New blog!

I have a big announcement. Justin and I will now have a married peoples blog! I don't know if he'll contribute... but at least it'll bear both of our names. The new URL is:


justinandallie.blogspot.com


Go check it out! I even added some new posts (it's a miracle!). I will no longer be posting here (alliejoyce.blogspot.com) so add the new blog if you care to still blog stalk. 


Embarrassing fact is that I may or may not have reserved this URL (along with a "Allie Larkin" email) back in 2008. Just in case my dreams came true and I did become Mrs. Justin Larkin. Now I'm glad I was so forward-thinking! However, I reserved the blog URL under a guise. Years later I couldn't remember the password! After two hours of guessing, I finally cracked the code and got access to the blog. :) 

Pretty wedding pics!

Many of you (if anyone still reads this ultra-neglected blog) were probably wondering if I actually got married. Well, this week I finally got some wedding pics! I was so freaking happy when I got them.

We took these two days before our wedding at the Sacramento Temple. The photographer, Debby Rackham (spicerackproductions.com), was wonderful!

Aren't these cute? Not to be all mushy but I love Justin Larkin. Being married to him is pretty awesome- he cooks me yummy breakfasts/dinners, cleans up my messes around the house, lets me have the reserved parking spot, leaves me cute notes, and still loves me even when I'm straight up crazy (which is fairly often). It's only been a little more than two months, but so far I'm liking married life. Now all I need to do is change my name. Oops.

Brooke the Bachelorette

So I know I haven't posted in forever but I had to put this up...

My baby sister, Brooke is starting college this year! I am so excited for her and happy she'll be so close to us. Here is a picture from the obligatory going off to college photo shoot...

Anyway, Brooke's freshmen year has had a fabulous start thanks to the Dating Game. Brooke was chosen to be the "bachelorette" in the BYU New Student Orientation version of the game. Naturally, I headed over to the Wilk to witness it myself.

Needless to say, it was awesome. Justin wins best bro-in-law (sorry Brett) for capturing the event.

The MC (who was acting as Harry Potter's Snape for some unknown reason...) announced a little bio about Brooke and then she walked out. So. Freaking. Beautiful. All you could see was blonde hair and golden tan skin. The boys practically ran to the stage for a chance at a date.

Pretty Brookie walking out

Throngs of freshmen

Eager boys

Professor Snape explaining the rules

Brooke answered the questions...

and the sad boys had to leave if their answers didn't match hers

The pack of boys dwindles

The final five

Brooke asked questions and the boys had to make up answers on the spot. My favorite answer? For best pick up line one boys said, "I'm headed to the Celestial Kingdom wanna come?" I love BYU.

The final two

And we have a winner!

Tender moments

Can I have yo numba?

Ash, Justin, and I loved every minute of this. It was thoroughly entertaining. Brooke was like a mini celeb walking around afterwards. This weekend we are heading to Logan to watch Brooke run for BYU for her first time! So fun to have Brookie at BYU!

Weddingness

Thanks to Justin's computer savviness we now have a cute wedding website! It's still a work in progress but check it out. The photo album is my favorite part. Cute pics of little Allie and Justin! Gets me excited for our wedding video. Only problem is after dating for 5+ years you have way too many photos.... Anyway, here's the site:

justinandallie.com

Here's one of the first pics we took together. In the early days it's hard to find a photo Anise is not in. She was our permanent third wheel and I loved it.

My v-day miracle

My Valentine's Day was lovely for some unconventional reasons this year! (and some conventional ones as well)

I worked the night before, drove home V-day morning in a daze, and then crawled into bed. I of course grabbed my computer to check my email before falling to sleep. I hardly ever get any emails anymore but I still check it regularly and refresh the screen thinking surely someone has something exciting to tell me via email.

Well, that morning I actually did get something exciting-- an acceptance letter to

BYU's Family Nurse Practitioner program!

(This is just a random pic from nursing school but I'm in nursing get-up and I'm excited)

This has been a dream of mine for a LONG time. I couldn't believe it.

After all the grade stress, GRE studying, letters of rec, and interviews it was such a relief to read that letter. A big shout out to all the fam/friends who went through piles of flashcards with me during nursing school, proofread my statement of intent and other papers, gave me tons of pep talks, etc. It's been a long road, but I feel super blessed. I did not at all expect to get in.

So I start school at the end of April. I can't wait to be a true BYU Cougar again. I'm wondering if I'll get a sweet grad student parking pass?? I also can't wait to be on campus all the time with Justin, Bash, and maybe even lil Brookie come fall! Justin and I will graduate at the same time so it's pretty perfect. I already registered for my spring term classes. Never thought I'd be that pumped about getting on Route Y.

That was my v-day miracle. It was lovely. The rest of the day was great too- sleeping for hours, chocolate covered strawberries and sugar cookies from Justin (I am my mother's daughter), dinner with our fav third wheel, and then a night shift spent making Toy Story valentine's for my cute patients! A lovely day indeed.

This cougar keeps getting older...

About a month ago I turned 23! I feel kinda old because it's getting to mid-twenties. I remember the day I realized that I would ALWAYS be older than Justin. For some reason I thought he'd catch up at some point but turns out it just doesn't work that way. It'll be unfortunate when I turn like forty and he's a mere thirty-eight. At least I have a few more years to accept it. Drawbacks to being a cougar I guess...

Enough of the age talk. My birthday was lovely. Not one but two yummy breakfasts (thanks to Ash/Justin and Trish), a sunny ski day, and Cheesecake Factory. I'll post ski pics later but here are some from Cheesecake.

My good-lookin' date

In my birthday best

Mmm... cheesecake.

Trish and I also had a combined birthday get-together of sorts for the fourth year in a row. Previous years the get-togethers have been a bit more happenin' but this year was just as fun. Trish had the idea to get desserts with all the besties at a cute shop in Orem called "Chocolate".

Justin and I (mostly Justin) had fun playing with our new camera. Too many pics but oh well.

Thanks friends for making my day!

"Allie Moment" Parking Style

So a few weeks ago my car got hit. It wasn't too bad- just a few scratches from a guy who couldn't stop on ice. After telling the story no less than 15 times, his insurance finally set me up to get it fixed and got me a rental car.

Tonight I was going to turn in the rental and pick up my new and improved car after my shift. The parking lot at the rental place was pretty snowy but I was able to pull into a spot. I double and triple checked the car for anything I forgot before putting the key in the irreversible drop box. Justin picked me up and as he was pulling out I said, "Oh wait where are the handicapped spots??" I spent a minute trying to convince him that I hadn't parked in one until I realized I was in trouble. Of course being the parking diva that I am I had to have the closest parking spot. Only trouble was someone out there decided that one would also be good to save for handicapped people. Oops. I spent a few minutes freaking out about the inevitable ticket I was going to get from the Provo parking sharks but Justin wisely pointed out there is nothing to do about it now.

I'm such a dork. Park my car in a handicap spot and then lock the key away so there's no way to move it. Another typical "Allie moment". Just hope this one doesn't cost me too much. Guess I'll find out in the morning!

Reminds me of this other lovely moment in time.

New Year's Eve 2011

Despite subzero temperatures in PC, we continued our family tradition of sparklers pictures on New Year's.

Kimber had each of us draw out our highlight of 2010. Ours was an easy decision...

We didn't brave the cold for the Canyon's fireworks show. Justin just took this one out the window with our new toy. Check out the icicle.

Party planners. Last minute we decided to have a black and white theme for our NYE get-together. Luckily, most of the guests found fabulous black and white outfits to wear. I'll post a group pic of everyone as soon as Kimber sends it to me. So grateful for such festive family and friends!

Thanks to JCrew Justin also found a fitting party shirt to wear!

Hope you had a wonderful New Year's Eve and that you have plenty of love in 2011!

Christmas in PC

We are about to leave Park City and I figured I better post about Christmas. We celebrated first in Pleasant Grove with Justin's family, then headed up to Park City to ski and celebrate with my fam! It's been so fun to spend time and relax with everyone during break.

I actually worked Christmas Day so my family was sweet and celebrated a day late. We did all our Holt traditions- the nativity (with questionable casting by Ashley-- herself as Mary and Justin as Joseph), matching Christmas pajamas, and a whole week of post-Christmas skiing.

Christmas Eve Dinner

First Christmas together-- tender!

Matching pajama picture

Mom continues to feed my zebra obsession

Justin and I got a new camera for Christmas! (Thanks Mom and Dad!) So the rest of the day was spent playing with that and taking random pics like this one. Brooke whips her hair.