Bridals

Who doesn't love to dress up in their wedding gown, get their hair and make up all beautiful to take gorgeous photos? If you don't, then we need to have a talk! Not only was it a special day because I got to feel beautiful, but my soon-to-be handsome husband got to get all spiffed up in his hot tux and join in on the fun!
We drove to Utah to have our Bridals done by the very talented Sara Boulter Photography! I hope you enjoy!

Road trip to California

After our fun get together in Vegas, T and I decided we would go visit the soon-to-be in-laws in southern California. His family welcomed us with open arms. Mom, Dad and sister T were all there! We had a very eventful weekend planned.

This is what it's like coming home to the P family.


Lots of excitement and tons of pictures documenting every second! Thanks to Mom P.

Quickly did I learn that Mom P makes sure to have TONS of food waiting for us upon arrival.But who doesn't love some 7-layer bean dip and chips?!

Excuse me for the closed eyes. You'll see plenty of pictures with my eyes closed! I can't help it!

After some delicious food and many hugs and excitement, we all went to the family room to discuss some more wedding plans, we talked about what food we wanted served, who would be invited to the night-before family party. Of course, we included many of these comments, "I just can't believe that YOU TWO are getting married. I would never have guessed in a million years that my son would marry my best friends daughter!" Dad P. sure was/is thrilled about that. Still, to this day, does he mention it at least once during our visits. I sure love my in-laws!

T and I were exhausted, one by one we fell asleep during our late conversations with the family.



The next morning we had breakfast all ready and all who was missing was T. So sister T and I ran upstairs to wake up the sleepy head! (All kids in the P family begin with T, so it's a bit confusing!) He is not an easy person to wake up!



That morning we had the missionaries from the church over to eat breakfast because one of the Elders was leaving for their home. 2 years finished!

Because we had decided to have an open house in southern California for those that couldn't make it to the one in Utah, we had a lot of yard work to do to get it looking pretty! So T, Mom and I had a lot of work to do while Dad and sister T had work to attend to.

I worked on the gardening while T worked on trimming the bushes.




Also during this trip it happened to be my birthday. There is a family tradition in the P family. Birthday person gets a birthday breakfast, everyone gets a hostess cupcake and we all hold our hands/fingers up displaying just how many years old they are!

Oh T and his many faces! It sure was a blast and the best 23rd birthday!

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!

Engagement photos

Friday February 20th 2009

Because our wedding was only a mere 7 weeks away, we decided it was time to get things rolling! It was a perfect time to get our engagement photos out of the way. My amazing sister in-law, L, said that she would be happy to take them, edit them then have a friend print them. Thank goodness for L because if it weren't for her, we would have had a hard time finding anyone!

My younger brother wanted to take some pictures too, just for fun! Here are some fun, unedited, in the moment shots!

L told T to bite down so his jaw muscles would show. I was doing it instead in this picture! Lol!

Here, you can see T is actually doing it. Yes, good job, T! We praised him.


He obviously did not like the praising, so we all laughed as he made this face:


Oh he loves me so! One of my favorite pictures here!

We took some more photos on some rocks, they were a bit funny and this is one of my favorites.

Here are a few pictures that L took, edited and I love them!

Here is the photo that won our vote and was sent in the announcements/invites!

It was such a relief to know we had our photo picked and ready to go!

I.Love.You., "Marriage" & Meet me at the airport garage

After our fun little time alone at the theater, we decided to head back to our neighborhood. We wanted to still be alone since our time was so little and oh so very very precious.
We went to our neighborhood park, it was dark, beautiful, spring weather and we just sat on the picnic tables and reminisced our fabulous time together. It was seriously the perfect moment. I felt like we were in a movie. You know, as a little girl, you always dream having those little romantic moments like they do in the movies. Well, I had mine. As I leaned against the edge of the table, T stood in front of me holding my hands, looking into my eyes. We shared with each other how much we did not want him to leave. We shared our feelings, and came to a conclusion that we didn't care that we would be 2,000 miles apart. We would make this relationship work! (I swear, I kept looking around us to see if there was anyone filming us we were so gosh dang cute! It should have been a scene in a movie!) We decided that we would take turns flying out to see one another. That seemed like a great plan...

Until morning!

Saturday, February 14th, 2009.
We woke up, had breakfast, spent the time together cuddling and being in love. Then the dreaded moment arrived where I had to take him to the airport. We left a bit early so he wouldn't have to rush off inside. We parked the car in the garage and just sat and chatted. Not too much later and he leaned over, kissed me softly, looked me in my eyes and said those most 3 precious words every girl drools over. "I Love you, C." There was a pause. I responded. "I have been waiting a few days to hear that. I love you too!" Which was of course, followed by another sweet kiss.
It was so wonderful, to know, that we both had the same exact feelings for one another. It sure makes things a lot easier while dating! haha
It was a bit painful to see him go. But, we knew we'd see one another soon enough.

We of course continued to talk, when he got home that evening, and, then... Sunday arrived. I talked to him later that evening and told him that I made my mind up. "I'm going to move to Vegas", I told him. He was shocked, felt reluctant to let me say so. I told him, that we obviously wanted to be in a relationship, and it would be silly to spend all that money flying back and forth just to see each other for a few short days. I had nothing holding me back in Austin and all I knew and wanted was, to be with him. Simply put. He agreed and we began that hunt for finding me a place to live. We were joyous in figuring all of this out. You know, time was short. He was deploying later that year in July for 6 months. We wanted to make the best of what we had.

Then...Monday arrived. We spoke that evening on how much we cared for one another and that we couldn't wait to be together again. Somehow along our 4 hour length phone conversation we came to a point where, we were both hesitant. We always played this game where we'd ask "What are you thinking", where the person then has to respond exactly what they are thinking no matter what. Well, I asked T that question and he answered the following. "I'm just not sure. I don't want to scare you off. But, I believe that you might be thinking the same exact thing." I commented, "Yes...I think you might be right. Go on..." T says, "It starts with an 'M'"...*my heart starts being really fast, I feel butterflies soaring through ALL of my body* I respond, "Yes...??", he says, "Well C, I guess we just need to figure out if we get married when I return home from deployment or get married before".

WOOHOO!!!!!!!!! He totally read my mind. My gosh, when I heard that, I just wanted to giggle/scream/laugh/jump for joy! Of course I wanted to marry him! I wanted to marry him the very next day!
Even though we had already spoken for SEVERAL hours on the phone, I just knew that it wasn't ending any time soon!
We started discussing details. Who do we tell right away? When do we plan it for? Where shall it be? Etc etc.
It was already around midnight, so I knew that if there was any one person that could help us figure it all out, it would be my Mother. I ran in her room to grab her, she hadn't been sleeping because she knew I was in love and she was just too happy for me! She came in, sat on my bed, and we put T on speaker. We told her we thought that April 11th would be a good date, but we wanted to make sure we would be able to plan a wedding by then. My Mother, I'll have you know, has put together beautiful weddings, partys, events, you name it, within a days notice! I knew she'd be the one to tackle this project. When we asked her, she said, "Are you kidding? Let's do it next week!" haha We already knew we wanted it in the SLC, Utah Temple.
We asked her to keep it "hush-hush" so we could tell everyone. T wanted to make sure to get my Dad's approval before though.

Thursday came around and my Mom and I went to get our hair done. That day, I had called and booked our slot at the Temple to get married. 11am April 11th, 2009. Finally, T was able to call my Dad and ask him. After my Dad said yes and gave him his blessing, my Dad asked when and where were we thinking. T hesitated and said, "Well, C actually booked the temple already and we're getting married April 11th" lol My Dad said, "Well, thanks for letting me know!"
Afterwards my Dad called me and said, "Hey, what are y'all doing in April? Because I want to take our family on a cruise. Say...April 11th? Nobody has plans right?" hahaha He's such a stinker! I told him he could still take us out on a cruise another day!

My Mom felt so bad that we were celebrating our love and engagement so far away. So we went home, she booked T a flight and he came out that very night to see me! You can imagine our joy as we met once again, at the airport garage.

Returning to *our* story. Day 2

So back to our love story. I'm sure y'all are just on the edge of your seats waiting for the rest of this! You can only imagine our excitement and anticipation to see each other the following morning. T had slept in my brother's room who is on a mission and I slept in my room. I woke up the next morning and quickly made myself look presentable. Yet to my horror, yes, to MY horror, I looked in the mirror I have in my room and about fell to the ground unconscious.

My lips were BLUE. I thought "what the heck is on my lips?!" I tried wiping it off and nope, it didn't come off. I then realized that it was from some soft kisses T left me with the night before. I guess my skin was just that sensitive having been a while since I had kissed somebody! haha

Horrified, I text T to ask him what in the world I needed to do. I could NOT have my family see this. You can imagine, my hands were so shaky and sweaty. I was so nervous. He text me back laughing saying I should put on black lipstick. Yeah, like THAT was going to hide it! haha (I didn't own any black lipstick anyway.) Panicking, I went through all my make up and tried to cover it up. Let's just say, it was a pretty funny looking set of lips.

So we meet downstairs for breakfast. My Mom is standing in the kitchen and my younger brother J is at the table. Not even 3 min downstairs my Mom comments from across the room "C, what happened to your lips? It looks like you have something on them. Did you eat something?" I tried so hard to avoid it and said I was trying on new lipstick. She thought I was weird.

Throughout the day she kept asking me over and over again, "..seriously C, what's with your lips?" I just wanted her to stop asking! haha I'll get to the rest of this blue lips story later on.

After breakfast, T and I went on a hike in our Preserve in our neighborhood. We had so much fun as we followed the trail to a small waterfall and sat on the rocks in the little river-bend. We talked so much and just had a blast. This is when T mentioned that he could talk to butterflies. haha Oh my gosh, he has to be one of the funniest people I have ever met in my life. (Don't worry kids, we don't have a Dr. Dolittle on our hands!)

That evening we had plans to meet up with my Dad at Dave & Busters in Austin. As we were finishing getting ready for the night, I was in my Mom's bathroom with her helping her do her hair and getting all dolled up, she said, "Now C. I think it's so funny your lips are blue. But I really am stumped as to why they are that way! Did you fall and get hurt?"

I swear my Mom was playing dumb! I thought for sure she read right past that and was just trying to get it out of me. I start laughing and say "Mom. Think about it. My*LIPS* are blue. They aren't hurt..." ****LIGHTBULB**** "Ohhhhhhh....." my Mom says. "Oh my gosh! I'm so sorry! I really didn't mean to draw so much attention to them! I seriously had no idea!" I laughed and told her it wasn't a big deal but that it was sort of embarrassing. We laughed so hard. I told her not to tell my Dad.

Mom, T, J and I get to D&B's first, then my Dad shows up from work. We are sitting at the booth and he sits across from me and seriously one of the first things he says to me with this confused look on his face, "C, you have something on your lips". I start laughing. Silently. Then I just try to ignore it. Now that the attention had already been brought to it, I couldn't stop giggling! My Dad looks back at me and with this continued confused face says "No, seriously C. You have like blue ink on your lips." "C, I mean it. You have pen on your lips." Finally, my mom interrupts and says "S, stop." Then he stopped. haha I never confessed to him till the night before our wedding.

Dinner was wonderful and so much fun. Then after we ate we went and played on all the games they had, boxing, shooting, wave runners..you name it and they had it. I love playing arcade games there!

Afterwards, my family went back home and left us to go see a movie. We went and saw Coraline in 3D.

Here is the only picture we took that whole weekend. This is in the theater. Seriously! How silly of us not to take more. This was taken on his cell phone so it's not the greatest quality. But, this is the weekend that true love took over.