indi indi india

which of you wouldn't love to trade lives with a happy family over in India to experience these things for just little while? Tell you what, you can take one person with you!



a world of color

I love my daily news updates on MSN, today I learned where the most colorful places in the world are. I most certainly added them to my bucket list! Here are just a few of my favorites::

Burano, Venice



Jodhpur, India

La Boca, Buenos Aires

Copenhagen, Denmark

save the world

Don't you wish that there was something we could each do that would change the world completely? We all have talents, we all have different abilities....what if we could excel at those specific things, continue to gain more and more talents, and do everything in our power to make this world a better place? I'm completely confident that this is possible.

Lately I've been irritated at those things that I can't change right now. things that are so far away, and my level of education limits my ability to have my opinion heard. So far my experience in life has given me goals that I hope to accomplish, but it can only be done one step at a time. I've been drawn to movies about the reality of this world we live in. Things that are happening but we are too far to care or think we could do any good. Here are a few that have struck me the deepest:



It's a true story about a journalist in 1986 that gets stranded in a remote village in Iran and is informed of the insane goings on in the town. The men work together to manipulate and kill a women for no reason whatsoever. They spread rumors and start lies about infidelity, knowing that they can easily take this woman's life by stoning her to death, just so she will be out of the way for another wife to take her place.

Daniel and Marian Pearl are journalists in Pakistan, right after the attacks of 9/11. The day they are supposed to head back home, Daniel goes missing. The whole movie is a frantic search to locate him, and she learns the hard way how the terrorists work.



I've never been one to strive for animal rights, but this movie affected me in a huge way.  It's a documentary type movie done by a group of activists that shows a cove near Taijii, Japan where dolphins are abused and murdered. Not only is it incredibly inhumane but it is causing a serious threat to human health. It continues on today, they gather these animals to kill for food which they label as other sea animals, putting abnormal amounts of mercury into human bodies. They sell others to people like Sea World, then instead of letting the rest of them go, they murder them. It is the most disgusting, horrifying thing I have ever seen on a TV screen. The worst part is that it has not been stopped and still continues on to this day.

These are all incredibly sad movies, but I feel it's so important to know these things that are happening in our world all around us. They bring me inspiration and make me want to do something more. Maybe one day I can.

my honey and the moon

since we are going to thailand next year together we decided to stay in the states for the honeymoon. and since we are staying in the states we had to sit back and think on what we've always wanted to do here, then just do it! we wanted to do something neither of us have ever done before...now i have been to florida...BUT...i've never been tooooooo.....



AHHHHH it's true...i'm a harry potter nerd and i'll never deny it. i've read all the books, seen all the movies, and we are going to be there for the release of the final one! i'm stoked.

even more exciting news, my sister and her soon to be husband are getting married 2 days before us and are ALSO going to HP WORLD...can anyone say "double honeymoon"?!?! just kidding...we aren't allowed to say that anymore cuz it's not really...we will just both be there...don't worry.



oh i can't wait

6 WEEKS

HOLY HOLY FATHER TIME-I can't believe I've only got 6 weeks to go. I'm loving the engaged life so much more than I could have expected. We'll remember these days forever and I'm glad my patience isn't running thin...the biggest thing for me is wanting to be done paying for wedding things!

We've got half of the announcements out but only to those in Ohio. In 2 weeks we'll be taking our road trip out for our pre-wedding open house and I am so excited! I am in love with our invites, I wanted them to be very different and it was hard to figure out. Then one day it hit me! When I say it hit me, I mean I was it on the blog of an "acquaintance", stole the idea, and changed a few things up. I'm in love.

We picked the Manti Temple because my parents were married there. AND it's seriously one of the most gorgeous buildings I have ever seen, inside and out. It's just perfect and I can't wait! Go HERE to learn more about us and our temples.



mother teresa

Life is an opportunity, benefit from it.

Life is beauty, admire it.

Life is a dream, realize it.

Life is a challenge, meet it.

Life is a duty, complete it.

Life is a game, play it.

Life is a promise, fulfill it.

Life is sorrow, overcome it.

Life is a song, sing it.

Life is a struggle, accept it.

 Life is a tragedy, confront it.

Life is an adventure, dare it.

Life is luck, make it.

Life is too precious, do not destroy it.

 Life is life, fight for it.

~Mother Teresa~

Photos via google & National Geographic

it's alright, i know it's right

It's been such a long long time since I've done a love list. I know some things have changed.

• I LOVE stalking wedding blogs to get ideas...my favorites are: The Bride's Cafe, Green Wedding Shoes, and Utah Bride Blog. Anyone have some good ones?

• I LOVE my new home, it's more than perfect for a newlywed couple. I'm all unpacked and I have my own library! I didn't think that would be happening anytime soon but what else would I do with a spare room!? HELLO. It may only have 2 big shelves for now, but one day I'll have a whole wall that is a shelf and it will be magical.

• I LOVE balloons and I will have them at my reception. I used to think that was sooo tacky. OH NO

• I LOVE my red boots. They are still going strong...actually not too strong. They have holes in the bottom...and I can't wear them in snow or rain...Poor things got me through most of Europe, I will not give up on them!

• I LOVE all this rain! The only time I didn't want it was the day we did our engagements. We got super lucky, and it hasn't really stopped since. Last night I stopped watching Glee to move the couch to the open door and watch the storm in my back yard. Can't wait to be in Ohio in 2 weeks for a REAL thunderstorm.

• I LOVE getting my National Geographics in the mail...takes up the rest of my day and renews my need to see it all...

• I LOVE my beautiful ring. It will never grow old to me. I gave the man a hard time about the right ring while everyone on the side told me "that's not what really matters"...he got the perfect one.

• I LOVE museums. We've been visiting the new exhibits at the BYU museum and now that I'm living in Springville, I have even more to explore. I'm very excited about that

• I LOVE when time goes by fast and I get to see my man. There hasn't been a single day gone that we haven't seen each other since we reunited and we hope to keep it that way!

missed you blog...

It's another Monday, the days are flying by like never before. Only 6 weeks til my wedding day and other than paying for it, we've got it all planned. EXCEPT for the food at the reception. We want more than just a candy bar...just don't know what quite yet. But nothing to big and nothing fancy. This wedding is far from fancy.

I don't know if I mentioned it, but my sister is getting married 2 days before I am.  When people say "your poor parents" I didn't really understand. Yes it's stressful, but they aren't paying for anything. Except the money they randomly sneak into our accounts, they aren't allowed to help. Dad was out of a job for over a year, we've all decided to take care of them ourselves.

It's been a lot of fun though, Amanda and I are lucky to have the opposite tastes for a wedding. She's the classy, fancy, twinkle lights bride. I'm the rustic, antique, bohemian bride. It's made things so exciting. Originally we wanted to do a double wedding but the boys said no.  We joke that we would be the 2 girls to want that in this world and we got the 2 boys that actually care. I'm grateful at this point seeing our differences, but it's still fun to laugh about.



random stress

Things are out of control. In a good way, of course. There is always the negative but you just grow from it. I have learned many things in these last couple months. I will share just 3.

1. Money is the root of all evil. There is never enough. Things cost too much. Wedding gown, reception center, cake, decorations, rings, food, travel.....AHHH. Totally worth it, right?
Do you know the average money spent on a wedding FIVE years ago was $10,000. Can you believe that? It's ridiculous, always has been. But once you get into it all...I'd say that's a pretty low price. All for just one party. Crazy.

2. I have no patience. Pretty much when I comes to money...making my vows...marrying my fiance...decorating our new home...having everything finalized...seeing my family...etc.
BUT I have also had a huge growth of patience as well. I can handle a lot more than I thought I could, I can wait. Time is on my side.

3. You can't lost weight by not doing anything about it. Duh. My dress is perfect, I'll never have to gain or lose, it will fit me either way. I've always wanted a grecian look and I found it as soon as I gave up on that. Isn't that how it always works?

Engagements - CHECK

I have been a failure at blogging. The cynic in me doesn't want to brag about how I'm the luckiest girl in the world, how I'll be happier than all of you, and how my man really IS the best. Of course these things are all true, but I don't want to depress all of you with that information! :)

I want to have memories of planning my wedding but at the same time I don't want to give anything away! I am very excited though, pretty much have everything planned. Just one pay check at a time, right??

With this crazy rainy/snowy/cloudy/windy weather for the last 2 weeks we had to reschedule of photo shoot about 3 times. FINALLY we gave in and decided we would do them no matter what. It rained all day but Jen stayed hopeful (I tried...) and when I left work, Matt and I took took a drive to The Historic Wheeler Farm in Murray.  Guess what? The rain was gone.

We were so blessed, perfect pictures! Jen was wonderful. I brought a bunch of props from my house and she set them up and went crazy! We LOVE the pictures, they are fantastic.  Here are just a few of my favorites::

Seriously, take a look at some more of Jen's work, she is absolutely incredible. Even is she wasn't my cousin I would rave of her skill, I swear it!

You can also see more of our pictures on her blog HERE