Summertime smatterings

Justin got a new toy! He's been hemming and hawing about getting it and then one day he finally did! He got a nexus 7 tablet. It's basically an Ipad but with Google instead of Apple. ( Justin is kind of anti apple. ) 

He's been having lots of fun with it, playing games mostly but also doing some writing. I have been having fun with the games as well. Sometimes...Justin will even let me take it to work. 

This little bro of mine had a birthday and turned 15. He's is getting so big and tall. I used to be able to win any argument by taking him down, I don't think I can do that any more. =) He's a fun and energetic brother. We love him.

This was by our mailbox one day. I love it for so many reasons. The spelling of lemonade, the attempts at how to spell house, and the fact that I have no idea where "lizzy house" is. Got to love all the kids in the neighbor hood. Our neighborhood has been great. We've had our lawn mowed twice by secret service neighbors. We are so grateful. 

My sisters and I worked on one of my mom's summer bucket list items. To summit Mt Timpanogas! It's different then the cave hike, it's on the other side of the giant mountain. It was a really pretty hike, but very long about 6.5 miles round trip. I was surprised by how green everything was in July especially since it was when all the fires were happening. 

Yeah....we were going to go to the top of that bad boy.I was kind of being a wimp and had to take lots of breaks. I was sorely out of shape but we still had fun.

When we got to the almost top we saw cute little mountain goats. Just hanging out. In all my hikes around Utah and other places I have never seen a Mountain goat in real life. So I thought it was pretty cool. By the time we got to this part we were all so tired and really didn't want to summit. But the views were still pretty.

We had fun and were super tired. We came home to an awesome dinner made by Justin. We've been having fun this summer and hope that you have too!

Brigham City Temple

On Saturday we went to the Brigham City Temple open house. It was such a beautiful temple! All temples are beautiful but this one had some very pretty aspects. It was modern with a pioneer edge to it. One thing that I loved about it was that they had lots of windows in the rooms letting in this beautiful natural light. They had gorgeous chandeliers around and really pretty stained glass windows. 

Along with the beauty of the temple the peace and joy that comes from going to the temple was there, even with the noise from the other guests and little kids. It was really special to share it with the Messenger family. We were supposed to meet my mom and sisters there but they got detained behind a car crash on their way. However, we saw them heading into the temple as we were on our way out so we stopped to say hi and tell them how pretty it is. 

One thing that I really liked was in the movie they show you before explaining temples and what we do in them, Elder Holland talked about his version of heaven. How in his version of heaven his family is all there with him and his wife.

It really hit me and made me grateful for the opportunity to be together with my family forever. My family that I grew up with, the family I gained with marriage, and the family that Justin and I will someday have. That is my definition of heaven as well. 

It's a lovely place and I can't wait to go through it again and really soak in the beauty of it all. I encourage you all to go! You don't need a ticket or anything just show up and they'll get you through. It might take longer but it's worth it. 

I love going to the temple and know that no matter what is going on in your life, you can find peace, joy, and courage to face your trials. 

Date night

A couple of weekends ago Justin and I actually went on a date. We have been redboxing it lately and really needed to get out of the house. So Justin came home early, I got all cute and we went out. I had a gift card to Olive Garden from work so that's what we did for dinner. 

Then Justin had a giftcard to the movies and earlier that week got us tickets for , The Hunger Games, which came out that weekend. So it was practically a free date all we had to pay for was the little extra at dinner and a tip.

I loved the movie! I had read the series last year and I really liked it. I reread it in preparation for it. I have to say for a book made into movie it was really good. It stayed really true to the book and the things that they changed made sense. The only things I had problems with were more technical like the camera moving all over the place during the action scene, and then Katniss seemed to not knew her lines or something cause it took her forever to say them. But over all I liked it. I especially liked that I got to have fun with Justin and do something different. 

I then had a fun surprise date with my sister Natalie. She came over and woke me up ( hehe) and we went to the new awesome mall in Salt Lake! It was pretty awesome and we had fun shopping and looking around. 

It's always fun to spend time with the people I love.=)

Jyana and Ben

Last Sunday on October 9,2011 Jyana and Ben got married.

It was a beautiful ceremony right at what I like to call " golden hour" with the sun.

They got married outside on Fort Douglas up at the University of Utah in a cool Gazebo type place.

I was having lots of Gilmore Girls flash backs and kept thinking of the fun times they had in their gazebo. =) 

The first picture is from the Genius of Jyana. She got the idea and then got us all to make it happen.

Isn't it so cool?! It's a bunch of paper squares strung on string , then on a hoop.They suspended it from the ceiling of the gazebo.It caught the light and blew in the breeze to make it very picturesque.

Grandma and Grandpa Michilena waiting for the ceremony to start with Ali and Lourdes in the back. ( Justin's aunts.)

Grandma and Grandpa Messenger. This is the first time that Grandpa has ever been in a tux! He looked pretty good too!

Here they come! Jourdan first.

Jyana's Best friend since forever as the Maid of Honor.

The cute little flowers girls and ring bearers. I loved their puffy dresses.

Here comes the Bride!

A little bit closer!

Jyana looked absolutely beautiful and just glowed the whole day. 

Ok, so I love this picture. This is Ben's face as Jyana came toward him. It is so sweet and made me the most teary. I love the bit from 27 dresses about how the Groom's face is the main character's favorite part of the wedding and I have to agree. I was working to get that moment captured. So sweet. 

Getting the ceremony started. Funny side note, Ben is over 6 feet tall, like well over and Jyana is barely over 5ft. So she brought a stool to stand on so that they could be more level. I am bummed that I didn't get a picture.

Ok so another funny moment. The ring bearer boys were being little boys during the ceremony and I just love Jourdan's face looking at them. They were pretty quiet just busy.

So pretty. They had a poem like thing that they said as their vows and it was beautiful. One thing that I really liked from it was basically saying, I love what I know and what I don't yet understand. Or something to that effect. I really liked that because there is a lot you don't know about someone when you get married no matter how long you have known them. Which in a way is one of the best things about marriage, finding out more and more about your spouse and trying to love all that they are.

The Wedding party...looking not at me. hehe.

The cake! Yes it is wood on top and I think that they made it. The girl one has wire all on for a dress.

First dance, please excuse the lighting on some of the pictures it was a little bit tricky. Their first dance was so special and beautiful. There was a hush all over the room and you felt like you got a peek of the love that they have for each other.

After that we had some fun Latin music and we got taught some Salsa and other dances. It was fun and I actually got Justin to dance with me. =)

It was a great day and we are so happy for them.