Everything you need to head out into the world...

Do the Can Can!

Today my mom and I got together to do a bunch of canning, including...

This was only my second time doing any kind of canning, and my first with these items. But all the work was fun to prep, and pack...

and wait, to get these beauties!

Slowly but surely we're building up our food storage with some tasty vitals. Now how soon can I crack open a jar/bag/can eat it?

And, wow, does anyone see what I see?

Mawage is what bwings us togetha

August brought us the gift of marriage for a few of our loved ones.

My "brother from another mother," Taylor to Patricia, and my niece Kaylee to Ben.

Both had 8 week engagements (crazy kids).

Both made me feel old. I've known Taylor since he was little, and I'm just getting used to having nieces let alone one that's old enough to get married.

Both got sealed in the temple for time and all eternity (yay!). They were the first weddings that I attended since marrying Nate, and I joked that we had to go so that we could find out what we actually agreed to. I think it will take a few more sealings (and studying) before I fully grasp everything we promised.

Both beautiful days were made possible through the hard work of family and friends setting up, decorating, cooking, cutting, serving, and cleaning. While tiring, at the end of the day I did enjoy the chance to help provide service for them so they could enjoy their wedding. I also felt very blessed for the way we were able to do our wedding.

Both are young newlyweds/students starting out from scratch. This made me very grateful for the blessings we've had in our beginnings as we gave a lot of stuff away because we didn't have the space or the need. Though we had to wait a while longer than many of those around us, I wouldn't trade the blessings that came from waiting.

Only one had little babies for us to play with...

Put a ring on it!

This weekend my niece Kaylee is getting married and it got me thinking about what I was doing last year. About this time last year I made the BIGGEST (and best) decision of my life. I decided to marry my soul mate, Nate. We went about things a little backwards and decided to get married (even scheduled the sealing at the temple) before we told friends/family or had a ring. Nate and I were hanging out on the couch late one evening when he drowsily said, "I wish I could stay here forever." Nothing more was said on the matter until we spoke on the phone the next evening.

Nate: "Do you remember what I said last night?"
Me: "You mean about wanting to stay here forever?"
Nate: "Yeah. What do you think about that?"
Me: "I think I like that idea"

Later followed by many mutual shocked and exhilerated exclamations of "holy crap we're getting married...wow this is really happening...did we really just decide what I think we decided, etc."

In the few weeks that followed, Nate took on the arduous (and sneaky) process of procurring a ring and I started scouring the internet brainstorming ideas for our wedding. As the days and weeks ticked by I admitedly got a bit antsy. The time of Nate's departure for two months of rotations out of the valley was fast approaching and our scheduled wedding date was 4 months away yet we hadn't made our enagement public.

As our last hurrah before Nate's 2 month hiatus we previously planned a trip to Six Flags Magic Mountain. I had never been before but had always wanted to go. Unfortunately the camera batteries died right as we got to the theme park but the day was filled with fun, thrills, lines, lemonade, screams of fear/delight, and ended with nausea (apparently 3 immediate back-to-back rides don't agree with me). For the rest of the evening everytime I closed my eyes the world pitched and rolled.

The next morning, before beginning the journey home we stopped at Santa Monica beach. After all you can't go to California, be that close to the water, and not go to the beach. We walked along the water, sat on the sand and people watched, then returned to the car to get our picnic lunch that we ate while watching a small group of people doing some sort of break dance acrobatics. After lunch we walked along the pier and decided to take a ride on the ferris wheel.


Now I want to pause here to say I had thought that our trip to California would be an opportune time for him to propose, to the point that during our morning on the beach I had been carefully scoping out his pockets for any incling of a box (I should have known he wouldn't be so obvious). When I saw none I figured it wouldn't happen that day and decided to just enjoy our time together. So in this picture I was....

I turned back to see him trying to get on one knee in the little gondola as he fished a little pouch out of his pocket, and pulled out my beautiful ring. Shocked and thrilled I started kissing him immediately, interupting whatever words he had prepared. I still remember the little sign in our gondola that warned against any "inappropriate" activity because everything was on camera, and I felt slightly embarrassed as we traveled to the bottom of the ferris wheel tightly embraced and kissing in front of the whole audience of people waiting in line. Nevertheless I wasn't going to stop for a group of strangers. That little ferris wheel on the pier will always have a special place in our hearts!

What's a girl to do when she's going to be spending a Friday night at home alone? She stops by Trader Joe's on her way home and buys herself a bouquet called...

Discovering NieNie

I live under a rock.

For a while now I've seen "I read NieNie" buttons on a few blogs that I stalk. I really didn't pay them much notice, figuring it was someone's crafty or scrapbook blog/shop. Then this week I saw NieNie listed on my friend Chari's blog roll. Knowing Chari has good taste, I clicked. I read. I cried. Then I remembered I was in my cube and tried to pull myself together so as to not raise suspicions.

For those that might be my neighbors under my rock, NieNie Dialogues are written by Stephanie Nielson, a mother of four, who was in a plane crash near St. Johns this time last year. The crash resulted in the death of the pilot (and their friend) and life threatening injuries to Stephanie and her husband, Christian. Christian was burned over 30% of his body, Stephanie burned over 80% and was kept in a drug induced coma for several months.

I'm "with it" enough to have read about the crash last year but I had no clue about her blog, which she started years ago and has continued after. Reading it is truly inspiring, touching, and heart-wrenching. As I mentioned earlier, I cried. I cried at the pain. I cried at her strength. I cried at the love that is so apparent in the relationships with her family, friends, and husband (the last being the type that great novelist write of). I cried at her beautiful writing and photos that show us the beauty in every day life all around us, even in the littlest things. Life is beautiful. Her photos alone are the final straw in what has been my growing desire for a DSLR camera.

I guess I'm saying that I'm officially a NieNie fan, I've even added a button. I'll just have to be sure that I keep a full box of Kleenex at my desk.

One good thing about being slow at work...

You can take a half day, meet your family at the lake with hardly any other boats around...


and have a few good face plants.