The Sound of Love

Music is the literature of the heart; it commences where speech ends. ~Alphonse de Lamartine

Music produces a kind of pleasure which human nature cannot do without. ~Confucius

After silence, that which comes nearest to expressing the inexpressible is music. -Aldous Leonard Huxley

Music is Love in search of a word. -Sidney Lanier

Music is the universal language of mankind. -Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Okay all you loyal blog-readers, I'm in need of some help. With less than a week before the wedding, there is only one more item of business on my to-do-list. I still need to make a couple CDs for both receptions. I have been stressing about this for two months, and this is my last hope. I know the guests at our receptions probably won't notice the music, but just in case they decide to tune into one of the songs, I want to make sure it's a good one. So I'm letting our Lucky Number 8 fans be the wedding DJ. Let us know your favorite wedding appropriate songs, and you just might hear them at the parties!

A Watched Pot Never Boils

Last week, Jeff and I ran in a 24th of July mile race. It was a lot of fun. Jeff ran it in 5:54, and I ran it in 6:54. We also got super cute shirts. We went to the Cedar City parade after with Jeff's parents, and then they took us to lunch at Carl's Junior. I love Pioneer Day! No work for Jeff, five dollar t-shirts, parades, and Carl's Junior! It was the perfect day. 

As far as the wedding plans: we have the temple reserved, we have the rings, we have a reception center, we're starting to get gifts, we have an apartment, we have a mattress, invitations are sent out, the honeymoon's planned, the countdown chain is slowly shortening, and we are waiting. Just waiting. 

When I am at work, the first 4 hours seem to go by really fast, and then I dread the last 4 because they just seem to drag on and on. We are in "the last 4 hours." With all the planning, time flew by at the beginning of our engagement, but now we're just waiting for the pot to boil. 

Today Jeff accused me of not being "physically ready" for our wedding. I shot him a dirty look, because even though sometimes I slack off, and don't work-out as hard as I might have planned, I didn't think I looked THAT bad. He quickly cleared up that he meant packing up my apartment, and getting our physical things ready to go. So this week, we'll be working-out, packing up, and hopefully getting our marriage license. August 8th: slowly but surely, here we come!

She's Really Cookin' Now

Getting married brings along with it endless responsibilities. I am about to enter my prerequisites to motherhood. Taking care of Jeff. This includes laundry, house cleaning, and of course, mama's home cookin'. Jeff has been coming over to my house for lunch to try my concoctions. My sister gave me a "large saucepan" for one of my bridal showers. She said the pan was so great because I could cook anything in it, and in large quantities.

So far I've tried hamburger helper and pancakes. And she was right, the pan worked like a charm. I could feed all 12 of the kids Jeff wants to have with this oversized spill proof saucepan.

I also got a lot of really good cook books so I can branch out of those meals that start in a box.

And to top it all off, I have this apron that makes me feel like I really know what I'm doing. Maybe with enough practice, my food will actually start tasting good. 

The Perfect "Ring" for Jeff

I went up north this week to have two bridal showers. My mom threw the first one for friends and family, and my ward threw me one the next day. It was a lot of fun, and we got a ton of stuff we needed. When Jeff and I were registering, I registered for the movie Enchanted, and he made some comment about it being a chick flick, so I was like, "You can register for Lord of the Rings, then." Lord of the Rings is his favorite movie, and as he was scanning it into the registry gun I thought to myself, "Yeah right, who's going to buy us Lord of the Rings?" Well, one of the dear sisters from my mom's ward decided Lord of the Rings was the perfect gift, and she was right. Jeff loved it. Luckily I did get Enchanted, too, so at least I'll have something to do each time Jeff decides to watch the unabridged version of his favorite movie.

From Trash Day to Wedding Day

The trash man was out this morning when I went running, and as soon as I saw him, my first thought was, "The trash man is only going to come 5 more times before I get married." Since I ran without my ipod in today, I had plenty of time to come up with how many more times things are going to happen until I'm a wife.

105 more meals to eat

31 more episodes of America's Funniest Home Videos

27 days to work-out

21 days to go to work

15 loads of laundry

5 episodes of Wipeout

3 paychecks

3 trips to Wal-Mart

2 car payments

2 Fast Sundays

2 Bridal Showers

1 of Ben Thomas's birthday

1 Bottle of Shampoo

1 more Abbey Inn staff meeting

And then it happens: I become an Excell. 

(I chose this picture because Jeff likes his bulging muscles. Be sure to notice them.)