A Polynesian Wedding.

Jackie (Jon's sister) and Chad were married August 7th in the Salt Lake City Temple. The sealing was beautiful and the after party was fantastic! Polynesians know how to par-tay! I'm grateful that our children will grow up with so much culture in their lives. We are so happy for the newlyweds.

I love my man in a tux!

Can you see the goldfish?

The beautiful bride. Jackie actually introduced me to Jon. She is a true friend and wonderful sister.

Getting ready for pictures.

We are so excited for Chad to join the Niu family.

Each married couple in Jon's family receives a beautiful crystal temple from Mom Niu as a wedding gift. I loved the cupcake idea!

I love little Leilani's face, priceless.

Mom and Dad Niu.

Auntie Anna makes THE BEST chop suey in the world!! It's my favorite Polynesian dish.

I love the mountains in the background. It was a perfect night with perfect weather.

Another goldfish.

We sang "Lucky" as a surprise gift for the couple.

The entertainment was fabulous!! Tiare (Jon's sister) danced a Tahitian dance. She is so talented!!

Another wedding down. Congrats to the Jackie and Chad Peterson! We love you guys.

p.s. Thanks to Grandma Buck for all the lovely pictures.

Another wonderful family visit.

While we were engaged and just married last year we drove to Sac town about 9 times. The budget and school hasn't allowed such a luxury this year... So, we have felt extremely blessed to have the Hogge family come to us instead. My little brother was coming up for EFY... Mom, Dad, and little brother Bradford decided they might as well come too and stay the entire week. Once my sister Sarah heard that Mom and Dad were staying with Mindy and Jon for an ENTIRE week she thought it'd be fun to join the party. Sister Hilly came down from BYU-I and joined us on the weekend.

Sweet Alice. Look at those chunky legs!

Alice and Jon's sister's baby, Leilani. Just a few days apart. Alice is huge!! Or maybe Leilani is just so small. Those girls love Uncle Jon.

Being with my family is so refreshing. Although we have Jon's fabulous family here, it's always good to be with everyone. The nieces, Mari and Alice are growing up quickly. I enjoy spending as much time as I possibly can with them.
Family is a precious blessing to me.
Auntie Mindy & Miss Mari enjoying a Utah favorite, cupcakes from
The Sweet Tooth Fairy.

Look at that sweet face with her special cupcake. I think she looks like me ;)

KitchenAid

Yesterday Jon surprised me with an early Anniversary gift. The gift was originally meant for Christmas, but I don't think he could take the suspense of waiting any longer. And... He got such a fabulous deal on the gift he HAD to show me. Haha, oh I love my man. Yesterday after work he revealed his secret of two days.... a KitchenAid!!! I know it may seem so silly, but I was SO EXCITED!! I was especially excited to find that it was the exact one I had been hoping and wishing for... Professional 600 Series, 6 quart in Onyx Black. Every time I'd walk past our kitchen I'd find myself staring at the KitchenAid, haha. I put my hopes to have a KitchenAid on hold because I knew there were other important things to invest in. This was quite the surprise! Thank you, sweetheart. I love you more.

Talking to Mom or Sarah about the exciting news.

We LOVE our youth.

Jackie (Jon's sister) and Chad are engaged to be married August 7th. We are so excited and couldn't be happier for the adorable couple. Love you guys!

Memorial Day weekend was filled with wedding festivities. Jon's cousin was married in the Salt Lake Temple. The night before the wedding we had a reception at Cactus & Tropicals... the most beautiful luau I have ever attended (besides our reception in Provo, of course). The Tongan food was divine, as always. Just thinking about makes my mouth water for Auntie Anna's chop suey. The dancing was beautiful and the company was exciting. After the sealing the next day, we had a luncheon overlooking the temple in the Joseph Smith Memorial Building. Wow! Love, love that place. It will always be our special place. Jon proposed to be in one of the gorgeous ballrooms. After the wedding fun we explored Salt Lake and Temple Square. Being in a visitors' center brought back special memories from my time as a missionary in DC. It was a beautiful Memorial Day weekend indeed.

On Friday this past weekend we planned an "end of the school year...we are being released from our calling as teachers" party for our 16 and 17 year-olds. We love, Love, LOVE our "kids" as we like to call them. They are incredible people. We have grown as they have taught us with their examples of courage and faithfulness. We both received new callings... the hubby will be working in the Elder's Quorum Presidency and I get to work with the Young Women - Beehives! Yay! We will miss our kids, but we're excited to move on to what the Lord needs us to do. We had a night full of pizza, yummy desserts, and an outside movie. I felt so old and yet so young.

The Sweet Tooth Fairy

I'm an avid reader of NieNieDialogues. Many of you may know the inspiring story of Stephanie Nielson. She is incredible and has the most beautiful children and loving husband. In her blog she has often mentioned The Sweet Tooth Fairy Gourmet Bake Shop here in Utah. For our weekly date, the hubby and I decided to check it out.

"The story of the Sweet Tooth Fairy is as old as the love of family - because that is where the Sweet Tooth Fairy learned about the magic of sweets." We found this dainty and adorable shop nestled in the rather large strip mall of South Provo and we absolutely loved it! They offer a variety of decadent cupcakes, rich cake bites, cookies, gourmet cakes and an assortment of yummy sweets. Just thinking about it makes my mouth water. If you live in Utah check it out and if you don't live in Utah, check it out when you visit!

9 months.

This Friday we celebrate 9 months of marriage. I have learned more about love in these short months than at any other time in my life. I am learning from my sweetheart. I watch him and he amazes me with his love for others and patience with me. I have seen our progression together and it's exciting to me. He is my best friend. We laugh... a lot... and I think it has blessed our marriage. We have trials and disagreements. We understand our weaknesses. We talk about everything. When the day is hard he tells me that it's still a good day. We are respectful to each other. We try our best to be teachable. We have fun. What the life! I am blessed. A few months into our marriage my mom told me to always strive to be what Jon deserves in an eternal companion. As I have tried to do this I have felt my heart change. I have seen that my focus has shifted from changing myself, to just wanting to make him happy. Isn't it true... when we change our focus from ourselves to others, we automatically become more Christlike.

"Charity is, perhaps, in many ways a misunderstood word. We often equate charity with visiting the sick, taking in casseroles to those in need, or sharing our excess with those who are less fortunate. But really, true charity is much, much more.

"Real charity is not something you give away; it is something that you acquire and make a part of yourself. And when the virtue of charity becomes implanted in your heart, you are never the same again...

"Perhaps the greatest charity comes when we are kind to each other, when we don’t judge or categorize someone else, when we simply give each other the benefit of the doubt or remain quiet. Charity is accepting someone’s differences, weaknesses, and shortcomings; having patience with someone who has let us down; or resisting the impulse to become offended when someone doesn’t handle something the way we might have hoped. Charity is refusing to take advantage of another’s weakness and being willing to forgive someone who has hurt us. Charity is expecting the best of each other." - Elder Marvin J. Ashton

Love to you Sweetheart.

p.s. The pics are actually from our engagements, but I thought they were fun and cute ;)