Wedding Weekend!

This weekend was so much fun! Sadly, I didn't make it out on Thursday night for all the pre-marital fun, but between Friday and Saturday it was TONS of fun!

Friday was the rehearsal dinner, so the rehearsal was at the Hilton (where the wedding was) and that's when I formally met all of the other bridesmaids (super super nice, sweet girls). I will say that I did get told to walk slower on more than one occasion (including the night of the wedding lol) but it was fun and my escort, Matt, was super funny so that helped! After the rehersal we went to Rigatoni's in Mesa for dinner. YUMMY! It was sooo good I wanted to eat off other people's plates. lol.

Saturday was just amazing. Jess looked even more beautiful than I could imagine. Adam looked super handsome. It was so cute because Jess came down in the elevator from the 8th floor (it was soo cool, I wish I would have done it! lol) and when she walked down the aisle, I looked at Adam and sure enough, he was crying. So cute. The ceremony was just beautiful, and reminded me of the promises that I made to Bry. After the ceremony was a little cocktail/app time while we took pictures (I'm now a professional smiler lol). Then came the reception....

So, down stairs in the Hilton in Mesa there used to be like a night club and that is where the reception was... so so cool!! It was all dark and there were candles glowing, a beautiful ice sculpture (that had a heart in the middle and I wanted so bad to stick my head in it and take a pic, but I thought Jess would kill me right there), and VERY, VERY yummy food! :) It was a great night. The toasts were beautiful, Adam made me cry with his... and you could feel the love. Oh! And I DANCED kind of a lot (for me it was a lot)!! It was really fun! My feet still hurt (of course as soon as the pictures were done I took my shoes off!). All in all, it was just an amazing weekend!

I am so excited for Jess and Adam! I am so honored to have been a part of such a beautiful event that left me feeling renewed and thankful for my husband.

Oh, one more thing that was fun this weekend! (besides the awesome wedding) Bry and I found a house! After a ton of prayer we've decided to move to Mesa and we found a house! With a pool! I'm so excited! Though I am sad to leave my ward and my calling, I know that we aren't in the place we are needed any longer. So, in mid June come out and visit and take a dip in our new pool!! :) Oh, and it's just 1 mile from Jess and Adam- in the same sub-division. lol.

Super Stars!!!

I was so excited to hear that BOTH Andy and Natali were chosen to be Students of the Month this month! We got little notes home that were stapled shut so the kids wouldn't know about it (Andy read his and tried to hide it, so he wasn't in shock like Natali) saying that they would be given awards at the final assembly that was held this morning.

Natali was sooo funny when her name was called, she was all giddy, it was super cute! Andy was all cheesy and pretended like he was super surprised also, it was funny!
I am so proud of my little Super Stars and how hard they worked to get this recognition. It was bitter sweet at the assembly because we will not be returning to Verrado Elementary next year. We love the kids school, the teachers, the principal, and they have a ton of friends, but we know this is not the place for our family and will be moving to Mesa or Gilbert in June.

Anyways, congrats my little lover buggers!! :)

Here's to you, Mrs. Burnside!!

This weekend one of my best friends is getting married to another one of my best friends, it's kind of fun! Adam and Jess will be getting married on Saturday evening in Mesa, but the excitement starts on Thursday night when we'll have the bachelor/bachelorette parties, Friday is the rehearsal and dinner, Saturday is the wedding, Sunday they are having a pool/BBQ party at their beautiful house. I am so honored and excited to be a bridesmaid and a witness to such a special event (oh, and I'm super excited for the food- apparently Jess said it's amazing! lol).

Last Wednesday night I went to Jess' final fitting for her dress, she looked stunning. So beautiful. I told Adam that I almost cried when I saw her, so I'm sure he'll be in tears! :)

To help you with the transition from dating someone to marrying them, my sister posted this today, and I thought the following would be helpful to you! ;)

Dear Tech support,

Last year I upgraded from Boyfriend 5.0 to Husband 1.0 and noticed a distinct slow down in overall system performance, particularly in the flower and jewelry applications, which operated flawlessly under Boyfriend 5.0. In addition, Husband 1.0 uninstalled many other valuable programs, such as Romance 9.5 and Personal Attention 6.5 and then installed undesirable programs such as NBA 5.0, NFL 3.0 and Golf Clubs 4.1. Conversation 8.0 no longer runs, and Housecleaning 2.6 simply crashes the system. I've tried running Nagging 5.3 to fix these problems, but to no avail.What can I do?

Signed,

Desperate

DEAR DESPERATE,

First keep in mind, Boyfriend 5.0 is an Entertainment Package, while Husband 1.0 is an operating system. Please enter command: ithoughtyoulovedme.html and try to download Tears 6.2 and don't forget to install the Guilt 3.0 update. If that application works as designed, Husband 1.0 should then automatically run the applications Jewelry 2.0 and Flowers 3.5. But remember, overuse of the above application can cause Husband 1.0 to default to Grumpy Silence 2.5, Happy Hour 7.0 or Beer 6.1. Please note that Beer 6.1 is a very bad program that will download the Snoring Loudly Beta. Whatever you do, DO NOT install Mother-In-Law 1.0 (it runs a virus in the background that will eventually seize control of all your system resources.) Also do not attempt to reinstall Boyfriend 5.0 program. These are unsupported applications and will crash Husband 1.0. In summary, Husband 1.0 is a great program, but it does have limited memory and cannot learn new applications quickly. You might consider buying additional software to improve memory and performance. We recommend Cooking 3.0 and Hot Lingerie 7.7.

Good Luck,

Tech Support

I love you, Jess! I am so glad that we have gotten so close and that soon we'll be living so close, too! You are an amazing person, Adam is so lucky to have you!! So, congrats, Mrs. Burnside!! :)

Can't wait to see you Thursday!

Family of 6?

So, it looks like our family of 5 is expanding! This is something that we have wanted for a VERY long time, however, we didn't think that we'd be getting it so soon and defiantly not in this way! But, as of April 20th, we will have a new member of our family- sort of. My cousin, Jenny, is moving in with us from Florida. Don't worry, when I get pregnant you will hear me shout from the roof top! Not that I tricked my one and only reader, Brittany, who knows the most private details... but still, I thought it would be fun. We are excited to have Jenny and welcome her into our home.

Jen and I are like 2 years apart (she's older, thankfully!) and our Mom's are sisters. Every summer since I can remember Jenny and her sister would come visit my sister and I. It was great fun, and we still talk about trying to get together one of these days for a reunion (hey- if New Kids on The Block can do it, so can we!!).

BTW, the pictures above, the one on the left is from the summer of like '96. The top row is (left to right)Jenny, our friend Steffan, and me. The bottom is my sister Summer, and my cousin Stephie. The one on the right is from the summer of '93. Left to right is Summer, Jenny, Me, and Stephie. Good times. I think it's so funny seeing Summer with such long hair. Anyone who knows her knows she's had BOY SHORT hair since '98. I will admit, it looks MUCH better than in that picture! lol.

As far as other happenings in our family? Not too much. We had a GREAT parent/teacher conference with Andy's teacher who said he got the highest reading score on his reading test of all of the 3rd graders! He got all A's and B's on his report card, also! We are so proud of him!

Natali is crazy as usual. Some days I really wonder about her. lol. She is so spacey. She got all E's and S's (excellent and satisfactory) on her report card and the teachers comment read. "Natali is such a smart girl. She gets smarter and smarter every day. It's so nice to see her enthusiasm every morning. She is a great student and a pleasure to have in class. Natali needs to learn when it's ok to talk". ROFL. Natali is a talker, she comes by it honestly, I mean, really... look at her example! ME!!

Giovanni is speaking so much sometimes I regret ever taking him to school. lol. Kidding (ish). He asks so many questions and loves to sing songs. By himself. He surprised me by counting to 47 (forgetting 16, 19, 25, and 30...still, not bad!) today. I look at the quality of his life since being in this preschool program and am so grateful for it. We are truly blessed to have the resources available to get him the help he needed. He is so funny and has such a little personality that sometimes is just so not cute! But we love him!! :)

Bryant is now officially blonder... I bought some "good stuff" and he reminds me of Guy from the Food Network now. I'm not the only one who's said this, either! Now that the orange is gone I LOVE it! I told him today I think he should always stay blond! I'll have to post pictures once I take some!

I'm excited for conference this weekend. I love the Spirit that conference brings. I'm excited to sustain President Monson and to hear the words spoken by the Prophet of God. I'm excited to hear the music and to listen to the different talks. I also love when they show the Temple grounds, seeing all the beautiful Spring flowers. For a few hours it takes me out of my world and lets me reflect and grow spiritually. I'm excited!