Beto and Toshi's Wedding

I've been to a lot of weddings and receptions and I compare them to my own almost always. Toshi's comes to a close second... her wedding/sealing was absolutely perfect. The sealer gave lots of really good advice. Toshi had a ring ceremony and it went so well: not too long, not too short! And I was so surprised when her Bishop announced that I would be speaking!! Um... no one told me! So I spent a frantic few minutes trying to think of what I could say :) It turned out all right though.

Peyton was one of the 10 flower girls she had. She looked so cute and did a good job. She walked down the aisle (with the help of a friend) and would throw the flower petals as far as she could throw. It was awesome. During the dances, Peyton walked up on the pavilion and danced with everyone. It was so stinking cute :)

Everything turned out great! We had a lot of fun and I'm so excited for these two to start their lives together!!

Pioneer Day

Outside of Utah, I don't think too many people celebrate Pioneer Day.... right?

Mira, Kamry, Lise, and I all got together to celebrate it though. We went to Maui Bowl and stuffed ourselves on those awesome acai bowls. Then we went down to Spanish Fork to try to score tickets to the rodeo until we realized that they were just about to start selling tickets for NEXT YEAR and the rodeo was sold out forever and a day ago. Oh well. We wandered around the carnival, looking at booths and the people on the rides. We ate all the foods that you can only find at carnivals and then headed over to the baseball fields for the fireworks. We played volleyball, catch, soccer, and Ninja Destruction.  After a few hours, we lucked out and found the family of the guy who shot off the fireworks. They were sitting away from the main field/stage so they wouldn't be able to hear the music during the show but the dad made them a copy of the music and they had a boombox to play it while the fireworks went off. We got to sit right next to them and basically, it felt like our own private show! The fireworks were awesome (honestly, I think they were better than Stadium of Fire... haha) and we had a good time.

At Maui Bowl

Yum!!

Explaining the rules to Tylor and Cheri

We made new friends :)

Watching the fireworks with her messy face and big brown eyes!

Yay for our Pioneers!

Open House, Bridal Shower, and a Bachelorette Party

While Ben was off doing man things with his brothers, I was busy helping my friend plan and get ready for her wedding. I went up to Neola, UT (right next to Roosevelt) for an open house for them. The house it was at was GORGEOUS. They had a huge playground in the yard, a few gazebos, perfect grass, and an amazing garden. It was awesome. Peyton had a blast playing there too. The pic below has a few shots of her new "tricks." She has this scrunchy face that is absolutely adorable and when you ask her to say "Cheese!" she goes all gangster on you... too cute.

We wanted to throw her a bridal shower but it ended up, her family threw her the bridal shower so we thought it would be fun to do a bachelorette party instead! The bridal shower was fun though. They had really good food, fun games, and lots of presents!

Thank goodness for Pinterest.... There were super cute ideas for a bachelorette party: survival kits, sexy invitations, and fun desserts! We went to Sparks for drinks and seriously... it was the FUNNEST bachelorette party EVER!! No joke. I gave everyone a tiny, pink tiara. Toshi got a huge tiara, a veil, a sash, and a garter. Since we were getting drinks, I got Truth or Dare drink coasters (some of it was lame but a lot of things were off the wall funny and a little ... hmm, hmm...if you know what I mean). Then we opened up more gifts. We did a round of Bachelorette Party dice and that got pretty funny. Then we drank more, laughed more, and gave lots and lots of "advice." haha :) Towards the end of the night, I handed out all the survival kits I had made! They were a hit and so stinkin' cute, if I might add.

Here's what they looked like:

I know they don't look fancy like the ones on Pinterest but honestly, they were so cute and the boxes were the perfect size to hold everything! I made 15 of these bad boys...

The poem I attached said:

Here's some things to help you through the night. 

It'll keep you sane until Toshi's dressed in white!

Lip Smackers - for all your lip smacking

Band Aids - cuz walking in heels hurt

2 Tylenol - for your morning hang over

Ring Pop - for your bling

Condom - better safe than sorry

Hair Ties - for holding your hair back after all those drinks

Tic Tacs - for minty fresh breath

And the invitations (the one with the birds were for the bridal shower, the one with the lace was for the bachelorette party):

The poem for the bachelorette party says: Nighties & Undies, a little silk bra, are all sure to make Beto say Ooh La La!

It was seriously a super fun night and we all definitely got a whole lot closer!! ;) wink, wink

Baseball

My nephews are so stinkin' athletic... I love it! I wish I could go to more of their games because it is seriously so much fun to watch them :) This last game was awesome. William had a home run and Jonathon did so good at the pitcher position. They work so well together. Ben showed them how to pitch with the wind-up and everything. It's so cute! And its so crazy to play catch with them... Jon has amazing accuracy and Will throws the heat. Seriously, my nephews rock.

Great job on an awesome season, Will and Jon!!

Happy Birthday!!

26.... oh man! This year, I decided to do something a little bit different for my birthday. Instead of people doing things for me, I tried to do 26 acts of service for others. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to complete all the things on my list but I really did have fun doing it!

#1 - Take Mira out to lunch. She actually wanted to take me out but I really wanted to eat the rest of the Hawaiian food that I had so I picked her up from work and we went to a park. We had rice, lomi lomi salmon, poi, lau lua, kahlua pig, and blueberries... (yes, random I know) Oh my gosh, the food was SOOO 'ono!!

#2 - After I dropped Mira off, I went to go fill up the car and dropped off a sticky note at the gas station... It says "Have a great day!" Because I don't know what kind of note to give to random strangers!!

#3 - It was a pretty hot day so I went to Wendy's to get me a Frosty... and then I had a brilliant idea to get a Frosty for someone else too! I drove around to see if some of the homeless people were at the corner near me but no one was there. So I headed home hoping to find someone. I drove by Ben's work and realized that he works in a warehouse with no air circulation and he must be dying so I dropped it off for him! This is his thank you face...

 #4 - I had to run a couple of errands so I went to the grocery store. Then I saw this man. A few weeks ago, I was shopping with Peyton and she was getting really fussy. He came up to me and asked if Peyton could have a banana and gave her one! She loves bananas and I love un-fussy babies so we were really grateful. So today, I made it a point to go up to him and tell him how much that small act had meant to me! He was so nice :) And I had to document him so I took a picture of his back because that would be awkward to take a picture of him... haha

#5 - Then when we were at check out, they asked if I would donate to the Make-A-Wish Foundation... so I did.

#6- This is another random picture but I made it a point today to be patient when I would drive around: not cutting people off, letting pedestrians walk by, not driving too fast, and being courteous to other drivers!

#7 - I left 50 cents on the soda machine :)

#8 - We went to the library and I left another little post it note!

#9, 10, 11, 12, 13 - I brought over treats to my neighbors, my Bishop, and my 2 Visiting Teachees.

#14 - I offered to watch my nephews so my sister-in-law could finish packing up her house for her big move!

#15 - I wrote a note thanking the postal service for the ... well, service... in the hot weather! And then I put it in the mailbox. 

#16 - I wrote a few notes to my family and friends and mailed those off.

#17 - I helped Mira weed the garden. 

See? I didn't make it all the way to 26 but I really noticed a difference in the way I acted and treated others. I tried to be more patient, kind, and helpful to Ben and Peyton. Overall, it was a very good, productive birthday!!

Felicidades!!

We met the Villasenors a few years ago. We had just finished a soccer game at Timpanagos Indoor and they  were about to start their game but needed an extra girl sub so I played with them. We hit it off pretty quick and they asked me to come and play again next week. I told them Ben played too so they said to bring him. We all became fast friends and played soccer together nearly every day!

Abe met Nidia at a dance and soon after, they were sealed for time and all eternity on Friday, July 13th. We were blessed to come to their sealing and it was so precious! Nidia has a little daughter, Nevea, and they were sealed as a family. I don't think there was a dry eye in the room.

It was pretty funny because their photographer was super late. At first, they didn't think she'd even be coming and they saw me with my little dinky camera and asked if I'd take pictures until she came. I'm not saying I'm a professional AT ALL but I do think that some of the pics I got aren't half bad... Abe and his new family came out the temple and I got a few pics of that plus some of the family photos. 30 minutes later, their real photographer shows up so they decided to come out the temple a second time just for her! Haha, it was pretty funny :)

These are some of my favorites that I took... see, they aren't half bad, right?

the Villasenor family (minus Sol, Nevea, and Kinsi)

Lovers... I mean, friends

Nevea... seriously, how cute is she?!

All the guys

Ben giving him wedding night advice... seriously. haha

The Villasenor boys... all these guys are AMAZING!!

 The wedding was so gorgeous. I'm so glad we were able to attend. The reception was super fun and very Latin :) There was good food and lots of dancing! Congrats Abe and Nidia. You have a beautiful family and we're so excited for you guys!!

Foo and Tur

We were watching a Baby Miracle movie about Jonah and the Whale today. There was lots of pictures of foo (fish) and tur (turtles). Peyton went crazy :) It was so stinking cute. I started correcting her that it was FISH, not foo but then I realized that I didn't want her to grow up just yet and the way she says things is just too darn cute so I stopped and recorded her for a bit!

And then I wanted to record the way she says No and Yes....

And then I realized that I was getting a little carried away :) Enjoy!!