Thanks, Friends

I just wanted to tell all of you that I appreciate your friendship so much, and I am so grateful to have you in my life. It's been a hard weekend, and being able to read your comments you post makes me smile and feel better. I can't tell you how much it means to me to have you as friends. Your blogs cheer me up when I need it! So thank you for all you have done and continually do for me. You'll never know how much it truly means to me. Have a great week!

Our Family is About to Get Bigger...

My cousin Brandon sent me a text on Wednesday night saying that he is engaged! He's been dating a girl named Kristen from southern California. They're getting married July 11, 2008, in the San Diego California temple. She's such a cute girl. I'm so excited for them!

My brother Aaron is also engaged!! He is marrying Britney Clemens from Orem, Utah. They're getting married sometime this year (they haven't set a date yet) in the Timpanogos temple. I'm so excited to be getting a sister-in-law!

The One Where Jacob and Deidre Got Married

On March 22, 2008, Jacob
Rasmussen and my cousin Deidre Murri were sealed for time and all eternity in the Idaho
Falls LDS Temple. After a week of bad weather, it was absolutely perfect for her
big day. She looked absolutely beautiful in her dress, and they both looked so
happy. I'm so glad I was able to share this day with them. I wanted to show
everybody some of the pictures I took on this great day. Enjoy!

We started our day by waiting outside the temple for Deidre and Jacob to come out. My cousin Jena, sister Amber, and I are seen here waiting with everybody after the sealing.

This is my mom and my grandpa.

After what seemed like hours, Deidre and Jacob finally came out of the temple. She looked so beautiful! Her colors were pink and brown, so Deidre wore a pink ribbon around her dress and Jacob wore a brown suit.

She also wore pink shoes. Aren't those so cute! She showed them off for a picture as she said,

"The pink shoes were my favorite part!"

We arrived at the reception early for some photos. This is a picture of all us girls. We're best buddies! This picture is starting to turn into a little bit of a tradition for us. We just love each other so much!

The four of us girls have also been super close to our cousin Tyrel. The five of us have been the closest over the past five or six years and we have so much fun when we are together. I love my family!

At the receptioin, Deidre had three tables that were all set up at different heights. This one was the tallest and it had a couple of pictures of Deidre and Jacob, plus one of her bouquets. She also collected Precious Moments figurines when she was younger so one of them is displayed.

To be different, Deidre wanted to have a little candy table of pink and brown candies. It turned out super cute with junior mints, red and brown licorice, jelly beans, and strawberry milk shake whoppers.

On another table sat the cake. It turned out so cute with it's white icing and pink trimmings. The top and middle layers were real.

One of my favorite things about the reception was how simple and unique the dessert was. Deidre's favorite dessert is brownies, so she had chocolate brownies with strawberry ice cream to make a brown and pink dessert. Her sister, Jena, also made little mint truffles and glazed pink icing over them. It turned out so cute.

These last two pictures are the center pieces on her tables. The one with the tall vase was on round tables with a brown table cloth and pink runner. The one with the small square vase was on rectangle tables with a white table cloth and pink and brown runners. I loved the two different shapes of tables and the different colors of cloths. The contrast was awesome.

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Deidre and Jacob's wedding day turned out to be so nice. After spending a few days in Vegas, they started their drive to Laguna Hills, California, where they will have their openhouse on Saturday. I love these guys, and I am so glad they found each other.

Tag, You're It!

10 Years Ago...

1. I was 13 and dressing pretty stylish, I'm sure.
2. I loved the bands Hanson and Backstreet Boys. I also loved Leonardo DiCaprio.
3. I was playing volleyball.
4. I saw the movie "Titanic" atleast seven times in the theatre.

Things On My To-Do List Today...

1. Get the rock chip in my windshielf fixed.
2. Clean out the fish bowls. Yes, that's plural.
3. Go to Great Harvest.
4. Get some pictures copied to a CD.
5. Don't forget about the stake talent show!!
6. Take "Enchanted" back to the video store.

4 Things I Would Do if I Was a Billionaire...

1. Buy my parents and Dustin's parents new houses.
2. Buy Dustin and I both new cars.
3. Build a new house and include a music room with shelves and shelves of sheet music and a black grand piano.
4. Donate some of it to a great cause

Bad Habits...

1. Procrastination
2. Laziness
3. Talking before I think about it first

5 Jobs I've Had...

1. Geraldine's Bake Shoppe & Deli
2. Western Watts (I don't recommend it at all)
3. Carino's Italian Grill (host, server, bar tender, key employee)

6 Things People Don't Know...

1. I love watching VH1 right before I go to bed.
2. I put my right sock on then my right shoe, then my left sock and left shoe. I don't put both socks on first then shoes. Weird, I know.
3. I don't like baked potatoes and I'm from Idaho.
4. I won the school spelling bee in the 5th grade.
5. I have a weakness for chocolate.
6. I love to bake.

3 People I Want to Tag...

1. Katie J.
2. Alli
3. Chelsea

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Happy St. Patrick's Day! I decided to post a picture of my family crest, going back to our Irish roots. After doing a little research, I found out that O'Connor's are actually Irish royalty. Pretty interesting. But for now, no one in my family has been to Ireland, and I'm destined and determined to be there on St. Patrick's Day one year. This is a restaurant in Ireland called O'Connor's. I love this picture! There's a bar in Boston called O'Connor's that our family took a picture in front of when we were there last summer. When I was younger I always hated having a last name with an apostrophe. Now I love having my last name and being reminded of my Irish roots. Happy St. Patrick's Day everybody!

An Open House for Deidre

My cousin Deidre is getting married on March 22, 2008, to Jacob Rasmussen of Laguna Hills, California. They decided to get married in the Idaho Falls Temple. We threw a bridal shower open house for her on March 5th at my mom's house in Idaho Falls. The photo above is of Deidre and I, along with my twin sister Amber, and Deidre's sister Jena. The four of us have always been very close. Our Murri side of the family is an incredibly close family anyway, but the four of us have not only been close as cousins but as good friends over the years. We have a lot of good memories together. It has been so much fun being able to add weddings to those memories. I love these girls!

We gave her a Willow Tree statue and a bouquet of flowers at the open house. We also used them as decoration while everyone was there. The pictures to the right of the flowers are actually what are on the back of their announcement. The front is of them walking on the beach in California. It is so cute! It makes me wish I was in Californai. The pictures on the back were taken in both Idaho and California.

Their first date was a double date with Jacob's brother and his wife at Carino's and I got to be their server! It was fun. I'm glad I got to be a part of their first date! I'm so excited for Deidre and Jacob to get married next week!

Sometimes I Feel Like This...

Have any of you guys worked in a restaurant and felt like this guy? ha ha

I would love to walk around with a sign like that on my back for a few minutes to get a little bit of a break! I love my job and I love being able to do things other than serving, like bartend or fill in as a manager. I love being able to come home with cash in my hand after every shift but still receive a descent paycheck every two weeks. But sometimes...I just want to scream! My job can be incredibly frustrating sometimes. It is hard when I run my tail off for a table, answering their every beck and call, to find a couple of bucks lying on the table at the end. Especially when their bill was close to $50. And the whole time they're calling me "Excuse Me." I often think that a lot of people don't realize how to tip, so they just leave whatever they feel like on the table. Some people also think we make minimum wage. Wouldn't that be nice! Servers in Idaho actually make about $3.35 an hour, give or take, so they definitely rely on the tips they make. I really shouldn't complain about my job because I love it. But just once I would like to be able to throw that sign on my back and use it like a free spin on "Wheel of Fortune" so I can catch my breath and get caught up on things. Ah, the life of a server!

My New Favorite Channel

I have decided recently that the Food Network is my new favorite channel. I love it! Every time I watch it I find myself fascinated by the unique ingredients used and the dishes they are put in. And I can't help but run to the web-site to find the recipes. It makes me excited to be able to buy my own kitchen supplies for the baking and cooking I want to do. It sounds a little crazy, but I just love being in the kitchen. Especially baking. I was watching "Barefoot Contessa" this morning and it was amazing! She had a recipe for homemade chocolate cake, and it made my day. Sounds crazy, I know, but I hate baking from a box and I desperately needed a good chocolate cake recipe. I haven't tried it out yet, but it looks so good. And some of the ingredients she used are much healthier than the regular ingredients put in a cake. It is so exciting being able to find new recipes that I can try out and hopefully love. This channel is amazing!