¡Amo a España!

In case you somehow didn't know, I recently went back to Spain for a quick visit. Martha (a girl I taught on my mission) got married in the Madrid temple, and I didn't want to miss out on that. A friend of mine (Ashley) came along for the ride, and we had a blast. There was a civil wedding on Saturday, followed by the temple ceremony the next Tuesday. The wedding was so much fun! It started at NOON and lasted until 11 PM. We ate more than I ever thought possible and then danced the night away. We became friends with a group of Iker's (Martha's new husband) buddies and hung out with them most of the night... they even invited us to go out after the wedding was over. It was fun being the exotic foreign girls -- I'm not used to getting that much attention, and I kinda liked it. :) One week was definitely not long enough, but we managed to do a lot in that short period of time. Unfortunately, we didn't make it out to see the running of the bulls (boo hoo!), but I guess it was for the best... at least that's what all of our new Spanish friends told us. They were glad it didn't work out -- it's not the safest place, especially for foreigners. Below are some pictures from the trip. Also, check out the links section to the right of this post. One of them is a link to my YouTube page where you can view several videos I took during the reception. The other will take you to my photo album on Facebook. Go check them out to get a better idea of how amazing it was to be back there.

This is a picture of me in Bilbao. I love the yellow building (I'm not sure what it is) and the "Bilbobus" in the background .

Here I am at the beach in Santander. We were only there for a few hours, unfortunately. I served in this city and would have enjoyed seeing some of my old friends, but I didn't know how to contact them. This was a last-minute trip (we had an extra day since we didn't get to go to the running of the bulls), so I didn't plan ahead. :(

Santander again.

And again...

OK, now go check out those other links. Worth your time, I promise. Oh, and be sure to read the photo captions so you know what everything is. I love you all!

It's summer time!!!

Though I don't have anything mind-boggling or life-altering to share with you, I figured an update was well overdue. Things are great here. Spring semester ended last week, and I'm enjoying all this newfound freedom. I never realized how much time I spent sitting at home doing homework...or even going out with friends, but feeling guilty that I wasn't at home studying. This past week has been great. I've gone to all the church activities and even stayed afterward to play volleyball or go out for a fruit slush at Sonic. Every time I would start to feel guilty, I remembered, "Oh yeah! I don't have any homework!" It feels great!

The countdown for Spain is definitely in full swing. I simply can't wait for July! I got Martha and Iker's wedding announcement in the mail earlier this week, and it was beautiful. I'm so excited to see them again and be with them as they go through the temple for the first time. I feel so blessed that I get to go. :)

Speaking of weddings, my best friend Amy is getting married on Saturday. Tonight she's having a family BBQ so her family can meet Tim's family for the first time. I'm one of two non-family members that has been invited. I feel so special! :) Tomorrow we are decorating for the reception and hopefully taking Amy out for a night on the town...Mormon style. We're still not sure what to do. We'll probably just go play around downtown and take pictures. We won't stay out late -- who wants to have bags under their eyes on their wedding day? Plus, I'm getting to the stage that I don't enjoy staying out late anymore. I guess it's a sign I'm getting old. Sigh! Amy asked me to be one of her bridesmaids, and I just barely found my outfit. She chose out of season colors (plum and silver), and I had the most difficult time finding a top. I bought two things online but had to send them back (didn't look at all the same) and finally had to resort to Goodwill since they separate all their clothes by color. So...tacky as it may seem, I will be wearing a used, Goodwill shirt to Amy and Tim's wedding (Carly and Kyle had to do the same thing -- funny, right?). Good times!

Below are some recent pictures.

This is Carly and me at a party

Here I am with Kyle. We went camping and got rained out while cooking our foil dinners. We decided to wait it out in the truck. What's camping without a good thunderstorm? :)

The morning after. Kyle and Amy didn't have such a great time (all of our bedding got soaked), but I had Great-Grandma Barton's wool quilt to keep me warm. I slept great!