Thursday, August 28, 2008

Our last singles ward hurrah

So all summer long, our singles ward has been planning this great summer super activity at Bear Lake. We have been hearing about it for months. When we found out that it was going to be a few weeks after the wedding, we were really sad that we wouldn't be in the ward anymore. We told everyone we were going to come anyway. We got uninvited. Then we got reinvited. So we went. It was loads of fun. We loved the Mountain View 9th Ward so much and miss seeing our friends at church every week. So thanks guys for letting us have one last hurrah with the singles ward!

We went boating at Bear Lake. It was freezing. But very fun. Here's Dinah, Caron and Rachael chillin' on the boat. Look at the color of that water! It's like the Carribbean of the Rocky Mountains.

Despite the cold, we had to go waterskiing and wakeboarding. I know I'm a wimp when it comes to cold water, so thankfully Caron let me borrow her wetsuit. Again. (Caron, I promise I will get my own soon!)

Matt did awesome on the wakeboard and the slolem waterski. I did awesome on two skis and I tried the wakeboard. I got up pretty easily, but the boat we were behind made a huge wake and I biffed it pretty bad going over the wake and got a bit of whiplash, so that was the end of my wakeboarding stint for the day. (Is it bad that my neck is still sore?)

We brought our little (and I mean little) tent that Grandpa Russ gave us and camped out in the backyard of the cabin that the ward was staying in. It was great!

Tania and Bro. Margetts cooked us a lovely french toast breakfast. Mmmm.

After we went boating, we brought our bikes and went for a little ride around the lake. We also practiced our open-water swimming. (Well, I pretty much just practiced not panicking while putting my face in the water. Matt very patiently tried to help calm me down. For some reason I do fine in the pool, but when I get in the lake it's a whole nuther story.)

After all of that, we decided that we NEEDED to get a Bear Lake raspberry shake on our way out of town, so we stopped at this little drive in. We were served by Merlin himself! It was fantastic.

Here we are enjoying our fresh raspberry shakes. So there it was....our last hurrah. Now we have to grow up and go to the family ward. Sigh. Actually though, we are really liking our new ward. Lots of younger couples around our age who seem pretty fun. A few triathletes. And bikers. And some hellion Primary children that I am trying to figure out how to control in my class. And an adorable 4-year-old who has crazy curly hair like me. I really like her. If only the rest of my Primary class would behave like she does. Someday I will receive blessings for this...right?

Tuesday, August 26, 2008

One month

Yesterday was our one month anniversary of being married and Matt brought me these lovely flowers. What a sweetie! Here's to many more fabulous months!

Friday, August 22, 2008

A-22 and the New Year's Resolution

I promise this is the last batch of wedding photos that I am going to post. Today is August 22, which means it is a very appropriate day to post wedding photos. Let me tell you why. Back in January...on January 2nd to be exact...after ward temple night...Caron, Almarie, and I were sitting in my apartment eating bread and jam and discussing our New Year's Resolutions.

If you'll remember my New Year's post back in January, I listed 3 of my resolutions. I decided not to post about the 4th one--until now. You see, my 4th resolution was to make every possible effort to get married. For me that meant going to as many singles activities as I could, making sure to meet as many new people as possible, using my network of friends to meet new people, trying to date more, and really stepping out of my comfort zone to put myself out there. It also meant being happy with who I was and to have as much fun as I could while I was doing these things.

I honestly don't know why I decided to do that, but I just felt like I needed to make a greater effort this year than I have in the past. Note: my resolution was not to get married, but to make every possible effort.

Caron and Almarie jumped all over my New Year's resolution and decided to make me a "Set A Date" program. They decided my wedding date would be August 22. Then they proceeded to make a deadline calendar highlighting all the important events leading up to an August 22 wedding day. (For example, I would need to be engaged by my birthday...June 19; I would need to have a boyfriend by March or so, I would need to meet at least 3 new people at every activity I went to, and go on a date at least once a week.

So, we jokingly named this new plan "A-22," and I set out with a mission.

I did really well...for about two or three weeks. I met tons of new people, went on a lot of dates, had a lot of fun, networked, etc. It was all working out just nicely according to plan. Until I realized that I had the most fun when I was with Matt. We had been really good friends for the past year or so, and so I decided that I was just being weird and denied the whole thing. I mean, I couldn't date my good friend! He was just that--a friend! In my attempt at denial, I enlisted him in my plan to help me meet new people, and I was even going to set him up with a co-worker of mine. But in the process, I realized that all I really wanted to do was spend time and talk with him.

I finally started to admit that I was taking a liking to him, and I told Caron that I wanted Matt to ask me out on a "real date". (We had done lots of things together previously, but they were never really considered "dates".) To my surprise, the very next day he called me up and asked me to go to the Jazz game with him! I was so excited! Until I started wondering that maybe he was just asking me because I was "safe".

We had so much fun at that Jazz game, but I still wondered if he would ever consider me as anything more than a friend. Over the next couple of weeks, we continued to do several more things together--just the two of us. I was getting the idea that he was interested, and one night we were watching a movie and he reached over and grabbed my hand. He then said something like, "I hope this is an ok thing to do." Well, it was all over from there.

We admitted that night that we were both liking each other, and we were interested in seeing where things could go. He even admitted that he had been interested in me for quite a while, but never did anything about it because he was afraid of maybe ruining a good friendship. We were both afraid of that, but we decided we were willing to take that risk. And luckily we didn't need to worry! As for the A-22 timeline, I was a little ahead of schedule, but hey...when it works, it works! And just as a disclaimer, the whole A-22 thing was just a big joke...I would never marry anyone just to meet a timeline. It's just really funny that it worked out that way.

And now, on August 22nd, we have been happily married for almost a month. Oh, the power of New Year's Resolutions! Note: Almarie also made a resolution that night to flirt more. With Tyler Wright. They just recently got engaged. I'm telling you, it works!
Here is our fabulous wedding party. I love red, white, and black...it just looks so classy! Anne made sure to teach all the bridesmaids how to hold their bouquets "with elegance."

The groomsmen and bridesmaids. See...the pure elegance?

Matt's family. It took awhile to get Kyle to actually look at the camera.
My family (minus my brother Nathan, who is on a mission). And minus Laurie's husband, John and Scott's fiance, Misty.

I promise that is the end of the wedding posts. Happy A-22 to you all!

Thursday, August 21, 2008

Crit Racing

In the past few months, I have learned more about biking than I ever thought possible. The other day, I experienced witnessing a crit race. It's a bike race out at the Rocky Mountain Raceway where about 30 or so bikers come and ride around the track in a pack. (Apparently it's easier when you're all riding so close together. Less wind resistance or something.) I was the official race photographer.

Anyway, it only lasts 30 minutes, but it was kind of interesting to watch. They go so fast! The winner of the race was only 13 years old! Crazy! And he was like in 15th place the whole race until the last lap.

Here are Matt and Roy riding along. (They are the ones not wearing red.) Matt had so much fun, and improved his time from the last time he went to this race. Way to go!

Tuesday, August 19, 2008

Goin' to the temple...and we're gonna get ma--a--a--ried!

I know you're all probably sick of seeing our wedding photos, but here's another batch from the temple. There was this one couple who was hogging the space right in front of the temple, so we didn't get many photos with the temple, which I'm highly disappointed about. Seriously, they were there for like 2 hours! But we did get some good ones....and here they are!








Sunday, August 17, 2008

Uncle Mabbit is a bad influence

Look at what he is feeding his nephew!!! And behind his mother's back for that matter. Kyle loved it though and kept coming back for more. He got about 10 sips downed before his mom found out. It actually was quite funny.

Tuesday, August 12, 2008

More from the reception

We had our reception at Le Jardin Chateau in Sandy. It is a greenhouse, and it was absolutely gorgeous. I was so pleased with how everything turned out.

The food was catered by Pat Moss, who is from my parents' ward and it was so delicious. We had little mini desserts, croissant sandwiches, cheese & crackers, and fresh fruit. Laurie made us a little doggie bag to take with us so we could taste it all since we didn't get a chance to eat at the reception.

My awesome friend Liesl did all our flowers. I LOVE how the centerpieces turned out. She did a mix of gerber daisies and roses in the vases, and put rose petals and Hershey kisses on the tables around the vases. It was absolutely beautiful.

My bouquet was so fun. I love gerber daisies.

The guest book table. I thought it looked so cute. Our guest book I made myself using Shutterfly.com. It turned out really awesome.

Matt insisted on having rubber duckies, so I found these adorable bride & groom duckies that we put in all the fountains around the greenhouse. They were a big hit with the two-year-olds. Kept them entertained the entire time.

Matt's tribute to me was really sweet. He told me all the things he loved about me and promised to give me his very best.

For my tribute to Matt, I wrote a song and played it on my guitar. It was to the tune of "Time of Our Lives" by Green Day. Here are the words.

Who'd have guessed that we'd be standing here like this.
A friendship turned to love, we've never known such bliss.
So many good times we've had in all we've done.
Road trips, triathlons--it's all been so much fun.

It was something unpredictable, but it sure turned out right,
and I'm having the time of my life.

Another turning point we've come to in our lives.
Here we stand today as husband and as wife.
I give to you my hand, my heart and so much more.
This life we start today has so much joy in store.

It was something unpredictable, but I sure know it's right,
and I'm having the time of my life.

Life may be unpredictable, but there's one thing that's true.
I know I will always love you.
I know I will always love you.

We had our first dance. Our song was "At the Beginning" from the Anastasia soundtrack.

Then we had everyone come dance with us. I was afraid nobody would join in but we got a pretty good crowd out there cutting a rug with us. It was so much fun!

And of course I had to dance with my Dad.

These little kids were adorable! They were Matt's friends' kids and they didn't know each other but apparently got hooked up after drinking the red punch because they just kept dancing with each other all night long!

And Grandpa Russ and AnnaLou had to join in on the fun. They are never ones to sit out.

Anyway, it was just a lot of fun. We decided that we wanted our reception just to be a big party/celebration with all our family and friends. And it was. It really was one of the most fun nights of my life. It's not very often that you get to request pretty much everything you love and have it all be there at the same time in the same place. I loved it!

More to come of the temple/wedding party/family pictures.

Monday, August 11, 2008

Wedding festivities

It will probably take me several posts for the wedding, but here's a few from some of the wedding festivities...

Here are our wonderful parents doing their tributes to us. My mom wrote a great poem. It's a bit long, but I wanted to post it.

On this your joyful wedding day
You begin a brand new life.
Friends and family give their gifts
To the new husband and wife.

But the greatest gift you’ll ever get,
A gift from heaven above,
Is love forever, ending never,
Everlasting love.

It all began in the singles ward,
That great big ocean of fish.
Where Christy and Matt hooked each other
And obtained their fondest wish.

They started dating in all due time
And got to know each other.
Christy brought Matt over to the house,
To meet her exceptional mother!

They learned that much to their surprise
They both enjoyed hiking.
What’s even more?
They also like biking.
They just needed to add
Swimming to the list,
And they would become
A trialthlonist.

And who ever would have guessed
Such a die-hard BYU fan
Would succumb to the charm
Of a U of Utah man.

Despite their team allegiance
Or their alma maters name.
Their love will hold them steady
No matter which team wins the game.

So things went along
Progressing quite nicely.
People watching them
Even said it was spicy.

Then off to California they went
To the beach filled with stars.
This night is magical.
This night is ours.

Then right in the sand
Matt got down on one knee
And romantically said
Will you marry me?

You can imagine Christy’s response
On that starry night.
Yes I’ll marry you
It was just right.

The next day in the castle
Christy got a Mickey Mouse ring
She wore it until
She got the real thing.

Disneyland really is
The happiest place on earth
I have two wishes for you,
Whatever it’s worth.
The first one is that
You can find
The joy I’ve found with my love,
He’s one of a kind.

So my princess and prince charming,
Filled with life, love and laughter
Spend the rest of your lives
Living happily ever after

Isn't that stinkin' adorable? My mom rocks!

We cut the cake of course and only a little of it went down the front of my dress.

Scott played "Better Together" for us on the guitar.

Rachel sang The Hawaiian Wedding song accompanied by Patrick on the ukelele. I love that song!

Garrett was our emcee...he is so funny!

We presented the bouquet to Almarie Barnard, who I am happy to report has successfully gotten engaged approximately a week after receiving the bouquet. Oh...the power of New Year's resolutions! The garter went to Raymon Naisbitt, who when he was 14, predicted he would marry in the year 2008. C'mon Raymon...you've got 5 months left!
More wedding pictures to come...stay tuned.