July 10th

What a weekend. One of the busier, crazier, more photogenic weekends of my life, and I loved just about every minute of it. Marrying Jacob was one of my better decisions, I feel. =) I wouldn’t have wanted to share this weekend with anyone else in the world. Aside from marrying Jacob in the temple and a few other non-blog-able highlights, here are some of my favorite memories of this weekend (that I feel like sharing on the internet…):

• Having so many friends and family members there to support us and help us make sure everything ran smoothly
• Playing “paparazzi” with friends (involves pretending Liz and Jacob are movie stars and assaulting them with cameras…it’s an actual game we developed a few years ago that we have yet to tire of. The pictures turn out awkward and hysterical. See below.)
• “Bohemian Rhapsody” interpretive ballet. There is very little in my life that has ever matched the epic-ness of this event. Each movement of the song added additional people and elements of expression in such a way that has yet to be matched.
• The way Jacob looked in his tux and converses.
• Opening our honeymoon gift and after waiting FOREVER (aka months), finding out that we were going to COSTA RICA
• Taking pictures outside of the temple. Which was awesome because of:
- Jesse and the megaphone
- Everyone’s enthusiasm and humor
- Being thrown into the air by a bunch of boys, which was scary but kind of fun (my husband was among them)
• The way the reception room looked when we showed up Saturday afternoon. (Mom and assistants. Holy cow. Words cannot describe. You took my vision and made it a reality far more beautiful than I could ever have imagined. Sigh. It was so perfect.) Later I'll try to find a picture that does it justice, but in the mean-time, here's a taste of how awesome it all looked:

• Feeling pretty. ALL DAY. Don’t think I’m being vain. But I’m a girl. And I really liked feeling pretty all day.
• Toasts. Beautiful things were said, embarrassing things were said. We felt loved. =)
• The dancing in general. My dad is awesome and insane. So is the rest of our family and friends. It made for a real good party.
• Cream puffs. I will forever be in love with cream puffs.
• Our send-off. I arrived home covered with flower petals and glitter. Which made me feel kind of like a prostitute. And not in a good way. Still, the car was fun. It identified us more clearly as newlyweds when we went through the snow-shack on our way home after the reception.
• Going through the snow-shack on our way home after the reception. Was pretty fun.
• Eric and Jacob’s grooves on the dance floor.
• Jacob.
• Bollywood fun (even though for the most part only I danced, but Jacob followed along, and very well too)
• Feeling proud of my cake! My own cake that I made myself! Even though everyone advised me against it, I knew it was simple and I set aside time to do it, and I knew I could, and it turned out great! A six-inch round, three layers of chocolate cake with strawberry whipped filling, decorated with whipped chocolate frosting and fresh flowers. It looked pretty and elegant, and not over the top, and which was my goal! Hooray!
(Interjection: I feel like I’m tooting my own horn a lot, which I apologize for. I worked so hard to make this day beautiful and fun, and I’m so glad it turned out well. But I couldn’t have done it without the help and support of so many creative people around me. I am so grateful to them!)
• The generosity of friends and family! We were pretty worried about being able to pay our bills for August, not having worked much during the month of July. But not only do we have a full-stocked kitchen and home in general, we're also able to pay our bills AND repair our TV and get me temple clothes! We are so flabber-gasted at everyone's generosity.

Of all the moments I will remember and cherish the most, kneeling across the altar from Jacob in the temple and making promises with him and with God is by far the most beautiful. It is a long journey to the temple, which somehow seems to get longer once you've found the person you decide to go with. But it is worth every difficult, demanding, patience-trying step of it. I am so grateful that Jacob worked hard and made sacrifices, and that I somehow was able to do the same, so that we could be married for time and all eternity, with God the leader of our relationship. The eyes of everyone in the sealing room spoke so much love and support that day. Without them, as well as the love and support of everyone else in our lives, Jacob and I would not be where we are. We love you so much!

I'm still working on collecting pictures/videos, but I will put them all online and make sure you have access to them too soon! Keep an eye out.

Stay tuned for honeymoon highlights! The publishable parts, at least. =)