Whitney's Wedding

Well, she did it. My baby sister went and got herself hitched. I am thrilled for her and Shawn, who really scored himself a fabulous wife.


Whitney and Shawn were married in the Washington D.C. Temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. There, they promised to be with one another for eternity.


In lieu of sisters or friends, Whitney chose to be attended by her little nieces. (Sadly, two nieces missed the big day; they have a rather sick newborn at their house.) I thought it was really adorable to see her surrounded by these little girls who worship their Aunt Whitney.


Her reception theme was a winter wonderland of white with gold accents. The cultural hall looked fabulous, thanks to the hard work of many, many helpers. Snowflakes were everywhere! In the center of the room was the unbelievable cake my oldest sister, Amy, made for the occasion. Whitney picked a cake out of a book and Amy whipped it right up.


Amy is amazingly talented, I tell you. (She's the one on the left in the above "blood sisters" picture.)


Mackenna couldn't stand being in the same room as a cake and not eating it. She asked me every 30 seconds if she could have a piece. Every time I told her "not yet" she would eat more vegetables and then ask again. It took me a little while to figure out that she thought I was refusing her because she hadn't eaten enough dinner. In her little mind she thought that if she ate more veggies I would give her cake! Don't feel too bad for her, though; before the evening was over she helped herself to three pieces!









Maia, Mason and Teensy spent their time running around with cousins and friends. Teensy made special friends with the photographer and even got to snap a few photos!

It was a very fun night and the perfect celebration of such a wonderful event. This morning, Teensy asked to make sure that Aunt Whitney is married now. When I replied that she is, Teensy replied, "Oh, that means she is going to have a baby now!" I had to laugh as I tried to explain that sometimes that part takes a while. Sage Maia jumped into the conversation at that point and said, "Yeah, Marlee, for example: Mom and Dad got married in 1997 but I wasn't born until 1998." I smiled as I told Maia that she is actually not the best example to use of babies taking a while to come...since she was born nine months and one day after our wedding:)

I Once Was Blind

But now I see!

Thanks to the wonders of modern medicine and a little procedure known as LASIK, my vision was last pronounced 20/15--better than 20/20, much to my Michael's dismay (he wants to go get LASIK just so he can still have better vision than me)! Lynette, aren't you proud of me?

I've been thinking about going under the laser for a while and went for a consultation for LASIK last June, but didn't do it then because Michael was worried that if something bad happened it might ruin our big cross-country trip. So, I held out for a little while. My contacts were just getting more and more uncomfortable (I guess over 20 years of wearing them was getting to my eyes) and I decided that the new year would be a great time to have wonderful new vision.

Here's the low-down on the surgery: piece of cake. Seriously, I was going to be nervous for the whole flap-cutting part but it was over before I even knew it! I thought the doctor was still prepping me when he starting telling me what a beautiful flap had just been cut. I couldn't believe it!

The majority of the recovery happens in that first day of surgery, and for that they give you a Tylenol PM and tell you to go home and take a three hour nap! I must confess that I think I might have been just as excited about taking a three hour nap as I was to get rid of my glasses. I slept for three hours, got up for an hour and a half and went back to bed for another two! It was heavenly. Napping seemed natural anyway, since keeping my eyes open made my eyes water like I was chopping the most potent onion on earth. But thankfully, it wasn't painful. In fact, I would say that there aren't really any painful parts to the whole process.

I can think of three unpleasant aspects to my LASIK journey. First, the smell of my burning eyeball is something I can live without experiencing again. Maybe you didn't know about that part. I know I didn't until sweet Dr. Goel mentioned right before surgery that I might smell "something like burning hair" and that it was "just the laser doing its job." So, yes, while I was laying on the table watching the flashing red light I was thinking, "This wretched smell is actually my eyeball being burned by a laser. Okay." Thankfully, it was over in under a minute and totally worth it. The second unpleasant aspect would be the itchy, crusted remains of the prescribed eye drops on my not-allowed-to-be-washed-or-touched eyelids. Seriously, I just wanted to wash the crust off my eyes, but I couldn't. It passed and it was totally worth it. Last on my list of unpleasantries is the different rates of healing of my two eyes. My left eye is a superstar with near-crystal-clear vision from dawn 'till dusk, but my right eye is mostly a little fuzzy and gets more so as the day goes on. I am sure this is normal and when I go to my next check-up they will tell me to give it more time. I can do that...because even with my right eye being a little fuzzy I still see with 20/15 vision! How incredible is that?

So, here are some snapshots of the last Wednesday:


Here I am putting my glasses away for the last time. I still wake up in the morning reaching for my glasses. And then I remember and smile :)


Michael snapped this of me in the Operating Room.


Here's me (after--love the shades) and the LasikPlus doctor who performed my LASIK, Dr. Goel. He was really nice and had a very soothing voice while I was on the table. "Take a deep breath for me now," "You're doing great, Mendy." He even seemed quite pleased to learn that my 15 minutes with him was going to be the subject of a post on my blog. Like I told him, it's free advertising for him!

So, if you're thinking about getting it done, go to the free consultation and then grab a referral coupon from me ($100 off)!

New for 2008!

Okay, so apparently I have offended my loyal fan base by not posting yet this year. My little sister evidently has nothing to do at work if I haven't written a new tidbit on my blog for her to read. Even my dearest Tracy, with whom I talk at least 5 times a day, seems to be lost without a written word from me (although she put it a little more rudely than that).

Anyway, here I am in 2008 with a whole new look. I changed my little "About Me" blurb, not just to switch things up, but because it simply wasn't true anymore. It said I was the aunt of twenty-four and wouldn't you know that already this year, 2008, that number has grown by two! Yes, I have a new niece, Annelise, and a new nephew, Jackson. How wonderful! And don't think the birthing ends there--by the end of spring I will have another new niece and another new nephew born. So many new baby smells, so little time! Happily, I report that I have already gotten to meet (and smell) Annelise and she is divine. So round and soft and utterly kissable! Poor little Jackson is far away and in the NICU but I have faith that he'll be out and ready to be kissed (and smelled) by the time I get to Utah at the end of the month.

Also, because it is a new year, I took off last year's books and put in this year's. Clearly, I am not doing well with my whole "only read two books a month" rule. Believe me, the current condition of my play room and the laundry situation in my house can testify of the necessity of following such a rule. I don't put books down well (as the last six days indicate). That said, I quite enjoyed them all and am trying not to check the library's web site to see if others in my queue are ready for pick up.

So, Happy New Year! I'm back on the blogging horse with a fabulous post coming your way soon.