Hooray!

Happy Valentine's day to you, dear reader! Today is one of my very, very favorite days of the year. Hubbie and I were married in the Portland LDS Temple this very day, four wonderful years ago! :-) If you're going to get married on a holiday, I say Valentine's is the day to do it!

For those of you who weren't there, and don't want to go through my blog to find pictures... here are some photos, and recollections from that awesome day!

This is quite possibly my favorite formal picture that we did. (My actual favorite is a silly one!) I love that it's in black and white. I love how happy we look! It was cold, but I didn't even notice. I was just so entirely thrilled to be marrying my best friend. We took our photos before the ceremony, and it was wonderful. We just missed the rain that day (in Oregon, in February... that is a miracle!) thanks to some heavy-duty prayer and fasting from many family members and friends.

This picture, the one of us looking like we belong in a Kung Fu movie? This is my favorite. It's the desktop background on my computer, and has been for four whole years. It pretty much sums up Thomas and I to a tee! I had no idea that Ryan (our photographer, and my cousin through marriage) was anywhere near us. Thomas did, which I guess explains why he wanted to do some silly things!

Left to right you have Tom's good buddy Brett, best man Telek, my brother Ian, and me... laughing my head off. These boys were fantastic. I love them all. Telek is pretty much holding me up all by himself. It was funny. This was taken inside the temple, after the wedding. One really neat thing about the Portland Temple is that it has this gorgeous atrium in the waiting area. It's entirely enclosed, and beautiful. It's great for those wet Oregon winters, and you can still get beautiful pictures without getting entirely soaked.

We took a few photos after the ceremony, just with the people who had stayed at the temple for the wedding. It was neat to do a few little shots in the atrium. So gorgeous!

As you can tell, Thomas got jealous of my rad pose idea. Of course, he made it his own... silly goose. I'm so glad I have a silly goose like him as my hubbie!

:-)

Okay, I know you'll probably never believe this, not in a million years... but I did my nails in the car on the way to the temple. During a bumpy, rainy car ride, on my lap... while eating McDonald's because I'm classy like that. :-)

I had literally forgotten about my nails. I had my hair done professionally, I made sure my makeup was perfect, and I had on a pretty red dress... but I completely spaced my nails. I grabbed a bottle of white polish and an opal top coat as I dashed out the door, and hoped for the best. Apparently, it didn't turn out too terribly!

Again, another one of my favorites... This pathway is normally lined with hundreds of beautiful flowers. In fact, there were hundreds of beautiful flowers there on the Saturday before our wedding, when I went through the temple for the first time. When we arrived at the temple, for our wedding however... there were no more flowers! They had pulled them all up! There were a few little stragglers here and there, but for the most part, it was just some random greenery and dirt! But, when you make it black and white, it's a gorgeous photo... and makes me smile at the memory of bare flower beds!

Holiness to the Lord
the House of the Lord

That bold, beautiful statement can be found on every temple on this Earth. I feel so blessed, and grateful to have been married in the Lord's house. :-) Especially on a day that celebrates love!

Today, Thomas and I gave talks. Thomas' talk was based on this talk by Elder Neal A. Maxwell and it was wonderful. Unfortunately (due to myself and the youth speakers taking more time that predicted) he had to cut it short. My talk was on Charity, and I based in on this scripture (Moroni 7:45-48), and this talk by Elder Joseph B. Wirthlin. I learned a lot while preparing that talk... for example, my favorite thing that I learned was that charity is not an act, or series of physical actions, but rather a state of being. An attitude if you will. It is a trait we can cultivate, as opposed to a duty we should perform. I love that idea! Go read those talks, they're pretty much amazing.

Tonight, we're having some friends over for dinner, and I'm thoroughly jazzed about it!