Decompressing

I'M DONE!

Which means you don't have to read anymore of my ramblings about being stressed to the max haha thanks for bearing with me through all these months!

I took the MCAT yesterday morning, and I think it went well! I won't find out my score for about a month, but the stress is gone!

And yesterday was May 30.... remember what that means?? SHOPPING FAST = OVER!

Guys, I totally recommend it if you're looking for a little budget cleanse/boost/whatever. For one thing, I am SO excited to go shopping now and to be honest, I've realized how many things I thought I "needed" were actually pretty unnecessary...

Woohoo! I went to the Scottsdale Mall (I took the MCAT in Arizona) straight from the testing center and promptly purchased 4 Sprinkles cupcakes (remember how much I love them?) and some white pants I've been eyeing from H&M, along with a swimsuit and some hair barretts... so I'm back in business! haha. 

We're staying here for the rest of the weekend celebrating my brother-in-law graduating from medical school and my newest little niece is getting blessed on Sunday! So we're just making a party out of it :)

My father-in-law rented a house in Phoenix and it's been so much fun -- there's a little river behind it with a boat and I spent the majority of today in the pool with my other niece Gwenna. 

Post-MCAT life is just as wonderful as I imagined it would be haha. 

Countdown to Freedom!

Just checking in here!

Guys, I'll be free in 5 days! No more studying! No more practice tests! 

Let's keep our fingers crossed that it all pays off, shall we?

Anyways, it hasn't been all work and no play, we did celebrate two birthdays (shout out to my brother and also to my sister-in-law shayla!) and I also managed to see The Great Gatsby again, so you don't have to feel too bad for me ;)

I've been stockpiling a list of "things I'm going to do after the MCAT is over" and it's getting quite long... most of it consists of things like:

> find passports

> get ready for France 

(cause THAT won't take long........)

> clean apartment 

(this shouldn't have to be on a list, but unfortunately it is)

> do laundry

 (sometimes JP and I like to play the 'lets see how long we can go in between laundry days' game)

> update computer

(does anyone else also have a million windows open at all times and having to close them all and restart your computer to install updates is the WORST THING EVER?)

and other normal everyday things that somehow get put on the not-everyday-things list when you have a huge standardized test looming in the near future. 

And now, some fairly random pictures from the last week or so,

Enjoy!

 ^^^ Breakfast club with my best girls. I ordered the "Silver dollar pancakes" and ended up with enough pancakes to last through the weekend.

(we went to Joe's Cafe -- I talked about this place in this post!)

 ^^^ JP does love milk but no, that is not all for us haha. 

^^^ our resolutions to not eat out usually last anywhere from 24-36 hours. and that's on a good day. 

We just committed ourselves again yesterday so lets see how it goes! :)

You Guessed It, Another Wedding:

And this time it was my cousin David's! 

He married a fabulous girl named Whitney, and the whole day was such a blast! 

They were married in the Salt Lake Temple, had a luncheon in a beautiful building nearby that overlooked all of SLC, and then that night they had a reception! 

And my goodness, it was such a fun reception. Between the musical performances and dance-offs, I was not surprised at all when I slept through my alarm and woke up with sore muscles the next morning!

 ^^^ always camera ready ;)

^^^ beautiful luncheon! And sooo delicious.

^^^ the bride & groom! 

 ^^^ umbrella's were hung from the rafters! How cute is that?!

^^^ Okay, I included this because I think it's hilarious and I have NO idea why I am making that face/who I am making it at... but apparently I was not happy about something haha.

Another Wedding + The Great Gatsby

Wedding season is in FULL SWING over here in Provo. 

We had another wedding to attend this weekend and it was such a cute wedding!

They had donuts & milk for the refreshments! Isn't that the neatest idea? I loved it, clearly (see above haha).

JP and I went to the reception with Markell and Glen, then after we went and saw "The Great Gatsby."

My goodness, I have been looking forward to this movie since even before they moved the opening date (that was the worst) and it was worth all the waiting! 

A-MAZ-ING. 

I'm not even a huge fan of Baz Luhrmann's other movies but I think his directing style is perfect for Gatsby.

 And not to mention the costumes, music, perfect casting choices... ahh! I want to go see it again! 

What did you guys think? It's gotten pretty mixed reviews but I am sold entirely!

^^^ Hahaha. This is one of my favorite pictures, ever. 

Rugby National Champs!

 This past Saturday was spent cheering on the BYU Rugby team as they played Cal for the Rugby National Championships!

My 2 cousins play on the team, as well as a few friends so it's always so fun to go watch them play but this time was even more exciting because you see, BYU normally beats the opposing team by like 70 points, but this game was tied down to the very end and BYU managed to kick a field goal at the last second for the win!

JP really loves rugby and grew up playing it (it's huge in South Africa in case you didn't know... and also everywhere else in the world...) so he is a good sport and is constantly is telling me what is going on and why that person has to sit out for 10 minutes and why the players are only throwing the ball behind them :) 

And I may or may not have consumed a hot dog, dippin' dots (I thought they had gone out of business! Nope. Still available at rugby games apparently. love it.), a diet coke, and a bag of popcorn throughout the duration of the game -- apparently rugby games make me really hungry?

 ^^^ CHAMPIONS! Everyone had to rush the field, naturally. 

 ^^^ aaaand then a BYU player got down on his knee and PROPOSED! It was AWESOME. 

 ^^^ Love this guy! Look at his cute rugby shirt.

^^^ Cousins! Love them. 

The Perfect Summer Evening Wedding

So, I got to be a third wheel this week, which was a pretty funny experience because it's been a really long time since that's happened!

My friend Markell and her French boyfriend Glen (their story is a crazy one that I'll have to tell on here one of these days...) called me just as they were heading to a wedding I had wanted to attend but JP was at the gym sooo I just went along solo haha.

Kenzie was the beautiful bride, and the reception was in her backyard (which has possibly the most gorgeous view EVER). 

The weather was perfect, which if you have ever lived in Utah you know is extremely lucky (Spring in Utah is the most unpredictable thing in the world -- a few years ago it snowed in JUNE!)

and they had build-your-own ice cream sandwiches for refreshments!

 Not to mention, the bride's dress was made of the neatest lace - I had never seen anything like it!

 Glen & Markell

 I thought this was a cute idea for a sign-in table!

 Markell // Kenzie // Me

 Vintage Marquee Letters!

There's that lace I was talking about! This was a total paparazzi shot of her dress too haha. 

 The Cakes

I've seen this at a couple weddings and I think it's such a cute idea;

Kenzie's mom's wedding dress is on the left, and her grandma's wedding dress is the one on the right!

A Sundance Wedding

My good friend Maggie got married this past week and her reception was up at Sundance Resort! 

It is really beautiful this time of year -- the snow has finally melted and everything is green!

It was a fabulous wedding too - the bride and groom looked SO HAPPY (which is something that really makes or breaks a wedding experience, don't you think? I always feel so bad when the bride looks stressed out...) and the food was really amazing (BLT sliders!).