Punkin.

Probably the only tolerable part about Kendall's night job is that I get more girl time than I normally would during the week. Luckily, I have great girlfriends that want to spend time with an old married lady like me and try to make plans with me during their hectic weeks. Last week we got together for a Halloween themed pumpkin carving night. Kendall was kind enough to buy us pumpkins and left us some Martinelli's to add a little "sparkle" to our night (cue "awwwws" now).

Seriously, look how flippin' talented we are at the art of pumpkin carving. Those are some professional looking pumpkins. Halloween is my favorite time of year and stabbing the crap out of a pumpkin definitely satisfied my Halloween itch. These girls are so awesome and I'm so glad I was able to spend time with them. There were lots of secrets, gossip and giggles happening up in here. I recommend for all married women to get in some quality girl time -- like pumpkin soup for the soul.

Girl's night.

Can I just say that I missed these girls way too much? These are who I like to call my music best friends, the girls I spend every day (and sometimes night) with during the school year. They are amazing, crazy, funny, weird, and we are perfect for each other. I was so happy when I got a text from Amber asking if I was free for a girl's night, and I immediately replied heck-to-the-yeah I am! We went to dinner and came back to Amber's to gossip and make cookies, and by make cookies I mean eat all the cookie dough and get salmonella...what?

We took approximately 47 pictures of us laughing and doing all sorts of nonsense, so I sorted through them to find you the most attractive of the bunch. Whenever I see that last picture of myself I think "he has crazy eyes." If you haven't watched Kid History on Youtube yet, go immediately and come back and tell me how awesome you have become. But seriously guys, this was much needed for a married lassie such as myself, and I recommend a healthy dose of girl's night to all you fellow matrons out there!

Also, did I mention I'm going to be a bridesmaid in my lovely Laurenface's wedding? How cute are these?!

The Dark Night.

Last night, as my best friend and I headed toward the theater to see the movie event of the summer, I planned out everything perfectly. Kendall had waited for this movie for months, and while he sat in line for us I surprised him with a Batman t-shirt and Chipotle for dinner. We sat in line and in the theater, watching people walk by in costume, one eerily dressed as Bane, all the while excited for what we knew would be an epic fiction adventure.

But for some people last night, the horror became a reality, as fiction became a real life nightmare before their eyes.

At first, I had everything planned out. Take pictures of Kendall and I at the theater, take pictures of Katie and I, take a picture of the ticket stub, blog epic movie fun, the end. But life has a strange way of turning itself around on you. The man I mentioned before, dressed as Bane, gave me a sick feeling in my stomach, and all through the movie I was irrationally worried that something bad, a Bane-like nightmare, might happen in the theater. Little did I know that hours away that was truly unfolding.

The mass murder in Aurora, Colorado has been on my mind all day. I can't seem to shake the sorrow I feel for all the families and community members affected by this tragedy. This has been the largest mass murder in the history of our country, and I would feel awful if I didn't do all I could to help. All I can do now is pray, pray, pray. All I can do is hope that people look at this tragedy, the message it sent, and know to continue to believe in what is right and what the Batman movies stand for.

This was truly a dark night in our history, and like the Batman, America will rise.

Salt Lake City dreamin'...

I mentioned in once that I wouldn't feel like a real Mormon until I visited Salt Lake City, and saw the beautiful temple that everyone always raves about. And that's exactly what we did on our trip! The whole reason for our trip was to attend Kendall's best friend's wedding. Although I wasn't able to attend the sealing ceremony inside the temple, I was able to spend the entire day (with Selah) in Temple Square, exploring this wondrous new land. Kendall told Selah that the temple was "Cinderella's Castle" and that we had to wait outside for the princess because she was getting married inside.

A conversation between me and a 3-year-old:

Selah: I want to get married!

Me: Oh yeah? Who do you want to marry?

Selah: Kendall!

Me: Nice choice. Do you want to marry him in the castle?

Selah: Nope. It's too dirty!

Kids say the darndest things, ya'll.

(Don't worry, I explained to her that it wasn't really dirty, but made out of rocks that made it look dirty. Then she was ok marrying Kendall in the castle!)

Needless to say, it was breathtaking. After the temple sealing, we rushed off to get ready for the reception, which was a blast! Colin and Alison are amazing and I'm so happy for them and excited for them to start their new life together, and be crazy-awesome newly weds like us!

It was like going to Disneyland, but better. And if you know how much I love Disneyland, you know it must be unfathomable how much I loved the Salt Lake City temple.

P.S., I've been getting a lot of questions about how to contact me. Hopefully I'll be getting a new layout soon with quick and easy links to all those things, but for now I'm going to post all my contact info here, on my "Me." page. Can't wait to talk to ya'll!

{Wedding Week} Day Two

Bachepartaphobia: the legitimate, serious fear of the events and conversations of bachelorette parties.

I totally found that on the internet somewhere. Deep, deep in the internet. You're so lucky you have me to do serious research on important topics such as these.

Before Friday, I'm pretty sure I suffered from this disease that plagues hundreds of women around the world. I actually told my maid of honor not to throw me one. Why would I want to be the center of what I like to call the "embarrassment party" while others torture and laugh at me as I cry and squirm? No thank you. Unfortunately, Katie has implemented the "maid of honor veto," which basically states that anytime she doesn't like my ideas, she can override me and make me do whatever she pleases.

And so became the bachelorette party.

I need to start by saying that my bachelorette party was probably one of the most fun days of my life. As much as I complained about not wanting one or being embarrassed to tears, I was shocked at how much I actually loved my bachelorette party, and that's all thanks to my wonderful maid of honor and bridesmaids. We began the night at Cadillac Ranch at Tempe Marketplace, which was so delicious. Good choice, me.

After dinner, we headed back to my apartment for desert, games, and the presents. Once everyone had settled in, Katie started a video that she had made where she interviewed Kendall and asked him questions about me and our relationship. She would pause the video before he could answer so I could answer, and if our answers didn't match up, I had to stick a marshmallow in my mouth and not eat it. It was pretty disgusting, I almost threw up, but it was still really fun and I'm sure entertaining for all my friends.

Then, the presents.

These are the only four pictures taken where I'm not making a disgusted face. I know what happens on wedding nights.. but I don't like knowing that everyone else knows what happens on wedding nights. I'm sure in about 3 days I'll be very happy that I had a bachelorette party.

A couple other things we did, in case you need to plan a bachelorette party in the future: decorating "lingerie" cookies with frosting and sprinkles, Katie had her sister write down a list of "things Brittany will say on her wedding night" based on my reactions to my presents, and a rubber band game where the words "bride," "bachelorette," and "cute" weren't allowed to be said, and whoever was left with the most rubber bands at the end of the night won a prize.

{Wedding Week} Day One

I don't know how it was for anyone else that has been engaged or is engaged, but it just hit me this weekend that I'm really really getting married. Four days, people. As I'm sitting there getting my hair and make-up done for my bridal shoot, something inside me grabs my stomach and pulls hard. This may have been a combination of the knowledge that Kendall was about to see me exactly how I'm going to be when he says "I do," and that I forgot to eat that day -- but what it felt like to me was that the wedding monster had crawled inside me and yelled "it's here! Are you ready?" 

Freak-out week begins now.

Anyways, today I'm going to share with you a few photos from my bridal shower! As much as I hate being the center of attention and being around a large group of people, I had so much fun at my bridal shower. I'm so thankful for everyone who came to support and love me. The gifts were pretty great, too.

Special thanks to Bree, Ashtyn, Katie and Kendal for putting everything together for the shower. You guys are the best and sure do know how to make a girl feel special.

Arizona girl.

A couple weeks ago, here in Arizona, we had a bit of a rainy week.

It got cold, and I got happy.

Being a native Arizonan means you don't get to be cold. Ever.

So when it is cold, you get to take out all your cute pea coats that you've been praying you could wear and you cross your cold little fingers that somewhere not too far away maybe has the magical white flakes to make your winter perfect.

And when you find out that, in fact, you are only 2 hours away from pure joy, you take a road trip with your friends and play in the snow all day long.

And maybe you're lucky enough to have a boyfriend who has a cabin, and get to spend the rest of your day playing scrabble and watching the Indiana Jones movies while cuddling in a blanket with his cute face.

Just maybe.