Friday, May 27, 2011

I was a genius...or so i thought

So, the summer months are killer on my family. We start in April with my brothers bday and easter...we transition to May with Mothers day, my fathers bday, and my husbands bday...2 weeks after that kicking June off is my moms AND my little brothers bday....my bday is 2 weeks later, my brother and SILs anniversary is 2 days after that...Fathers day is 2 days after that...and my brother in laws bday is the day after Fathers day. Then, 2 days after the 4th of July is my SILs bday.

whoa.

right??

Well, seeing as we are poor, all of these events right in a row are kinda killer on us. But we dont mind so much because we like giving people things.

This bday for my brother is a big one. Its his 16th bday.
People.
Do you know what that means for him?! DATING, DRIVING, and DRIVING US CRAZY.

I wanted to do something special for him. A little known fact about my big, muscled, football playing baby brother is that he LOVES the food channel. LOOOOOOOOOVVVVVVVVVVES.

The Mesa Arts Center has a Guy Fuiri poster hanging up. And this guy is someone Joe loves to watch cook!

I thought "ANDREA, I HAVE AN IDEA. BUY TICKETS FOR YOU, JACE, AND JOE AND MAKE A NIGHT OUT OF IT. IT WILL BE SO FUN! BRILLIANT!!!!"

I got onto the MAC website....and each ticket is $40.

::crickets::

EESH! Maybe i wasnt so genius as i originally believed. ((facepalm))

Monday, May 23, 2011

Flu bug and update

I almost died last week.
OKAY.
Not really.
But i felt like it.

I was at work a little over a week ago and in the 8 hours i was there, i got sick, REAL SICK.

Jace was at work till late.

I had a fever.
I was so achey.
I had a headache.
I couldnt keep anything down.
I started a horrible cough.
I lost my voice.
I had my daddy and brother come over to give me a blessing.

This pretty much went on for a whole week.

I went to Urgent Care a few days after getting sick and she gave me pretty heavy duty antibiotics. ((PS she looked like she was 20. Smacking on her gum and saying "Awesome!" the whole time. yikes i'm old!))

I lived on our couch.
I dropped 5 LBS because i didnt eat, and anything i did eat i couldnt keep down.
I sounded like a man.
I hadnt kissed my husband in a week.
I was not a happy camper.

Jace's bday was Saturday and on Thursday i realized how bad our apartment looked.
So we cleaned.
and by cleaned i mean, we disinfected the ENTIRE apartment.
and it looks like we just moved in.

AWESOME.

I still sounded like a man.
I still had a horrible cough.
I have bruised something from coughing so much and so hard.

BUT,

I made Jace birthday signs.
I bought a bunch of balloons with my mom.

and

We had both of our families there (Minus Jeff, Mindy, Grace, and Ken who were in Utah and Melanie who got sick) and he had some friends stop by.
Lots of Wii was played, fun gifts were given, and someone laughed so hard they may or may not have thrown up. (I plead the 5th on who that happened to.)


So even though i felt like i was dying
Jace had a fun 24th bday!

and now i'm alive again.
YAY!

Tuesday, May 10, 2011

FOOD. yum.

10. the cake/food: i love food. so tell me about what you had at your wedding!

As i said in the previous posts...i didnt want dinner. We had a family luncheon with all who attended the wedding plus some extras. I wanted something light and i had been losing weight for the wedding. So i decided that i wanted lots of veggies to munch on and homemade strawberry lemonade (mine and jace's favorite!). All of my aunts wanted to help and they did an amazing job! Truly they love me.


Oh. and aside from scrumptious costco cakes (chocolate with chocolate butter cream frosting, chocolate with cream cheese frosting, carrot with cream cheese, and white with chocolate butter cream) for everyone (my wedding cake was fake, except for the top tier and that was for us!) I had a special surprise for Jace. A grooms cake in the shape of his bass! and in red velvet (which is his favorite). We had a mix up and ended up with TWO grooms cakes...but i dont think anyone was complaining. :) I had a candy table set up too. I thought it was really fun!! and all the kids LOVED it.

The Grooms Cakes! His cousin April made one and its his old bass, and my aunt is holding the other cake which is in the coloring of his new bass! Lucky guy, huh?

Red Licorice and Cinnamon Bears, Jelly Beans, and M&Ms are our favorites!!

Monday, May 9, 2011

Reception






9. the reception: where was it at? show us some pictures! what day did you get married?


Our wedding date was OCTOBER 15, 2009. The temple had been closed down for 3 weeks for refurbishing and we got married 2 days after it reopened. (us along with 5 other couples) It was tough getting bridal pictures because all of us were fighting for spots at the temple at the same time. In some of our pictures you can see other couples, and i'm sure vice versa. It was funny then, its funnier now.


The reception was at my church building where my singles ward met. Its not any regular old church building either. This is the one in downtown Mesa. Its the coolest looking thing, and so old and full of character! It even has a courtyard in the middle of the building! It was perfect for the weather we had. The hottest day of the month (over a 102 degrees) and so you wanted to be inside the culteral hall for most of the festivities, but the night turned so nice that having that courtyard was awesome! we had the presents and video of us going on out there.


My decorator did an awesome job of turning the large culteral hall into a "tent". We had tent lights strung up over the ENTIRE room as well as the ENTIRE room being lined with fabric. I had a giant serving area (i didnt want dinner...so we had snacks. friuts and veggies. as well as homemade strawberry lemonade) smack dab in the middle of everything. It truly was perfect. I loved it!

Sunday, May 8, 2011

Accessorize!

8. the little accessories: you know, veil? shoes? jewelry? what did your bridesmaids wear?


I am a pretty simple girl. But i love sparkle. Contradiction? Maybe.

I wanted a veil for sure and found a beautiful one!

I also decided i wanted a little bling...my dress had crystals on it so i didn't want to wear a necklace. We bought a crystal headband. LOVED IT MUCHO.



My earrings were my something old. My dad bought those for me for Christmas when i turned 19.

My shoes were my "funky/less traditional" purchase. They were bright RED and BLACK. and 5 INCHES TALL.



I wanted my bridesmaids to be able to actually WANT to wear their dresses again. I had my MOH Katie help me pick them out. They were knee length, cap sleeved, and scoop neck. They gathered at the waist just like my wedding dress. We matched!
Katie got a RED dress and Julie, Kendall, and Emily got BLACK dresses. I bought them "thank you" crystal necklaces and earrings. In the colors that they wore. It turned out awesome!




My mommy




Happy Mothers Day Mom! I know you don't really read this, but i wanted to share some of my memories of you.

You were always there to talk to. I never needed to have a bunch of girl friends (who announced they were too cool for me anyways), i knew i always had my very best friend just waiting to chat with me about my day.

You taught me that I don't need to be perfect...something I'm trying very hard to this day to get through my head. But whenever I start freaking out about something, i hear your voice in my head telling me that i wanted to "quit kindergarten because i didn't know ANYTHING". "but that was the point of school", you'd say. "That's why we're here. To learn. Don't worry, you'll get it."

You made being the only girl fun. I could always count on you to go shopping with me or go get a jamba and talk. I knew that you were always going to give me your honest opinion. I treasure that.

You taught me to be honest, loyal, loving, respectful, modest, and to serve. You are always serving.

You love your family. Not just your husband and kids, but your sisters and brothers. You miss those who have gone before you, but you rejoice in knowing where they are and knowing that they are going to be waiting for you on the other side.

You love the color blue. Its the color of your eyes. Its the color of mine too.

You love the movies: Blackbeards Ghost, North Avenue Irregulars, Pillow Talk and Glass Bottom Boat. You love the TV shows: Murder She Wrote, Matlock, Andy Griffits, Remmington Steele, and the Price is Right with Bob Barker.
and i love all of those too.

You love the Cabin and Christmas. MUCHO!

You were so excited to welcome new people into our family. And you love Jace and Melanie like they were your own.

You cant wait to be a grandma.

You had your last baby on your 40th birthday. I didnt want Joe, i wanted a sister or to send him back. You told me he was special. Your special birthday present. I believed you. and now i love him lots too.
:)

Mom, you are amazing. and lots of other things. A whole book could be written about your love and service. But just let this suffice.
I love you.
ALOT.

Monday, May 2, 2011

AUNT ANDREA!









So i'm going to be an AUNT!




I'm an aunt to 3 adorable hunt babies, but this will be the first grandchild in my wight family.





When Jace and I got married, Jeff and Mindy already had Gracie, Josh and Jamie already had Corbin and Jamie popped the week after our wedding with Alyssandra. I didnt get to go through the whole Aly pregnancy and so it felt...surreal.




My big brother Jeff and his wife Melanie are going to have a little one, and the date will be in November! I'm so excited. If i cant have a baby yet, then i'm going to be happy for the babies i have around me.




:)




Side note: Alyssandra is such the diva! Last night she was walking around in a snow white dress carrying a light saber. She seemed to be saying, "Bow to me or you shall suffer the consequences!"




She was also saying "join the dark side".



Does she belong to Josh or what?!

Sunday, May 1, 2011

The dress





7. the dress: was it what you always imagined? did you have it made for you?

The story of my dress...its not long or complicated i'll tell you that! I found the PERFECT dress in an LDS magazine a year before my wedding. I cut it out and had it in my wedding folder. When the time came, i called that company up ready to pay for it (it was inexpensive too!) and they had discontinued the dress!

tears.

So i went to AZ bridal (with my Mom, MOH and BFF Katie and her mom Terri), where I know they have modest dresses. The only ones i was interested in, that were in my size consisted of TWO. Yes, two.

The first one i tried on, i liked alot. The second one i liked less, but still liked. I couldnt decide. Then when i put the poofy slip underneath and placed the veil on...the first dress became THE DRESS.

First place, first dress. PURCHASED.

The end.