Marriage

I know I am pretty much a year behind in writing this, but pretend that all of my blogs are up to date. Eventually they will be. I hope. :)

March, 12 2011
Today is the beginning of the rest of my life. After 4 hours of sleep its almost time. Of course most of the morning was spent getting all prettied up. At about 9:30 or so Paul came to pick up his future bride. We went to the Draper Temple and pretty much did what ever the lovely temple workers told us to do.

While we were waiting for everything to be ready, our sealer came out and gave us a little bit of counsel. Robert D. Hait, son of David B. Hait came out and introduced himself to us. He told us how wonderful and hard life would be. While we were in the sealing room, Elder Hait had everyone laughing. It was a very respectful and spiritual ceremony, but it was also full of joy and laughter and lots of jokes. Before either of us new it, we were married!

Now I know that it is a kissing picture, but what can you expect when you just got married.

After the wedding we had to take pictures, of course, and that took only half of the day. ;) Its a good thing I was the happiest I have ever been, so all of the walking, and smiling, and pictures didn't really seem to bother me.

After all of the crazy picture taking, we had a wedding luncheon to attend to. Now, this wasn't just your average wedding luncheon, this was a Kylee style wedding luncheon!

We didn't have any special catering, or ice sculptures. It was all about fun and simplicity. Pizza and sandwiches baby! thats the way to have a party. :)

After the luncheon everything is a blur. I am pretty sure that we had a few hours to help set up the rest of the reception. I know that we were barely able to get to our reception and have it ready on time. But we were ready thanks to all of the wonderful help we had. 

Our reception wasn't any ordinary reception. I had always wanted to have a Luau for my reception. As you can tell by our decore, we did have a wonderful, festive Hawaiian Luau. 

 I think my favorite part was having my dad and several of my brothers/brothers in law to wear a lava lava for the reception. Now check out that cake! I think the bobble headed monkeys are the best part. The cake was a fiasco because Paul shoved it all over my face, but it was definitely a memorable event. 

 

After the reception we had to drive all the way to Park City. Our car was completely unrecognizable though, so our first stop was the car wash. 

Getting married was a wonderful experience. It was very chaotic and it all happened in a blur, but I am glad that I was able to survive through it all.  

Almost there.....

March 10 2011

     It is two days before I am getting married to the most amazing person in the world. I haven't seen him in almost a week and the anticipation of seeing him tomorrow is going to be so wonderful! This past week I have been working on the finishing touches for the wedding. Making sure dresses fit, getting food cooked, and setting up for the reception.
    Because I was having a luau for my reception, I wanted it to be kind of out doors-y. But because it was the beginning of March, and only two weeks ago there was snow on the ground, I figured I had no hope of having a warm out door reception. Paul and I decided to have our reception in the pavilion at my home ward. Despite being called a pavilion, it really is completely enclosed. So with a few industrial heaters and some decorations, it would look quite snazzy. Tomorrow we will have access to the pavilion for set up. Then it will be only a matter of hours before I will stand there with my new husband.

March 11, 2011
   
     It is Friday, and one day only before I am getting married! I am so excited, but the stress of it all is actually starting to dawn on me. We have to get everything set up today so that tomorrow will be a smooth transition. Basically as soon as I got up this morning I went over to the church to help my parents start setting everything up. We had to sweep and mop out the cement floor, hang decorations and pretty much turn an old, empty outdoor building into a building suitable for a luau!

   
     Paul came over today to help. It has been really nice to have the extra help. We surely wouldn't have gotten so much done if it weren't for him! At the very center of the pavilion there is a ring bolted into the ceiling. From this ring we wanted to hang a decoration, but we didn't have a ladder long enough to reach the top. With some creativity, we decidedly placed a step stool on top of a picnic table, then put the ladder on top of the step stool. With this rickety system, Paul climbed up the ladder and fished a rope through so we could have some awesome decorations. The whole time my mom and I were watching, we were just praying that we would be going to a wedding tomorrow rather than a funeral.

       At about five in the evening we had most of the decorations put up. The tables were set up, the foliage and decore were both in place, and the only thing that was left was a bride and a groom to be standing under our little hut. At five Paul had to leave to go and help his family with other wedding plans. I continued to set up little things here and there with my parents.

     My two cousins from Washington came into town, Morgan and Nicole, and they helped out a little bit as well. Around 7 P.M. my best friend arrived from Idaho. Lisa Walters was technically my maid of honor. Even though I didn't have one, she was the closest thing to it. She decided that we had to do one last thing as roomies before I was married.

     We decided to go get sushi! What a great way to spend the last few hours before you get married eh? It was great. The waiter even hit on both of us. Hehe. After an hour of just being girls and playing around we headed back to my house. I still had some things I needed to do to prepare for tomorrow's adventures.
      When we got back to my parents house, we had the privilege of making my bouquet! I had ordered a lot of loose plumeria flowers that I wanted to make a bouquet with. We got a Styrofoam ball and started poking pretty flowers into it. When we were done the bouquet looked really good. almost fake even! We also put together a few boutonnieres for the lovely gentlemen that would be in attendance. Maybe around 11:00 P.M. everything felt just about ready.
   
     It was then that I realized I needed to scrapbook some pages for our wedding book. I had printed some pictures of paul and I that I wanted to be in our guestbook and they hadn't been put together yet. While staying up late talking with Lisa and Morgan, I wondered what Paul was thinking about. Was he asleep already? Was he thinking about me? Was he just as excited yet nervous for what the new day would bring? With my head just swimming full of questions and wonderings I finally got the pages all put together.
      It is now 2:00 A.M. I am getting married in less than eight hours and I have not gotten any sleep. I probably should sleep. Even Lisa fell asleep before I did. I can do it. Just close your eyes and tomorrow will be here before you know it...

The Long Wait

        Getting engaged in November and waiting until March to get married was a BAD idea! Four months is a long long time to wait, but no worries Paul and I found a lot of creative activities to get us through the next few months.
        The week after we were engaged it was Thanksgiving. Lucky for me I got to meet almost all of Paul's extended family on his Mother's side during the Thanksgiving holiday. After knowing Paul for four months  I have met almost his whole entire family. Even though I didn't memorize everyones name, I left knowing a few. :)
        I was working as a long term substitute while Paul was going to school so we kind of got to see each other. I also started working at Brian Head Ski Resort just to keep myself busy. The free season pass was a big incentive for me also. Because I worked at a ski resort, I was not able to get Christmas day off. I had to work the 23-28 of December. That meant that while my family was in Salt Lake having Christmas I would be here in Cedar all by my lonesome working. Paul's dad was kind enough to buy me a plane ticket from Cedar to Salt Lake so that I could come home and be with my family for a little bit, and also be with Paul's family for a few days. My family was supposed to meet Paul's family over Christmas break. We all had dinner at Paul's house and had an early Christmas. It was really cute and kind of interesting to have all of my family there with his family.
        After I flew back to Cedar City I had a long few days without being able to see Paul. Working Christmas Eve and Christmas  was definitely a new experience for me. My roommate Bambi was still in Cedar for Christmas as well so we kind of buddied up and spent time with each other. The Leavitt family also invited Bambi and I over for Christmas Eve. We were able to stay busy, socialize, and enjoy the company the Leavitt's wonderful family. Christmas day I was in for a special treat. After I got home from work, Paul came to see me. He drove all the way down from Salt Lake just to be with me on Christmas. We had our presents for each other and stockings to open. It was so great to be able to see him.
         On New Years Eve we went on a date. We went to see Tangled in the Theater! It was quite a treat. I had also moved out of my apartment and moved into the one that Paul and I would live in once we were married. Paul and I started to make a gingerbread house on New Years Eve. We didn't finish it for a month, but It gave us something to work on.
        The rest of the months from January until March didn't have any special occasions. I got a sub job substituting for special education and was working full time. Paul just continued to go to school. We did get to go to my brothers wedding in February. That kind of gave us a taste of what our wedding would be like in a month.
       Finally it was a week before our wedding, so I went up north to get everything ready. Poor Paul had to wait a whole week so see me, but in that time I got alot of stuff done!!