Tuesday, May 17, 2011

Bachelorette Party











As Maid of Honor to my best friend Megan, I was in charge of putting together a Bachelorette party. Well being the wonderful respected LDS girls that we are, I couldn't really come up with anything to do. So finally I thought of doing a photoshoot! Megan loved the idea so I made all the arangements. The girls were Chelsey, Katelynn, Megan, and myself. Another girl was invited but was unable to attend because she had to work. 1297.photography did our pictures and she did a wonderful job! She had so many fun ideas and she was a pleasure to work with. She also brought along with her her friend from Speak Now Photography and she took pictures as well. She did a great job too. All of us girls had fun and I'm really glad we were able to capture moments in time of Megan and her friends to remember before she got married.

BEST! DAY! EVER!

me and the Best Men

The beautiful elegant cake (all real flowers)


Bride Maid, Bride, Maid of Honor


Hannah and I


The place of the breakfast and the reception




Last Saturday (May 14th) my best friend Megan was married in the St. George Temple for time and all eternity to Kenny. There was a breakfast in the morning that I was invited to (because I was the Maid of Honor) and my parents were invited as well. It was a lovely morning. It was cloudy so we didn't have the heat of the sun. After we were done eating the parents and grandparents of the bride and groom stood and said lovely things about the couple. Then the slightly dreaded moment arrived! It was the Maid of Honor and the Best Mens turn (Kenny had two best men). I half expected to get up and say something but I was so nervous because I had no idea what to say! I just got up there and opened my mouth and tried to sound like I knew what I was doing. I was happy with what I said, plus Dad said I did a good job :)






















It was then time for the actual wedding. Me being the Maid of Honor, was able to attend the sealing in the temple. I was super excited and honored to be able to witness her wedding because all my life I've only imaged how the ceremony works while waiting patiently outside for the bride and groom to come out. It was the most amazing thing ever! Before I left Mom told me to take tissues because I was going to cry. I didn't believe her. I didn't cry when I went through the temple for the first time so I figured I wouldn't cry now. Well while waiting in the chapel for everyone to arrive my heart was pounding I was sooo excited! at 2:20 we finally went up into the sealing room. I was all smiles and didn't stop smiling through the whole thing. My cheeks were hurting so bad! Anyway, while the Sealer was giving his little speech my eyes kept watering. No tears fell but I was definately filled with the spirit and I couldn't keep it back. Afterwords while walking out of the sealing room and giving the bride and groom hugs, it was my turn to hug my best friend. As I was walking up to her I felt all my emotions build up inside me and I just knew I was going to lose it. Sure enough, as I wrapped my arms around Megan and clung on tight, I lost everything. They weren't loud sobs but they weren't quiet either. I even made her cry :') I was just so happy for her and didn't want to let her go.






















I then changed and went outside with everyone else to wait for the beautiful bride to walk out with her handsome groom. BTW Megans dress was absolutely GORGEOUS!!! Very elegant. We then took family pictures at the temple with the wonderful couple and I, being the awesome Maid of Honor that I am, stayed behind and held Megans bouquet and fixed her dress and what not while her and Kenny took more pictures and videos outside the temple. That was really fun watch. Hopefully I'll get to see the video when it's done.






















It was then time for the beautiful reception. It was outside and the set-up was so nice, it almost didn't feel like you were outside. Her colors were Plum, Lavender, and Turquoise. Very elegant. Her bouquet and flower arrangements were elegant as well. I hung out with Hannah (Bride Maid, Kenny's little sister) because she is the coolest girl ever! We had fun dancing and walking around. The couple then did the traditional cutting of the cake, first dance, mother-son & father-daughter dance, bouquet toss (which I caught. BOO YA!), and the garder (spelling) toss. Their cake was very simple yet so beautiful! All frosting, no fondant. loved it! especially the bottom layer cause it was chocolate cake with chocolate moose. Afterwords her mom gave me a good portion of it to take home :D The rest of the night was spent dancing like there was no tomorrow! It was soo much fun! I got major blisters on my feet. I didn't have good dancing shoes so I kicked them off and danced on the outside cobblestone. It was worth it though. It was then time for the bride and groom to leave the reception in style. We lined up against a long walk way and lit giant sparklers and made an archway for them to run under. It was sweet! And now my Megan is off on her honeymoon with her hubby. I'm so happy for her. She deserves someone great and she found him. I LOVE YOU MEGAN!!!

The Temple



First I must apologize for being such a slacker. Lots has happened since I last posted and I'm not doing a good job of informing you all of it.


May 5th, 2011 I went through the St. George temple and was endowed. It was such an amazing experience! I mean walking past the front desk to go back and change was just so exciting! It definately wasn't something that I had expected. It's the best thing I've done and ever will do. The initiatories (spelling) was simply amazing! Such wonderful things were said that made me so happy that I have been worthy to enter the Lords house and receive such wonderful blessings. The second half, I have to admit, was definately un-expected. But it was still fun and cool. So my first time through was awesome!!!! I then was able to go through again on May 7th while my best friend Megan went through for her first time. She was married on the 14th so she got to have her fiance there. It made me so happy to see her go through and receive the same ordinances I did. I then was able to go AGAIN to the temple when Megan was married for time and all eternity to her husband Kenny Shaw. That amazing experience will be discussed in another post. so stay tuned!!!



In short, THE TEMPLE IS AMAZING!!!! LOVE IT!!!!

Thursday, March 31, 2011

I'll go where you want me to go


Dear Sister Madsen,

You are hereby called to serve as a missionary of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saint. You are assigned to labor in the Minnesota Minneapolis Mission

You should report to the MTC on Wednesday, July 13th 2011. You will prepare to preach the gospel in the English language.


OH MY GOODNESS!!!! I'm going to Minneapolis!!! I'm gonna freeze my hiney off! haha. I'm so so so so excited to serve the Lord in Minnesota! There's people there waiting for ME to teach them! I can't wait to get out there and share my testimony with my brothers and sisters!

It was like a kid at Christmas time, twice! the first time was when I got my call and the second time was waiting to see where I'm going. I came home from work and had to wait like 20 min for Mike to get there. I swear it was the longest 20 min OF MY LIFE!!! We had my brother (Steven), sister (Andrea), and two of my good friends (Josh and Megan) on the phones. When it came time to actually break the seal and read my call, my nerves were all over the place! I was shaking so bad! I got a little choked up and slightly teary eyed when I read where I was goin. Oh my goodness I'm just so dang darn excited now!!! I'm still kind of like "what the crap, what am I doing! this is crazy!" but it's a good crazy and I'm so happy that I'm doing it.

Monday, March 14, 2011

Ladies & Gents, Start your guessing

MY PAPERS ARE OFFICIALLY SENT IN!!!! I had my Stake President interview last Sunday! Overall it was a good interview but he sure did kick me in the butt about a few things. He told me to do my visiting teaching and study the scriptures for an hour everyday. He told me to bare my testimony every chance I get (even in my prayers). He also encouraged me to teach Family Night lessons. I'm not sure how well that'll go. Compared to the way my parents teach I don't think I'll do a very good job. He reminded me how important it is to get along with everybody and to get outside my comfort zone. So yeah! Dads having a hard time with it all (isn't my dad the cutest!). Moms excited and can't stop buying missionary clothes haha! I'm real excited to serve the lord for 18 months! I can't wait to get out there and share my testimony with those who've forgotten theirs. I love this gospel so much! I know Heavenly Father loved his children so much that he sent his son, Jesus Christ, to be a perfect example and to die for us so that we may be able to repent and be forgiven. I know Joseph Smith saw Heavenly Father & Jesus Christ in a vision. I know that he translated the Book of Mormon and re-organized the church through the power of Christ. I know without a doubt that the Book of Mormon is true and that this church is the only true church on the earth today. I love my family and my friends and for all the love and support they give me. I know that if we are obedient to the laws and commandments of the church we will live with our Father in Heaven again. I know that our Father lives and I'm so grateful for this knowledge. I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen

Friday, March 4, 2011

Bummer



Luckily this was the only damage and that everybody was okay. Lemme explain.

I was at choir practice this morning and on my way home I was hit. I was in a regular lane with a guy in front of me and we were approaching an intersection. Well I needed to turn left so I got into the left turn lane. I was coming up to the intersection so I slowed down. As I was slowing down, the guy who was in front of me in the straight lane decided to hurry and swerve into the left turn lane right in front of me. As a result of that and not looking back into his blind spot, he hit me. It was pretty scary and it took me a couple hours to stop shaking. But I'm fine now and hopefully the insurance will cover the whole cost to get my car fixed.

Sunday, February 27, 2011

Mission Update: 2

MY PAPERS ARE IN!!!! Well sorda. haha psych! I submitted my papers to my bishop. He then looks over them with me during an interview (which will happen Tuesday night). I then have to have an interview with my stake president (I dunno when yet). The Stake President then sends my papers to Salt Lake where the Quorum of the Twelve decide, through inspiration from the Lord, where I am to serve for 18 months! AH! Can you tell I'm excited? haha!
I went to my first temple prep class tonigh that my home ward is doing. It was really good! I missed the first lesson on baptism, but we talked about being worthy and clean to enter into the Lords House. I loved it! I can't wait to learn more!
Alot of people have asked where they think I'll be goin. So here's what I'm thinkin. I wanna stay stateside (preferably from the mid to the east). Or I was thinkin goin out of the country but still speaking English. That'd be SWEET! Places like New Zealand, Australia, England etc. I guess I wouldn't mind if I ended up speaking Spanish. Anything other than that makes me nervous haha! Of course I'll go wherever the Lord sends me and I'll love it. But it's just fun to guess and talk about it. So yeah! If you wanna go ahead and give your guesses you may. I'm not making a competition out of it but if you enjoy guessing stuff like this then you have all the freedom to.