"In sickness and in health"...let's get the sickness part over with!

So Idaho was not my ideal location for a honeymoon, but Jason's family was having a big reunion in St. Anthony, ID just a week after our wedding, so we decided to road trip there and stop at cool places on the way. Plus, we couldn't afford to go anywhere cooler haha.

The first night we spent at a bed and breakfast in Bothell. It was nice, quiet, and very quaint. Our room was cute but small. We played a get to know you game (given to me by my "boss" Kristine at my bridal shower), had a nice shower, enjoyed the very nice bathrobes, and read letters to each other that we had written instead of doing vows at the wedding. It was a perfect first night of being married.

The next morning, we enjoyed a good breakfast and were eager to get on the road and get out of rainy, cold western Washington!

We arrived in Wenatchee and had some lunch at Sonic, where I got to enjoy my favorite--chili cheese tater tots. We were happy to see the sunshine and to feel some warmer weather. We weren't in a hurry to check into our bed and breakfast in Cashmere, so we went to the small and pretty ghetto mall to do a little shopping and get pedicures.

We absolutely loved our B&B in Cashmere (located halfway between Leavenworth and Wenatchee. If you're ever in the area, we highly recommend you stay there! It's amazing). The owners were very nice and helpful, and the view was breathtaking. There was a little hiking trail around the back of the house, which we used the next morning. We went into Leavenworth for dinner and ate at an Italian restaurant. Unfortunately the food was not very good. We got some chocolate afterwards to make up for the crappy dinner, and walked around, looking in a bunch of the tourist shops.

Then it started...in the middle of the night, Jason got very sick. We assumed it was food poisoning, until we spoke to his family and found out they all had the same thing. Poor Jason couldn't eat the delicious breakfast that was prepared for us the next morning. He had to stick to plain toast while I ate a yogurt parfait, a delicious quiche and an amazing pear muffin (and I don't even like pears!). I felt so bad enjoying the food while he sat there with his sad little piece of toast.

There was one other couple staying there, another newlywed couple. The girl was from Seattle and the guy was from Australia. He reminded us of our friend TJ, only with a sweet accent. They were very nice, and offered to say a prayer for us and our marriage (he worked for a church). That was the second time someone random offered to pray for us. While we were taking engagement pictures at Tumwater Falls park, a young boy said he was doing a prayer walk and asked if he could pray for us. So random, but sweet!

Jason had stopped throwing up by the time we left, but was still feeling very sick so I made the drive to McCall, Idaho. I did have to pull over once for him to throw up. It was so sad watching my poor, sick husband on the side of the freeway. I kept crossing my fingers that I didn't get whatever bug he had!

Jason's grandparents had very generously offered us their timeshare in McCall, at Lake Payette. Neither of us had been there before, but it was awesome! A very cute resort town. It was hard to enjoy it though, while Jason was so miserable. I had to go and get dinner by myself.

The next morning, Jason still wasn't feeling well but we went out to the pool and relaxed. We also splurged and got a couples massage, because we discovered even though my car is a "luxury car," it is not comfortable for more than half an hour or so. Our backs were killing us, so we decided a massage would be worth it. I'm always up for one and Jason had never had a professional one before.

On the 4th of July, we tried to find the parade in town, but failed, so we just walked around the lake. Sadly, Jason was still sick. We went back to our condo to eat, and had planned on going to the pool again after lunch. That's when my leftover quesadilla that I had eaten for lunch decided to make an appearance. I told Jason I wasn't feeling well, but at the time I really didn't think I had what he had. That was, until I started throwing up regularly. Every twenty minutes to a half hour for the next 9 or 10 hours to be exact. NOT FUN! Jason had only thrown up a few times, but after talking to his family, we learned that everyone was affected by this nasty bug in different ways. So we spent our 4th of July extremely sick, on the couch, watching soccer, Big Bang Theory, and Friends. We didn't even get to see any fireworks--Jason heard them, and I was sleeping.

The next day we drove to Idaho Falls. I was still feeling very nauseous, but thankfully I had stopped throwing up. We stopped for food and shopping in Twin Falls, and ate at Chili's. It was the first "real" food we had in awhile, and my stomach had shrunken so much that I could only eat about 5 bites of my pasta before I was full.

We were staying at a "destination inn" in Idaho Falls, where we got to choose different location themed rooms. We chose Hawaii of course, because if we can't afford to go there, it's the next best thing right? The room was really cool, and came with a big projection screen and massage table. They gave us cheesecake and sparkling apple cider when we got there. We drank the cider, but were both still feeling really sick so the cheesecake would have to wait :(

We took a bath in the tub, and considered using the massage table, but it is just hard to find the motivation to do anything when you're that sick. It was really sad being so sick on our honeymoon. We didn't even want to touch each other because we felt so miserable. We need a re-do, because we were sick most of our honeymoon! Anyways, we had a mellow night there and then headed to his family reunion the next day, and that concludes our wonderful (except not) honeymoon. 

The Big Day

As my dear friend Cherry so kindly pointed out (awhile ago), I am way behind on my blogging. Thanks CCBB for the reminder! Time to get to it.

**Warning: this will be a long one!**

On June 30th, almost two whole months ago, Jason and I got married. Somehow, it feels like just yesterday and like forever ago at the same time. Let me attempt to walk you through the craziest day of my life.

I went to bed late the night before, and woke up early, surprised I even slept at all. Amber (my wonderful maid of honor who flew in from CA) texted me and asked if I was awake, then told me to go back to sleep but that was impossible. I don't really remember what I did all morning besides try to eat some yogurt and make sure Jason was not around. At about 10:30 we finally headed over to the church to start getting ready. I remember being so anxious, and scolding Amber for driving so slowly. In her defense, it was rainy and she wanted to make sure we didn't crash on my wedding day. Good looking out Amber!

When we arrived, we discovered that my wedding was having its first (and thankfully only) catastrophe. The wedding was in two hours, and nothing was set up. As you can imagine, I was not a very happy bride at that moment. Luckily, Jason and I had our families and friends who were there set up as quickly as possible while I was getting my hair and makeup done. We definitely could not have done it without them, and I'm SO grateful it was able to get finished in time!

As I got ready, I really didn't have time for it to sink in that I was about to walk down the aisle and marry the man of my dreams. I was about to fulfill a lifelong dream of mine. It was too hectic and crazy for me to even fathom at that time. All I cared about was having some Diet Coke, but I probably only managed to have a few sips of it. I was also really hungry and starting to get shaky. Persephone, Jason's adorable niece, was kind enough to offer me some goldfish crackers :) I was running around like a crazy person trying to get all pretty, but at the same time trying to check on the status of the setup, and making sure Jason was okay. He didn't understand why I had insisted that we not see each other that day until the actual ceremony. Call me old fashioned, it's just something I always envisioned about my wedding day.

Gotta have my Diet Coke!

A huge thanks to Christie Marlatt for doing my hair, she did great!

Once I was all dolled up, my bridesmaids and dad started to torture me and try to make me cry...I mean, they complimented me and said how beautiful I looked. However, that is the last thing I wanted to hear.  I was trying extremely hard to NOT cry during the wedding and it hadn't even started yet! I told them all to shut up and tell me I look fat or ugly. My dad started in about how proud he was of me, and I wouldn't let him finish. People clearly don't understand--don't make the bride cry!

Being the wonderful procrastinator that I am, I had just barely chosen the wedding music the night before, with help from Amber. When Jason and the rest of the wedding party walked down the aisle, it was to All You Need Is Love (by Vitamin String Quartet--they are absolutely brilliant). It was perfectly happy, upbeat, different, and everything I wanted it to be. When it was my turn to walk down with my dad, the song changed to Angel Eyes by Jim Brickman.

The walk down the aisle felt like forever. I told my dad we needed to walk slowly so I wouldn't trip over my dress. He started walking too slowly, and I remember whispering "Not that slow, we look retarded!" which caused both of us to laugh. I don't remember looking at anyone's face on the way up there, I don't remember walking past our cake, I don't remember seeing our wedding party up front, I don't even remember what any of the decorations looked like. All I could focus on was my future husband, standing at the end of the aisle, looking extremely handsome in his gray suit and bright yellow Converse :) He had gotten both a regular yellow tie and a bowtie, and he hadn't decided which one he was going to wear. Luckily, he had gone with my preference, the bowtie, and looked absolutely perfect.

My handsome groom!

Once I got to Jason, not crying wasn't really an option for me anymore. Most people don't know this, but the few weeks before our wedding were obviously extremely stressful, and let's just say Jason and I had gone through a lot during that time. Standing up there, hand in hand with him, was very emotional just thinking about what we had been through, and where we were now. I remember mouthing to him that his face was all glittery. He rolled his eyes and smiled, and mouthed back "my mom" (she was wearing a very sparkly dress). As President Bippert (aka Bobby B) began the ceremony, I honestly couldn't focus on anything he was saying. Jason just kept looking at me with this adorable, sweet smile that made it impossible for me not to cry. So I chose to stop looking at him, and look attentively at Bobby B instead, even though it was fake. I have no clue what he said.

Trying to keep it together!

Anyways, we both said I do, exchanged rings, kissed, and were pronounced husband and wife! We walked out of the chapel and were greeted with hugs from our family and wedding party. I don't remember who (I'm guessing Michelle or Isabella), but someone came up and told me that Kim was broken. Confused, I searched to find her. Then I saw what they meant. My poor baby sister was bawling her eyes out haha. Oh Kim. I guess she had been crying the whole ceremony. I did too, so obviously I can't judge but it is still really funny! The other funny thing I remember about that time was Lance, my new brother in law, hugging me and saying "You know, you didn't just marry Jason--you married all of us, even me!" I replied, "Why do you think I'm crying?"

Pictures and the reception immediately followed the wedding. It is all a big blur of people, music, dancing, and not getting nearly enough food. Every time we managed to sit down at our table, we were pulled away to go do something else (first dance, cutting the cake, garter toss, etc). Oh well, I guess that's pretty standard for weddings. We had our first dance to Jason Mraz's "I Won't Give Up" and to my surprise, Jason sang the words to me. If you know Jason at all, you know he doesn't sing, so it was really sweet that he did. I couldn't say much then because it was right after he had stuffed a huge piece of wedding cake in my mouth, so the majority of our first dance I was chewing and swallowing the cake (which was made by the lovely Emily Peet!! She is awesome for volunteering to make our cake). His car was decorated in an inappropriate fashion of course, and we drove off into the sunset...except not really. We drove to my house, where we opened up our gifts, changed our clothes, loaded up the car, and headed up to Bothell for the first night of our honeymoon. We stopped at Burger King on the way, since we hadn't eaten hardly anything all day!

So that was our big day. It was crazy and wonderful and hectic and stressful and amazing and happy and did I mention crazy? But I wouldn't change a thing :)

Getting closer...

I cannot believe we are getting married in just 24 days! Life has been crazy and I know it's only going to get even more crazy as we get closer and closer to the wedding.



On Memorial Day, we went shopping with Jason's family and Shaun to buy suits. Luckily we found what we were looking for, and for a good price. We also went out to lunch with Shaun, Lance and Karissa, which was fun except I'm pretty sure our server hated me :) She brought me the wrong kind of soda, the bacon on my hamburger was barely cooked, and she charged me for ranch but did not bring me any...luckily my food was good to make up for it.

So glad I'm marrying such a stud ;)

Last Friday we went and got our marriage license, woohoo! In the evening we went over to his parents house for dinner, and to shoot things with his brothers. I shot a gun for my first time EVER! I actually enjoyed it more than I thought I would...and I must say, Jason looks pretty dang sexy with a gun ;)

Mmmmhmmmm...

Nervous

I hit it on my first try! (Pardon my weird face, I was making it at Jason)

Saturday we went to a birthday party up in Seattle for his great uncle (I think?) and I got to meet some of his relatives. We took his brother Brandon and left the party early so we could pick up our friend Cherry and go eat at the Cheesecake Factory! It was delicious of course. After we came back into town, we met up with Brad and Emily and went to ride Jason's dirt bike. I didn't think I'd actually ride it, because I didn't think Jason would let me haha and I also was a little scared. Jason, being the good teacher that he is, sat on the bike with me and taught me how to ride. After going around a few times, he decided I was ready to ride by myself (I disagreed). I fell and had the bike land on top of me twice, and had a really terrifying moment where we all thought I was going to crash, but luckily I mananged to regain control and not die haha.

Using him as a chair while we watch Brad ride.

That's hot...

Last night I had my bridal shower! I will wait until I have some pictures from that to actually blog about it. That's pretty much what we've been up to. Stay tuned for more craziness this month!

Surprise

This last week I suddenly realized that all Jason and I do together is plan our wedding and/or our move, and run errands. Boooooring. The most fun we have is when we are with groups of people. There's nothing wrong with hanging out and having fun with our friends, but it all the sudden started bugging me that we didn't have fun anymore with just the two of us. I told him my concerns and we set aside Saturday for just us.

I told him I wanted to go hiking if the weather cooperated. He let me think that's what we were going to do, but little did I know he had plans of his own. On Saturday he went to work in the morning while I did stuff around the house, and when he came back I thought we'd go hike. Instead he suggested we go up to BJ's in Tacoma for lunch. He said my face lit up (I LOVE that restaurant, and very few things make me as happy as food. Sad but true).

We enjoyed a nice (and very filling) lunch at BJ's, and while we were there he kept looking at his phone. When I asked what he was doing, all he said was "Looking something up. Don't worry about it." I don't like surprises or being kept in the dark, but I played along because I knew he wouldn't tell me.

(By the way, blogging keeps making me realize that I never take any pictures anymore. I need to work on that!)

I started trying to guess where we might go, and my hunch was right. He took me go-kart racing! He had gone for Grant's bachelor party, and I was jealous. He had also mentioned potentially doing that for his own bachelor party, and I was jealous again. Why does he keep getting to do these fun things without me? Luckily I'm engaged to such a wonderful man, and even when I said I wanted to go hiking, he knew I'd enjoy go-kart racing even more! Despite a small fire (someone's go-kart caught on fire right before we began racing--it was put out quickly and thankfully no one was hurt), and Jason ignoring the fact that "these are not bumper cars" we had a blast! I was proud of myself for not being the last one of our group, and also for not crashing or getting stuck.

Our day was exactly what I needed and more than I could have hoped for. Sunday we went to church and fast break, and then enjoyed spending some quality time with our friends. Shaun did a gallon challenge, and Eliza did a cinnamon challenge. Both very entertaining...and gross. Then we got to wax Shaun's body. This was all part of a "game" that we play, and it was so much fun! :)

A Few Updates

I haven't been blogging because I felt like I had nothing to write about...but I always think that, and then end up writing a novel.


First of all, our wedding plans are finally coming together thanks to Eliza Fowler! She moved back from Utah for awhile and took over planning my wedding (in addition to the several other weddings she is planning) and it has taken away so much stress! I can't even express how grateful I am for her! She introduced me to a lady (Katie) from her home ward who helps out with weddings, and we spent a few hours with her a couple weeks ago. Between Katie, Eliza, and my friend Jasmine, my wedding plans are almost 100% complete and I am so relieved! They all have had great ideas and I'm so glad I finally have some help.

Our friends Grant and Stephanie got married on Saturday, and we were able to attend their reception. Their wedding is the first of about 10 from the single's branch that will be happening over the next few months...it is definitely wedding season! Being at Grant and Stephanie's reception made me realize that in just 2 short months I am going to be at MY OWN reception...crazy!! After their reception we went out to Red Robin with a bunch of friends. Here are some pictures from that, and from car decorating at the reception.

Thanks to my mom, our announcements are made and will be sent out soon. We have chosen (for several reasons) to send them out through e-mail. It is just a lot easier that way, and if anyone wants to actually have a copy of it they can simply print it off.

My mom is also making my wedding dress. I was having a hard time finding one that I wanted, and also having trouble finding the time to go out shopping for them. My mom had offered to make my dress from the beginning and I said no, but I gave in :) She is using material from Michelle's wedding dress, and going off of pictures of dresses that I like. Hopefully it turns out how I want it! So far, so good.

Jason and I are still planning on moving to Las Vegas, but we may end up moving in July instead of September. We're working on figuring that out. We also have to figure out school, financial aid, and jobs. In addition to our wedding and the move itself. Fun!


A few weeks ago Jason bought a dirt bike for cheap from a man on Craigslist. He's fixing it up, we'll get to enjoy it all summer and then we will sell it before we move. We are also in the process of trying to sell my Hyundai. If anyone wants it, let me know! :)


Hopefully by this weekend I will have my engagement ring!! :) The one I've been wearing we borrowed from Lance and Karissa (Jason's brother and sister-in-law), and although it is pretty and I'm glad they let us borrow it, I can't wait to have my own ring! It is one of the first rings we looked at when we first went ring shopping, and every ring we looked at after that just didn't compare. Luckily I happened to find out that that ring was going to be on sale for one day only, last Saturday, and we were able to get it! This is a picture of it (sorry it's small and kind of blurry), mine will be a little different though. There will be two rubies (my birthstone) on each side, replacing the diamonds. Jason's idea! I'm so glad he thought of it.

I'm getting really excited for all my friends and family who are coming from out of town or out of state for the wedding. I'm also really looking forward to Jason's family reunion in Idaho that will be shortly after the wedding. Mostly, I'm just excited to be married to the most wonderful man I know!