Life Since August (INCLUDING A FEW WEDDING PICTURES)

It was a bad summer for blogging. So many adventures, and not nearly enough of them documented.

Fear not, I am alive. Alive and MARRIED, in fact. And life is awesome. Here's a quick rundown of life since Belgium (including a few wedding pictures the photographer gave me to keep me happy until he finishes all of them).

My flight landed in Phoenix, AZ at 5:30 PM on Saturday, August 24th. A month earlier, Tucker told me his family would all be in Rexburg the weekend I got home, but that we'd make up for it when he got back. I was bummed but not too terribly upset. It was also my parents' anniversary, and they had dinner reservations so I had no idea who was going to pick me up, but I went downstairs and gathered my luggage and sat on the curb to wait. I was talking to Tucker on the phone (since now that I was in the US, I had service) and keeping my eyes peeled for one of my aunt's cars. All of a sudden, Tucker stopped talking, and I looking up to see his truck pulling up in front of me!!! He pulled over as fast as he could (parking illegally) as I tried to wrestle my suitcases down the curb. I finally gave up and just ran to him. After a good, long, much-awaited hug, he tilted my face up and kissed me. Things were just getting fun when a man in an uniform interrupted us and told Tucker he had to move the truck because it was blocking traffic. We apologized, packed up my luggage, and drove off. For months, I'd been craving an big, fat, juicy, American hamburger, so our first stop was In-N-Out. I'm sure the people behind us in the drive-thru line were some combination of annoyed/disgusted/amused, but we couldn't have cared less. Food in hand, Tucker surprised me again by driving out to our spot at Usury pass where we spread out blankets in the back for a picnic and...made up for lost time... ;)

The next day, I spoke in church and had my temple interview with my bishop. Every hour of that week was devoted to wedding preparations. Granny made my dress modest. Wednesday, Tucker and I met with our stake president. On Thursday, we were supposed to go on a date, but that got postponed so that we could pack everything up to move to Utah. In the midst of everything, we started shopping for a car. Friday morning, Tucker and his dad loaded the moving truck. At noon, we filmed some shots with our videographer, and that evening, we took our wedding pictures at the temple under dark, stormy skies. We did get some good shots in before the downpour though. Saturday was pretty relaxed, as I wanted it to be. My endowment session started at 5:30 PM, and it was wonderful to be surrounded with so many people who love me. People say a lot of weird things to you before you go through the temple, trying to prepare you, but honestly, I have no clue what they were talking about. For me, it was a beautiful, peaceful, simple experience that only strengthened my testimony that families are forever. After that, Tucker and I attended a session at least once a week.

Sunday, September 1st, Tucker's dad drove with us all the way up to Provo. I got to see our apartment for the first time, and on Monday, we unloaded the moving truck and my storage unit (Tucker was rather appalled at how much stuff I have...) and got the things we needed from campus to start school the next day.

It's a hard semester. Classes would be time-consuming even without the wedding, so the craziness just kept mounting. Every day, we'd walk home together, make dinner, do homework and unpack some more, watch a movie if we really needed to relax, and then I'd grab breakfast and clothes for the next day, and Tucker would walk me 30 minutes to Maddy's apartment where I slept on the couch for two weeks.

Stressful as they were, those two weeks went by quickly, and soon, it was time to pack for Arizona (only after working with our teachers and turning in assignments and taking tests early). Thursday morning, Tucker and I, along with most of the bridal party, flew home to good ol' Mesa. It was a warm, sunny day, and everyone was running back and forth making with last-minute preparations. Mom miraculously found some gorgeous red shoes for me, and things that suddenly didn't matter so much got pushed to the back burner.

Thursday evening, Tucker's family hosted the dinner, and I think everyone had tons of fun. We loved seeing everyone, the food was absolutely delicious, and we really felt the love and support from everyone. For pictures and a more detailed description, check out Tucker's mom's post about it. That night, the boys kidnapped Tucker for some Super Smash Bro.s, and I went with the girls to Markie's house for pazookies and games and lots of laughing. Love those girls so much! I got home around 11:30 and sat up with Mom for a little while longer as she hemmed pants and finished a few things. I had absolutely no problem falling asleep, and woke the next day feeling completely calm.

I was up out of bed at 7:00, and nothing felt different. I took a shower and calmly wandered the house, taking time to love on Troy and Tressie. Sherry arrived at 8:00 and started the long process of curling and teasing and twisting and pinning and smoothing and hair-spraying. Then Kaylani showed up a little after 9:00 with Jamba Juice for everyone, ready to do my make-up. After a slight almost-fiasco involving Jamba Juice and the wedding dress, I made sure my temple bag was ready and painted the nails on my left hand. I quickly wrote out a short letter to my sweetheart and snuck it into his temple bag when he came to pick me up at 11:15. I don't remember any stress up to that point. We walked into the temple, a little dazed that in a few hours, we'd walk out as husband and wife. They verified our recommends, we got ready, and then met our sealer, Melvin Huber, my Grandma Joyce's cousin. At first, I didn't really care who our sealer was, as long as we ended up sealed, right? But I am SO glad we asked him. He talked for a long time to everyone, and it was so personal and beautiful and significant to us. Almost everyone in the room was crying. I will always remember the moment I was barely able to choke out "Yes" to accepting Tucker as my eternal companion, my husband for all time and eternity. There were many heartfelt and tearful congratulations and hugs as everyone filed out of the room after the ceremony. Tucker and I got a couple more moments with the sealer before we were ushered to our separate rooms to get our fancy wedding clothes on. Kaylani and Mom helped me into my dress, and then we went out to find Tucker. All our family and some of our closest friends were outside waiting for us, and when we walked out of the temple hand in hand, we were rushed by a large crowd of small children. It was fun though, and all the little girls wanted to smell my roses. Older cousins kept handing me little cousins to hold, which got a little crazy. We gathered everyone together for a couple big group pictures on the temple steps. The plan was to take some smaller group pictures after that, but suddenly, everyone was complaining how hot it was (Tucker and I honestly didn't even notice), and they all disappeared into their cars to get home out of the 106-degree heat. I was a little bummed we didn't get more pictures, but oh well I guess.

in our own little world...

Tucker and I drove home to his house where we lounged (as much as I could in my big dress) on the couch and ate lunch. We made a quick trip to my house to make sure my bags were packed and that we had the cake topper for the reception. Back at his house, it was getting crazy as people were running every which way getting dressed and setting things up and making everything look pretty for the reception. Sherry changed up my hair-do a little bit, leaving part of it down and curled, and I was able to finally paint the nails on my right hand. With only a few minutes to go until the reception was supposed to start, we were able to snap a couple quick family pictures with my family and his family and our parents. Once again, I was a little bummed we didn't have time for more, but I try not to dwell on it.

picture courtesy of my cousin, Dee

The reception was absolutely beautiful, and I think everyone had fun. We stood in line for a long time shaking hands and hugging people, but it was good to see everyone. I wish we could have at least eaten though. Once the line was disbanded, I really started feeling the stress. Why? Because twelve different people came up to me and asked what was supposed to happen next or what was going on or where something was, and I had absolutely no idea! I'm the bride! Why would I know? But really, it wasn't that big a deal. And when the cake knife went missing, we got to cut our cake with the Samurai sword we'd just received as a gift. Awesome! We were able to fit in a first dance and a couple fun songs. Tucker surprised me with yet ANOTHER song he'd written for me, which was wonderful, but I wish I would have known he was planning something so that I could have had something prepared and not looked stupid when my father-in-law caught me off guard by announcing over the microphone to the hundreds of guests that I would be singing something impromptu with no accompaniment. Definitely not my best moment, especially at my own wedding reception, but whatever. By that time, we were ready to get out of there. There was some drama finding my dress in the car and making sure we had everything, and I'm publicly apologizing for any impatient, snappy comments during that time, but I have an awesome mom and awesome bridesmaids and an awesome husband, and everything was ok. With everything ready, the guests lined up with sparklers, and we ran through and jumped in the car. Finally!!!

Tucker and I spent a long weekend at a resort in Scottsdale, eating popcorn and pizza and ice cream and fudge oreos. We watched the first three Pirates of the Caribbean movies and sat in the hot tub with a girl who looked like she was in high school and an old fat guy. Definitely romantic. ;) Basically just enjoyed being lazy together. It rocked. Plus, I was pretty impressed with the king suite Tucker got for a freakin' awesome deal. :) Monday morning, we got up and packed everything in our new little black Honda, Eugene. The drive to Provo was pretty uneventful, and everything went well. We unloaded all our wedding gifts into our little living room and were so happy that Tucker didn't have to walk me home that night.

the only picture from the honeymoon - Ice cream for breakfast. :)

Life since then has been pretty great. Tucker's had a couple good job interviews (crossing our fingers!!!). Classes have been hard, but doable. I had my first choir concerts of the year last weekend. My parents came up for an alumni conference and treated us to a Costco shopping trip, so we're just living large and feeling pretty great about life in general right now.

We still have moments where it hits us, "Hey, we're actually married!!!!" But mostly, it just feels so normal and right. I love living with my best friend. I love lying in bed late at night and laughing. I love being Sister Denton at church now. I love making dinner and organizing our apartment. I love talking and planning and figuring out life together.

Mostly, I just love Tucker. I love the way he serves me, making lunches and having dinner waiting when I get home from work late. The cute notes he leaves for me to find. The way he calls me pretty girl and when he surprises me after class. I knew he'd make an amazing husband, but life with him is even better than I could ever imagine, and I wake up every day feeling like the luckiest girl in the world.