Brianna's Wedding

Last weekend, we went to California to see Brianna get married to Kyle Dawson.  We left Wednesday the 9th at about 3:30pm and arrived in California at about 11:30pm.  I drove most of the way, but I will say that Aaron and Scott both work graveyard shifts, so they did not get any sleep the night before.  I was afraid I would struggle with driving because I sometimes start to get sleepy just driving home from school, but I actually stayed pretty awake.  When we stopped for gas in Mesquite, NV, Scott drove for about 2 hours, but poor guy was still tired from only taking a 2 hour nap the day before, then being up all night and then school until we left.  I took over again and drove until we ended up at Scott's brother's house.

David & Kristene were so nice to let us stay there and even the next morning, they made us a breakfast of pancakes, bacon and eggs.  We hung out at their place until about 10:00am and then we headed to Scott's parents house.  We met them for lunch first and then just relaxed until it was time to head down to San Diego for the dinner.  The Old Spaghetti House is where we had dinner and it was yummy.  We then headed back to Kyle's parents house and played a few games until it was time for bed.

Friday, the 11th was the day of the wedding!  Scott and I slept on this uncomfortable air mattress at Kyle's parents house, so we didn't get the best sleep.  The sealing was at 11:00am and we had to be there a half an hour beforehand.  Kyle & Brianna got married at the San Diego Temple, which is beautiful.  Scott & I went there last year on our California vacation, but it was fun to go back again.  The sealing was beautiful and their sealer is actually an old friend of Kyle's family, so that was fun for them.  After the sealing, we all waited until Brianna and Kyle came out of the temple.  Once they came out, lots of pictures commenced.  It was a little windy that day, but still nice and sunny.

After taking pictures, we headed to this Mexican restaurant for lunch.  Scott & I then had to leave to take Julie (my Uncle Brian's sister who did the flowers & decorating for the wedding) to the airport.  After taking her to the airport, we went to the reception.  The reception was very nice and looked great.  Some of Scott's family showed up, so it was fun talking to them.  There was cutting of the cake, the bouquet didn't get caught and exploded on the ground, some dancing happened and Brianna and Kyle were sent off with sparklers.  We helped stay about an hour afterwards to clean up.  Since we were headed to the Safari Park the next day with Scott's family, they were staying in a hotel for the night.  Scott & I decided we didn't want to sleep on that air mattress again, so we got to stay in a nice hotel bed that night with free breakfast in the morning.

It was a beautiful day and it was fun celebrating a temple marriage.  Congratulations Brianna! And Kyle, welcome to the family!

My Birthday

My birthday turned out to be a great day!  I felt special all day thanks to friends and family with all of the surprises that I received.

My first surprise happened as I was leaving to drive to school that morning.  I opened the door, not expecting anything, and balloons came flooding into the room.  There was a poster taped saying 'Happy Birthday Emily' to the outer part of the door as well.  I was in a little bit of a hurry to leave and the balloons flooding in scared me so bad.  It makes me laugh that it would scare me so much, but it was a good scare.  After continuously asking Scott if it was him, I discovered that it was Andrew and Rebecca who did it.  Thanks guys!  It was a great way to start my day!

I moved it to the wall later since I couldn't take a picture in the morning.

The balloons that scared me.

I had been having this craving for a doughnut for a while, so I stopped at the grocery store on the way to school and figured that since it was my birthday, I could eat one and not feel guilty (that is such a good feeling).  Teaching went really well and I found out that 3 other students had birthdays that day as well.  April 30th is a good day.

My second surprise came when I went to my mail box at school and found cookies, a truffle bar, a 10 pack of Baby Ruth's and 2 cards.  It reaffirmed to me that I love birthdays!

My third surprise came while teaching when Scott came into my last class with flowers and a card.  He stayed for about 5 minutes before he had to run off to "do some stuff".  On the card, Scott said that he had cleaned my car while I wasn't looking.  Scott had taken my car to a place to get it washed, waxed, vacuumed and just cleaned out of any trash that was in there.  Not that my car really needed cleaning, but it was such a nice surprise and thoughtful gesture.

Flowers and goodies from school.

Up close of my birthday flowers!

Once I came home, I got some presents from Scott.  We had gone shopping at Kohl's about a week before and I picked out a food processor that I wanted, so hopefully this will save me some time in making dinner.  Scott also got me some other chocolates and the movie "I Am Number Four".  My dad and Roberta sent a birthday package and I opened that as well.  Part of my birthday request was a shopping day since I was in desperate need of spring/summer clothes.  So, about a week and a half before my birthday I took myself on a shopping trip.  I couldn't wait until my birthday, so I wore all my clothes right away.  Haha.  Why wait?  Clothes are for wearing right?

Relaxation, TV watching and nap taking then happened until it was time for dinner.  We actually went and got my cupcakes before dinner, dropped them back off at the house and then headed to dinner.  Scott had in mind to go to Tucanos restaurant.  Apparently that is a popular place to eat on a Monday night and there was a 2 hour wait, so we went to Macaroni Grill instead which was delicious.

My delicious cupcakes!!

Out to dinner with my sweet husband!

Drawing on the table at Macaroni Grill.

After dinner we headed home to change before we went to this trampoline place called Jump On It.  I had bought a Groupon for it a few months ago and convinced a friend to buy one too.  I figured my birthday was the perfect time to use it.  I've never been to a place like that before, but it turned out to be surprisingly fun!  They had a huge trampoline area and a rock wall where you could climb and then fall into a foam pit.  It was actually pretty good exercise as well.  We were all sweating by the time we were done.  Our friends, Heather & Skylar, are great and took me out for ice cream.  We went to McDonald's, ate ice cream and talked until it got late and was time for bed.

It really was a great birthday and I can't wait for next year!  Now, time to start planning for Scott's birthday...

Tulip Festival

There is this place called Thanksgiving Point here in Utah.  It has a bunch of different activities you can do, a movie theater and beautiful gardens.  This post talks about the time we went there last October.

During the spring, they have this thing called The Tulip Festival.  Ever since I've moved to Utah, I've wanted to go and see it, but have never had the chance to...until this year.  When Scott asked me for a birthday list, going to the tulip festival was on it.  The festival ended 2 days before my birthday, so that's when we went (28th of April).

I was actually expecting something much different.  I was expecting there to be rows and rows of tulips in a field, like this:

However, this is not Holland, so this is not what it looked like at all.  It was pretty much going to the Thanksgiving Point Gardens and seeing tulips mixed in with a bunch of other flowers.  Despite that it did not look like what I expected, it was still very beautiful.  It was a little chilly when we went, so it will be fun to go back to the gardens when it's warmer and have a picnic or something there.  I have lots of pictures to share on this one since it really was very pretty.

These were my favorite flower.

These were Scott's favorite flower.

Pretty tulips along this little creek.

There's going to be this area in the gardens with statues depicting parts of Christ's life.

This one and the one above are the only ones built to full size.  It think there will be about 12 total.

Afterwards, Scott and I came home, ate diner and watched a movie.  It was a fun date night with my favorite person. 

Temple Trip

On Saturday, April 28th Brianna got her endowments taken out at the Oquirrh Mountain Temple.  I've been in the Oquirrh temple for a sealing, but haven't done endowments.  It was nice to be there with family, but mostly nice to be there with Scott.  I love seeing him and being with him in the temple.  We don't go together as often as we should, so I'm excited for the wedding and being in the temple for the sealing.  It will be fun to reminisce on our own sealing and the covenants we made to each other.

It was a sunny day, but windy and cold.  We all went out to eat at Zupa's Restaurant afterwards which is always yummy.