Arizona: Wedding Bells are Ringing

So one of my very best friend's was getting married. She had asked me a few months ago if I would do the cupcakes for her wedding. She wanted that instead of a cake. When she first asked Joe and I were planning on making the trip together, but with his new internship that didn't work out so well, so I carpooled with Jacqui (who also was husbandless for the week) and we headed out for a girl's week. I left Joe who drove back to boise to work for the week (post to follow) and left my little AJ with Gammie and Potts all week. I knew they were excited to have him, but my heart hurt as I left. I have never been away from AJ for more than a day and I was never the one to leave Joe behind. I was worried he wouldn't eat healthy enough, so being a super cook I made a few meals with cooking instructions for him to pull out of the freezer.
I was on my way. It was a long drive, and since Jacqui had a manual she did all the driving. We stopped in Flagstaff for the night and found this supper cute restaurant called Granny's Closet. We got the salad bar and thoroughly enjoyed it. The decor inside was the best part. you felt like you were eating in Granny's living room; covered in photos, keepsakes, little nicknacks and old vintage furniture. Very fun.

After dinner we decided to go shopping for a few new things for my wardrobe. You see, I have finally decided it is time for me to mature my wardrobe a bit so I tossed nearly everything out. I came to Idaho with 10 shirts, 2 pants, 2 shorts, and 4 shoes... yes I did donate almost all of my converse shoes to goodwill. So needless to say, I need a few things to replace the old. Going shopping with Jacqui is a blessing and a curse. She finds great things on sale, but she also finds way too much stuff that I just love... So I narrowed it down and ended up bringing home way more than I left with. We enjoyed a late night swim and then took off in the morning after Breakfast at this cute little dive called The Place.

I love all the cowboys all lined up for their morning coffee. 

This was my $6 breakfast. No, I didn't finish it all, not even close. 

We never stopped talking in the car. 16 hours of straight talking and laughing. Our conversations ranged from books and movies to babies and marriage. I swear we hit every topic we could think of. It was good to spend some quality time with Jacqui again. After a few hours that morning we got into Thatcher, Arizona. We met Jen at her Grandma's house and got to work on her hair and makeup for her bridal pictures. She looked stunning. Her Mom made her dress for only $26. It was perfect for her style.

We got to go on the photo shoot with her to be backup hair fixers, veil straighteners, you know, the stuff I always did for Potts. Thanks dad for the great training. 

We stood back and enjoyed watching this sweet couple get their pictures taken. It was so much fun.  

That night we headed to Denny's for a very late dinner, just the three of us. I could not have enjoyed it more. We have been close friends for a while now, and even with all the distance, lack of phone calls we are still just as close as ever. It is nice to know that you will always have good friends around.
The next morning we went out with the ladies for pedicures. Nothing is more fun than sitting in the spa with a bunch of women chatting about the bride to be.

Later that afternoon we met up with all the traveling friends from both sides of the wedding. We all got suited up and went out to Roper Lake for a swim and picnic.

BYU-Idaho girlies

I captured the sea monster in full motion...Wow, Jen. That is pretty impressive. 

So my camera is waterproof so we took it into the lake. I pulled it out of the water to take a picture of me and Jacqui...guess the camera didn't like her face too much. This picture couldn't have been planned better. Jaqcui wishes to remain anonymous. 

After our swim we enjoyed our dinner. 

So you are probably wondering were the cupcakes come into play? Well, I made the cupcakes and frosting in Utah before we left and have been toting them around in coolers trying to keep them frozen since we left. The wedding was on a Saturday and they got put in the cooler on Monday. Today was Thrusday and I was starting to worry about the cupcakes. I opened the coolers and pulled everything out to make sure they were still good. Everything was great, except for one container got water in it, so we had a small casualty of 9 cupcakes that wouldn't be making it to the wedding. The bottoms were soggy and I was about to throw them out, but Jacqui decided to salvage the tops, so we all enjoyed half of a cupcake.

Eating what we could of the soggy cupcakes. 

The next morning I got all set up to stuff and frost my cupcakes. I set everything out at Jen's Grandma's house and got to work. about 10 cupcakes in I looked back at the ones I had just frosted... OH NO!!! the frosting was sliding off and turning into melted goo. I didn't even think about the heat in AZ. It was 104 outside, and the air conditioning in Grandma's house couldn't keep up well enough. What were we going to do? We would never be able to fit over 100 cupcakes in anyone's fridge.

All set up and ready to go...notice the very few frosted ones on the right.

Jen's mom had a brilliant idea. She would be heading to the church a few hours later to set up the gym for the reception. She wanted me to pack everything up again and tote it all over to the church. Luckily the fridge was empty and the air conditioning had been turned on long before we got there. Kendra, my lovely assistant, and I got to work. Frosting a few then sticking them in the fridge. When we knew the frosting had set up enough we would pull them out again to add the finishing touches.

It all worked out, now all we had to do was pray that no one ate the cupcakes in the fridge before the reception the next day. We finished decorating, got all the food prepared, helped with the flowers and then headed back to the hotel to get ready for our bachelorette party that night. Jancqui, Kendra and I rushed to get ready and put together a few special things for Jen.

We made this sash and crown for her. 

We enjoyed drinks (virgin of course) and dinner at a nice restaurant. There were plenty of loud laughs and embarrassing moments, but what else do good mormon girls do at a bachelorette party?

We wore fun masks

Thanks ladies for a beautiful and unforgettable evening. 

The next morning all the girls joined us in our hotel room to get ready before the wedding. Jen even met her hair dresser there. After everyone was ready we headed to the Gilla Valley Temple. The sealing was beautiful and I even got to go into the Bride's Room with Jen to help her get her dress on, fix her hair and makeup, and put in her veil. It was a wonderful blessing to be there with her.

Don't they just look like they belong together?

Off to the reception. I rushed over to put the finishing touches on the cupcakes and then left them to have my fun. My first big event, done.

They had all their friends send over picture of their weddings and posted them up around the room along with a few vintage celebrity wedding photos. 

My final display. Our three flavors this time around: Raspberry Lemonade, Salted Carmel Fudge, and Coconut Cream Pie. They couldn't have turned out better. I am so proud of myself to have done this huge thing with only a few nervous breakdowns. Thank you Jen for having so much faith in me and allowing me to experiment on your  big day. 

The bride and Groom cupcakes.

Sure do love you Jen and I can't wait for all the fun memories you will make with your sweet Jay, and hopefully we can pull of a few combined family vacations in the future. 

It was time to head home. We made it back to Flagstaff Saturday night and just happened to pass this amazingly fun looking diner. It was across the street from our hotel. I had to go in.

It was perfect! It had so many of things I dream of in my diner. The decor was perfect, the food was great, and they even had swing dancing off in one corner by the juke box. It was a 50's original brought back to life.

We had chocolate coke.

Cheese fries.

How fun is this? They had all these uniform frames with vintage pictures in them lining almost every wall

They even had neon stars on the ceiling. 

I hope someday I can have my own. Well, homebound we went. I was so happy to see my little AJ again and to get a huge hug and kiss from my sweet hubby. I loved my vacation, but I was so happy to be back with my family.