last night, I was once again complaining that I've gained too much weight since being married, and that I don't have the time (or motivation) to go to the gym.

John then politely reminds me that when him and I first met, I was working three jobs, going to school full time, and still made it to the gym every day.

Now I work one job, taking nine credit hours, and can't seem to find the time to go to the gym.

Well, thank you babe.

Guess I don't really have an excuse huh?

PS.

I must say happy first birthday to my little man-cub, Rufus.

one busy weekend

John and I usually don't do much on the weekends, but it seems like every so often we have those weekends where everything is happening, and everyone wants to hang out with us. This weekend was one of those weekends.

Friday night we went to dinner with some of John's mission companions and their girlfriends to celebrate Brent's birthday. We went to Buca de Bepo and I had never been there. Have to say, wasn't the best experience. The food was good, and the atmosphere is great, but it took a half hour for the waiter to get our drinks, and then another 45 minutes or so for our food to come. Kind of ridiculous. But it was still fun. We enjoy that crowd.

Afterward we went to Brent's apartment for cake and ice cream and then John and I had to supervise a shin dig that was going on with Jenny and her friends.

That was a party; I don't think I've been up until 3:30 in ages, and it definitely made me feel like an old woman with how tired I was.

Saturday, John was a part of the Dodge Barrage at the Salt Palace.

Every year, Deron Williams, Kyle Korver, and Ronnie Price put together a charity dodge ball tournament and this year John was asked to play with Dustin's team put together by his work.

It was fun to watch, even if they went 0-4 and were out by noon.

For a charity event, the games got pretty intense. Too much emotion.

This was the highlight of my day.

Mr. Kyle Korver himself.

If you know me, you know that I have had an obsession with this man for a while.

Too bad he's going to Chicago.

But...I got to meet him, have a picture, and had him sign a shirt.

That would be D-Will signing my shirt. John and I will be framing it and putting it next to the shirt we have signed by the entire Utah football team.

We're cool like that.

After dodge ball, John and hung out and got some other things done and then later that night went to the fair with the entire Lawrence family and the Sorensens.

I have never had more fun at the fair. Seriously, all of us together was a p-a-r-t-y.

Too funny.

One year John bought a silk-haired chicken from the fair for ten dollars. He named him Don Otis, and he lived in John's bedroom, and then when the poor chicken was moved outside, he froze to death. :(

This is what Don Otis' looked like. So I had to take a picture.

A TIGER.

At the fair.

Couldn't believe it.

Daniel is the center of attention.

John is a perve.

I'm glaring at Daniel.

Mandy is content.

Us. To a tee.

And of course! The giant yellow slide.

I freaking love that thing.

Even if it does sway back and forth at the very top.

Daniel is very competitive. Anyone who knows him knows that.

And when he gets with Matt, it's even worse.

After spending ridiculous amounts on games, Mandy ended up walking away with some fun stuffed prizes. :)

Remember how I met Deron Williams, Kyle Korver, and Ronnie Price today?

Yeah... that was cool.

Pictures to come later.

I've never felt more horrible in my life.
I've never cried this much over something.
I can barely stay in this house at the moment.

I was sitting in class tonight and my phone rang..vibrated , whatever.
It was John, which was weird because he knew I was in class.
I didn't answer it of course, and he then texted me.
"Emma. We have a serious problem." Is all it said.
I knew exactly what it was about, but didn't want to believe it so I asked.

My parents have been out of town and John and I have been staying at their house.
My worst fear has happened.
The dogs got a hold of Gordon, and he didn't survive.
My mom's bird, is dead. Thanks to Rufus and Jack.

I am still a mess, I've had a panic attack, can't stop crying, and can't stop thinking of Gordon.
I never thought I would miss him but I already do.
And like I said, I've never felt more horrible in my life.

I'm sorry Mom and Dad, and more importantly sorry to him that I couldn't save him.
RIP little bird.

2 DAYS, 22 HOURS, 17 MINUTES

ARE YOU READY??

GO UTES!!

m and d.

This past Monday, August 16, one of my best friend married John's best friend.

How lucky is that?

We got to be a part of their entire day, and it was a fun one.

Tiring, but fun.

I had Daniel's, very nice, camera all day, just snapping kandids, so hopefully they don't mind that I'm posting some of them to the blog.

Liz, Me, Marianne, Abbi, Melissa, and Lauren

Waiting for the couple outside of the temple.

So happy to be happy.

Favorite.

He actually smiled for a picture. I must say though, this was the second attempt.

All the friends and the beautiful bride.

I loved her dress, you would never know it was originally strapless huh?

The magic of alterations.

These two are a pair..

Probably the most artsy photo taken all day.

Love it.

The bench picture.

Apparently the girls took one exactly like this at our wedding.

So cute. So happy.

Daniel's fantastic aunt made name tags and favors for everyone at the luncheon.

Cute sucker attached to the name tags, and then homemade lemonade mix as the favor.

Mandy Sorensen...weird.

Granite Bakery seriously does awesome cakes.

Mandy walked in, showed them a picture of what she wanted, and taDa...here it is.

My handsome hubby.

The friends again, in our adorable bridesmaids outfits.

The bridesmaids, minus Allison

Gorgeous bridesmaid bouquet.

All in all, a great day.

I tried to refrain from putting a ton of pictures of the two of them on here, seeing as they are still on their honeymoon and haven't even seen these pictures yet.

It was fun to take so many pictures, I can now honestly say that I would love to be a wedding photographer.

Which, brings me to my next point.

Back to school Monday.

Wish me luck.

BL

We spent the last week up in Bear Lake, with both families. We started out spending last weekend with the Johnson family for the family reunion, and then went back up with my family, just to hang out.

Cute Alice. She's calls me Mom. NBD.

She wanted to drive the Honda, so I let her sit in the driver seat (just in the driveway, no worries.) She would sit down and tell me she had to be buckled, so cute.

We played games as families at the reunion and at the end this was given to one family, and it will be passed around from family to family. Of course John carved it, and of course it had to be my favorite one that they were giving away. Seriously, how cute is he?

This was on the hike up to Bloomington Lake.

Snow in July. Yep, we're that high up.

Bloomington lake is a glacier lake I should add. It was the COLDEST lake I have ever been in, in my life. When I got in, I couldn't breathe. No joke, I felt like I was going to drown; and there was no beach, so there wasn't really anywere you could just hang out. It was a lot of a fun though, there was a rope swing which everyone played on, and then a glacier on the other side that you could climb up and slide down into the water. I'm a scardey-cat and didn't do either, but I enjoyed watching. :)

I don't have any pictures from BL with my family, so I will have to post them later, after I still them from Daniel. :)