10 years, baby!

10 years ago today, I married the man that at first I deemed unattainable. Too good to be true. Way out of my league. Honest. Happy. Humble. 3 words that describe him, that a year previous I told him I wanted in a husband. We weren't dating then, but I remember that conversation. I might have said Handsome if I didn't think it was a vain thing to say, but I was probably thinking it...along with the other "H's."

In all honestly, the day was pretty much perfect. There seem to be some horror stories around wedding days, but ours was truly perfection. Yes, I might have changed some things like putting on lipstick before the reception or wearing my hair all up (vanity, again) or maybe just driving the 2 of us from the temple to the reception (we had both our parents, I thought it would be a cool unity thing--it was) or maybe done a bit more research for the photographer (but people didn't have websites/blogs like they do now).

But unlike him, I remember all the people that were in the temple that day. I remember the friends and family that flew in. I remember the friends that came to show love and support at our reception in the evening. Feelings of pure joy surrounded that day. I love remembering it.

The picture above is the image I chose for an enlargement for my home. I love that you can see the temple behind us, but mostly that we look genuinely happy. A lot of our other pics are more posed...if only I knew then what I know now. Just last spring, I decided to contact our photographer for the negatives. They scanned them on a disc for me for $150. I love having them.

Here we are, walking out of the temple....bubbles were blowing.

It was December, but beautiful blue skies (and kinda ugly grass). There was snow on the back grounds of the temple in the shade, but we only got a few snapshots of that.

My mom made this cape for me, I love it.

I chose the photographer because he was married to the lady who ran the reception hall and I got a discount. My big thing going into my wedding was the reception spot. I DID NOT want basketball lines in my pictures. Meaning, I did not want my reception to be at the church. I looked at a lot of places, but I was frugal with my parents money. This was an old church converted to a reception hall, it worked perfectly. Looking back, I might have had some input on the decor, but I didn't care then. Here I am with my bridesmaids. The girls in red are all related except Natalie (tall chick to the right of me) she was/is my bestie. Like a sister from the time we were 14. To my left is my brother Ryan's wife Alayna, Michael's 3 sisters and his brothers wife, Kriste. The girls in black are my "honorary bridesmaids" friends...roommates...future sister in law. Amy(she flew in--love her), Laurie, Jen, and Abbi.

These are fun....(and mostly my idea, the 60 year old male photographer wasn't super creative)

I think he did stage this one though...

Below: My family...3 brothers+sis in law+parents. So symmetrical, isn't it?
Michael's family--we were 2nd to get married.
My friend Laurie (Hawaiin girl in black dress) took some great black and white candids that day of which I love and cherish. They are just prints in an album and with a broken scanner and 0 energy, that will maybe have to be a post for next year.

Michael is just good to the core. He does the dishes. He does the laundry. He tells the kids betime stories. He delights in playing board games with them. He enjoys exercising. He enjoys his daily scripture study time. He's superman to me. All these things I aspire to myself, I have him to look up to. Him to guide me, even though I want to rebel against those things sometimes.

Really there are just 2 problems with his absolute goodness. 1) I feel guilty sometimes that he is pulling too much of the weight in this family. 2) I fear it means his time on earth will be shortened because he is so good. It's something I think about, people.

But for now, I will just relish in the times we get to a 4 way stop just milliseconds after another car, and they sheepishly wait for us to go...unsure who was there first. Michael will exclaim, "Come on, you were there 10 minutes before me..." as he zooms ahead of that other courteous driver. I've learned to love those moments.

I feel so blessed to be sealed to him for all eternity. Grateful to know that he will be by my side, beyond our understanding of "life." I'm not one to relish in cheesy talk, but I really do feel a deep down gratitude that he chose me. That he leads our family with a firm yet loving hand. That he sees me as his equal, and loves me through my weaknesses. He knows how to make me laugh, and know how to support me when I cry. We are on the same page with so many things. He knows me--and who I want to be. Now if only he would let me be a back seat driver...we'd have perfection. Well...ok...maybe not. We do differ on some things, but we work on how to compromise on those differences.

Now just a few pics from the past 10 years.....

And if you really want to feel like you were there for our wedding festivitites....CLICK HERE to see my wedding video. Its kindof a shady lookin' quality as I took my camcorder to my tv 2 years ago. But I heart my wedding video. Best $$$ I spent on my wedding day.