June-September

Well, since the honeymoon, we got back to real life and have been doing normal stuff since then. And we have had lots of fun doing the normal stuff together. These pictures are just pulled from my phone.

We went to a couple of Hawks baseball games.

We took a quick trip to Utah to see Parker and his parents. We got creamed by Sharon in Clue, and have since been practicing for next time. We went to IKEA and bought lots of fun things for our apartment. 

We have spent TONS of time with cute Alyce and Preston. I love this picture because it captures them both perfectly. If you can't tell, Preston is being Buzz Lightyear and shooting my car with his laser.

We went to the fair.

 We went to Idaho Falls for Kyle's sister's wedding. Beautiful Bride!

We get to babysit this little angel every once in a while.

Grandma and Grandpa Shiflet gave me tickets to Les Mis for my birthday, so we finally got to see it!!! It was AMAZING!

Kyle's back at school and studying his life away. And working like crazy. I am enjoying a break from the working world and applying to a million jobs a day. It has been a delight going to lady's and working on projects almost every day. However, I hope to find a new job soon!! Until then, I will pinterest my life away. Pictures to come :)

Honeymoon - San Diego

After all of our wedding pictures were taken, we headed to a church for a lovely luncheon with our families. I was starved. Thank you Tim and Sherri for having delicious food for us! And I would like to thank whoever is responsible for our very minimal and very cute car decorations. I thought I had a picture of that, but I can't find it. I loved it :)

 Grandma and Grandpa Shiflet got us an amazing suite at the Marriot hotel next to the City Creek Mall. It was BEAUTIFUL! The chocolate covered strawberries and the sparkling cider were amazing! My one regret is that I didn't use the bidet. When will I ever have the opportunity to do that? Dang it.

We spent Saturday morning wandering around temple square and the City Creek mall. It was possibly the most enjoyable morning I've ever experienced. We packed everything up and drove to Las Vegas. We spent the night there and woke up early to finish the drive to San Diego. We spent Sunday evening walking around Old Town San Diego. I don't think I could ever get bored of Old Town. Everything is so beautiful and cultural and amazing.

This is the famous Cafe Coyote. Can you tell by the blurry picture in the background? Kyle LOVES mexican food, so he loved that. A man was walking around selling roses and my sweet husband bought one just for me. We loved Old Town so much.

We spent monday at the Safari Park.

Does this look like us? I think I look like Marie Osmond...

After the safari park we went to La Joya Beach.

I posted this picture for a couple of reasons. First, isn't he soooooo cute? Secondly, someone at the safari park saw Kyle and shouted "Where's Waldo?" I laughed so hard. Can you see it? Poor guy.

Tuesday we went to SeaWorld!

And to a Padres game. 

Kyle LOVES baseball. We watched the Padres beat the Giants. It was a beautiful walk off home run right over our heads. Yay!

Wednesday we relaxed a little and then went to the temple. Can you see our sunburns getting progressively worse through these pictures? Everyone in the temple knew we were tourists. How embarrassing...

The San Diego Temple is SOOOOO pretty. Inside and Out!

After the temple we went to mission beach and played and napped on the beach. It was beautiful. Everything is there. It's amazing.

Thursday we headed to the San Diego Zoo. We happened to go on the same exact day as a city wide third grade field trip. And who doesn't love third graders right? yikes. However, we did enjoy it very much. 

We bought this amazing wooden giraffe statue thing made in Kenya or something. So someday we will print this giraffe picture to put beside it. 

That night we headed over to the Mormon Battalion. Oh my goodness, it was so amazing! Everything is so technological. People in the pictures talk...like Harry Potter style. They take you on this tour all about the battalion. And you can even pan for gold after!

Friday we woke up and drove all the way home. I think it was about 17 hours. Kyle drove the whole way. And that's it! We look back and are just in awe about how amazing it was there. We were busy almost every second. It was such a fun way to start our marriage :)

June 1, 2012

Four months later, I decided to blog about our wedding. Mostly because I didn't journal about it, so I might as well blog about it for future reminiscing.

Kyle and I drove to Salt Lake on the day before. I dropped him off at the hotel his grandparents were staying at, and drove to the hotel my parents were at. I loved spending the night with my parents and Jillyn. I think we slept in a little bit, because the wedding wasn't until 1:40. We had to be there at 12:10. I did my hair and makeup, and had lots of time to spare. So we relaxed a little and then I redid my hair. We headed to the temple where we met Kyle.

Kyle and I met with a temple worker man. The funniest part was that Kyle was pretty nervous. I could tell because he kept trying to crack jokes. I didn't know that he did that until that day. We signed our marriage license right there and then Lady and I went to get ready. The bride room in the Salt Lake Temple is HUGE, and was very full. But the ladies are so nice and helped us every step of the way.

I was so lucky because I got to get married in the same dress that Lady did. It was really nice. The temple was running a bit behind, which I imagine might happen quite often because there are so many weddings there. Luckily Kyle and I got to wait together. It was mostly a good wait, but we just started to get a little antsy as we sat and waited. The couple that was sitting across from us was so mad at each other. The bride would not let the groom touch her. He tried to hold her hand and she totally ignored him. We thought that was pretty funny and sad. Hello...this is your wedding day...you are going to remember this forever...

Finally, we got married. My grandpa sealed us. It was beautiful. We were so grateful to have friends and family there with us.

This picture includes a lot of the people there. There were a few missing. Clint, Jen and Mallory, Kyle's Uncle, Aunt and Cousin were with us, but they left early to get the luncheon started. And I was SOOOO grateful when Bishop & Sister Wengreen and Brother and Sister Leetham came. It was so wonderful :)

These beautiful girls came. It was SO AMAZING to have my 2 besties there. I was so surprised and so grateful they came!! Thank you Brookie for coming! :) and thank you Danielle for surprising me! You two are the best!!!

I would add more pictures, but the files are so large, it takes forever to upload. So then I have to go in a make them smaller, and that takes just as long. So, I'll just add a few.

With so many weddings, you can imagine that just about every common picture taking place is overflowing with people. It's so awkward to be in front of a hundred people you don't know and they are just watching you and waiting for you to be done.

Kyle almost dropped me in the water taking this picture. It turned out so cute though :) Worth it.

Is it corny that our rings are the "o" in forever? We have this picture in our bathroom. That might be a little weird...

This is the famous Salt Lake Temple shot. This shot is a lot of the reason that I wanted to get married here. I love how the temple looks. We are so grateful to add our sealing to the long list of amazing things that have happened in this beautiful building. Thank you to everyone who drove for hours to share this special day with us!

Some random engagement pictures

My little sister's friend Jeremy is a photography major. He took our engagement pics. He did an amazing job. The fact that we got several pictures where both Kyle and I look somewhat decent is amazing. Props to Jillyn for making Kyle actually laugh, so in most of the pictures he has the most adorable smile. Thanks J!

These are our favorites out of the 645ish pictures he took. We owe you Jeremy. Thanks so much.

New car and our Temple trip!

Only 35 more days until the wedding. I've never been so excited for anything in my whole life. To anyone who is already married, (especially my roommates who were dating their husbands while I was living with them) I wish I could have understood how you felt when you were dating the person you were going to marry. Isn't it crazy to compare how you felt in previous relationships with how you felt with your almost husband? I can't even compare. Kyle and I started dating the middle of September (I think) and only 3 months later, we were ready to get engaged. Craziness. And now it's only 7 months later, and I can't believe there was even life before Kyle. You married ones probably know how I feel. Okay...enough lovey dovey emotional stuff...

Life is just moving so quickly! I'm still working 8-5:30 every day at Hopkins Financial. I look forward to the day that my name changes, so I no longer get asked if I am related to the owner. :) The answer is no...in case you are wondering. hehe. Jen, I remember envying you for being able to just work all day and not have school and homework. My attitude has changed. :) School and work are equally draining. Before, I was studying my life away. Now I am working it away. Thank goodness for the paychecks!

Kyle is probably the most dedicated student I have ever met. He's such a great writer, and I get to enjoy that every once in a while through little love notes or emails. He is getting close to the end of his first semester teaching seminary. From what I understand, Centennial wants him to come back next year, but he may take the semester off to observe other teachers. His students love him. I've heard from multiple parents, bishops, students, etc. about how good he is. It sounds like they love him as much as he loves them. As far as schooling goes, he is going to finish up at Boise State in December 2013, apply for seminary positions and we'll move wherever he gets hired on. (I hope Arizona or Utah...at least for a little while...don't tell Lady...)

We bought a car a few weeks ago. I LOVE it. It's a 2010 Corolla.

And of course, it wouldn't be my car if it wasn't decked out in zebra :) My cute little niece Alyce says that zebra is my favorite color. She's right! 

 We got to drive our fancy new car to Twin Falls two weeks ago. I went through the temple there. It was amazing. Lady was my escort, and it was so wonderful. I felt so blessed to have Grandma and Grandpa Hopkins, Lady, Dad, Matt, Shealyn and Kyle there. It was such a special thing, and something I will definitely remember the rest of my life.

 Anyways, those are the major happenings at the moment. We are still looking for an apartment, and furniture to put inside. So far, Lady has been a HUGE help. She is so talented with redoing furniture so we have some stinking cute brown and tan zebra chairs and a cream hutch. I can't wait to post pictures. :)