Me as a Bridesmaid!

Claire, one of my roommates from freshman year, got engaged to a fabulous returned missionary during winter semester and got married in the Salt Lake City Temple on August 19th.

That day was so beautiful! The sun was shining and you could just feel the happiness radiating from the two newly weds. I'm so happy for Claire and I'm so excited for her to spend happily ever after with Paul!

First, we dressed up in Sunday best that morning and went to watch Claire and Paul come out of the temple after the wedding ceremony. Claire came out of the doors with the biggest smile on her face and she threw her arms up in the air and Paul kissed her. How cute is that?? Trying to take pictures was interesting because the sun was right in our eyes and we were trying our best to look serious while laughing because we were squinting so hard!

Later, we went to her luncheon in the Joseph Smith memorial building, on the highest floor. The neat thing about the luncheon is that the windows looked right out at the temple spires. Claire's family and Paul's family each talked a little, and it was clear that both families were happy and excited for the couple. Paul read a list of analogies of how much he loved Claire which was hilarious! The food was great and the atmosphere was positively lovely.

After the luncheon all of us roommies went back to Annie's house and got dressed in our bridesmaid skirts, which Claire's older sister Kelly, had made custom for each of us. We got to the reception place early to take pictures with the groomsmen. The reception area was beautiful and decorated in pale spring flowers. I felt so happy there! I know that Claire and Paul were meant to be.

Check out a few pics! Click them to see a bigger view :)

 From left to right: Claire's family friend, me, Annie, Claire, Audrey, Kristen, Laryssa, another friend

 "Get sassy!" said the photographer... :)

 The original roommies by the Salt Lake City temple reflection pool

 The bridesmaids and the groomsmen! (Keep in mind we did not know these boys until just that night!) I am the third girl from the right ... Bryce helped me hold my bouquet haha!

 Claire and I :)

 Silly gals!

 Laryssa and I being silly!

 Bridesmaids! Very cute!

 With the bride

My favorite :)

College Decor Checklist

Alright all you cute college gals! It's that time of the year ... getting ready for college! Pretty soon, all of us will be gone and away from our homes, so we need to make homes for ourselves! What's the best way, in my opinion, to make your brick-and-cement dorm room feel like home? Decor!!!

1. Colorful bedspread - the bed is probably the biggest thing in your room so it's gotta be the focal point! Make it cute with:

• matching pillows - you can make your own by getting a pillow stuffer (round or square) at a craft store and then getting a legit adult to help you sew cute fabric or fabric flowers on it
• big blanket - nothing is cozier than a big fluffy blanket in the middle of winter in Utah, lemme tell ya!
• make it everyday! if my bed isn't made, it feels like my whole room is a mess
• enjoy!

2. Wall decor - you will probably have brick or cement walls. Or the walls will be just plain ugly! So you gotta make it cute!

• cute corkboards - you know that fabric you used to sew your cute bed pillows? if you have extra, you can glue the fabric on some pieces of square corkboard and then use "BYU Housing Approved Tape" or something like that to put the corkboard pieces in a nice arranged fashion on your wall by your bed - this will not only make your room look more matchy but it will also let you pin notes and reminders somewhere you'll see everyday!
• posters or artwork - if you have posters or artwork you love from home, you can bring those too and get posterboard (in a color that will match your bed) to use as a backdrop for the poster
• letters of your name - alright, so I'm being a bit promotional here but I got some letters at the Parent Teacher Store to spell my name and my roommate's name. They are super cute and I'll be putting these on my wall.
• butcher paper! - you can't paint your walls, but you can tape giant pieces of paper to your walls! I didn't do this in my room last year, but we did it in our kitchen for a "quote wall" - now THAT was fun haha.



3. Organization - I promise, if you can come home to a clean, organized room, you will feel so much better about your day, no matter what happens.

• WalMart's got it all - okay, we all know Target is more expensive. WalMart has a ton of different colored plastic bins - not everything has to match, but if you can kind of choose a color scheme (for example, you only use light blue, lime green, and yellow) then stick with it!

*** Remember, wherever you are living, there will be some rules about what you can hang up with what. For example, where I was living, you couldn't put tape on the walls because it would peel the paint. But I invested in "mavalous tape" (bought at the Parent Teacher Store) which doesn't rip paint off walls and it sticks pretty well too. Check with your housing people before you hang anything up to make sure it won't go against any codes or rules.

And remember, have fun!!! You'll be on you own and this is your own territory - make it yours! :)



This was my room last year - I got the hot pink and brown twin bed set at Ross and my grammy helped make the pillows. We got the fabric at JoAnn's in the clearance fabric section. The letters are from the Parent Teacher Store. I got a matching bedside lamp at Wal Mart.

Stay tuned for pics of my new room in late August! :)

And as always, if you read my blog and you haven't already done this, click "Follow" on the left hand side of this webpage. You'll be able to get updates from my blog from your email!

30 Super Cute Hairstyles

So I found this great blog where a gal in Utah did a "30 Hairstyles in 30 Days" challenge.

There are 30 different hairstyles that are all super cute! Most of them are really easy.

(Today in church I did a "waterfall braid" in my little sister's hair. It turned out great!)

Click on the box below! Also, feel free to comment if you try any of these and I'll try to post pics of the ones I've tried!

 First day of school: Waterfall braid!

 Another view of waterfall braid!

Not listed in the 30 hairstyles but I curled her hair with my new straightener. Gorgeous!

Stay tuned for more and don't forget to let me know if you tried out any of these hairstyles too! :)