Other fun pictures of the wedding weekend!

The BEAUTIFUL BRIDE...and her dress

The Todd and Julie Hillyard Family!

Mr. and Mrs. Todd Hillyard
Married February 25th, 2006
Salt Lake City TempleIt's no wonder why Julie is such a beautiful bride!
Proud parents: Steve and Liz McAllister
Very proud Grandmother: Joan BoweSharing an Eternal Moment from Grandmother to Grandaughter.
Aunt Liz, THE ROCK, in the background!

Julies Family, sharing in the joy that the day finally arrived!
Bottom left corner: Julies roommates
Top half: The McAllister Gang
Bottom Right corner: The Family Bowe, with Auntie, Unka and Teener in front.Muffin and JuJu BearTodd, Joan Bowe, JulieSusie, Spencer, Kendal, MartinJulies Auntie Patricia and cousin Shannon
Liz Maloney (from England), Joan Bowe

The Weekend JuJu Bear and Todd Got Married

My beautiful cousin Julie is now happily married to her new best friend, Todd Hillyard. Todd and Julie, Forever, and ever, and ever...just like in Saturdays Warrior! It was meant to be!

T

The entire weekend was a PARTY! At the luncheon, we found out that Todd is the 4th child in his family. And as his sister pointed out, recent Birth Order studies use the following description to label the 4th child: "Life is a party, and they are the host!" (Well, being a 4th child myself, I would have to agree!) And boy, did they throw a great party! Let me tell you all about it!

First, THE RECEPTION

Tons of Family, even more food, and a plethora of FUN!

Unka and Uncle ReedNatalie Service , Joan Bowe, Liz McAllister, Liz Maloney
Martin and Kendal McAllisterChristine McAllister - who looks absolutely FABULOUS!!!

Father and Son, Steve and Martin
(and I don't mean to be a tattle-tale, but Uncle Steve is standing on his tippy toes!

Julie and Todd know how to party! Their reception was at the Salt Lake Country Club, a not so shabby place for a small get together. They served up the best food, beautiful fruit platters, crackers with about a million cheeses to choose from, squirrel on a stick, high-class pigs-in-a-blanket, and a bunch of other items that I had problem making a meal out of! The whole spread was fantastic!

And then to top it off, there was a CHOCOLATE/HOT COCO BAR! And believe me, our extended family had our fair share of the loot!

Chocolate chocolate everywhere...and not enough pockets to fill!

John, sipping his hot coco as only a true fan of Aunt Liz could! "Ahh, it's been so long!"

There was also a Karaoke Band which provided many opportunities for personal humiliation, to which I am thankful that this party was a non-alcoholic function! However. . .

. . . instead, surprisingly and pleasently, we were provided with some fun music performed by some really talented friends and family of Todd and Julies! Every one was up and dancing the night away!

Liz, Shannon, and Liz grooving to a song sung my Todds brother, Matt!

The Bride and Groom swinging to some sweet tunes!Joan Bowe and Unka Steve cutting a rug!
(I have no doubt Uncle Steve goosed her before the song was over!)

Ian and Teener Dancing Cousins! L to R: Kristin, John, Joey, Nancy, Audry, Sadie - everyone is astonished at the dance moves Trever is throwing down! Trever is currently preping for the biggest move of the night so his back is turned! You can tell - he is totally entertaining everyone!Kendal - doing the Robot! (look how skinny Teener is!)Ian and Natalie slow dancing to Uncle Steve, Uncle Reed, and Uncle David singing, "Close To You" by the Carpenters. Well, not really, but it would have been funny if they did!

I thought there was a great turn out of friends and family from both Todd and Julies families. The following are just a couple random pictures of the fun times we had through out the evening. I'm telling ya - it was the Party of the Century!

Martin and John

Uncle Reed, Aunt Melissa, and Kristen (Brett's wife). Please note the beautiful centerpieces!Natalie, Zackary, Brett

(L) Natalie, Teener, Grant Linton, Jodi Linton, with Martin and Kendal peeking around back.

(R) Martins good friend, Brad Horrox, with his wife and (3rd) baby.

ROOMMATE REUNION 2006

RR 2006 was a great success! Timing was perfect for the four of us to get together in Utah. We spent lunch at Carries house, then went to Nalanis home for the evening. Nalani is still full of wisdom, Sarah is still full of sarcasim, and Carrie is still full of wit! But all in all, they are all still full of crap! AND THAT'S WHY I LOVE THEM!!! During our visit, I was reminded how absolutely funny these girls are, and why I had so much fun at Ricks Collage. Bringing up all of our crazy memories made it very clear the reason why we rarely dated! That's not to say we weren't asked out multiple times... It's just that we willingly turned down so many possilbe dates to continue creating as many roommate memories as possible. AND BOY DO WE HAVE PLENTY!

"Living the gospel and being true to gospel principles is the key to true, lasting, triumphant friendship. Real friends share the gospel - the living of it and the loving of it. No stronger bond nor higher compliment can be given from one friend to another."

- - - Jeffrey R. Holland

MY LITTLE VALENTINE!

My buddy LUKE was the first friend I made here in Lansing so we've been best friends for over a year now! When Lukes parents go on a date, I usually get to go on a date with Luke and his brother Isaac. Some people might call it babysitting, but we call it a date! Luke called us the other night and invited us over for smoothies. He loves to open the front door for us when we arrive and then jumps up and down yelling, "Ian and Mallie are here!" (We have progressed from Madre to Mallie. Secretly, I hope he never figures out how to say Natalie. It's just the sweetest thing to hear him call me what he thinks my name is).

When we hang out, we like to play imaginary musical instuments, ride our imaginary choo choo train to which there is no end to where the tracks will take us, we like to dance to banjo music, run to blues music, and read books to classical music. Luke can read his books for hours! But I think his all time favorite thing to do is drink a cup of milk. As soon as he has a cup of milk in his hand, the other hand goes straight up to his head where he twists and plays with his hair until the entire cup is gone.

I got to hang out with Luke at my house Monday morning while his mom and dad were at a doctors appointment finding out that a baby GIRL is on her way! Luke stood in front of the heater vent (or as Luke calls it, "fresh air") nearly the entire time trying to stay warm in our cold house. He was excited to see "The Tickler" aka Ian and kept saying, "I'm over here by the fresh air Tickler, but don't tickle me!" And when he got no response from the Tickler, he changed it to, "Hey Tickler, I'm over here by the fresh air, and you can tickle me...but only for two minutes!" But my favorite conversation between the two of them was:
LUKE: Hey Ian, did you go to the Temple?
IAN: Yes I did!
LUKE: The Temple is Jesus' house. That's where he lives!
IAN: Thats right!
LUKE: Did Jesus open the door for you?



I just love my little buddy Luke so much and he is MY LITTLE VALENTINE! He really is! Hanging on my fridge is a homemade pink card with a heart and star glued inside, with other random glue clumps and marker scribbles, to prove it!

MoTown Temple

A PLACE OF PEACE. We were able to attend the Detroit Temple with our ward on Saturday. It was our first time visiting the Detroit Temple and what a beautiful place it is! It's the first mini temple I've been to, in fact, the Stake Center on the same property looks bigger than the Temple. We carpooled with our good friends, Coby and Tiffany. I thought it was really neat that Tiffany and I went through the session for two sisters, Mary and Lillie, especially since my sisters have been on my mind lately! I am so glad Ian and I made the time to attend the Temple.

X-tra L-arge SUPERBOWL PARTY

Our good friends, Coby and Tiffany, hosted the 3rd Annual Superbowl Party at their home. A good rowdy crowed showed up, some even in the proper attire! Here is Brittni with the cutest Steelers hat ever, that I'm sure she didn't purchase on the Sabathday, right Brittni?! And her son Talon decked out in a Steelers Jersey.

There was lots of great food, and apparently, lots of good drinks! Here's the Lansing gang gathered around 4 or 5 LoveSacs all piled in Cobys living room.

Go! Seattle!
I mean....ummm...Go! Pittsburg!
What? It's over already?!?!
Ok...who won?
Pittsburg?
Well, that's who I was cheering for all the long!
WAY TO GO! Pittsburg Steelers!

Holly Dee is going to be a Mommy!

Ians baby sister, HOLLY DEE BUTLER, is prego! A big congratulation to her and her husband Jake. I am secretly hoping they have a baby girl. Service girls are a rare breed! Holly Dee and Abigail are the only ones so far (on the Craig Service side of the family!) So, we are rooting for you Holly!

Holly Dee (Service) Butler and Abigail Service (Tres and Roseannes baby girl)