A very pretty wedding reception brought to you by Sara and Chad

Sara and Chad are high school sweethearts who tied the knot this weekend. Their sealing was beautiful, and I'm soooo excited for these two as they start their married life together.  

Lara, Kristen, Sara and I were all room mates for a year right after Chad left on his two year mission. I can't believe it's been three years since then already! 

Anyway, they are also like, the most stylish couple ever. EVER. Sara poured their personality into every little detail, and while I know she had to be losing her mind--she also graduated with her BS in May, and started a Masters in Accounting program this summer--eeks!--I'd say all the stress paid off in a big way.  See for yourself:

Happy Wedding to Sara and Chad! Being married is such an exhilarating, exasperating, extraordinary thing. Enjoy the ride :)

A Wedding Roadtrip

This was Sara and Chad's wedding weekend. Cory had finals on Friday afternoon, so he wasn't going to be able to make the trip down to Orlando/Tampa for the wedding and reception. I was dreading making that drive on my own. After talking with Lara, we decided to make a girl's weekend out of it. Best. Decision. Ever.

I was super pumped about our plans (it's been way too long since Lara and I got up to our usual hi-jinks). We had a whole day of "big city" shopping planned. IKEA, Anthropologie, H&M...basically everything amazing. When I told Cory our plans he said, "That literally sounds like a nightmare I once had." To each his own, I suppose.

Anyway, we left Friday afternoon, and our first stop was the Orlando temple for their sealing. The Orlando temple is so brightly lit at night--its this huge gleaming beacon. Sooo pretty.

After the sealing we headed over to a highly recommended Mom & Pop restaurant down the street called Yellow Dog Eats. Everyone I've ever talked to about it raves and raves, so we finally gave it a shot. It was SOO good. It's definitely my new go to spot for after the temple sustenance. 

I ordered The Roofus (A vertiable mountain of pulled pork, brie, and raspberry sauce) and Lara ordered the Holy Crap sandwich (avocado, turkey, thick crispy bacon, and something else that is amazing).  We switched halfway through, so we each got to try two things, which is basically the premise of our entire friendship. Its a beautiful thing.

Kristen told us about this mystery 4 star hotel deal on Hotwire (they don't let you see the name of the hotel before you book), and I must say, it really worked out for us. After booking our deal we found out we'd be staying at the Rosen Shingle Creek Hotel and Convention Center, for less than 1/2 of the usual price. I don't think I've ever been in such a swanky, gigantic hotel before.  They had three swimming pools! When is that even necessary?? Also, they made you pay for parking, which sucks. But even with that, it was still a better deal than any other hotel, so we'll call it even.

We woke up bright and early Saturday morning because we had to get our shopping on. As my brother-in-law Juan would say, "Women be shopping!"

These are our game faces:

We didn't really go crazy and buy a ton of stuff. A lot of the places we were content to just look at pretty things and hold them close to our bodies. After an intense day of shopping, here are two of my favorite finds:

They just make me so happy. 

Our last stop on the consumer driven day o' fun was Cheesecake Factory. Neither of us had ever been before, and I must say, it was delicious (and the lunch portions are HUGE. Do dinner size portions come out to you in giant metal tubs? I just don't understand how they could physically be any bigger).

 We ate maybe a fourth of the food they put in front of us and could barely move our bodies out of the place. We were seriously considering asking for some kind of trolley service. They should look into that. Anyway, we dug deep and found the strength to walk our stuffed bellies to the car and began the journey to Odessa for the wedding reception. (Pictures of that to come soon).

We had to leave the wedding reception early to make it home before 1:00 AM. We both came home completely exhausted (and the later it got, the weirder things got in the car. I don't even remember half the trip home), but it was such a fun girl's get-a-way. Also, it should be noted, I can't count the number of times we heard that "So Call Me Baby" song on the radio. And strangely, it got better every time.

Dad's Favorite Movies

We don't really watch TV. I don't think my parents have paid for cable in the entire 30 years they've been married. Instead they buy movies, and when they want to unwind, they pop a classic in. We're the type of family that watches movies again, and again, and again. We watch them until we can quote them, and then we quote them while we watch them.

If my dad isn't out working on the yard, you can find him slouched on the couch (its a very particular posture--you have to sink down until your butt hangs off the bottom, and your head is awkwardly touching the place where your back should go. It sounds so wrong, but feels so right. Try it. You'll see.), snoozing away to one of his favorite movies.

In honor of Father's Day, I've compiled a list of the movies you can expect to be playing while he snores endearingly on the couch unwinds.

Here they are, in the order they popped into my head:

The Shakiest Gun in the West 
This movie has a drunken Don Knotts threatening to "spread dental hygiene across the west like a plague." Oh yes, its good. It was on Netflix Instant play a while back, and we definitely hit that up. Also the right answer to any question you don't know the answer to is "Waatay?"

The Music Man 
This is an amazing musical. And you haven't really lived until you've heard my Dad implore, "Play to me!! Play to me!!"

Singin' in the Rain
I know I've talked about my family's love for this movie before, but, I'm going to talk about it some more because, really. It's that good. Ever since Cory saw it if he hears a french sounding word he'll say "Oh Peirre, You shouldn't have come!" except he substitutes the french sounding word in there. The other day while I was telling him we need to buy an armoire he says, "Oh Armoire! You shouldn't have come!" And of course I reply with "Yes, Yes, Yes. NO. NO. NO!"


Entrapment 
Catherine Zeta-Jones and Sean Connery go all black ops on you. It's never gets old.

My Fair Lady 
My mom hates the ending of this movie. It makes her really angry that Eliza changes so drastically, and Dr. Higgins is all "Where the devil are my slippers?" Other than that one little thing though, we're all on board with this movie.

Pride and Prejudice 
The new one.  My dad can't stand the BBC version, and if it is ever playing will mock it. I think Mr. Collins is my dad's favorite character. He definitely laughs the most anytime he's on the screen (and for good reason).


Ever After
Drew Barrymore's best work, by far. Who doesn't love a good Cinderella story though, really?

The Princess Bride 
I can remember the day my dad picked this movie up at a Hastings Rental Store. We were expecting a serious, "Ever After-esque" movie. We got...well, The Princess Bride. We've overcome the initial disappointment, and now the movie has made it on to this list, so yea. We like it a lot.

The Count of Monte Cristo 
Who doesn't love this epic movie? Seriously, so good.

The Man from Snowy River 
If you've heard of this one, marry me. Right. Now.  It's got Australian accents, tight jeans, and rogue stallions.

The Return to Snowy River
The sequel to The Man from Snowy River. More accents, jeans, and stallions. Also, it ties up a lot of loose ends from the first one, so thats a bonus. I hear there was even a third one made, but thats not something we talk about here.

The Mask of Zorro
Action, romance, Spanish accents. There's something there for the whole family.

I can't watch ANY of these movies without thinking about my Dad. He's got pretty good movie taste, don't you think?

Now, I'm going to close with a million pictures of my Dad mostly because I can. And I really couldn't choose. They are all amazing, if you ask me. The non-ironic 'stash is so Ron Swanson. Holy cow, I just realized that if Ron Swanson were a real person, he and my Dad would pretty much be best friends.

I love my Dad. And I think I'm going to add all of those movies to my cart on Amazon. Because I need them in my life for always.

Tangled up in some fun

This weekend we celebrated Ava's birthday with Danny and Joanna. I remember snuggling a little tiny baby Ava back in the days when Cory and I had been dating for 2 months. Now she's three. THREE? My goodness. The party was a Tangled theme, and it was so freaking adorable.

I don't have children but I probably watched that movie 4 or 5 times back when it was on Netflix Instant Play. It's just good clean fun. And I still think the lantern scene should have won some kind of "most romantic and awesome thing ever" oscar or something. I swoon every time. I don't know what that says about me but...

Anyway,  Joanna went all out on the details. We got together night before and wove a zillion yellow yarn braids using this tutorial, and I think they were pretty dang cute.  She also had braided breadsticks, cast iron frying pans, hanging lanterns, and a tower of cupcakes. Not to mention the "Snuggley Duckling" drink station, which made me laugh quite a bit. It's the little things, ya'll.

See?? Stinkin' adorable. And everyone had a good time snuggling sleepy little Cole. Who is super cute and can sleep through the three hours of chaos that is a 3 year old's birthday party? This guy:

Now. Is this weekend almost over? That's just not fair. Back to work, I suppose. I was filling in my desk calendar the other day (I have to write things down, or else I forget everything I'm supposed to do) and I realized I have something scheduled already for every weekend in June! Every weekend! And we're just getting started. Here's to keeping busy.