Pictures of the Week, Part Two...

K, here is the continuation of the week:

Monday night my Mom, Dad and I drove out to AZ for Grandma Connie's funeral. My camera died, so I only got a few pictures...

The funeral on Tuesday was beautiful. All her daughters spoke, her granddaughter and I performed "In The Garden" and I made it through the whole song without crying, although I nearly lost it at the end...I allowed myself to cry as much as I wanted to after I sang.

I was glad to see lots of my cousins and their kids at the funeral. I was so happy so many of them came! Don't my cousins have cute kids?

These are Connie's daughters and daughter in law (her son died two years ago, so Sharon stepped in...). So these are my step-aunts...

K, the wedding! Here is Emily getting her hair done. I stayed the night at her pad and I don't think I actually got any sleep...her cats kept attacking me...:) I am glad she was able to get some sleep though!

Here we are half done with one thing. I had my makeup half done (one eye has liner, the other doesn't...) and her hair is half done...

I was Maid of Honor, so here I am getting my hair done.

Here is the Mommy of the Bride getting her makeup done...it was fun hanging out with the aunts that morning...

We were getting gussied up in Aunt Linda and Lindsey's hotel room...it was a little cramped but a lot of fun.

My Mom looked FANTASTIC!

Bride and Groom walking in...........

And then back out...:) Husband and Wife.

They were so cute, they kept stopping as they walked to their car...they really are very well matched!

Another moment I caught...

The beautiful bride...

The handsome groom in his dress mess...

The gifts...

Emily and Barron...they were always very very close. We always thought they should marry someone much like the other...I think they both did very very very well!

Me attempting a picture of the two of us...this is the best I could get. Sorry, I don't own a picture of a full shot of me in my getup...I am hoping someone else does.......:) The Aunts made me jewelry that matched my dress, and it was just BEAUTIFUL! And I will be able to wear it with both formal and non-formal stuff...

The car...

...the getaway...I am VERY loud, so turn down the volume on your computer...

......and the burn....yeah, 12:00-3:00pm I was out in the sun before someone said something, and ta dah!

The horrible thing is...

...IF it tans, my word it is going to look SOOOO bad...AND can you tell I was wearing jewelry...oh it is sooooo painful. I had a fever today. And I am getting sick...that I think is due to the fever...that I think is due to the sunburn...

The Week In Pictures, Part One...

K, you only get 1/3 of the week because I have FHE in 30 minutes, so here we go:

Flew into NM Friday the 19th...this is something NM is not short on....VERY beautiful Sunsets...

Ha, I forgot about this picture. This is in Houston Hobby airport...they believe in equal rights, and that includes people of all heights...

The bride picked me up, and as we were driving we found out that Ison's (now brother-in-law) motorcycle, which had just been returned from the shop the day before after a month of it being in the shop, got hit by a car while parked on the side of the road...poor Ison...

I was introduced to their new pad. That car is their neighbors, they share a wall with the next door neighbors, but still pretty nice size, good looking home...

Ison is building a bed for the master bedroom...he got much further than this but I don't think it's finished yet...
The Bride showing me her new pad!

The stair case...

The kitty saw my camera and instantly struck a pose! :)

I didn't want the other one feeling bad, but no posing...

Saturday Emily got her endowment. Yay! So exciting!

The family...pretty decent picture I think...

That night we had a very tame Bachelorette party for Emily. We had dinner at this FABULOUS restaurant in Old Town Albuquerque...little French place...AMAZING, and the prices aren't bad, cheaper than the Olive Garden and much better food.
Emily and Daisy fighting over who gets the bite of dessert...
I should've gotten a picture of our meals...this is a picture of the two desserts we got...Crepe du Chocolate and some minty ladyfinger dessert...SOOOOOO good, we licked the plates...ok, we didn't, but we did clean them off...

K, here you go Daisy, a picture of you and Emily! :)

The whole gang...

Part Two may come tonight, but more likely tomorrow...I am SOOOO tired...and SORE!

I need a vacation...

...I have just had the most exhausting week of my life. Very rewarding, totally worth it, but I am SOOOOO very tired. And I have a pretty bad sunburn on top of that, so...who thinks about sunscreen when you have so many other concerns for an afternoon wedding reception on a rather cloudless and warm New Mexico day?

Week recap: Emily's first temple experience went very well, the funeral was beautiful and I made it through singing "In The Garden" without crying, the wedding was wonderful, Emily was very happy with everything I think...

Rest In Peace...

When I was younger, I always thought that it was strange that gravestones had RIP on them. Being in ignorance, I just couldn't understand what ripping something had to do with a graveyard, death or whatever...


Well, I am older and slightly smarter now...



Grandma Connie passed away this morning. The funeral is probably going to be Tuesday morning. A real blessing in disguise. You see, I actually will be able to attend. I was already flying out tomorrow morning to NM for my sisters wedding...and will be there for a full week...we are driving out to AZ Monday afternoon and coming back to NM Tuesday night.



She wasn't my Grandma Raisor by any means, she was quite different. But she was definitely a wonderful, loving, sweet, cute, kind grandma to me. She was a grandma to anyone who wanted or would let her be their grandma. My good friend Amber came and lived with us for a while, and she remarked to me when she found out she passed away that she was such a sweet grandma to her, and she really truly was. I loved her very very very very much. I shall miss watching D-Backs games and eating popcorn and watching the Music Man and singing along with her and doing our silly leg exercises and her playing the piano and the stereo playing her old tapes with all kinds of fun music. I shall miss a great many things about her...

It makes me really happy to think that after being alone for so many many years, she doesn't have to be alone anymore.

Admittedly Scared...

Got a phone call I have dreaded for a while...Connie is in Hospice care. They don't know if this is it for her yet, she has some very severe intestinal/stomach/esophageal problems going on, they are doing labs to see if it is cancer...

I lived with her for 4 years. She married my grandfather a few months after I moved in with him when I was attending ASU. We got along pretty well, she was wonderful for me, for sure. I love her a great deal, and I feel bad that I haven't called her or visited her as much as I could/should have...nothing like something like this to bring me back to reality...

Scared? Yes...that I won't be able to get out there if something does happen......

WHY?!?!?!

Why can't there be a Border's here, and why can't there be an unlimited amount of money in my bank account when I receive special email coupons such as this lovely thing that I received today:


:( No Office box sets for the Elizabeth...

Football in Sunday School...and stuck...

You know you are in Alabama when the football game comes up during Sunday School. :)

Seriously, it did. I love the South...

You know, it's funny, I know SOOOOO much about college football right now...and I have actually sat down and watched one game. ONE. That's it! I know that Ohio got trashed and is overrated, BYU made UCLA look horrible, Auburn went down in the ratings, Alabama is 9th in one and 13th in the other...and there are other details that I know...

...but honestly, I really am not a fan. There are other things I would rather talk about. But it's amazing, people talk about it ALLLLLLLLL DAY LOOOOOOONG. That is my source for the great extent of my football knowledge...

My boss listens to talk radio at the office and what are they talking about? Football...

Buying groceries what are the people in front of me talking about? Football...

Kids in my neighborhood? Football

Patients in the office? Football

Church? Yes, even there, football.

Football football football...

Me? Baseball fan. Go D-Backs! Still not happy with them being behind, but they will catch up.

/////////////////////////////////////

K, the real reason for this post is that I have not been inspired with any topics, if you haven't noticed. So here is your great opportunity people! :) Any suggestions for a blog topic? Or something you would like me to re-address?

The Aminals...and a Request for a Friend

Well, for 8 years I have lived for the most part animal free. No cats, no dogs, no fish, no rodents of any shape or size...I don't count the resident spiders/flies/roaches/beetles/whathaveyous that dwell within the walls of the various buildings that I have labeled as 'home' in the past 8 years.

I am now living with three. Two dogs...and very very very big cat. Let me introduce you.


This is Miss Prissy. Yes, she really is that big. Need a better shot? Here:


Those are my toes she is sniffing. Granted, I have much larger toes than the average man (or woman for that matter...........:) ) but yes, she is quite large. She usually is a good upstairs companion (it's just me and her upstairs for the most part...sometimes the dogs come up, but usually they are accompanied by the peoples that live downstairs)......except for when she does things like she did this morning...woke me up at 5:30am. I was quite grumpy this morning, I admit.


This is Chloe. She resembles the Target commercial dog. She is spoiled ROTTEN. Three years young.


And Kibbles. She is probably 6 years old (she was found by my hosts). VERY good dog. They let her roam free, she always comes back. Chloe is kept on an electric collar when at home or on a leash when out and about. My favorite is Kibbles.

And there you have it.

/////////////////////////////////////////

For my friend:

He works for a company that sells their products to an establishment name Wal-Mart, but they are concerned that a certain product has not hit the shelves...he has asked the blogging community that reads his blog a favor, and I thought I would just pass it along...all it entails is the next time you go to Wal-Mart, check for the product he is showing on his blog (found HERE) and ask an associate if that item is available. You can then send an email to him (found on his blog entry...again found HERE) letting him know if you found the item and the address of the Wal-Mart.

I thought this was simple enough, and I think there is enough of a group of you that check out my blog that would be willing to do this...

Thanks!

Angels in Alabama

Remember this????


Well, a couple of the angel guys were pre-missionaries. One of them amazingly enough got called to the Birmingham Alabama mission, which is of course where I am. My ward has three sets of Elders, so it was bound to happen...

Sure enough, two weeks ago, he shows up! First transfer...



It's so weird...the angels were a very huggy group...notice the Book of Mormon space between the two of us. :) Anyways, thought I would post that. Sorry all you young single women out there, he still has most of his mission ahead of him, but I would seriously recommend him to anyone, very good guy. He is a very good missionary.

To Be Like Mary...

A scripture that I have always loved and that was recently set apart in a lesson has been on my mind...you know in the New Testament when Mary observed certain parts of the Saviors life, and she kept those things in her heart...what an amazing woman. I mean, I know that if I had observed the Savior's life, knowing me I would tell the world about it. You know, the way most parents are about their kids. They tell everyone that their kid got a scholarship to this school, won the art competition, caught the winning touchdown, etc...but Mary, she kept them in her heart.


I want to be like Mary.

Now, let me say this...if you tell me not to tell anyone about something, I won't. Period. I am very good about that. If I see something that I think should be kept private...I usually am good about keeping it to myself. I am NOT professing to be perfect by any means. I give my opinions probably too liberally on certain things, but I am much more conscious of myself doing that than I used to be and this is something that I am working on...

...but my word, I want to be like Mary. Yes, it's flattering to be talked and bragged about, or rather, when I am the one doing the talking and the bragging, that sense of "I told you something that NO one else knows about and it's better than anything you could say" (I am exaggerating the point of course by saying that in most cases) but...you know, there is a point where pride really sets in and takes hold. And really, there are certain things that really are and should be kept private. Not really because they are secret, but because they are sacred, they are personal, and to be frank they are nobody's business.

One thing I am going to do, and I have thought about this for a while now, is keep my dating life to myself. No more blog entries on dates. Of course I will let the world know if I am in a relationship, but no more revelations to the world of dates. No, I am not dating anyone, nor do I think I will be anytime soon (meaning over the next year, but you never know I guess), this is just something that I have decided to do.

Brigham Young said the following: “The man who cannot know things without telling any other living being upon the earth, who cannot keep his secrets and those that God reveals to him never can receive the voice of his Lord to dictate him.”

So therefore, Elizabeth is going to attempt something that I am sure many think is impossible: shutting up. :)

Ha, all throughout this blog post, I have been reminded of the scene in the 1961 Parent Trap where the housekeeper says "It's none of my nevermind, I don't say a word..." and then blabs her heart away...if you cue up the following video to about 5:10 into it, you can watch it...(I found the WHOLE MOVIE on youtube...what is the copyright time frame for videos, is it 50 years? I am SURE that it shouldn't be on youtube, but for the sake of this blog entry I am only going for that one short scene...)



And no, I am not going to completely shut up, that would be impossible. Just...not gossip, and keep certain things to myself, that's all...

Boy, this is going to be really tough, isn't it????