Erin's Wedding

I returned last week from a wonderful trip to Utah for my best friend Erin's wedding to Ian Checketts. I flew in super late on Wednesday night and had a little sleepover with Erin and one of her mission companions. We spent the majority of Thursday and Friday doing wedding errands and hanging out with old roommates :) It was seriously a great few days. We all got together for dinner on Thursday night and had fun reminiscing about all the funny things we used to do. After dinner, we made pazooki (an old favorite) and laughed the night away.

Brie, me and Ambree

Erin and Molly

Mr and Mrs Checketts exiting the temple.

The sealing was awesome and was performed by her mission president who happens to be the Temple President of the Oquirrh Mountain temple. Erin looked stunning. I loved her dress :) Fun fact...I was with her when she bought her dress back in April and she actually purchased her dress from the same little shop that I bought mine at :)

The bridesmaids...me, Monica, and Ian's two sisters Lauren and Hannah. Poor Lauren had surgery on her ACL a few weeks before the wedding and ended up having another surgery the day before the wedding due to an infection. She was a trooper to show up in heels!!
The old roomates all together again. It had been over a year since we were all together, and it was definitely fun to see each other again. I miss these girls...and the funnest part was how we just picked up where we left off.
Needless to say, it was a little windy outside the temple. And by that, I mean that it was probably the windiest day of my life. It was a little tricky taking pictures because you had to choose between holding your hair, or holding your dress. Molly opted for the dress. Haha.
It was a little less windy at the reception, which turned out really nice and I loved the decorations. Just imagine a lot of wrought iron, topiaries, beautiful flowers, and hanging lanterns in corals and creams.
Me and the beautiful bride. Erin and I were roommates in college for a few years and have remained friends ever since. I really love this girl and it was fun to be there for her special day. Now that we are all married, we decided that we are going to start planning annual girl weekends to stay in touch...since we no longer live very close. (Oregon, Utah, Florida, and soon-to-be California)
After the wedding and clean-up, I bummed a ride back down south with Brie and Jeff to visit family. I only was able to spend about 24 hours with the Robinsons, but it was a great 24 hours :) We of course took Sunday pictures, and here is my cute cousin Heidi and my cute Aunt Lori.
I will look forward to the next trip...

Wasted Bread

This is what happens when you let your bread rise for 6 hours instead of one. So, my Grandma makes the best homemade bread I have ever had. Something about it is just awesome....especially when accompanied by homemade strawberry jam or cherry jelly!

I decided that I would attempt to make my Grandma's bread, so I got her recipe and went to work. It took a little longer than I thought to prepare the dough because I was supposed to halve the recipe, but for some reason, I thought I had already halved it when I wrote it down a month ago. Obviously this was not the case as I was adding 16 cups of flour to my mixer! I had flour EVERYWHERE! The bread was supposed to rise for an hour before I could bake it, and I realized I wasn't gonna have time to finish before we were meeting with a realtor. So, I figured, I would just bake the bread in 2-3 hours when I thought we would be home. By the time we got home, 6 hours had elapsed and the first thing Kevin said when he walked in the door, was "Yep, it overflowed!"

Despite the wasted dough and mess to clean up, the bread turned out well and we have been enjoying yummy toast ever since. Hopefully, after repeated trials, the bread will turn out as perfect and fluffy as when Grandma makes it!!

Orlando Temple

Last Saturday we had the opportunity to go on the Youth Temple Trip. The closest temple is in Orlando, which is about 4 hours away. All I can say, is that I have been spoiled in every other place I have lived because the temple has been at most an hour and a half away. I think it makes you appreciate it a little more when it is so far away, but then it makes it harder to go as often as you would like. Fortunately, they are building the "South Florida" temple about 30 minutes from where we live right now. That are currently figuring out all the permits, etc. and then they will start the build. So, in about two years, we will no longer need to make that long drive!! We saw preliminary pictures at a special Fireside we went to and it will be beautiful.

Overall, I think the kids had a great time on the trip and it was exciting to be there for a lot of the girls who were going for the first time. The Spirit was strong and I think the youth recognized the importance of the work they were doing. Something Jeffrey (my missionary brother) wrote in his last letter to me perfectly applies... "without the link that baptisms for the dead makes, we can't be perfect and the Earth will be cursed." (D & C 128:18)

real life

This news is a few weeks past due, but I was officially offered my Clinical Fellowship on April 21st, and I accepted. I was hired through a company called EBS Healthcare, which is a training and managing company for the birth to 21 population. Although I was hired through them, I will be doing contract work through the school system. I don't have my exact placement yet, because I have been finishing my paperwork and a few online courses required by the State of Florida. But I do officially have my badge, which is kind of exciting :) I won't start until the Fall, so I have a few months to finish up a few projects and start a few hobbies, like sewing. I'll let you know how that goes. I don't have a sewing maching yet, but that is next week's purchase. I do, however, already have a book of cute projects that I picked up last night at Borders!

Elder Clark

We had the most wonderful phone call with this missionary yesterday :)

I am grateful for Mother's Day for many reasons (like wonderful mothers in my life), but this year, the day was even more special!! I miss my little brother so much, and I cried when I was able to hear his voice and say hello. The allotted hour slipped away way too quickly, but it was so great to have a six-way phone call with our family.

Jeffrey is doing wonderful on his mission and continues to impress me with how much he has grown and matured in the last 10 months. Although I miss him a ton, I couldn't be more happy that he is in Brazil right now spreading the Gospel. Keep up the good work little brother :)

weekend with the family

At the end of April I was able to fly to Utah for my cousin Amy's wedding. It was such a great weekend spent with family and friends. I was able to see a childhood friend for an afternoon, help my best friend pick her wedding dress, and spend a few days with these wonderful people...

I love my grandparents so much. Although I don't get to see them all that often, I am definitely grateful for the time we do spend together. They are wonderful people and they raised an amazing daughter (my mom)!!

Hopefully it won't be so long until we are all together again!! Love you all :)

Watch this Mel-Bell...