Yes, we are MARRIED!!!

Happy three weeks and 3 days to us! Yay! So we did get married, and lots has happened since then. Enjoy our update/pictures!

The wedding week was super busy and fun. We flew to GA Tuesday night. Wednesday consisted of getting our marriage license and then various interviews to teach math for me, airport runs for Justin, and then his family also got into town and the boys did tux fittings, the girls went to a hometown bridal shower. Thursday was the day before, and was filled with more airport runs, picking up flowers, setting up the clubhouse for the rehearsal dinner, etc. Again, BUSY! The bridesmaids came over to make bouquets, which was tons o fun. Then we headed over to the family dinner, which was Cafe Pig and SO delicious. It was a nice, relaxing end to a few stressful days, and the first time we'd actually seen each other since getting our marriage license Wed morning. After spending quality time with our family, talking/laughing/crying, we went home to go to bed. At our house I got lots of help with hair/nails from my mom (hair), cousin Shannon (toenails), and cousin Austin (fingernails). Then all the girls at our house did their own nails while I tried going to sleep. Took a while, but finally made it. Justin - I think he was chatting it up with his family at their hotel, not sure what else they did.

We woke up to a thunderstorm on Friday morning, and I faced the disaster that my hair didn't have time to dry in the curlers, and so it didn't take ANY of the curl it was supposed to. Didn't exactly wake up with lots of extra time in the case of such an emergency, so ended up needing and receiving AMAZING help from Katie and Shannon in the make-up department, and then mom finished up the hair. Got to the temple right on time to lots of rain. By the time we got out, it was still pouring, so we decided to just take a few pictures there, and would take lots (hopefully) before the reception, and maybe return to the temple Sunday afternoon.

After the temple, Justin and I went to lunch at Sweet Tomatos, one of our favorite places, and saw our photographer and friend there! Funny :)

Luckily the rain stopped long enough that the patio at the clubhouse was dry enough to use for the reception, and we were able to take lots of pictures! It was very surreal, it was OUR reception! It was a lovely reception, and we actually found time after the line ended to sit down and EAT! Yay! The food was FANTASTIC, the cakes were divine, and everything was just perfect! What a wonderful day! We really feel blessed to have had the perfect, amazing day that was better than either of us could've imagined. Here are some of our favorite pictures - enjoy!

I love ads

So for a while I have been wanting to create a blog dedicated to creative marketing or pr campaigns or ads that I have come across and today I did it. The address is, http://howdidtheythinkofthat.blogspot.com
I just have a couple postings but they are a couple commercials and stuff that I think are pretty creative. Check them out and let me know what you think.

Life after Disney World

...is not as magical, but pretty close. We realize we haven't blogged since Christmas Break (sorry!), and that life is happening way too fast for us to be allowed to get so far behind. So here's the last few months in a few paragraphs (pictures to come later when I have more time):

The rest of Christmas Break: yes, there was a whole other week after Disney that we haven't talked about. It was a busy, good week. Tuesday was Adam's birthday, and to celebrate we all went to the temple, me and Scott included :) What a wonderful place to be to celebrate family! On New Year's Eve my dad was the DJ for a super swanky party in the Four Season's Hotel. Did I say swanky?! Justin, Mom, and I got to go help, eat food, and help people dance. Once they got enough alcohol in them, they were quite the party animals and it was SO fun to be there. The food was also FANTASTIC - I recommend the Four Season's Hotel to anybody who would ask. The rest of the week was spent playing with family, looking for internships, doing some wedding prep (centerpieces, florists, etc.).

Got back to Utah and I started school again. This semester I am teaching MathEd 306 again (Mathematics for Elementary Ed Majors - we cover algebra, fractions, and probability) and loving it. I'm also working on my thesis full time, which is nice b/c I don't have other classes to worry about, but bad b/c there's nothing to break up the monotony of working on one thing, all day long, week after week... Luckily at this point I'm very near the home stretch and life is much happier :) Justin is doing two internships: one for an experiential marketing agency in Riverton (south of SLC) and enjoying himself there. Our favorite thing he's done so far was Disney On Ice, which we got to attend and loved. His other internship is teaching seminary as a student teacher for 9th graders in Riverton. Not as fun as the high school, he says, but it's getting better with most every day. January 14th, Mom and Scott were here and we all took Scott to the MTC (pics to be uploaded later). Update on him: this morning he was in the airport on his way to Columbia (yes folks, he'll be there by the end of today!) and I got to talk to him via mom holding two phones up to each other. He sounds fantastic and wonderful and it was delightful to talk to him!

At the beginning of February a lot of the Houghtaling cousins/aunts were in town for Kendall's play - Beauty and the Beast (yes of course she was Belle and she ROCKED it). That weekend we had a family bridal shower, which was so fun. There are pics to be uploaded, but I'll save that for when I have more time. TONS of fun, amazing food, the best people, the best a bride could ask for! :)

The semester has just flown by, and now we find ourselves with only 11 DAYS left until we get married!!! We are beside ourselves with excitement and definitely ready for next Friday to just get here already :) One thing we were talking about the other day is how much we've loved being engaged. We'd heard SO many people tell us that being engaged was so stressful and not fun and that they hated it. We've actually really enjoyed it a lot. We think that a lot of those people hated being engaged because A- they were so stressed with planning a wedding in a few short months that their lives were overrun with wedding plans and school and other stuff and their relationship wasn't as fun b/c of it, and B- they were so anxious to get married they forgot to stop and smell the roses and enjoy their life in the moment. We decided not to let wedding plans overrun our lives by not talking about them constantly, and we tried our best to continue going on dates and having fun together amidst all that was happening around us. As a result, we've learned tons of new card games from friends, been able to go to the temple as a couple almost every week, had fun experiences trying out new things together in the kitchen, and luckily we've had 5 months for all the wedding plans and have been fortunate to be able to spread those out so there wasn't really a crunch time that caused lots of stress. I will say, however, now that we're down to 11 days, I find myself just wishing the days would fly by and we could go ahead and be married :) So maybe I'm a hypocrite, but I stand by the fact that being engaged can and should be a wonderful, happy, delightful time in every couple's relationship and that it's their perspective and choices that will determine their experience. So good luck, make the most of it, and be sure to ENJOY it!

The next 11 days will definitely be full enough to keep us busy. My schedule is pretty packed, which means that the days WILL fly by. Today is Monday, I have meetings and lots of thesis work to get done b/c I'm taking all of next week off, and the following week is when my final FINAL draft is due to my advisor. Augh! Wednesday is BYU's teacher fair, which means that hundres of school systems from across the country will be here looking for teachers. Katie and I will both go, and I'll try to get as many contacts, interviews, and offers as possible. Last time I walked away with three job offers on the spot. Hopefully we'll be so lucky this time. Then Thurs/Fri I finish moving out of my apt and into our little basement apt (that's for another post - we'll attach pics and stuff once we're all moved in). Fri/Sat my cousin Kendall is in Utah's State Junior Miss competition, so we'll attend that in support of her amazingness. Saturday morning I'm presenting twice at BYU's CPMS Spring Research Conference, which is fun but stressful. Justin has to work that afternoon. Sunday is our last day at church as single people :) Monday is last minute wedding details, then on Tuesday we fly to GA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We're practically there already - how awesome is that?!?!? Yay for being busy so much that it makes time go a little bit faster.

Honeymoon plans: we'll spend the weekend in Atlanta and then come back to Utah Monday evening (missing more than one week for both of us would be suicide). Then at our 3 month anniversary we're going to DISNEY WORLD (can you honestly say you were surprised?) and are SO excited about it! Obviously we've never been just the two of us on a romantic, magical vacation, so if any of you have input on what to do when you're doing disney the romantic, magical way versus the crazy, magical Houghtaling way... please let us know :)

This may be our last post as single people, if so, chiao!!!

Christmas Break

We've been meaning to blog about our Christmas break for some time now... Warning: only so much can be said in a blog about two weeks of fun, and then we cross into the book-writing territory. So here are the highlights:

It all started the end of finals week when Justin went home to GA without the rest of us (reason: bought flights at different times, it was over $100 less for him to go one day early). He got to GA and partied with the Houghtalings until the rest of us got there. Katie, Scott, and I flew out on Saturday morning, the day of Dad's 50th birthday. Our trip was dramatic and stressful, starting with a cab that didn't show to take us to the airport at 4:15am. We made all our flights, thank goodness, and arrived in perfect time to meet some of our favorite family friends at Carrabbas for a surprise birthday dinner for Dad.

Sunday morning we set out for Disney, 8 people in one Explorer. Lots of fun :) Got to Disney, checked into Old Key West, unpacked, and set out to ride the bus and the monorail around the Seven Seas Lagoon at Magic Kingdom and around Epcot, to preview the Disney magic. It was, of course, SO magical - mostly because we got to ride in the front of the monorail with the driver, who let Justin ring the horn!!! Very cool! That night our family reunion t-shirts were unveiled, the glory of which can not humanly be described. I had to include this picture of Scott sleeping because of the angle his head is at - unhuman and rediculously hilarious.

Monday: Epcot. We worked it hard and did most everything we wanted to do. Favorites: where do we start? Test Track, Soarin', the countries (given), The Land, Turtle Talk... The one thing we didn't like was the cold. Good thing mom had the foresight to make one of our shirts be long sleeved!

Tuesday: Magic Kingdom. For those of you west-coasters, Magic Kingdom and Disneyland are practically the same thing. It started warming up in the day (70's), and was SO nice. Highlights: Dad got to sing with his dream-retirement-job-quartet-singers, Laugh Floor (like Turtle Talk with Crush, but times 100 in size and funniness b/c it's with Monster's Inc. monsters), the mountains with brave Grammy, and especially the fireworks when Justin gave me an early Christmas present of the other Cinderella's slipper I've been missing since my parents gave me the first one when I turned 16. Yes, I cried. Yes, Justin's amazing and the best EVER.Wednesday: Disney's Hollywood Studios (formerly MGM Studios) This park is dedicated to the big screen and so so much fun. Highlights: Tower of Terror, Rock N' Roller Coaster, Lights Motors Action Stunt Show, eating a Mickey Bar, the Pixar Parade, Honey I Shrunk the Kids Playset, the boys and Grammy being in the stunt show, and of course Fantasmic. It was in the 80's and so we were hot, baby!

Wednesday night was Christmas Eve, which means, of course, PAJAMAS!! Since we were at Disney, mom just had to go with the theme :)

Christmas Day was relaxing. We slept in, had Christmas breakfast, took family pictures, went shopping, had dinner, went swimming (because it was, of course, 80 degrees again)... Good Christmas! So my dad had a goal this year to lose 50 pounds by his birthday - "50 by 50." He TOTALLY reached it, and so decided to show off his new figure by stepping behind the light pole so everybody could have something to compare to. Way to go dad!

On Friday we went to the Animal Kingdom. Perfect park for the last day, when you've been running around like crazy people all week. Highlights: Lion King Show, Grammy riding the craziest ride ever (Expedition Everest), Claire taking a million pictures everywhere, Justin getting SOAKED on the water ride, and the safari.
We stopped at a hotel halfway back to GA and finally returned home on Saturday. WHAT an AMAZING trip!! A HUMONGOUS thanks goes out to my parents, without whom this trip would NOT be possible, who are the teachers and believers of Disney magic, and the most generous people I know. Yay for you!
And here are a few (ahem, a lot) more of my favorite pictures/memories!!!

Wedding Countdown

So, as can be expected we are both getting pretty excited for our wedding. I am hoping that knowing exactly how much time is left until the big day will help me see the time passing and feel like it is coming faster. So if you are wanting to know exactly how much time is left check out the widget on the right hand side. Get excited ya'll!!!

Help?!

To all of you who are better at blogging than I am (ahem, all of you), answer me this: how do I get my friends/family's blogs to show when they last posted? I would love to do that so I know when you have new posts so I can read them! Thanks my favorite people :)

Getting Excited!!

So I just got off the phone with my mom, talking about our Disney trip over Christmas, and just had to share with the world. For those of you who don't know, my family is going to Disney World (in Florida) for Christmas and I'm SO excited. One, because it's one of my favorite places EVER, Two, because Justin has never been there, Three, because I get to be there for Justin's first DisneyWorld experience, and Four, DW is one of my family's favorite things to do together, and I'm utterly thrilled to do so one last time before life gets crazy.


For those of you west-coasters who have never been to DW, let me assure you, it's no DisneyLand. No offense, I've been to DL twice and LOVED both times - there's something wrong if you can't love Disney. And while DL is definitely the happiest place on earth, DW is somehow the happiestest place on earth. I think it's b/c it's just bigger, better, all of the greatness of DL and then some. Example: the castles.

Sleeping Beauty's castle is GORGEOUS. It's every girl's dream. I love it. But would I rather live there, or in Cinderella's Castle:

I picked these pictures because they both have people in front of them, so you get an accurate idea of how they compare to each other. Seriously, which one is bigger, better, more Disney? That's what I thought. Note as well that the Cinderella one is taken MUCH farther back than Sleeping Beauty's, which only means that it's bigger yet! This is but a fraction of all the glorious wonder and excitement that lies in store for us over Christmas Break, and I canNOT wait for it!!!