Our First Christmas

We got married 5 days before Christmas, so this year we didn't have a whole lot of time to do anything big. But it was the first Christmas we got to spend together, and the first holiday as married people.

We decorated our Tree on Christmas Eve. (Level 10 Procrastinators)

Then we got to relax and enjoy movies.

It was cool to combine some family traditions into our own Christmas. 

On Christmas Mike gave me a Pandora Bracelet with 2 beads. The first is a heart charm that looks identical to the charm on a necklace he gave me when we were first together in August. The second bead is the infinity sign because we always say "I love you astronomically Infinity" because that is the biggest quantity we have words for.

Our HoneyMoon

For our Honey Moon we got to spend the night at Daniels Summit Lodge.

Every time we would drive past I always wondered what it would be like inside, but I never imagined it would be this pretty!

It had a very 'Cozy Christmas' Feel. All the halls and rooms were decorated festive.

It didn't snow much at home on our wedding. (Although we got just a few good shots in the sprinkle we did get!) But it really came down on the summit! There was an avalanche that came off the roof that morning.

It was SO beautiful. The trees were all lit up and everything sparkled.

I really hope we get the chance to go back there someday! Hopefully for an anniversary we will get the chance.

Our Wedding (Picture Slideshow)

Our Wedding

We decided to get married on December 20th 2014

Our wedding was at 3pm at the Singles Ward Stake Center.

Bishop Deets married us in front of all our family and friends. 

We used the Couples pictures we had taken back in August as our Engagements and made our wedding invitations from them.

My friend MJ was my maid of Honor. 

With my best friend Kesley, my friend Lora, and my two sisters Samantha and Harley as my bridesmaids. 

Kesley helped make the alter piece and all the bridesmaids bouquets for me. She also helped all the other bridesmaids get dressed and do their hair.

My aunt had her friend do my hair for my wedding, it turned out beautiful.

My "Adopted Daughter" Princess Rylee was the flower girl.

His Brother Sterling was his best man, and Sterlings son Bently was the Ring Bearer.

His other brothers David, Steven, and Hyrum, and his nephew Samuel were his groomsmen.

Chandler and Brooke did my photos. And they turned out so amazing! It was such a memorable and special day. Truly the best day of my life. <3

We did a dress reveal before the wedding and our bridal pictures then. The plan was originally to go to the courthouse, but it is apparently closed on Saturdays, so we ended up going to the library instead.

Everything was perfect. We had a beautiful simple winter wedding. And everyone put so much hard work and allot of time into making it amazing. My family all made soups for a potluck dinner. My aunt got us a last minute cake when my original showed up a wreck the night before. My dad spent hours hanging lights and snowflakes.

Our First dance was honestly the first time we had ever gotten to dance together. And the song was "Bless the Broken Road" by Rascal Flatts.

We left that night for Daniels Summit Lodge and all our friends stayed to clean up the church. I can not thank them enough for the wonderful wedding we had because of everyone. 

Thanksgiving 2014

For Thanksgiving 2014 we got to go out and stay with Mike's Family, since we would be spending Christmas with mine. It was really nice to get to spend time with them and get to know them better since in just a few weeks they would be stuck with me as part of their family forever. 

We were informed upon arriving that Michael would be sleeping in the basement with his brothers, while I got to share a room with his sisters that night. 

His parents were unaware that we were already living together back in Utah.

Still, his family was very kind and welcoming. And the Food was amazing!

 His mom was up since the early hours of the morning cooking and preparing everything.

The thing I love most about big families is that there is never a dual moment and you always have someone around. 

His family is allot of fun. They are very welcoming and sweet. And the spirit in their home is wonderful!

It was a great day and Im so glad we were able to spend the holiday together.

Moving in Together

A few weeks after we got engaged Michael had some personal issues regarding his roommates, and moved out of his apartment.

Since we were trying to save Money for our Wedding in 3 months, we figured it would be in the best interest of our future for Michael to move in with my family for awhile and save the rent money for our wedding.

But after a month of that, we learned that living with our family was taking a toll on us personally, and our relationship. So we decided to look for a new place. Plus getting in and getting it settled sooner meant less to do in December between all the Hollidays and wedding planning.

I found a place in the newspaper for $750 per month, pet friendly, with a backyard. 

I called the lady who was renting it and asked her when the soonest we could move in was. She said that there were lots of applicants looking at this place and it would be a couple weeks before she would choose one and stop showing the place. So I said "What if we were to sign for $800 per month? Would that give us a preference over the others who are looking at the place?"

She sent the lease over that evening and we had the keys by 10pm.

We moved in that day November 11th 2014. Our first place together!

I went home after signing the lease and began stuffing boxes and baskets full of things from my shared bedroom. My mom asked what I was doing and I said I was moving out. "When!?" she
asked. And when I said "Right now. We got a place" She tried arguing with me that I wasn't allowed to move in until after the wedding, and blah blah blah.

I just said "Im sorry mom. Im 19 years old. I have a lot going on right now. I signed the lease. And We're engaged"

To be fair- I had just met the guy. We got engaged after only knowing each other 3 months. And now (5 months into our relationship) I was moving out. Thats a lot of changes and decisions all at once. But when its time to leave the nest- its time.

After the news got out that we had moved, several of our family members offered us old storage furniture or various items for out home. It came together quite nicely. We invited Michael's older brother over to see our new place and to our shock he had lived in the exact same apartment several years ago. And disgustingly enough said the carpets were the exact same as they had back then.

*To see the full picture collection see:
 https://mikeandmeambermarie.blogspot.com/2015/09/our-first-place.html

Our Lagoon Adventure

We went on a YSA trip to Lagoon this week.
 I have never been before, and find I am not as brave about being strapped to a crazy ride with a bunch of people. Lol It was allot of fun though, and we enjoyed the day together.

This Peacock apparently loves Churro's. 

I didn't know I was afraid of heights until I was already strapped into this ride. o.O

It had some really nice scenery for a theme park though.

Michael and I both weren't feeling very well, and even though we had fun, we didn't look so great.

Afterwards we spent the night at my cousins place and enjoyed the evening under the stars by the fire.

Our Engagement

On September 12th 2014 Michael proposed to me.
He called me earlier that morning and asked me if my dad was home, which I thought was odd that he wouldn't just wait for me to get work so we could go up to my parents house together.
When I got off work that evening I had plans to go to Michaels apartment and get ready, and then the two of us would be going to a bonfire some of our Singles Ward Friends had planned at Docs Beach.

He picked me up and he was acting weirder than usual. Very fidgety and distracted, so I had a feeling something was up. He took me to his apartment and I went into the bathroom to do my hair and brush my teeth so we could go.

When I came out of the bathroom he was standing in the living room, he hugged me and kissed me. And he was shaking. He asked me if I loved him, and I said "Of course!" Then he handed me the open ring box and asked me "Will You love me forever?" To which I also replied "OF COURSE!"
  ♡ It was the sweetest moment of my life!
 It wasn't too much of a surprise because we had talked about getting married before. 
And all day Mike was acting really weird and nervous. So I had a feeling, especially when he asked if my Dad was home. 
He said my parents thought it was a little soon to be getting engaged but Michael insisted we were meant for each other and they agreed. My dad jokingly said "Well.... tell her she has to clean her room first!" And Michael said "Ill clean it for her!"

So we went to the bonfire and sent a picture announcement out to our families.

Wesley came with, because he always tagged along in our adventures.

When I we had talked about getting married before I told Michael, I don't care about the diamond or really much specifically about the ring, but please do NOT buy me a gold one! I want silver because I hate gold. So he picked out my ring and I think he did a really good job.

I know some girls are specific and want to pick out their own, but I wanted it to be special from him.

 I adore it! I love how the white gold looks and the marquise diamond in the center is stunning. But my favorite part of the ring was the the wedding band!

Michael had a large coffee and donut on our way to the bonfire, and he started no feeling well while we were there, so we left early. On the way home he stopped and threw up in front of the dentist office. I felt so bad! When we got back to his place I told him I was going to go and let him get some rest. Then I drove 15 minutes to my parents house, thinking the whole way that he was nervous and unsure about his decision to propose and had made himself sick over that. So I thought it might be best to give him back the ring and tell him to try again in a few weeks if he still felt good about the decision. As I was about to turn onto my road he called me and said he was feeling much better and insisted I come back. So I turned around and drove 15 minutes back to his place. 

When I got back we snuggled and watched movies with his roommates while he feel asleep. I could tell he didn't feel much better, but he didn't want our night to end that way and wanted to celebrate. Even if "celebrating" was just cuddling until he felt better.

The Rest of our Summer...

A few other things we did over the summer together.

We went caving up in DryFork with David and Bryce

I really like the way this picture came out. \/

We took my little brothers to the Demolition Derby.

This was the first picture we actually took together. \/ 

He took this about a week before he moved out of this appartment. (Beginning of Sept.)

Path of Love

One day I wanted to do something cute for Michael to show him how much he ment to me. So I made a list of 35 reasons why I loved him. 

I went to a local park that had a paved trail through the trees and fields and I spent all morning writing all the reasons about 10 feet apart from each other. The went from the parking lot, all along the path. It stretched on for over 100 yards. A lady who was walking while I was writing these yelled out "He's a lucky guy!!" when she saw what I was doing.

I drew a "Park here" sign on a parking space with arrows that directed him along the path. Then I asked him to call me when he was off work and instructed him to go there.

Originally I planned to be at the end of the trail with a picnic lunch but I ended up at work. But Michael stayed on the phone with me as he walked along reading these notes. I could hear the smile on his face as he went. He loved it!

Our Couples Photos

Photography has always been a really important part of me. And I really wanted some pictures of Michael and I together. 

So my good friend and Photography business partner Chandler, agreed to take some couples pictures for us.

It was such a fun day to go exploring and get some good pictures in Nature. These were all taken in Dry Fork Canyon in Utah, which is one of my favorite places to explore.

Lucky for me, Mike loved the idea too and actually enjoyed getting photos with me.

These are only a few. You can find the rest on Facebook. But I really LOVE them and will treasure them forever! I love that we were able to take pictures with Wesley our dog as well.

I appreciate Chandler doing these for us, they turned out amazing!

Ogden Temple Dedication

We had the opportunity to go to a Temple open house and walk through.
The details that are put into these beautiful buildings are indescribable.  We were both in awe by the amazing work that was inside. There was tiny perfect engravings on everything from the furniture to the wall fixtures. It was so formal and extravagant yet comforting and peaceful. Religious or not, Temple walk throughs are an experience everyone should do.
If I were to get married in a Temple, this is the one I would choose. It was so beautiful!
We decided to make it a tradition, if there is a new Temple within our travel radius, we will make an effort to go to the walk throughs of as many as we can.

Farmers Market Sunday

Shortly after we were "together" on an offical note, we took a trip out to Salt Lake to see my cousin Rachel.
She talked us into going to this Farmers Market thing that Sunday at Wheeler Farm. It was SO cute!
There was food, and music and sales booths with fresh produce and homemade things.
The barn was amazing and I fell in love with it! It was such an amazing place!
There was a little pioneer homestead built around the farm, with lots of different kinds of farm buildings, houses, and a little store from the pioneer times.
My cousin took pictures of us while we were there. These were the first pictures we had together and we put them in frames and hung them all over his apartment. 
I always felt so loved whenever I went over and saw so many pictures of us.

This is my favorite picture we've taken together. I can't wait to go back to the farm, I loved it so much! 

Getting A Dog Together

My Coworker got a dog off a Yard Sale page, a miniature schnauzer mix about 1 year old.

She brought him to work and we named him Wesley. I came up with the name because she always called him Weasel when he was bad. The name stuck and he would come sit up front and hang out with me when she brought him to work.

He was a very sweet, smart little dog and we became good friends.

One day she said that there was an incident with her 3 year old daughter. The girl had grabbed Wesley and bit him, and he had turned and bit her back, causing her to need 3 stitches in her face. The husband beat the shit out of Wesley, so bad he didn't walk for hours. And he told her that if the dog was there when he came home the next day he would kill it.

So she asked me if I could take care of him and keep him safe until they found him a new home.

I was not allowed to have another dog, as my childhood dog had just passed away several months ago and my parents said until I moved out I was not to get another one. 

So even though Michael and I were barely dating at this point, I asked him for the biggest favor ever...

To keep this dog at his place for a few days. 

He agreed- even though he was not much of a dog person. 

He kept Wesley and his things in his apartment and took care of him for me. Even though Wesley was scared of men after getting beat so bad- he trusted Michael and they became friends.

About a week later someone offered to adopt Wesley, and wanted to meet him at the pet store. I couldn't bare the thought of never seeing him again, he was my best little friend. So Michael told me we could keep him and he could live with him as long as I needed.

That is how we accidentally adopted a dog together.

And that dog became our child. We took him everywhere and we would trade off who took care of him.