Project 365: Week 26

June 22

My favorite California meal. El Pollo Loco. Pronounced: El Poy-o Low-Ko...I guess...I call it Polo (like the shirt) Yo-Ko. Anyway, The Crazy Chicken. They have it in St. G. and Lehi now. It's the best. 14 more in Utah coming in the next 7 years. Anyway, we stopped on our way out of town this afternoon to get my fix! Last friday night in CA when my family came to town, my father-in-law and I went and got over $100 worth of Crazy Chicken goodness. It was a hit with everyone! Mmm!June 23
And...Welcome Home! I had the day off to put the house together and be a good wife. My husband took my car so I could use the truck to load up stuff that is being stored at my parents, pick up all the gifts, go grocery shopping, etc. I was carefully pulling out of our tight stall making sure to miss the drivers side mirror, and I forgot to check the passenger side. Tah-dah! I felt awful. It was a horrible moment. I called Paul crying, and his reaction totally reconfirmed that I'd picked the right man. He just wanted to make sure that I was ok. He didn't get mad at all and when he got home he didn't even go check the truck. He just came in and gave me a huge hug. I love him so much. Oh, by the way, we've been trying to sell this truck for 7 months. Do you think this will help?? When you look at it in the right light, it looks artistic. (I have to laugh to stop from crying. It really sucks. :( Sorry baby.)June 24
Keep The Dream Alive. I'm volunteering at a kid's camp this week. They do singing, dancing, art, drawing, acting, classes on saving money, motivational speakers who talk about believing in yourself, following your dreams, never giving up, etc. It's for kids ages 9-16. It was really fun. Here are some of the kids learning a dance taught by 4 kids from High School Musical 3. Never saw any of these movies, but really cute and fun kids!June 25
I got asked today while volunteering at Dream Camp, what grade I'm in in high school. Hmm...should I take that as a compliment??...or a sign that it's time to retire the pigtail braids...June 26
The transition into one apartment. Our apartment has two full closets and one half closet. I use the two and Paul uses the half. (I also keep my pants and shoes in his closet) This is his closet and my shoe racks. We bought another show rack for the bathroom door. All these shoes are mine and the bin at the bottom of his closet is full of my shoes...but I still don't feel like I have enough...June 27
Taylor and my mom sang in a summer music workshop this week and there was a free concert tonight at the U. It was all patriotic music. It was really good! There was no picture taking allowed, but when do I ever obey rules like that??...If I obeyed no picture rules I wouldn't have a pic of the David in Italy.June 28
I've been living away from my plants for a couple months. Some of them are ready for bigger homes (and some of them died), so I'm starting the plant transplant process. Look at my cool new pot! Love it. And love gift cards.

Project 365: Week 25

June 15

Catalina Island. The first full day on the cruise we spent at Catalina. Relaxing, fun, warm. Did a little shopping, had some lunch, wandered, talked. It was fun.June 16
Next stop- Ensenada, Mexico. This is my 3rd time in 3 years that I've been to Ensenada. First 2 with Kathy, this time my hubby. Same tour guide again! ...he and his buddies remembered me and kept asking where Kathy was. We almost didn't get to go to Mexico cuz of the swine, but we lucked out and still got free money for any inconvenience. This is Paul and I at La Bufadora. Good times, and a lot of great deals of some cool knock-offs. June 17
Our day at sea. Sleeping in the sun by the pool, a lot of soft serve ice cream, buffet, buffet, buffet, naps, drinks, laughs, etc. Cruises are the perfect way to VayKay.June 18
And back to California to get ready for the reception there. This is our bedroom and Mom and Dad White's house. Interesting...but it worked!June 19
California was so fun! This really has been the best 2 weeks of my life. My mom, dad, Dave, Neally, Taylor, Scott, Laura, Aunt Barbara, Aunt Shauna, and Uncle Doug came to help celebrate. Everyone got there thursday and friday and we had a family dinner and pool party. This is my Uncle Doug and I roasting marshmallows on the pool. My in-laws have a natural gas line that they can turn on in the pool and light it on fire. It's great! I'm so glad my family and relatives came. They all helped so much and we had a blast!!!June 20
The California reception. It was beautiful. (More pics later) We had a great turn out and it was so fun meeting a ton of people who all love my husband and his family. Here's our 2 fams all together in SoCal. Perfect!June 21
Happy Father's Day Daddys! What better way to spent father's day than being at the beach with my husband, and my 2 dads. This was at Seal Beach just before the family flew home. I didn't want it to end. It was wonderful. Love these 3 men so, so much.

Project 365: Week 24

June 8

We cleaned out Uncle Randy's house today. It was overwhelming, but we figured it out and got it done.June 9
These are my cute little rehearsal dinner party favors. Little chinese to-go boxes with a green and orange love stamp on the side, full of green chinese candy, chop sticks, and a fortune cookie that we ordered, personalized from us. Loved them.June 10
I couldn't live without this little notebook. We did all the wedding website checklists, google documents, every helpful thing online, but when it came right down to it. I would have given up the internet way before I'd give up this notebook.June 11
Rehearsal Dinner! Wow, we're almost there. This night was so much fun! It was great having everyone all together and the food at The Mandarin was amazing. (Sidenote: The manager over catering and parties etc. offered to buy the centerpieces I put together for this dinner so she could use them in the restaurant. I didn't sell them because we need them for California. Made me feel good though...not sure I have a good picture of them.)June 12
My Wedding Day!!! It was perfect! It rained everyday in June until my wedding day, then the clouds parted and the sun came out and it was beautiful all day. (I hear the rain came back the next day and stuck around all week.) I look at it as my Uncle Randy's wedding gift to me. Perfect! I'll probably post a wedding blog later with way more details than any of you want.
June 13
We flew to San Diego and stayed at the Manchester Grand Hyatt. It was beautiful. We spent saturday evening there, wandered around, went to dinner. They have these little biker guys with carriages hooked to the back and this is us riding through the streets in one of them. So fun!
June 14
Aww....the cruise! Relax, relax, relax. Finally!!!

365, wedding, blog break, etc.

I'm getting married tomorrow. Wow. I'm nervous and happy and busy...and I'm going on a cruise Sunday. (I got so caught up in all the June 12th stuff I forgot it comes with an awesome VayKay with my soon to be hubby.)

I'll be taking a 2 week "Project 365" hiatus because this Sunday night I'll be on the fun ship and next Sunday night I'll be getting ready to leave the in-laws and drive home Monday morning. I'll still take pictures and catch up sometime after the 22nd, but no blogs after this one until then. (Sorry California blog stalking girls... you know who you are... ;))

Speaking of 365, I've been looking at the past couple weeks worth of pictures and seeing all the wedding/funeral stuff that has consumed me lately. It got me thinking, What if on Jan. 1st, I could have looked at all the pictures I hadn't yet taken? Would I want to do that? It made me think of the bucket list when what's his name says he read a survey that 80 something % of people wouldn't want to know the day they were going to die. Wouldn't that be crazy if you had that chance to look at one picture a day for 365 days that hadn't happened yet? I'm really curious, so let me know what you think on this subject. (Even you who read, but never comment.)

Well, I'm off to bed. I'll be back in a couple weeks! Hope to see ya'll at the wedding and/or one of (or both of) the receptions.

Project 365: Week 23

June 1

The viewing for Uncle Randy.
June 2
Evergreen Memorial Park in Ogden. The end of a long 7 days.
June 3
We're having candy stations at the Utah and California receptions. I bought A LOT of candy this week. This is some taffy from Taffy Town. Love that place.June 4
These are going to be hanging from an outdoor tent thing in CA. I have this vision in my mind of what I want it to look like. I'll take pictures if it's cute. (P.S. Sorry this blog has been all wedding and funeral lately.) I'll try to get a life after I'm married.)
June 5
Licensed to wed. Now it's official! (We say it's official about everything. Parents meeting parents...setting the date...sending invites...and now the marriage license. It really is official!)
June 6
Garrett family bridal shower for me. We had a ton of fun! I have a great family and got some awesome gifts. This is the beautiful quilt my mom made me. I love it! --Thanks Aunt Shauna for hosting us.
June 7
Green and white have taken over my parents house. It's getting out of control. 5 MORE DAYS!!!!

Saying Good-Bye

My uncle's funeral was today. It went so well. Last night we had a viewing and so many people came to pay their respects. Some I knew well, some I'd met briefly, some I felt like I knew, and some I'd never met or heard about. All were so kind and there was a very common theme. "You're uncle had a heart of gold." "He said hello everyday when I walked into work." "He always had a smile on his face." "He could make anyone laugh." "He loved his family so much." "He always put others before himself." "He treated his friends like family." "He was a genuinely good man."

My older brother was the only speaker, and my two younger brothers and I shared some memories of Uncle Randy and I sang "I'm Movin' On" by Rascal Flatts. It was a really nice service. It was a beautiful day and the time at the cemetary was wonderful. There was a huge rain storm last night and another one tonight so I'm really glad we had the warm clear day and bright sun for my uncle.

Another thing that made the day go so smoothly was that, not only did my fiance direct the service, but my future father-in-law, Phil, who is also a funeral director in Southern California flew in for the day to work the service with Paul. I can't tell you how much I truly love these two men. They mean so much to me and I'm so blessed to be becoming part of their family in 10 days.

I felt very peaceful all day and and got some of the closure I needed after a long and emotional week. I'm sure there are still sad and hard days to come, but also happy ones to look forward to. I'm back to the last minute wedding detail stuff that has been put on hold for a week. I'm not feeling too stressed and I just feel like I'll do what I can do and whatever I don't get done...I guess doesn't need to get done.

Thank you to all of you who have called and expressed your love and support during this hard and confusing time. It means a lot to me.