kim and vans wedding

the weekend of october 10th arrived, and we all drove down to the manti temple for kim and van! i was part of the bridesmaids, and it was just such a fun wedding because we are all such a tight knit group of friends that it feels more like family than anything (we actually really do refer to our group as "the family"). kim and van are so perfect for each other, and as i continue to see couples as happy as them, or as my sister heather and jess, it makes me so excited to find that for myself someday! (someday... lol).

below is a picture of the bridesmaids, the groomsmen, and the happy couple! left to right: johnny, "brown", mike, josh, jared, van, kim, kayla, brittany, me, mckell, and sharis.

here was one of the funny group pics we took with all the friends outside the temple! i wont name everyone because i dont feel like it haha.

and lastly here is a pic of kim and her bridesmaids outside the temple! :) top row: kayla, kim, mckell; bottom row: me, britt, sharis.

so thats all for now! i'm sure ill have some interesting posts this week with halloween and several activites going on! love you all xoxo

Lake Powell Video

As you may remember from a previous post, i went to a HUGE lake powell trip for memorial weekend. there was a clothing company there called Vooray, and Todd Nyman ( a vooray rep) had some pretty sick video equipment and recorded over 2 hours of footage from our trip. Here is a teaser clip he sent us the link to. enjoy!!

http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#/video/video.php?v=1273479075690&ref=mf

check out my new blog!!!

Hey check out my new blog! http://howtogentlybreakaheart.blogspot.com/

I know I already have one (you're reading it right now!) but I wanted to start one that was different. :) check it out and let me know what you think!

xoxo aly

mesa mesa mesa....

so here are a few updates for my life here in mesa:

:: boys actually take you on dates here! such a refreshing change from the normal "let's hang out" routine in utah

:: i have found a total of 5 scorpions so far in my house. 3 of them were in my room.. awesome. (and random fact of the day, scorpions actually glow under black light. as if they aren't creepy enough!! why they gotta glow under black lights too??)

:: sunsets seem to be more beautiful in arizona than i've experienced before! i find myself lost in them when im driving home from work!

:: there is a pack of havalena that live in my neighborhood... whats with the killer pigs?? they are disgusting and my friend jesse told me they eat small dogs and can hurt people pretty bad.. so i run from my car to my house as fast as i can when i come home at night because i am terrified of them! haha

:: i went shooting the other night with my friends jesse, adam, and kari. we drove for about half an hour into the desert, and it was a full moon. let's just say now i see why coyotes howl at the moon, its gorgeous!! (and don't even worry about it, i totally howled for fun, and a whole family of coyotes answered me, even the little pups! it was awesome haha)

:: i've noticed the lds crowd here in mesa is on average around the age of 25 and older. kind of nice! but its weird because probably about half of them are divorced.. it's actually pretty sad!

:: the weather here is beautiful.. and i might even say perfect? yea august was pretty smoldering, let's be honest. but right now, it is perfect. it gets to about 80 during the day, and at nights its cools down to the low 60's. i have come to realize that i am definitely a sun baby and not a snow bunny! snow is ok when i want to snowboard or go sledding or something, but besides that i dont see any need for it :)

:: i miss my family! its been hard some days being so far from my family, especially since i lived right down the street from my parents and 20 mins away from heather jess and the buddy for over a year. i havent even seen my brother rob and his family since the middle of the summer! so that has been kind of difficult... but i definitely am glad i listened to the promptings i received and moved here! it has been so fun being in a new place, and experiening so many new places and people. i will be heading up to utah tonight after work for my friends kim and van getting married! i'm so excited for their wedding, its going to be really fun! it will also be nice to see my parents, since they will be my only family in town (rob is in greenriver, and heather and jess are on their way to hawaii right now those lucky ducks!)

i'll post again after this weekend, and definitely have pics to put up from the wedding :)

xoxo aly

so its been awhile!

i know its been SO long since ive written and im sorry! actually i dont know how many people actually read my blog but whatever :)

so... i came home from the east coast and i got ready to move... to mesa, arizona! i had been praying for awhile about where to go in my life and what to do, and i had been continually receiving answers to go to mesa. so i decided to listen to the promptings faithfully, and pack up and move! i have to say, it was honestly nerve-racking.. i even almost tried backing out the night before i was supposed leave! but i came, and i have been in mesa for a little over a month :)

about 2 weeks after i moved down here to mesa, i went on a HUGE trip to lake powell with my group of friends. there was actually about 190 people on our trip, and we had 3 house boats, 15 wake-board boats, a zip line off of a cliff, a giant slip-n-slide, and a fully functional dj set (for nightly dance parties, of course). we went for labor day weekend, and stayed for 4 days. it was amazing, and i couldnt believe how much fun it was! it was especially fun because 99% of the people there were lds, so before each meal we would pray, and on the sunday we were there we had a little mini devotional. :)


this was taken on top of one of the houseboats on the second night (sugh a gorgeous sunset!) bottom:mandy, steph, britt, me, kasey; top: james and jesse
us girls had a joke about being some of the originals from the "family", so we made shirts that said first wives club because last year at lake powell we all joked that we were the wives of mike and jared (who plan everything). left t0 right: erika, me, mike, andrea, britt, jared, karissa, kim, van, mckell
another pic of our shirts... and of course we made capes haha: l2r: karissa, britt, mckell, me, kim, andrea
its been interesting to see the blending of the utah girls vs the arizona girls. i guess i am a part of each now... :) l2r: heather, elise, kari, britt, becca, andrea, alyssa, diane, kim, candance, me, jessie, karissa, steph, mckell, megan

so after lake powell i came back to mesa and began to substantially build up my social group and to find a job. i have met alot of amazing people here, and i have been so spiritually uplifted in my ward and in my group of friends, its been so great! unfortunately it has been pretty difficult to find a job, so i have had a lot of free time. i've been spending alot of time with my roommates andrea and steph, and some of the boys that are like brothers to me: mike jesse and james. i dont mean to brag... but i have some amazing friends! :)

this past weekend our "family" took a trip to vegas to have a joint bachelor/bachelorette party for our friends van and kim who are getting married on october 10th! it was an incredibly crazy and fun weekend!
friday night was girls night, so us girls all dressed in shirts that kayla (kim's sister and maid of honor) made for us accessorized with cowgirl boots and we hit the strip. we first hit up the stratosphere ride, which is so fun and extremely scary!! then we proceeded to walk around the strip and make kim fulfill ridiculous dares that we thought up for her to do to embarass her!

so friday night was pretty tame considering the fact that we were in vegas. us girls stayed at andrea's parents' house in henderson just outside of the city. in the morning we woke up and ate some breakfast, then got all our stuff together and went and snuck into the palms hotel pool. it is a posh little pool, and is supposedly hard to get into if you're not staying there. but we had no problems getting in.. in fact we just walked in! but then we had to flirt shamelessly with some guys inside and borrow their room keys so that we could then get all the boys in. we laid out and played in the pool for a few hours, then headed to our hotel. we all got ready, and headed to an overpriced buffet and ate some amazing food! (i seriously almost threw up i ate so much!). then we walked down the strip a bit and watched the fountains in front of the bellagio, then headed to club tryst in the Wynn hotel and danced the night away! it was seriously such a fun weekend, and i love all of my friends! we really are like a family, and i am so excited for kim and van to get married!!

here is the whole group of us in front of the bellagio :)

this pic was from friday night with the girls! we were bowing down to kim at the end of a fabulous night
another girl group shot right before we rode the stratosphere ride! :)
aaaand another girl shot, right after dinner at the buffet (i seriously had a food baby in my belly haha)
just taking some random pics after dinner. l2r: andrea, mike, me, james, mckell, karissa, and zander


so now i FINALLY have a job after searching for a month!! i start monday at my brother-in-law's pest control office based out of chandler az. ill just be workin in the office, and it wont be glamorous or anything but im just so greatful to finally have a job! i also have my eye on a few fellas down here, so ill definitely keep things posted on that as well :)

xoxo aly

baltimore and dc: reunited and it feels so good!!

i was definiely most excited about getting to balitmore to see my twin sister heather!! she has been out there with her husband jess and their adorable little baby calvin since april, and i have missed them like crazy!
we arrived by chinatown bus (haha yes... it was definitely an adventure) to baltimore in the morning and my sister came and picked me up from shawna's boyfriends' place and we were finally reunited!! it always feels like we have never been separated when we see each other, and it was so fun getting to hang out!

this little guy is calvin!! i love him to death! he really liked me too, but it probably helps alot that i look just like his mama :)

for one day we walked around dc and met up with brittany shawna and her boyfriend brian. it was really fun looking at all the museums and riding the metro!

here are me and britt inside the natural history museum. they have some pretty sweet displays in there, like all the rare gems including the hope diamond!

here we are inside the air and space museum! we were having a pretty good time in the corner of the planet room, and i love this pic because even baby calvin is making a funny face!

all in all baltimore was a great stop, and i loved spending time with heather and calvin! i sure miss them with all my heart! thanks for everything while i was there sis, you know i love you beyond words!!

virginia is for lovers

i just recently went on a really fun vacation with two of my roommates shawna and brittany to the east coast! for the next few posts ill put up some highlights from each stop we made, starting with richmond virginia!

we landed and immediately went with shawna's family (she grew up right outside richmond) and they were so welcoming and hospitable! they grilled us some steak and shrimp, took us to busch gardens, and hung out with us at virginia beach. at night we went out with some of shawna's highschool friends, and some of our friends who are out there doin summer sales. richmond was fun, and definitely had some good moments :)

here me, shawna, britt, and ashton (shawna's niece) took a photo break at busch gardens

we got to the front of every line and got to ride twice in a row thanks for shawna's bum knee from her acl surgery! :)

bryan me and ganes! these are two of my favorite summer sales boys :)

we really enjoyed our day at virginia beach! the weather was perfect and the water was warm!

shawna showed us a great time in her home town! our next stop was baltimore!! :)