Married Off

My beloved friend Mackenzie, whom I've known since the 6th grade, just got married. Had I ever met the guy? Or heard of him? Or known that she was dating at all? No. But when I got a text with a picture of her showing off her ring, I immediately texted back, "Just tell me when and where. I'm there."


So I flew to Salt Lake City, rented a car, and checked into a hotel (all by myself, which I was weirdly nervous about, but which was, for obvious reasons, very liberating and exciting), then headed to Gepettos' restaurant with Cari to meet up with the bachelorette party crowd. It was so much fun to see Mackenzie again, and to see long-time friends after years of separation.

We had Cold Stone ice cream cake (um, chocolate-peanut butter: delicious!), flashing party accessories, and lingerie that all fell into the guidelines of Mackenzie's ANTI-red-and-black-lace-bustier point of view.

Then Ralph (the fiance) showed up as we were leaving, with balloons and a bouquet for Mackenzie, which gave us all a chance to meet him and see them together before the wedding. So adorable.

We wrapped up the evening at Mackenzie's apartment, talking about important post-wedding matters, until Mackenzie, ever the practical one, told us that she was kicking us out, because she needed her sleep.

Tina (and baby James) and I shared a room at the Crystal Inn, and after sleeping in the next morning, we spent the day lounging and talking. I love Tina. We have been friends since sixth grade when we met at church. We were roommates for several years of EFY when we were teenagers. And we've always been close. But since becoming adults, wives, and mothers, we haven't had much time together. So I relished bonding with Tina this weekend.

We talked about our families, caught up on missed years, and discussed everything from the meaning of life, to our favorite Food Network shows, and everything in between. It's no secret that Tina was always considered the "blonde" of our group growing up. And yes, she still forgets what she's talking about mid-way through a sentence. But when she does finish her thought, it is always something worth saying. She has turned into an amazingly intelligent woman, with so much insight to offer, and those hours I spent with her were priceless.

Then of course, the main event: Mackenzie's wedding! She was such a beautiful, elegant bride, and she was so happy. I am thrilled for this deserving friend of mine to have found a great guy, and am excited to think of the journey she's starting on. It's the end of an era, of sorts. The last of our girlfriends to marry, and in the temple. 

After taking pictures, having luncheon in the Joseph Smith Memorial Building, and sneaking the honeymoon gift basket into Mackenzie's car, we said our final goodbyes. Congratulations my beautiful friend. It's going to be great.

G&G Wallace Weekend

June's schedule gave us an opportunity to spent a fun-filled weekend with Chad's parents. We met them at the Phoenix Zoo, and enjoyed the morning's relatively cool weather while we checked out the Komodo Dragons, Orangutans and took the tram tour. And we couldn't miss Chad's beloved reptiles.

After the zoo, we stopped for lunch at SteakenBurger, which Chad had heard about on NPR. While the burgers were yummy, we all agreed that they needed more meat to warrant the price and the name "SteakenBurger." But the fries were delicious. Then we checked into our room at the Pointe Hilton Tapatio Cliffs, and headed to the big pool area. Chad played with Bree and Mason, who were beside themselves with excitement, while Fran and I relaxed with Lincoln on the lounge chairs. Bree took her floatie off after a while, and Chad helped her work on her swimming skills. And she really wanted to go on the water slide tunnel, even after I explained that she would have to swim by herself after she came out the bottom. I went down first so I'd be waiting for her, and it was dark, and fast, and scary. I heard her screaming as she came down, and I had to rescue her because she was struggling to swim to the side of the pool. But she was sure proud of herself for doing it on her own. She wanted to go down again, but the line was long, and we had to head back to the room to get cleaned up for our next adventure. Baseball time! We were off to Chase Field to see the Diamondbacks play.

It was the kids' first baseball game (unless you count when Bree was a baby), and they barely made it through the fifth inning. They only lasted that long because it was Star Wars night (our kids are slightly obsessed), and because we were just a quick elevator ride away from the kids zone, where the kids burned some time and energy playing on the big toy (Bree made fast friends with a mini Princess Leia). Then we met the mascot, Baxter, and got a quick pic with a storm trooper on the way back to our seats.

Bree was obviously in love and was on the verge of cuddling with the guy. Um, can she get any closer? Mason was a little intimidated. I couldn't get him to turn his back on the storm trooper to face me. He's no fool. He knows who the storm troopers work for.


After stuffing ourselves with delicious treats (Chase Field has an amazing food selection), we drove back to the hotel, exhausted from the our exciting jam-packed Saturday, and fell right to sleep. In the morning we wrapped up our visit with a delicious breakfast at one of the on-site restaurants. The weekend went by so quickly, and we had crammed as much fun into it as possible. And all that fun made for great memories.

#11

Goal #11: Display recent family photos in my home

This goal was the main motivating force behind our family photo shoot a few weeks ago. That, and the fact that my walls were sporting family pictures from two years ago. I love how the new pictures turned out. And they sure look great on my walls.

That completes the 11th of my 30 goals for 2012. Still a lot of work to do!

Mason's Excellent Adventure

Last year, Bree went to Washington with my parents for a fun-filled week. This summer, it was Mason's turn. (Our house was much quieter without our whirlwind of a four-year old.) When I asked him what he did on his vacation to Washington, he said went to the store and bought Legos. And he played with said Legos. My mom said that, although he had fun everywhere they went, he'd often request to go back to my parents' house so he could play with his Legos. It's an obsession.


At any rate, I'm posting all of the photos from his adventure, along with his narration. He didn't recollect all the details about the whats and wheres, and he often resorts to saying "I don't know," before he even thinks. Must be a boy thing. I really enjoyed reviewing the pictures with him, and I could tell he had a blast. Thanks Mom and Dad!

ME: WHAT WAS THIS FROM? 

Mason: It was from the park...I was sliding on the slide--two times!

WHAT ABOUT HERE? 

That is Washington...and I'm on the window. 

WAS THIS AT PAPA'S OFFICE? 

Um, yeah. 

WHAT DID YOU DO THERE? 

Um...I don't know.

WHAT'S THIS? 

Um, It's me in the log. It was an underground log.

WHERE WAS THIS AT? 

Um, I don't know. It was a park. Well, a different park that I said.

Hey, that's me in the whale.

That's me in the fireman's truck. AND WHAT WERE YOU DOING?

Driving it. AND WHAT ARE YOU WEARING? It's a fireman hat.

And here's the other one, we did another people. (Bree interjects: "Person.") I mean person...that's me in the bus. And it has a gas, so I could drive it. I was driving it too.

And this is me buying some food. But not real food. Fake food...And I was buying milk. 

AND DID YOU PAY FOR IT? Um, yeah. 

WITH REAL MONEY? Ye-, no. JUST PRETEND MONEY? 

Yeah. It was...I don't know what color it was.

Oh! That's me on the musical round.

(Bree interjects again: "I think you're on a girl horse.") 

That's a boy horse. It's a little guy.

Oh! That's the big-tailed macaw. 

A BIG-TAILED MACAW? 

Uh, no (laughing). What is it? IT'S A PEACOCK. 

I mean a peacock. Thaaat is a peacock.

Oh! Aaand I don't know what that is. 

IT LOOKS LIKE YOU'RE INSIDE SOME KIND OF SEAT CREATURE. 

It is a sea creature. And there was a spider web there. And you gotta move there (a request to zoom in on the web-shaped climbing ropes in the upper left corner of the picture).

And that was me just feeding a animal. It was like in a barn. 

WHAT KIND OF ANIMAL? I don't know--It's a goat! A black one. And you gotta do the other goat now.

I was doing that goat too. 

YOU WERE DOING WHAT? I was doing that goat. 

YOU WERE FEEDING HIM. 

Yeah. 

HE HAS A BEARD. 

Hee-hee, yeah! Mm-hm, so weird! And he liked that food. It was...what kind of food was that? 

GOAT FOOD? 

Oh yeah, goat food.

And that was me dressing up in...sea...dresses...and I don't know what that one is. 

WHAT DOES IT LOOK LIKE YOU WERE DRESSING UP AS? 

A squid...I'm like in a squid.

A octopus!

A shark mouth! Actually a dinosaur mouth. I'm gonna get eaten! I was gonna get eaten by the mouth.

And that's me at the zoo. 

(Bree: "What are those little things, I wonder.") 

Um, they're penguins.

And that's a ginormous seal. 

I THINK IT'S ACTUALLY A WALRUS. 

A warl-, yes that was a...walrus?

A shark! Shark! Sharks. Those are sharks. 

DID YOU LIKE THE SHARKS? Yeah! 

OR WERE THEY SCARY? 

They are scary! SO scary. SUPER scary! Rooaaaar! Hee-hee. Did I scare you on that one?

And that's me being on a horse. 

(Bree: "Was it named Rocket?") 

Um, I don't think so. 

IS THAT UNCLE BOB'S HORSE? 

Yep. 

(Bree: "So it IS Rocket. It IS Rocket, Mason.") SSSHH. 

It IS Rocket.

WHAT'S HAPPENING IN THIS PICTURE? Um, I'm...riding on the grass of the horse. Uh...Rocket, he has the hair gone over his eyes.

And that's me at the beach. That's me at the beach, Mom.

And I'm in the sand. That was me making a sand castle, but it keept making a point. 

WHAT DO YOU MEAN IT KEPT MAKING A POINT? 

Uh, I don't know what that means. 

Um, that's the sand at the beach. And we were going down under...even we were going down under the bridges (piers), where we could see WAY up high. Then we goded down.

AND WHAT WERE YOU DOING HERE? I was throwing rocks, and looking at the sea.

WHAT ABOUT HERE? 

That is just, I was looking at the rocks. And we were--Mom do the one that we were finding shells. (A request to see a nonexistent picture of him finding shells; though he did gather and bring home shells)

And that was me under the bridge (pier). That was me under the bridge, Mom.

And, I was wearing the Avengers shirt. Did you want to see the ones where we bought the Legos? But she (Grandma) didn't take a picture of me doing that. But she should of.

May 2nd-8th, 2012

Dance Recital Success

"Chattanooga Choo Choo"

"April Showers"

And thus another year of dance lessons comes to a successful close. I don't mean to brag, but Bree's dance skills were unrivaled, and I was very proud.

 Dance Recital: 5/19/12

Portraits: 5/2/12

Butterflies

For Bree's birthday last month, we gave her a Butterfly Garden, along with a book about the life cycle of the butterfly. She loves animals, and she couldn't wait to receive her larva (caterpillars) in the mail. We watched the tiny critters grow and get fat, and waited for "Chrysalis Day" with great anticipation. Bree learned words like metamorphosis, and the difference between a chrysalis and cocoon. And luckily, we were learning about insects in our kindergarten curriculum at the same time. When the butterflies hatched, we enjoyed watching them drink the sugar water. Then it was time to let them free, and hope we'd raised them to be good adult butterflies.

Bree was very gentle as she let each one crawl onto her finger so she could take them out of the habitat, then set them free. All in all, it was a huge success.

My Day

Chad never buys me flowers. Mostly because I used to tell him not to. But he realizes that I've changed over the years, and have become a person who loves flowers, inside the house and out. And the flowers that he and the kids brought me on Saturday were a lovely surprise.

Then Chad made Sunday, Mother's Day, my day. Starting with delicious omelets for breakfast. And he had helped the kids make a beautiful card with all the old scrapbooking stuff I never use anymore.

Then I opened my gifts. Some DVDs, and two huge bars of chocolate, which I instantly knew were for chocolate fondue. I've been eating healthy and depriving myself of my usual indulgences lately, so this was a significant treat. That afternoon, we dipped strawberries, pineapple, pretzels, and graham crackers into a delicious mix of milk and dark chocolate. I was delightfully stuffed.

For lunch, Chad served bacon-wrapped filet mignon with sauteed peas and green beans. He washed all the dishes, and kept the kids entertained the whole day so I could relax and do whatever I wanted.


My Day was awesome.