January 18, 2010

Matt & Carrie

Chris & GabbyThey say that the best part of a wedding is the look on the grooms face the instant he sees his bride walking down the aisle. From this picture I would say we have a pretty promising future!
My Dad & I
I think some of the candid pictures are truly the best. You can totally see the complete happiness in both Marshall and I's faces.

Absolutely love this picture! So genuinely happy and excited.
One of my favs.



The whole chi-bang.
I am sorry if people have a problem with me putting picture of their children on my blog, my suggestion to you would be don't have such freaking cute kids!
Coping with pre-wedding gitters.
Austin, looking cute as ever.
Probably my favorite bridal picture. Its tough because I love so many but this one is definitely up there.

Carter, Austin and yours truly.
I LOVE this picture. They look like the mafia and Marshall resembles nothing other than the cocky mob boss. Love it!
Marshall & I with all 5 of our nephews! Extremely hard to get this picture but well worth it!

The wedding party.





Our first dance as husband and wife. We danced to "Wonderful Tonight" by Eric Clapton. It has been "our song" since 2007 and it just wouldn't be right to dance to anything else.
Wow. What a magical day! The photographer took over 1,000 pictures so I am not exaggerating when I say that this is just a taste. My previous roommate made me a scrapbook for the wedding and I will have plenty more pictures in that! I got so many compliments about my day that I am so glad I planned it the way I did. No regrets!

People ask me if I would do things different and I have thought about it and honestly I would say the day was 99% perfect and exactly what I imagined it would be. However, there are 3 things I would change:
1. I would not take one bridal, wedding picture, engagement picture or make any final details without my sister-in-law. She made things PERFECT! I am so lucky my brother has a brain in his head and picked her.
2. I would have taken containers to take home any left over soup. It was delicious in my opinion! Marshall and I have talked about it several times since and totally regret not thinking of it! And I am not kidding.
3. I would have listened to my gut. I wanted to do one thing a certain way and I let others talk me into doing it another way and when I look back I would have gone with my original plan, regardless of feelings being hurt.

With that said, I think that some of the way more important aspects, all of which went perfectly, overshadow these three things 10 fold. Must give credit where credit is due. Thanks to:

1. My 2 cousins, Kryshelle & Brykelle for making my hair EXACTLY how I wanted it. We did at least 3 practices over the past year to perfect it and I must say, Mission accomplished.

2. The photographer for capturing EVERYTHING and doing such a great job and it and being affordable ;o)

3. The florist. I just described what I wanted, no pictures or anything and she hit the nail right on the head.

4. The baker for delivering all the way from Heber and spending extra time making it perfect and delicious.

5. My mom for all her had work. She even bought adorable red shoes that every time I saw and still see in the pictures I get a huge grin. And, the cherry on top was the boys' vests, they looked so handsome. My mom made those as well. She truly is incredible!

6. My uncle Cal for preforming the ceremony (he has been Bishop of the LDS church for 4 months and this was his first wedding. Talk about pressure). He also blessed me when I was born so I found this aspect of the wedding specifically special. My aunt Sue helped a lot as well, she was running around every time I looked over.

7. We really really appreciated the very generous donations to help pay for our special day.

Okay, I am not finished and I just realized that I have nothing to complain about at ALL. I have such wonderful people in my life and it wouldn't have been so smooth without them. If I didn't mention someone specifically it is because I just have to many. What a great thing to be able to say. But it was unfortunate that people thought they had the right to complain, yes, it is true, we had a few complainers and all I can say shame on you.

Oh, One more thing... I love my bridal pictures, and I am glad that I got them because of the whole cap/winter theme but I will admit that the natural glow and smile you have on your actual wedding day make the pictures gorgeous! I still think I would do bridals and recommend getting them done, all I am saying is I can totally tell a difference in my face about what is actually going on.

Just a few of my favorites

And people wondered why I wanted a winter wedding...And then I couldn't feel my fingers anymore so we had to take our party inside.

I have been told that I look like an ice princess and a snow goddess, both names I am more than willing to accept!

The Kids LOVE Mr. Kay

Marshall's students spoiled him this Christmas. Our counter & table are covered in goodies that his students brought for him. He also got this stunning tie, a coffee mug and several gift cards. And he thought he was the mean teacher... pshaw...

Our Gingerbread House

Last Sunday Marshall's family got together to celebrate Marshall's birthday and to make gingerbread houses. Here is how ours turned out.
The front. On our left we have a snowman and on the right we have a guy (with yellow buttons) that was putting up decorations and fell off the roof.
The back. Very snowy bushes and a roof dripping with snow. So clever.
My favorite part is the man on the roof putting up the lights and he is only half way done. Marshall's genius idea!

4 Years to the Day

August 2006

That's right, 4 years ago today Marshall and I had our first date! We saw the Chronicles of Narnia at the Provo mall theater and I gave Marshall some chocolate and he left it in the pocket of his shirt and it melted. Nothing like making a good first impression! Actually, with our upcoming nuptials, this would be a good time to tell our story... I met Marshall in June of 2005 when he came into the hotel that I worked at and asked for an application. He told me that he knew that day that if he was ever going to get married it would be to a girl like me. Anywho... Marshall didn't get hired until September and at that time I was dating someone so we just remained acquaintances. In November my relationship ended and I finally "noticed" Marshall. He came in to get his paycheck and he looked SO handsome! I will never forget, a few girls I worked with and myself were in my office and he came in, we all got silent and the minute he left we all picked our jaws off the floor and started giggling like we were 5. I will just say he made a great impression and from that day on we started talking a little more. He told me how he was new to Provo (from NY) and he was taking a humanities class next semester and he was going to have to go to a lot of plays and ballets and such and maybe I could go with him sometime. I didn't think anything of it. Well, I left the hotel mid-December and as I was leaving for some reason I decided to stay and talk to Marshall. We got talking about the Chronicles of Narnia and I was saying how much I loved it and wanted to see it an he said he did to so we decided to go, and that we did, December 14, 2005. I found out later he has never read the books, it was a total lie, he was just getting me to go out with him.

Marshall and I hung out from December to July and he was one of my favorite people. We went to plays, symphonies, ballets, musicals, concerts, movies, you name it! I thought we were just friends the whole time and we would go out with other, it was never awkward. I just thought since he was new in town he needed friends and I was one of them. (I later found out that he was into me the whole time and he just has an incredible amount of patience).

Late June Marshall invited me to a Gregory Isaacs concert. At the last minute I decided to go and that was a night that changed my life forever. Nothing was different, but mid-concert I remember thinking "I wish Marshall would hold my hand or something" and I kid you not, maybe 2 minutes later he grabbed me around the waist. We had a super good time but I knew things were about to change. That night we stayed at a friends house because Marshall was leaving for N.Y. the next day for his fathers wedding. It was super late so instead of driving home Marshall made me a bed on the floor and he slept on the couch. I remember waking up and his arm hanging off and being on my back and I just smiled. While Marshall was gone it SUCKED. I just wanted to hang out with him so badly, I finally broke down and called him just for the heck of it (he says he knew that second that he had me). The day Marshall came back things were different. We were more flirty, I finally realized that we were not going to just be friends and it was GREAT!

July 4th we had our first kiss and things were starting to get serious. Just in time for me to leave for 2 weeks. I went to NY for a week with my girlfriend and then to Chicago for a week, i had a great time but I would be lying if I said that I didn't miss and think about Marshall A LOT! A couple days after I got back from my trip we went to my friend Kathy's wedding. And on the way we had a DTR (define the relationship). And from that day on we have been together. We have been through tons together and with all the arguments, disagreements, life changes, ups, downs, family issues and personality changes we have chosen to stick by each others side! That says something if you ask me. Through the years we have gotten tons of advice and one of the best pieces we got was someone telling us to marry someone you can fall in love with at least 5 times because people change. I can say that I have fallen in love with Marsh twice now. He is not the same person that I met but don't get me wrong, this is not a bad thing. The changes he as made are for the better and maybe I have just fallen more in love with him instead of re-falling in love with him. He is truly my best friend in the entire world and I am cannot wait to be his wife in 34 days!!

Shower Invites

My friends Amandah and Carrie are throwing me a "friend" bridal shower in a couple of weeks and they sent me a picture of the invites and I though I would share since I think they turned out freaking adorable! Yay for 39 more days!!

Hmmm.... Something looks a little fishy...

Marshall says he is not a "kid person"...









But I just don't know if I believe him!!!

Newest Addition

So I have decided that I need to do something besides go to work, school and study. The only problem is that it needed to be inexpensive because money is tight right now. So being the brilliant mind that I am, I decided to kill 2 birds with one stone and I will make a decorations for my house. One project per month, one addition to our home each month and one hobby to free my mind of my craziness called life. I love making things anyways. It is so gratifying to have just supplies and then end with an amazing one of a kind finished product. Since I just decided that this would be a good escape I didn't have much time for the October project so this is what I came up with.A red berry wreath to go in my red, black & White bathroom. Marshall even admitted that it added a nice touch. Total cost:$7.00. Not bad.

Tender

My old roommate came over last night with her new baby. While KiaLee and I caught up Marshall watched (and offered to watch) new little KayLynn. I love seeing these manly men holding a ball of purple, flowery, bow covered babyness. So cute! It was way good to see KiaLee too, it makes me remember all the good times we had and how GREAT of a roommate she was. I can't wait to be done with school so I can plan more time to spend with friends and family that I hardly ever get to see anymore.

PS. I can't help but notice, and point out, that Marshall's hair resembles Mr. T in this picture. hahaha

Long awaited...

For those of you that do not know, I collect thimbles. Yes, that is right, I am 25 not 80 and I collect thimbles. My mom started me on it when I was young and when friends and family caught onto the idea they would bring them back from anywhere they went. Originally it was only supposed to be places I had been but hey, the more the merrier.
I had them stashed away in drawers and I had so many that I started looking at cases. I showed this one to Marshall and he got it for me for Christmas, only he NEVER makes me wait until Christmas so of course I stocked it the minute it came! It holds 68 and I have another 20 or so in the other room. I have a lot of doubles though. The only states that I am missing are: Arkansas, Kansas, Louisiana, Mississippi & North Dakota (pretty much all places that I will never go). Some of the countries that I have are China (bottom left), Jamaica, Finland, & Ecuador. My BROTHER (that is bold so that my sister-in-law will see it and give him a hard time) that went to Russia for 2 years claims that he couldn't find them so he brought back (among a ton of other stuff) the Russian stacking doll (third from the left) and considering I will probably never go to Russia it will have to do. I also have a hand painted one from my mom, one that my great grandmother used to use and has since passed away, the 4 corners and one from when the Olympics came to Utah. Hopefully Marshall and I will go somewhere super cool for our honeymoon so that I can get some more! Its addicting! Don't make fun because you are jealous.

nuestra casa

Here are a few pics of our (sort of) new house. It is a work in progress...

el dormitorio principal (The master bedroom)

la zona de baño principal (the master bathroom area)

el baño principal (the master bath)

This is the walkway between the master room and the master bathroom. On the right side is the sink area (pictured above) and on the left is the master closet (pictured next)el armario del dormitorio principal (the master closet). This is only about a third of our clothes... we fill up the entire guest bedroom closet, the 4 drawers under the guest bed and both of our nightstands are full of clothes as well. Don't worry folks, we will not be going around naked for a while ;o)
el dormitorio de huéspedes (the guest bedroom)
My not-so-happy helper...
More pictures to come...

And, I don't know why I wrote them all in Spanish first. I wasn't going to translate but then you would have no idea what I was talking about so being the nice person that I am, I clarified for you. And no, I do not know Spanish. I translated it all on line. Thank you very much.