trial run -

this afternoon i had my bridal pictures taken and then isaac came and we did a pre-shoot for our wedding day pictures. it was fun and weird at the same time to be walking around downtown salt lake city in a big white dress. cause nobody notices that at all. :)
i did get lots of people walking by saying congratulations and stuff so that was fun. i even ran into 2 of isaac's friends who work downtown and they just happened to be out having lunch when we were in the same spot.

wendell, our photographer, did a great job and was so super fun to be with all afternoon. i think my mom even had fun, too. :)

here's a pic of isaac and i that i had my mom take AFTER the professional had taken our pictures all afternoon. so - this is just a taste of what we look like in our fancy-schmancy clothes. i will say that it was fun to get all gussied up and feel pretty in my dress, but i don't think i could wear stuff like this all the time - i do like to breathe, you know.

bridal showers and pumpkin carving

this last saturday was a full day of festivities.
it started out with isaac and i apartment shopping. we found one that we really liked and will be moving into. it's kiddie-corner from Cottonwood high school and should be a great location. once we're settled and stuff - we'll invite everyone over for a spaghetti dinner. :)

after that, i went to my neighborhood / Granite ward shower at Sherry's house. (thank you sherry!!) it was so much fun to get a chance to visit with everyone and catch up.

*note to reader - sorry the pics are kind of blurry - i'm still learning to hold still when i take pics*


Keri, Renee, Shani and me


on couch: colleen, carol, marylu and mom
behind couch: sue and mamma-graybill


Sherry, Barbara, Laurel, and Pam

that afternoon we went to the Nielson family shower at my aunt juli's house.
it was so fun to get together with the fam cause we ALWAYS end up laughing and having so much fun. my cousing carrie was there who i haven't seen in years and we got to meet the newest addition to the family, cousin mark & erin's baby Josh.

me, cousin amy and cousin erin


on the couch - cousin kristin, cousin noni and cousin carrie.
behind couch - cousin marcie's daughter


cousin Amy, cousin Erin, isaac's sister Niki, and his mom Anne


haley, aunt juli, and my mom


me and the fiance


sisters....sisters....never were there such devoted sisters (insert the song from "white Christmas" here)


later that night we drove down to Whitta & Jordan's house to carve pumpkins with the fam. poor jakey-poo had to go to a dance that night, so he missed out on the fun. we had some yummy soup for dinner and had fun talking and then got into the messy project of carving our pumpkins. our pumpking was large, but dirty so we had to give it a little bath first.


another classic look from logan


go whitta!


i got to do the dirty work of diggin' the guts out


you can tell he's concentrating really hard cause his tongue is sticking out


Heidi and Logan - i love this face he's making


the Earl fam carving away


Jason & Niki


Whitta & Jordan


the newphews and the pumpkins
Bridger, Luke, Dallin & Logan


me with our finished project

this was such a fun day and such a fun night with isaac's family. (thanks whitta & jordan for letting us trash your house!)i can't wait for halloween now. especially cause we'll get to have the infamous "dinner-in-a-pumpkin" that night.

share a moment with me and isaac and our AWESOME photographer -

http://www.pacephoto.com/wendy08/

yep...i'm now going to beg

the day has come.

i am begging.

please - PLEASE - anyone out there who knows where i can purchase a plain white plastic headband, 1 1/2" to 2", PLEASE let me know.



that's all i am asking for today.

well, that and world peace.

and one more (major) thing -
i'm looking for a place for isaac and i to live.

help.

word of the day

take your pick - you must use the word you pick in a sentence.
the words are:

exigent

chapstip

ruther

now, if you don't know what any of these words are - oh well! that's part of the fun.

for the last 2 words, you'll have to ask isaac what they mean. you can reach him at isaac.earl@yahoo.com

good luck - and happy word usage!

- wedding update -

well, for my fans out there who are worried about all of our wedding plans....please rest assured. everything is A-o.k.

i got an e-mail from Jeanette last night asking for an update and i had actually been thinking i should fill you all in, so here goes.

everything is totally in control.
it just feels like we are waiting for the day to come now.

- we ordered our announcements last night and should be mailing them out by the end of October.

- my dress *should* be done being altered on saturday.

- isaac is planning the honeymoon and getting the apartment all arranged.

- the wedding cake has been ordered. it should be pretty tasty.

- the wedding decorator is good to go and she has all the details worked out.

- we're going to have our engagement pics taken this weekend and my bridal pics will follow soon after that.

- we have a few kinks to work out with the bridesmaids outfits...but i'm thinking it'll all fall into place by the wedding.

- we have had lots of friends and family offer to host bridal showers and i am so thankful for everyone that is helping. thank you for your kindness!

and just in case you're wondering - yes, we are registered at Bed, Bath & Beyond and Target.

other than that - we're just enjoying life and appreciating all the well wishes and congrats from everyone. thank you all for your support and love. it is making all of this planning for the big day even better.

and i've actually had time to study for school - which is not as fun as planning a wedding, but alas, someone must study for me so i don't go to class unprepared. the semester is 1/3 of the way over and i'm super-excited about that. i do not enjoy my economics class because i'm lost half the time. oh well.

96 years and goin' strong!

Happy Birthday to Grandma Carter today!!!!

(this is a pic from last year's birthday party - but you get the idea)

Grandma is 96 today, and still going strong.
I love you Grandma - thank you for such a wonderful legacy!

surprise on our doorstep....

the funniest thing happened this morning. my mom was talking with me as i was gathering my stuff to walk out the door to work. i was leaving and opened the front door to go to my car and surprise! there was a puppy sitting on our doorstep. i wasn't expecting it so i closed the door and went back inside. my mom said - "oh yeah, he/she followed me home from my walk. just go out and ignore him." well, i couldn't just ignore this cute little puppy. he/she started barking through the door and it was so cute cause you know it just wanted someone to play with. he/she kind of looked like a fox. it must have been some sort of collie dog mix or something. but he/she was so yappy. but fun! what a fun surprise to have this morning. so i walked out to my car and my mom came out to make sure i didn't run over it when i backed out of the driveway. i tried to get it to come over so i could pet it, but it didn't like me. it kept going back to my mom! she was so funny about it cause she kept saying - "don't worry, it'll find its way home." well, it had followed her from the neighborhood next to ours, so i hope she's right. i hope it doesn't get lost or hit or anything on its way home.
my mom was so funny about it though - she acted like she was all annoyed by it, but i think she secretly liked having it there.

the families meet.....

yesterday after the afternoon session of conference my WHOLE family went to dinner at isaac's parent's house so the two families could meet. it was so AWESOME!! we all hung out for like 3 hours and had so much fun talking and laughing.
it was so comfortable and everyone visited and talked and we had this amazing dinner and it was great.
so - the plans move on.

p.s. - how amazing was conference? when Pres. Monson announced the 5 new temples - i got HUGE chills. i can't believe there is going to be a temple in Rome, Italy. that is amazing!!

p.p.s. yesterday my nephew Keyan was playing on the treadmill at home and fell off, got stuck between the end of the treadmill and the wall and couldn't get out. his face has burns from the treadmill all down one side and the poor kid looks like he was just beat up pretty bad. but of course - to him it's a great war story. my poor sister and bro-in-law. life at their house is never boring, i guess. :)