Sorry this post is going to be a bit long because it’s the first one and I have to catch up a little! You all know how the fairytales go….boy meets girl, asks girl out, date for a few days, get married, and ride off into the sunset to live happily ever after. Well, our fairytale has definitely got a little spin on it. I moved To St George the day after Thanksgiving in November of 2009 which happens to be the exact same day that Shawn flew home from his mission. We didn’t meet until August of 2010 when we were playing soccer with a mutual friend. I thought he was really cute and asked my friend about him. For the next 4 months I invited him to do things with me and my friends but he always had some lame excuse or reason why he “couldn’t” haha. Little did I know that he was avoiding me. Well I got sick of that real quick and on December 18th I asked him on our first date. We tripled with my sister Kaylyn & Ruben and my friend Karlie & Drew. We ate dinner at Chili’s and then went bowling. I thought the date was fun, but I totally thought he was not interested in me at all. I discovered two things that night….I suck at bowling and that Shawn really was interested in me! About a week later, after a few walks and long discussions we began “officially dating”. Everyone says they knew by February that we’d get married, but it took Shawn and I bit longer than that to put it together. On July 4th of this year he sent me on a scavenger hunt around town to places we had been on our dates. At each location there was a purple balloon tied to a bag of marbles and an envelope. Inside of each envelope there was a clue leading me to the next place until finally I ended up out at the new airport where we had danced for the first time before it opened up. When I got there he was standing by his car waiting for me in the parking lot. He had the first song we danced to playing and asked if I would dance with him. Of course I said yes and we danced to the one song and then he put another one on and I began to wonder what was going on. He stopped about half way through that second song and pulled a little black box out of his pocket. I cried (I’m a baby I know!) but I cried, tears of joy for sure. He asked me if I would marry him and I said “No”. Jokes, jokes…I said “Of course I’ll marry you!” Oh and even more than a pretty diamond, I wanted the amazing man that gave it to me.
 
September 10th, 2011 was the best day of my life. I got to wake up and say, “I’m getting married today!” I got to do nothing and have people tell me “no” when I tried to. I got to spend time with lots of family who came to support me. I got to spend more than an hour getting ready. But most important, I got to be sealed to my best friend for eternity. Like I said, what a great day! Shawn’s grandpa Cooper sealed us and we were so excited that a large number of our family and friends could be present. After the sealing we had a super awesome luncheon. Ooh the food was so good! Staheli Catering provided the food. We had Italian roasted chicken, their famous mashed garlic red potatoes, steamed vegetables, rolls, and salad. Oh yeah, and yummy cheesecake! Between the luncheon and the reception Shawn and I moved some of our stuff and some gifts over to our apartment, took a nap at my parents’ house, and didn’t have to do anything…nice and relaxing. The reception was B-E-A-utiful! Our moms, sisters, and all the help did such a good job. The guest started showing up at about 7:00 pm and from then until 9:30 Shawn and I didn’t sit, go to the bathroom, or really eat. We had so many people to greet and talk with, we were busy. But we didn’t complain because it was so great to have everyone’s love and support :) After the reception Shawn and I walked out to find our car had been vandalized by a bunch of hooligans…aka our bros and sis. We drove to Mesquite that night and then the rest of the way to California the next day. It was way fun!


The honeymoon was over and we had to get back to real life. We unpacked, opened gifts, and got settled into our little (I do mean little) apartment. For the first few months we will be living in a studio apartment behind the house of a guy that we know from work. It’s really nice and really cute, but also really small. But it’s perfect for newly weds who only need a place to live for 4 months. We had fun spending giftcards and decorating it. I posted pics below!!!

Our humble abode :)

Isn't it beautiful?!

Look how cute he is!