Easter!

Probably I do not have a great Easter picture but forgive me. We are just learning that we need to document occasions. Also, my camera is Mr. Sucky McSuck Suck so the pictures wouldn't be worth much anyway. It was great when I got it but is now the ripe ole' age of 7+ years. No bueno.

But Easter was great fun. I felt very mature with it. Constanza and Claude spent the night and we all went to church together in the morning (9 in the AM-boo). After church we visited a bit and Katelyn came over for a while. Eventually everybody left and I was able to get down to some cooking. I made a potato casserole I remembered my Mom making (which was really good), and some salad and chicken rolls too. Felipe and Katelyn and Ian helped a lot. Our table, unbeknown to us, extends to have a leaf in the middle so it was perfect size for our group. Probably one of my favorite parts was putting a large shiny Easter egg as everybody's place setting. It was truly festive! The seven of us (Constanza, Claude, Felipe, me, Katelyn, Ian, and Damon) had a great time laughing and teasing each other and joking about. After dinner Felipe even gave a short little Easter devotional for us all. Constanza and Claude left and the five of us played games and had a blast until Felipe kicked them out at 10 because I was really tired. All in all, entertaining great guests and family is a like. How mature!

Wedding

We did it! Most everyone who reads this was at the wedding and/or reception, so you know how it went. It was beautiful. And wonderful. And amazing. And just so so so happy! It's been over three weeks now since the actual day so I'll quote from my journal so I can remember it better.

I only got 2 or 3 hours of sleep the night before and by the end of the reception was very exhausted. But I was on a high all day. I went to my grandparent's house at 5 that morning for my aunt Violet to do my hair. My cousin Granger, 16, was staying there with his parents and couldn't sleep so he decided to join us in the kitchen and listen to his music. Violet threw a few bobby pins at him every once in a while to get him to get his attention when his music was too loud or when he was whistling or tapping his feet. Who listens to rap at 5 am? Haha. Violet did a fantastic job with my hair.

At 7:15 I picked up Felipe from his apartment and the two of us drove to Manti. The weather was Beautiful! We were so lucky. We were both starving and got a quick bite at McDonald's right before arriving at the temple at 9.

The temple was beautiful. So inviting. One of my favorite things is how loving and kind and sincere all the workers are. They are so helpful. They took me up to the bride's room and and I changed into all my temple clothes with the help of 2 sisters and Felipe's mom. There are still a few things I can't get quite exactly right.

After properly dressed they took Felipe and I to the celestial room to wait for Grandpa to be ready.

I had a few questions from the night before and Felipe felt comfortable discussing things with me there in the celestial room. I had a hard time learning how to distinguish what was appropriate to talk about where and wasn't frustrated really, but was excited to finally be able to talk about everything. I loved that time just sitting there and talking and being so excited and a little bit nervous.

Grandpa came and we (me and Felipe) were taken to sealing room 2. It was beautiful. After a few minutes of talking our friends and family were escorted in. There was such a wonderful spirit. Felipe and I sat together on a little couch, flanked by our mothers, while Grandpa spoke a little to us and the group. I was emotional and holding back tears. When instructed, Felipe took me to the alter and the ordinance was performed. Looking into his eyes during the ordinance was one of my favorite parts of the whole day.

We were afterwards taken to our respected places to change and Mom helped me change into my wedding dress. My next favorite part of the day was going downstairs in the temple to where Felipe was waiting and seeing his face when he saw me for the first time. He told me how very gorgeous I was and the love and awe in his eyes was so touching. I gave him his wedding band and seeing it on his finger makes me so happy.

We were about to leave the temple by the revolving door when all three workers rushed to stop us, knowing the dress would get stuck. We laughed and just weren't thinking. I couldn't stop smiling. I loved being outside with friends and family. I teared up when Katelyn hugged me. Very many pictures were taken for the next hour or so.

Everybody left while we finished pictures and then I changed out of my dress. Felipe met me inside and we were shown the famed spiral staircases, self-supportive.

On our way back we just could not believe we were married. My cheeks had been hurting from smiling so much.

I dozed on the drive back and we were both so exhausted. At 4:45 we went to set up the church. The decorator had done a fantastic job but had forgotten the chinese lanterns, the thing I wanted most. I was very sad about that.

So many people helped at the reception, especially Damon, Morgan, Claude, Katelyn, and Constanza. Katelyn was kind and brought us drinks and food. She and Tavi gave wonderful toasts. Katelyn caught the bouquet and our first dance went on forever. We tried to leave around 8:15 without commotion, but people found out and while Felipe adn I were changing they formed two lines outside our car and blew bubbles.

Our car was a mess! It took an hour and two car washes to get it all off before we could actually leave for salt lake. We went to the house to try and fix teh wiper blad that broke across our windshield and also to pick up some board games we wanted for the weekend. No one was there but Chris and Amy and Warren and Dorothea arrived when we were about to leave and after we left Felipe realized he had left his wedding ring which he took off to wash the wiper blade so we went back. By then most everybody was there. I was embarrassed and stayed in the car. And then the weekend! Which was great.