she's basically my idol. n.b.d.

names are hard. you can have favorites all growing up but then when you actually have to pick one and then write it down to make it official... it's serious business. i think secretly "trudy" was probably my favorite name on our list. but then we did really have some other cute ones too and hopefully we'll be able to use them some day. typically when your throwing out names that you might possibly use for your child, if you know anyone with that particular name... you think of that person. and that can be a good or bad thing. this picture below is of my dear sweet friend trudy. we were ambassadors at snow college together and i loved her the moment i met her. i remember thinking that she had the cutest name in the world. but after getting to know her, i think i ended up liking her and her personality even more. i don't really feel i can put into words how i feel about her. especially without sounding like a lesbian. but basically she is someone that i want to be just like. she smiles at everyone, no matter where she is. she is very smart and can take in a lot of information at once. a great listener too. she is extreeeemely thoughtful and very selfless. anyone who knows her would most likely say the same things. everybody loves her, i mean she really is everyone's favorite. long ago when i thought of naming a girl trudy (was not pregnant at the time) i wanted to run it by her to see what she thought. since we both hit the baby hungry phase at the same time, we would talk names constantly. i remember the conversation exactly...

me: "wanna know what name i think is super cute, a little old fashioned and not very popular?"
trudy: being VERY concerned and wanting to know really bad... "WHAT?!?!"
me: "trudy"
trudy: "oh my gosh, I KNOW!"

can you see why i love her so much?

both grant and i feel we would be the luckiest parents if our daughter grew up to be like her auntie trudy. oh and trudy... did you see how many people love your name?

my best friend's wedding

it was perfect.

"the beautiful late winter sun"

remember this??? remember the beautiful dress i described? well now you can see it. duston todd did such an amazing job. he shoots in only film and square images. check out his website here. i can't wait to see some of these in their home, i love how he captured their relationship (i got to see many more:)). basically i am obsessed with tyler and jess. more than ever. i had a lot of fun helping out with their outfits (tyler... you look great in a fedora), i really think they are a perfect match. i love to see jess love him. but i like mushy stuff.

go team go

we went to the jazz game last night, it was tyler's birthday. even though the they lost it was still a great game. close games are always fun. sometimes you just gotta let loose and be the high spirited fan, yelling with half a hot dog in your mouth. i love watching jess cuddle all up to her man... they are so perfect for each other.

beautiful girl. beautiful ring.

tyler is such a sweet boy. he is also a very lucky boy ;). i really can't express my excitement. jess and i have been talking wedding ideas for a while now and basically i just can't handle it because everything she thinks of is so cute. after my own wedding i just stayed away from any wedding magazines or whatever because i just didn't want to deal with seeing all the new and cute ideas and then regret something. well now i have to deal with it head on. when she came to visit us in D.C., we found these amazing vintage dresses. and i really do mean amazing. well, as soon as she tried hers on she told me she was going to save it for her engagement pictures. we pulled it out last night and it's so cute i feel like it's going to give me a heart attack. i'm so excited for every aspect of her wedding, it's kind of overwhelming. i love love love my ring but sometimes i wish it was gold... so i'll just stare at hers (you can click the images to see them bigger).

oh AND something else that i think is really cool. i caught the bouquet at shawnee's wedding. then i got married.
jess caught the bouquet at my wedding. and now she is getting married. i mean, it's like a movie.

my best friend is engaged!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

jessica leigh malone will soon be jessica leigh stone. i am so filled with joy i could burst. i can barely contain myself. i love her and i love them and this is just the best thing ever. and i can't stop freaking out. and i've already cried and i know when i see her in twenty minutes i will just cry some more. yay!!!! i am sooooooooooooo happy!!!!!!!!

amigos para siempre

pizza night with tyler and jess. tyler insisted we make pizza without a rolling pin, so the shape of our pizza was a little odd looking, but yummy none the less! afterwards we played some games and just had a good time. it was a fun night. sometimes i think about how easy it is to just hang out with whoever we want, whenever we want. i'm not really sure if we'll be here this time next year, but i don't know where we will be. i always think that i'm excited to take on a new adventure and live somewhere else but then i'm like... oh wait.. i'm not going to have ANY friends or family wherever we go. i'm afraid it will be harder than i think. i don't know. either way i think we are doing fine at taking advantage of seeing all our friends all the time. we are lucky to have so many wonderful friends. and if we move one day.. we will miss them all alot.

it was just so lovely

so pretty much i miss jess. we had such a great time. we did lots. busch gardens, orlando temple, kayaking, shopping, swimming, everything. these are the highlights of the trip- trying on fake baby bumps and jess touching a manatee (coolest thing EVER!!!).

jessie has the only ligit belly. ha. (on the left)

but we were really having the time of our lives.

oh publix. i live at publix. its my favorite place right now. really.

peach mango passion sherbet, yummiest snack for pool time.

we went kayaking at the wekiwa state park, just ya know kayaking with the alligators. such a rush. seeing a couple of them just swimming right towards us- ya freaky. this little turtle was just holding this funny position forever. so funny.

so we saw a manatee and jess really wanted to touch it. 

it would surface to the top every once in a while but we could never get close enough, finally the second we decided to leave, it popped right up and hit jess's kayak!! and then she got to touch it! oh it was the coolest thing ever.