want to see something precious?

i can't even get over this.

one of my favorites.

more to come soooon.

fresno reception

welp. still don't have our wedding pictures yet. 

fingers crossed for tomorrow.

buuut...we recieved the cd of our fresno reception pics today. 

here are a few...

life lessons

first off, i was flipping through the channels yesterday after work trying to find something semi-entertaining to watch and saw this commercial.

um, are we serious?

this kind of thing is really on t.v.?

these pour girls. something is so wrong about a 4 year old with a spray tan.

or maybe that's just my old fashioned thinking.

just watch. you might laugh. or cry. either way...

anyways.

now,  i'm no expert on life. in fact, i am probably the furthest thing from that. 

so take this with a grain of salt.

but i have recently realized a thing or two.

allow me to share..

life lesson numero uno: choose good friends. i mean really good friends.

friends who make it easy to live the gospel.

friends who are real.

friends who are happy.

just choose good ones.

life lesson number two: take the higher road. always.

is this wicked hard sometimes? unbelievably.

life lesson three: marry someone awesome.

and date a lot of people to find him.

he'll SO be worth the wait. promise.

all i need

i really love this place.

and the time that i get to spend there with my husband.

and the fact that it's 1.4 minutes from my house.

and i'm real happy that god invented love.

i'm preparing a lesson that ben and i have to teach to a group of young women about marriage.

ha. since i'm super experienced right?

point to story. i have the temple, love, marriage, etc on my mind because of this. 

hence the reason for this post.

the good stuff

bridal pictures by rebekah westover

if you are in need of a wedding photgrapher, look no further. 

she takes pretty pictures.

and a special shout out to my girl whit.

she took off work early to come meet us for our pictures to help me with my dress and make me laugh when i started to get awkward. i tend to do that in pictures. 

she was a rockstar.

thank you and goodnight.

where to start?

i'm currently sitting in our new apartment listening to my husband attempt to put together a t.v. stand in the next room. say what? oh yeah, i have a husband now. and our own cute little apartment. 

awesome. 

i'm literally obsessed with our apartment. it's impossible to be anything but happy in this place. which is just what i was going for. i'll post pictures sooon.

we ended 2010 right and started our life together on december 18th in the salt lake city temple.

it was truly the most amazing day.

perfect weather ("perfect" as in it didn't snow)

the.best.sealer.on.the.planet

all our favorite people in one place

we got to spend most of our day inside the most beautiful temple

delicious food

great music

an amazing photographer

plus i had my best friend by my side all day

i so wish i had pictures to post but they'll be here in t-minus 7ish days.

needless to say, 2010 was without a doubt one of the greatest years of our life.

and yes, here are a few highlights.

- i got to spend a summer in the pool with cute kiddos all day long

- ben ventured to fresno on memorial day weekend to meet the family. 

- i got to go to idaho for the fourth of july.

- tay and logan got MARRIED.

- which means brooklyn, and taylor and i. all in san luis obispo. together.

- brooke and stephanie surprised taylor, ally, and i during the darkness of winter semester in rexburg. it was amazing to say the least.

- ben graduated! (oh and with a 3.9 in econ finance...baffles me)

- he then got a legit job with the bank of commerce. (if you want he can even get you a special B.O.C pen. ha)

- spent a few weeks teaching swimming lessons in draper.

- 8-20-10. engaged. thanksgiving point. amazing.

- successfully completely fall semester with the most hysterical roommates.

- started my life with my best friend.

- spent 4 days in park city on our honeymoon. so amazing. plus we got a legit suite the was supposed to belong to a mr. and mrs. jessen. the hotel had a little "mix-up" that worked out in our favor. boom shakka lakka.
-clare-bear put together the most BEAUTIFUL reception in fresno. seriously guys. i can't wait to post pictures when i get them. 

it's gonna be a great year. i can feel it.

i'll refrain from getting too mushy but seriously i scored big time and have a rockstar of a husband. i ask myself daily how i managed to get so lucky.

ok, that is all.

and since i don't have wedding pics here are a few random pictures i just uploaded from my camera. in no specific order.

guitars unplugged

honeymoon in park city. beautiful.

christmas eve. didn't let go of this little guy once.

driving through the night to get to fresno. 
14 hours. 

these next few are just to remind us of warmer days.

twenty three years young

yesterday was this handsome mans birthday...

and we celebrated right. 

i scored some points and got him some new usc basketball shorts and a few other things (that he loved).

and yes, i will be listing 23 things i love about the birthday boy.

1. ben is legitimately the funniest person i know. i have laughed more in the past 10 months than i have in my entire life. and this is not an exaggeration.

2. he's wonderful with kids. he's got 11 cute little nieces and nephews that ADORE him.

3. he's not too bad to look at. and by "not to bad to look at" i mean ridiculously good looking.

4. he's got the best smile in the world.

5. not a lot of people know this, but the guy can play the piano and guitar like it's no one's business.

6. he's a great missionary.

7. he always always always puts others before himself.

8. he is the most kind hearted person i know.

9. i can trust him with anything.

10. he loves me unconditionally.

11. i don't think i have ever heard a single person say a bad word about ben. everyone knows him, everyone loves him.

12. he's always a gentlemen.

13. he is always warm. weird, i know. but i am fairly certain that something is wrong with the circulation in my body and my body temperature is at least 18 degrees cooler than the average human being. works out great.

14. he always says i look pretty/beautiful/nice. you would think it would get old but it doesn't.

15. no one can cheer me up like he can.

16. he honors his priesthood.

17. he's a family man. he loves his family and he loves mine.

18. ben is extremely intelligent. it's nice having a human encyclopedia on hand.

19. he's ambitious.

20. i am never bored when i am with him.

21. i can be myself completely when i am with him and i LOVE that. he brings out the best in me.

22. he is always willing to help. he once left my apartment and spent an hour in the freezing cold weather scraping all the ice off of my car (i drive a truck mind you) and then did ally's car as well without saying anything.

23. he's literally good at everything he tries. and he's wicked athletic which, i'm not gonna lie, i love.

happy birthday benny.

i'm kinda bummed i missed the last 22.

i love you.