done with the MCAT forever

YAY, we are done with the MCAT FOREVER!!

Jake took the MCAT on September 1st and finally got his score back today, October 2nd!! They can send the scores in any time between 9 and 5 pm, so we first checked around 9:15 am and they were in! Jake did NOT want to look, he was so nervous. He kept setting his phone to the side and saying, "We are not looking. We're just gonna go throughout our day and not look!" Haha I was NOT having that.

Finally he agreed to look, pushed the button, and I think I was the first to see that his score. And it's SO GOOD and I'm seriously so, so, so happy. He really has worked so hard, especially this summer. Even while we were at the farm and he was studying and not playing with his brothers and us . . . that is truly amazing dedication. And now he has something to show for all of it!

We had a celebratory lunch at Chipotle haha and told all of our family that he did well. Everyone was so excited for him. We were also excited to start narrowing down which schools are in reach now and which ones we want to apply to. It's so exciting and scary all at the same time!

I'm so proud of Jake. He really is so hardworking and dedicated to school and his family! Now we just play and party until we start applying for schools!

Jake's 24th Birthday!

It's Jake's 24th birthday!! I'm really grateful neither of us are big on birthdays and birthday gifts, but it's still a big deal that he's taken 24 trips around the sun! A little fun fact that Tracey told me was Jake came on his due date, just like June! I thought that was awesome.

This week, we're being extremely low key, although I'm really tempted to stop at Magelby's and grab some of their amazing chocolate cake. I won't make him blow out candles, but at least we can have some yummy dessert to celebrate his birthday!

This past year with Jake has been the funnest year of my life! His birthday was on Father's Day last year, and even though I was pregnant, I didn't know it yet so we couldn't celebrate. I'm SO grateful this year we have our little girl with us. While our family doesn't feel complete, right now we feel whole and happy.

Jake helps me see the brighter side of things. He helps me stay positive and lively. He consistently has me try new things. He keeps our family active and reminds us of the importance of playing. He works hard and is diligent. He's so loving and sweet with our baby; watching them together is such a joy! He helps me to be more kind. He reminds me of the importance of the little things - like taking 5 minutes to sit on the couch together rather than clean the house after we've been go-go-go all day.

Jake makes everything fun and I'm so glad I'm his wife, and that we get to spend the rest of our years together - cheesiness necessary. :) :) :) 

Love you honey!

Saturdays with June

Warm, sunny Saturdays with June and Jake mean going up the canyon and finding a nice place to hammock! It's definitely become one of our favorite things because we can all cuddle in the hammock, eat in the hammock, and I can nurse June efficiently in the hammock. She gets the "double shake" as the hammock sways back and forth and I pat her little butt.

Big Springs was PACKED on Saturday because it was so nice out and so many people were camping, so we couldn't get in our usual spot. It took us 3 tries to find a spot that worked for us and was shady enough for June. She is a HEATER and starts sweating pretty quickly so being in the shade is a must.

We love spending Saturdays together . . . making guacamole, watching shows, and playing outside. Having a baby makes everything (almost everything, anyway) so much more enjoyable!

23 of my favorite things on Jake's 23rd birthday

holy what, my husband is 23?!?

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JAKE!

for the past 6 weeks i've been asking him, "what do you want for your birthday?"

and you know what he responds with?

"skydiving or paragliding. and you have to come with."

it's like he doesn't even know who he married.

and then I plead with him and ask him to be realistic. i say, "what do you REALLY want?"

and he'll jokingly (kind of jokingly?) say, "a niño."

and then I laugh and say, "me too, but what can I ACTUALLY give you?!!?!?"

and then he's like, "I really don't need anything."

so now I'm back at square 1, trying to remember all of the things in the past 6 weeks he's mentioned that would be SO COOL to have. you know, the subtle hints.

so here are some things he's mentioned in the past 6 weeks:

1. As we were walking through Lowe's, he saw a Backyard Beekeepers magazine. He said, "So now you know what I want for my birthday." 
2. We were fishing with Kaden and Hailey and he said, "Oh, I'd love to learn how to fly fish. I just don't have any gear . . ."
3. He's always talking about how he wants our own camping chairs and our own mats for sleeping on, so we don't have to borrow the Mauldin's all the time.

so I think I'm going to get him a mix of the three. and maybe we can get  bees next year or something.

BUT, THE REAL POINT OF THIS BLOG POST is to talk about 23 of my favorite memories / characteristics of Jake. i could say way more than 23 but i'll stop there, and save that for his 24th birthday (I'm just now realizing that 23 is kind of old? but 24???? o . m . g. )

1. he never, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever gets mad. ever. not once have i ever seen him mad. and sometimes i can be a little rude. i love that about him. sometimes he just has endless patience.

2. from the start of our relationship, he's always made me try new things. wheelbarrowing a pig, for starters. but also camping, eating new foods, floating the river, kayaking, having chickens, and MUCH, MUCH more. he's always up for anything and loves to try new things, something I'm learning to love, too.

3. he is a SLEEPER. haahaha. he can stay up SO late but when it comes to waking up in the morning, he has T H E hardest time. in the recent weeks, he's been getting up at 6 am to go to the gym and I feel for him because I know how much he likes to sleep in. I think i have more pictures of him sleeping than I do of him awake. THEY'RE SO CUTE.

4. he is really so caring, to anyone and everything. at night, he'll usually say something like, "I'm so glad you let me marry you." hahaha. but he not only loves his wife (and his family soooo much),but he also loves animals. even though neither of us are "dog people" (we're more like sheep and chicken people haha), we both cried in megan leavey and also we don't really understand the point of hunting. ALSO, the other day, we had been given some worms from our cousin who had been fishing with them and we had left them on the counter for a couple days. as i was doing something in the kitchen, i saw Jake GIVING THEM SOME WATER. i made a funny face at him and he said, "what? they're probably thirsty." ..... so tender. hahaha.

5. he loves to cuddle. this can sometimes be good and bad ;) but mostly good, obviously. I love how much he loves to snuggle up and watch a movie or when he wakes up in the middle of the night and scoots closer. it's cuuuuuuuuute

6. he LOVES POPCORN. hahaha.oh my gosh does this boy love popcorn. last night i said, "oh i just want a treat." and he said, "popcorn?". hahaha. he can eat an ENTIRE large popcorn by himself at the mall. and if there's free refills .... trouble.

7. he's always chewing on something. when we still had plastic bottles, i'd have to throw them away immediately after he drank one because he'd chew on the camp until it was pretty much disintegrated into his mouth. I hated the noise but also I found chewed bottle caps inside the water bottles all over our room. so sick. hahaha

8. he's sooo good at whistling. you can tell how he's feeling depending on if he's whistling, how loud he's whistling, what song he's whistling... haha. my favorite story is when we weren't sure we wanted to be together and cancelled my Cincinnati trip. his mom texted me and said something like, "Jake's not whistling anymore. Can you come visit?" ... It was the sweetest thing ever. And you know when he's not whistling, something's going on ;)

9. he plays candy crush before he goes to sleep. I NEVER WOULD'VE KNOWN THIS IF WE WEREN'T MARRIED! haha. i could be asleep for an hour and he'll just keep playing candy crush. he claims it helps put him to sleep.

10. he's a SPENDER. we'll go to Lowe's and he's like, "Yeah, I need this." Or he'll tell me, "Go and buy yourself whatever you want!" It's hilarious. And when we go to the grocery store together? There's no telling how much we'll spend. (We're working on a budget... haha!)

11. He loves to build things. Whenever I say something like, "AGH all of my pots and pants don't fit in this tiny thing!" he'll say something like, "I can build this for you right here and then you can hang all of them up." Sometimes I'm like OK, YOU'RE GETTING TOO CARRIED AWAY. But other times it's nice... He's built like half the things in our house! Redid our closet so we can fit more shoes, installed our oven, installed our new vanity and counter in the bathroom (with Kyle of course), built a headboard, coffee table, shelves.... He's good.

12. If he doesn't know how to do something, he'll figure it out. He can build IKEA stuff like nobody's business, but he can also "see things in his mind" and make them come to life. A lot of the times, he'll dream of something and then draw it so he can build it later. . . if it still looks like a good idea. But seriously he's smart. And his Dad's advice is to watch YouTube. Hahaha.

13. ROAD TRIPS with Jake are the best. Mainly because he loves to drive (and looooove the hum of his truck even more) and so most of the time, I can just lay back and relax while he does the hard work (story of our lives?) If he turns on a good audio book, he's set to drive for like, the next 10 hours. One time, we we were on probably our 12th hour of driving or something crazy and it was the middle of the night and I had switched with him and fallen asleep. Well I ended up waking up in the Lowe's parking lot and he was passed out next to me... That was a long night!

14. He loves babies almost as much as I do. Whenever we see one, he'll point it out. And whenever he gets to hold one, he snuggles and kisses that baby so much. We were holding our friends week-old baby and I SWEAR he had tears in his eyes. Later he was like, "I just can't believe that grows inside and comes out this perfect, tiny human!" Hahaha. So sensitive, so sweet.

15. He likes to remind me that we're married... you know, just in case I forgot. For example, last night I was BURNING. UP. in our bedroom so I moved to our couch in the living room which is leather so it's already cooler, plus we have the fan and janky A/C in there I can crank up. I was just planning on cooling off then going back in the room and he was like, "DON'T YOU REMEMBER I'M YOUR HUSBAND? WE'RE MARRIED. YOU CAN'T JUST LEAVE!" hahaha. He does this regularly.

16. He likes to experiment in the kitchen... Or whenever I make something and I know it NEEDS something but I don't know what, he's usually able to tell me which is nice. He'll be like, "Oh yeah, this needs paprika." Hahaha. I don't think he's actually ever said that but you get the gist. He is also really good at cooking meat over the fire... And veggies... and corn.... And anything ever.

17. He doesn't use social media WHATSOEVER. In fact, he rarely even uses his phone. So when I posted something for his birthday... and our 6 month "anniversary" he didn't even see the cheesiness. ;) And I posted a pic he doesn't like of us... and HE'LL NEVER KNOW. Hehhe

18. He always, always, always saves his last bite of food for me, especially if we're sharing something. The other night we went to get fries from this little place near Center street after the comedy show and he was like "Oh these are soooo good!" And he was about to take the last of the fries, but then dropped two little ones and he was done. He doesn't really say, "Okay that's for you," it's just something I know he's doing... It's cute. He may not even realize he's doing it but I love it!

19. Let's not forget how FREAKING CUTE HE IS!!! Oh my gosh he came home with a new haircut the other day and I was like heartEYES!!! Seriously that boy is attractive!

20. He is SMART. He works hard in school. He studies and studies and studies and when he's tired... he drinks a monster and studies some more. He's determined and focused and I love that about him! And it definitely shows off in his grades. Seriously proud of him!

21. Speaking of how smart he is... He's also incredibly humble. He would never tell you how well he did something or how he figured out how to do something new or that he just lifted a bunch more weight than usual at the gym. He's the kind of guy that will brag about other people but not about himself even though he REALLY should!

22. He LOVES his family. That boy has the biggest heart for his brothers, sisters, mom, dad, grandparents, aunt, uncles, and cousins. He has so many and somehow his heart continues to grow to encompass each of them! He may not know their birthdays or their favorite colors, but I know he thinks of them often and loves them so much. And he's a total mama's boy. ;)

23. Last but not least... A few little funny things he does that I love!... He frequently dances in the kitchen, he loves to hang up clothes (my least favorite chore!), he loves to chop wood, he's constantly whistling, the other day he said "I love when I get to make your dreams come true!" (cute) He is ALWAYS complimenting me, even when I look like a grungy mess. He loves to talk and talk and talk at night even when I'm halfway asleep. He's always up for some hard work. He loves to help people (Like our neighbor Benjamin with their new roof, and a newer Singaporean neighbor when he helped her build her kid's bunk beds!) He is thoughtful, selfless, and kind. I'm SO. GLAD. He chose me to be his wife.

ZION NATIONAL PARK. . . PART 2

yeah, I know, I can't believe we went back to this place either . . . at least without going to Moab or something in the middle! my friend Jackie and her boyfriend Cameron were supposed to go during the break with one of their friends, but their friends bailed on them last minute. . . on the same day as Jackie's birthday, and Jackie asked if we wanted to go . . . probably knowing that Jake loves camping and I'd have to say yes. I asked him about it and he got excited IMMEDIATELY. like. so. much. excitement.

It was Thursday night and we'd have to leave early the next morning to (hopefully) find a camping spot. I told the group we should leave at 4 am since it's only a 3 hour drive but they said no . . . this will play into the story later ;). so anyway, we had SO much to prepare for. we were going to go to BWW that night but instead we went to the Mauldins and packed up all the camping stuff we always borrow . . . camping chairs, pots and pans and utensils, mats to go under our sleeping bags, a cooler for water, etc.

we prepared food for the weekend including tuna for sandwiches, snacks for hikes, organizing beef and chicken wings, organizing all the condiments, etc. . . we figured out who was going to be driving, who was going to pick up the ice, what the plan was... and then tyler texted us asking if we needed anything for camping since he was taking care of the chickens and i said yes, a COOLER! and he had one! he also let us borrow his dutch oven (which is terrible to clean by the way. thanks, Jake and Amanda hahaha).

IT WAS FINALLY THE MORNING! our first alarm went off at like 5:15 because we had to pack up the truck and still do a ton of stuff in the morning. jake wanted to take a shower, and usually we're pretty lazy in the mornings so.. we have to set our alarms early! when we finally got everything together, it was SNOWING IN PROVO, and we were headed south about 8:30 am... SO LATE. if you want to go to zions and get a camping spot, you need to get there AT 7 AM!!! no later. seriously. 

it was a fun car ride. we listened to the rest of the first harry potter book and fortunately Cameron loves that so Jackie and I got to sleep while we knew the boys were awake.  

Jake and I went on a bike ride when we first got to Zion... and it was basically all uphill. my bike was being dumb and I also didn't know how to shift correctly I'm guessing, so we turned around a couple miles in and we didn't even have to pedal because the hill made us go so fast. it was super fun. i was grumpy and then got un-grumpy because of the downhill ride. hahaha.

AFTER the bike ride... we went to angels landing. and jackie and i were freaking out. and i was probably freaking out the most because i don't do heights.. roller coasters.. rock climbing.. nada. so we started up and the first part isn't that bad. and then you get to the switchbacks. and I was all I NEED A BREAK and Jake was like YOU'RE DOING GREAT, KEEP GOING. and I was all NO WE NEED TO STOP I THINK I'M DYING. and then eventually you make it through the switchbacks somehow and you get to scout's point or lookout or something. and it's a cool view. and you think you've made it to the top. and then you see that there's half a mile left to the top, and that's where the chains are they everyone's been talking about.

i told Jake, "umm. I don't think I can do this." hahaha. and he said that was fine and we didn't have to. and I said, "no we're doing it." and then we did. and it wasn't that bad, if you don't look on either side of you..... when we got to the top we found cameron and jackie who BOOKED it up there. we told them IT'S ABOUT THE JOURNEY NOT ABOUT THE DESTINATION and then we ate snacks and made our way back down. the way back down on the chains is probably worse but it's fine.

now we can say we did it and WE NEVER HAVE TO DO IT AGAIN! YAY YAY YAY.

after that, we were all worn out and we went to La Verkin Overlook to camp out. we got one of the lower spots hoping it wouldn't be too windy and it wasn't too bad. we set up camp, ate wings, tilapia, grilled sweet peppers with barbecue sauce, and HOT DOGS!! it was a feast. and then Jackie and I made peach cobbler in the dutch oven for dessert and it was heaaaavennnlyyyyyy. seriously, so good.

the next morning it was slow going. we made a bunch of eggs and then played like 7 games of mexican trains! and then packed up and started the drive home. we stopped at another part of Zions though a little further south where there's a nice scenic drive and did a short mile hike. it was a pretty cool one, actually, and a lot of cool families were up there. it was a nice little ending to the trip.

when we got home, we got in the shower and we smelled SO BAD. oh my gosh it was almost unbearable honestly. hahahaha. we were scrubbing our bodies with soap so fast because we. smelled. so. so. so. bad. and then i conditioned my hair about 4-5 times because i hadn't brushed or showered in days...

well worth it. we're glad Jackie and Cameron invited us!

vegas for the weekend!

chris called me a few months ago while i was in class and i answered it. he asked, "do you and jake want to go to vegas with me and my denton buddies in April? i'll get y'all a nice hotel room and it'll be fun!" and of course i said yes! i checked the dates and it was the weekend before finals and it all worked out really well! he even flew lisette down with his southwest points. she invited Emily and it all made for a really fun weekend!

jake and i drove down thursday night (after being rushed by Lisette and Chris to make it there in time for dinner!) we got there and everyone was eating. i thought the meal was pretty much over BUT IT WAS ONLY THE FIRST COURSE!!! needless to say, we spent waaaay too much money that night!

jake and i being "boring" as Lisette calls us . . . after dinner, around midnight, we were just watching some broken skull ranch show with an old WWE wrestler. it's actually pretty entertaining and the hotel had a giant projector and screen so why not?! 

after we ate dinner at this place called Todd's English. i had the chicken pot pie and it was noooot that great . . . we had an english guy with us named Minesh and he was SO. FUNNY. He, i think, approved of this place. although he's probably tasted better fish and chips in England... (or is it "crisps" that they gave them???) 

this was the first night, in the nicest bathroom ever. seriously, like glass doors with marble over them so nobody can peek. and not paper towels to dry off your hands, literal nice napkin things that actually dry your hands off! 

sorry these pics are all jumbled! haha but on the way home.. JAKE GOT HIS FIRST SPEEDING TICKET!! i woke up from a car nap to him stopping, thinking maybe he got tired or something, and he was like "yeah, I'm getting pulled over." hahahahahahahaha. i died laughing!! the cop was really nice though, so luckily we didn't have to deal with a jerk but soo funny. jake always brags he's never gotten a ticket before :) 

the first morning in Vegas.. with the nicest view ever! we were on the 55th floor and that has its benefits:) i think there was only one room above us. and the bed.. was amaazzing..seriously slept like an angel. hahaha. 

just playing cards after a day at the pool. jake's study break, and teaching lisette and i how to play dumb games. notice that my thumb is red from eating hot cheetos. hahahaha

it was so fun to be with my sister and chris and everyone else for a long weekend! we had so much fun and it was nice to get away for a bit! 

Our Teeny Little House . . . And Its Million Projects

We are so grateful for our little house! For some reason, BYU makes it IMPOSSIBLE to find married housing . . . seriously impossible. The only way I found to do it was by joining a Facebook page where people were listing their contracts. But even then, only about 2 people would list a contract per week and then that post would get 30 comments within the HOUR. And the people that were commenting were like, "We'll take it now without even seeing it" or "We'll give you a million dollars if you let us live here." I mean, EVERYONE was desperate to find married housing! Seriously! I looked and looked and looked and everything honestly looked like junk. We were sitting at Amanda and Kyle's house one night doing homework and we had looked at some contracts earlier that day but most of them were trash or already taken, so we didn't know what we were going to do. Well, Kyle called us . . . from Hawaii, and told us that the guy that was renting their little house had recently purchased a new house a little further south and would be moving out. He then asked if we would like to rent it . . . OF COURSE! It's not fancy by any means, but it's secluded, not an apartment, has awesome landlords (haha), has a chicken coop, and is perfect for just Jake and me. So we said yes.

Oh yeah... Apparently Utah decided it was going to NEVER-EVER-EVER-EVER-EVER stop snowing this year. He has to shovel our driveway sooooo many times. . . 

Well, we've been moved in for a little over three weeks now and it's been great! Our heater is a little funky and old, but runs and keeps our little house sort of warm, so we like it. We can park both our cars in the driveway. We have a home for our cute little chickens. And we have plenty of storage!

There are some tricky things about the house though. . . It's pretty old and random, and honestly, it's like someone built the house straight from concrete and then painted it. What does this mean? It means that it's impossible to hang stuff on the walls. We learned this the hard way. . .

The walls are plain, so I wanted to have Jake build some hanging shelves. We thought this was going to be an easy task! So, we bought the wood and some other tools we would need for the project, and after going to Lowe's three times, we thought we were good. So Jake starts drilling through the wall and what do we find?... THE HOLE WENT ALL THE WAY THROUGH THE WALL. I could see from the kitchen, through the wall, to the living room. . . I sighed heavily.

Jake Facetimed his dad and showed him the issue. RALPH TO THE RESCUE, as always! He told Jake what to do (and I wish I could explain how he did it, but it basically was like he built a mount on the other side of the wall. . . Luckily they're all covered, because they're not pretty). And the thing is so sturdy I could sit on it... Apparently. I'm not planning on testing it out. So we have that.

We do plan on painting them and putting pictures in those frames. . . at some point.

But we went to Hobby Lobby last weekend and I bought this thing to go above our bed because that, too, is pretty empty. . . And it's so heavy, Jake doesn't think he'll be able to hang it. At this point, I'm not even sure we could figure out how to hang up pictures on the walls?!?! AGH! But it's ok, because luckily Jake loves projects and doesn't get stressed out easily like his wife. :)

Our house is a work in progress, but hey, at least we have a bookshelf. . . Thanks, Ikea. Oh, and we have a projector for our room. Thanks, Amazon. Except now our issue is... if I hang pictures on the wall above the dresser, how will we watch our shows?!?!!? OH, THE HORROR.

And yes, you can see that I have my own bag of popcorn and Jake has his own bowl. That's because he's a butter and salt kind of guy, where I prefer the kettle corn. . . and yes, if you think we teetered over getting the Whirly Pop or the Hot Air Popper Whatever at Bed Bath and Beyond, you are correct. . . I have a feeling he's going to get me the Whirly Pop for my birthday. . . . . . . .

Wedding: The Reception!

We did a ring ceremony before our reception and then we did speeches afterward so that our families could get to know each other a little better! 

We had cute flower girls, Jake's nieces, and little sister, and they were so fun! I think they loved doing that. And then we had the cutest ring bearer ever, Max! And we were so shocked at how well he performed his duties.. seriously! That boy is a little tricky sometimes so we didn't know how he'd do, but he walked down slowly, smiling at everyone and when he got to us, he gave each of us a kiss and then went back and sat with his family... Oh we love him! We were so glad to make the kids such an integral part of the day, especially since they were probably wondering why we kept keeping them out in the cold all day! Honestly, people should hire Max to be their perfect little ring bearer.:) 

The ceremony was great; our uncle Scott went above and beyond by preparing the sweetest eight-minute speech that included marriage advice, spiritual thoughts, and stories he thought we may want to hear. As we listened to him, I thought of all the blessings marriage can bring to Jake and me and all the fun we get to have over the years. I thought of how I get to hold his hand every day for the rest of my life. I thought of the sealing we had just hours before and how special the day was and was continuing to be. I thought of all the hard work and patience and planning it took to get to where we were and I was so grateful. So grateful that people had done so much just for the two of us.

After our ring ceremony, we had previously invited family and friends to give some speeches. I knew this was going to be a fun part, but also a part that made me cry like a baby... and it did not disappoint! The first to speak was our brother Brent and he had me AND Jake crying! His words were so sincere, genuine, and thoughtful... I love him. Lisette spoke after and could barely get her words out! Haha. Amanda, Carli, Beth, and then Ralph spoke.  They all had us laughing, crying, and overall, so grateful for our friends and family! We especially love Jake's sweet dad Ralph -- such an amazing, inspiring, thoughtful, kind man and I am so lucky to have him as my father in law. Of course he got a huge hug from the both of us! 

The reception was really so fun. I was the first one to get through the line of food, and it was SO GOOD. Our uncle Dennis did pork FROM the farm which was my favorite part! We also had mashed potatoes, macaroni and cheese, bread... What more could a girl (or 150+ people want?) We served apple cider, hot chocolate, and water... perfect for a cold day, probably. I snuck a Coke (and orange juice as seen in the picture below) in before the reception. Brian Busken also surprised us with cookies with our FACES ON IT! I didn't know who the culprit was, but when we were making our rounds saying hi to everyone he kind of snickered and said, "Do you like your cookies?" ... So sneaky. We have so many left over still. Luckily they taste so good, and we thought that was so nice!

We were honestly shocked at how many people came, especially since the day before it was freezing rain and the rest of the night showed it was going to be rainy... which on the farm, means so muddy. But people came and seemingly enjoyed their night (and especially the food) and it was so good to see them all. We are so grateful to Ralph and Grandpa Blackwelder for figuring out the tent situation - that baby was amazing! It had real doors on it and space heaters for those who were cold. We were able to fit everything perfectly in the tent -- the cake, the arch, the serving tables and even the drinks. Even though sometimes it felt like NOTHING was working out -- the few days before, everything just started coming together (and still is). 

As much as I can say I'm so glad this day is over and done with, I can honestly say it went exactly how I would have wanted it to and I would maybe relive it once or twice. So many hands worked for us that week. They put all the florals together, built as an arch (that is AMAZING), prepared food, positioned and re-positioned tables and chairs, made us a cake, set up the lighting in the tent, built fires, decorated, and in the end... the same hands took all the stuff down and made it look there was never even a huge, crazy tent there! I love my husband and I look back on this day as such a great day with the most important people around the both of us. So much love to everyone. 

Do you want to see more formal photos? Yes.

Well, I don't know about you, but I want to! We were sort of impatient with getting these photos (Sorry, Talmage) but we were so excited with the few sneak peeks that he had sent us that we were tired of waiting! Talmage was able to get them to us this past weekend and when we looked at them Sunday morning, we were sooooo happy. We think they turned out great, and I'm also really happy that you can't tell how cold I am in all of these pictures. All in favor of wearing long john garments on our actual wedding day!

Just so I can remember this day for all the craziness that it was... At work, I was telling a girl named Trinity that I had bridals that night and I had no one to do my hair and makeup. So what did she do? She told me she does hair and makeup and would love to do that for me! So nice.

After work, I went to class and then I had to figure out a bouquet situation. I ended up ordering one from some flower shop in Provo (that Jackie actually ordered, not me) and when I got there... it was trash. It was like, 12 white roses with one piece of greenery. So then I went to Hobby Lobby and got all these fake flowers and put them together in hopes of making a decent looking bouquet. It was like $85 bucks in total for the real flowers and fake flowers. Well. It would have to do.

I rushed over to Trinity's, after Facetiming Beth and asking, "Does this look too fake?!?!" and got my hair and makeup done. She's amazing, really. Extremely talented and didn't even let me pay her when I offered. So nice. Anyway. We were running late because I got there a little bit late and Talmage was texting and saying he was ready. We were picking him up, so I was like, "Jake, go grab all my stuff (my dress, my shoes, my EVERYTHING! haha) go get him, then I'll just meet you guys there!" Somehow . . . miraculously, I was able to finish, meet Jake as he was starting his truck, contact Talmage on where to pick him up, and go! AND we were able to have enough light to get some shots like this.

In between a few of the pictures, we would hop in the truck to get warmed up. Probably a good idea, and luckily Jake's truck cranked the heat! 

LASTLY... We didn't do a first look... Mainly because I'm not super sentimental about that stuff, but also because I changed from my regular clothes into my dress IN THE TRUCK while they were chatting outside of it, and when I got out, I couldn't zip my dress all the way, so I was like, "Jake can you zip this?!" Hahahaha. It was pretty terrible if you're a bride that's super sentimental... Luckily Jake and I are just right for each other and thought it was pretty funny.