Valentines Day & the Beautiful Dog

I've decided to repent of blog neglect.

Valentines Day weekend was wonderful and relaxing. Myles and I had decided to celebrate Valentines Day on Monday instead of Sunday this year, since there was no school. However, when Sunday came around, my impatience caused a 2-day Valentines. Here's just a few things we did:

• I got a new sweater.
• Myles made homemade chocolate covered strawberries for us.
• Sparkling grape juice.
• M&Ms.
• My favorite ice cream.
• Lunch at Red Lobster.
• A trip to the Animal sanctuary.
• Roses.
• Dinner made by Myles.

A few weeks previous, Myles and I had decided that my Valentines Day gift to him would be the purchase of a computer game he had started as a demo and now just HAD to buy IMMEDIATELY. So I told him it was his present from me.

Myles and i really want to get a dog, so that's why we went to the animal sanctuary. Looking through all the dogs they had, we found this beautiful Husky/German Shepherd mix and we want her! She's about 4 years old and she is so calm and well-mannered. Her previous owners lost her and failed to update the phone numbers associated with her microchip so they have no way of finding the previous owners. She has been there almost 3 months and they say that is a long time, and when Dogs are there for too long, they have to put them to sleep. We want to save her! It would be such a shame to put this beautiful and sweet dog to sleep! Unfortunately, our landlord doesn't allow us to have pets (and he'd be ESPECIALLY opposed to a dog this big) so we can't have her. But we're still hoping to get a place to move into that will let us have a dog and then we can adopt her! She's gorgeous. We left the shelter feeling so bad that we couldn't save her, because we absolutely fell in love with her.

We've been thinking about a dog for a while now, and a couple months ago we got a fish tank to satisfy us since we couldn't have a dog, but all the fish died except one- which is ironic because this is the one fish that almost got eaten to death when we first started the tank. Anyway, we are no longer satisfied with our one little fish and we need something smarter, more companionable, and that lives in the same habitat as us (not water). We'll see how that goes.

Marriage

Well It's been a good long while since I posted! I'm so horrible, the most important day of my life comes and goes and 3 months later I haven't even written about it! This is for my posterity. haha.



As time to the wedding decreased I got more and more excited! Finally it was time to head down to Arizona for the wedding and Myles and I had wondeful talks in the car about the commitments we were making, our expectations in marriage and we sorted out many of the important things. The evening we arrived in AZ it suddenly hit me that the wedding was just 2 days away and almost nothing had turned out the way I had hoped. I cried to my best friend Lauren and started getting ready for pictures the next day (Nails, get a shower, etc). The shower is a great place to cry because no one can hear you and you're washing off your make-up anyway.
The next morning, all my worries were gone! I excitedly got my hair and make-up done by Lauren (who did a fabulous job) and put my dress and accessories on. I loved the way I looked! Pictures were long, hot, but fun. I was giddy the whole time because I couldn't wait to get on to more important things like the Endowment ceremony just a few hours away!

Finally, pictures were done and I changed into my sunday clothes in the visitor center restroom. with only a few snacks to eat, I headed to my endowment ceremony. I was a little nervous about what would happen, but I had prepared myself for anything. It wasn't what I had expected. I knew there would be lots of symbolism, but I expected a few more answers. However, as I have returned often, I understand more and more of the meaning of the ceremony every time and I love returning to the temple. Heavenly Father reveals answers a little bit at a time, according to my faithfulness, and there are things about the temple I may never completely understand in this life but I know they are sacred and beautiful. It was wonderful to have my handsome, pure fiance take me through the veil and into the Celestial room to meet my family. It was so beautiful and peaceful I wanted to stay for hours with my handsome soon-to-be husband! But as my mother so kindly reminded me, we had a dinner reservation. Everyone in the temple was so helpful in guiding me where I needed to go and what to do, I was quickly with my family on my way to have some much-needed food! As the day ended I couldn't believe I was getting married the next day. I couldn't sleep that night.

The wedding day had arrived!!! I quickly but thoroughly prepared for more pictures and to see my almost-husband for the first time on our special day.The family and my bridesmaids were going crazy doing last-minute errands and decorating. Pictures went quickly and I was soon ready to be sealed to my dear Myles.
Being in the temple being sealed to him was wonderful and terrifying at the same time. It's one thing to make covenants with God, who is perfect; it is an entirely different thing to give your soul to a human being who you know is not perfect, however close he may be. In my mind I was freaking out about the HUGE commitment I was about to make, and as my turn came to make that covenant, I said to myself "okay, I'm going for it!" and I committed myself right then and there to do anything and everything it takes to make our marriage happy because I love Myles and I love God. I couldn't have made a better choice.

The rest of the day, I was THRILLED to be married to my handsome groom and I could not stop smiling even when I tried. It truly was the happiest day of my life and everything was perfect, even if it wasn't quite how I had hoped in the beginning. My dress got stepped on in the temple, and the line at the reception went long, but I didn't care. I had just been MARRIED to the most wonderful man I know! The reception went smoothly and was memorably joyful and perfect. Every song was perfect and played exactly when it needed to be, and my guests even danced a bit! I couldn't have been more "perfectly and incandescently happy".

Our short weekend-honeymoon was perfect and getting back into real life again was unwanted. But there are parts of that day that we carry with us throughout our marriage still. Everyday I love Myles more than the day before. Every day I am more sure that I made the perfect choice in marrying him. Every day we learn more about each other. Every day we get happier. School, work, mornings, finances, and other worldly responsibilities can try to get us down, but our marriage truly is the greatest joy we will ever experience and I pray that it will continue to get better throughout our eternity together.

Pictures and maybe a video are to come.