that time my best friend got married... in pictures

my best friend got married last month. i already pretty much summarized the whole day over here, but i wanted to share with you a few of my favorite pictures from the day! 

basically, i love my best friend

and they lived happily ever after

(p.s. all photos courtesy of angela mccallister)

mawwaige is what bwings up togeva today

the day started early. i was up at 7 to do my makeup and pack up my suitcase and bags. i headed to amara day spa, as recommended by my friend chantelle, to get my hair done. this girl alex came in extra early (8:30) before the salon opened just for me! we talked weddings, hideous bridesmaids' dresses of her past, and of how many friends we had getting married.

at 9:15 i was off to the mount timpanogos temple to watch my best friend and her jason walk out as husband and wife. the morning was cold and windy. family and friends were huddled in the waiting area just inside the temple. at 10:00 the mother of the bride announced that amy and jason were about to walk out! i got chills as they pushed through the doors, smiles and loving glances across their faces. amy looked stunning. i had forgotten what her dress looked like until then. but it was utterly beautiful. she was the most beautiful bride i had ever seen. and jason looked so dapper in his suit. they looked incredible.

after hugs and kisses were exchanged between the bride and groom and their families, we were directed to positions for photographs. after 30 minutes of picture taking we were "dismissed" and i met up with my friend (and one of amy's previous roommates) megan and [their other roommate] chelsea. literally all the three of us talked about for the rest of the day was how much we loved amy and how gorgeous of a bride she was. 

we headed to a little victorian house in provo for a luncheon for the wedding party, family, and close friends. after a fantastic salad and yummy chicken with mashed potatoes and veggies, amy and jason's dads offered words of advice, encouragement, and keys to a successful and happy marriage. i may or may not have teared up. it was pretty special. 

after the luncheon, we made our way back up to lehi for the reception. the room was beautifully decorated in blue and yellow, with the center pieces, food table, and flower arrangements set perfectly in place. there was music, dancing, mini cheesecakes, pictures, receiving lines, and unexpected guests! apparently one of jason's uncles and his wife were my primary teachers 15 or so years ago! the lds community is such a small, small world. it was great seeing them. amy and i got a moment alone when i helped her change her clothes in the dressing room. it was the only time i'd really seen her all day and it was nice to be able to congratulate her on my own.

it was finally time to let mr. and mrs. demke go. the reception guests each took blue and gray balloons to release as amy and jason left. it was such a happy day. by the afternoon/evening the sun had come out, the air had warmed up, and the wind had died down. the balloons left our hands as quickly as the happy couple sped off. 

it was such a good day. i am so sooo excited for amy and jason. i've never seen her this genuinely happy in the three years i've known her. they are truly a perfect match and i wish them all the luck in the world as they embark on their marital adventures. i love them both and i'm thrilled i got to be there on their special day!

this week!

it's here, boys and girls. the week my amy is getting maaaaarried! i have tomorrow and wednesday of work, and then thursday afternoon i'm headed out to utah! friday will be a day of who knows what and then saturday is the big day! my girl emily who i went to ecuador is picking me up from the airport (i haven't seen her since march of last year!) and then my friend logan is going to the wedding with me as my date (i haven't seen him since october of 2009 because he's been on his mission). it's going to be a weekend of smiling and pictures and pretty dresses and yummy food and lots of love. basically i am SO happy for my best friend and i'm thrilled she's asked me to be a part of her special day.

countdowns, concerts, and cuties

my best friend in the world is getting married in ten days. there's a chance i'm more excited than she is. ten days, people! and that means i'm flying out to utah in 8 days. i like that a lot. this is the longest i've gone without a trip to utah since last august. i miss utah! and i miss amy. i'm excited for her to become mrs. amy demke. that sounds like a pretty solid name i think.

also, 35 days til i get lasik! it seems really far away, but i'm looking so much forward to never having to wear glasses or contacts again. i've needed vision correction since i was in second grade. 13 years later and i'm gonna be free of it! happy happy day. and happy late birthday to me! thanks mom.

speaking of music (just go with it), i thought the last concert i went to before my mission would be parachute, but it's not! i'm seeing the maine with taylor tomorrow night and i'm seeing a rocket to the moon with my sister in two and a half weeks. i'm gonna be missing juelaine though, she's my concert buddy. hooray for live music. 

i've finally gotten into a bit of a routine. i work about 35 hours a week at serendipity, and i'm babysitting about 5 hours a week, so i'm working fulltime and i'm glad to be busy. especially since the kids i watch are pretty much the cutest little humans i've ever seen. 

anyhow, enjoy the instragram from lately

see? he's absolutely precious

hadley had an awards ceremony

free ice cream at work >>>

hooray for this article on the kansas city temple being in the kc star!

my view for thunder

s'more cookies, thank you pinterest

well, knowing me it's going to be another week before i blog again. but keep on keepin' on, or whatever.

perfect timing

we all have bad days. when a bunch of little things accumulate and become a big thing, when someone says something that sets you off, or when you just happen to wake up on the wrong side of the bed. it's a terribly unfortunate part of life. but sometimes, just as quickly as you can enter a bad mood, a few words can send you right out of it. like that time trina left a note on my pillow. the other day i woke up and was not feelin' it. but then i checked my phone and woke up to this most wonderful message...

"Paige I love you with all of my heart. You're my best friend and I really, really appreciate you. I think ypu are the strongest person I know. I've admired you since I first saw your scriptures open on your desk at your dorm one day freshman year.  Ha :) I think you're beautiful and driven and smart and close to the Savior and I know this text is weirdo but I really love you."

boom. day changed.

thanks amy lou.

okay people

a) i have decided the only real reason i want an iphone is for instagram and screen shot abilities

b) i need new books to read, so please send me some recommendations if you would

c) i seriously love more than anything that i'm not in school right now

d) my baby sister turned 17 yesterday

e) my girl calaigh's baby shower is tonight!

jessie and i went to my cousin ben's jr. jazz basketball game the other night. they lost (badly) but it was still fun. ben scored a 3!

my best friend on the entire planet got engaged today! she even asked me to be a bridesmaid and everything. i think i just might be more excited than she is for may 5th. and yesterday i went with jessie to do something a little bit rebellious, but i won't tell you what.

and last night i watched hours of one tree hill in ben's soccer sweatshirt like it was normal. i'm going to vegas tonight to pick up amalia and say hi to my grandma. then it's back to the grind tomorrow. ew.

a story and a tutorial

once upon a time i had a best friend.

her name was amy.

meet amy.

amy was the prettiest kitty in all the land.

amy did lots of crafts.

and she was good at the them.

so i asked her to help me make a craft.

because i dreamed of being like her.

then one day i traveled many miles to the land of the mormons.

and she made my dream come true.

and this is how...

step one: gather your supplies, which include; four canvases, a foam brush for painting, masking tape, and paints.

step two: lay them together so that the sides are touching, and then create tape patterns across all four canvases.

step three: paaaaaaaint.

step four: after you feel you have allowed your creation enough time to dry, peel the tape off.

step five: love it. a lot. and thank amy when you're done.

(optional) step six: let baird take pictures of himself in his kc royals shirt that he loves so much.

highlights

i left for vegas yesterday. i had planned on going sunday morning with juelaine, but i decided i wanted to stay an extra day in provo, and also get up to rexburg earlier than she did as to find a job before all the good ones are gone. this week has gone by so fast though. i kind of woud rather it didn't end. because no offense idaho, i like utah better than you. this is what i've loved from this week.

1. the death cab for cutie and frightened rabbit concert

amber loves death cab. in fact, i'm quite confident she told me they were in her top 5 favorite bands of all time and forever. i enjoy death cab as well. especially this song. so i forked over the $44 and went with her. she wanted to be there eeeeearly so we could be in the front row. well, when we showed up at freaking 2 in the afternoon (the doors didn't open until 6:30) there were only 10 people in line in front of us. so, after i made her shirt...

...we left to go get drinks from the gas station. when we came back, and were getting out of my car, a man asked if we'd like to meet death cab. amber and i looked to each other, and after 30 seconds of trying to figure out whether or not he was for real, we followed him inside where we, along with about 15 other people, waited to meet the band. we got to watch a sound check, shake their hands, and take a picture with them. i'm still waiting on that picture, cause the guy hasn't emailed it to us yet (not happy about that).  but when he does, you better believe it'll be up here.

frightened rabbit opened for them. they're from scotland. and incredible. they kind of sound like mumford & sons. here's pictures from the show, and a video i took of "soul meets body":

2. craft time/story time/dinner time/sleepy time/all my time with amy lou

she helped me make the most fantastic craft for my apartment, of which i will post a tutorial probably tomorrow. my favorite was probably our drive home from slc saturday where we discussed the men in our life and i accidentally missed our exit and made us go through the rain and lots of detours. oops.

3. the pie in salt lake city with ihop boy

after death cab on monday night amber and i went to ihop for some breakfast and to further discuss the magic that we had just previously experienced. we had a waiter. his name was daniel. he was south american. he spoke spanish. yum. he wrote his number on my receipt and then we made plans to go to the pie. please, i beg of you, if you're ever in the salt lake area, make it a point to go to the pie. it's like a party/heaven/magic in your mouth. 

3. my reunion with cassie rae 

she had just moved into her new apartment, so we didn't do a whole lot. and by that, i mean we sat around, reminisced about ecuador, went to target, and slept together one night when i called and woke her brother up at 3am asking him to let me in. oops again.

4. squaw peak with baird

elder baird served in my ward in kansas. i blogged about him for about half a second on my mother's day post cause we had them over to eat. i said this... "we also had the missionaries over for lunch. i looooooooove missionaries. especially the ones serving in our ward. they're so cute. they both go home in a couple months. one's from washington and one is from orem. i plan on loving/dating/marrying the one from orem."  haaaaaa that's awkward. 

but anyways. amy and aubrey and chris and i went to hear his homecoming talk in orem the day after i got to utah. and then he and i decided we should probably hang out. so we did. we went to some mexican restaurant and squaw peak. i had never before in my whole life been to squaw peak but it has the cooooolest view of provo/orem/spanish fork and i like it a lot. if i lived in provo/orem i'd probably go every single day for the rest of my life.


5. losing a red box movie that i didn't even watch
k obviously this wasn't a highlight. but it happened. and i'm mad about it. COME BACK TO ME.


now i'm sitting at my grandma's in vegas whilst i wait for my laundry to be done. i love vegas. last summer i lived here for 6 weeks and now i'm back for about one, before i head to school. tonight i'm going swimming at juelaine's and then a bunch of are gonna hike lone mountain. tomorrow my car's getting serviced, and then thursday morning we head to californiaaaaa!


cheers to that.

three weeks, ladies and gentlemen

three weeks from tonight, i'll be in provo, probably laughing and talking and being a 10 year old girl with my best friend in her twin sized bed. i'm pretty freaking excited about it, to be perfectly honest. she turned 20 last week. i wasn't with her at the stroke of midnight, but i was the first person to wish her a happy birthday when she turned 20 in the midwest, thanks to skype. and that was pretty neat i think. 

so here's what's weird... i work monday through saturday this week, then monday through saturday next week, and then i work monday through wednesday, phil comes on thursday, we're going to a royals game on friday, and i leave for utah on saturday. that's gonna go by so fast. i've had the best last couple weeks thanks to a certain someone. i'm finally really happy being in kansas. and i'm finally kind of sad that i have to leave this place (and this someone). 

that's all.

i'm out. 

bye. 

guest post: amy

if you've been following my blog for awhile and aren't aware that i love amy lou, you're a fool. i've only talked here and here about how fond of her i am. so i feel like it would've been surprising if i hadn't asker to to be a part of this week of gust postage. amy's from minnesota, and pretty proud of the fact that she doesn't have the accent to prove it. enjoy!

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"hi i'm brandon. what's your name?"

"i'm amy!"

"nice to meet you, amy. where are you from?"

"i'm from minnesota, land of 10,000 lakes.. and not much else."

"where's the minnesotan accent?!"

this is a conversation that takes place at least every other day. i wish that was an exaggeration, but when you go to byu where everybody and their dog is looking for their future wife, meeting new people and the obligatory questions that follow are a regular occurrence. so i have my usual response: "thank you. i try very hard to hide it."

it's not that i have a problem with minnesota.. it's just that it's not the world's coolest place to be from. at least that's what everybody thinks. but the actual truth is, i'm pretty crazy about minnesota. and here is why.

a. sometimes it gets so cold that school is cancelled. that's cool. and i like it. also sometimes we get blizzards so crazy that we have four-day weekends. that's cool too.

b. minnesota is the greenest place in the entire world. i'm pretty sure that isn't an exaggeration. it's beautiful. and it's covered in trees. everywhere you look.

c. there are 10,000 lakes. literally. 10,000. that means that the perfect summer day is not complete without a boat, a waterski, and a lake. 

d. mall of america. every store you could imagine, all in one place. plus, rollercoasters in the middle. hooray.

e. and if all else fails, minnesota is cool because of the accent. someone once told me i have a cheap ripoff of a pennsylvania pig-farming hick accent. i mean really. who wouldn't want that?!

goodnight moon

tonight i get to fall asleep to a sweet summery symphony of rain tapping at my window, thunder booming in the distance, and lightning cracking somewhere in between. i looooooove thunderstorms. especially in the summertime when it's a warm rain that you can play in without being miserably cold afterwards.

i like goodnight conversations with amy. tonight's went something like this...

amy: don't laugh that i'm going to bed at 10:30

me: well i'm going to bed at 11:30 so it's whatever

amy: let's go to bed together

me: k come tuck me in

amy: give me a kiss

me: forehead or cheek?

amy: lips

me: okay goodnight fagatron

amy: what does that even mean?

me: it's what hadley wants to name one of her children

amy: love it

me: love you

amy: sweet dreams lovergirl

me: backatcha sugarbottom

i like her in my life. 

oh and also, i recommend skyping before bed. 

it puts you in a good mood and sets you up for sweet sleep. 

guys, i'm happy. 

and i like life a lot right now.

aims baims

i've briefly discussed here and here just how much i adore amy. but for real. she's literally the greatest thing that happened to me friend-wise. and today, i did my daily creeping and what did i find? i found this magic. i feel that this perfectly describes our relationship. i love amy. and how many days til i see her? only 63! 

on voicemails and other things

i don't think i'd be wrong in saying that a large percentage of the population owning cell phones only checks their voicemail to get rid of the obnoxious squiggly icon on their phone signaling to them that somebody has in fact, left them a message. i used to be one of these people. but now i really like when people i really like leave me voicemails. in particular, a one amy cragun.

 also, this is what i spend my time doing...

i'm sitting on a paddleboat in the middle of his grandpa's lake, with my best friend

i'm drinking an unhealthy amount of razzleberry peace tea

and i'm taking sam to karate every monday

these four

i work at a country club on the weekends. i serve at wedding receptions, bar/bat mitzvahs, holiday parties, reunions, and other such events. but i work more wedding receptions than anything. being around wedding festivities all weekend is an interesting experience. i've met my fair share of bridezillas, druuuuuuuunk wedding parties, and creepy family members. i've also gotten lots of ideas for what i want my reception to look and feel like. but one of my favorite parts is the toast. sometimes i stand right inside the door of the room and listen to the toasts of the maid of honor and the best man. they usually start out like, "i've known ____________ since forever, and we've been best friends ever since" ...now, let me get to my point (i know it's taking a while).

i  haven't been lucky enough to have the same three best friends since kindergarten. i went to three different elementary schools, one middle school, and two high schools. my best friends changed every couple of years (usually when i moved), and didn't withstand the time and distance that separated me from them. however, over the last year and a half or so, i've found four of the best friends i've ever had. and this time they're different. i get the feeling that these girls will be my friends forever.

i'll go in order of who i met first...

juelaine kahilipulu noa and i met our freshman year of college. wanna know who introduced us? my grandma... haha but i'm so glad she did. juelaine is one of the best things that happened to me that first challenging semester at byui. she's my favorite hawaiian princess and i love her with all that i am. i love that she tells me when i'm being stupid and i love that she's my musical soulmate.

i met amy shes-not-cool-and-doesn't-have-a-middle-name cragun that semester as well, in spanish class. i sat behind her the first day and then when we were forced to do "group work" together we became insta-friends. it wasn't until the next semester that we fell in love though. we spent every waking second of spring semester 2010 together and i really liked it. a lot. she is also by far the funniest creature on the planet.

dana elizabeth tracy came next. we spent most of our lives living 20 minutes away from each other, but it wasn't until our second semester at byui that we actually met. betsy is my girl. she knows when something is wrong and doesn't hesitate to come to my rescue. she's been through a lot, so i feel like she values life more than other people do. it's one of the things i love most about her.

cassie rae hillam came into my life only four months ago in ecuador, but i feel like i've known her since forever. she is kind. she knows everything about me and still doesn't judge. she gets me. she knows where i've been and where i want to be. she's my sister and my best friend. 

now that i have them, i don't really want to know my life without them. when i get married, i won't have by my side girls that i've known since birth. but i will have girls that i love and whose friendship i cherish more than anything. and that's what i'm grateful for.