Don't Make Me Show You This Clip...

For all the musicians, dancers, and actors we know and  love.  May you never have a Christmas party like this one.

The Great Hawaiian Adventure

The cold of winter-- and our house-- has turned our minds back to warmer days, days when we were in Hawaii. We've been back almost a month but have failed to blog about it due to an unholy number of final exams, papers, projects, and a merciless taskmaster called the Rent.  But now we're free from everything but the Rent so that frees up a little more time for blogging. 

                                         

The Illustrious Max Burgraff and Ken Potts, along with their wives, joined us on the trip. Max was on the USS Nevada and Ken was on the USS Arizona on December 7, 1941. It was an enlightening experience to walk in historic places with true heroes from history. 

At the top of a Volcano!

Families can be awkward together forever. . . in the Hawaii Temple Visitor Center

It was also a lot of fun to be in Hawaii together. It was almost like a second honeymoon except for the fact that we became parents over night to 6 teenagers. We had great kids but we weren't great parents. Example: Count the number of children in this picture. 5 out of 6 isn't too bad right? 

Punchbowl Military Cemetary

The band touched hearts and melted faces wherever they went. 

We immersed ourselves in Hawaiian tourist culture and by the end we felt like Island Royalty. It was an excellent trip and we are so grateful to have had the opportunity to go.  We'd like to especially thank David and Natalie Fullmer for allowing us to come along as "staff" and for helping us have this wonderful experience. 

Semester In Review

Maybe we should blog?
Yeah...

It's crazy to think that this semestFINALS ARE DONEer is over.  I mean, it seems like just yestNO MORE TESTSerday that we were getting geared up to begin our new classes.  Amazing how time flies when you're workSERIOUSLY, NOTHING UNTIL JANUARYing hard and staying busy.

Here is our Semester in Review:

Halloween: Edgar Allan Poe and The Raven

Went to Hawaii (more on that amazing trip later)...

 ...and had six kids.  See our awkward family photo below (one kid missing).

Hil performed throughout the semester with Theatre Ballet and Pete rocked his classes and wowed his English professors with his mad writing skills. We both worked (Vivint and teaching ballet--betcha can guess who did what) and became addicted to Pinterest, our favorite TV shows, and Freakonomics.  

Now that we have a bit more time, expect the bloggin love!

Ron Swanson and Greatness

There are a lot of self-help books out there and I've read my fair share of them. But never again will I crack the cover of a book meant to improve me as an individual. This is my new plan to becoming a great man. 


I present unto you - The Swanson Pyramid of Greatness. 


Pay close attention to what he teaches you, especially about skim milk.  

Risk

I'm learning to take more risks.  It a slow process for me because I'm afraid of failure.  But how will we ever progress if we don't step outside of our comfort zone and stop listening to the negativity telling us we can't achieve?

Public Apology

At this time, I would like to clarify my previous post. Due to my overzealous nature, I may have misled our dearly beloved to believe that we wanted to move to Iowa. I humbly apologize for giving that impression. At the Law Fair it was just a surprising and unexpected option.

I am sorry for scaring you. I especially want to apologize to my Good wife. She did not deserve this insensitivity. But true to her character, she has decided to stay by my side through this public scandal.

This may have scared many of you, but I promise this gross misrepresentation will not happen again. I will choose my words much more carefully in future posts about such important topics.

Surprises at the Law Fair

As a dutiful wife, Hilary came with me to the 2011 BYU Law Fair. We talked to a lot of different schools about what they had to offer as far as financial aid, job placement, and experience. A lot of the big names were there:

                 

      

But you'll never guess who left the best impression on us and seemed to have everything we were looking for.

                                            

Hilary and I never thought we'd say this, but we may want to move to Iowa.

Saturday, Mid-October

Today I...

~  made little kids cry because I was dressed like a globolink.

~  had a jamba with my man.

~  danced around in a snowflake tutu with some very cool special needs people.

~  made banana nutella muffins because I just really wanted some.  Take that, Life.  Paper, I'll write you another day.

~  am going back to scare more children tonight.

~  will go to the annual Hocus Pocus party!  We (my awesome friends and I) have had this cinematic October tradition since the good ole elementary days.  Still going strong.

These muffins are really good, let me tell you.

Also, happy BYU day!

What The Athenians Taught Me This Week

The ancient Greeks taught me a valuable lesson via my humanities class the other day.

This is the Parthenon.  The ancient temple was built on the Acropolis and dedicated to the goddess Athena.  At the time, the Athenians valued the perfection of mathematical precision.  Realism dominated their culture.  


However, they soon realized that if they were to follow the mathematical proportions exactly, their majestic temple would look.... lame.  The front entrance would appear to sag, the columns would look skinny and wimpy.  It just wouldn't reflect the grandeur that it was meant for.

So, they improvised here and there.  Give the columns some beefiness in the center. Let the floor have a bit of a curve.  Give it some life.  And so on, until it reached aesthetic perfection.  

   

Sometimes my prissy little second-grade perfectionist self comes out and starts to feel hopeless if things aren't going the way I planned.  When life isn't perfect, or perfectly in order, or going perfectly my way, I sometimes struggle to see the beauty or the logic in it.


Those Athenians had some weird beliefs, but they definitely taught me a valuable lesson.  There is beauty in imperfection.  Life is beautiful, even if it's not the perfectly calculated plan we originally had.  And most of the time, what actually ends up happening is so much better than the blueprints we had in mind.  We just have to take a step back and look at the whole picture.

(replica of the Parthenon)

Team WolfleyWedding: Deliciousness and Dancing

Magleby's cake and crepes? Yes. Italian soda bar? Oh yes. Delicious? Take a wild guess.

This is Jay Lawrence...

...and his awesome band.

They came to play at our reception. Boy, were they good. As you can see, they made the whole evening a perfectly delightful dance party:

Probably my favorite dance party. Ever.

Team WolfleyWedding: The Cake

This lovely work of art was produced by my cousin Brittany McMullin. Not only did it look incredible, but it tasted SO GOOD. Seriously.

Oh, by the way, she totally decorated it right before the reception like a pro. Just whipped it out. No big deal...

(she was free-handing the frosting from a picture off the internet! they should replace that picture we found with HER version, don'tcha think?)

Thank you Brittney!

Team WolfleyWedding: What We Wore

Something Old: great-grandmother's necklace

Something New: earrings

Something Borrowed: bracelets from mom and sister

Something Blue: ribbon on garter

Pete was lookin dashingly debonair in his suit from Men's Warehouse

(notice the cuff links, hot diggity!).

I ordered my dress online (made in a chinese sweatshop??....) but had it spruced up by one of the most wonderful people on this earth. Jenny Adair worked her magic to make the dress everything I'd hoped for. Thanks for all you did for us, Mama J! Love you!

She even tried her first french bustle (for dancing, of course). It turned out perfectly!

Team WolfleyWedding: The Flowers

Mallory Miller of Natural Perfections is the creator of the beautiful floral arrangements and decorations. Not only did she do an amazing job with the flowers, but she was such an great help with the entire set up process. She kept the reception place in line and allowed things to run smoothly. Mallory knows her stuff but she is also a wonderful friend. Thank you for everything you did for us Mal!

Team WolfleyWedding: The Photographer

Let the wedding posts begin! Each post will be dedicated to certain lovely people who gave of their time and talents to help make our day even more beautiful and enjoyable. All photos are taken by today's spotlightee: Lizzy Dabczynski Bean (aka Elizabeth Helen Photography)!!!

Lizzy, thank you for EVERYTHING. The photos are everything we hoped they'd be and more. Your ability to capture the feeling of the day made these pictures something we'll treasure for the rest of our lives. Thank you for your quality and artistry and for being a part of our big day! We love you!

These are just a few of many favorites from the day...

Aren't they absolutely lovely?? Stay tuned for more wedding-picture-thank-you-blogs!