Happy Thanksgiving!

Our Thanksgiving this year was wonderful! Last Tuesday, Devin, and my brother Paul and I all drove down to Arizona to go visit my brother Glen and his wife Sasha and their new baby Gaelyn. My mom and my Ron also came down to visit which was great! Our vacation consisted of mostly playing Wii and holding Gaelyn. However, we did manage to fit in Thanksgiving dinner (which was amazing... the turkey was sooooo good) and 9 pies for 7 people. You'll be happy... or grossed out... to know that we finished all of the pies except 1 by the time we left on Sunday morning! We also saw "Twilight" which I thought was pretty good. I want to see it again, but we're going to wait until it's in the dollar theater to do that. We played a bunch of games, which it was just so fun!!! But man, let me tell you, Gaelyn is SOOOOO CUTE!!! Right when she's falling asleep, she smiles and it's adorable! She's got skinny little legs too. But she's a really good baby, she only cries when she needs something. Devin and I took care of her one night so that Glen and Sasha could get a little more sleep and Gaelyn only woke up twice during the night, which we were grateful for! She's such a good baby! Sunday morning was her baby blessing and apparently she fell asleep during the blessing, which was good. Ya know, sometimes babies just scream and scream but not Gaelyn, she's such a good baby! We loved visiting our family this Thanksgiving! Thanks for having us, Glen and Sasha!

On our way home from Arizona, we (Devin, me, and Paul) stopped at the Grand Canyon (Mom and Ron stopped there on their way down to Arizona) and it was AMAZING!!! Seriously, pictures just don't do this place any justice! I mean, this is one huge crack in the earth! When you look down, it just goes on and on forever! They (the park people) haven't put any fences up because they don't want to ruin the site but apparently, there are approx. 12 people who fall off the edge and die. Isn't that crazy! And all the park people say is, "sorry, they shouldn't have stood so close to the edge". I mean seriously?!?! That's crazy! But it sure was beautiful. So here are a bunch of pictures from our vacay! Hope you enjoy them!

Sorry

I didn't realize it but I do long posts. I'll try to be more concise next time... or just post more often. Sorry!

These are just some silly pictures of us... no rhyme or reason!

Addictions!

This is our new pitcher, it's glass with a blue glass handle and rim.

This is one of our mugs. I like the spoon holder in the handle... that's a nice touch!

Our new haircuts!!! Cute, huh?

So there are just a few things in this world that I am addicted to...

Number 1- Grey's Anatomy... I love this show! I just can't get enough of it... though there have been some not so great things going on this season; those of you who watch it will know what I'm talking about. (Also, don't get addicted to this show... it will rule your Thursday nights!)

Number 2- Celine Dion and Il Divo singing "I Believe in You". I'm listening to it at this very moment. One of my good friends, Gabriel (he's French), did a cabaret to this song last night at DanceSport and his partner was so graceful I almost cried! It was so beautiful and I have not stopped listening to this song! You should look it up on Seeqpod.com... it's pretty amazing!

Number 3- Getting haircuts! I don't know if there is anything I enjoy more than getting my haircut (that's a gross exageration but I love it!)! What do you think of my new cut? My friend, Nicole, worked at this super expensive salon... it has been rated #1 in Utah Valley for like the past 5 years. Anyway, she decided to go to BYU full-time so that she can have a degree in something other than cutting hair... long story short, she now works part-time at the BYU salon and I loved her hair so much that I had her give me a cut just like hers. I also got my hair lightened a little bit. I loved having it dark red underneath but I'm trying something new! Nicole is a sweetheart and is looking for Mr. Right (which is why she chose BYU.... just jokin') and I think she did a wondeful job on my hair! Life is just to short to have boring hair ya know... and if you're afraid to try something new, just remember that hair will grow back and color can be changed over and over again! Also, Devin got a new haircut... I know, it looks exactly the same as his cut every other time! I've actually started helping Devin cut his hair (he does a really good job by himself but he's letting me learn how to cut hair on him... he's so good to me!). So if you're sick of your same ol' boring hair, go get it cut and colored! It's amazing! Plus, the scalp massage is pretty wonderful and will make you feel like a million bucks!

Number 4- Devin! I'm so addicted to him!!! I just can't seem to get enough! Last night, while I was at DanceSport (I danced cha cha against the best dancers at BYU... needless to say, my partner and I didn't get very far! But I volunteered to work the event so that I wouldn't have to pay $12 to dance for 20 minutes which is why I was gone and Devin was at home trying to finish his applications... and playing games!)... anyway, while I was at DanceSport, Devin made HOMEMADE rolls! Oh my amazing! They are so good!!! I had an assignment for one of my classes earlier Sat. morning. Devin and I had to go to campus and cook chicken cordon bleu, homemade french bread, crepes, and a salad (which wasn't that great) but the rest of it was really yummy. Apparently the french bread encouraged Devin to make rolls (this guy LOVES rolls!) and they were SOOOO good! I came home from DanceSport and we cooked the rolls and ate them... ate a lot of them! They were amazing!

Number 5- Babies! I love babies! Church is so much better in a family ward with a ton of little babies! I just love them... nuff said!

So I think that's pretty much everything that I'm addicted to! Life in the DuPree family is really good! We got a new candy thermometer yesterday because I lost my other one when we moved here and it's exciting to have a new thermometer (which I'm sure you care about a lot)! We also got these super cute mugs! The spoon can rest in the handle of the mug... love it!!! We also got a water pitcher that matches our glasses... all for 16 cents (the rest of the money was from a gift card from our wedding). We got a new calendar... it's a dri-erase one and I love it! Devin and I just had too much going on that it didn't all fit on our other calendar so this one is bigger! When a calendar can't fit all of your activites on it, you know that you're too busy... or two college students! Which, speaking of college, Devin and I will be graduating in August and are so excited!!! We still don't know where we're going to go but it will probably be really hot wherever we go... but I can't wait to go somewhere other than Utah! We're (when I say that I mean Devin... I'm just going along for the ride) applying to Kentucky, Southern Mississippi, BYU (gross), Georgia, Texas Tech, and Maryland! Where do you think we should go? I think that's about it! Have a wonderful day!!!

This one's for you, Bryce!

So, Bryce has brought to my attention that we don't have any recent pictures of us. This is true, and is true for a few reasons... 1. I usually work on my blog while I'm at work and I usually don't have my camera with me there. 2. Devin and I don't really take a lot of pictures, that's something we need to do better, but we just forget about taking a camera with us. 3. I can't think of another but I'm sure there's at least 3 reasons! So here are some pictues of Devin and I over the past few months... This is us laying on our bed!

Ummm... This was at Devin's B-day party! I don't know why I was so upset!

Happy 24th Birthday, Devin!!!

This was on our Honeymoon... and the water was really cold!

This was also on our Honeymoon! We love the ocean!

Look at Devin, isn't he so cutie!!!

This is a picture of us at one of my Summer Ballroom Team performances.

Butterfly, Butterfly, Butterfly!!!

Last Monday night for Family Home Evening, Devin and I went to see Madame Butterfly. We got our tickets for only $13 so we couldn't pass that up! We drove up to Salt Lake after work and went to the Capital Theater to see Utah Opera perform! It was sooooooo good!!! One of my voice teachers from BYU was in the chorus which was cool... though I could tell which one she was because they were all dressed up to look Asian, and my teacher is a white girl. The little boy was on the WHOLE second act and he was just so cute! I mean, he did exactly what he was supposed to do; saluted and knelt and hugged exactly on cue and they didn't have to remind him of anything. At this one part, he ran across the stage to kneel on the big red pillow and on his way there, he slipped (because he was wearing socks) and he knocked a bowl off the table. It was really cute and he didn't quite know what to do, but someone offstage was telling him to just leave it there and to stay where he was. He was about 4 years old, and hadblond hair and was just so cutie!!! We loved the opera, especially Devin. He thought the first act was boring but as soon as he realized that it takes a lot longer to sing a conversation than to say it, he could just sit back and love the music and wait for the plot to come to him. It was really beautiful! And Capital Theater was beautiful! It reminded me of the Met in Spokane, only beautiful! Maybe like the newFox Theater there... yeah that's what it's like! It was just beautiful and we saw Laura Newman and her daughter Liz there which was so fun! Anyway, that was our experience at the opera. We're anxiously waiting for Tourandot (pronounced as it's spelled, not to be confused with a French pronounciation) because I think it's my favorite and I really, REALLY want to see it again! And I want Devin to see it too, I'm sure he'll love the music and the story line is pretty amazing as well! So if you know of anywhere close that they will be performing Tourandot, let us know! Let's see, what else is going on? Well, school and that's... umm... school. I've gotten 89% on the last like 3 tests I've taken and I really really want to get at least a 90% because when you do, it shows your score and then it says something next to it like, "great job" or "way to go". And if you get 100% is says "perfect"! Oh how I long to get a comment next to my score! It has only happened to me once, on my New Testament final last year. It said "way to go" and I just loved it! Devin doesn't know what it's like to want a comment next to your score because it happens to him all the time. Man, he's so lucky!!! Opposition in ALL things! Devin is starting to apply to grad school. We're really excited about University of Kentucky, among a few others, but that one sounds the best to me. Plus, there are some big cities pretty close to were we would be; cities like Chicago and Washington D.C., I mean they're pretty close, like a few hours, so that would be something fun to do on a weekend or something! Anyway, I'm really excited about that but no matter where we go, it will be good... as long as we're not in Provo! Just jokin'! Provo is great and it would be fine if we stayed here but I'm excited about getting out of here and living some place new! So that's about it for us and school. Did I tell you all that I passed my EMT test?! Yeah! It wasn't too difficult but I was really nervous, especially for my practical exam. The Saturday morning of General Conference, Devin and I drove up to Salt Lake Comm. College (we had to be there by 8am) and I waited around nervously for 2 hours to take my test. They set up a medical scenario (like if someone is allergic to something, like a bee) and a trauma scenario (like if someone got hit by a car) and you have to go in there and save their life. You have 9 minutes in each scenario to stabalize and transport your patient. I did my medical in 7 minutes and my trauma in 6. I was nervous in the trauma one because my testers kept asking me if I was SURE that I was done (I'm the only one who can stop the time, the testers can't stop the time so they have to be sure that I really want to be done). It was pretty scarry but I guess did everything right so I passed. Then, this past Thursday, I took the written test. It's 100 questions about anything that we have learned. The questions covered anything from how much air is appropriate to pump through the oxygen mask to how to deliver a baby. There was a lot of information to know but it was all good. You know that feeling when you go into a test and you don't even have to think about the answer, you just know it. That's how the written test was and that made me so happy. So now, if you need to have a baby or if you get in an accident, just give me a call and I can transport you within 9 minutes!!! So that's the news for us. We love being married! It's awesome! We're excited to be almost finished with school and moving on to some more exciting things!

Happy Rosh Hashana!

Hello all! Devin and I are taking a class called "Judaism (pronounced Jew-DAY-ism) and the Gospel"... it's my favorite class I've ever taken, except maybe my LDS Marriage and Family class or my Mission Prep class... well, I guess it's my recent favorite class!!! Anyway, it's amazing! I'm learning all sorts of things about the Jewish people and the Jewish religion (which really are 2 different things) and how we, yes you and I and all the other Mormon people in the world, are directly related to the Jewish people... well it's not so directly, I guess it goes pretty far back, but we're related!!! Anyway, Devin and I are in love with the class (and we're in love with eachother) and we want the world to know that we love the Jewish people! Our book for the class is written by Herman Wouk. He's an orthodox Jew (the religion) and is trying to help people understand the Jewish people and the Jewish religion. He's a great writer, plus it's nice that he's actually Jewish and writing about what it's like to live the life of a Jew. It's an amazing book and if any of you are wanting to know a little more about the Jewish religion or the Jewish people... by the way, President Ezra T. Benson said that "We (Mormons) need to know more about the Jews, and the Jews ought to know more about the Mormons"... you should definitely read this book. If you want to know why you need to know about the Jews, you should come to our class. It's every Friday, 2:00 in the JSB... but if you don't want to travel to Provo every week, you should ask Devin to tell you! It's really been one of the most wonderful and beneficial classes I've taken! (By the way, this Tuesday is the Jewish New Year... so celebrate!)

Other than that, things in the DuPree family are going well. We both had 2 midterms yesterday... Devin did a lot better on his tests than I did, but I'm pretty proud with my scores for the first tests in my Interior Design class and Statistics class (let's just say that I like Interior Design a lot more than Stats...)! BYU took their sweet time (as always) receiving my papers to officially change my name, then losing my papers (like they lost my financial aid papers), and then finding them again. So, it's been a little difficult wondering what I'm supposed to write on my papers and assignments for class. But we're finally getting it all done and I think that I'm finally Melia DuPree!!! WOO-HOO!!! Devin's got a calling; he's the Elders Quorum Secretary and I'm... just his wife, well not just but... I don't have a calling! We're both working our little tails off and just loving life and loving being married to one another... and Devin loves school, but I don't! We love you all!!! Happy Rosh Hashana on Tuesday. Go hug a Jew!

Happy Week!!!

Hello again! This week is a good one for the DuPree's! Tomorrow, Devin and I will celebrate our 1 month anniversary by going to school and work... and then after that we'll go out to dinner. We're excited to go out but not so excited that we have to go to school and work but what can you do?! On Sunday the 21st, Devin will turn 24!!! Can you believe it? The big ol' 2-4! Woah, I can't believe that I'm married to such and oldie!!! Just jokin' but if you get a second, you should shoot him an e-mail or send a card or call him and sing a terrible rendition of the "Happy Birthday" song! I know that he would love to hear from you... but no pressure! So many good things are happening for us! On Saturday, we got our wedding pictures and they are AMAZING!!! We'll have to get some posted soon, but you should all look forward to seeing them with great anticipation! Dave and Becki did an awesome job! We're so happy with our pictures, so thanks David and Becki! Let's see, what else??? Oh, did you know that BYU KILLED UCLA on Saturday? I feel really bad; the UCLA coach said that this was the biggest upset they've had since something like 1920 when they lost to some other team like 76-0. The score on Saturday was 59-0 which was great for BYU but not so great for UCLA. So for the football games, because I work for BYU traffic, my job is to park the cars... and get yelled at (which was something that I didn't really expect to happen, especially at BYU). Well, here's the thing about BYU fans; they're all pretty sure that they're more important than anyone else in the world and they think that by complianing to me, a lowly traffic officer, that they'll get through the Provo city streets faster and parked faster and to the game quicker and they also think they they deserve a cookie. One thing I realized about BYU fans is that I hate them. I have met very few nice fans (except for the David Paulson family... they are an exceptional group of individuals) and a whole bunch of really mean fans. This one lady almost hit one of our officers and then proceded to yell at him, like it was his fault for having body mass. This other guy told me that I was a moron... which really just influenced me to have him sit in his car longer, waiting for me to let all these other cars go (which I admit was not very nice, but after being yelled at all day, I really don't have too much sympathy for people who actually got to SEE the game). So I've got some advice for all of you... 1. When attending a very big football game (or any other large event where there are a lot of cars) in a small city (like Provo, Utah), expect to wait for a LONG time. 2. The people in the streets directing traffic are not "rent-a-cops" and actually DO know what they're doing. 3. Screaming at these people does not make them happy and the little power that they have, they will use, to make you sit and wait longer. 4. Get comfortable, turn on the AC and the radio because you're in a lot better conditions than the people standing in the middle of a busy intersection wearing really stupid looking reflector vests sweating their faces off. And finally, 5. Smile and wave every once in a while to these traffic officers, because chances are, they've been getting yelled at by everyone else and they're really just trying to do their best. So that's my advice for you all! But I really do love my job. Not because of the people I deal with but because of the people I work with. I have a great relationship with them which is something that I've found to be useful when you have a job you have to go to everyday and sometimes on weekends! So in the end, and the beginning, it's a wonderful life (terrible movie, but a good phrase)!!! Hope you all have an amazing week and I'll do my best to get some pictures up soon!!! Loves to you all!!!

Terrible, I know...

Hello everyone! I'm so very sorry that Devin and I haven't been posting anything on our blog... not because there hasn't been anything "blog-worthy" but because we've been so busy. We got married, in case any of you wern't aware of that fact!!! We started school which I don't think is a cool as Devin thinks it is. But I did change my major (to Home and Family Living... the professional mom degree) so that I'll be able to graduate by the end of the summer. This change is really good because it means that my classes are pretty fun now... not that being a dance major wasn't fun... and I'm going to be done with school soon! Woo-hoo!!! It will be nice to finish by the time Devin wants to go somewhere for Grad school, so that I don't have to worry about transfering credits or trying to graduate from far away (did that make any sense?). Devin starts applying for grad school pretty soon and that's exciting to try to imagine where we want to be in another year! I've made it onto the ballroom team for this whole school year which is very exciting! Right now I'm doing a latin number, the samba, and let me tell you... it's HOT!!! I also tried out for the Gold II latin class which was really hard but now I'm on so I'm so excited!!! Life is good for the DuPree's!!!

Engagement Pictures

So, a few weeks ago, we took our engagement pictures. We had a total of 404 of them which made picking our favorite ones really difficult. We picked our top 3 favorites and thanks to everyone who gave their input. It was VERY helpful in our search for the perfect pictures. There will be one of the three pictures in each of the invitations... hope you like them!!! We sure do!

Beach Trip!!!

It's the ocean! Hey, it's the "Goonies" rock! This is me and my mom. I guess I didn't realize how short she really is!

We just got back from visiting my family in Portland. Now Devin has met everyone in my family, except for Glen and Sasha but soon, he will meet them too! We went to Cannon Beach on Saturday and it was so nice! I've never been to the Oregon Coast with such nice weather. It was sunny, there was no wind, and the water was even warm down about 3 inches! It was beautiful and nothing like it usually is... which was totally okay with me! We played on the beach a little bit, then looked for little creatures in the tide pools, ate fresh seafood at Doogers (a really good restaurant on the coast), and then walked down the street looking at the cute houses and in the little shops and of course... we got salt-water taffy! Portland was good to us!

WE'RE ENGAGED!!!

So it's finally happened! Devin proposed to me yesterday and I said... YES!!! So here's the story... Devin and I really like having picnics. Well, I've been super sick for the past 2 weeks and a few days ago, Devin got the flu... needless to say, neither one of us had much of an appetite. So, we decided that we still wanted to have a picnic but instead of having real food, we had juice! Anyway, we drove up Provo Canyon and turned off at a park (whose name I don't remember) and then continued up a little road until we made it to a trailhead. We parked our car here, got the picnic blanket (thanks Mom) and our drink and of course, Devin had his bag of cough drops. So we started hiking up the muddy trail (we both were wearing flip-flops which made it quite an experience) and safely arrived in this HUGE field. It reminded me of the beginning of the Sound of Music when Maria is singing in that field between the mountains... except we were in Utah, not Austria or Switzerland or wherever they filmed that part! Anyway, we set up the blanket and played the games on it for awhile. The day was perfect, it was super sunny but there was a constant cool wind so we didn't get hot. It was awesome! So I had to take a dance final at 3 and I was planning on taking a nap before that final. So Devin asked me if I wanted to take a nap there before we left and I said that that would be a good idea. So he said, "We should straighten out the blanket," and I said "ok" so I got up to pull the blanket straight. And Devin asked me to help him up, so I grabbed his hands and started to pull him up but he stopped on his one knee. Then he told me that he loved me and all sorts of other sweet stuff and then he opened the bag for his cough drops and pulled out a black ring box. I said, "Are you serious?" because if he was joking about it, I don't think I would have thought that was very funny! But he opened the box and said, "Will you marry me?" and I, of course, said "YES!" and then we hugged and kissed and it was great! Then he said, "I should probably put this on your finger..." and then he put the ring on and we kissed more and... well, let's just say that I didn't get a nap before my final!!! So after my 3 hour long final (that's a long time to dance) I came home and Devin had (with the help of some of my roomates) put red and white roses all over my bed and had white tulips in a vase for me. On my pillow was a letter that Devin wrote about all the reasons that he loved me... it's 3 pages long!!! After that, we went to Salt Lake and went to PF Changs which was where we went on the date that we held hands. And after that, we came home and went to bed... not together... because we were both so sick and tired, not of eachother but literally sick and exhausted! So, it was a pretty good day. I took some pictures of my ring in the flowers (I was trying to be creative) but you can't see too much of the detail of the ring. But just trust me, it's BEA-U-TIFUL!!!! And the flowers were pretty amazing as well! So that was our wonderful day and sorry that the pictures aren't that great, I'm no photographer!!!

Dancesport

These are pictures of me at DanceSport! Hope you enjoy them!

Here are some videos of DanceSport. I'm wearing the black dress with red, orange, and blue jewels. One video is the samba (the fast one) and one is the rumba (the slow one). Sometimes we run into other couples and it looks a little funny... but there were a lot of couples on the floor, it was impossible not to run into someone!!!

We're so in!!!

Hey Guys! So this is our blog (meaning Devin and Melia). We're so excited! I'll get some pictures up pretty soon and also my videos from DanceSport... for those of you who have been reminding me to get those videos up. Ummm... so I think that's pretty much it!