11 Weeks Later...

...I am finally getting around to blogging about our wedding day. After many requests, here is how it all went down...

The day: June 9, 2011

At 12:45 PM on June 9th, Tyson and I were sealed for time and all eternity in the beautiful Bountiful Temple. (We aren't in to the whole "'til death do us part" thing.)

We were surrounded by lovely family and friends who came from all over Utah, Idaho, and Arizona to support us.

Lots of hugging went down.

Then we took the traditional family pictures on the steps of the temple. We have lots of family!

  

And of course, we took some pictures on our own.

 

We brought an umbrella because it had been raining all morning (and was actually still raining while we were inside the temple)...

 

  

...But the sky ended up being stunningly blue, and not a single drop of rain fell the rest of the day.

Our photographer insisted we take a picture by this sign.

I still don't get it.

........................

That evening we had a garden reception at the lovely Eldredge Manor.

Once again, lots of smiling, hugging, and picture taking went on.

Lots of people came, and they even brought us presents!

  

There were lots of yummy desserts, although I didn't really get to eat any.

The centerpieces were potted calla lilies on doilies and pictures held with miniature antique chairs.

We weren't going to have a wedding cake, but my good friend Kari made this beauty as her first ever wedding cake.

My extremely talented siblings provided live music throughout the evening...

...Which gave everyone a chance to dance.

 

My siblings then presented us with lots of useful gifts.

After stealing our keys and torturing Tyson until he revealed the location of our hidden car, Tyson's siblings finally got what they wanted.

 

After stopping at a gas station to clean off our windows and throw away the balloons, we finally disappeared into the night.

 

All photos are courtesy of RLT Photography. To see all of our wedding day pictures, click here. If you want to check out our bridals and groomals, click here (highly recommended). For engagements, here.

Five

Five years ago, you came into my life.

You changed everything.

I would not be who I am today if it weren't for you.

You never cease to make me smile.

I love to watch you grow and learn,

And through doing so, I grow and learn as well.

Thank you for the lessons you've taught me

And for the love you've so freely given.

Your life is a gift.

Every day with you is a blessing.

Thank you for the endless laughs,

Adventures, and tender hugs.

Most of all,

Thank you for always loving me.

Happy birthday, Baby Girl!

God made you my sister, and you will always be my best friend.

A Dream is a Wish Your Heart Makes...

I just suddenly had a huge craving to go four-wheeling. 

Through the mud. 

In Mexico. 

In the middle of the jungle.

I want to go back.

SO bad.

In the Audience

I had the wonderful opportunity this weekend to travel home to Kaysville to see five of my best friends and their classmates, the current Advanced Theatre class of Davis High, perform "A Night of Shakespeare." I was so excited to be able to see these people who I love so dearly and miss terribly, but I was afraid it was going to be weird for me. It wasn’t like I expected. Yes, it was weird to think that at this time last year and the year before, it was me who was up on that stage doing the same thing they were. It felt strange to not personally know every single person in the cast. It was odd not knowing what to expect beforehand. But what wasn’t weird was sitting in the audience and watching new people doing what I had done for two years. No, being an audience member didn’t seem strange at all. In fact, it felt right.

In high school, I had the amazing and rare opportunity to be a part of the Advanced Theatre class for two years. I cannot even imagine what my high school experience would have been like without it. Andra Thorne and the students in both classes truly changed my life and taught me things I wouldn’t have learned anywhere else. On the last day of school last year, our class took a mini “field trip” to the auditorium where we sat on the stage one last time as a class. This was an exceptionally hard day for me. I was so ready to be done with high school; to get out of there and move on with my life. I wanted to have new adventures and be able to start over. But I wasn’t ready to let go of the family that had been created for me in that theatre class. It was my safe haven. I had been dreading having to say goodbye for quite sometime.

When we got to the auditorium, Andra had us all lie on the stage and remember the things we had done there. She then left us to do what we personally needed to do in order to let go. First, I stood at the very back of the stage along the wall. I watched everyone in front of me on that stage and thought about all that we had been through together. I watched each of them struggling to let go and say goodbye just as I was. I then proceeded to move to every position on the stage where I had had a scene in all of the shows I had been in at Davis High. I stood where I had stood for various scenes in Macbeth: places I had crouched as part of the rock; where I had stood when I agreed to become a murderer; the places where I fought Banquo and attacked the house of Macduff; my place at the banquet; where I died in the final battle scene. I knelt in the same place where I, as a junior, had been painting set when Andra took me by surprise and asked me if I would be the president of next year’s class. I walked through the scenes of The Scarlet Pimpernel and the musical revue. And lastly, I lost myself in the memory of Peter Pan. I leaned against the pillar that once was my tree. I sat where my nook in the home under the ground had been. I walked to the place where I died in Peter’s arms and was saved by the clapping audience; the wing of the stage where I was hoisted into the air so many times before flying across the stage; and my place in the “Dreamenture” pose from the beginning and end of the show. I walked through every role I had ever played on that stage in the auditorium. And then I walked to the stairs that led off the stage and into the audience. I stood at the top step looking down for what seemed like forever. Then I finally took the step I needed to take—I stepped off of the stage and into the seats of the audience. I let go of my places on that stage and embraced the truth that my place was now in those seats, supporting the ones who would take my place. I walked out of that auditorium knowing that it would be enough to hold on to the memories, and that it would be okay to let someone else have the amazing experience of being part of the new family that would soon form.

Being at Night of Shakespeare on Friday brought me back to that day when I decided it was okay to let go. It was the closure I had needed at the end of two years of being a part of Advanced. That experience and closure I had had that day allowed me to go to the show and be perfectly comfortable sitting in the audience. I was so excited to see the new class up there on that stage, knowing that they still had no idea what that class will bring to them. It brought back so many memories to watch those who were performing Shakespeare for the first time and were yet to be comfortable with it, compared to those who had come to realize their love and passion for the works of that amazing man. I am so excited for these kids to have an experience like the one I had. They have so much in store for them. I will forever be grateful for the experiences that I had in that class and I’m so glad that it can continue onto new people each year. Thank you, Andra, and all the previous members of Advanced Theatre who shared those experiences with me. And to all those who are just beginning the class or who will be in it in the years to come, thank you for allowing me to relive all those precious memories through your performances.

Happy Birthday

Happy birthday, Best Friend. Hope it's a good one.

Finding Neverland

A few months ago, I had the magical experience of being in J.M. Barrie's Peter Pan, or The Boy Who Wouldn't Grow Up. It truly was a once-in-a-lifetime adventure. I won't get into details, but the main concept or theme behind our show was that of rediscovering your inner child and letting that part of you play a role in your life. Throughout our rehearsal process and the actual production, the whole cast planned and participated in "inner child activities" where we indulged in fun playtimes of our past. The experience was definitely a fun one, but not entirely unique. It was unique in the fact that I was getting to do it every day with a wonderful group of people who I love dearly, but unoriginal in the sense that I've always held on to that aspect of myself. I've never been afraid to allow myself to be a child-- to play silly games, color with crayons, carry around coloring books and play-doh, and use my imagination.

Through my experiences with Peter Pan, I was reminded of how to find Neverland, but the best adventures I have there are when Neverland finds me. Let me explain.

Yesterday when I came home from work, I ended up in the backyard with my two little sisters-- Graci who is almost 4 and Makenna who is 2 1/2. I pushed them in the swings for a while and sat in the grass, but pretty soon I found myself chasing hyenas and dinosaurs, fighting pirates, and flying through the sky as Graci's imagination worked freely and quickly. We were Peter Pan, Wendy, and Michael for one minute, then pirates or Indians the next. A soccer net quickly became a cave when we were being chased by rampaging hippopotamuses, and the grass transformed into the ocean as we flipped our mermaid tails and sang "Part of Your World." We fought off monsters and beasts of every variety, and even had a brief Spiderman sighting. I was saved my magic drops of potion more than once, with Graci as Peter Pan (or sometimes Wendy) leading the way. The adventures went on and on, and only paused when it was time for dinner.

It didn't take an organized activity to take me away to far off places. Instead, all it took was my little playmate allowing me to have a peek into her constantly moving, creative mind. Thank you, Graci, for always bringing me back to Neverland.

-hiding in the cave-

-killed by pirates-

-fighting the dinosaurs-

-being a lion-

-flying through Neverland-