Wedding!

Hey Everyone!

Sorry it's been so long since we last posted on the blog. It has been such an exciting and amazing time for Kiley and I, and we want to share our love and photos with everyone else! This will be a long, photo-packed blog post, so hang on and enjoy the ride!

As you probably know, Kiley and I were sealed for time and all eternity on June 24th, 2011 in the Albuquerque, New Mexico Temple. It was a beautiful ceremony that we shared with close friends and family. I feel so blessed to know that we will be together forever, as long as we keep the covenants we made with each other and with God. I couldn't stop smiling on our wedding day! The moment I saw Kiley, all of my nerves just disappeared. She looked SO beautiful in her dress! She was glowing with her smile, and I knew that I was super lucky to be with the most amazing girl ever. She was the most beautiful bride I ever have or ever will see!

We tried to get the part that everyone hates the most out of the way as soon as possible: the photos. I don't know why it's so hard to get everyone together for the photos! But, I think we did pretty well. Here are the family shots. Everyone was in a rush so we could go to Golden Corral for an all-you-can-eat buffet lunch. I even had to fight off my brothers and my dad to make them stay! :)

Here are the girls of the family!

And here are the men:

Grandparents and nieces/nephews (look at all those kids!):

Can you tell that Kiley and I are already baby hungry? ;)

Some more family and friend shots:

Can you tell that our families were meant to come together?

After everyone left to get changed, Kiley and I walked around the temple with Stephanie Reich, our photographer. Steph was my next-door neighbor when we lived at our first house. She did a great job on all our photos. Thanks, Steph!

After a long day of smiling, feeling happy, driving around, and eating all you can eat food, Kiley and I made a trip to our little duplex to drop some of our things off home. It was such an amazing feeling knowing that we were husband and wife! We were exhausted (I didn't sleep more than a few hours the night before because of my nerves), but we had to get ready for our reception. And I'm happy to say, we survived! Here are a few photos from the reception:

The decorations:


The gifts:


The guests:

Our backyard was full of people! I didn't know we could fit so many back there. Kiley and I felt so loved by all those who were able to make it and show their love and support. Thank you! We missed all of you who couldn't come, but we are grateful for your support and prayers. We feel so incredibly blessed! :) Here is a photo of us with Brother Pixton, who sealed Kiley and I together:

Kiley and I stayed near the entrance to greet all of our guests while our families mingled with everyone else. It was a very nice evening, and everything went perfectly. We are so grateful for our families and friends who helped with everything! It made us so happy to see everyone willingly giving of their time and talents to make it a special day for us. Thank you!

Before we knew it, it was time to cut the cake! Here are the photos:

At last, it was time for the bouquet throw and garter toss. That was exciting! Our friend Corrine caught the bouquet, and none else but Kiley's brother Darren caught the garter. It was awesome! I'm sure that Kiley's mom, Dorine, was happy about that. :)

And of course, you can't be done until you've got the balcony kiss into the sunset, as well as a photo of the dress itself:

Kiley and I were very excited to look through all of these photos, and we are so happy with them! When we printed a few of our favorites out, we decided to try photoshopping them so they looked vintage. I think they turned out really neat! Here are a few of the photoshopped favorites:

Kiley and I want to thank everyone who made this day so very special for us. I was almost certain that Kiley would cry on her wedding day because everyone made it sound so stressful and horrible, but I was pleasantly surprised to see that her only tears fell in the celestial room, and they were tears of joy. I love her with all of my heart and feel so lucky to be married to my best friend. We want everyone to know that they have made a huge difference in our lives, and every contribution and gift has made the transition from being single to being married a smooth and wonderful one. We love you SO much!

More to come later! Keep posted for photos of the honeymoon (oou la la!), our little duplex, and the start of our wonderful lives together!

Less than a Week!!

Hey everyone!!

This is my very first blog post on Sam's blog...I mean our blog. We now have less than a week to go, and I never thought this point would come!

The engagement period has probably been one of the hardest periods in my life, if not the most. But one of the things I am grateful for during this time is the opportunity to get to know Sam even better than when we have just been dating. The dating period just seems like a blur. There was a time I wasn't engaged to Sam since I known him? Crazy craz!

In hopes that Sam might read this post, I wanted to tell everyone how amazing Sam is, and how lucky I feel to be the girl to marry him for time and all eternity! People have been asking me if I'm nervous yet, and my answer is no. It doesn't seem normal, but I'm more than happy to take this next step and so excited to be with Sam. If anything, it makes it more convenient. Sam and I already feel like a married couple, just without all of the many benefits! What am I nervous for? I'll let you know when I can think of something.

I love you Sam! Next week will be the greatest week of my life, and Friday will top it all! Happy weekend!

Utah/Idaho Pre-Wedding Trip

Hey everyone!

Just last week, Kiley and I travelled up to Utah and Idaho with my family. Our original purpose was to go and see my cousin Warren Lemmon's wedding in Salt Lake, but we decided since most of my Idaho relatives won't make it to our wedding, we might as well go visit them too!

First, here are some shots from Salt Lake. I can hardly believe that Kiley and I will be getting married in the temple in a week!

I really liked this photo in front of the Salt Lake Temple -- I thought it was really pretty, like a postcard! :)

After going to Warren's sealing and taking photos, we went to the Lion House Restaurant, and it was delicious! Super nice lunch. We ended up taking more photos by the temple, and we also saw the Cristus statue in one of the Temple Square visitor centers:

These awesome photos were a suggestion from Kiley. We found that the coolest pictures of the Salt Lake Temple can be taken from the top floor of the Joseph Smith Memorial Building:

After we made it to Idaho, we had a blast with all of our Idaho relatives! I am so grateful for the chance that we had to go and be with them for a few days. I think Kiley was a little apprehensive at first because it's tough meeting a ton of new people, but I am grateful for how willing she was to get out of her bubble to make me happy. It was so much fun! Kiley loved all of my family, and I am so grateful that she did. We had a wonderful visit. Here are a couple pictures from a hike that we went on:

We had a blast at Julie and Brad's house as we ate dinner and played games. We especially enjoyed the dancing game for the Wii! :)

We were also able to go through a session at the Idaho Falls Temple, and we even got to see where my mom and dad got sealed together! It was an amazing experience. Following that, we decided to take photos at the temple as a family. Fun fun!

To end our trip, there was a huge party at Grandma Hobbs' home, where we even had a piñata! I had so much fun being with family, and I'm glad that Kiley was able to join us and meet everyone in Idaho. At the end of the party, we were surprised by a mini wedding party with the family! We felt overwhelmed by the love we were shown as we were given cards and presents to celebrate our pending matrimony. We are so grateful for everything! Thank you!

I had such an amazing time travelling to Idaho with Kiley and my family. It was worth the time off of work and the LONG drive with a crying baby. I would do it again in a heartbeat! Thank you to everyone who made this trip so special for us -- I feel so blessed to have the greatest family EVER! :)

Kiley and I want to thank Jessica for letting us drive with her and with little Hudson, for my parents for helping us pay for a lot of meals and letting us tag along with the family and providing a hotel room, and for Jacob and Shauna. We also want to thank Dan and Tam for all that they did for us, for letting us sleep at their house, and being so willing to serve us and love us. Thank you, Grandma Hobbs, for letting us stay with you as well and for being so loving and generous! Thank you, everyone else, for being so generous to us and making our trip fun and enjoyable! :)

Only 20 Days to Go!

Wow, I can't believe there are only 20 days to go! Here are some crazy gangster/jumping photos to commemorate our 20-day-to-go mark: