Lisa and Todd's Wedding and Other Tales...

The day before the wedding...

My aunt invited us to come down to Mt. Pleasant and stay with them the day before my cousin Lisa got married. We left Provo a little after noon and got to Mt. Pleasant around 1:30 ish. It was actually a pretty nice drive. Once getting there we had to go into the backyard and see my aunts ducks and chickens... What an experience (especially for Whits). After the whole chicken incident the girls took off for a walking tour of the town and then headed off to Terrells (which I think is the only grocery store in the town)... they have the best bakery in the whole world! We ended up pigging out on some peanut butter bars, raspberry rolls and eclaires. We spent the rest of the night watching the finishing touches being done...

After our long car ride

The Malone girls in Mt. Pleasant

My aunts ducks...

My all time favorite picture! No one would help her because we were all laughing so hard about her getting attacked by Stumpy the chicken!

The night before the wedding...

Lisa showing off her bouquet!

Todd helping his mom make all the flower arrangements

Getting ready for bed.... on my aunts couch

The wedding morning...

Todd picking Lisa up to head to the temple

Walking out the door

Pulling out of the driveway

This was the first temple sealing that I have been to. I was really excited to see what they were like. The temple sealer gave an amazing talk! The one thing that really stood out was when he started talking about his son getting married a few years before and he was sealed by someone in the seventy. The man who sealed them had a meeting with President Hinckley right before he sealed them. He told President Hinckley that he was heading to seal a couple. President Hinckley told him to "make it stick"... I love this comment! The whole ceremony hit me hard when they were pronounced them husband and wife for all eternity. At this point I looked at Todd and he was crying. This started tears pouring down my face as well. Those words are so powerful! I long for the time that I can find a man that looks at me and loves me the way that Todd loves Lisa!

My uncle and cousins waiting outside the temple

Whits outside the temple waiting for Lisa and Todd

The happy couple coming out of the temple

Lisa hugging her sister Kristine
Right outside the temple doors
Aren't they so cute?

Walking to get pictures taken

Lisa and Todd

My cousin Eric and his wife Angela at the temple

Lisa and Todd and their parents

My cousin and her family

Leaving the Manti temple

After the temple ceremony we all headed over to the chapel for a luncheon. We were the first to arrive so we had some fun with the camera. It was a really good luncheon. They had a dutch oven place cater it. We had chicken cordon bleu, pork roast, potatoes, rolls, green beans and a salad. It was at the luncheon that I noticed one of Todd's friends. He was pretty cute. I made a comment to my mom... who made a comment to her sister... who made a comment to Lisa. It was a bit embarrassing but oh well... that's life. Down below you will see this friend in a few pictures. :)

In the car... driving from the temple to the luncheon

The table decorations
My cousin Kristine dancing with her boyfriend John
Whits and Janae having fun
The three girls
Before the luncheon
My mom and her sister Shauna

At the luncheon

My cousin Eric and his wife Angela

After the luncheon we all went back to my aunt's house and hung out until the reception. My mom and a few others went and cut fruit and cheese in the kitchen while the rest of us sat in the living room and watched a movie that my aunt and family filmed of my grandparents, a few months before my grandpa passed away. It was really nice to be able to watch them and remember the good times.

Todd's dad helping out in the kitchen

Todd working on a slide show and Lisa watching him

Lisa posing for the camera

Posing for the camera while watching a video of my grandparents

The reception started at 6 pm. It was planned to be at a family friends house, with a backup at the church in case of bad weather. We got over to Ed's house a little early and helped set some things out and then went inside to make the chicken salad sandwiches. A little after 6 the rain came pouring down. Everything ended up getting decently wet. Thank goodness it only lasted for about 10 minutes. Here are a few of the pictures we took at the reception:

At the reception

Lisa and Todd at their reception

Janae under the carport during the rain storm

Cori and Whits posing for the camera

Whits helping me out!

Breaking Dawn

For those of you who don't know... I am a HUGE Twilight series fan! In the last year that I have discovered the series I have read and re-read the books. Whitney and I were so excited for the 4th book "Breaking Dawn" to come out. I went to Barnes and Noble to reserve a copy and had huge plans to be one of the first to get the book. The day that the book came out we went to go and get the "red" band. Once getting up to the people with the list I was really disappointed to find out that my name somehow did not appear on the list. We ended up getting a "white" band instead... but luckily enough it was in the "A" group. Around 9 pm that night Whits and I took off and went and attended all the festivities. We went and stood in line to get our faces painted.... I am glad that I went to the girl that I did because mine turned out so much better than Whits did!












I ended up leaving the festivities early so that I could get a good place in line. We ended up being really close to the front of the line. We got home by around 1:30 in the morning (which was an hour before I got home from getting Eclipse). I ended up reading until 5 in the morning, I would have kept at it but my eyes were having problems staying open. I had a hard time putting the book down but managed to get 4 hours asleep before waking up at 9 am. I read from the time I woke up until I finished the book at 5:30 that night. I would have to say that this was my favorite book in the series and I loved the way it turned out!

Memories

Here is a fun little game (thanks to my cousin Megan)... leave a comment on my blog of a memory you and I have had together. It doesn't matter if you've known me for a short time or a long time. It can be funny, embarrassing, whatever. Anything that you remember! Next, re-post these instructions on your blog and see how many people leave a memory about you. It is pretty funny to read the responses. If you leave a memory about me, I'll assume you are playing and I'll come to your blog and leave one about you.

A Very Merry ABBA 24th of July Weekend!

This 24th of July weekend was full of tons of fun activities at my house. On the 24th my mom, sister and I went to the concert at the SCERA Shell. It was a group from Sweden who sang ABBA songs. It turned out to be a blast. We had such a fun time listening to the music and watching the interesting people around us. Before the group came out, they had last years SCERA Celebrity winner (the SCERA's version of American Idol) come out and sing a couple of songs. During one of her songs a guy got up and started disco dancing. It was so funny to watch that Whits got her camera out and taped it. We also had a group of 3 girls sitting in front of us (they had to be around 10-12 years old), they knew all of the ABBA songs and they were singing away and dancing the entire time. They entertained us more than anything else.














Waiting for the concert













Cori and Whits










Pulling faces for the camera













Having a blast!









They did an amazing tribute
to all the branches of the
Armed Forces!









The guy introducing themselves










The First Song










This guy made a "guest
appearance" he played with
the original ABBA group.












Whitney eating her first
thing since getting braces




On Friday my mom took the girls to go and see the movie Mama Mia! We all ended up falling in love with the movie... It was really cool to hear the songs that we had heard the night before at the concert in the movie. I would recommend this movie to everyone. It had us laughing throughout the whole thing! I have big plans to buy this movie the day it comes out on DVD. I ended up spending most of the rest of the day in my room watching movies that I had bought but hadn't had time to watch. Later on in the evening the kids came for the weekend...


On Saturday we spent most of the day outside with the kids. In the morning we took Ry and Lilly out into the backyard and Ry got into his swimming pool. After a few hours of being outside we went in for lunch and to put the kids down for a nap. They decided that they weren't tired and so we went up to BYU campus to the duck ponds, which is one of Ry's favorite places to go. We took lots of pictures and had fun feeding the ducks.... After getting home from the ducks we went right back into the pool for a while. What a relaxing day!









Dancing in the kitchen












Thomas the Train... Woot! Woot!












Rykert!












Lillykins!












Don't mess with us!









Playing in the pool









Getting squirted by Whits









Being attacked by Ry













The kids when we first got there









Lilly trying to chase the animals












I absolutely love little Lillykins









The cute little ducklings all nestled together












She really wanted to get down
and play with the ducks









Ry pulling faces



At the end of the day the kids went back inside to play. Poor Lilly ended up getting hit in the face accidentally by Ry's plastic baseball bat. Here are a few pictures of her poor eye right after it happened. Thankfully by the time it was time for her to go home you couldn't see a thing wrong with her eye. She actually handled it really well and didn't even cry that is until Grandma put some ice on her eye... Of course Ry wanted to know what was going on.














Has anyone else been having problems with all the smoke from the different fires this weekend?