July: Month of Action! 2nd Weekend

So the second weekend, on the 8th, was one of the best nights ever!! The Karaoke Cafe, where my friends and I often go to sing our hearts out and have the greatest fun, was having an 80s party. So I went with my sisters Camilla and Sarah, and my friends Rachel Fishetau, Rachel Lund, and Rio Zirker. It was so awesome!!

They had a costume contest, so you know I got all into that. I actually made it into the final round, but a kid dressed up as Prince won. I am happy to admit his costume was way better than mine. It was pretty legit.

All in all, we were able to sing a bit, although we weren't able to sing together as a group as much as we wanted. I personally sang: "Jessie's Girl," "Shot Through the Heart," "Sweet Child O' Mine," and "We're Not Gonna Take It." That was pretty fantastic. :)


Then on the 9th I had a wedding reception of a dear, wonderful friend, the older brother I never had, Mark Shepard. He married an awesome, sassy girl, Kirstin, whom I am a big fan of. They got married on June 18, but had a wonderful (I'm sure) 16 day honeymoon in Hawaii, then came home and had their receptions. :)

 

I guess that weekend wasn't quite as adventure filled, so since the next one is, I'll spill into the next week on this post. :)

On the 12th, Kristan and I went to get our vaccinations for Peru. Normally people don't get very excited about shots, but when they are crazy South American diseases and they mean that you are one step closer the the adventure of a lifetime, they are awesome! Plus I've got kind of a sick things for needles, as in I like donating blood and plasma and stuff. I know.

So we got Yellow Fever shots and Typhoid pills full of live bacteria!! Whoo!! For some reason I think it's awesome to be blood-full of exotic diseases...maybe it makes me feel dangerous?

Well, more on the next two weeks later!

June 25, 2011=Crazy

So I meant to write this sooner...once again I suck at this updating thing. But here it is.

So June 25th was probably the craziest day of my life thus far, and I really need to document it correctly. I left the house at about 10:15 a.m. (thank goodness it was that late of a start) and drove to the Bountiful temple where my friend JoNeale Graves was getting married. Just a word on JoNeale: we've been friends for 22-23 years. She is one of the most incredible people currently on the earth. We've had so many adventures together, and our friendship only gets sweeter and richer. In over two decades, I'm sure we've never had a disagreement. We've kept in close contact through her living in the Phillipines twice, me living in Germany and Arizona, and going to different colleges in different states. Best friendship ever.

JoNeale's ceremony started at 10:40, but the Bountiful temple was so packed with weddings that rumors were going around that pretty much all the weddings were delayed about 15 minutes. This was not good news for me. Finally I found JoNeale's family coming out of the ceremony (she has 11 siblings - 8 brothers and 3 sisters). Then JoNeale and her new husband Jon came out. They looked great!

JoNeale is super chill and not into formality so they weren't taking pictures for very long. Since I had pressing matters to attend to, I only stayed to take lots of pictures of JoNeale and her family and one of us together. :)

Then I sped away from that temple and went straight to the Salt Lake temple where my friend Larina was getting married. Her ceremony started at 11:40; I left Bountiful at 12:20. I am not afraid to admit I took a 45 mph road at 80+mph to get there. I got there right after Larina and her new husband Josh got out of the temple, so a little later than I would prefer, but still on time! A word about Larina: we've been friends since 7th grade, and we have been huge supports to each other through all the drama of teenagehood, college, her mission, and everything we've ever been through since we met pretty much. We have been temple buddies for a long time too. :) She and Josh were SOO happy!! :)

Afterwards was Larina's luncheon, which was delicious and I got to spend some time with my other excellent friends Laurel and Rachel. :)

 

Then I had to leave the luncheon a little early to go to a meeting for my trip to Peru in August!! So excited!! We talked about getting our vaccinations, planned out our service to two Peruvian villages in the Amazon jungle, and also talked a little about going to Cusco and Machu Picchu!! WHOO!! I'm just stoked out of my brain. August 3-17. Come back to my blog after then for more details. :)

Then I headed straight to Larina's reception at This is the Place Heritage Park. It was a beautiful reception. Got to catch up with some old friends. Definitely fun. :)

 

But alas! I had to leave the reception early too, in order to make it to the PTC performance of RENT!! It was brilliant! Rent is probably my favorite modern musical. I love it for so many reasons. I should probably write a separate blog for it. But that was my crazy July 25th. 12+ hours straight of awesome happiness. :)