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.

;)

HIM & HER: two months of wedding bliss.

Ethan and I have officially been married for TWO whole months and, surprise! They have been the best two months of my life. For your enjoyment, I asked Ethan to co-write this blog with me. Here are a few things that we have learned about each other in our first couple months being married. 

| HER |

1. Ethan does not like to eat leftovers. To fix this little problem, I make four servings of dinner every night. We each eat dinner, then eat the same thing for lunch the next day. This is awesome because we don't waste money on uneaten leftovers, and we don't waste money by going out to eat lunch every day.He compromises with me and eats the same thing two meals in a row because I only make him do it one time.

Lemonade.

Alex Boye is a popular singer in the LDS culture. I heard he was coming to BYU-Idaho & sent Ethan a screenshot telling him to buy tickets because I thought he really liked Alex Boye. So, he quickly sent me a text back saying he bought the tickets. 

A couple days before the concert, almost a month after buying the tickets, I asked Ethan if he was so excited to go to the concert. He answered, "I guess, I've heard he's pretty talented." Turns out that while I thought Ethan really liked Alex Boye, he only bought the tickets because he thought I really wants to see the concert. We both laughed and decided to have a good time anyway. 

The concert had an African tribal sound to it, so I didn't understand a lot of the words, but the moment Alex Boye walked into the room, you could feel his spirit. It was obvious that he was a good, kind man. He performed all night with high energy and loads of light in his eyes. He sang songs about how one should love themselves, reminding us that we are golden, nothing can stop us from achieving our dreams. 

Besides his rendition of Taylor Swift's Shake It Off, I probably won't remember a lot of his songs, but I will remember how this kind man used his talents to uplift those in the room. It was quite different than any concert I have been to. 

He sang a song called lemonade playing off the old phrase "when life gives you lemons..." reminding us that when hard things come your way, add some sugar so things won't taste so bitter. During the show, he requested that the audience post pictures on social media with the hashtag #byuiboye and it was trending, so fun! Even though there was a miscommunication about why we attended the concert in the first place,  Ethan and I chalked it up to a great night where our spirits were uplifted. 

Honeymooners (Part IV)

Okay, okay. You're probably wondering when the honeymoon posts are going to end... probably never because we love each other lots! But our actual honeymoon ended at one of the best places ever, Disneyland!!

Since we were only 20 minutes from Disneyland after our cruise ended, we called my friend from high school who worked at Disneyland and asked if she was working that day to get us into the park. She said yes, but it wouldn't be until 4pm. At first we hesitated, but Ethan hadn't been to Disneyland since he was 8, and I'm genuinely obsessed... so we couldn't resist the offer!!

We got breakfast and hung around Downtown Disney while waiting, but the moment she got to the park, we were so anxious to get in.