The Hills are Alive...almost!

Summertime is in FULL swing at the Ballam house. The operas open NEXT WEEK which is crazy to me. Things have been organized differently this year so we had tech rehearsal early but haven't rehearsed onstage since. I have mixed emotions about this. I like getting Tech Week over with but I am worried things will be rough tomorrow at our first dress rehearsal. i have 6 or 7 quick changes which will be exciting and stressful. Can't wait for the show to open so I can stop worrying about it!

Today I had the JOY of going to the OBGYN. Joy. I had expected that I was seeing a female nurse practitioner but when the doctor walked in not only was he male, he is my neighbor! AGH! It turned out I am glad it was him because he was really helpful. It turns out I am going to need surgery ASAP and I feel a lot more comfortable having him as my doctor. So that was a little TOO exciting. I hate doctors, IV's, blood, needles and all that jazz so I'll be glad when it is all over.

On a more pleasant note...this past weekend was the annual Israelsen Family Reunion. It is one of the few times I get to see most of my 100+ cousins and I look forward to it ALL year! I had rehearsal the first day but made it up in time to witness the Shasta Shootout (my favorite part). It was fun to have John with me and introduce him to the whole family. Hopefully he wasn't too overwhelmed. We are a pretty intense/crazy family but I think he can handle it :). I love my family SO much! I'm sad the reunion is over and I'll have to wait another year for it.
John and I got some of our engagements back and we are so pleased with the outcome! He is critical about how he looks but I think he looks so handsome! I am such a lucky girl! We are excited to see the rest of them. Wedding plans are coming right along. We don't have a ton left to do except take our formal pictures, order invites, find John a tux and that's about it! I'm getting really anxious and want it to be September already!

The Latest

The stress train has stopped at my door! Life is getting crazy now with weddings, summer camps and operas. I'm trying to stay positive about everything and enjoy it like I should. John and I purchased a couch and chair for our apartment. We took them over in Ester's truck and our new neighbors helped John move everything in. We also got our engagement pictures taken by Cascio Photography last night which was fun. John was a good sport and donned a bow tie and suspenders as well as pink socks :) My mom snapped a few shots of us before we left.
This week is going to be a long one. Since I never know my rehearsal schedule til the night before it is hard for me to make plans and organize my schedule for the week. It is hard for me because I always like to have a plan! Friday is the first day of our Israelsen Family Reunion which I look forward to all year. John has never been to the Israelsen cabin except on New Years so I'm excited for him to see it when it isn't covered in snow! Hopefully I'll have Saturday off so we can enjoy all the festivities!

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I thought I'd better post a wedding-plan update. Most importantly...I found my dress! I had actually found it by my last post but hadn't purchased it. I'm really pleased with my decision and excited to actually get to wear it! The seamstress called yesterday and told me she finished the alterations so I just have to go try it on to make sure it fits. Unfortunately the store is in American Fork and with my crazy unpredictable rehearsal schedule it will be hard to find a time to make it down there. I'm hoping for Friday!

John and I were scheduled to shoot our engagements last Friday but unfortunately had to cancel due to the rain storm. Hopefully it will be bright and sunny next Monday so we don't have to cancel again! I don't love getting my picture taken so I'm glad that John has to do it with me ;) I'm also excited to get that part of wedding planning done. One less thing to worry about!

We also found an apartment! We looked at a bunch of apartments on West Center street that were pretty nice but really expensive. The main problem we had was our dog. Most places charge $100+ more per month for a pet or make you pay a huge pet deposit at signing. Luckily I checked KSL every day and found a little basement apartment for a really good deal. The ad said no pets but the landlord said our dog would be fine. We went to look at it and it is perfect for us! It is a small, one bedroom one bath basement apartment but it actually has a lot of windows so it is really light down there. I love everything about it except the turquoise and green carpet in the living room. :) It will be fun to decorate and have a little place of our own though. We went to the DI yesterday and purchased a coffee table and a painting (picked out by John). It makes me feel so old to be buying furniture!

The bridesmaid dresses came and they are perfect (just need sleeves) and I ordered John's ring yesterday. We also registered at BB&B which was interesting. Totally exhausting to me! It seems like we have so much planned already and now we'll just have to wait... and wait.

Life aside from that is good. I've just been rehearsing and planning. I'll be glad when the summer is over and I can sleep through the night!

I better not post without a picture so here's one of one of our favorite pass-times. Definitely the quickest way to blow a lot of money!

Beginning

Wow! What a crazy few weeks I've had! Being engaged sure isn't what I thought it would be. So far there are lots of things that I have enjoyed about being engaged. I must admit, I really love showing people my ring and my fiance. I am so proud of both :) I am the kind of girl who has been planning my wedding since I was 5 so that has been fun too. Though when I was 5 I didn't realize just how expensive weddings are. I HATE that part of wedding planning. Luckily we were able to book our perfect photographer for a bargain! To me the wedding pictures were top priority so I'm thrilled that we were able to get Cascio Photography to shoot our special day :)

The hardest part about this whole thing for me is choosing a dress. I have been to SO many stores and tried on so many dresses that my head is spinning with taffeta, silk and lace! The first 2 dresses that I tried on were by far my favorite. Though now I'm not sure if I really loved the dresses, or if I just loved the way I looked in them because they were the first ones I tried on (and the only ones that were actually my size). So... the final step in this process (I hope) is to drive back down to American Fork and try them back on! That is how I will be spending my evening tonight. Hopefully I will be able to make a decision. I don't think I can handle trying on any more big, poofy dresses!!!

My mom is a pro wedding planner so we have a lot already planned out. I have favors purchased, flowers picked out, engagement/formal shoots lined up, temple reserved, luncheon/reception venue reserved, flower girl dresses purchased, bridesmaid dresses purchased, slideshow and videographer lined up, and we meet with our caterer on Friday to finalize our menu for the luncheon and reception. Sounds like a lot but we still have much to do! Once I get the dress out of the way I'll feel a lot better about things. We have also had a struggle finding somewhere to live that is affordable AND pet friendly. My little dog is going to be costing us $100+ a month in rent I'm afraid. But oh how we love her! :)

Though it has been stressful to work things into our budget, wedding planning has been a lot of fun! I am lucky to have a fiance with an opinion. It makes decision making easier because I don't have to do it alone. Maybe that's why choosing my dress has been so tricky!

Anyway, that's the latest. Better not post without a picture so here are a couple from 2 weeks ago. John and I had a fun time staying with my brother Chris and his family for a few days. We were able to attend my niece, Ava's graduation which was a lot of fun. We also love any opportunity to drive down South so we can eat at In N Out! :)

New Project!

This is kind of a random post but I'm pretty excited about my new skill. I decided after watching many hours of Ace of Cakes that I needed to learn how to cover a cake with fondant. So I watched a couple of YouTube videos, bought myself some fondant (I decided to take baby steps with this. Next time I'll try making my own) and made myself a cake. The pictures basically show how it turned out.



Here is what I learned:
1. Do NOT use a cake mix cake. The cake wasn't quite as strong as I would have liked. Next time I will use a wedding cake recipe or something a little more sturdy.
2. Don't roll the fondant too thin. I was trying to make sure I had enough to cover the whole cake and ended up making it a little thin.
3. Wear gloves when coloring fondant. It's not possible to not get food coloring on your fingers when kneading it into fondant. I even somehow managed to get it on my knees...

That's about it! It wasn't that difficult and only took me about 2 hours (including cake making/baking time) which I thought was pretty good for my first time! :)

Well it's official! After 5 years of dating John and I are finally engaged. :) For those of you who have asked for the story here it is...

I knew it was going to happen last night because the ring came in yesterday and I figured he wouldn't wait. He also had told me that he had plans for us and wanted me to dress up. But... he called before he got here and said, in a sad voice "Liv...can we go on our date tomorrow?". So I decided he didn't get the ring and, to say the least, I was NOT happy. I told him fine and that I didn't want to do anything if we weren't going on a date because I had a lot to do for preschool. He somehow convinced me that we should still go to dinner because he had reservations. So we went to the Bluebird (where my parents got engaged) which was cute. As we were eating our salads he pulled out a ring he had made out of a $2 bill. The $2 bill was one that I had given him when we first started dating and he had told me that he wouldn't spend it because he was going to keep it and give it to me when we got engaged. So at that point I knew he was going to do it that night! I kept waiting and waiting but nothing happened at dinner. After dinner we started driving home and he pulled off into Merlin Olsen Park. We walked to our favorite bridge and sat down. Then he ran to his car and brought back some roses. He gave me 2 roses for every year we've been together and told me some memories he had of each year. Then he just knelt down, pulled out the ring and said "This is for all the rest of the years we'll have together". It was very sweet and made me cry, which surprised me. Here are some pictures of the happy event :)


So there's the story. I'm so happy! We are shooting for September 3rd. I had hoped for October 9th, which is my grandparents' anniversary but my parents will be out of the country. September is great though. So now comes the fun part of PLANNING! :)

One more final!

One more final left and I am FREE! I finished my STAT 1040 final and I'm waiting for my Physics one to begin. I don't know where the time went! I swear this semester just started. I'm not complaining though! Last weekend was a fun one. John and I went on our first REAL date in a long time. Most weekends consist of eating at Bajio's and watching movies at my house. This time he planned out a date for us which was really fun for me. I'd missed that. He told me to wear long socks but no coat so I was pretty confused about what we were doing. He also said that we were doing something semi-active and that there would be other people there but some of them would not be participating in our activity. I was confused. Anyway, we ended up going roller blading at the Fun Park which was great. I hadn't been skating there since I was little. I hadn't been skating PERIOD since I was little. Aside from a couple of bruised ribs from slamming into the brick wall I did pretty good. We also played arcades and won a slap bracelet and a little green popper thing. Then we had dinner at El Sol and played a board game with Ester and Scott. Turned out to be a great night. :)

Preschool graduation is coming up which I'm excited for. The kids have been practicing so hard on their songs and sign language for the program. I hope all goes as planned but that isn't exactly likely with 16 hyper 4 year olds :) I'm really going to miss these kids this year. For some reason I have grown a lot more attached with this class than my classes in the past. They are definitely a handful, but lots of fun. Hopefully some of them will come back for summer camps!
I also got a cute new headband form my sister that I had to post a picture of because I love it so much! .... John likes it too :)