Jacob & Heather's Wedding Announcements

I designed the announcements for Jacob and Heather and had them letterpressed at Bjorn Press in Provo. The design caters to letterpress and you can't really get the full effect from just looking at them online. Hopefully, we can get it photographed at the wedding and some of that letterpress detail can be captured. The wedding is 17 days away and we've got the announcements all sent out!

Six Down, One To Go

Ever since the fourth Harry Potter book, Kate and I have waited in line at midnight for every book and movie. I was a Sophomore in High School when I first picked it up, just before the huge craze started. Kate and I aren't the crazy fans that dress up and carry wands around, but we have grown up with it and really enjoy it. When we'd get the new book, we'd kind of have a contest to see who'd finish first. Kate always won, but I attribute that to the fact that I always had a job to hinder my reading time.

Last Tuesday night, we went to the movie at midnight. I didn't get to bed that morning until 4, but it was definitely worth it. No, not every event in the book was included in the movie, but obviously some things had to be cut. It was 3 hours long as it was! The picture above is of Me and Kate being excited with the sixth book right before we saw the sixth movie. Now there's just one left, which is a good thing since the actors are getting kind of old!

American Harp Society National Competition

This past Sunday, Kate played her harp in my ward. Since we don't have very many musical numbers, everyone loved it. They probably would have loved it anyway, but the lack of music just made her playing all the more poignant. As always, she did a beautiful job. This recent performance reminded me that I have not mentioned what an amazing harpist Kate is. Kate exhibited her great talent in the American Harp Society National Competition held a Westminster College at the end of June. Although she did not win, it was an incredible honor even to be chosen as 1 of 8 finalists out of 38 harpists to compete in the competition. I was able to attend the competition to hear her play. I was nervous for Kate, but I shouldn't have been because she did exceptionally well. Kate said she wasn't even nervous at all and thought it was the best performance of her pieces she had done yet.

She worked so hard and right before the competition, she did a series of small performances. One of these performances was held at our house and my mom invited friends from our ward and a few relatives that live nearby. Everyone enjoyed it and Kate held an impromptu Q&A session. Not many people are familiar with the harp and they are always stunned that a harpist has to push pedals up and down during a piece in order to achieve sharps and flats. It is a complicated instrument and I'm so proud that Kate has mastered it so well. She has a passion for music and I know she will go far.

Here is a picture from Kate's performance at our house answering questions and then one from her performance at Westminster with her friends from Harp Fusion.

Summer of Birthdays

4 out of the 7 kids in my family have birthdays in the Summer months. The other 3 (including myself) have birthdays in the Winter. The most recent birthdays were Emily on June 25 and Jacob on July 10. I've tried to post pictures where it's just me and Emily and just me and Jacob, but with as many siblings as we have, there's always bound to be another kid thrown into the shot. But I found quite a few. I'm not always good at doing these birthday blogs and I'll probably quit doing them soon. It just seems like someone is always having a birthday.

Anyway, Emily and I are number 4 and 5. Growing up, we were either the best of friends or the worst. I'll try to focus on the times when we were friends. We both had sticker collections and one of my favorite things to do was to trade stickers with her. Sounds lame, but I loved it. We also both had American Dolls. I had Kirsten and she had Samantha, whom they don't make anymore. We use to have little tea parties with our doll's miniature porcelain. I don't know why, but hours and hours would pass when we played with those dolls, or so it seemed. We shared a room and had bunk beds; mine was the bottom. Sometimes Emily would come to bed after me, but I'd still be awake and I'd grab her legs while she was climbing up and ladder and scare the crap out of her. She was already scared of the sharks since we were convinced the bedroom floor turned into the ocean in the dark. Children's imaginations are so funny.

Now that we're older, we usually aren't even living together, let alone sharing a room. The last time we were under the same roof for an extended period of time was before she graduated from Med School and I moved home after I graduated from BYU. That only lasted 2 years though. Now she lives in LA and I just got a chance to visit her, as you can see from 2 recent posts I made. She just moved into a new apartment. It's more like a duplex because, although it's attached, it has two-stories and a garage. It even has a little backyard with grass! The best part is that the house is literally across the street from the temple. Now, every time she goes anywhere, she will pass the temple. Anyway, she's an amazing person with so much ambition and perseverance. I wouldn't last one week doing the things she's done. Obviously, she's quite accomplished. She has both and Bachelor's and Master's in Harp Performance and now she's a doctor! Emily, you truly inspire me and I'm proud to call you "sister." Happy birthday. I love you.

Me, Mary and Emily in our playroom in Vacaville. We had a lot of fun in the room.

Me, Emily and Jacob on our deck in Vacaville.

Me and Emily. I don't know where we are.

Me and Emily at the Sacramento Airport with matching dresses. I love Emily's sweater :)

Me, Emily and Kate. I'm not sure what year this is.

Me and Emily in Lisbon last Spring. We were in the castle going down this narrow spiral staircase crammed with a bunch of smelly Europeans.

Jacob is my closest sibling in age. We have always been really good friends and played endlessly together growing up. Most of my childhood memories with him are when we played in the backyard. We use to pull the trampoline under the swing set, then climb to the top and jump onto it. I loved doing that. I really need to go skydiving. We also put the trampoline underneath the basketball hoop so that we could dunk. My favorite was gathering up all the balls (we had about 20) and putting them on the trampoline and then jumping while trying not to get hit until all the balls were on the ground. We also loved to read scary stories when we slept out on the trampoline in the summers. Is this about my memories with Jacob or the trampoline?!

Jacob came to live with me in Provo the year before his mission. I wish I could go back to those days. I loved it. Now he's getting married next month and although I'm happy for him, I'm going to miss him. I know he's not dying, but our relationship will alter. He'll have someone he'll need to put before everyone else and I'll never live with him again. It's bittersweet. He's really done well since he's been home from his mission. I'm talking about an A in Organic Chemistry among other great grades! He's taking the DAT on Wednesday and I know he's going to do well. He's such a hard worker and really knows where he wants to go in life. He's not letting anything hold him back and I admire him for that. Jacob, good luck with your test. I'm so excited to see you home soon (he's been in Maryland since May) and I love you. Happy birthday!

Me and Jacob playing in the playhouse in Vacaville.

Me and Jacob on the boat in McCall, Idaho. I always thought it was funny that Jacob sucked his finger rather than his thumb.

Jacob got this Jeep for his birthday one year. We use to take turns driving it.

I thought this picture looked so funny. We're cruising down Cheyenne Drive in Vacaville.

First day of school. This is a signature face of Jacob's. To this day, you'll find him doing it in a lot of pictures.

Me and Jacob at the Salt Lake Airport in 2005. We were headed to Maryland to visit my Aunt Janet. Actually, that's exactly where Jacob is now.

Me and Jacob on Ellis Island.

Fourth of July Fun

Thanks to all the rain we had in June, we haven't been able to take our boat out. July 4th, despite the threatening clouds, we took the boat to Utah Lake. It turned out to be an awesome, warm and sunny day. I went with Kate, Briton and Melissa, and the two kids. We enjoyed wake boarding, skiing, swimming and the Big Mable. Cole was a bit hesitant with the swimming and Big Mable, but he ended up loving both. Caroline turned into a little fish this year and loves jumping off the back of the boat.

After boating, we had a BBQ at Briton's house. Blue Cheese Hamburgers, white corn, watermelon, guacamole salsa, chocolate cupcakes, star-shaped sugar cookies . . . a true American meal! Cole had to go to bed before the fireworks, but Caroline was so excited. She liked the Sparklers, but got scared when they burned down close to her hand. We all had a great time. Thanks Briton and Melissa.

My parents weren't able to spend the fourth with us because they were in LA helping Emily move to her new apartment. The weekend before, my dad drove with Danny to St. Louis and helped him move into his new house. Hopefully those two will stay put for a while and the moving will be limited to every couple of years rather than every year! A couple of weekends ago, we almost had the whole family home (only Jacob was missing) for about a 2-day window. It was Emily's birthday, so we had a family celebration. I love it when we are able to get the family together like that, especially since those occasions are getting less frequent.

I had Friday off since the fourth was on a Saturday. Kate and I went to Steiner to swim. When we went to pay, the guy asked us how old we were. I said 25 and Kate said 19. The guy looked surprised and said never mind. We asked him how old he thought we were and he said 17 and 15 tops. Really? Do I look 8 years younger? I decided this underestimation of my age was due to my lack of makeup. Later that night, we went to Public Enemies and because it was rated R, I got carded! So with makeup on, I look younger than 17? I'm sure it was just a case of CYA on the theater's part, but still! My mom thinks we all look younger than we actually are because of our 25% Danish blood. I don't know. Maybe I'll appreciate it when I'm older.

Here are some pictures of the above events. Enjoy!