Today is my birthday

OK so no it is not my birthday today but I did intend to get this post out then. It was actually monday - 4/20 - MY GOLDEN BIRTHDAY!!! WOOOOOoooooooooooo 20 on 20. Wow. I..... am twenty. Weird.

I want to start off by saying to my family that even if I don't keep in contact as much as I should, I think about yall quite often and miss you a lot. I appreciate everything you've ever done for me and I think yall are all amazing and that i'm blessed to have you in my family. I love you!

SO we just finished the 1st semester for this year (I got all As but 1) and then came our version of Spring Break. I went and spent the first weekend - Easter weekend - with Mom's side of the family in Lindon. We saw Monsters vs. Aliens - WHICH, by the way, has a hilarious scene involving the U.S. president and techno music and it just cracked me to pieces - played games and then we went to THIS GUY's house:

We decorated eggs with Tiger who is so friggin cute and well-mannered too! hahahah love him he's so quirky and darling.

Sunday we went to church then came back and Cory/Mindy/Tiger, Kerri/Phil/Cole/Sam/Kate, & Todd/Tess came over. It was awesome to see everyone!

So first we ate probably the best meal I've had this year, since coming up to school and it was amazing. Then we all went and the kids had an Easter Egg hunt! I bet Cole was probably the first one done - that kid never seemed to stop moving! Definitely an on-the-go player. Tiger decided he would share his eggs with Todd & Tess, since of course they didn't join in the hunt:

And cousin Cory got out his thrilling remote controlled truck and he was sending that terror everywhere - it even hit a parked car hahahahhaha.. the damage was definitely one sided. He & Todd geeked out over it for awhile. Of course Cole was entranced the entire time and i'm pretty sure his eyes never left the car. Like ever.
... well unless cousin Cory chases him with it. Then Sam & Kate tried to run and beat the car across the backyard. Sam got close..... and then she got trapped in the swinging bench by the car. Through all of this, Suzie Q remained very chill and indifferent, just sitting out in the middle of all the commotion hahahhahaha.

And then we opened Auntie Annette's baskets and found..... BUBBLES!! Cole and Tiger had a good time with these, but then cole accidentally spilled his. Sad day!!! Tiger pressed on hard and true though! Right up till we had delicious dessert - boy do I love angel food cake....

Later we played a game of Bang, which was okay but I think we'll play a different one next time.
Monday, Grandma took me out to Kneaders - which was another delicious meal! (aunt annette took me that last saturday) - and then made the tradeoff. She dropped me off at Thanksgiving point where I watched MOST of Fast and the Furious (by the way.. i hate how those movies are named), then DInga had arrived to pick me up before the end. So when it comes on redbox i'll go check it out.

All the week when I was at Inga's we did random things. Yard work took up most mornings - which, i happened to enjoy. Well except the sticks.. the first day we piled sticks into a trunk but i got tons of gashes on my exposed calves so now I have more scars. I don't heal like I used to. Other than that I pretty much weeded. We got a LOT done. Inga's mom was a peach and bought us delicious foods that week. Tuesday night we went to Todd & Tess's - only like 20-30 min away! - and played Killer Bunnies. Which is a super fun game! And it was nice being able to see them again though I fear I may have scared them hah.

Uhhhhhhh then we went to 2 of her sister's houses which are grand and look like they should be in a magazine. Like.. really. Wow. Gorgeous. At Melissa's house we just talked for awhile, played with the parakeet & kids and saw their tax return - a boat! They're so stoked to use it. Dinga were excited that now they were related to a boat hahahha. Then we went and had roast at Scott & Rachelle's and I played with the kids mostly while everyone else was talking and I really really love Inga's niece Gracie, she is just so darling! We are Tinkerbell pink princess friends now hahah.

One of the nights we were there, Dinga took me to a costume shop. Now they wouldn't tell me where we were going, but my birthday surprise was that I would dress up in a costume and wear it to wherever we were going. They wouldnt tell me and even said it was not a performance.. if i'd known it was, i woulda made a diff decision but it was grand anyway! SO here are some of the rejects:

TEXASSSSSS!!!:

Mother Nature:

Cirque de Soleil - looking back I shoulda chosen this one, but the skirt had the potential of going up and I didn't know what we were doing so if it was like a dance or something i didn't want to be at risk or anything:

Uhhhhhhhhhh... i don't know:


Uhhh.......... I REALLY don't know:

The "OH MY GOSH FABRIC" Star's gown Nightmare:

The CLOWN:

Gatsby Flapper Girl is the one we chose - Dinga said it would be best for the event. It was pretty cool. And comfortable.. that was nice. I liked that I was comfy in it.
We went to the Desert Star theater where they do musical spoofs of things. Ours was a spoof of American Idol and I thought it was funny. What was better was this 'olio' thing after it, where they did funny stuff with love songs. Next show will be their take on Bond movies muhahaha.


Other stuff I did while I was there..... I watched all of the Trek movies. So as to have some familiarity for the Trek movie that comes out next friday the 8th. It looks super good. You want to know what else looks good? WOLVERINE!!! this FRIDAY!! I'm SO stoked. I've been waiting since i heard it was in the works, like 2 years ago. And I also want to see 17 again too.. unfortunately i have no money for these sorts of things and must remember that.

We also did some shopping and other stuff. And they had their first photoshoot with an awesome photographer, I think he's cool. And he totally showed me up cuz WE actually had our own photoshoot - we went to a park that Dan & Inga usually go to and I took some pictures. Some of my faves are in here:

This is one of my faves:

LOOK!! it makes a heart!! completely on accident!!:
Spider man:
Romeo & Juliet:

The dips were hard to do but I love em!

They thought this would be stupid when they did it all candid-like and making fun of me, but it turns out this is one of their top favorites:

Dan proposed to Inga when she jumped off a swing to him so swings are kind of a big deal:

Dan being a dork:

Another favorite of mine:

Inga likes this one a lot - it looks like Dan is on her shoulders!

The ring:

So awkward.. but i like it hahaha
She TRIED to make it go down but it just wasn't working hahah:

Inga's mom goes "this one can NOT be on the announcements!!!!!!!!!!!!" ahahhahahah!:

Other than all that, i've started my second semester, and i'm already sick of all my classes. And motivation is difficult to find. But I am doing okay. We played games this weekend, including a version of Cops & Robbers, except with partners tied to you. We were one of the winners btw. woo! then i think we're playing cards tomorrow after church/dinner. Well I suppose i'm to go to bed now!! thanks for reading and have a wonderful day!!

One Step Closer..

OK!
so lets update yall on the rest of the semester, shall we? First off - Dan's birthday!! haha we had them cut the cake in a special way ;)


Dan and Inga are so cute! They've been over a lot - and Dan's actually taking me to Utah this weekend to visit my grandparents, then I spend the rest of the week with Dinga to plan the wedding, take pictures and all that jazz. Dan came over not too too long ago and I taught him a few swing dances that they worked on haha.

Dinga Relationstrip:

Alexis & I went with Dinga a few weeks ago to visit family, begin wedding preparation.....

.... and most importantly - to pick out The Dress!


Inga's model family (Inga, Rochelle, Mama Baker, Melissa):

Rochelle is entered in a Mrs.USA competition, or something to that effect, and so she showed us one of her chosen pageant dresses. To think, she's had like 4 kids already

Melissa with one of Rochelle's bebes, who does not look pleased hahah:

SURPRISE!! I'm actually getting married!!:

hahahah i kid, i kid. You can stop with the heart attack now Mum. Alexis & I decided to dress up too, just to see what the fuss was all about:

So, I'm unable to post The Dress on here, but these are just a few of the rejects:



Inga's main dress's colors aren't acceptable in the temple so she did get a temple dress. It's flowy!:

Lex & I are actually tied for maid of honor by the way! I love having joint responsibility for that position!

So we had this joke with Inga, we were like, "no WAY are we wearing yellow dresses!! If you pick yellow as one of your wedding colors we aren't coming!!"

hahah. So we decided that just for a little fun, we would try on some sunny brite dresses.

sha-BAM:

It was a fun weekend!



So then on the way home, we decided to stop by the Bountiful Temple

LOOK!! their shadow has a heart in it!!


Inga originally wanted to marry in the Salt Lake Temple, however it will be closed. So they decided on the Bountiful Temple instead; Inga had never been there. When we did come, I pointed out a few things and they looked around and both Inga and Dan were more relaxed and excited to marry there - they loved it! One of their favorites was the beautiful view over the city.



So out of Dinga news, we had a new edition to our home! GUNTHER!:

Our poor cart fellow - he was just shivering out in the cold & snow outside our door with no place to go, so we brought him in and gave him shelter from the elements. We fed him soup and everything - since then he really hasn't wanted to leave.


I even took naps with Gunther!:


MOVING ON - my sister came to visit!! Definitely a semester highlight.

And she brought with her the first of many 2009 gorgeous skies:


We had an Irish party!

I cooked my yummy apple salad, corned beef & cabbage, Luck o' the Irish chicken & dumplings, punch, caramel corn, brought a keg of 'homemade' root beer, and Madeline made green rice krispies! Others brought other yummyness:

My dear friend Jacob - HE LOOKS LIKE A LEPRECHAUN!! :D


I think madelines started to get sick of taking pictures after awhile

one of our super fun activites was..... STUDYING! YAYY! :D

'Course we still had fun with it:

& Inga stopped by to distract us! It was fun having Inga & Madeline together because they are very similar, well to me at least.


I didn't take this picture, but Madeline & I also went to the temple together. I haven't been to the temple with her since Young Women's and she'd never been to a walk-in before so it was pretty cool all in all.

With some of my old roomies, we went to Wingers - one of my favorites here! - and got some deliciousness! Even though they were slow bringing out Madeline's stuff, they're still #1 in my book for Rexburg


We all just happened to show up in pink! Completely on accident! My mom must be so happy; that's her favorite color hahah:

We did a lot of other stuff, including classes. Madeline said she enjoyed some of them, but i don't know if she was just being nice hahahaha. All in all a very fun week, even if it was jam-packed of stuff to do.

And then I was alone again :/

then about 2 weekends ago, we went to Jacob (the leprechaun from my Irish party!) and Tracey's wedding in Logan!:


I did Nelson's hair for the reception - breathtakingly beautiful, no?

I also caught the bouquet... but don't worry I'm not getting married for at least 4 years.

We saved the reception by bringing some Mountain Dew! Mmmmmmm....
definitely the choice drink of our group


So then I went to go surprise Ali & Jake but sadly they were away that weekend. Darn!
In between the wedding and reception we decided to go to Ryan's Place Park! Which as i've mentioned before is the coolest park I've ever been to.

This is the group I hang out with most (btw mom, Nelson is Talmage's brother); we usually go to David & Livy's to play games. I'm going to be sad when they are on track next semester so they can't play games as much due to homework :(
From right: Olivia (Livy), David, Nelson and then ME


We really had some fun!

The park brought out the child in everyone (well... more than usual ;] )


David had a cold so he was kind of miserable ahaha:

The Dragon's Breath Slide:

Slide of Death for Nelson hahahahaha:


For April Fools, we kidnapped our neighbor's bear and sent a ransom picture. It says "Alyssa, help me I've been kidnapped - Bear":

And pretty much since then it has been temperamental, hormonal, bipolar weather, which madeline can attest to. There was one freak blizzard about a week or so ago. I don't think Charlissa appreciated it:

so just the semester wrap up now. All my projects got done and turned in - IN TIME - and I've taken 3 finals with one to go, later on today. Then the break. And what a relief that will be..... mmm..