The Rest of April

Although I know our April was jam-packed, I cannot remember with what exactly.

A few of the random things I remember are . . .

YLD's volunteering at the Utah Food Bank

Book club at Kim's house for Man on a Wire.

Going home for Grandpa's Birthday. His knee is doing much better. He taught me to make his famous beef stew.

Having David and Sherrie Gee, Allison and Scott Behjani, and Lamont and Carley Richardson over for dinner. Rod cooked, of course, and it was wonderful, of course! I made fresh-out-of-the-oven cookies with ice cream for dessert. They were a big hit.



Rod and I were both nominated in the Utah Business Magazine as Legal Elite.

Carley and Alex has us over for brunch. I cannot get enough of the adorable Baby J!


Although most of the month was fuzzy, I remember the weekend of the 17th all too clearly for a variety of reasons. On Friday, we tried out one of our new favorite restaurants: The Tin Angel Diner. If you haven't tried this place yet, you better. It was not at all like I expected. I thought it would be greasy spoon diner. Instead, it is a cozy eclectic restaurant that serves amazing, well-priced tapas, on mismatched china and silver.

Saturday, we went to a funeral. This was the worst kind of funeral, an unexpected one. One of our friends, Emily, passed away. She was just a little over 40 and has two very young boys. The funeral was beautiful, though. Her young husband gave the most heartbreakingly, beautiful eulogy. I hurt so much for their loss.

Afterwards, we were too downtrodden to do anything. We chose a quite dinner where we could just sit quietly next to each other. Spruce, at the Waldorf Astoria, is quite excellent.


Sunday, I injured myself at the last day of Alta. It was one of those "pride before the fall" moments. I was cruising down a black diamond run, the type of run I have been struggling with all season, feeling like a badass. The last thought I had was, "I wish Rod would turn around so he could see how great I am skiing." Then I ate it. I landed on my face with both of my legs still sticking up in the snow at weird angles. At first I thought I was fine, just embarassed, but then I stood up. The ski down was one of the most painful experiences of my life. I could not put any weight on my right leg, which made it that much more difficult to ski. I was squatting and looking foolish all while wearing my butterfly wings (costumes are a last day tradition). When we got to the bottom, I sat in the parking lot with snow wrapped around my bare leg while rod got the car. Lucky for me, the parking lot was full of other injured friends enjoying the last day festivities over a bbq. I later found out that it was a level two strain in my ankle/calf. No running for me for 2 weeks. :(

That night, we went (I hobbled) to Betsy's Birthday party and enjoyed a variety of cupcakes to go with the great company.

I know it is strange to write about all of the activities we participated at the same time as we both were so sad about Emily. But in a way, it was because of Emily that we felt compelled to be outside. Emily, who has battled a faulty heart all her life, was always a fighter who was determined to live life to the fullest, preferable outside.

Christmas in June :)

I have this weird obsession about losing photos. In addition to two back up hard drives, the computer, snapfish, and burned cds, I NEVER clear my SD cards. After much teasing by Rod (and realizing that we now own 5o+ GB of memory cards), I decided to clear them up. As I was doing that, I discovered these pictures from our Christmas party.

Easter and Goodbyes

After all of the traveling, we were excited to spend Easter at home. It was anything, but relaxing, though. Saturday we threw a going away party for our good friend, Ryan. He is moving to D.C. :( We thought it was fitting to throw an "Oh My Heck!" Utah-themed party, complete with jello salad, funeral potatoes, and casserole. I was a bit disturbed, though, when people did not immediately realize that I was dressing to fit the theme with my long-sleeved t-shirt under a tank top, long shorts, and hair teased back in the "Wasatch Front". I eventually gave up and changed clothes.

The photo booth was a big hit.




Isn't this cake amazing? Ryan's sister made it.


It was a bittersweet night. We had a lot of fun sending Ryan off, but we are sure sad to see him go. He went to law school with us, and has played an important part in so many of our law school memories--parties, Strawberry Resevoir, Bar Reviews--and post-law school memories. I can always count on Ryan for being up for making cookies or going out. He has always gone with me to Sundance and is one of my PTC buddies.

We will miss you!

The next morning, we skipped church, and headed straight for the slopes. It was the best snow we had all season AND we had the mountain (at Snowbird) almost all to ourselves. Kelly and Seth joined us. There was a foot of new snow! It was perfect. The whole day, I couldn't help but think that you could not write a more perfect day than this.

I surprised Rod with an Easter basket.

Wedding Weekend in Louisiana

Stephen and Elise were lifesavers during our wedding so we made sure to head to Louisiana early to help them out with their pre-wedding errands too. After relaxing a bit on our first night there (with a yummy seafood dinner at the Acme Oyster Company), we rolled up our sleeves and started the heavy lifting. :) Aunt Jumy and I spent my first full day there shopping for decorations and arranging flowers for the rehearsal dinner. vRod and Dad were tasked with cutting wine corks to fit in the vases.

That night, we went over to MawMaw and PawPaw's to visit with them and Uncle Eddie. On our way home, after "rescuing" the neighbor's dog, we called Stephen to see if he needed us to bring him anything. He then informed us that the Art House, where the reception would take place, had a broken pipe and the strings of lights they were handing kept blowing out fuses. He later told us that, that night the Art House flooded. Apparently there was an inch of water on the floor the next day (the day before the wedding). He, of course, hid that fact from Elise, who already had enough to be stressed about.

While Stephen was, unbeknownst to us, cleaning up the water mess, we headed to the cute little town of Covington, Elise's hometown, where the wedding would take place. MawMaw and I actually had a couple of hours relaxing over the bridal luncheon and mimosas at a cute lakeside restaurant, the Lake House, in Mandeville. The location was beautiful and the food good. Elise was so cute and got everyone thank you gifts. She is always so thoughtful.

After the breakfast, MawMaw and PawPaw dropped me off at Camelia House, the cozy bed and breakfast where Rod and I were staying. The room was straight out of Martha Stewart's house with cute, thoughtful details. The propietor had a plate of fresh fruit and chocolate covered strawberries to greet us. Unfortunately, my clothes (and everthing else) were locked in the trunk of the car, which was parked in front of the Art House while Rod and his dad were sent to New Orleans to pick up glasses. Due to traffic and construction, they got back just in time for the rehearsal. As soon as they got back, I got ready and headed to the rehearsal dinner locale, Del Porto, to decorate. I think it turned out really cute.


The rehearsal dinner itself was quite good too. The food was fantastic.

After the dinner wrapped up, we headed to the neighborhood bar. It was pretty packed. That did not deter the bride from getting up on stage to sing Bon Jovi with the band though. :) Out of respect for the bride, I won't post that video.

On the wedding day, I got up for a quick run around the cute town. I accidentally poached a 5K that happened to be running on the same route that the B&B's proprietor had recommended. After breakfast, Rod and I headed over to the Art House to help out. The transformation of the Art House was pretty spectacular. It has never been used for a reception before. With the whole family's help, they completely cleaned up the location, including removing and cleaning the area of the potter's wheel. Elise's dad hired an electrician to re-wire the site for their lights. The parking lot was transformed with a tent and chandelier.

I snuck into the Art House on my way to the ceremony (everything was within walking distance of our B&B), which was at St. Peter's cathedral, to take some pictures of the cute details.





I, unfortunately, was not as diligent about taking pictures during the ceremony or reception. I guess I was too busy visiting and attacking the buffet. (I always feel awkward taking pictures where there is a professional being paid to photograph).

Stephen and Elise left straight from the reception to their honeymoon in Belize.

We spent the rest of our trip hanging out with the family. Eddie and Patti introduced me to my new favorite store, The Royal Standard. It is a consignment shop with truly cool home-crafted items and vintage finds. I spent way too much money! We also had a nice dinner at MawMaw and PawPaw's to celebrate Aunt Terri's birthday. I managed not to break all the dishes this time.


We were also lucky to get there right in the middle of crawfish season. Yum!