A Love Story: the Finale

Engagements seem to never end....you think your wedding day will NEVER.GET.HERE. But...then one day you have 2 weeks to go and you're stressed and cutting all your hair off Ü! Those two weeks fly by with Mom and Bride putting the finishing touches on everything, making sure everything is rented or bought. Mom and Bride going toe to toe...the mother/daughter bond being stretched to its limits. I never realized how much my mom did for me...and probably still don't, not until helping plan Bella' Wedding. I look back at the pictures at how lovely everything looked and I must stop and say.....THANK YOU MOM, it could have never been so wonderful without you.
Then...you wake up and it's THE DAY. Oh this day that is dreamed about as a little girl...this day that is anticipated and planned for years and years even before the boy has been met. The day where you and your eternal companion will be sealed for time and all eternity.

I woke up early, unable to sleep with the butterflies dancing in my tummy. Make-up on and perfect, hair done and sprayed.

Our wedding took place on Friday, June 1st at 11am, at the Las Vegas Temple. By the time we arrived, the temperature was climbing up and past 100 degrees....the hot, dry wind slightly blowing. The temple is a wonderful place, just stepping on the grounds can calm your soul....it's on the edge of the mountain, higher up than the rest of the valley....you can look out and see the entire valley, a feeling of floating or being raised up above it all resonates through the soul, which is as it should be.

Our ceremony was performed by Brother Alger, a long-time family friend. He spoke of the eternal bond and covenant we were making, the ways to keep our family on the right path and to always love the person across the altar.
Sealed for Time and all Eternity....looking in the mirrors that represent eternity...
Matthew 16:19
And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.
Mark 10:9
What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder.

We walk out of the temple, to be with family and friends mirroring our joy in their smiles...sweating in the summer heat!

That night, we celebrated at a reception....a Luau! The gym of a church building was lovingly decorated in all things Paradise. Our friends, the Lacy's, a Samoan family, donated authentic decorations and had an awesome surprise for us! A BAND with a hula dancer!
We danced, at good food and yummy cake...we're toasted by my Pop Pop Jones....and danced some more, barefoot and doing the Electric Slide! I still remember what fun we had!! I got to dance with my dad to the traditional, "Butterfly Kisses"...James and his mom were supposed to dance to "You are my Sunshine" though it ended up being miscommunicated into "You are the Sunshine of my life" by Stevie Wonder. So the tears of the give-away dances were soften a bit in the silliness of James and his mom fast-dancing away....it was perfect. James and I danced our first dance together....it was either "Home to You" by John Michael Montgomery or "Best Friend" by Tim McGraw...remember the debate?

We then rode off into the night in a Limo...with a driver complaining about all the birdseed that had been chucked into it (thank you Grandpa Sargent, we love you!)

This is the end of the beginning....

A Love Story: Wild Child meets Sweet Baby James, Part Deux

Sweet Baby James not only impressed this Wild Child but her family instantly fell in love with too. I constantly heard how nice he was and "he could come to dinner any time". At one point, a lady in the ward told me he was "a filet mignon" and to not let him go!

Our first date was the week before James sang in church, though James didn't call it a date...he said it was just a "thank you" for playing for him....we went to Texas Roadhouse Restaurant and to a movie, Red Planet. Steak and a movie....two little rituals that we STILL do, 7 years later.

The next Sunday, James sang "O Lord, My Redeemer" and made the congregation cry, me included...and it can be quite difficult to play the piano with tears in your eyes. But we made it thru and after that we spent nearly every day together.....just hanging out, eating out (gaining weight Ü), holding hands, driving around...ya know. And 2 weeks later, the topic of marriage came up.
Now...see, James was the type of guy that made fun of those returned Missionaries that met a girl and got married right away, he didn't believe that could really happen to him, I guess. So...he mentioned the idea of marriage, but said he had to pray about it first...that he wasn't quite sure about what he was feeling! It didn't take too long till we were strolling the mall, looking at rings....

And from here, the regular "dating" things took place:
I knew he had the ring that had been made for me......so I guilted him into proposing RIGHT THEN.

We went and ate from the 79 cent breakfast menu at 2am everynight at Terrible Herbst Casino.

We kissed all the way thru Silence of the Lambs.

We used that photo machine thing to see what our first kid would look like:

(Thank goodness she's cuter!)

We tried to consistently read our scriptures together and pray together.

I quit my job, like a moron, so I spent the first half of our courtship trying to find a new job!

James locked me out of the car, so I would go apply for a job at a Scrapbook store. Which I did, but didn't get the job and ended up working for $5.15/hr at a movie theater!

We talked...and talked...and talked some more...

Our courtship was quite tame...James may not agree with that, since my moodiness got the better of me here and there....I think I only gave his ring back once!

We decided on a date in May at first...but June 1st worked out better to make sure the whole family was there.

Dating pictures:

A Day at Red Rock Canyon

One of the jobs I finally got...we worked together at Jujji Juice.

Yum.....

I have NO idea when or why we took this picture....but we sure do look scruffy.
But it reminds me of this one time while we were dating, when we decided to "get fit" and went running around the neighborhood. I remember feeling the burn and when we got a good ways away from home thinking, "CRAP, how are we gonna make it home?"
But we did...and went and got In & Out!

To be continued in one last post....

A Love Story: Wild Child meets Sweet Baby James

This is our love story....awhile back I tagged everyone to tell their love stories...but I never
did, shame on me.
But this is the week before our 7 year anniversary, and I thought telling our love story would be very appropriate.

Truthfully...there are several ways to start this story. These are all from MY point of view (James can post his, but is not allowed to invade my story!) and yes, I admit, the details are a bit foggy over the years....but this is totally how the reel plays in my mind.

I could be dramatic and say that our story started the day I started to make the wrong decisions. And that all of those wrong decisions built me a bridge that led me straight to the moment I met Sweet Baby James.

I could tell you that I first saw James (we did not meet) on a hot Las Vegas morning in June of 2000, when I looked out my window in a half-comatose state and decided he wasn't quite "attractive" enough to convince me not to go right back to dreamland. In fact, I'm pretty sure I commented to my sister, Jen, that he was quite the dork.

But, even though I know those both are true, I feel that our story started with a prayer. A prayer sent up to the Heaven's by a tired, hopeless soul. This Wild Child, ready to give up her wild ways, abandon friends, and quit a job....to pray more, read more, serve more. But I knew I couldn't do it myself, as I am no help to anyone when lonely...so I prayed harder than I ever had before....asking for help, help to overcome, help to be the person her mother could be proud of....finally. And it just so happened that a returned missionary was starting to teach the Single Young Adult Sunday school class that particular Sunday. The same guy seen out a window 5 months before. He was interesting enough...smart, funny and taught a good lesson that day...making googlie-eyes at his Portuguese chica he had visiting him at the time. I found out that he worked valet at the Desert Passage Shops on the strip with his roommate. When I first met The Roommate, I admittedly had a slight crush...so, a friend and I made a trip up to the Shops a few weeks later....only to find a note and phone number from JAMES, not The Roommate, in my car. Now, what young girl doesn't get giddy when a young man shows interest, and how fickle a crush can be...switching from one to the other with only a note and a thought.

It turned out that James didn't quite want to date just yet....he needed help. This "help" was needing an accompanist when he sang in sacrament meeting in December. There was about a month until his date to sing, which was needed in order for my piano skills to be acceptable for audience ears. We practiced a couple nights a week......James showing me his wit and charm.

TO BE CONTINUED.....