Once Upon a Year Ago

We made it!!! We survived... I mean thrived during our first year of marriage. Marrying Randy is one of the best decisions I have ever made. I cannot remember a time when I was as happy as frequently as I am now. I feel that I am a better person today then I was a year ago all because of my sweetheart and the difficulties we have faced and overcame together.

I wanted to share our day with all of you and to record it before I forget some of the details.

This first picture is one of my favorites from my bridal pictures. There are so many I wanted to put up here but I thought I better just stick with one. We took these at Diamond H Ranch outside of Rexburg, Idaho in June. Willy Twitchell owns the place, he was my supervisor when I was the Peer Horsemanship Coordinator. He is an amazing trainer, teacher, and friend.

On the big day I woke up early, of course, and to my surprise I actually slept the night before. My cousin Amber came over to help me with my hair and Brittany came to help with my makeup.

We were sealed eternally as husband and wife at the Bountiful Utah LDS Temple at 10 am. Many members of our family attended along with several close friends.

Because my dress up was a lace up it took me over 20 minutes to get it on and all laced up. Randy watched four grooms meet their new brides before I came out.

Taking the temples pictures went smoothly even with about 5 other wedding parties around. We found out that day that the Bountiful temple had been close for a few weeks previous and this was the first day they had reopened.

While we finished taking pictures, family went to Sizzler for lunch. Randy and I stopped by to say hi and then went to a Keva Juice and Great Harvest Bread for our lunch. YUM!
We held our reception at the Castle in Layton, Utah. Everything was beautiful and perfect for us!

Grandpa Karl played some beautiful music.

We then ate an amazingly delicious cake.

Which was followed by dancing. Randy and I danced to 'Stuck Like Glue' by Sugarland. Afterwards the girls and I enjoyed some good ol' fashioned country line dancing.

After we couldn't dance another step it was time to catch the bouquet.

Randy came up with our Thank You favors. I love this idea. We collected used horse shoes, put them in tumbler to remove all the dirt, rust, and rough edges. We then sprayed them with a protective coating.

When it was time to leave, everyone held up sparklers for Randy and I to run through. Just as we were about to leave the loud rumble of thunder made a statement. I love thunder storms, so for me it was a perfect way to end the day.

Thank you to all our friends and family who supported us at the best party ever and who continue to lend their love and support to us.