today is our first real married day. it's monumental.
first day back to work.
first day apart from each other in 6 days...
it's been rough. in the best way possible!
i love being married. i love being a wife.
i love cooking and cleaning with devin.
i love saying goodnight and getting in bed instead of driving home!
everyone says that. i was so annoyed of everyone saying "oh, being married is the best!" blah, blah blah... OBVIOUSLY it's the best, or we wouldn't be doing it?! it drove me nuts.
but now i get it. it REALLY is the best. really.
i love being Devin's wife. and making decisions together. and being a family.
it's the greatest feeling to know he's mine for eternity.
i am SO blessed to have such an amazing husband. he takes care of me :)
xxxxxxxxxx
our wedding day was beautiful.
the best day of my life.
i drove up to the temple with my family, and we ended up on the freeway right by devin and his dad.
we all met up in the foyer, where i realized i had forgotten my temple recommend! luckily, i had my living ordinance recommend, so they obviously were okay, but still! that was a moment of panic.
once we were in the temple... everything went perfectly. i couldn't have asked for a better day.
our time together in the temple before the sealing was exactly what i needed. i loved having time alone with devin to just talk and be together. i gave him his ring, and then we met with our sealer, Robert Ferguson. he was amazing! he joked with us, and made it fun, but it was so spiritual.
i loved walking into the sealing room, looking around and seeing so many people that i love! i recognized everyone in there, and it meant SO much to me that they came. i love that they were there to share that with us.
when the sealing was over, everyone hugged us, and I kept it together so well! that is until Val hugged me, and I cried like a child. haha I have been through SO much with her. She is one of the greatest friends anyone could ever ask for. She is so amazing. There is so much about Valeri that nobody would understand without knowing her. She is beautiful, talented, and so, so giving. She did my hair and makeup for my bridals and the wedding day. She and Garrison ran so many emergency errands for me, and I am so grateful to have a couple like them so close to me. Valeri and Garrison are perfect for each other. They are the ideal couple that everyone strives to be. I still can't believe she found such a perfect match!
so, we thought we were being smart. getting married on a Thursday-- way less busy, right? WRONG. there were SO many brides! the bride's room (beautiful!) was pretty full, and then when Devin and I went out to see our family, we had to wait a few minutes, because i couple went out the door right before us! it was sort of funny. it was also entertaining to stake out in that room. we could see out the windows, but they couldn't really see in!
when we came out, everyone cheered and yelled and cried and it was so cool to know that everyone was there to support us, and they all love us! i hugged everyone twice, i think, and then we took pictures.
a good 2 hours of taking pictures. holy cow. we are going to have some AWESOME shots from the wedding day. i can't wait! again, Jared does amazing work. amazing! plus, since we had already had so much practice with bridals, the wedding day photos were a breeze! we got a lot more photos i think, because devin and i already knew how to pose and where to look and what to do. it was nice!
after pictures, we. were. STARVING. my parents had stuck around, because my mom needed to help me out of my dress, so after we went back into the temple and changed, the 4 of us (devin, me and my parents) went to Nauvoo Cafe for some sandwiches.
maybe it was my intense hunger.
but that is the best sandwich i have ever tasted! i don't think it was just that i was famished-- because i will STILL rave about how delicious it was!
we drove home, and Devin and I took a nap.
no seriously. we were exhausted. we took a 20 minute nap, and very unwillingly got up and helped load up all the cars and headed to Noah's. traffic was awful, and we forgot my flowers, so we got there a little late. we set up so fast, and everything was PERFECT. better than i had imagined. it was so pretty!! i loved our reception.
at 5, Jared showed up and we took more pictures-- i'm so excited to see these ones too because Noah's has so many cool places for photos, and it was such a pretty day!
while we were setting up, it was pretty windy and i was worried, but at 6:00, the wind completely stopped and it was warm the rest of the night!
since we did a receiving line for the first part of the reception, i never even saw the other side of the room! we were on the Roof Terrace of Noah's. it. was. ideal. and there is a big elevator shaft in the middle of the room, so we couldn't see the other side. i never saw it completely decorated! we were over there to cut the cake (oh my gosh. our cake was amazing. the best cake i have ever tasted in my life!!!!). and then everything else (throwing the bouquet, dancing) were back on the other side.
our first dance was so sweet. we danced to "Brighter Than Sunshine" by Aqualung, which is "our song" (i know, we're cheesy and cute) and i loved it! we had been in the line for an hour and half, standing next to each other the whole time, but i felt like we hadn't spend any time together! i love dancing with Devin. he's a pretty great dancer, and it was finally some "alone time", you know, with everyone watching us... haha after that i danced with my Dad.
I let my dad choose what song he wanted to dance to, and I knew he put a lot of thought into it. He chose "Then They Do" by Trace Adkins -- totally something he would pick. It was SO my dad in so many ways. It was perfect. We talked about how we had danced like that ever since i was little, except back then it was around a campfire, and he was holding me. It was really nice. Dev danced with his mom during that song, too. when it was over, dev and i danced again to "And Then You" by Greg Laswell-- another great choice.
after that song, we were OUTTA THERE!
both of us were so done with the day. so tired, and ready to just be together! i got changed so fast and we ran through the screaming crowd to the car and drove up to Midway!
Devin had surprised me by getting us a hotel up there at Zermatt.
it was SO cool! That's probably one of the nicest resorts in the area, and it was so cool!
i was getting a little restless on the drive and ended up backwards in my seat pretending i knew how to play chess. devin thought it was hilarious. he laughed at me for at least 10 minutes.
once we got to St. George, we check in to our hotel-- we got the King Family Suite... for just us. It was HUGE. it was the coolest hotel i've ever stayed in. we had a hot tub in our room!!! Totally worth it. When we checked in, we told the lady at the desk it was our honeymoon and she gave us cookies and waters. This was only the beginning of the free stuff people give you on our honeymoon!
we went to dinner at Anasazi Steakhouse on sunset, and it was the most interactive, delicious meal! You order your entree -- Devin got tenderloins, and I got salmon... and they bring it out on a "hot rock"... which is that big thing my salmon is on -- it's 700 DEGREES. not kidding. they bring your food our sered top and bottom, but you get to cook it however you like it. Devin, who likes his steak crying, was thrilled with this! it was so cool to cook our own food! we tried to hard to save room for dessert, but it didn't happen, so we took Nutella Fondu to go, but our waiter gave us free cheesecake anyway... because we were on our honeymoon! It was one of the best meals i've ever had-- and also one of the most expensive!
on Saturday-- we slept in so late that we woke up, washed the car at this awesome car wash by our hotel, and went to lunch at In-n-Out. delish. as always. In-N-Out KNOWS how to make a burger. mmm. After that, we headed to Vegas!
when we got into Vegas, we went to the Premier shopping outlets-- or something like that.. I had never been, but they were the best shopping outlets i've ever been to! We both got some shirts from American Apparel, I got tons of stuff from Banana Republic, and Dev got golf shorts at Nike. i'm sure there was more... we shopped a LOT on our honeymoon. It's the one time in your life that you have pretty much endless cash to spend how you like. So we took advantage of it!
when we got to the strip... we HAD to find Gold and Silver! We watch Pawn Stars ALL THE TIME. One of our favorite shows! We found it, parked in the parking lot where all the interviews are (!!!) and then we stood in line outside the store to wait for our turn to go inside. Which wasn't so bad, because they had misters on the building. The pawn shop is way smaller than it looks, but it was so cool! I sort of wish we would have gotten some Chumlee t-shirts though. next time!
we walked from New York, New York, where we parked, clear down to Caesar's Palace just for Cheesecake Factory dinner -- so worth it! We got there and were so tired and hungry! We did some more shopping after some yummy sandwiches and tiramisu cheesecake, and Devin got more shorts, and we envied the macs in the apple store.
on our way down to Caesar's palace, of course we stopped to watch the Bellagio Fountain! we waited for a pretty long time, it seemed like. During that time, we came to the conclusion that the Jack Sparrow impersonator is a total CREEP. just go see for yourself.
everyyyy time
we were both so tired that we took turns driving back to the hotel. i LOVE driving the mazda. it's such a nice car! i think i scared devin though because i'm kind of a speeder--- oops :)
on Sunday, we had hotel breakfast... and got there too late to have any bacon (dang it!) and then went shopping after.
we hung out in the hotel a lot, and watched lots of grey's anatomy, and we even tried to lay out by the pool! it was pretty windy, and we were only out there for maybe 15 minutes, but it still felt good!
for dinner, we went to Texas Roadhouse -- so good! since it was memorial day weekend, they were out of a lot of food, but we still had delicious dinners! shrimp and pulled pork.
new favorite thing: self timer on the camera! and also our semi-matching outfits. we're awesome.
we had planned on going to the Temple. why didn't we realize it would be closed for the holiday?! I was so bummed, but we went to the visitor's center, and walked around anyway. It was such a pretty day!
after the temple, we went and did some more shopping. we went to downeast and got some AWESOME decorations for our house-- which are already set up. and make our house so cool. and then we headed home because we had nothing better to do!
we hit traffic in Spanish Fork and missed the first exit by like 20 feet. we only stayed on until the next exit, and did some shopping to avoid all the chaos. we took backroads home, unpacked and then my mom and grandma came over to open presents. i don't know why they wanted to come... but so be it! we got all kinds of cool stuff! crock pot, chopper, microwave, tupperware... among other awesome things.
after that, we got some groceries and went to bed. we were so hungry, but too tired to eat!
nobody tells you that your honeymoon will also be the most exhausting weekend of your life!! haha
on Tuesday-- we were still technically on our honeymoon. we had just planned to have a day off work at home together to get back into the swing of things. we woke up and i made blueberry pancakes and bacon for breakfast and we played the new Wii games we bought (golden eye and zelda-- nerd alert.) and then, you guessed it, went shopping!
but first we went get Devin new contacts (he got contacts the day before the wedding) and then we went to Bear River and got our insurance taken care of. we have such an awesome policy and our agent, Shane, rocks! I love our insurance!
Anyway, we didn't register anywhere, but we ended up with about 10 giftcards to Bed, Bath and Beyond. we used all of them to buy a really nice set of pots and pans and a really nice knife block.
naturally, that only made us both want to cook!
so after lunch at JCW's and some more shopping, we went home and made dinner together!
we made stir fry-- which devin cooked. i cooked the rice and made the salad (and by "made the salad", i mean that i put the lettuce mix in a bowl, cut some strawberries, and got the poppyseed dressing out of the fridge...)
it was delicious! our first meal, we say. after that, we watched America's Got Talent and The Voice!
we went to bed early, because we had to go to work today.
both of us were anxious to get back to work. Devin loves being busy, and we both love our jobs, so going back to work was fun.
the only thing i hated was leaving! i already have separation anxiety from my husband!
the whole point of writing this blog was to keep me distracted while i wait for him to get home from work!!!
being a wife is fun. i love maintaining our house. decorating, cleaning, cooking... laundry. it's all of the sudden way more appealing to clean when it's your own house. plus, i would love doing ANYTHING if i was doing it with Devin!
he is the best husband ever. I am so lucky to have him. he is so caring and witty. He is so easy to be with and talk to. He takes me jokes and dishes them right back. He doesn't make fun of my weird habits, as long as I don't make fun of his... we love being married! i'm so excited to keep being married... haha
the best part, i think, is waking up to him. i feel like i'm still getting used to sharing a bed with someone, so i wake up a lot in the night, but every time i just smile and go back to sleep because he's right there next to me! it's the greatest feeling.
i love devin.
i love being in love with devin.
and i love being loved by devin.
marriage really is the best.
they weren't joking.
and now... i'm FINALLY MRS ASHBY.
finally.
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