Getting old...

There have been times in the past when I asked people how old they were, and they would hesitate a minute and have to calculate their age. I thought this was super bizarre...how can you not know how old you are? But, sadly, I'm starting to do the same thing. When someone asks my age, I have this moment of panic before I blurt out "23? No, no, wait...24? Yes, I'm 24."

Embarrassing.

For some reason, being 24 seems so much older than being 23. Maybe it's because I'm that much closer to the quarter-century mark. But my 23rd year was a great one, and Josh did a great job of ushering in my 24th year. I started off the day by sleeping in and then relaxing while Josh finished up some work stuff. Then he took me to dinner at one of my favorite restaurants, Bombay House. This is the same place I picked last year...and probably always will. For some reason, no one seems to love it quite as much as I do, so my birthday is the one day that I can demand to go without being shot down.

After that, we went to go see Toy Story 3 and then came home to have cake (and enjoy a fabulous solo rendition of "Happy Birthday" by Josh), and open lots of great presents..

October

October was the busiest month for weddings at work this year, but we managed to fit in a little bit of fun, too. For one thing, I got to go down to Provo to visit all my best college girlfriends! It was the first time we had all been together since before Jules' and Sarah's missions...but sadly, it wasn't technically all of us since Allison is still gone...but she'll be back in about two weeks! I can't wait!

This year, we were incredibly lame for Halloween. We didn't dress up or go to any parties (unless you count the Trunk or Treat at church). And having no kids means having no excuse to go Trick or Treating. So, in order to do at least something festive, we walked around at Gardner Village to see the witch displays they put up around Halloween. When I saw the display of the witch on the bike, I was so excited! I am a HUGE Wizard of Oz fan...when I was little, I wanted the ruby slippers so bad I could hardly stand it. My dream is to one day make my entire family dress up in Wizard of Oz themed costumes.

It wasn't much, but I always have a good time with Josh!

We Got Book Learnin'

Josh and I have decided that we need to make an attempt at being cultured. We read several classics in high school, and some since, but we need to make a more active effort. Therefore, we have made a goal to continually read classics. And instead of just checking them out of the library, we have decided that we would buy them to keep in our home library, in hopes that one day they will be available to our children so that they can learn the importance of reading and education (and hopefully be better than I am at avoiding wordy, run-on sentences). Unfortunately, they'll have to settle for the cheap paperback versions instead of the leather-bound editions with gold embossed titles, because, let's face it, we're on a student/newlywed budget.

So, awhile back, Josh and I made a trip to Barnes and Noble to pick our first novels. I decided to kick off my literary stint with Les Miserables and Josh is starting with The Count of Monte Cristo.

So, far, I have definitely enjoyed Les Miserables. The characters are fascinating, and the story line is interesting (even though it can be seriously depressing! This book was very aptly named). I love Jean Valjean, I hate Javert and Thernadier, and the verdict is still out on Cosette and Marius, because they can be kind of annoying. Also, Victor Hugo is a rambler! Admittedly, I have stopped reading it for days at a time because I'll hit a part where he rants about the Battle of Waterloo, or life in a convent, or Argot forever! But, aside from that, I really like it so far. And whenever I read it, I want to walk around singing "On My Own."

Josh has also been enjoying The Count of Monte Cristo. So much, in fact, that he is planning on doing another Dumas book for his next choice! Beyond that, you'll have to ask Josh for his opinion because I haven't read it yet. (Yes, I realize that no opinions were solicited in the first place...)I'm getting close to finishing Les Mis, so I'm excited that it's almost time to go pick a new book!

The Grand Tour

...or sort of grand. Josh and I have been moved in to our new place for several months now, so it's time for a few pictures. The apartment has a living room, kitchen, 2 tiny bedrooms (I mean tiny...we use one of them as a closet) and a bathroom.

The Living Room

You'll notice that we no longer have camping chairs, but a beautiful new couch! We have been loving it. And we are trying to sell our old one. Will you buy it? Please?

The Kitchen
And...the rest of the rooms are small and I couldn't really get a good angle for pictures. So, if you're really dying to see them (which, let's face it, who isn't?) you'll just have to stop by.

So Long, Farewell, Auf Wiedersehen, Goodbye

My little brother, Riley has officially left for his mission! Dad, Josh, Jordan, and I dropped him off at the MTC on Wednesday. It's kind of unbelieveable...in my mind, Riley is still 12...

In the few days leading up to his departure date, we let Riley run our activity schedule. We were able to go bowling with him, watch movies (approved ones, of course, since he was already set apart...), and go to dinner.

On the morning he reported, he decided to have his "last meal" at Cafe Rio (and so did a ton of other reporting missionaries, for that matter...). Then, we drove straight to the MTC. This was a lot different than when we dropped off Jordan. Back in his day, you got to go into the MTC. The mission president would speak, you'd watch a touching film about missionary work, and once they got everyone good and emotionally raw, they'd dramatically send the missionaries through one door, and the families through the other. A little intense, but a nice send-off. That's all changed. Now, the missionaries practically do a drop and roll onto the curb from a moving vehicle. You pull into the MTC, throw the car in park, pull the luggage out the back, and give a quick hug. We even got told we were holding up traffic! Very different. It made it all seem that much more surreal...like we were just dropping him off for school and would be back to get him at 3:15. But in some ways it was really good...a quick happy, heart-felt goodbye done in the style of ripping off a band-aid. One thing that made it really nice for us was that we dropped Riley off in great spirits. He was super happy, and not even acting nervous. I think we were all very apprehensive for him, so seeing him so excited was calming.

Before we said goodbye, we took a couple of pictures outside the MTC. We weren't able to get the quintessential shot in front of the MTC sign because it was under construction, but we were able to get some good ones in front of the building, which I will now post for your viewing pleasure.

In this picture he's on the phone either saying goodbye to Mom or Lindsey...I can't remember which.

Here's Riley in front of the remains of the sign.

(Yes, it IS necessary to take pictures with every possible combination of people. And, believe it or not, I actually spared you some.)

Unloading the car:

And what do you do the same day you drop a missionary off at the MTC? Make him a care package, of course! We went and got him a ton of candy and prizes and shipped it that same day. I really think we are more apprehensive about his new change than he is.

Now, we will just have 2 years of e-mails and letter writing!

Dad and Riley's Grand Adventure

Dad and Riley spent this past week out here in Utah. Dad had a conference about new timeshare software that Plantation Resort just purchased. This conference was conveniently located in Salt Lake City! Unfortunately, Dad and I had opposite schedules. The days of his conference were days that I either had off, or had a short day. By the time his conference was over, I had full days at work, one of which was a 12 hour shift. Despite this snag, we managed to fit in a lot of quality time. We watched movies at night. We were able to pick up one of our distant relatives, Kelly, who is staying at Westridge Academy (Riley's old school) and take her out to dinner and ice cream. And on Friday night, Dad, me, Josh, Riley, Jordan, and Kaitlyn were all able to go out to dinner at Olive Garden and then go bowling! Josh won both games, and I stunk it up. I didn't break 70 either game, and I didn't get a single strike. But I had a great time!

On Saturday while I was at work, Dad, Riley, and Josh went to the BYU game down in Provo. Then they came back to our apartment and we finished watching "The Hunt for Red October" while Dad and Riley packed. They had to take a red eye back to South Carolina that night.

It was so fun to have them here! And it's crazy to think that they will be back in less than a month to drop Riley off at the MTC!

Goodbye, Josie Grosie

Our very first car was one that Josh brought into the marriage that he bought when he got back from his mission. It's a maroon 1995 Honda Civic. I started driving it to work after we got married, and Josh used the bus. It's been through a lot. The paint on the hood is coming off, the weather stripping on the driver's side window is coming off, there is a huge crack going the entire length of the wind shield, it shakes when you go over 70 MPH on the freeway, and it over-heats pretty much every time you drive it. This car is a beast. Such a beast, that we couldn't even get her registered in the state of Utah. And the cost of fixing the car to make it pass the safety and emissions wasn't worth it. So we kept her registered in Idaho (Josh says they let anything pass safety and emissions in Idaho because if they didn't, NO ONE would be able to drive).

When Josh first bought this car, he fondly named it "Josie." After driving this car for awhile and watching it dilapidate more and more, I borrowed a line from "Never Been Kissed" and started calling her "Josie Grosie."

In December of 2009, we bought our wonderful new Altima. Later that month, my brother went home for Christmas break, leaving behind my family's car, the Escape, for me to borrow. For almost 3 weeks, Josh drove the Altima, I drove the Escape, and Josie Grosie sat in the parking lot of our apartment complex, unwanted. After we returned the Escape when Jordan got back, Josie got her revenge. We went to turn her on, and she refused. We charged the battery. Didn't work. Josh and his brother, John, spent hours working on it, but to no avail. Josie Grosie would not run. She had a blown head gasket. So she sat in the parking lot for 9 months while we tried to decide what to do.

After our move, we finally decided to sell her. We posted an ad on Craigslist and KSL.com and had some interested buyers right away. A couple weeks ago, she sold for almost $600.

It was a huge relief to finally get her off our hands (we were constantly worried that our old apartment complex would tow her, because they had once before). At the same time, though, it was a little sad to hand over the key and the title. After all, this was our first car as a married couple.

Goodbye, Josie Grosie. Thanks for helping to get us started.

Jenessa and Chris's Wedding

I feel like my life is one big wedding. I go to work. For the first half of the day I plan weddings, and for the second half of the day, I help run them. Whenever I take time off of work, it's generally to go to a wedding. First, there was our wedding in July 2009. Then Brett's in August 2009. Then Jilleena's in November 2009. Then Josh's friend, Tim's in May 2010. Then Catherine's in August 2010. Now Jenessa's, also in August 2010. Between work, family,and friends, I think I have been to over 100 weddings...and I'm only 23. I was a little worried that going to so many weddings at work would disillusion me. I didn't want to get sick of weddings. But I have to say, even after seeing so many, the weddings of family and friends are still so special to me. Going to Jenessa and Chris's wedding was wonderful. They are both amazing people, and I loved being a part of their wedding day.

On the morning of August 20th, we all headed over to the Salt Lake Temple. When I first walked up, I saw Jenessa outside the doors, chatting to her parents on the phone. She was positively glowing, and completely composed!

The sealing was wonderful. At work, I have seen so many bishops marrying young couples and saying "for the period of your mortal lives." I loved to finally be in a temple again and hear the words "for time and all eternity."

After the ceremony, we went outside to wait for the couple to come out. I found my niece, Piper, sitting on the floor in her fancy dress eating an apple. She is Disney princess obsessed (which shows her great taste), and she reminded me so much of Snow White right then, that I had to take a picture. What a cutie.

It was a million degrees, and I felt like I was melting! But we had a great time hanging out with all the Benson's, former Benson's, and in-laws. For our clothes, all the girls in the family did the same thing we did for my wedding: black dresses with a sash in the wedding colors.

When Chris and Jenessa came out of the temple, they looked so happy!

We spent a lot of time taking pictures and hanging out on the temple grounds.

After pictures, I had to go straight back to work for the rest of the night. I was so sad I had to miss the reception! But I had been off the week before to go to South Carolina, and I couldn't get more time off because these were the busiest weeks of the summer, and the other wedding planner had been worked into the ground while I was gone. I was SO sad to miss it. And then even Josh had to miss it because he had a crisis at work! We were very disappointed that we couldn't go, but we heard that everything was gorgeous, and Jenessa was so sweet and understanding.

It was a wonderful day. Next up: Jordan and Kaitlyn in December!

Jameson is Funny

Trip to South Carolina

So much has happened lately, and I've been horrible at keeping up with posts on it all! As more stuff happened, I fell further behind, and the task of catching up became way too daunting, so I kept procrastinating. But today I'm going to make myself get some of the posts done! And I'm going to kick things off with my trip to South Carolina.This trip back home was huge for me because of 2 reasons. Firstly, because I hadn't been home for over a year (but it felt like longer because the last trip hardly counts as a visit; we had flown in on Friday, had our wedding reception Saturday, and flew out in the early morning on Sunday). Secondly, it was a huge deal because I was going for my friend Catherine's wedding! She has been one of my best friends since preschool. She started dating her now husband, Nick, in high school, so it was really great to see them finally tie the knot!

On Tuesday, Josh dropped me off at the Salt Lake Airport. I wish so much that he could have come, too....but flights to Myrtle Beach are ridiculously expensive, and we have a tight budget to stick to!

It was so great to get off the plane and be in Myrtle Beach. So many people complain about the humidity, but I love it. It's air with substance! Anyway, my Dad was there to greet me at the airport. He is always, ALWAYS the one there to pick me up when I land in Myrtle Beach, and I love it. We headed back to my house and I got to see my family. My mom and I wasted no time in starting our late night movie extravaganzas.

The next day I got to see one of my other best friends, Laurann. We video taped an "interview the groom" segment with Nick to use at Catherine's Bachelorette party for a game, and then went out to buy Catherine some presents. That night, I went with my mom to Catherine's Bridal Shower. She made a seriously good haul. And the food was really good. Mom and I kept sneaking back for more and more (don't judge).

That night consisted of struggling for hours to edit together the videos clips for the party game. I mean HOURS. And when I finally got the stupid thing done it wouldn't burn to a DVD, it wouldn't upload onto You Tube...it wouldn't do ANYTHING. It was tons of work down the drain. It turned out we just had to show the unedited clips on a computer. It was still lots of fun, but not as awesome as what I had put together. Sad day.

In the morning, before the Bachelorette Party, I was able to go boating with my family. Boating is one of my favorite things to do, and I hadn't been in about 2 years!

We started off with wake boarding. Since it had been so long, I wasn't sure if I'd be able to get up, but somehow I managed.

Next, Hunter and his friend spent some time tubing. Unfortunately, the boat had a problem and we had to go back in before I got a chance to tube.

The party that night was great! Laurann, as maid of honor, did an amazing job putting it all together. We did the video interview game I made, the classic "create a wedding dress out of toilet paper" game, and a trivia game about Catherine involving a unicorn pinata (which Catherine eventually decapitated).

And there was another guest of honor. Allison, Laurann, Catherine, and I were all inseparable from middle school on. But Allison is still on her mission in Indonesia. Poor Allison ended up missing the weddings of two of her best friends! But Laurann made sure that she was at the Bachelorette Party in some form.

The other girls at the party didn't understand. They just thought it was creepy.

The next day I was able to go to one of my favorite restaurants of all time, Nibils, with my family. BEST CHICKEN SALAD EVER. I think I could eat there every single day and never, ever get sick of it.

My family then took me to this great new store that sells Carolina clothes. My siblings conned my mom into getting them a few items, and I was able to find some souveniers for me and Josh.

Next was the ceremony rehearsal and the rehearsal dinner. It was interesting to be one of the girls walking down the aisle as opposed to the one teaching everyone else how to walk down the aisle...but it was nice to not have to be in charge for once. I actually kind of hate doing ceremony rehearsals...

Next, we headed over to the rehearsal dinner. It was on the patio of a beautiful restaurant by the beach, and the weather was perfect. And just as I was telling someone about how nervous I was that I was going to trip when I walked down the aisle, I dumped an entire glass of water in my lap. It was a little ironic...and ominous.

Here is Catherine with all the bridesmaids and the fabulous gifts she got us! (no, I am not pregnant...I cannot explain this picture.)

The next day was the actual wedding. We spent the afternoon doing hair and make-up and got dressed at the church.

Catherine was a calm bride, and everything ran so smoothly! There didn't seem to be any last minute "where is so-and-so" or "I forgot to bring my whatevers". Walking down the aisle, though, was nerve-wracking! Dozens of people staring at you, and super high heels! I was counting on having a groomsmen to help keep my balance, but we each walked in alone. I think my subconscious was repeating in my brain the whole time "don't trip, don't trip, don't trip", and my smile felt super cheesy. Luckily, I made it to the front without any problems. Then the ceremony began. Everything was going well until the officiant said "let us pray." I bowed my head, and immediately felt like I was going to pass out. I guess the combination of no lunch, high heels, balancing on a step, and nerves took a toll. I can't even express how light-headed I was. I was literally willing my body not to drop down, because I felt like I was going to pass out at any minute. I was terrified that I would faint, ruin the ceremony, and be hated by Catherine forever. Fortunately, I made it through the ceremony

okay and felt a lot better once I was able to get moving and walk back down the aisle, with the assistance of a groomsmen this time.

Despite the light-headedness, the ceremony was beautiful. I think my favorite moment was when Catherine's brother played a beautiful trumpet solo, the doors opened, and Catherine made her grand entrance. Her and Nick both looked so happy. Everything was so genuine and wonderful.

The reception was held at a fabulous hotel on the beach. The ballroom had a magnificent view of the ocean, the decor was beautiful, and the food was to die for. I got to spend the reception hanging out with friends and my parents. It was a great night.

The next few days were spent with my family. We went to church and watched movies together on Sunday, and then Monday morning I went to Wild Water and Wheels with my mom, Hunter, and Halston while everyone else was at work. That night, we went out to eat at another one of my favorite restaurants, Carrabba's.

On Tuesday, it was time to head back home. I was sad to leave, but it

was so nice to be back with Josh again! This trip was the longest we have ever been apart. I had such a great time, and I hope the next time, Josh will be able to come, too!