Alright friends! I few substantial events have occurred and I feel good and ready to blog about them! :)
First things first- My best friend Erica got married. Unfortunately, I don't have access to but a few of the photos from the big weekend, but you should all know that it was quite the party, and she looked beautiful!
I was feeling adventurous the night before leaving so I left at midnight on Thursday morning. I got home from hanging out at a friend's house after institute, and by golly, I packed and was out the door. Yes, I did get tired, and yes, I did pull over and sleep in my car at a truck stop in Beaver. The people I tell the story to think I am insane, but hey, it was kinda fun and it did get me home A LOT earlier than originally planned.
Because I got such an early start, I rolled into Flagstaff around 8:30 am. Courtney and I went and got breakfast burritos at our favorite Mexican food restaurant in Flagstaff. Utah Mexican food just does not even compare so I was THRILLED.
After breakfast, Courtney and I stopped by the bus barn to say hello to some former coworkers and our good friend, Trevor!
This is Courtney and myself with our good friend, Trevor. He's one of the best guys I know! :)
This is Pete, my old boss at the bus barn. Good memories of bus obstacle courses and BBQs with this one. Never a dull moment when you're hanging out with Pete!
After the bus barn, we stopped by Jana's for a little while, had a little girl talk and she made me a flower clip to wear in my hair for Erica's wedding.
Then, it was down the hill for some shoe shopping at good 'ol Metro Center. Courtney and I had fun hunting down the perfect yellow shoes for my bride's maid outfit.
Thanks to my shoe aholic best friend, Courtney, I was able to track down the ultimate yellow shoes to go with my gray dress. This is pretty much the shoe I had pictured in my mind so I was THRILLED when we found it!
Shoe mission accomplished! YAY!!! By the time we found the shoes I was feeling VERRRRRY tired, but i kept on chugging as it was time for Erica's bachelorette party! WOOP!!
This is a picture of all the girls at Mimi's Cafe for Erica's celebration! It was so good to see old friends. We all had sooooo much fun catching up and laughing all night!
This is the bride to be and he best friend- ME!!! :)
My good friend Brookie Face and myself at Erica's party! LOVE THIS GIRL!!!!
Miriam and me and Erica's party! I love catching up with this sweet girl whenever I go home! She is definitely a joy to be around!
All of the girls! :) It was definitely a fun night, and one that will be remembered! :)
This is the best friend and me partying it up for the bride to be!! :) :)
It was a fun night out for the girls, but I took off first to get my much needed beauty rest. I knew that I had a BIG day ahead of me!!
Erica Brady and Jonathan Dale were married in the Mesa, Arizona temple on May 25, 2012.
There is something so bitter sweet about your best friend getting married. I can't wait to watch her life with Jon unfold and see what's in store for them. I LOVE Jon and I am so happy that he's the lucky guy that is going to take care of my best friend for the rest of forever. I trust him with her for sure! :)
It was such a good day all around. We had so much fun at the luncheon, at the reception and then afterwards hanging out at Justin's house! :)
Erica, Justin and myself at the luncheon! :)
We were cutting a rug at the reception!! :) We had such a fun time dancing!
This is my best friend, Gavin and his wife Cadie! I love seeing these two!
After the reception, we all (excluding Erica and Jon of course) went to Justin's house for some Marco Polo :)
After the wedding, it was but another big event, and we had the first ever family get together on my dad's side of the family. Unfortunately, throughout my life, we haven't really ever done much with my dad's family. I thought it was a little messed up so I organized a fun little get together. We had lunch and played a game. There were many that weren't able to make it, but it was the start of something new, and hopefully it will be the start of something great that can continue on. I guess I kinda long for those family ties, and this was the beginning of maybe making them.
This is the turn out from our family get together. :) This is but a fraction of us, but it was so good to start to build associations with these people! :)
What a quick trip, but so good! I was able to spend one night in Flagstaff with Jana and her family before heading back up to Utah. That is always a good time, and I love getting to see her girls and getting to talk to her. Jana is my sister by choice, and I am so grateful to have her in my life. She is one person that I honestly don't think I could live without.
When I got back to Utah, it was more fun! I dove right into my new job at Sylvan Learning Center, and I LOVE it! I love going there, and I love working with the kids! It's actually a better day when I get to go to Sylvan. It honestly does not even feel like work because I love it so much!!
I have also been having a lot of fun with friends! I made a new friend named Dallin, and last weekend, a bunch of us went over to his house for a karaoke party! Then, we had a spontaneous Macy's run (that seems to happen a lot in Spanish Fork).
Here we are, hanging out at the karaoke party!
This is our whole group at Macy's. We found out that it was National Doughnut Day so we decided it was only appropriate to go get doughnuts! :)
This past week has been fun because Randi's birthday was on Wednesday. On Tuesday night, I stayed the night at her house and we had a birthday party at midnight for her. I made her a cake and all!! We attempted to sleep outside in the back yard, but she thought it was too cold so we moved the party inside. It was a fun and crazy thing that we will probably never have the opportunity to do again so I was happy that we did it!
Then, she had a birthday party with the whole gang on Friday night at her Dad's house. His house sits right on Salem pond so we busted out the paddle boat and had a good 'ol time. Cole and I had fun chasing a duck on the paddle boat- but that was the extent of my paddle boat adventure. I might have to give it another chance some time because I don't know that I gave it a fair chance. Haha. Oh well, the smores that came after the paddle boating made the whole party worth it- oh and sharing Randi's birthday with her of course. ;)
So this is the cake I made for Randi's midnight birthday party. She loves the color purple, so I decked the cake out in her favorite color.
Randi making her birthday wish!! :)
This is actually a really funny story behind this picture. We decided it would be fun to sleep out in the tent. Well, Randi wanted the air mattress, but the electric air pump would not work. Randi proceeded to blow the air mattress up with her own air, and accomplished it. However, right after she had used every last bit of Carbon Dioxide that could possibly come out of her, the mattress sprang a leak!!! We quickly got some duct tape and taped over the hole. Needless to say, it got to cold, Randi wanted to go in. We moved the party to the living room and our duct tape didn't hold the hole. Randi ended up sleeping in her own bed that night. :)
This is Cole and I at Randi's birthday party. This picture pretty much says everything there is to know about our relationship.
This is my good friend Natalie and I at Randi's party!
I felt it only appropriate to include a picture of Randi's dad since he was nice enough to let us have the party at his house. Her dad is a jokester. Her WILL make you laugh. This is his smile detector picture. My camera detected his smile, and took the picture automatically.
Here are some more party animals at Randi's party- Bradley, Natalie and April.
This is Tim and myself at Randi's party. Tim is actually a good friend of the Jensens from Kansas. He is attanding BYU and has come over to the Jensen's house a few times for dinner and games while I have lived there. His sister Cici, Tim, Randi and myself basically became instant friend after an epic game of Things one night.
Well, the events of my life have been a blast. I am still on the job hunt for a teaching position in the fall. It's hard, but I know it will be worth it. My friends rock, and I am loving life! This summer is already turning out to be great, and I am pretty sure it will only get better! I bought The Pass of All Passes so hopefully I'll be getting some use out of that some time soon! Other than work, spending time with friends and planning our ward camp out for the summer, there isn't a whole lot of anything else going on! I miss you all, and I hope you're all doing well. Sorry if I missed you this last time I was in Arizona. Hopefully, we can catch up soon!!
Loves and hugs,
Jenny :)