Day 30: Family

I am the oldest of 2 girls. My little sister is named Abby and she's a Senior in high school. We have a mom and a dad who are pretty cool and they take us to cool places like Oregon. 

For my senior trip, we went to the coast of Oregon and had an excellent time relaxing, seeing the sites, eating incredible food. You can read all about it HERE. I was having some boy troubles then, but it didn't stop me from enjoying a vacation with my family.

Since then, I've added so many more people to my family just by falling in love with one guy (who, btw, isn't the one from the troubles). Now I have a husband, 4 brothers-in-law, 5 sisters-in-law, and a new parents-in-law that I love spending some time with. My family tripled in size over night. I don't get to see them all at once because they all live in different places, but I get to travel around and see them, which makes it double fun. 

I love my family and I'm so grateful for all of them. Yay! 

love, Ellen

p.s. Since Sean got some new movies yesterday, I got new pencils and canvases to draw with! So I'm working on a project and I hope it turns out. It's looking pretty good, so I think it's going to work. 

Apologies, News, and MN trip

Sorry for my nearly 2 week hiatus... It seriously has been non-stop for me lately. As soon as we got back from MN, we got surprise tickets to the Barenaked Ladies concert (with Ben Folds Five and Guster) and then on Friday night, we went to a Bees game (Utah's minor league baseball team) with Brady and Katie (Sean's brother and his wife). Now we're just trying to fall back into normalcy. I'm still trying to catch up on sleep and house cleaning.

However, even our normalcy is something other than that. Sean and I are still trying to figure our situations out. I'm on the look for a new job, preferably something in the Utah Valley area doing something along the lines of Proofreader, Copy Editor, Reading Tutor, the like. If you know of anything... let me know.

We started looking for a new place to live just North of SLC but then we found out today that our ward needs us to revamp the nursery. It's a problem for our ward that's too big to just fix in a few weeks before leaving, it seems. It seems like there are more things keeping us here than there are opportunities for us to move. It's just something we've been questioning for a while and we finally have a bit of an answer.

Anyway, I just thought I'd let you know what's happening. Also, on a side-note, Sean and I started our Academy Award Best Picture Winners movie challenge. We're still in the middle of the first one which we started yesterday. It's a silent movie from 1927 called Wings about a couple of pilots in the war. It's interesting but pretty long (2 hours).

And remember how I promised that I would tell you about our trip and have pictures.

This is one of the first places I saw in the Mall of America. IT'S A FREAKING AMUSEMENT PARK. ridiculous. Of course, I didn't go on any rides... Roller Coasters are not our thing. We also had lunch there and then  went shopping. I got a new pair of pants at H&M. By the end, my feet were so tired!

 This is some incredibly delicious lemonade from Matt's Bar (Home of the Jucy Lucy) in Minneapolis. It's the best bottle of lemonade I have had, I think. 

 This is the afore mentioned Jucy Lucy burger with grilled onions. Absolutely magnificent. If I talk about it too much longer I'll have to change my shirt from drool. If you're in Minneapolis, GO HERE. 

Go TWINS! This game was seriously SO much fun. We sat so high up, I almost puked. They shot off fireworks during the national anthem (while I was still trying to get used to the height) and I almost collapsed from fright. The Twins won the Phillies that night 4-3. It was a great game and we ate nachos out of a Twins helmet bowl (YUM). And we got to hang out with a couple of Sean's friends from MN. 

Overall, it was a fun trip. After all these things, we went to the family reunion and that was a blast too! I met so many great people and, if you can believe it, I can remember everyone's names. I also learned how to make little creatures out of sewing and felt. I'm thinking about selling them or making them for needy children. 

Anyway, I thought I'd just send you an update. Have a great week!

love, Ellen

Minnesota? Nice.

Hi, everyone! Guess where I am. Minnesota! Sean is in the shower and I thought I'd just post a little bit about what's going on. So far this trip all we've really done is gone through old pictures, played video games at Sean's friend Bloom's house, had dinner with our friends Marcus & Whitney, and gone to a graduation party. Woo fun!

But now the real fun stuff starts. Today, we're going up to the Twin Cities (Minneapolis/St. Paul, for those of you who are wondering) and shopping the Mall of America! And we're probably going to see the aquarium in the mall and maybe I'll get a new outfit. Woohoo! Sometime after we go to the mall, we'll drop our stuff off at my brother-in-law, Damien's house where we're going to sleep tonight. Tomorrow, we're going to bum around the cities and then go to a Twin's game! awwwww yeah. I can't wait for the delicious stadium food and game! Apparently, we have really great views of the city skyline from our seats. We're going to the game with Marcus, Whitney, and 5th wheel Bloom. I'll take some pictures or something for you.

Our last leg of the trip will be a family reunion on Sean's mom's side where we're going to be camping (with beds and showers... but it'll be in the wilderness!) and then we're on our way home.

Let me know if you know of anything fun to do in the cities tomorrow so we don't just end up sitting on the couch all day. It probably won't happen, but it might.

love, Ellen

My house is a mess...

and I'm here sitting on my couch watching The Talk. Ahh... life. It will get clean before Sean gets home, but right now, I might just take a little nap.

This week, in preparation for our vacation, Sean and I went through a bunch of our old pictures to bring to the reunion. I love having physical pictures to look through. Facebook and other computerized photo albums are fine and all, but having the actual picture in my hand is a lot more of a memory (anyone else catch the irony?)

The problem, however, is that photo albums are almost obsolete. Either everything is on the computer or in some time-consuming scrapbook. I just want to be able to flip through all those photos without having to glue them to expensive paper with cut outs of whatever and cutesy letters. I just want photos with years and descriptions on the back. Easy peasy.

I just barely finished building our driving playlist with only fun music and... 1.9 days. Whoops. that's about a day too much. It's fine. Now we have a fun playlist. I better get to cleaning.

SEE YOU IN SOME TIME!
love, Ellen

May... wait...

It's kind of weird coming back and blogging with out a prompt... but I like it. I'm glad I took that challenge, I read a bunch of new awesome blogs and got some really cool comments that I really appreciate. I don't know how to reply to them... so if you know how, it would be cool if you could tell me.

I don't know if you know this about me, but I love lists. I saw this today and laughed:

I found a pretty cool to-do list app for my phone and I am glued to it all the time. I have a list of things I've got to do, my grocery list, and all the things that I need to pack for our vacation. I used to have my list of homework on there, but then I graduated and now it's gone. When I check off the tasks, it says "Completed!" and I get excited.

Speaking of my vacation checklist, only 3 days till we drive our tails off and then we'll be in MN! Currently, I'm going over my lists a million times trying to make sure we have everything and I'm not going to forget anything. I just hope I can fit everything in our duffle bag. Eek! If not, we have like 2 other duffles and a bunch of backpacks and a carry-on. We'll be fine.

Okay, I've got to get to work on our fun driving playlist.
Love, Ellen

May 20: Struggle

So I skipped Sunday and Monday is late... Anyway.

To be honest, I'm not really struggling much with anything particularly right now. Except maybe thinking up something for this post... hah. nevermind.

Well, there's going to be a lot of transitions in my life soon. This summer alone, Sean and I are going on a trip to MN, we're moving 30 minutes north, I'm quitting my job and finding a new job (hopefully)... it's a lot. I think maybe part of the struggle with all this is money. It's not that we're broke, but moving, losing a job, and a vacation can really soak up a lot of cash. We're eating in more and not going places as much, but it's still rough.

and that's what i'm struggling with.
love, ellen

I'm back! and some other stuff.

So I tried out the wordpress thing for a while but I don't think I actually like it. I like my format and background stuff here... idk how it's going to work after blogger calls it quits for realzies but I'm just going to see what happens here until then.

I haven't posted generally anywhere in a while. It's been pretty hectic at work and school with it being the end of the semester and with me graduating and all... Anyway, I apologize and stuff.

Recently, I've been thinking so much about cutting my hair off. All of it. Here's my hair as it is now straight:

And here's what I want to do:

Note that I've had it that short before. It's not scary to me to get it cut off, but I just feel so determined to grow it out as long as I can stand it. My last real cut was 2 Decembers ago. Anyway, I'm getting antsy to get it off and I was hoping for some input. Should I keep going or should I wait until May and cut it then?

Some other things that have been on my mind... I don't know why necessarily, but I've been listening to Motion City Soundtrack's Even If It Kills Me album all week. It's really a great album and it's been on repeat on my phone since Monday. I've been especially enamored with this song:

I'll confess to a bathroom dance party to this song while taking the above selfie. I just love it. 

I can't wait until June when Sean and I are going to a family reunion in MN. It's going to be so fun! I can't wait to hang out with his family again and see the Mall of America and go to a Twins Game! I can't wait to get away! I've been itching to just pack up somethings and go somewhere. I love driving for hours and being somewhere different. And I can't wait to move up North this summer! Yay, new places! 

Okay, I think that's enough for today. 

Have a great day!

love, Ellen. 

just another new year blog.

This was the craziest year, let's be honest. It flew by and i'm all the better for it.
I think i'll go by month.

New Years last year i spent watching crappy music videos with old friends. Then, in January, I met the Donner boys (Brady and Sean) at a party I held for myself for my half birthday. We also hung out at a game of broom ball that same month (at which I met Jeremiah, their younger brother) and, because I liked them so much, i invited our entire ward to an after-party at Village Inn. Later that month, Sean and I started hanging out. Also, my second year of college started.

On February 7th, Sean sent out the ghost of Paul Revere to tell the world we were dating. The next week was Valentines. The best Valentines I've ever had because I spent it with Sean. That month, we continued dating. I gained a best friend and trusted accomplice.

March is a funny story. the beginning wasn't that much of interest... but Sean's birthday was on the 20th and we celebrated. The week after that, though, we went to Phoenix. It really was a terrible trip, his family will attest to it, but it's a great story now. Here's a rundown of it . So that i don't have to type it all out.

April. Sean and I exchanged mixes, went to the zoo and to our favorite place, the Dinosaur Museum. And Sean and I continued to fall in love (combined awwwww. and... go.)

May. We visited a meat parade, took a fun day-trip to Moab, and Abby had a birthday (shout hooray)

June. We saw Jay Mohr at Wiseguys and busted a gut, bought a record player, and I got some gnarly bruises from a children's playground toy, and went to a super rad Motion City Soundtrack concert with Brady and The Front Bottoms and The Henry Clay People opened for them.

July. the best month. We saw Abe Lincoln: Vampire Hunter and saw some fireworks. On my birthday we saw Foster the People in concert. Sean bought a car (for realz). The next day, we drove it to the Dinosaur museum. We went in and Sean proposed to me in the starry tunnel after the kids stopped running around in it. Adorable. That day, we drove up to bountiful and to logan and all around to show off our new engagement. SO great. We set the date for October 5th. Also that month, i packed up to move, and picked out my dress.

In August, I moved out of my old apartment and into our cozy new apartment, picked out our invites, and school restarted. I was waving my ring finger about like it was nobody's business. Also, we had out engagement pictures done. And Sean started his new job at Adobe.

September. I had some bridal showers and got some awesome stuff. Sean and I took our first of 2 trips to Minnesota for his friends Marcus and Whitney's wedding. 2 entire days were spent just driving. It was fun and cute! We got our marriage licence while there, also. When we got home from our journey, we got a kitten. so cute and fun back then... less fight-y.

October was the biggest month. We drove so much back to Minnesota and got ready for the wedding. Our families met and we set up. We got married in the St. Paul, MN temple on the 5th, had our reception in the Mankato ward building and then we had our honey moon in Mankato and Keystone, South Dakota where we visited Mt. Rushmore and had fun. When we got back, we had a couple days to catch up on things and then we had another reception in Bountiful which was gorgeous and fun. It was a month to remember. Also, Halloween where we carved pumpkins and had candy and it was great.

November. I went to school, Sean went to work. Thanksgiving was tons of fun and delicious. it was really a relaxing month, just what we needed after october.

December flew by. We saw The Hobbit 3 times (our 4th was last night... so it doesn't count for December). I finished the semester of School and hung out at home for most of the break. We had some Christmas parties and stuff and i wrote an adorable blog about our wedding. For New Years, we went to Heber City and just enjoyed each others company instead of going to a party. boring.

I'm excited for 2013. It's gonna be fun. Sean's and my first entire year of being married. Yay! This year, we're hoping to move up to Davis County, start saving for a real house, and maybe visiting Phoenix again or somewhere. I'm excited.

Thanks for another year of listening to me ramble or whatnot.
love, ellen

The post you've been waiting for!

okay, i don't know where to start on this bad boy... how about 2 tuesdays ago. Deal. So i got home from work, we loaded up Clark the Caliber (Sean's car) and headed out. drive drive drive. lots of music, a couple naps, breakfast in Rapid City and we visited some concrete dinosaurs in the cold and kissed because of excitement of almost being married.

"She just got done telling South Dakota that we're getting married on Friday." Photo courtesy of Sean's instagram

Kept driving, got there wednesday and rested and did something... i can't remember what... Thursday we relaxed and then started setting up for the big day. Also, our parents met each other and got along instantly (i guess now Sean's and my dads are going camping sometime eventually..) and then we went to Buffalo Wild Wings (YUM.) We said good bye, hugged a bunch, and I stayed with my family that night.

Then happened the big day. I woke up at about 7 and showered and got ready while my family slept. then i waited for Sean to come and get me and take me to All About Hair to get my hairs did by Sean's friend Amy for the wedding.

Then we went back, I put on a dress Abby lent me (that i looked good in ;) ), and then Sean came back from Bloom's (where, instead of spending 15 minutes getting ready and coming back, Sean spent 30+ minutes "Smashing" (super smash bros) and 3 minutes getting ready. that guy...) Then we took an almost 2 hour drive to the temple, where we left our sisters and Sean's cousin Kathy who took our pictures, and Sean and I were sealed. After the wedding, we gathered for pictures.

This is the only one I've edited so far. and i'm still trying to figure out my new, simpler version of photoshop.

Us and our sisters. awww. 

"Wurr Murried!" also, "It's cold!"

Me and my warm-thing-I-mean-husband. :)

After pictures, we went to Burger King. Sean and I got some chicken strips and fries and cokes and drove back. We checked into our hotel and went and saw the room. (SO nice! the bed was as big as my entire bedroom, i'm pretty sure.) Then we went to the church, finished setting up a little, and had a party! we had BBQ and dancing and it was great.

This was our guest book. Cool, right? my dad made it.

I remembered we were having bbq so i brought my apron.

see how well they get along? haha

Marti hands! (my aunt marti has a chronic cannot-hold-her-hands-normal-in-pictures condition ;) )

Wedding cake! from top to bottom, White, Carrot, Marble. YUM!

feeding. look how cute and clean we are!

first dance! the light spots are bubbles. 

father/daughter dance!

and that's just the MN reception. We stayed in Mankato for a couple days, chillin' and visiting his friends and getting some stuff he left at his parents house. Then we headed for South Dakota. We stayed at the K Bar S Lodge in Keystone, SD.

i'm gonna cut it short cuz i'm sure you're tired of this and also, i'm gonna eat lunch and take a nap and watch Fellowship of the Ring. Don't worry, i will eventually write about honeymoon and Utah reception. 

love, ellen

Mrs. Donner

well hello, all.
guess who is a married woman. This girl right here.

the ceremony was small and perfect, the party was great, and the honeymoon was short but relaxing.
We still have one more reception to go and a bunch of pictures to sort through and fix, but i promise i'll post all about it.
but for now, here's a picture to hold you over for a while:

love, ellen donner

So much NEWS.

I was in walmart this morning to get toilet paper and milk for my mac and cheese. Turns out walmart in the morning is great. Another thing, there was one of those little video things at the end of an aisle and it was that dunkin' donuts commercial where the girl's name is Ellen and everytime it shouted "Ellen!" i got so confused. okay.

Anyway, that has nothing to do with the fun things that happened this weekend. So Sean and I left home last Wednesday night and drove for about 20 hours to get to MN for his best friend Marcus's wedding. We got there Thursday night and went to bed at about 8:30 and didn't wake up until 7 the next morning. then on Friday, we went and got our marriage license and then went to get Sean's haircut and tested out my wedding hair (SO great) and then we went and gave invites to the old Barnes and Noble Sean used to work at and then to lunch and bought me some wedding shoes.

THEN we went to the wedding rehearsal where i met all of Sean's friends. I was nervous, of course, but turns out they were cool. I kinda wish I had some more time to meet them, but i will in 17 days (!) at my own wedding. Rehearsal dinner was yummy and it was great. then we went home and relaxed.

The next day, we visited some more people and gave them invites and then got ready and went to the real wedding (actually pictures, then lunch, then the wedding). Then I put most of the boutonnieres on the groomsmen and groom and father-of-the-bride. So you know, i'm cool & stuff. The ceremony was really sweet and special. Then dinner was good and dancing was awesome. I can't wait to do it all again in a couple weeks! but then it will be ME in the pretty dress with the handsome husband. Speaking of handsome:

After dancing and saying some sad goodbyes to Sean's friend, we went home for the night and the next morning we packed up the car with things he wanted to take and then we stopped to say hi to his Aunt and then hit the road. for 18 hours. and we got home at 3 in the morn.

sleep happened and then i went to class and work and then i check my phone to see a picture of a KITTEN. Guys, i have a cussin' adorable kitten named Erma Barbara Gerd. she has the funniest walk and the cutest little meow. all she does is explore and take cute naps. which is okay.

Yup, that's our li'l snuggler. also, photos are courtesy of Sean's iphone. i'm still working on upgrading...
okay, well I think that's all. i'm gonna go cuddle with Erma and eat and shower and all normal stuff i do.
love, Ellen

Weekend update.

So, as you MUST know by now, i'm getting married (in 26 days but who's counting). A lot of things come with marriage, i'm slowly becoming aware of. There are things i'm sure i haven't thought of that my wonderful mom or sister or future family-in-laws or my old neighbor, Anna, has. It's hard enough to look at the next 24 hours than the next 26 days. in those days, i will be doing these things

• school (4 classes - 12 credit hours)
• work (upgrading inventory and changing stock as well as management)
• driving to MN and back 2 times (total of approximately 76* hours of driving. seriously.(*some of that will be after the wedding)
• going Sean's best friend's wedding (nervous but excited)
• sending invites
• getting a new phone
• putting away things from bridal showers
• sleeping
• eating
• (hopefully) relaxing

so that's gonna be fun.

This week, Sean's friend from his old work-place came and stayed with us for a bunch of days. Unfortunately, i was sick. but at the same time it was nice because i got to be home and hang out with her and become friends with her instead of having a 'fantastic' time at work. and by fantastic i mean crappy. Anyway, we became friends and now she lives in LA and we're gonna visit her eventually.

Alright, so yesterday. Started off great, because i forgot my makeup bag at home so my mom and dad and i went to get bagels and wedding make-up (hooray), then we went to my parent's ward's bridal shower for me. TONS of cool stuff. to name a few things: 6 or 7 cookie sheets and a couple muffin tins, 4 movies, a quesadilla maker, a gorgeous blue glass plate and a stylish white plate with red print spoon on it, tons of glass dishes and bowls and casserole pans, popcorn things, a minichopper, a game, and probably other things that have slipped my mind. 

After that, me and Abby and my mom went to Bridal Image and got my dress. lemme tell you, it's PERFECT. i wasn't sure about it at first because i bought it when it wasn't what i wanted (long with a train and short sleeves) and then i went and got it from being altered and it's PERFECT. i don't think i can say that enough. it's exactly my style and comfortable and elegant and i'm so so excited. I put it on to show my dad and Sean and sean was dazzled. he had the most adorable face. 

then we passed out some wedding invites, and went over to my Aunt Sharla's for a family shower. We played some games and chatted and ate dinner that Uncle Scott prepared. Then we opened gifts (which i'm finding to be loads of fun)! We got a huge tub full of awesome food, a griddle, a Twister Duvet cover, laundry detergent, post-it's, stickers, the Game of Life, Pyrex things, floor lamps, gift cards, and perhaps other things i have forgotten. 

But seriously, we have things! We still need a can opener and pots and pans (probably coming from my parents) but we can finally cook things in our house! hooray! Thank you to all who came and gave us things! We're SO grateful and hopefully will be sending Thank You notes soon. 

Now we're going to go get ready for our trip to MN! lots of driving. we're gonna eat a lot of snacks. and there's gonna be music up the wazoo. Woo! 

okay. i'm going to go do the sunday things like eating and naps. 

love, ellen