The Bridesmaids

The Baby Sis

My name is Alexa and I have been best friends with Elliot for eighteen years. All my life I have looked up to my big sis and have always wanted to be just like her! I always loved it when people would ask us if we were twins. They are surprised when we tell them that she is four years older than me. Elliot always gets a kick out of people the fact that people usually think I older. Most of my favorite childhood memories are with Elliot! From playing mermaids in the pool to Elliot convincing me that my stuffed animals came to life at night, our childhood years were always adventurous! Elliot helped me to become the person I am today and still does so by setting such an amazing example. She taught me some of the more important things in life. What styles were cool, how to pluck my eyebrows, and most importantly, the art of rocking out to music while driving. I have always been able to count on her for the best advice. She was always the first person I would go to for help with English homework and advice on boys and such. Though she is no longer in the room next to mine, I know I can always call if I need anything or just want to say hi. Elliot is such an amazing person and I still want to be just like my big sister.

The BFF Back Home

I'm Lynn Massey. If anyone knows Elliot….then they know that there is never a dull moment in her presence. Being her 'best friend" the past 8 years, I have fortunately been able to experience several of those anything-but-dull moments with her. Picking just one is extremely difficult, but even so, one particular memory came to my mind very quickly.

When we were both in 8^th grade, I had a neighbor across the street from my parents’ house. Her name was Joy, and one time she and her little family went away for a full week and asked me to stay at their house with Max, their puppy. At this point in my life I was still afraid to sleep at home by myself, or anywhere else for that matter. Elliot being the wonderful friend that she is, agreed to come over every single one of those nights and stay with me.

Let’s just say Elliot and I took full advantage of this experience. Yes there was a food fight, and yes Elliot dropped a slice of pizza down my pants. Every night was filled with lots of Disney movies, ice cream, pillow fights, and endless laughter. One of our favorite things about staying at Joy’s house was her amazing king size bed.

Elliot was climbing into the bed one day eager to watch our next Disney movie. Now I know that everyone has stubbed their toe really hard before….and it hurt so bad you either had to limp or hop around until the initial blast of pain went away. Elliot didn’t exactly have a run-in with a bed post, but her foot slipped into the frame holding the mattress- not an ideal spot to step. As she was crawling on the bed, her mouth began to open to say something to me. Her mouth remained open, but her elbows collapsed and her eyes crossed. She literally looked retarded. She sounded it too- but unfortunately there are not letters in the human alphabet that could describe what it was like.

I could claim that my abdomen muscles got stronger that day. I started to laugh so hard there wasn’t even sound coming out of me- just wheezy breaths and tears. Elliot was experiencing sort of a mixture. While she was suffering from the initial shock of the pain, she was laughing just as hard as me, simply because she knew exactly what I was laughing at.

I love this girl!

College Roomie/ Travel the World

I am Sydney Brendle from Medford, Oregon. A little about me: I love traveling, dancing, and being with my friends as much as possible. Elliot and I became friends on the Mesoamerica tour two years ago. The truth is that we became instant friends; literally. We had both arrived to our 8 am pre-requisite class for the tour a little early and as we both realized that we were the only ones awkwardly in the hallway acting like we didn’t notice each other’s existence, I bravely started a conversation with whom I now refer to as "Snookums". Somehow within minutes we had concocted a brilliant plan that involved me sharing my Vitamin B pills with her everyday so that we could both avoid the inevitable mosquito threat in Mexico, Guatemala, and/or Belize. Since that day, we have roomed together, split grocery bills, and my favorite, woken up with stories of how I creeped Elliot out in my sleep the night before. I love Elliot and am so excited for her and for Roy!

The London Roommate

I'm Sarah Watkins. Elliot and I are now roommates in Provo, though we met on London Study Abroad last semester where we had a lot of hilarious blonde moments together; although if I am perfectly honest most of those moments have involved me being super blonde and Elliot making fun of me (in that loving way that only she is capable of). Here is a little taste of the moments that bonded us...

- Elli and I had big plans for a day out on the town. London town that is. We were going to see some cool stuff, drool over the British Library in all our nerdy English major glory, and then stake out a spot on Oxford Circus to see JIM CARREY who was coming for the premiere of A Christmas Carol. We decided that we had to do our laundry first though, which had been piling up for a few weeks. After a billion trips up and down our 8 flights of stairs we finally had all of our clothes in the washing machines when Elli realized that all of her jeans were in the washer and she was going to have to spend the day in her formal church attire. I laughed at her for about 5 minutes until I realized that I had done the exact same thing. Then she laughed at me. About an hour later we were heading out the door looking like an odd cross between LDS sister missionaries and Jehovah's Witnesses. It was awesome.

- From time to time Elliot likes to take advantage of my gullibility. Finals in London were ridiculously stressful and we were both in a really hard Shakespeare class. The morning before the Shakespeare exam I was camped out at the dining room table, finally ready to start studying for the test. I had a lot of material to cover and was just reassuring myself that I was fine, I had plenty of time to get this stuff learned, and trying to avoid a panic attack, when a bunch of girls hurried past me on their way to the classroom.

Me: Where are they going? Oh yeah, the biology final started a few minutes ago, huh.

Elliot: No, they are going to take the Shakespeare final right now, shouldn't you be in there?

Me: That's not funny...are you serious??....WHAT???

I almost cried until she lost her composure and burst into hysterical laughter at my expense. I realized she was kidding...and cried anyways. It was just one of those days.  


The Girl Next Door (to our apt. in Rexburg)

I am Brittany Dawn Large a member of Elliot and Roy’s bridle party. I am from Southern California and currently go to BYU-Idaho. Elliot and I met on a 4 week tour with BYU-Idaho to Meso-America in 2008, on this tour we bonded through our stinky feet and sweaty shirts, while often crammed into tight spaces. (Haha- I can't resist making a comment here... that is the funniest/weirdest sentence ever!) At first I thought she was just one of those pretty girls, but as I got to know her I realized that she was actually a huge nerd, and hilarious! After our Mexican adventures, Elliot invited me and a few other friends to join her family at Lake Powell. One memory that I have with Elliot is going on the wave runner with her. We decided to go exploring in the back areas of the lake, we parked our wave runner and started to hike around. As we here climbing the mud started to crumble and slide off into the water. We jumped off the little cliff, swam back on the wave runner and rode away quickly, I guess because we were spooked or something that we were going to cause the whole cliff to crumble. We decided to name this area “Friendship Erosion,” don’t ask why. Anyway, I love Elliot she is the BEST and I am so excited for her to marry Roy they are going to have a wonderful life together!!!!

College Roommie/ Party Now, Rest When You're Dead

Hey! I am Alicia Sturgess from Minden, Nevada. Most people have never heard of Minden, so it is very convenient to say that I live by the big tourist destination of Lake Tahoe. I am studying Communication at BYU-Idaho where I met the lovely Elliot Collett in the spring of 2008.

Our friendship all began when we were preparing to go on the MesoAmerica tour and decided it would be a good idea to reserve our housing for the upcoming Fall semester before we left. After only knowing her for about 3 days I asked her to be my roommate. And for some odd reason she said yes! Ever since then we have become the best of friends. From hiking jungles in Mexico, to surviving mosh pits at concerts in Salt Lake, to wakeboarding in Lake Powell, to simply washing our faces together in our vanity at 1 am, we have had some great times! I will always remember the times when we would laugh so hard it would hurt, especially the time we tried to make the lowest sounding laugh we could on one single breath! Crazy Crazy times! I feel so privileged to be a bridesmaid to Elliot and to have seen Elliot and Roy’s relationship grow from friends in an English Class to Eternal Companions!!! I love you guys!

The Groomsmen

Kenneth McAffee

It was St Patrick’s Day of 2005.  It was raining, as it is often does that time of the year in Sao Paulo Brazil.  I had arrived at the MTC (missionary training center) earlier that morning.  I was sleepy from my all night flight but I was nervous and exited for my mission all at the same time.  I was unpacking alone in my room, a room built to sleep four of us.  I was to be given a companion on arrival but I was told he had not yet arrived and I should go to this room and unpack until he got there.  I dove into my bags finding a home in the small room for all the belongings I would need for the next two years.  After about twenty minutes of unpacking in silence there was a “ding” from down the hall where the elevator doors opened.  A tall dark haired guy rolling two large bags behind him stepped out of the elevator.  He walked briskly down the hall in my direction.  After glancing at the number on the door He walked in and asked “Are you my companion?” “Yes, I think so” I answered.

 “Well I’m Ro… Elder Buckmaster I mean.” he announced.

“Buckmaster?” I asked, “Like Buck-Master”

“Yep, just like it sounds” Buckmaster replied.

“Well I am Elder McAffee, Elder Buckmaster and it looks like they made us companions, nice to meet you.”

With a name like Buckmaster he has got to be a cool guy I thought to myself, but little did I know that, that moment was the beginning of many Mac-Master adventures. 

For the rest of the three months we were in Sao Paulo. Roy and I were inseparable.  We did everything together.  That not meaning much considering that we were assigned to each other as companions and couldn’t really leave each other, but the cool part was neither of us minded.  We were grateful that we had each other for companions and not someone else that we were stuck with 24/7.  We actually wouldn’t have had it any other way.  Roy was the only guy that would have run wind sprints before bed with me and together we made an unbeatable volleyball team of two (undefeated still to this day).  At the end of our training were sent our separate ways, him to Belo Horizonte and me to Manaus.  We didn’t have much contact for the next year and half, but when we met again ether through fate or divine intervention at a field biology class at BYU-Idaho the inseparability continued.  We would study biology, chase girls, (a lot less cool that Elliot) go fishing, swimming, we even went to each other’s family reunions that semester. 

The next semester we were roommates along with four other friends, but the time I got to know Roy the best was when he and I moved to Vernal Utah together to work in the oil fields.  We lived in the basement of some of my old family friends.  The room we shared was only twelve by twelve foot and full of scrapbooking material with one real bed against the wall and a mattress on the floor.  We didn’t have a closet or any were to keep our clothes.  It didn’t matter though; we wore the same thing everyday any way.  We would get up before the sun and put on every piece of warm clothing we owned before heading out into negative temperatures for the next ten to fourteen hours.  We would get home go play ball go to bed and do it all over again the next day. 

            The oil fields are a rough place and attract rough people, so for two return missionary boys there is not a big social life.  Roy was the only guy I worked with everyday Roy was the only guy I hung out with after work and at the end of the day he was still my roommate.  I have never, even now that I am married spent so much time consistently with one person than I did in those four months with Roy.  The funny part is I never got sick of him.  He might not be able to say the same about me, but we still were roommates for another year and a half after that.  Then I found a girl who ironically enough has many of the qualities I don’t have but have always admired in Roy.  Not that I married her because she is like Roy (that would just be awkward) but Andrea and Roy are a lot alike.  That is good news for you Elliot; Roy is supper easy to live with and will make you happy the rest of your life.  I love you both and am excited for you two.    

Spock- er, Carson Tietjen

Roy is MY BEST PAL. I met him in the MTC in Brazil. He sat next to me and during class we became GOOD friends. I discovered he grew up in my home town of Rexburg and one time he had wrecked his bike near my ex-girlfriends house--Coincidence? I think not.

Roy and I kept in touch during the mission and afterward he came to school in Rexburg, where he met the most important person of his life...Elliot (you thought I was going to say me...) Before he met her though, Roy and I worked together on 2 occasions. Once at a restaurant (Roy came to work in moccasins one time, they didn't match his slacks

and button up shirt) we worked for my dad's TV repair shop(riding in

a COLD COLD van all winter long. Best of times...)

We roomed together three times. The first time, Roy stayed with me at my parents during the summer break. He had initially planned on staying in a tent in my parents backyard. After we set up the tent he slept in my parents basement, never using the tent once. I think the tent is still in my parents garden.

The next time was a vacant studio apartment in Idaho Falls. We lived there for a month to shorten the commute to work. There was no furniture, no shower curtain, really no amenities whatsoever. We pretty much lived out of duffel bags like it was the mission all over again.

The third time we roomed together was at Brighton Apartments in Rexburg when we had really crummy managers and Roy duked it out with them verbally on a few occasions.

Now, Roy is all grown up and ready to move on to the next big step. I wish both Roy and Elliot the best! love you both.

Phil Collett 

(not directly related to Elliot)

The MTC is a funny place. Its really the doormat where life before the mission is dusted off. The mixture of emotions creates an almost palpable tension. The anxiety of learning a new language, the pressure and desire to be obedient, the nostalgia, the exhaustion, and the fear of the unknown both build and burden every Elder. Its under these circumstances that reliable, consistent friendship is invaluable. I remember the day when Elder Buckmaster arrived in the MTC. The first thing I noted was that whichever team he played for during gym would win. It was always a good idea to be on the same side as Roy, regardless of which sport we were playing.

I never really warmed up to the food and I probably was not the exception. On a number of occasions we would sneak bread and cheese out of the lunchroom at dinner time. Then when it got late, just before curfew, we would meet up in the laundry room to make grilled cheese sandwiches on the irons. Once, we were reprimanded for singing too loudly in the showers. We would always sing a cappella while showering so loud that the floors below us would complain. Roy was always cheering everyone up and inventing the craziest adventures and games. Almost every night, just before bed, Roy would stand by his window and stare morosely into the city. The window quickly became known as the Pondering Window and he would invite others to join him in pondering. I will never forget his positive attitude, obedient spirit, and leadership. Wow, this sounds like a eulogy!

JP Manning

Roy and I spent a lot of time together as roommates. We had a lot of fun together and were able to get to know each other really well. One of the things that stands out most to me about Roy or one of the experiences that stands out in my mind is actually a combination of many experiences. Roy and I would follow a similar schedule as roommates and ended up going to bed and waking up at about the same time. There were many times when we would both get up and do our scripture study and then discuss the things we had learned. I felt a real bond with him as we discussed the things of the gospel and shared our insights with each other. I am very appreciative for those experiences with Roy and for the deep and thoughtful insights he had to share. He is truly a man of deep thought and wisdom. That sharing of wisdom was not isolated to our morning scripture studies. We would stay up late many times to discuss the things going on in our lives. I felt like we were really able to support each other in our times of need and share the excitement of success in whatever we were involved in. I feel very fortunate to have such a good friend.