One year older

I turned 22 on Sunday. Sunday birthdays are always a bit, well, harder to celebrate, but I had a great birthday anyway. First, my sweet husband surprised me on Saturday with the seventh Harry Potter book -- which I promptly finished by Sunday afternoon. We spent the evening with some friends playing miniature golf (I lost) and playing Mario Party on the Wii (I won). On Sunday, we ate dinner at my parents house and it was delish. My parents showered me with gift cards and scrapbook software and then I went home and watched a few episodes of Friends: Season 3, another birthday gift from Jason.

Jason has now reading Harry Potter and I get the feeling I won't be seeing much of him until he's done. It's an addicting book.

Our wedding video!!

I just found our wedding video on our videographers blog. For those who never saw this video, you are missing out!! Also if you are looking for a videographer, please please please check out Doug at Pointe Digital

Pioneer Day

Here are a few pictures of us enjoying ourselves at the Fairview Demolition Derby. I'm working on sorting through my pictures of the actual car-wreckage, so I'll post those later.

The derby was born 5 days before me (July 24, 1985) and is the biggest Pioneer Day celebration/event in the world. My family has been going for 4 years now.

Home again

Jason and I just returned from Fairview, Utah, where we witnessed the most amazing sunset, joined hundreds in cheering on car wrecks and ate LOTS of cotton candy (just me, not Jason.) It was a great break from the day-to-day mundane tasks I find myself sludging through, and although it was great to sleep in my own bed last night, I'd still rather be in Fairview.

Cathy's Engaged!

My dear friend Cathy just got engaged to a charming guy named Devin. They're getting married on Sept. 14. For more pics, check out my photography blog.

Home sweet home

This is where Jason and I live. We originally signed a 4-month lease, which will be up at the end of August. But we've enjoyed it so much that we're planning on re-signing. It's a little one bedroom apartment with no diswasher, AC or garbage disposal -- but we love it!! It's been fun to decorate and make into a home.

Kids these days

1. Rihanna Featuring Jay-Z, Umbrella
2. Plain White T’s, Hey There Delilah
3. Fergie, Big Girls Don’t Cry
4. Shop Boyz, Party Like a Rockstar
5. T-Pain featuring Yung Joc, Buy U A Drank (Shawty Snappin’)
6. Timbaland featuring Keri Hilson, The Way I Are
7. Maroon 5, Makes me Wonder
8. Hurricane Chris, A Bay Bay
9. T.I., Big Things Poppin’ (Do It)
10. T-Pain featuring Akon, Bartender


As part of my duties at The Daily Herald, I'm in charge of pulling the Billboard Hot 100 (er, 10, we only print 10) for our music page of the UV.

What is wrong with our Billboard Hot 100? So many many things, but what bothers me in particular is exemplified in song No. 5. "Buy U A Drank (Shawty Snappin')" For real? What, is this a text message from some 14-year-old who doesn't know the difference between past and present tense? And Shawty? What on earth is that?

Timbaland. "The Way I Are." Wow. I tell you how you seem to me, uneducated.

And these, folks, are the top songs as nominated by the dollars of our teens. What is this world coming to?

Farmer's Market

Today Jason and I decided to check out the local farmer's market. They had all sorts of goodies, from farm-fresh produce to used books to tie-dye shirts and more. It was a great place to take pictures as well, so here's a few shots from today's adventures.

Featured Wedding

See those amazing flowers? Those were done by the talented Audrey O'Brien, owner of Studio Stems. She loved our wedding so much she's made it a featured wedding on her Web site! Also check out her blog. She's amazing. If anyone's looking for a florist, they won't be disappointed with Audrey.

Strawberry Soup

When Jason and I went on our cruise, every day the dinner menu had some sort of chilled fruit soup. These quickly became my favorite thing to order and probably some of my favorite dishes overall on the cruise. I just found this recipe on my friend Brittany's blog and thought I'd pass it on. I plan on making this sometime soon!

This soup is a strawberry-lover’s dream come true. With a recipe that’s as easy-as-pie, Strawberry Soup can be your minute man when you’re tired of pre-dinner salads, when you’re looking for a non-typical summer dessert—it’ll even work as a light lunch option on days when your sweet tooth can’t be satiated. (And that happens more than we care to admit.)

Try it light with reduced- or sans-fat creams, or keep it real for a berry-sweet taste that isn’t to be rivaled. Just remember to chill before serving. That goes for you and the soup.


Ingredients:
1 qt. fresh strawberries (or 16 oz. frozen)
1 C. sour cream
1 C. light cream
1/4 C. sugar
2 Tbsp. rum or 1 Tbsp. rum flavoring

Directions:
Blend all ingredients in processor. Chill before serving. Optional garnishes include sliced strawberries, whole raspberries, whole blueberries and mint leaves.

Voila! We told you it was easy.

Found on Your Heart Out blog.

Busy busy day

Jessie's "to-do" list:
1. Doctor appt.
2. Study for in-class quiz
3. Go to class
4. Study for statistic's quiz
5. Take statistic's quiz
6. Study for statistic's midterm
7. Take midterm
8. Compile sources for demolition derby story
9. Make dinner
10. Finish laundry
11. Run to the bank
12. Write internship update

And yet, here I am blogging. I'm the worlds worst procrastinator.

Evans Update: parts one and two

Jessie and Jason Evans are proud to announce the arrival of the newest member of their family!!! (drum roll please. . .) a 2003 Jeep Liberty!! When Jason and Jessie got married, Jessie wanted to name one of their daughters Liberty and call her Libby for short. Jason put his foot down and said no way, Libby is the name of a black dog and there was no chance in this life or the next that he would ever let his daughter be Liberty/Libby (unless, of course, Jessie compromised and let Jason name the next child Justice For All.) Anyway. . . this new member of our family will proudly bear the name Liberty, but of course we'll just call her "Libby."



And part two of this blog-- Jason's brothers Mike and Matt are in Peru for a whole month touring Mike's mission and other various fun stuff. Well, since Jason wasn't able to go and in honor of Mike and Matt's trip, we went out to dinner at a Peruvian restaurant on Saturday.

Addicted

A funny thing happened when we got married. We started going to bed early. 10:00 would roll around and we'd be exhausted. 9-9:30 became our ideal bedtime. Then, tonight, we used our Circuit City gift card and purchased my new favorite addition to our home -- Mario Party 8 for the Wii. Guess what else? We also got two silicone covers for two of our Wii-motes and nunchucks. Keeping with gender stereotypes, mine is pink and Jason's is a manly black and grey. Anyway, we stayed up way past our bedtime. But good news, we won.

Swimming

Here's a picture of Jason doing one of his crazy tricks off the diving board. He's pretty darn talented.

A month and two days

I can't believe we've been married for a month!! It's crazy to think that just 5 weeks ago I was a stress case with all the wedding stuff I had to do - now I'm just a stress case with school, work, life decision and thank-you notes. But now, I have someone who helps me through my stress and keeps me laughing all the while.

Today we went to my parents house for a Fourth of July par-tay. It was a lot of fun, we were able to swim and eat lots of good food with good company. My cousin Cami and her husband Dallin came down from Salt Lake with their little boy Carter to spend the holiday with us. It was fun seeing them. We also played a little Mario Party on the Wii and now Jason's convinced we have to have it too. I agree. I'll post pictures later, right now I'm going to play with my hubby.