Holy Plethera of Weddings!

Did I miss the office memo or something?

Just the other day I'm at Mike's wedding reception. Great, another friend off the list of single buddies. Two weeks ago was Zach Frank's reception. Angela was first, she now has a baby, then Toni. Surprise, another baby (seems to happen in marriage). Then a couple weeks ago Shell calls up, ENGAGED.

GEEZ! Now Tony just tops the whole thing off! (oh, thanks for telling me first by the way Tony. Oh wait, you DIDN'T) All my orchestra/band friends are going to be married by 2009! Sad little me sits in the corner and cries all alone. No, don't set me up with some guy you know. (Unless of course, he's Rich, over 6'4", extremely hot, and plays an instrument)

I'll get over it. Sooner or later. Ya'll better not abandon me though! or else.......I won't baby sit your children.

I forgot to take my camera to Zach's reception, but remembered for Mike's. So here ya go.

Mike calls it a mutual agreement rather than a marriage between him and Holly. She agrees.

Weird.

Cake. Beautimus.

They had a buffet of catered food including roast beef sandwiches, salad, pasta, freash fruit, and crepes. SUCH good food.

Randy invited Charity along. She always keeps things interesting. Oh, she's Randy's non-girlfriend whom he spends every second with. Isn't that a pretty serious commitment asking someone to a wedding reception with you?

Mike caught off gaurd. I would NOT let my husband wear those glasses for my wedding pictures. they may be in style now, but 10-30 years from now? Nope.

Holly the bride. I wish her luck in a life with Mike. She'll need it :)

Randy dresed up as on of the groomsman. Her colors were pink and black. Pink tie!

Pretty flowers.

They had big band swing, sinatra etc., playing the whole time. charity is a ballroom enthusiast and taught Randy how to dance. Here he is with Rachel doing swing. Rahcel took two dance classes last year for gym credits. It was fun to watch. I even got video!

I'm always interested in the cake design. Can't I touch it, PLEASE?!?!?!

Randy and Charity's favorite pose.

"Only the deepest love will persuade me into matrimony which is why I shall end up an old maid".....

......but instead of teaching my sister's children how to sew a cushion, I'll be showing them how to aim a paintball gun and punch boys.

Because the number 22 isn't enough

The day I turned out of my teens was the day I started to feel old. My most recent birthday was hard to cope with. 22. It's like the candles were laughing in my face, "HA HA!!! You'll never regain your youth!" No, I'm not ancient, but I still feel like the 6th grader worried about my nano baby and what was the latest cool thing to do.

Last week was the final blow.

My little, yes, little sister graduated. I couldn't believe four years had passed since I was walking down the isle with my diploma wondering where I'd be in four years. Is it just me, or are high school students shrinking in height and intelligence? (and fashion sense, but don't get me started)

I know Rachel will do great in life. She is patient, hard working, and likeable. She had the best grades out of all us Hodgson children. Almost straight 4.0's since junior high. One good thing, I don't have to go to another graduation until Miles graduates in 18 years. Woot! Not even in the orchestra roasting under the stage lights. Yay!

Well, It's raining, and I need to catch up on scriptures and such. No better sound for reading than rain and thunder. Here are the picture highlights of the evening. All of them updated on my photo album.

It's a little known fact that if you soak a seed or bulb in water for 24 hours before planting it, the germination time gets cut in half. My mom has a bucket of seeds. Really, a 3'x3'x3' bucket full to the brim with seed packets and bulbs. As you know, we bring the neighbor's dog Bruno over during the day and let him run wild with our dogs. My mom moved her bucket of seeds outside so he wouldn't destroy it (as he is wont to do). Too bad for her, she forgot about it, and it rained for 3 days straight. Today I discovered it. It was a bucket of seeds no more. It is now a water garden. All the seeds have sprouted in a mucky pool. Thousands of seeds. I say too bad for her because, well, she gave them all to me plant in my garden. I'm going to have the most decked out garden ever. We'll have a seriously huge water bill this summer, but vegetables, fruit and flowers beyond belief. Thanks Bruno.

major upgrade time

(no, that's not my current computer. But my dad used to have one like this when I was really little. this thing has about 80MG total. yikes)

In about one week's time, my computer will be at optimum performance! I just spent the last hour searching around the internet for hard drives and memory. As of today I have exactly 1GB of space left on my 80GB hard drive. My computer simply cannot keep up with all the applications I want to run at once, and my camera memory card is overflowing with pictures wanting to be shared with the world but alas, nowhere to put them. My PC is about to explode it's so overloaded.

In steps Newegg.com. They always have the best deals for anything electronic related. I just purchased a 500GB hard drive and 2GB of SDRAM. Once I get my first paycheck(oh did I mention I got a part time job? more later) I'll get 1 more Gig of Ram so my computer will have no excuse for delay EVER AGAIN. That is, until I can afford a 1 terabyte hard drive. Hmmm....complications there. It's amazing how fast technology advances in this world. When I got my computer less than 2 years ago, I thought 80GB was way too much space than I could ever possiblyuse in my life. HA!!!!!!! Now I'm adding more than 6 times that amount and don't expect it to last more than 4 years. Computers are taking over the world I tell ya. Now just give me a Phone, MP3 player, Internet connection, computer, TV all in one with unlimited space, and I'll be good.

I'm excited. I can cram all the music and pictures I want with no worry if it will crash my computer because of freezing.

Anywho, back to the non geek part of my world.. I got a job! Part time anyway. I'm a contract employee for internet research company. I KNEW there had to be some kind of job that puts my amazing(yet humble) research skills to use. And the best part is? Well, actually their are several. 1. I get to work from home, 2. Choose my own hours, 3. NO phone calls. It's all typing/database/no personal contact goodness. I'm excited to start. I even get to do what I want on my computer if I'm not getting any inquiries. Like surf the web, music, email, fold laundry, anything. I'm stoked! Hopefully I'll be able to switch to full time. I get paid per inquiry, so hopefully their are enough to make a decent income. We'll see. I just hope it's not too good to be true.

Well, I have run. I'm picking up my neighbors from the airport at 7:30am and then a full day of shopping with my mom.

Laters!

Bec

Chick Flick Book Style

Thursday I finally got my confirmation email letting me know "Twilight" was waiting for me on my friend the "hold shelf" at the library. I've heard rave reviews for this book from zillions of girls (in order of who's opinion I trust most book-wise) like Shell (Buckner), my Aunt, my grandma, my great aunt and numerous people of the younger generation. Not to mention Rave online reviews and New York times best seller.

Being so busy all week, I didn't have a chance to sit down and engross myself in this unknown wonder until after church today at 4pm. I just finished it an hour ago. Don't let that fool you into thinking I loved it as much as Harry Potter though. The HP series were the only other books I've ever read in a one day sitting because of my engrossment. I did enjoy twilight, but I have some rants to get of my chest as it was a far cry from perfect in my humble readers' opinion.

First off I hate that the authour would talk as Belle in first person. Reading "I" this and "I" that made me feel like I was reading a someone's journal, not a novel. Second, ok, ok, we get the point our main character LOVES Edward, and LOVES being kissed and embraced by his stone cold marble body, and that her heart pounds and thumps like crazy and the occasional dizziness when in his embrace. We got it after the Millionth KaZillionth time we read it, now move on with the plot!! One last thing that irked me was that our main character Belle, is what, 16? 17? And she's in love like they're getting hitched? I've never heard a teenager's ramnce be THAT serious and mature. Nope, not in this life would that be happening in high school. I think the author should have made them college age to be so serious. Other than that, I have no complaints. Great characters, great story, entertaining and intriguing. I've even ordered the next one (New Moon is it?) to continue on with the series.

I hear they're even making a movie out of this? I'm interested to see who they get to play two sixteen year olds and pull off a convincing deep love story. we'll see.

For a change of subject, my LITTLE sister is graduating on Thursday. Can you believe it? And I thought having friends get married and have kids made me feel old! This is the cherry on top. I remember my mom and dad bringing her home from the hospital, and now she'll be gettin' her groove on the pomp and circumstance dance of the grad. Odd feeling it is. Kind of like she "caught up" with me in age and will be a young single adult too. Too weird.

On a happy note, I actually prepared my primary lesson yesterday. And whaddyaknow, my lession went well and I think the 11 & 12 year old oddballs actually learned something in my class. It's so true what everyone says about the teacher learning more than the student. It was the story of Ammon, King Lamoni, King Lamoni's Father, and Aaron at the land of Middoni. I never knew all the details of the story before and never remembered names. It'slike it's stone ground into my memory now. Stick figures on a chalkboard really help the kids. Visuals stick more than words I think. Who knew I would actually enjoy being a primary teacher? Now if I could just remember all the words to the primary songs so I don't look like an idiot when everyone else is singing....