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!

Umm.....

So, the wedding is.....

TOMORROW!!!!!!!

I'm so excited! In just about 12 hours, I get to marry my best friend, and the love of my life.

I can honestly say I've never been happier.

See you all at the reception! =)

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!