Cereal and Conference

Okay.

So as I was driving to work today, eating my cereal out of a mug as usual, I had this thought. It's so weird that we eat cereal! The more I thought about it, the more I began to realize that cereal is essentially kibble for humans.

Don't get the wrong idea about me - I love ceral. I eat it almost every day (and now that I'm married, sometimes even twice a day...). But that is beside the point. I seriously can't get over the fact that it looks like something I could feed to Fido. Think about it. Cereal is dry, it comes in little pieces, and we pour it out of bags and into bowls. Just like kibble. And the manufacturers even pack all these "essential vitamins and nutrients" into the mix just like they do for pets!

See?!? Kibble for humans!!

But enough about that.

I'm also very, very, very excited for Conference Weekend!

Why do I love General Conference? Well, what could be better than church in PJs? I love having a big, yummy breakfast, and getting caught up on a few chores while I'm listening. But most of all, I love being inspired. I love our apostles, prophets, and leaders, and I love their quotes and stories. I'm excited to hear from them.

And I absolutely love this quote by President Hinkley:

"I invite you to listen, listen if you will by the power of the Spirit to the speakers who will address you today and tomorrow as well as this evening. If you do so, I do not heasitate to promise you that you will be uplifted, your resolution to do what is right will be stronger, you will find solutions to your problems and your needs, and you will be led to thank the Lord for what you have heard."

That's why I love General Conference.

What I want to do this fall...

Make caramel apples.

Go on a hike to see the leaves.

Drink hot apple cider.

Carve a pumpkin.

Make this cake.

Make my apartment look like the pictures in Better Homes and Gardens.

Buy some cute fall boots.

Roast marshmallows up the canyon.

Go to a haunted house.

Visit the pumpkin patch.

Buy some darling halloween decorations.

And cuddle by the fire with my husband.

I just love fall, don't you?

Fair Time!

The State Fair was as awesome as ever this year. I never used to go before I met Daniel, but he sort of got me hooked on it. This year, we got to go with some of our bestest friends John and Emma Lawrence, and a good portion of their extended family. While this may seem odd to some, it's pretty much the norm for us. Daniel happens to be an honorary member of the Lawrence family as he and John are glued at the hip. When I married Daniel, I think I married into that family too by default =).

ANYWAY. Back to the fair.

The stinky animals aren't my favorite attraction at the fair, but we saw them anyway. We also meandered through the art exhibit for a good while - making sure to hit the life-size butter sculpture. After that, we walked around to a bunch of the little shops and got some yummy snacks. Then, John's mother offered to fund an epic race down the big yellow slide. It probably wasn't safe, but all 10 of us went down the slide at the same time. Now I'm not one to brag, but out of the 10 of us, my husband was definitely the first one to the bottom. PS - If you've never seen the yellow slide, it's behind us in this picture.

The slide race wasn't the only thing Daniel won that night. After spending far too much money, my extremely competitive darling husband won a few carnival games as well! I was pretty proud of him.

Overall, a fabulous weekend.

One Month

Today is our one-month anniversiary! It's probably not that much of a milestone, but everything sort of feels like one when you're a newlywed. To celebrate, we have decided to follow the sound advice of some of our friends and family and eat our wedding cake tonight instead of freezing it for a year. We kinda hope it'll taste better.

In light of this one-month "milestone," I thought I'd share a few of the highlights from our first month of marriage.

• Mandy washing a few brand-new beach towels with a load of other clothes. I have never seen so much lint in my life.
• Daniel and Mandy setting off the smoke detector on two separate occasions while cooking dinner.
• Mandy and Daniel living for an entire week without the most basic of necessities: Internet and a microwave. (Special thanks to the Roos-Lawrence family for fixing the microwave problem!)
• Mandy and Daniel walking side-by-side into church with President Thomas S. Monson, and then hearing his personal testimony on Fast Sunday.
• Mandy officially changing her last name from Jacobsen to Sorensen.
• Daniel and Mandy (okay...mostly Daniel) starting a new exercise/eat-right kick.

I also read a quote today that I think describes our marriage perfectly so far:

"Our marriage has always been a 50/50 proposition - with the possible exception of closet space."

-- Gene Perret

So true, Gene. So true.

Brand-New Sorensens!

Well, we did it...we're finally married!! In fact, today marks three weeks for us as Daniel and Mandy Sorensen. I have so much to catch up on! Bear with me; it may take a few posts.

First of all, thanks to all of you who were able to come to our wedding! We were so blessed to have you share the day with us. Our wedding day was absolutely perfect, and I truly mean that. Everything went off without a hitch, and was exactly the way we planned it. I know, I know...we got really lucky, but I have to attribute most of it to our fabulous family and friends who made it the best day ever. Thanks also go out to our excellent caterers from Good Day Catering, the staff at Red Butte Garden and The Lion House, our darling florist from Brown Floral, and our absolutely amazing photographer Sarah from Lindsay Jane Photography! We're so grateful for their hard work.

Without further ado, here are some pictures from our wedding!

I know there is a way to make these bigger, but I wasn't in the mood to figure it out. If you want to see them larger, they're all posted on Facebook. I also have the passcode to the gallery of all the wedding photos our photographer took for whoever wants to see them! Just e-mail me (mandyj17 @ gmail.com) and I'll send you the link. =)

To make a three-week-long story short, married life is the greatest. We're loving every new adventure - from the cooking fiascos to the laundry disasters (more on this to come). Mostly, we just love being together. If I had to pick a favorite part of our wedding day, it would be getting sealed to Daniel in the Temple for time and all eternity. We had the privilege of having Daniel's Grandfather as our sealer, and it made the ceremony that much more special. I've never felt so right about anything in my entire life, and I can't wait to see what forever has in store for us!