The Old Countdown...

So, Jordan (and just about everyone else in my family) has been giving me a hard time about my lack of blogging, especially after an endearing promise to post, such as my last one....My advice for all you dissappointed readers out there is the following:

Don't take a procrastinator's promise about punctuality as a kept one...think of it more as an effort on their part..... until it's finally done, and then you can consider it golden ;)

With that being said......I will finish this....TODAY!

The last time we counted, we were about 26 days out...and although we are many days married now, I'd like to get this blog caught up with our busy lives so we can share our next big adventures!!! It's funny how things get crazy busy right before and after your big day! ;)

#25

FREE VACATIONS....for your "Opinions"
Jordan and I attended a one night seminar in Murray about a certain company's "miracle" cookwear. It started at about $2,ooo/set....they claimed that this cookwear was the only kind that didn't let your protein "float away." Now, we're no master chefs, but we don't think they have the corner on the market of floatless protein... last time I checked, the actin and myosin of the microfibrils that make up what we know as protein are generally not seen jumping out of your pans...but maybe I missed that powerpoint in school. Anyways, we were promised a 3 day vacation package to a resort/fancy-smancy hotel of our choice in a number of cities for attending and listening to their speal. Knowing that these were super steep for our budget, as well as much too heavy to carry around Brazil :), we went anyway, intent on refusing their pressure and getting our resort stay....and we were successful. We listened like good would-be investors through the whole thing...and when they asked where we were going to be making our first love nest, we happily told them...Campinas, Brazil. Their pressure dropped significantly in an instant, and we happily walked away, resort voucher in hand to go play in the first season's snow.

#23

We've tried to makea habit of going to the temple weekly, and got plenty of chances to get a kick start on that goal well before we were married....It doesn't always happen, but I notice the blessing of the temple make a very marked difference in our lives when we do get to go! I love going to the temple with Jordan! (And I appreciate the Freshman we conned into making this unflattering picture happen... ;) And my skills for making the following series of amazing pictures on a different visit.)

Haha....love you J!

#22

We got to go to our first ever Halloween inspired wedding. My friend that I worked with in Theater, Genevieve, was the beautiful corpse bride. They requested that all of the guests dress up, so we went as a Cowboy couple. We had a fun double date with Alicia and Devin Hardman after...so Jordan quickly took off his costume....and me, well I would dress up everyday if I could! I'll be sure and plaster pictures of Jordan the next time he plays dress up for me.

We had hot chocolate, carved pumpkins and a great time!!

#21

Today was Halloween!!! Jordan and I went to try out a cute malt shop we've been eyeing in Provo, and then went to a really fun cousin halloween party at Sierra and Brynn's, complete with a mummy cake and as much candy as you could imagine! Unfortunately I can't seem to find those pictures of everyone in their cute costumes...but I also got to do something else very important that day...my final Gown Fitting!

One of a Kind

I bought my dress with my mom in Santa Barbara when I was home in September...I tried on tons and tons of dresses in the store for hours, and the one we picked was literally the very last one we tried on! My mom and I both knew as soon as I put it on that it was the one for me....it even had my "ballet tutu tule" on the bottom. I started calling it my mermaid/princess/ballerina gown. Leave it to me....:) The only problem was that it didn't have any sleeves, so I took it to Nancy Barrus of Avenia Bridal, and she literally built the top right on...sometimes while I was still in it!

Everything about that dress seemed meant to be. There's quite a bit of lace on it, and I was nervous about how the top would be built up to match and not look like a build-up. At my very first fitting there was another bride in the other room that had a bit of extra french lace...it matched mine perfectly!!! Then the incredible Nancy went on to complete my dream dress with silk, french lace and beading. You can't even tell it wasn't originally there, but now it's one of a kind!!! I teased her that she was like the fairy godmother in cinderella and her workers are the cute little mice that sing and sew gowns for Cinderelly!

At the last fitting we made sure everything was just right...and that I knew how to do up the 5 bustles on the dress!

#19

Today was my first day at work as the personal assistant to one of the families that founded Mona Vie. It was like becoming a mother of four overnight as well as taking care of there home and schedule.....SUPER NANNY!!! I really enjoy it, the kids are sweet and it's not bad to play house and chauffer in a house and cars like theirs...but it was quite the stretch to start 2 1/2 weeks before the wedding. But hey, I was born in Jolly Old England too....so I can handle it!

#16

Just sixteen days before the big one we paid a visit to Sondra Hall, Jordan's cousin to talk about one of my favorite things....cake. My mom found these beautiful crystal embellished monogram accents to use instead of a traditional cake topper. With the classic theme of the wedding I wanted something simple and elegant, that let the eye focus on the monogram and cascading flowers...I can't get enough flowers! With just one short discussion, Sondra came up with this:

She is so incredibly talented and kind to share it with us. And it tasted amazing! Unfortunately there was a miscommunication about cutting it, so none got eaten at the first reception besides our cake cutting piece...but we sure enjoyed it later!!! There were different flavors each layer. She made the bottom pumkin chocolate chip, the middle lemon poppyseed, and the top strawberry. She even made Jordan a special Groom's cake that we ate the night before....White Chocolate Cheesecake!!! Yummmmmmmmm!

That night we also decided to shop for Jordan's ring... as you can tell, he's been wanting one for a long time. His greatest desire is to one day have bling on each finger, so he practices like so:

So off we went, back to Wilson Diamonds to get the man his bling! Jordan was much faster at ring shopping than I was.

#13-15

We decided to take a quick weekend and visit Jordan's home in Hurricane. Everytime we go we just have the best of times!
Jordan's family has a ranch called Smiths that overlooks all of Zion's National Park....it's as if they have a front row seat to one of the most magestic shows on earth.

We went up to Smiths to try and save a stranded dog, Blue, of Jordan's late uncle...he's been up there for a while and was pretty skinny and timid...but he loved his food!

We even recieved our first wedding gift in the mail! It is such a blessing to have the helping hands of so many as we start our new lives together.

It was so nice being in Hurricane that weekend. We could relax and get things done for the wedding. Julie and Robert Iverson own The Bell Tower, where we had our beautiful reception. It was so nice to be able to go to their house and talk wedding in such a relaxed setting with family friends. The Iverson's are truly amazing!

Unfortunately, about two minutes after the picture below was taken my dinner had an emergency evacuation...I got the flu! I'm sure glad I got it then and not closer to the wedding day....and it was so nice to have Jordan take such great care of me...his mama taught him well!

This is us with J's gorgeous cousin, Misty, at the Iverson's house.

#12

I finally got the last of my hand delivered invitations out today...better late than never!

These are the invitations that my sister-in-law, Kim, made for us. I showed her a design I liked in a online catalog, and how I wanted to make it different and she came up with these beauties...

My gorgeous and talented friend, Gena, took our engagement pictures. We loved so many of them we couldn't just pick one...so Kim came up with this picture insert to show off a few of our favorites! To see more of Gena's work, visit http://www.genasusan.com/ .

They were all the same width (I don't know why they're showing up in such weird sizes here...but you get the idea) and wrapped in a belly band with a similar design on it. I couldn't have asked for anything more and Kim did a beautiful job! She's also been helping me with the California Reception invites and Thank-you cards.... Amazing!

#10

Bridals

Ten days before we were married, my friend, Kaity, of SimplyKaits Photography, took me up to Salt Lake to do some fun Bridal Portraits. My wedding was her first wedding and it was such a fun experience for both of us....I can only post one for now, since I don't have more watermarked, but you can visit http://www.simplykaits.com/ to view more of her great work!

#9

The weekend before the wedding was packed full of fun things to check off my list....but I needed some good family time first. It just so happened that my oldest brother, Nate, was in Vegas that week for a business conference. So it was only right that the perfect remedy to last minute fun and relaxation was to go for a fun couple of days to see him and my middle brother Jon, who lives in Vegas...here are a few of our adventures...

We stayed at the Luxor and had fun touring the hotel and casino...they have some pretty nifty looking things there!

We LOVE sushi...it was with these two brothers that I had my first successful sushi experience. So we headed out to one of our favorite all you can eat sushi bars and loved it! After sushi, Nate took me to see Chris Angel's show, "Believe." It was a really interesting magic show with lots of pirotechnics and cirque de soleil dancers. It was pretty cool!
I'm so glad I could see Nate before the wedding. I knew the wedding weekend would go by so fast, and I probably won't see him again before leaving on our South American adventure. Some of my favorite times of the trip were just catching up and talking with him about my new love, our future, and just enjoying the love of my big bros.

#8

After a quick breakfast with Nate and sending him off on the airport bus I went over to Jon and Kim's to see some of my favorite kiddos....

They showed me their amazing dancing skills they've been working on....

And drew me pictures of my "wedding day"...

This is Aubrey's...my favorite part about it is the "Nobody" in attendance...and the purple sequins on my dress...Boy does she know her Aunty Mimi well!

This is Carson's drawing...he was really excited about the numbers with our countdown and decided to put all his favorite numbers down, including Aunty Mimi and Uncle "Jorgan's" ages, as well as his, Madelyn's, and Aubrey's ages. He also asked me if we were going to be married in the church. I said "yes, the temple" and he drew the big box around me... :)

Enjoying some good old trampoling time...and shamelessly advertising the countdown with a very faded #8..... :)Driving through St. George on the way back, I just couldn't resist the beautiful temple from the road and the excitement of thinking that I would be going in the very next Saturday to be sealed for time and all eternity to Jordan....so I tried to capture the moment in the car....

Attempt #1...not so goodAttempt #2...much better. Maybe I shouldn't be doing these things on the I-15....oh well, consider the moment caught (and thankfully I wasn't!).

Well there it is for now....more countdown goodness. Hopefully this mother of all posts catches the eye of all those currently teasing me about my blogging negligence. So, until next time...which should be sooner rather than later, for my own good....Chao!