Wednesday night love and a splendid Thursday morning

Last night, the sibs and I went to Cory and Kirsten's wedding reception.

(We grew up with Cory in Sacramento)

And my goodness, this reception was beautiful!

And the couple was glowing with love.

Have you ever met a couple and just thought, "Oh my, they are absolutely perfect for each other!"

Well, that was what was on my mind the whole night.

And I'm sure it was on everyone else's too.

They are each other's match. No doubt about it!

I love weddings. I love happiness. I love love.

And here's the happy couple:

My good friends from high school, Anja (sister of the groom) and Danni, came out for the wedding. It was SO fun seeing them. Love these girls!

Here's Dan holding baby Jack. Anja was making a face to show how she feels about babies...but my phone camera didn't capture it too well :/

 The whole night felt like a small Sacramento reunion. 

I loved every second!

And Wednesday night turned into an awesome Thursday morning.

After my morning run, I got to come home to this sweet babe:

M, T & J spent the night last night since they are all moved out of their apartment and off to California in just a few short days.  I loved holding the babes this morning and watching his funny little movements. I am going to miss little J so much!

Then, I treated myself to this:

A double chocolatey chip! My very favorite.

Dear Thursday:

You've started out great. 

And I know you will end great.

Why?

Because you and I will be at H&M tonight.

Enough said.

In love with Lake Powell

Words cannot begin to describe the fun we had at Lake Powell.

A big thank you to the Preston family (who we love dearly) for inviting us.

Taylor and I got some nice sun and had such a relaxing time enjoying the water.

A few things I'll always remember from this trip:

Waverunners, wake-boarding, boating, swimming, bathing in a lake, cliff jumping, playing in the sand, playing board games, sleeping under the stars on the top of the houseboat, beautiful thunder and lightening storms over the lake, and laying in the hot hot sun.

Some memories in more detail:

I'll always remember being so scared to jump off of the cliff into the water.  It looked so scary from up on the top! Sweet Karlee Preston (who had already jumped once) told me she would jump and show me how easy it was.  So...she jumped.  But she came up sobbing.  She had smacked her tailbone right on the water.  That was great motivation for me. Haha  But then little eight-year-old Mark jumped like it was no big deal.  So I knew I had to go.  I took a deep breath, and just jumped.  It was so scary, so exhilarating, and so much FUN all compiled into one!  (minus the fact that my ear smacked the water, and I thought I had blown out my eardrum...ha).

I'll always remember sleeping under the stars and being shocked at how much the Preston littles knew about astronomy...they made fun of me for knowing so little.  ;)

I'll always remember sweet kisses and "I love yous" on the lake from my best friend and wonderful husband.

I'll always remember beating my husband at wake-boarding skills.  There are only two things that I can claim that I'm better at than him: wake-boarding and ultimate frisbee.  Although, he doesn't agree with the second one.  So I guess in his mind, up until this trip, he thought he was better at everything than me. ;)  At least I can claim wake-boarding now. I just wish he wasn't so dang good at everything.

I'll always remember tubing with little Brooke Preston.  We hit a pretty hard wave...and being as light as we were...we went flying.  I did a complete back flip into the water after being thrown into the air.  Poor Brooke had some small injuries, and wasn't so happy about that experience.  But after she got some Mom-loving, we laughed about how funny it really was.

As for pictures?  Well, I decided just to bring my phone for pictures.  But I didn't really think that through....because it died on the first night. Ha.

But I know there were lots of pictures taken from other people, so once those are up, I can steal some and post more about the trip :)

Here's the first stolen picture (taken by Kristen Preston):

Taylor and I made two decisions while we were in Lake Powell:

1. We will have a house-boat (our goal is in the next five years).

2. Our kids will learn to fall in love with Lake Powell just like we have.

Back!

Ha, my husband is so sweet to blog while I was gone!

I'm back from my week at girls camp!

I had a blast with all of the girls.

It was a little weird being there as a leader and not as a participant.

Being there reminded me of all of my wonderful memories at girls camp growing up.

I love girls camp!

But I'm also so happy to be home to a shower, bed, and a cute husband. :)

Little bit of reminiscing here:

This is a picture from four years ago of the last time I was at girls camp.

So many good times!
Now moving on to a relaxing rest of the weekend with the very much missed hubby.

A beautiful love.

Last weekend, I had the wonderful privilege of going to my dear friend's wedding.

The sealing was so beautiful.

And so was the couple.

They were absolutely glowing with love.

It brought back memories of my own wonderful day.

And made me realize (once again) how grateful I am for my eternal marriage.

I get to be with my husband (and future children!) FOREVER! The thought makes me giddy.

So grateful for this knowledge.

Here are some pictures from Chelsey and Taylor's beautiful day:

I absolutely LOVE outdoor receptions (hence the fact that I had a backyard reception).  I think they are so naturally beautiful and romantic.  And this one was no exception:

Best wishes to the beautiful newlyweds!

Love you both!

xoxo

2.5 days to go!

I am sooo ready for Taylor to come home.

I have been keeping myself busy, but I sure do miss that handsome boy.

Yesterday, Regs and I went to Yogurtland (our very favorite).

(She always gets something fruity...but I can never tear myself away from the chocolatey goodness)

And we took our cute little neighbor friend, Brooke.

That little girl has one sense of humor.  She kept us laughing the whole time.

I am going to miss the day when I don't live across the street from:

Ma and Pa Gilb

my best friend and sister, Regan

and all of the cute little neighbor kids.

When Taylor and I were doing our wedding registry at Target, I registered for a two-step stool.

Taylor looked at me and said, "Seriously?  Why are you registering for a stool?"

Me: "Well, you haven't lived the life of a 5'1" person. This is something I need on a daily basis!"

Since we've been married, I've rarely used it.  And not because everything is low...we sure have some high cabinets.  But because, when I can't reach something, I just ask Taylor, "Hey, can I use your height real quick?"  And he'll get whatever I need down from the unreachable high places (and he never even has to use tippy-toes! I'm always amazed!).

Taylor took this picture awhile ago to document the one time he's actually seen me use the stool, that I "supposedly needed on a daily basis." ;)  

Don't tell Taylor this, but when he's not looking, sometimes I climb up on the counter and purposefully put things on the very top shelf in the very back of everything else (it's usually always the chocolate chips).  Then I'll say, "Hey Taylor? Can I use your height real quick? I need those chocolate chips way back there." Why do I do this?  I'm determined to see him use his tippy-toes one day to reach something!  Hasn't happened yet...

Still trying.

Anyways, the point of this little saga: in the last three days, I've used that stool more than I've used it in the last nine months! Why?  Taylor left and took his height with him.

Dear Taylor: I'm ready for you to come home so I can put this stool away.  I like using your height better :)

Summer nights.

Gotta love those summer nights that consist of America's pastime with the fam. 

Look at those mountains! Why is Utah so beautiful?

My toes and Regan's legs.  So wonderfully relaxing.

Here's Regs and me at the game.  This summer we may be at baseball games, but next summer we'll be backpacking through Europe! We can't wait!

Last night, this cute girl, stayed the night with me.  

We are showing off our matching earrings in this picture.

We talked for hours and had such a fun time.  And I loved it because I didn't have to sleep in an empty house.  Her name is Ashley, and she is possibly one of my favorite people in the world.

Dear Tay: I really wish you had cell phone service.

Another day down!

A little gem.

While looking through some random files on my computer the other day, I found this little gem.

Britt, me, Tay, and Kelsey

I started laughing so hard when I came across this. Dearest Kelsey Briggs sent it to me after the wedding, but I don't ever remember seeing this picture!  Taylor's face is what makes this picture a treasure.  My chunky little Asian. ;)

Hope this made your Wednesday a little bit better. :)

Baby Wallace + Weekend

This last weekend was so jam-packed, I hardly got a second to sit down and breathe!  

On Friday night, Tay and I went to a work party for doTERRA.  We got to do fun things like this:

Yep, that's my husband....

And take fun pictures like this:

After the work party, I stayed up all night preparing for sister's baby shower--baking cakes, other goodies, and making decorations.  Marci is the best party-planner--she always has creative and cutesy ideas.  So, I really wanted to make this shower perfect for her.  She's thrown me so many different parties (surprise 16th birthday party, numerous other birthday parties, bridal shower, + more!), so it was my turn to make a great memory for her.  I finally went to sleep at around 3am on Friday night...but I could hardly sleep because my mind was racing with everything I still had to do.  So I was up again three hours later at 6am.  I was pretty pleased with how it all turned out (thank you pinterest, blogs, and other internet sites!).  A big thanks to my dearest sister-in-law, Rachel, who helped plan everything! Here are some pictures of Marci's & Baby Wallace's shower:

Treats table.  Notice...blue candy, blue PRETZELS (so proud of that find), handmade banner, marshmallow rattles, and my favorite: the cake! (Oh, and the cute little baby blocks!)

Close up of edible rattles!

Close up of shirley temples (with floating ducks that decided not to float half-way through the shower)

Food table. Yummy chicken-salad croissants, baby=fruit (look closely), and yummy shirley temples!

Close up of baby fruit! (notice binky!) Thank you, Pinterest, and Rachel for doing it ;) 

Front door.

Some of the guests!

Close up of the cake! (Three layers with blue frosting on the inside!)

Gift table...as seen from the baby blocks.

One of the games we played was a "memory" game.  If you matched the words (all pregnancy related words) then you would get a candy bar that related to the word.  Here are some of the examples:

Preemie= Runts candy

OBGYN= Butterfinger ;)

Daddy= Pop Rocks

Conception = Skor  (score!) candy bar ;)

Contractions = Whoppers

Ultrasound= Look candy bar

etc, etc, etc.

If you would like to see the whole list, let me know!

Here's what the game looked like.

The rest of the weekend consisted of: Parade of Homes with Marci (so fun!), deep-dish Chicago pizza with the Utah sibs+spouses, and of couse, Father's Day!  I was so sad that I couldn't actually talk to my Dad on Father's Day (him and Mama are on an Alaskan cruise as we speak! Lucky ducks...). Regardless, Happy Father's Day to both my wonderful daddy and my amazing Father-in-Law!

A post about Miss Kelsey Briggs

Taylor and I have been looking forward to this week for quite some time!  Why? On Wednesday night, we got to pick up this darling girl (who happens to be our very best friend) from the airport:

Meet Kelsey Briggs. She was flying in from LONDON...she just finished her study abroad there!  And we missed her so very much!  

Kelsey's flight got delayed two hours (poor girl, she was traveling for over 27 hours!), so we didn't pick her up until 1:30 in the morning!  But it was worth every minute of lost sleep. :) I pretty much died of excitement when I saw her in the airport!

We even got to spend all of Thursday with her until her flight back home to Oregon this morning.  I miss her already, and can't wait until she's back in Utah for school, come August.  

Hoorah for wonderful friendships, and beautiful people like Kelsey Briggs.

Highlight of my Friday so far? (spoil alert: mushiness ahead...) Taylor left early this morning to go and play basketball.  I was still asleep when he came home and started to get ready.  When he came back into our bedroom, I asked him if he would come lay with me for a little bit longer.  He cuddled up right next to me, kissed my shoulder, and held me as he told me a story while I drifted back to sleep. Ah, I love this boy. 

I'm looking forward to this weekend: work party tonight, baby shower tomorrow morning, and Parade of Homes tomorrow afternoon!  Great posts are in store!  

The grand and the simple are equally wonderful.

Yesterday was a simple day.  Yet, it was a happy day.  Our good friend (and matchmaker!), Jordan Mckee, joined us for dinner last night.  I tried a new recipe: glazed lemon chicken over pasta.  I wasn't a huge fan, but Taylor gobbled it down and loved it (he even ate my serving!).  I think he was sad that I probably won't make it too often, since I didn't love it myself.  ;)

Our dessert plan for the night was dessert crepes.  BUT, we had a little bit of a crepe debacle.  They just weren't working for us last night.  Taylor was able to successfully make two crepes.  So he ate one of them.  The other one he offered to me...but then, it wasn't really an offer after all.  Instead, it ended up here:

Yep, right in my face.  Thanks, TayRay.

Tay and Jordo enjoyed some computer games together, while "We Bought a Zoo" played in the background.  Taylor and I really enjoyed that movie!  If you haven't seen it yet, I recommend it!  

My night was simple.  And yet, it was wonderfully happy.  Thank goodness for the grand, the simple, and the in between.

May the odds be ever in your favor...

Last night, as I was walking across the street, I ran into the Preston and Anderson children (they live across the street from us).  They excitedly told me that they were going to play Hunger Games later that night.  I instantly became interested and eagerly asked if I could join them.  After running home to tell Taylor, he couldn't help but sign up to play as well.

The kids had the whole game planned.  The cornucopia was the trampoline.  When the whistle sounded, you ran for your life to grab weapons (plastic swords, bats, hatchets, etc), food, shelter, or backpacks (the backpacks were kindly pre-packed by the fathers of the crew.  There were cards randomly set up throughout the boundaries.  If you saw one, you could choose whether or not to pick it up and read it.  Some cards would just apply to the reader, while other cards were "Gamemaker" cards and applied to the whole group.  For example, a card that just applied to the reader might read, "You have been sent a parachute of medicine.  Use it now, or save it for later."  Whereas, a Gamemaker card might read, "Anyone without shelter is dead."  If you picked up a Gamemaker card you had to yell it so everyone could hear.

Along with awesome scenario cards, there were fights all throughout the "arena."  A hit to the arm or leg was an injury; while a hit to the stomach, back, or shoulders meant death. Uh-oh... ;)

Alliances were created and alliances were broken (ahem...my dear, sweet husband formed an alliance with me during the first game and then stabbed me in the back about 3 minutes later...).

The best part of the game?  We had a horn tied to the top of a swingset.  If you died, you had to go blow the horn.  So if you were still in the game, you could keep track of how many times you heard the horn to try to figure out how many of you were left.

By the end of the night, a good amount of neighborhood adults had gathered to watch the festivities.  Their comments were strangely similar to the announcers or those belonging to the Capitol.

"Look at her...she's surviving because she stays hidden!  We only see her when there is something up for grabs!"

"Go kill him!"

"Did those two make an alliance?  What will they do if they both make it to the end?  Who do you think will betray the other first?"

"Wow, that's a strong alliance forming! They'll make it to the end."

We played over and over again, and just couldn't get enough of it!  We didn't quit until about 10:30.  Hey, neighborhood kids? Taylor and I are so grateful for your invention of this game.

We're even hoping to play again tonight!

The Tributes :)

Pictures from our weekend

I know this post is a little late, but I just saw some pictures on my phone from this past weekend that I thought I would share.

Even though Marci looks slightly bored in the picture on the right, we had a great time.

On Saturday night, we had our friends, Luke and Kaitlyn (soon to be married!!), over.  Taylor made an awesome dinner, with yummy cookies brought by L&K to enjoy afterwards. Yum! After dinner and dessert, we sat around the table and talked for a few hours.  Taylor got too excited at one point...and this is where he ended up.  It was too funny.

I think I need to start enforcing the "four feet on the ground" rule with Taylor...

This has been my life as of late: 

Reading. Eating snack-pack pudding.  It all brings me back to a more nostalgic, carefree time of my youth. Love it!

Let's play!

Taylor and I had an awesome Friday night.  We were invited on a quadruple date with some awesome couples. The hosts, Brody and Jenny, always cook the best food ever.  On the menu for the date?  Crepes! We love crepes!  First, we had savory crepes.  With a choice of ham, turkey, cheese, avocados, tomatoes, and more!  The best part?  We all sat on pillows on the floor around the grills.  We ate to our hearts content!  Then, came my favorite part: desert crepes!  Nutella, strawberries, bananas, whipped cream galore!  There were lots of laughs and good times around.

To end the night, we played our Mormon version of beer pong: root beer pong!  Taylor and I made it to the final round, but alas, did not come out the victors.  I was soooo full and ready to lose all of my crepes on the last round, so my good man was such a gent and drank all of my cups that round.  Thanks, babe. :)  I did feel a little guilty when he had to sit outside for 10 minutes afterwards to keep himself from throwing up.

Taylor and I had to leave the festivities early, because I had a big test in the morning, but we sure had a good time. What a great night!  I'm excited for what the rest of the weekend has in store for us.  I hope you all have a wonderful weekend as well!