Our First Married Christmas!

Since this is the last Christmas before Alec goes on a mission next summer, Ethan and I headed to California to celebrate with my family. I can't help but be extremely grateful to be in the warm sun again for a few weeks before we have to go back up to the snow. We drove down to California about a week before Christmas because part of our family Christmas present was a surprise trip to Los Angeles to compete in The Amazing Race!! None of the kids knew what we would be doing until the morning that we left and it was such a fun surprise. We decided to split up into girls vs. boys and boy was that fun.

Christmas in College

This year, we are headed to California for Christmas and I couldn't be happier about that. I usually get pretty home sick around this time of the year... home sick for my friends, California, the sun, and especially my family. I can not wait to see them all. We're leaving just in the niche of time too because it has been snow-free all semester and just as the snow starts to fall, we get to put our car into fourth gear and get out of here! ( I think it's fourth gear, I don't speak anything but automatic.)

One Year of Dating

It was probably quite a surprise to some people to see me get engaged and married to someone I knew less than a year. I get it, when I look at the situation from the outside, I am completely surprised myself. I definitely was not interested in getting married so quickly and I definitely wasn’t interested in dating when I met Ethan.

When I used to hear people say that “when you know, you know” I openly rolled my eyes. It seemed like such a joke and so far-fetched that I would just nod my head and agree with whatever sappy love story I was being fed.

But here’s the thing, it’s true.

Wedding Day: The Temple

It was absolutely surreal.

On August 29, 2015 at about 5:30 am, I woke up next to my mom at the hotel we were staying at in San Diego, CA. I knew once I was officially married, I would be sleeping next to Ethan every night; so I decided to find comfort next to my mom, the woman who created me and raised me to get to this point, just one more time.

Waking up, it felt just like any other day. I was calm and well-rested. I felt peace and comfort. I got up and took a shower, when there was a knock at the door. It was Joanna, the only woman I trust to cut or style my hair. The next knock came from Meagan, my best friend from high school. They came in the early hours of the morning to my hotel room in San Diego to do my hair and make-up because it was not just like any other day.

It was absolutely not just like any other day. It was the day I would kneel across the alter in a temple of God and commit to loving Ethan and standing by his side, as his wife, forever. And it was perfect.

(PS, Look at how he is looking at me, I love these pictures.)

Ethan's Surprise.

One of my favorite things in the world is surprising people! When I am a poor college student, it isn't super easy to do that always, but it is something I have loved to do since I was little. 

When I was in elementary school, a lady gave me some cookies. I decided that I didn't want them, and instead bagged them each individually and left them with notes for my mom pretending that her guardian angel was leaving them for her. I used to throw my mom surprise birthday parties, decorate my friends' rooms during lunch on their birthday in high school, I leave notes all over the house, and my first semester of college, I surprised my whole family by coming home for Thanksgiving. 

Katie's Wedding

While we surprised our family for the wedding, I made sure to let Katie know we were coming before anyone else so she would have seats for us at the reception. Since Katie is not LDS, and did not get married in the temple, it was king of fun and interesting to attend a wedding that was totally different than Ethan and I's. 

The day of the wedding was so much more relaxing than my own wedding day. My mom and I went to get our nails and hair done, then went home to get ready. We got to the venue about an hour before the ceremony started to help with any last minute things. Katie got married at the same place that Ethan and I had our reception, so there was a bit of deja vu going on, but it was fun to see how we did things differently. 

H A L L O W E E N

Ethan and I don't really like anything scary, so when we think of Halloween, scary movies and haunted houses are definitely not what comes to mind. This is seriously a blessing in disguise that he doesn't like it either because I hate hate hate scary things, so it it better that we just don't do it at all.

For Halloween, we went to the pumpkin patch and carved pumpkins earlier in the month, and went to Ethan's brother, Ian's, Halloween concert. It was actually pretty good. I really enjoyed it because it was "Phantom of the Opera" themed, so I was familiar with a lot of the music.

Our costume fell through at the last minute, so we decided to be greasers at the last second. I think he looks dang good in a leather jacket, so I was pleased as punch about that.

Plus, he's definitely the one that I want.

;)