Things are a little quiet over at our apartment.  James has been sick (an apparent gift from my first graders to him) and I have been possessed by my Teacher Work Sample.  We've been a little melancholy with the stress of it all, but we keep pushing along.  We've found joy in milkshakes, Lost, visiting illustrator lectures, and a few hours together each evening.

I feel very sustained and supported at this time, what with the biggest project of my life due in a few days.  I owe much gratitude to James, my family, and Heavenly Father.

Oh, and to 100% juice.  Some things you cannot do without!

Sometimes I'll run across things that make me really, really happy.

Love you, family.

cookies and cocoa

One of the things that caused me a considerable amount of stress during our engagement was the planning of our wedding reception.  I stressed about the number of cookies we would need, how my crazy cake idea would turn out, whether or not James would die standing in the line.....

But 'twas all in vain, due the many wonderful wonderful people who stepped up to help me....and James, for being a good sport.  I couldn't have asked for a more beautiful reception.  It certainly exceeded my expectations.  Thank you, everyone!

On December 22, 2011, James and I were married in the Mount Timpanogos temple.  This friendship.....courtship.......eternal relationship (do you remember that talk?) has been a long time in the making and we are both very happy to have arrived here.   And yet, it is as much an arrival at it is a departure.  We are embarking on new and exciting chapters and moments of our lives, discovering new things and refining ourselves, and we are happy to be together.

I've posted far too many pictures (my apologies!) showing the happy day.  The day went off perfectly without a hitch (well, except our own), and we couldn't feel more blessed.  I couldn't feel more grateful for Heavenly Father blessing me with tremendous and miraculous peace on this day. I also couldn't be more grateful to the many family members and friends who did (and still do) so much to help us along our way.  Thank you, all!

 

(please allow your imagination to add great amounts of snow to this picture....sheesh, looks like August!)

They Breath is Like the Steame of Apple-Pyes*

I want to bake a pie.  There is something homey and happy about a pie, especially when it is coupled with family and holidays. Yay, holidays!

Recently, in my time-wasting perusal of food blogs, I have discovered the most wonderful blog devoted to, you guessed it, pies!  Pie Love You is set to have a different pie for each week of this year (right now there are 41) and I'm considering some of these for my Thanksgiving contribution to our family meal....or maybe, if I absolutely can't wait that long, for a culinary escapade beforehand.  There are all sorts of bizarre and tasty-sounding pies on this blog.  Like Nectarine-Raspberry.  Or Maple Ginger Pear.  Or Lemon Curd with Rosemary Crust (what?).  Or maybe I ought to just go with something chocolatey and fluffy.  Mmmhh... Many a possibility.

 Pie-making adventures of Yore

(Emma's Pumpkin, My Chocolate Mousse, Lisa's Chocolate Pecan...was it?, and Mel's Apple), 

Thanksgiving 2008

*-Robert Greene, Arcadia, 1589