isn't saturday the day we're supposed to get ready for sunday?

This blog entry is kind of long, but I had a really PACKED day on Saturday. I've known for some time that last Saturday was going to be one of those days. However, I decided to make the best of it since I knew this ahead of time and blog some of the things going on. Actually, I thought I knew how crazy it would be, but I never imagined I'd end up experiencing some of the things that happened:

You might think I woke up at 7:27, but in actuality I was up at 7:23, which is (for the record), my favorite time since July 23rd is my birthday. I woke up before my alarm. Also, that is TOTALLY me FAKING sleeping. (But can't you just see how much I was loving my beauty rest?) The four minutes that passed were used up grabbing my camera and taking a million shots to see which one captured my best fake-sleep. :)

I started the morning lifting weights at the gym, did a few errands (including picking up dry cleaning from two different locations), and grabbing breakfast. Then I ran home, changed, and drove half an hour to the WEST side of town so that I could go...

...to the ward service project where we were picking grapefruit. This was a first for me, and I actually really enjoyed picking the fruit (and climbing in the trees).

We came away with scratches all over our arms reaching through the branches to grab out the fruit, but satisfied that much had been done. All in all, we picked 13 tons of fruit.

I left the project early, drove the half hour home, changed, took a thirty minute nap, headed to a wedding, waited for it to start, waited some more for it to start, waited even MORE for it to start, and then headed to the brides room after overhearing a request for safety pins only to...

... end up sewing the bride into her dress. This picture was posted with her permission, and I have to say that I really didn't expect this type of picture in my blog entry. I was aiming for the wedding cake, but this picture and the experience as a whole was much better. After all: how many people can say they've actually sewn someone into a wedding dress? (Oh. the bride was just thrilled to have a dress on (and not held together with safety pins), which was good since she didn't freak out when that darn sewing needle pricked me, and then there was red, and....yeah... gotta love Kleenex and water. She still went out with a white dress, though I was a bit horrified...)

Following the wedding, my friend Perla and I grabbed dinner to go, drove half an hour to the EAST side of town for a fireside where Elder Bednar was speaking, walked several minutes in incredibly high heels over rocks that hashed the bottom of my brand-new-I-got-a-smokin'-good-deal-on-them (60% off!!!) awesome high heel shoes,

...waited an hour for the fireside to start, and were delighted to find out that Elder Bednar had structured it as an incredible TWO HOUR question and answer session. I really do mean that it was incredible, but he told us not to write everything down so we could all go home blog what he was saying, so I'm not going to. (oh--to clarify: the purpose in this was to remind us to only write down the things the spirit would communicate to us personally.) I guess I just blogged something he said, but since it wasn't the entire two hour session, I figure I am okay. Plus, I thought that the first comment sounded a bit odd. But I do have to add: the Bednars are actually really funny.

I then walked all the way back to my car (again. shoe damage, darn it!), drove 45 minutes home, changed AGAIN, and headed out for a late dinner. (shared, of course, since I wasn't that hungry.) Dinner was fabulous, and I have to confess that I really, truly, LOVE southwest cuisine. Even when it involves salmon.

At eleven pm, I finally arrived home, ready for:

Oh--for the record, that whole thing about getting ready for Sunday? I thought it wise NOT to post a picture of the house...