9/10/11 12:00

Yes, we are that cool that we were married on 9-10-11-12! And the day was PERFECT!!!! From the Saturday (9/3/11) we arrived in New York to the Thursday two days before the wedding it rained constantly, alternating between pouring and drizzling, but it was basically constant. Then, Thursday night it cleared, Friday the sky was only half full of clouds that didn't rain, and Saturday was a cloudless beautiful.
Friday was the rehearsal at the golf course gazebo and as you can see it was pretty much the perfect setting. A gazebo amongst greenery with a lake in the background, what more could a girl ask for without actually being able to scout out sites?

Here we all are, you can't really see the lake, but no worries, it will show up later. The whole time we stood up there I was thinking, this is going to be a really nice wedding for someone, everyone looks so nice. It just didn't feel real to me. It was a little amusing I have to admit because it really was for me, it was real, and it was most definitely happening.

Here we are listening to speeches (I was really grateful I didn't have to give one, I'm terrible at speeches). One from my father and one from Bryan's. The adorable little guy you see down there is Bryan's (and now my) nephew, Chase. He is a little ball of energy, he makes all of us run around in circles and when one of us gets tired he makes someone else run with him.

The girls entering the limo the next morning. It was my first time riding a limo, I was very excited. I had to be the last in and last out though.

Bryan, Craig (Bryan's father), and me after the ceremony.

The whole bridal party. From left to right: Autumn (my matron of Honor), Kelli, Erin, Emily, Kelly (in back), Cate (in back), Me, Bryan, Brad (in back), Kurt, Brian, George (in back), Brett

My new sisters! Both of whom I love! Cate, me, Kelly

Me and my family. Seth, Mom, Dad, me, Bryan, Autumn, Derrick holding Edison, their son.

 

That says it all.

Isn't the cake beautiful!

Good ole cake smashing. :) He got it up my nose if you couldn't tell, gross. Yes, it certainly was.

Our first dance. "I have and I Always Will" by Dave Barnes

Father/Daughter dance. "Butterfly Kisses." Yes, we did both bawl our eyes out. The wedding wasn't really real to me until my father walked into the bridal room. Then it was suddenly real to me.

Love, love, love, love this picture!

Me and my girls all previous roommates. Erin, me, Kelli, Emily

I couldn't raise my arms as high as everyone else.

A yellow fuzzy worm that Kelli found and put on her bouquet. We're passing it from my bouquet to hers.

My first nephew, Edison Byron. Isn't he adorable? I thought so too. I had to be really careful though because he had been spitting up all day. Don't you just love babies?

Best day ever!!!!!!

A Little Different

I noticed that a few of my friends started out their most recent posts with apologies for neglecting their blogs. :) I understand as I have not been as attentive as I should to my own.

I am getting married in a day less than two weeks.

Answers to frequently asked questions:

Yes, I am crazy excited and a tiny bit nervous.

Yes, I realize it is a huge change and I am enormously excited to tackle the challenge. I love challenge because it means I get to grow and become better.

We are going to live where we are now because we both have jobs here.

The wedding plans are coming along just as they should and I have had very little stress to deal with (minus the initial not wanting to make decisions stress).

His father is officiating the ceremony as he is a Justice of the Peace.

We will be getting seal in the Draper Temple within the year.

He is the most amazing thing that has ever happened to me and I do love him more than life itself.

I am 21, he is 29. Nope, I don't think I'm too young and I don't think that is too big of an age gap.

We met through a mutual friend and just sparked it off a little while later.

I am getting married literally across the country because that is where his family is, and it is so much prettier in New York than it is in Arizona in the Fall.

Another change that has happened is that I'm an aunt! My younger brother has gone to college. My dear friend from college is getting married in a little more than a month. I found a job at the high school. I am more comfortable with myself now than I have ever been. My almost sister (we're practically family anyway) moved away to go to college two hours away, not too bad if you ask me. I will be moving out of my parent's house for the last time.

All of these changes are good and I am glad they are happening. I especially love my job even though it makes me grind my teeth and wish smacking were legal in schools. I tip my hat to all those who work with special education and thrive on it. You are amazing super humans and you are underappreciated. But that is a post for another time. I promise I will be better.

Trial of your Faith

I do not like to plan. Ever. I don't like making big decisions. I like to work in the background and offer suggestions but I do not like to plan. Which is unfortunate because weddings take a lot of planning. And, of course, since it's my wedding I have to make a lot of decisions. Ewww! On top of that our wedding is literally across the country. So I have little to no knowledge of anything that goes on over there. Luckily for me I have a very decisive efficient man as my better half. He easily finds the best deals on wedding things and his family lives back there so at least we aren't working from nothing. It works out though, he makes decisions and I change them to my liking. Works like a charm.
I also tend to get very stressed out when I have to make decisions. So lately, I have been less then my peppy cheerful self. Oddly enough Bryan didn't think I was that different, which means I am either really good at controling my stress or he seems to think I'm a serious crab all the time. I like the first one, but I'm not so sure I like the second... Fingers crossed.
I finally asked my dad for a blessing and after that everything fell into place. I was offered a job at the local high school which means I will have the same days off as Bryan. I knew everything was going to be okay. It's like the Lord was just waiting for me to ask for help. I swear He does that for me all the time. All you have to do is ask. How simple is that? Just ask. I'm learning. Slowly but surely. I'm learning.

Keepers of the Wild, for reelzzzz

So this Wednesday I actually got to go to Keepers of the Wild and play with the weeds, tease Kyle, name some animals, plant two trees, sweat like a pig, and get checked out by a monkey. Unfortunately I didn't bring a camera so I didn't get to take any pictures of the actual animals, so I will insert pictures from the internet of animals that look a lot like them.

Brett, Bryan, 10 missionaries and myself piled into an 11 passenger van, I got to ride shotgun. We arrived at Keepers in Valentine, Arizona and could hear the animals waking up and roaring out at the day. The lion, Sultan, had managed to poke his eye on a stick and had to have surgery on his eye, he looked quite melancholy (mel-on-call-y) and slept a lot.

He is quite the big beautiful animal and roared once when a car rumbled past. And when one of the elders got a little too close taking pictures (too bad he wasn't a little closer, he might have peed his pants). The rest of us got a laugh as the elder sprang back as fast as he could. Sultan has quite the roar. Many of the missionaries worked at putting another fence in between the lion's cage and the tiger's cage. The tigers gave us a couple shows, one suddenly rushing at and springing on another. Ruckus and Apollo were their names and Apollo left a lovely gift of spray on Brett's shoe, and boy did it smell strong. :D Remember Brett, it's a privilege.

Kyle was the first animal I saw and the first one I named (someone said his name was Marvin but I think Kyle fits him better). Bryan named the other ostrich Eddie. Kyle and I got into a hissing match and more than one eye contest that I won. :) Coward. It was fun to hear him hiss though. Lucky for you I actually found a picture of Kyle! Here he is in all his glory!

Bryan and I cleared a whole area of weeds and then planted two trees, one of which took forever because the ground was so ridiculously hard ground. The other Bryan did mostly by himself. I enjoyed watching him, and lifting the tree into the hole in the ground. We made friends with a llama I named Tina, and whose real name was Snickers. Apparently Snickers almost got into a boxing match with one of the elders the last time they came. He rose up on his hind feet and came at the elder quite determinedly. The Elder Lindsey took a page from Karate Kid and waxed off Snickers right onto his back. This time Snickers picked on Elder Lindsey's companion, Elder Kioa. Everytime the elder walked by Tina started following him and trying to spit on him. It was very entertaining.

The monkey village proved the most entertaining. One monkey had a very long reach and kept trying to steal peoples cameras and glasses. He also took an interest in me and we had a staring match. As I was staring into the intriguing monkey's face Bryan tried to cover my eyes and told me not to look and the zoo keeper apologized. Then he addressed the monkey, "You're pretty proud of yourself aren't you? Yeah, he always has to show off for the ladies." Then I noticed the monkey was showing off his man parts. Oddly enough the men were more uneasy than I was and I hadn't even noticed until they pointed it out. But, I figure, whatever, he's a male. It's nature, they can't help it. ;) What makes that experience even more priceless is that I was the only girl with 11 other guys.

There was quite an array of animals at the Keepers and I would have loved nothing more than to go an cuddle with one of the big cats. They truly are beautiful creatures and I don't mind helping out.

Keepers of the Wild

I thought we were going to a service project, planting trees at the Keepers of the Wild Preserve.

Bryan picked me up at eight am in his work clothes and told me we had to stop by his house to pick up the water jug and meet the others. We parked outside his door and he told me he wouldn't be long so I could wait in the truck. Ten minutes passed and then he called me and asked me to help him in the kitchen. Luckily for him I actually heard his phone call, that could have really messed with him.

I walked in to see him dressed in a shirt and tie. I was taken aback but I knew immediately what was happening. He sat me down on the couch and told me I could not interrupt him, so I sat and looked up at him.

"It's hard for a man to shop for a ring, so I have the empty ring box but you'll have to wait for the ring." I was confused but as promised I did not interrupt.

"Now, I'm going to give you five things to show you how much I love you. The first is a hug." He pulled me up from the couch and hugged me. "The next is a kiss." Which he gave me. "The next is flowers." He pulled them from behind the couch and handed me these beautiful babies.

"The next is a card. Let me know when you finish it." He handed it to me and I admit I cried a bit when I read the card. He'd been telling me about a card he'd found and planned on saving for the girl he proposed to.

"The next is a book."

"It has the seven novels of Jane Austen and I wrote something even better in the book." He handed it to me and I stared at it in my hands and looked up at him, "Can I read it now?" He chuckled, "Yes." I opened it to find this:

I could do nothing more than stare at it and cry. He knelt down and picking up the ring asked me "Will you marry me?" All I could manage even though I wanted to give some smart alec response was, "YES!"

We didn't end up going to Keepers of the Wild, but I don't really mind that much.