Emily and Joe's Wedding!!!

It finally came! Emily and Joe's wedding! It was just as good as expected. My parents, my sister Alli and her family, and my Nannie all flew out for it, and it was so fun to spend time with all of them. One of my favorite things was spending time with my niece and nephew, Micah and Claire. They are getting so big so fast!



The Saturday before their wedding, Alli took Emily and Joe's bridals. She needed help from the parents, so Willie and I offered to take this guy for the morning.


We came down to Provo to watch Willie play flag football. On the car ride down (our family rented a house in Thanksgiving Point), Willie and I were singing along to the radio, and Micah told us, "Don't sing, it makes me maaad!" Haha geez I didn't know we were that bad! It was pretty funny. We watched Willie play football, and cheered for him (mostly Micah). About halfway through the game, Micah and I left to go eat lunch at "Old MacDonalds" and play at the play place. After that we came home and popped in Lilo and Stitch while Willie and I took turns getting ready. Then, we headed up to Thanksgiving Point to meet the family to go up to Salt Lake to go through the Temple with Emily. It was a great afternoon!!


We also got to hang out at the house a lot with Claire, who is just the CUTEST! She is a super chill baby, but smiley and cute too. She was particularly fond of Willie. I would turn around and often find her climbing into his lap, or him holding her. So cute! One night I found her helping Willie study his finance chapter. I asked Willie if Claire was helping warm him up to little girls (he wants boys of course), and he said yeah, "she's been very nice to me." I thought that was so funny.

Look at that cute little look...Love that girl! (And guy too:) )

We had lots of good family times all week long, most of which I forgot to take any pictures of unfortunately. Then, it was finally time for Emily and Joe to get MARRIED! It was so neat to be able to go to their sealing, and think about when Willie and I got married, and enjoy the ceremony a little more this time because I wasn't so overwhelmed! It was beautiful, and they looked so happy :)

The happy couple right after they got married! Do they not look gorgeous?!

Emily and Joe were married in the Draper Temple. Very pretty. Very windy too.

Ah! My little sister is married!!!

After the sealing, the family all went back to the reception center and hung out until the reception. They had a huge brides room, which was so perfect. Lots of comfy places to sit and freshen up.

Me and my mom before the reception started.

Willie and I waiting for the par-tay to begin.

It was a beautiful wedding and reception. We are so happy for Emily and Joe! They are perfect for each other, and we are soo excited that Joe is officially part of the family!!

VA Trip

This year my parents flew us out to Virginia for Thanksgiving! They were already out here for Emily's wedding, so they flew straight from Utah to Virginia, and we joined them a couple of days later. All of my extended family on my mom's side is from Viriginia, and we used to have Thanksgiving with them every year when I was growing up. I haven't been back since I came out to BYU 7 years ago. It was such a treat to be able to spend it with them all this year. We had a great trip!

We flew in Tuesday night, and our plane was delayed for 5 hours!!! We finally arrived around 4 am, and got to the hotel around 5. We all slept until noon, then headed out for some sight seeing.

This is Willie and I in our hotel about to go out sightseeing!

Willie and I in the Metro station.

The first place that we went was the International Spy Museum. None of us had ever been there before. It was really fun!

After the Spy Museum, we all took the Metro to Union Station and had dinner. We ate at this little cafe and it was SO good. Then we went on a 3 hr bus tour of DC at night. It was so fun and did not even feel 3 hours long. Even though I grew up next to DC and have been on bunches of field trips there, of course I didn't pay attention when I lived there. It just seemed normal to me. So it was really fun to visit all of the sites and monuments and really appreciate them this time.

Willie and I in front of the White House!

All of us by the Lincoln memorial, in front of the Washington Monument.

I think the Lincoln Memorial was my favorite. We took a picture with me in front of it to show how huge it is! They had the Gettysburg address and another speech of his printed on the wall which were neat to read. Also, on the steps leading up to it there is a tile that says "I have a dream" honoring Martin Luther King where he gave his speech.

Thursday we headed out to my Uncle Walter's house to have Thanksgiving with everyone. We had lots of good food and visited. It was so fun to see all of my family, and for Willie to be able to meet them all!!!

After Thanksgiving we went to the Air and Space Museum and saw Harry Potter at the IMAX theater there with my Aunt Claire and Uncle Keith, and my cousin Josh. It was lots of fun, and I really liked the movie!

Friday morning our good friends Brienne and Ryan came to our hotel and had breakfast with us. Our hotel had the best breakfast ever. They had a hot buffet of pancakes, french toast, eggs, bacon, sausage, and potatos. They would also make you any omelet you wanted, and they had a cold section with cereal, muffins, bagels, donuts, etc. It was pretty much delicious. We had a great time with them. It was so nice to see them and we had so much fun visiting!

After breakfast, we headed over to my Grandaddy and Grandma Gloria's house and had lunch with them. It was delicious, and we had the best time visiting with them. I hadn't seen them since I left for BYU either. My Grandaddy has been teaching himself the guitar over the past few years, and he even gave us a little concert while we were there! It was so fun to spend time with them.

After our visit with them, my parents went to the airport to go back to Saudi Arabia. It's always sad to see them go, but I feel so lucky we've been able to see them so much this year! Willie and I went to our hotel for the night, and got up at 3:30 am to catch our flight the next day. It was the best trip. We had so much fun. Thanks Mom and Ron!!

My Birthday

I had a birthday last month. Yay! It was a good one. Something that made my birthday extra special was that it was the school that I work at's fall break, so I didn't have to work!! I slept in, and it was wonderful. When I woke up Willie made me breakfast in bed. He made me chocolate chip pancakes, and they were delicious!

After breakfast Willie had to go to class. I drove him there then relaxed for a little while. When he came home I opened my presents from him and my parents (they'd left them wrapped with us when they went back after their last visit). I got some really fun stuff I'd been wanting. After that, we went to see "Life As We Know It"...super good!! I loved it. After the movie, we went to dinner. I signed up for Benihana's birthday club and got a gift certificate, so we decided to go there. Emily and Joe and Robbie and Kelli and our friend Josh came, which was super fun. It was a lot of fun to go up to Salt Lake and eat at a different type of restaurant than we normally do.

The next morning I headed up to Alpine for a massage that Willie had set up for me. It was the best!!! And so cute of him to set it up for me secretly. So, that was my birthday. Thanks to all the family and friends that gave me nice birthday wishes and helped make it so fun. And, thanks Willie for making it so great! :) Love you!