotic than it was. So it was worth it!

Home Sweet Home

 After a quick swim that morning, we were on our way to a great hike!

Before we started for reals...

In true Wyoming fashion, we headed up the mountain without much information. We just trusted that we were fit enough, and awesome enough to finish it all.  We got to the top of the mountain, only to realize that we were really low on water.  We weren't aware of the time since we left our cell-phones behind.  So even though the trail continued up to the next peak we decided to feel really good about what we had already accomplished, and go back down.

The view!

Playing in the stream!

We finished!!!

Chelsea looked up the trail after we got back and found out that rattlesnakes are supposedly very common on that trail, and we thought the lizards were bad!

Last night, after we got back, Chelsea came with Darcee and I to our ward activity and it was just like old times in the Powell 2nd Ward, except more fun (no offense P2 people, it's just different when your Bishop has a giant pool and a basketball court in his backyard. And when there are so many new people to get to know and enjoy.)  It's been a great summer so far, and hopefully I'll post again before the end! :)

ALSO... This is my
100th
Post!
so thanks for staying interested, reading, and commenting all the way up to this huge milestone!!

Happiness is.....

...Taking a trip home to see your little brother graduate! (Congrats TODD!)

...Being at home at the same time as all the rest of your siblings

Toni missed the picture taking..

...Having 3 sweet nieces!

Brynn and Camilla! Both are tuckered out! :)

All THREE! - Camilla was on the move for this shoot!

...Winning marbles with your Grandma 

(and for those of you who don't know what 'marbles is' .. don't worry about it, but NO we are not flicking around a bunch of marbles in a chalk circle with our thumbs)

Although my Grandma looks like a sweet lady here..
She's an assassin at marbles, I'm glad we're on the same team!

...Reading cheesy chicklit to your brother on the drive

What a great brother -- he even took the time to read me a few pages while I was driving!

...Watching cheesy western/pioneer love stories (many times in a row)

...Living with your best friends! (Current roommates are:)

(Darcee we need more recent pictures together, okay?

...Getting an unexpected call from another best friend.

thanks Lex!

...Doing nails with your roommates on a Sunday afternoon

Thanks for the color Lynnster!

...Did I mention my sweet nieces?

Aubrey was full of good moods and smiles!
(and bad moods and tears... Bless Toni's heart for having a newborn and toddler!)
Camilla was such a sweet girl and never got fussy during our long Sunday! --Stake Conference and Graduation!
And sweet Brynn was so tiny and newborny and adorable!

(No pictures for these ones, but you should just feel some happiness reading them!)

...Making dinner for more than just yourself!

...Fresh baked cookies

...Being humble enough to ask for help when you need it

...Going to Church

...Walking to the store 25 minutes away for something do
...A clean room

New Life Goal: Become A Vigilante

In reality...

• I hate violence.
• I've never tackled anybody in my life, and I don't plan on it.
• If I ever saw a felony being committed I would run away, hide, and/or start crying.

Leaving reality behind...

• I would become a real-life vigilante, carrying out numerous citizen arrests and saving the world!

I have always had a secret desire to do a citizen arrest.  It would be the best thing ever! I can just imagine myself (please feel free to imagine with me) yelling "CITIZEN ARREST" and flying through the air as I tackled some hardened criminal, and then pulling out my trusty zip-ties to handcuff him until the cops showed up.  .... This is an item on the top of my (dream) bucket-list.

So as I considered this dream yesterday I decided to do some Googling to figure out how to go about doing a citizen arrest.. I found out that I am not the only one with this dream! Check it out:

I thought this was the best answer:

Just in case you guys get any crazy ideas I did find out that in Utah it is illegal to use deadly force to stop and/or secure a felon (and in most states it HAS to be a felony for you to take any action).

BUT.. If you also share my desire to become a real-life-regular-Joe-saver-of-the-world, then move to Kentucky. In my limited research, it seems like Kentucky has the most indulgent laws for people like us! Apparently, "Kentucky law holds that a person witnessing a felony must take affirmative steps to prevent it, if possible. (See Gill v. Commonwealth, 235 KY 351 (1930.) Indeed, Kentucky citizens are permitted to kill fleeing felons while making a citizen's arrest (Kentucky Criminal Code � 37; S 43, �44.)" -- quoted from a news article I read, emphasis added! (I WOULD NEVER KILL ANYONE; I just thought it was weird that they said you could...)

So join me fellow citizens let us save America! Let us rise up and stop the felons!! 

Who's with me?