Looking Back On The Start of Our Eternity

It is almost our anniversary, and what better way to prepare than sharing memories from the day that it all started...       

     

Getting married at the end of November means that there is a large chance of a wedding in the snow. But fate was on our side! We woke up to a beautiful November day, barely overcast with nothing frozen. I had spent the night before with my friends at a neighbors house, and woken up early to run home and get ready. After having a few people do a trial run on my hair, I decided that the best way to make sure I had it how I wanted it was to do my own. So I put my hair up, did my own make up, and set out for the Spokane LDS Temple with my parents. For those of you who do not know, a temple marriage is a little bit different than a regular ceremony. In the temple we don't walk down an isle to the wedding march, or even say any vows. A temple marriage consists of kneeling across an alter while a designated man reads special words and seals a couple together for eternity. That is the main reason for having temples here on this earth. They give us the power to create a family that is eternally together, in this life and the next rather than "to death do us part" and that blessing is one that I will always be so thankful for. 

     

Having only been endowed the night before the temple was still a little unfamiliar to me, and I had never witnessed a sealing before my own. Walking in to a room full of people who love you unconditionally, a room where the Spirit resides constantly, a room so white and sparkling, is something that words cannot describe. I immediately knew it would be impossible to fight back the tears. As I knelt across the alter from Kirby and listen to the words of the sealer I knew that that exact spot is where I was meant to be. The man who sealed us is one of our very very best friend's grandpa, I had spent a bit of time over at his house as a little girl, so it was so fun to have him be there. One thing that he told us in the sealing room was to never miss a day of prayer together. That advice is something that we have implemented into our lives and I am so thankful for what he said. Even if one of us is out of town we say our prayer together over the phone. This is one thing that has truly blessed our relationship. No matter how annoyed you are, if you sit down and pray together those feeling melt away.

     

After the sealing my mom helped me change into my wedding dress in preparation to leave the temple. The flowers we had ordered were not there yet, and I was not leaving the temple without my bouquet! So I left the brides room and just sat with Kirby in the temple. I think that the flowers being late was a hidden blessing. Not very many couples have time to just sit in their wedding clothes in the temple and think about what had just happened.

    

Once the flowers arrived we walked out the doors of the temple to a sea of cheers and loving faces. Talk about heart warming! Despite how nice the day was it was still freezing, but Taraka being the brilliant lady she is, had packed thick leggings for me to throw on under my dress to stay warm through the many pictures we took at the temple.

After allllll of the picture taking we  pulled up to the luncheon where I changed, and we feasted on Costa Vida (I still love the fact that we got them to cater our luncheon!) And then it was off to the reception!

     

After much headache we had scored a reservation at the E.J. Roberts Mansion for the reception. My family did most of the decorating while we got changed and ready for the big night of meeting and greeting! It is funny how little I actually cared about the tiny details once it actually came down to reception time. There were a lot of things that weren't exactly how I would have chosen them to be, but I was so happy and excited that nothing phased me. The reception was a blast, complete with doughnut holes, a hot chocolate bar, and caramel corn!

    

The mansion that hosted our reception is also a bed and breakfast, so Kirby and I scored the best room there for the night. We realized that it would be awkward to say good night to everyone and walk upstairs to our room while our family was downstairs cleaning, so we changed again and left the mansion to grab some PF Changs for dinner (I love telling people that that is where we went on our wedding night). Then came back to a quiet mansion where we went upstairs to our beautiful room.

     

The morning after our wedding was my new nephew's blessing in church, so Kirb and I, being the dedicated aunt and uncle that we are ;) woke up early the morning after our wedding night, to be there when no one thought we would. Before we left we went down to the dining room of the mansion where we were served an incredible three course breakfast! Then we raced to the church, both in our clothes from the night before, and me in the same make up...very classy. As we walked in the men were already forming the circle, so Kirby walked straight up to the front and nonchalantly and joined as if he was just barely walking up from his seat rather than running straight in from the parking lot.

     

After church was the opening of our presents up at my house, then we said good bye to my family and headed back to Rexburg for the beginning of our life together!

The main room of the mansion.

My favorite treat!

My bridesmaids (minus my sisters who were helping downstairs)  helped me get ready for the reception in the room that Kirby and I stayed in at the mansion.

Leaving the mansion.

     Because we had gotten married in the middle of a semester we waited to go on our honeymoon until it was Christmas break. This way we could get a longer vacation than just a weekend, and we could escape the Rexburg winter for the Mexico sunshine! Right after the fall semester ended we packed up and drove to Salt Lake for our flight the next morning. Having grown up in Washington, I never had the opportunity to see the Christmas lights that adorn Temple Square at Christmas time. When we pulled up to SLC we decided that we would just drive by them (because it was about 11:00 and we were sure that the gates would be closed.) But when we saw that people were still coming in and out we ran through the wet snow, excited to experience the lights up close! Christmas lights are one of my favorite things...I just about died when we stepped inside. It was soooo beautiful and bright! I was in heaven (even though my flats were soaked through.) We walked around the grounds for quite some time before returning to the truck. We spent the night at Kirby's unlce's house.

The Christmas lights at Temple Square.

So in love with it all!

     We left early in the morning for the airport. After a couple of connecting flights we were there, in Cabo San Lucas Mexico! At first it was kind of a nightmare...they wouldn't give us the rental car that we had booked in advance, and neither of us spoke Spanish. We sat outside the airport on a curb for quite some time. One thing that I remember distictly was the crazy amount of white moths that were EVERYWHERE! The walls of the airport looked like they were moving!

     

Eventually we took a ride from a shuttle (that was way too expensive), but we finally made it to the resort. Our room was on the top floor, at the end of the resort, so it was nice and secluded.We immediately changed into our swimming suits and went down to the pool and the beach which were right next to eachother. The sand was so beautiful, I could have layed in it for months! Once we had played until we couldn't ignore how hungry we were, we wandered in to this restaraunt just barely outside the resort...and boy are we glad we did! The fish tacos were to die for! We ended up coming back to this restaurant for just about one meal of every day that we were there! Something I still crave is the Key Lime Pie that we shared quite often...it is literally heaven in your mouth!

     

The rest of our days there were about the same, sleep, beach, pool, food, repeat. I remember one day we laid in bed and watched a Back to the Future marathon...not very many couples would waste their honeymoon time doing this...but that is what I love about our relationship. It has always been that way! We are nerds through and through, and can be happy doing just about anything together. Even if it does not seem that exciting to anyone else.

     

We started our flight back home on December 22nd, the day before my birthday. So I spent my birthday trying to sleep on the floor of LAX while the carpet cleaners roared and annoying Christmas music echoed through the empty airport. But we made it home eventually, carrying with us our luggage, new purchases, and enough memories to keep us smiling for a lifetime :)

Other memories from the honeymoon:

• Invisible crabs: at first we didn't notice these little buggers, they were clear, baby crabs, that scurried along the beach everywhere we went!
• Jumping Sting Rays: One day we were just laying on the beach looking at the ocean when we saw at least 10 flopping sting rays jumping out of the water!
• Sun Poisoning: I had it so bad I had to wear a hoody on the beach a couple of times.
• Beach Salesmen: They were all over selling everything you can imagine! One guy even tried to sell Kirby some weed haha. We did end up buying a poncho for each of us, a Mexican blanket, and a sweet clay serving plate and bowl.
• New friends: While in the hot tub on our last night there Kirby and I met a couple from Utah. They gave us some great advice on marriage, the rode with us to the airport and payed for the cab. Timmi (the wife) got a little teary as we parted. It is incredible how quickly and easily lives can be blessed by strangers.
• Terrified of flying: I HATE flying so so much. I fly when I have to, but I never enjoy it. I distinctly remember bawling on the flight out of Mexico because I thought we were dying.
• Sleeping: On the second night...I think. We went to bed at about 7 and woke up at like 3...we were exhausted!
• Scary bus: We thought about making a trip downtown...but just walking to the bus stop about gave me a heart attack so we stayed in.

This was taken at our favorite restaurant in Mexico. You can see my sun poisoning in this picture!

This is a small part of the huge pool at the resort!

The view from our balcony.

Kirby loved riding the waves there.

A gorgeous Mexican sunset. We loved hanging out on the beach around this time of night. We found this restaurant right on the beach during one of our walks and stopped for dinner.

We had a lot of fun with the sand...

Our last time on the beach...I still miss it there!

This is part of the room we stayed in.

     Sorry for the mush, but isn't that what the first year of marriage is all about?? I'm planning on staying in this "honeymoon phase" for the rest of our lives! Thanks for baring through the memories with me!