Now to the HAPPY day!

Though my morning started off bad, T was right. It was all going to be better. (Why it was a bad morning) Thank goodness too! I was so pleased to see everyone we had invited to the Temple show up. It was so beautiful and touching looking around the room being surrounded by all our family and friends.

The Temple Sealing was beautiful. It's an amazing feeling, the bond between husband and wife. And given the promise that if we live righteously and do what Heavenly Father has asked of us, we will be together forever, literally. Wow. I am sure glad I picked someone amazing!

After the sealing, T and I finished getting ready to take pictures. Well, more like, I had to retouch everything from crying during the ceremony! As we were inside, everyone else was waiting outside for us to make our grand entrance! Or rather, exit! lol

Then we finally made our exit through the doors they anticipated on. It was so fun seeing everyone out there celebrating with us on our beautiful day!
Everyone wanted to see my red heels, so I showed them off. Then my brother's teased T to show his shoes off too.

I love this man so much. I truly am so grateful to be married to him.
How did I get so lucky?

Then we greeted and hugged everyone. It sure felt nice to feel the love.



Then it was time to take pictures! Everyone who was there to celebrate and then just both sides of the immediate families.

It was then T's turn to take pictures with all the bridesmaids. T's brother wanted in on the fun!


Here is the groom and all the groomsmen. T's brother is in the red tie, whereas all but one of my brothers are there too.


Just me with my gorgeous bridesmaids!



We figured it was time to take shots with the kiddos. My niece and nephews. Unfortunately my other niece wasn't there at this time. You'll see some with her in other photos.

Here I am with my brothers (remember one was in Peru!), they wanted to lift me and I started laughing so hard that I...excuse me for TMI, but I swear I almost peed myself! lol We were laughing so hard, as you can tell! We couldn't get a good shot.



T with his gorgeous sisters and his studly brother.

It was then time to take photos with our amazing parents whom we love so very much!



Now starts the photos of just T and myself on the grounds of the SLC, Utah Temple.

Isn't the Temple just breathtaking?



Then it was time to re-freshen up for the luncheon!

Last night as a Miss

April 10th 2009

What a celebration! The P & S family would be reunited once again, after so many years. I think our Dad's were looking forward to it the most. (Though they had just seen each other a fewweeks prior) All brothers and sisters would all be together, except for T's brother and his family who were stationed in Germany with the Air Force, on top of that, T's sister in-law was waiting to have her 4th baby so she had her hands tied. My younger brother was serving a mission in Peru. So, all but them. We missed them dearly, but we knew this was the right time to be married.

The night before our wedding everyone met up at the house T's family stayed at. We first ate lunch, us girls went out for a bit and I enjoyed my last day as a single lady!

(Ignore the fact my eyes are closed)

T came back from snowboarding with my brothers (I gave him plenty of speeches not to do anything stupid, for, it was the eve of our wedding! Can you imagine having to cancel a wedding due to the fact the groom broke something the day before? lol) and it was a happy reunion. Here is T's older sister and her husband! They are so awesome and are currently the only ones left in Birmingham, AL. What can we do to get them out of there, and move west?

T's family in Germany were very anxious to see everyone all together. So we made sure to have a few skype sessions during the activities!

After dinner, (which I do not have photos of!) T's Mom surprised us with something I wish they would do every year on our anniversary! lol But we are so very grateful for it and it sure helped pay our way through our honeymoon!

T's Mom asked everyone who was going to be at our party if they would like to donate any little (or big) cash that they had to us. Wow! But, it wasn't going to be that easy. T and I were blindfolded as everyone distributed all the money into easter eggs and hid them all over the house.

The race was on!!!!!

I don't remember to this day, who won but I do know we were

both very grateful. Thankfully, we like to share things so it doesn't really matter who won, right? For those who are wondering, we found over $600!!! Sweet! Thank you to everyone who made it a fun night!

A night isn't over until we make a McDonalds run. And we did just that. After my brother showed up we went on a little adventure. Yum.

I'll never live in Vegas.

Upon returning home from my mission, I was unsure of the plan I needed to make for my life. I didn't know whether to stay in Austin, move back to Utah, or move somewhere else and start an adventure.

I remember talking with T about this one day on the phone.I was so confused and just wanted to be in the right place. T had mentioned I could move to Vegas. I laughed. I told him, "Look, I think it would be fabulous to be close to you and we could hang out etc. But, I have been to Vegas, and well, I'm not really fond of it. Perhaps I'll move to Utah and we could just visit each other?"

Like I'd EVER move to Vegas, I thought. T and I were just friends who talked on the phone daily. We weren't dating. Nor did I think we WOULD (at that time). I did however, think it was cute that he'd mention it a few times. I knew he liked me. So, I began making plans to move to Utah. I started looking at apartments, jobs etc. I found great places! But, nothing seemed to feel "right". I would find perfect roommates, but it didn't settle. I talked with T about this and he was understanding and just assisted me in the process. I knew though, that I would be moved by the 1st of March. It just felt "right".

Oh how I love those feelings. I did move that last weekend in February. Not to my own place in Austin, not in Utah, but it was, however, a location I had never lived before and I would be starting my very own new adventure.

I moved to Las Vegas, Nevada. Known as "Sin City", "hot and windy summers" and a very touristy city. That's all I knew of it.

My Dad and I packed my Scion Xb up with anything I'd possibly need. On the road we went. 1,300 miles. 24 hours on the road. I was determined to make the drive so I could see my baby.

My Mom and younger brother J, had flown into Vegas and made it before we did. THEY got to see T before I did! I was totally jealous! haha T had been working nights and had to work that night we got in. So we pulled up to the hotel and I ran in, finding him asleep on the bed taking a nap. I was finally in HIS city. We had 6 weeks to go before the wedding. Things started settling in now. I was getting married to one of the most incredible men. I felt so blessed.

That weekend we told T's parents about us driving in and they hopped in their car from LA, California and headed on their merry way to see us. We not only discussed wedding plans, but had many laughs as we were able to reunite from so many years.

The boys didn't seem to be having too much fun as we discussed plans. Well, they tried.
Our parents were so excited to reunite, especially for the happy occasion!


T and I, were happier than anything to be in the same city!

After many hours of planning the wedding, we decided to all go out to dinner and celebrate. Down on the strip at an Italian Restaurant named Maggianos.

Apparently being on your phone was the popular thing to do!

As the Dad's caught up on life together, R laughed at some jokes and Mom pondered. Probably wondering how we were going to afford everything at the wedding!

It was a lovely time together. It was joyful and exciting! No one would have ever guessed that the two families would ever be brought back together for such a wonderful adventure!

The preface (Because let's face it, we all need one)

For this story to really be tear jerking and sweet, I must start back before 2010, or even 2007 - before it all began.

Yes my dear readers, we must go back to the year 1990 when my dear family was moved to Birmingham, Alabama for my Dad's work. Interestingly enough, so was T's family. :) We happened to attend the same church. Both our Dad's became best of friends, they served together in the church. T's Dad was my brother's (and his own brother's) scout leader and spent a lot of time with them. Camp outs, meetings, activities etc. My older brothers were very close to T's older brother's, they would hang out a lot. (I have 4 older brothers, and two younger brothers, T has 4 older sisters and 2 older brothers)

Both our families lived and were friends in Birmingham until we moved away in 1993. My family moved on to Mesa, AZ for 3 years then off to Kaysville, UT for 7 years and are now settled in Austin, TX since 2001. T's family moved back to Southern California after we left.

Though T and I did not keep in touch during those many years that passed. Our father's did. They would contact each other every so often to get a family update. I remember the day my Dad came in and said that their youngest son T, was called to serve in the Birmingham, Alabama mission. (To serve in the same area where we met) I thought that was pretty cool!

Come January 5th 2009, I am curiously looking on Facebook for emails, friend requests etc. Then I see on my news feed that my Dad had just become friends with T and several of his siblings. I thought that was pretty cool since I had remembered their family since I was little. So, I added him. No harm done. ;)

To my surprise, he accepted my friend request instantly and we wrote on each others walls. "Hey! Long time no talk! What, it's been 15 years?! What's new?!" You know, the silly dumb stuff we write on EVERYONE'S walls when we first find them.

I see he's on Facebook chat, so I said hello. (Or did he first say something? I forget.) So we start chatting for a few min. (This is when I wish we could save our Facebook chat's!) Then T mentions that his internet connection is acting up and he better go. So he sent me his cell phone number and told me to hit him up sometime.

Well, let's be honest, it's rude not to let them know your number too, right? So I instantly text him and say "Hey! It's C, here's my number so you have it too! :)"
----I'm sooooo smooth. ;) I'm so smooth I'm pretty sure he thought it was nonchalant and thought I was being completely innocent and sweet. Little did he know, I was plotting our eternity with that simple text.

No I'm totally kidding. Yeah he was way cute in his pictures an all. But coming home from my mission I decided I needed to be a "grown-up" with this whole dating thing. I didn't want to get all excited over him and nothing come of it. ----

So we start texting. :) Hee hee! Then I had some things to do, and he said I should call him later. So I called him on my way home from FHE. That's where it all started. I heard his voice, I was hooked! He was chill, not pushy, very sweet, wanted to know about me etc. We hit it off and we talked till the wee hours of the morning. Not to mention we started texting again at like 6am the next day. There has never been one day that's gone by since January 5th, 2009 that we have not spoken. :)

This went on for a little over 4 weeks when I finally felt this strong desire to meet him in person. (Now remember readers, I was in Austin, TX and he in Las Vegas, NV so it's sort of far. ) So on Feb 5th, during our "Texting" I say to him "So when are you coming to see me in Austin?". It took me a min to hit the "send" button because I knew he would like to come out and I wanted to make sure I really did want him there. So I sent it. 2 min later he calls me with the cutest most excited voice ever!

"C! Are you serious? You really want me to come out to Austin?"

My reply "Um, yeah? Was that too forward??" *holds breath*

T says: "No way! I'd love to come out! I have wanted to come out for a while now but didn't want to be too pushy! *stops to think* Ok, tomorrow morning I am going to get online and book a flight to come see you NEXT WEEK during my days off"

My reply: *Thinks* "Oh my gosh oh my gosh is he for real? Ahhh! *big butterflies in stomach* This is so exciting and I have to remember to breathe!"
*Says aloud* Really?! Can you come that soon? Wont the tickets be expensive? We'd love to have you here! Let me know if it works out!"

Talon says: "Oh I don't care about how much it will be. I really want to see you soon! I'll make it work."

Ok, that did it for me. I let the excitement take over and from that day on I felt LOVE for him. I could feel a difference in the way we talked to each other. Our emotions were different and little did we know what was all about to go down.

Since this post is already a novel in itself, I am going to end this and we'll talk about the first weekend trip on the next post! Stay tuned!

(Sorry no photos- when I can I'll post some of us as little kiddos!)