Furniture! Yipee!

As soon as Daniel and I signed the lease for our apartment, I couldn't wait to start making it our home. One of the things that makes a place feel like home to me is decorating it with your own personal touches. I absolutely love decorating.

But before you can decorate, I have discovered, you kind of need some basic furniture. So today, Daniel and I made the trek to Ikea (of course). We came home with some great stuff!

We got this darling dresser:

And this super-cool TV stand:

We also got one of those cute little $8.00 end tables that is pretty awesome too.

I still can't get used to the fact that Ikea furniture comes in these tiny flat boxes that I swear wouldn't fit half a coffee table in them. Luckily, Daniel has this uncanny talent for assembling complicated things. Just a few weeks ago, he built an entire NordicTrack incline trainer from the ground up - entirely by himself. A few drawers should be simple compared to that......right?

.....wish us luck. ;)

Gum Shoe and Marriage License

So today was a pretty important day as far as the wedding is concerned. Daniel and I got our super-official marriage license!! I was kind of nervous at first, but that's probably because I watched the "The Proposal" the other day. I had somehow gotten it into my head that they were going to put us in separate rooms, and grill us with all these personal questions about each other. Turns out, you fill out a little form and sign it, show the lady your driver's license, and you're out the door.

It ended up that stepping out the door was the worst part of the experience. I somehow managed to step in a terrible wad of pink bubblegum on the way to the car. Only, I didn't realize until after I had gotten into Daniel's car. But (this is how you know you are marrying the best man in the whole world) Daniel was more worried about my poor leopard-print flat than he was about his car! Isn't he fabulous?

For those few of you who are still worried about the gum in the car - don't worry, the car is fine. But for the rest of you who are holding their breath for the leopard-print shoe, I am pleased to report that it has also made a full recovery.

I guess there are three things I learned today:

1. Gum goes in the trash. Seriously.
2. Don't believe everything you see in the movies.
3. I have a super-sweet, very wonderful fiancee, and I am grateful for him.

Google Search Video

So a little while back, Google came out with this adorable commercial that told the story of a couple through their Google searches. (You can see it here if you want.) So after, they put together a website that allowed you to create your own Google search video! I think they're pretty cute, so I thought I'd share the one I made for Daniel and I. Enjoy!

twenty days....

Daniel and I got engaged on March 31st, and now there are just 20 short days until we get married! I have no idea where the time has gone, but I have loved every minute of it. Driving in the car the other day, Daniel and I were talking about something that we thought had happened last summer, but we realized it was two summers ago! We realized that this is the third summer we have spent together, and that blew my mind. We have done so many fun things together, and I feel so blessed to have spent that time with such a wonderful person.

I guess time flies when you're having fun.

my life is a to-do list

So much for staying current in the blogging department.

I swear my life has suddenly become a giant to-do list and, let's face it, I'm about a page behind.

So much has happened since my last update! In an effort to not overwhelm anyone, I will just give the highlights of the past few weeks:

June 13-21: Went to Hawaii for a week with the fam!

June 21: Attended a fabulous going-away party for Marianne Schmidt!

June 24: Said farewell to Marianne, Lauren & Liz, some of my bestest friends in the world, as they headed off to London for Study Abroad!

July 1: Went to dinner at Olive Garden with my almost-sister-in-law Emily Sorensen before she left for law school in Spokane. No more goodbyes!

July 3: Went swimming at the grandparents house, and had a blast watching the Sugarhouse fireworks from the H-Rock with my favorite person.

July 4: Drove up to Daniel's Cabin for dinner and fun to celebrate the 4th.

July 5: Attended the always-fantastic Oakley Rodeo with John & Emma Lawrence!

July 6: Came down with an epic summer cold that may or may not be the death of me.

Oh, and speaking of crossing things off to-do lists, I have also committed to catch up on my wedding planning!

I have finally...

1. Picked out the groomsmen's outfits

2. Designed and ordered the wedding cake (yum!)

3. Finalized the guest list

4. Ordered my invitations

5. Scheduled my first dress fitting

6. and last, but certainly not least..... WE GOT AN APARTMENT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I was so excited about #6, I was pretty much jumping all over the place! I was so discouraged with all the apartment-searching that I had started to doubt if we would ever find a place. And then...we walked into this one! As soon as we stepped in the door, Daniel turned to me and asked "Where do I sign?" I knew then that we had found it. It's a pretty big place, and everything is brand-new from the appliances to the carpet and paint. It's really going to be perfect for us. It turns out that I even grew up on the same street as the man that manages the apartments! He and his wife are absolutely darling.

Oh, and it also turns out that the ward we moved into happens to be the home-ward of none other than President Thomas S. Monson. We've been told he only comes once every couple of months, but that's enough to make me sit up a little straighter in sacrament meeting.

Park City & Sunburns

Usually, weekends with the soon-to-be Sorensens consist of a whole lot of "what do you want to do tonight?" and "I don't know...what do you want to do?" By default, this often leads to "which movie do you want to rent?" or, my personal favorite, "what time does [insert ice cream shop here] close?"

But this weekend, we hardly had time to sit down! I have to say, it was so much fun. It felt like the weekend was days longer because of all the fun we fit into two short days.

On Friday, I left work early to help with my little sister's birthday party. Her theme was "A Picture Perfect Party." The girls had a blast decorating picture frames, and going on an epic picture scavenger hunt! That's where I come in. I got to drive a group of girls around and take pictures of them doing the various things on the list.

With a dog.

On a slide.

On first base.

On a bench.

Underwater.

Terrorizing Fresh Market actually wasn't on the list, but we did that one anyway.

Shortly after that adventure, we had a date with a few of our best friends Emma & John and Marianne & Laird to go up to Marianne's condo in Park City. We ate dinner on Main Street, and went back to the condo for ice cream, board games, and a movie. Such a fun night!

We ran over a grapefruit.

Who leaves a whole grapefruit in a parking lot?

J & E

M & L

M & D

Team V.

The next morning, I had to wake up super early to go to a breakfast for my ward. Unfortunately for Daniel, I decided to call him when it was over. He told me that I didn't wake him up. He lied. When I showed up at his house, he was still in bed. Of course he was kind of cranky a really good sport about the whole thing =).

Perhaps my favorite part of the weekend was swimming. One of my best friends, Melissa, invited us over to her grandparents' pool.

We were all super excited to work on our summer tans. Perhaps a little too excited. We didn't exactly use sunscreen.

This was the result.

If you can't tell, we are kind of fried crispy.

I may not have gotten anything done this weekend, but I loved spending time with our wonderful friends.

Engagements!

Yay, pictures!! I am happy to announce that Daniel and I got our engagement pictures taken on Saturday. It was so much fun!

Our photographer was Sarah from Lindsay Jane Studios. She was absolutely amazing! Even though she's about 9 months pregnant, she was still moving all over the place and even laying on the ground to get her angles! Very impressive.

Anyway, we had been anxiously awaiting the release of the pictures. That may be an understatement - we basically checked her blog 7 times a day. And yesterday, we were excited to see that she had posted some samples!

Here are a few of them:

some kisses.

let's try to make Daniel not look like he's a foot taller than me.

this is one of my absolute favorites!

i love the reflection in this one.

and of course, the candid.

We could not get over this one!! We look like the world's angriest couple. Our darling photographer tried to take some more serious pictures, but it's obvious that Daniel and I can't do serious. She kept telling Daniel not to wrinkle his forehead so much, and you can definitely see him concentrating on that...haha.

We really do love each other, I promise.

**********************************************************

In other news, my family is going on a vacation to Hawaii this summer!! I can't wait to lay on the beach and go surfing and snorkeling.

We've definitely waited a long time to go on this trip. It was originally planned for last year, but my younger brother Steven decided to get his foot run over by a car just a few short weeks before our departure date.

A couple of plates and screws later, we decided we needed to cancel our trip. Luckily we were able to reschedule.

Unfortunately, we only bought enough tickets for my family (since we booked it last year, before we were engaged) so poor Daniel gets left at home. I'm going to miss him while I'm gone! Hopefully he'll settle for some truly awesome souvenirs, and a few epic picture messages that will come to him and random hours of the night due to the time difference.

Until next time...

Much love from Mandy