In Sickness and In Health

I know in the temple wedding ceremony, they don't say the infamous "in sickness and in health" clause, but I think Nate and I have decided to try it out for size anyway. From day one, it has gone as follows, Nate sick, Ashley sick, Ashley sick, Nate sick, Nate AND Ashley sick, Ashley sick, Nate sick, Ashley sick. I won, though, being the first that had to go see a doctor. I have an infection that requires an antibiotic that makes me nauseous and another med that turns one of my bodily fluids fluorescent orange. (I know, TMI, but when the doctor told us that, Nate and I thought that it was pretty funny).

Enough about that, the wedding was AWESOME!! We didn't have as many people at the temple as we thought we would AND at one point the temple lost our wedding license, but it was a lot of fun. President Fillmore is slightly insane but everyone said that it was one of the most entertaining sealings they'd ever been to.

After the temple we played around with our amazing photographer, Jessi Stafsen of Creative Juice Photography, and then I had to walk around downtown in my wedding dress because my mom took off with my car keys and Nate's car was parked at the church for the luncheon. But that also meant everyone was congratulating us and treating us like we were famous. There was good food at the luncheon and our parents gave us a tribute and Nate and I got teary-eyed and all that good stuff. ALSO, my neice, Marley, sang "I Am a Child of God" and it was soooo cute.

Nate and I ran some errands that night and the next morning getting ready for the reception. It was nice having so much time to relax and get ready for Saturday. We had a couple of hiccups with broken centerpieces and an hour less of prep time than I thought we had, but other than that, everyone was completely awesome and it turned out looking pretty amazing. We especially need to thank my maid-of-honor, Talisha, for getting 10 round tables and transporting them with little to no notice, and for putting together the guest book that everyone loved. Shannon Williams who purchased a frame and markers so we could decorate the sing-in/gift table. Keeley Clark Jolley for taking command of table arranging and linen coordination on the spur of the moment and for making decisions when Nate was freaking out and couldn't. Our cake was prepared by Barbara "The Cake Lady" Wachs and was delicious, for those of us that got to taste it (I can't wait for our one-year anniversary when we get to eat some more). Although, I did the flower arrangements on it. My bouquets were done by Modern Display and I LOVED them. We got linens and centerpieces from Weddings for Less (wedforlessonline.com) and I havev been telling everyone that they should use them. You have to pick up, set-up, and return stuff yourself, but they are an awesome price and they let you keep the stuff for the entire weekend without extra charge. Not to mention they have a lot more choices than other places I looked at. Wheeler Farm turned out to be an awesome venue with lots of stuff for kids to do and beautiful backdrops for pictures. My brother, Carl, was a stellar DJ. I especially loved the Michael Jackson tribute and my parents dancing. Nate said his favorite part was our first dance together, and just between you and me, that was the closest I've ever seen him to actually crying. One of my favorite parts were when my friends made their way up to the upper balcony and ran around dancing like they were in Mamma Mia! LoL. The whole Fijian community helped with cooking under the direction of my Aunty Beta. And my mom was able to enjoy it, and she did all the post-reception clean-up and returns. Thanks to my dad who purchased food and got us a hotel room for the two nights we were in Salt Lake. Which just goes to show, it takes a village to marry me off.

The honeymoon was a nice relaxing week in Vegas in which we stayed in a nice timeshare apartment arranged by Nate's brother, Thomas, who is now on a ship courtesy of the United States army. It was hot and Nate wasn't feeling well, so most of the time we slept, ate, and watched movies in the nice air conditioned room. We did get out in the evenings to walk around some of the hotels and saw "The Blue Man Group" who I highly recommend seeing. They are hilarious!! Also, Nate got to see the Bellagio Fountains and gardens for the first time. It was awesome to share that with him.

For the 4th of July we were invited down to Newport Beach to hang out with Kristen and Jake, Brent and Christa, and Wendy and David. It was funny to me because Kristen, Wendy, Brent, and I all went to Newport together 2 years ago, and this year we were all able to return with our spouses. Things just seem to change so quickly. Newport was blast. The beach was beautiful, our friends were hilarious, and fireworks on the pier was just about the most romantic thing I could have ever hoped for. I was sad to come home.

But now I am back and Nate and I are putting our life together and it's been pretty awesome. We opened gifts on Wednesday and we got some pretty awesome things. Carissa and Jonathan gave us light sabers WHICH we have already put to some good use. We ended up with 5 rice cookers, 3 blenders, and 2 hand mixers. But, we also got an ice cream maker and crepe maker, so we've got dessert covered for the rest of our lives. When we get everything situated and sorted, I'll post some pics of our place. For now, I must get back to putting away my clothes so it looks like I actually live here. I love you all, and thanks for sharing this part of my life with me. It's been so much fun!