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!