..wedding bells & a flat tire..

..today was GREAT. literally. i LOVE weddings. since matt and i got married i've become especially sensitive to the celebration of such a sacred unit. today we went to the sealing of two of my dear friends..brandon finch & his beautiful bride jessica jill jaynes. i grew up with brandon and went to college with jess so it was very exciting and special to see these two become one.. 

..it was beautiful wedding. the sealer talked about the importance of selflessness and companionship in a marriage and deep spiritual and temporal blessings that come with sacrifice. it was definitely a reminder i needed to hear. not that matt and i have any issues or problems, it's something to always work on. it was so fun to walk through the halls of the Temple and remember our sealing. it was the PERFECT day. i can remember everything so vividly. i'm thrilled for jessica and brandon. they are going to have a wonderful eternity..

..we also were able to go to another friend's reception tonight as well. it was in salt lake so while we waited for time to pass we went to lunch with my sister and her husband (HAPPY BIRTHDAY BRETT!!), saw transformers 3, visited with my mama, and bought 5 dads for $30 at f.y.e.'s discount sale. after that we made our way back to the deveroux mansion in slc-which is beautiful-for jayden and shelby's reception and then onto to pleasant grove for brandon and jessica's-their reception was straight from a fairytale. outside with big bulbed hanging lights, gorgeous flowers, and pictures galore. it was definitely a jessica jaynes event. i loved it.. 

..it was a wonderful day spent with the hubby. we haven't had one of those for quite some time. it was fun just to do whatever and celebrate with good friends. the only downer was the flat tire we got on the way to pleasant grove. but, even that wasn't horrible. in fact we were quite blessed in it happening when it did. it was right after we got off the freeway and main roads, next to a school parking lot, and seconds before a rain storm. plus we were prepared. for christmas we got a hydraulic jack, two weeks ago matt felt strongly impressed to get a new lug nut screwer offer thing-because i may or may not have driven away with our old one on the top of our car last time we got a flat, and we had a full sized spare in the trunk. so with those things in mind i can't really complain.. 

..overall, GREAT day..

..peace out girl scout..

..well, the deed is done! we finally finished moving and cleaning our old apartment. wahoo!! matt was recently hired as an RA for a leadership program at UVU and with that came a move. obviously he has to live on site and obviously i have to follow him so we packed up and moved out. and it is pure heaven. we L.O.V.E. our new apartment. we're on the top floor with high ceilings and huge windows. it totally beats living in a half basement apartment with no light, no air circulation, and no space. we truly have been blessed. it's all worked out perfectly. i'll have to write more about matt's new job and what he gets to do. he's really excited and i'm really proud of him for stepping out of his comfort zone and doing this.. 

..i guess with any new beginning there always has to be an ending to something else. now as much as i hated where we used to live it's a little strange to leave an experience that is so dear to my heart. our cruddy little one bedroom apartment is a place of many memories. it was the first place matt and i lived together. it was our first home. i remember when we first found it. we had been looking for a place to live for months and had become so frustrated. everything was either to expensive or what we considered to be unlivable conditions. and then with pretty much nothing in our bank accounts and a prayer in our hearts we found apartment 12. it wasn't horribly run down and the price wasn't bad. when we looked at the apartments available in the complex i remember walking into 12 and we both felt completely at peace there. of course because of the lack of funds though we left without signing the contract. we also wanted to make sure that was exactly where we were supposed to be. we got about 2 miles down state st. when we decided to pull into the parking lot of a country western clothing store. there we decided that was where we needed to be and did the math again to see if we could do the whole deposit/first month's rent thing. we had just enough so we turned around, signed the contract, and officially had our first apartment together as a married couple. given i did live there for 2 weeks before our wedding but we won't count that. 15 months later we were ready for a move and couldn't be happier. it's fun to look back though and think about all we did while living there. it's a place of many firsts. first boy roommate, first set of couches, first washer and dryer, first holiday decorations, first fight, etc. etc. it was also a place of prayer and faith. matt and i had our struggles of newlywed-hood in that apartment. struggles being financial, emotional, disagreements, you know..the usual. we set goals and made plans to accomplish things together in the walls of that apartment. we scrimped and saved to get little things and do big things. it was a place of service and love. some of my favorite memories are of us laying on the living room floor playing footsie while laughing and making up ridiculous names for our future babies. lots of memories. but like i said..to every new beginning is a simple ending and for us the door to apartment 12 is closed. but don't worry..the door to apartment 406 has opened and life is grand..

..just a little project..

..so back in the day, a month ago to be exact, our bed used to be parallel to our bedroom window but when we moved our new bedroom was set up where the bed had to go directly under the window. we don't have a headboard and so in the old apartment i hung one of those old vintage windows above our bed in place of a headboard..loved it. now with the window though i've had to come up with something else. a couple weeks ago i built and stained one and today i finally finished it. i was going for the vintage meets country chic meets cheap look. i guess it came out how i envisioned it in my head but i still can't decide if i like it...i feel like it's missing something. what do you think?..

..what's your favorite game?..

..howdy! howdy!..

..my friend shelby introduces me to a new blog, texas is for lovers, and i really like it. its hilarious and so down to earth. if you haven't read it before check it out at texasisforlovers2.blogspot.com. in fact right now she's doing a giveaway for a board game that made me laugh at first but now i kind of want to play it but you'll have to go to her blog to find out what's it called. we're big fans of games at our house! its our favorite thing to do when family come over. right now matt's favorite is bang! and my favorite is boxers or briefs. both those titles kind of sound a little weird so let me explain...boxers or briefs is like apples to apples but tons funnier!! and bang! is like uno but not. i don't know how to explain it. anyways...we love games at our house. this is a random post...so we're going to end it now. but what's your favorite? do you want to have a game night? we'll host it if you bring the treats....just sayin..

..disney world vacation..day 1..

..our vacation has arrived!!!.. 

..earlier this year matt and i made plans for our annual summer vacation and decided we'd spend our time in florida soaking up the sun and taking in the disney magic. plus i said disneyland was better than disneyworld and matt wanted to prove me wrong. anyways..in the planning process we recruited our brothers to come as well. so both jared's saved and paid their way to spend a week in florida with their favorite siblings. it's been so fun to have them here. they both really look up to matt and matt enjoys spending time with them. it's been really fun for me to watch.. 

  

..we arrived in florida LATE last night. our flight from salt lake went straight through to orlando and it was the WORST flight i have ever been on. there was horrible turbulence and some crazy in the air turn that made me pee a little but after 4 glorious hours we made it safe and sound. we picked up our rental car and made our way to the hotel. which is only maybe 10 minutes away from the airport but took over an hour to get to because we got on the wrong freeway. always an adventure with the kings. ps-totally ran over a dead possum. it was an accident. i was trying not to run over it but totally nailed it. after we finally arrived at the resort via the kind lady from a del taco it was only 2 in the morning. but don't worry they put us in the wrong room so we were short a bed and because it was 2 am and my tolerance level was a bit low and the a/c wasn't working i called and complained and they moved us across the resort. now our room is the correct size and the temperature is 65. so nice. SIDE NOTE-i've NEVER felt anything like the humidity that's here. ugh. you can go from the perfect temp. to soaking in sweaty/muggy air in 30 seconds or less. so gross..

..we started our day at 8 am at epcot and cruised through the park. my absolute favorite part was "the seas" portion. why you ask? because my life long dream came true! since the third grade i've always wanted to see a manatee in real life and matt made plans for us to go to sea world while we're here so my dream could come true. but you know what is better than sea world dreams?? DISNEY DREAMS. oh it was wonderful!! we were just passing through the bottom floor of the building when all of sudden matt and grabbed me and pulled me to a giant tank and right there before my eyes were 2 MANATEES!! just eating some lettuce. it was awesome. weird dream i know..but so great to have it come dream.. 

..hello little manatee..

..it also POURED for a good 3-4 hours. we spent $32 on 4 panchos and it's probably the best purchase we've ever made. i would have died it we hadn't had them. we walked around for awhile in those until mine and matt's feet were so soggy we couldn't stand it. the jareds were still going strong though and wanted to go to magic kingdom. so, matt and i went back to the resort to switch shoes and take a nap while they played in the rain. matt and i made our way back to disneyworld later in the evening after the rain had stopped. we met up with the boys, rode the buzz lightyear ride a couple times, spent $3.50 on bottled water (all the water here tastes like the great salt lake smells...i hate sulfer.), watched part of a parade, and then made our way back to the resort.. 

..panchos aren't flattering at all..



..it was one busy day but such a great start to the vacation! i need to take more pictures...i'm hoping the weather is a little better as the week goes on...

..car troubles..

..i HATE HATE HATE car troubles. in fact, i really do not like our car. stupid jetta. today we were in herriman for church. it was nice and then we enjoyed a little bbq with some friends of matt's from tennessee. it was a warm, pleasant afternoon until the car started to overheat on bangerter highway. it happened so quick. all of a sudden the a/c wasn't so cool and before you know it's overheating and we're off to the side of the road. stupid stupid car. after an hour or two of my dad and brother trying to get us on our way we decided to have it towed home instead. my dad searched around town looking for an open auto care store to get the special european coolant we needed while my brother switched cars with my mom to tow our car to orem, just in case. the coolant overflowed because after about a mile it would overheat again and because everything is so compact...real brilliant...there wasn't anywhere to attach the tow rope. so we called a couple tow truck companies and after the tow truck dude had to go back to his house to get the invoice book we were on our way back to orem. 4 HOURS from start to finish we were at our home sweet home.. 

..awesome sunday. very relaxing. super blessed to have the family we do that'll get up and go to help save the day. and you can't beat having insurance that'll cover the cost of the tow truck..

..HATE the jetta. keep your fingers crossed that it's nothing outrageously expensive..

..my first online order..

..YAY!.. 

..i got my first online order this week with {mad dash gifts}. exciting huh? thank you sister sobczak! she lives in nebraska and wanted to give something to her daughter in provo. so i put together what she wanted, wrapped up all cute, and dropped it off. yeah! for the first online gig..

..cute right?..