All Worth It (Megan)

This post will be mostly photos because it was when everything came together and was beautiful. It doesn't take very many words.

Here's the wedding party excitedly waiting for the bride to come out. All those little girls! I love them all. They look so gorgeous.

Look at her glow!








This sums up a mother's perspective for me. Standing there barefoot in the grass because your feet hurt from all the running and work you've done to make it happen, but you get to watch your little girl happy sitting on the temple. Married and happy moving on to the next stage of her life.

The Caroline Pre Wedding (Megan)

 I got to stay with Caroline's beautiful family was an adventure. Her little sisters were sweet hearts and so much fun to be around. But babysitting a whole bunch of kids for a while made me decide I never want to have 12 kids! More power to those who do.

On the left here is Caroline's youngest sister Christina getting ready for the wedding by putting on as much jewelry as she could find.

 I got to help create the bouquets for the bride, bridesmaids, and family of the two lovebirds. You can see the aftermath of the flower madness.


Here's a close up of one of the bouquets I made. I loved the colors and how fun flower arranging was. I had over complicated it in my mind when it's very simple. A few tips for people who want to try it


•Start with groups of three (flowers and filler)
•Don't be afraid to trust your instinct to make it look nice
•Check from different angles to make sure there are no gaps.
•Keep the stems extra long. You can cut them all to the right length later.  

Also in Oregon I got the first pedicure of my life. I've never felt so much like an evil dictator as when an asian woman scrubbed my dirty feet. I at least have comfort that she was getting paid, but in my opinion not enough. It felt amazing though, and I think I will repeat every time I am going crazy at a wedding. 

Featured here are Caroline's french tip and her little sister Suzanna's peach toes.

There's no avoiding the last minute detail that goes wrong at a wedding, but Caroline's certainly took me by surprise. Caroline and I were trying her wedding dress on the night before her wedding for last minute details. Making sure it fit right and which necklace worked better. 

I was standing behind her as she was checking in a mirror when I saw a fat spider about the size of a quarter sitting on the sleeve of her wedding dress. "Caroline. Don't move."She froze and I stood there stiff with panic. I couldn't flick or brush it off just in case it was too squishable. At that moment it took off running across Caroline's back towards her neck. I used the hanger in my hand to flick it off on to the wall and squished the bugger. I still get a shudder every time I think that

this gross spider smudge was almost on her dress.

The Oregon Expeditions (Megan)

I designed this invite for Caroline's wedding in Oregon. (blurred some of the details for a little bit more privacy, sorry all)

But then I waited one day too long and all the flights to Oregon doubled in price. $500 minimum (Ouch!) I was depressed, but Caroline found me a way up and a way back–for free!

Road Trip!
On the way up I snapped a few pictures of Idaho and all the water in Oregon.

We fit Caroline, her fiance (Now Husband ;) ) Troy, Troy's Grandpa and Grandma, and me in a Minivan and booked it up to Oregon. We also had the Grandparents two dogs and vocal cat.

Which was fine until the cat got car sick and starting barfing on the carpet. Don't travel with cats.

The only place the cat was really happy in the entire car for the entire ride was on Grandma's Purse.

Coming back to Utah after was the best. I was almost giddy to be home after the wedding and took these photos of what was probably a chemical plant, but was glowing and the sunset with a million telephone wires

But the travel parts of this Oregon Trail was not the most exciting part by far, but those details will come later.

Proud Daughter (Melanie)

This is my mom

My mom does so much, as I’m sure most everyone feels about their moms. It’s amazing that my mom does all she does, plus even more. It’s kind of insane actually, I don’t know how she does it. She’s such a trooper!

First off, she’s a musician. She taught me how to play the piano, for which, I will always be grateful. I can express myself better by playing a piano solo than I ever could with words. Not only does she teach piano lessons, (and she’s not going to be happy I’m saying this) she tunes pianos. She’s got an incredible ear! And she writes music! She’s been writing music since she was a teenager, and it’s all incredible. Here are a couple of my favorites, and a link to her page. She has a lot more than this, but they're not up yet :(

Toe Dancing (Piano Solo)

Doesn't Want To Lose Me (Dan singing)

The Mime (Piano Solo)

Her Page

She’s also incredibly creative. She makes everything. She was asked to do a Broadway background for a church function, and just look at this:

               

She did this out of cardboard, paint, tape, and touch lights.

She makes cards too! Here are some of my favorites:

              

              

          

She also makes awesome cakes, and these are only two of the many she has made:

This one was for my 14th Birthday. I love Converse, and

I had a pair that were these colors. 

This one I got to help her with. :D How fun is that huh?

She also takes care of the sometimes-insatiable-trouble-maker Kida (our dog),

Here she is, playing in the mud, and then getting a bath. Oh Gees. 

And, when I’m in a bind (say, I have my entire apartment to pack up in three days while working full time at the same time), she’ll help me out ;)

I can’t even fathom how she does all of this! She has a heart condition that has decreased her energy and stamina significantly, and has required that she get a pacemaker in her early 40s. She does so much to help those around her and to lift everyone up. 

Basically, my mom is awesome. 

Swimming at Marilyn's! (Melanie)

Something we all like doing together is going swimming at Marilyn's! All the little kids, in their various tongues speak to us about going swimming at Marilyn's. Here are some pictures!

The kids get gumballs after they swim.

Some getting dried off, some getting ready.

Mommy Jennette and Baby Rachel, chillin in the shade.

Errin working on her leg tan :)

Danny and Lexie

Troy getting ready to use his fancy new kickboard!

Julie being awkward and Grandma Lila behind her.

Chad on his way to the diving board.

Getting ready...

about to jump!

Carter!

Austin and Logan! They're all done.

  

Chad and Troy. Hangin'.

See the lizard?

Grandma Janet and Baby Rachel! They're so cool!

Cabinet Door Cleaning (Melanie)

You know that black stuff on your cabinet doors? It gets on the corners where you touch it to open it. When you go to clean it, it's all sticky and you're just rubbing it around. My Father-in-law swears by Dawn soap. It's got that anti-grease stuff in it. (They used it to clean up that giant oil spill off of the coast of Alaska, to save the animals) So, after thinking about it a bit, I decided to try Dawn + a washcloth to get the black stuff off of the cabinet doors.

I just got the washcloth wet, rung it out, put some Dawn on it (not too much) and rubbed it in, and then voila, instant cleaning agent!

This hardly takes any elbow grease. You have to put a little bit of pressure on it as you scrub, but it only takes 2-3 swipes over one spot to see a huge difference. On the really tough spots, I would rub the washcloth over it, and let the Dawn and water sit for just a minute and then scrub. The stuff came off almost instantly!

My four-year-old nephew, Troy, wanted to help me clean, so I told him to scrub on a part of it, and the stuff started coming off. Ladies and gentleman, you can do it! :)

This, my friends, is why I love cleaning!

On a side-note, my Father-in-law found two fruit roll-ups in one package!

Have a wonderful day!