Our Honeymoon

Well, to tell you about the honeymoon. We got to our hotel really late that night and had a really hard time getting up the next morning. Our flight to LAX was at 9 am I think and we woke up at 7 am. I have never flown in my life and so was terrified of getting on the plane. We had breakfast at 7: 15 and missed the 7:30 shuttle. So we had to wait for the 8 o'clock shuttle. We got to the airport at about 8:15 and realized that the shuttle had dropped us off at the wrong terminal. We had to run with our luggage to our terminal and then wait in line for forever to check our bags. When we finally got to check our bags, they informed us that because we checked them a half-hour before take-off, that there was a strong possibility that we wouldn't get our luggage on this flight but the 3 o'clock flight. Me and Patrick were so bummed.
So we got on the plane, and because it was open seating and we were so late (We were the last two people on the plane, and they knew us by name!) we didn't get to sit by each other. Which would have been nice considering my fear of flying and this being my first flight. I did however sit next to a lovely couple who were also married the day before and were so nice and personable. Well, it turned out that the flight wasn't too bad and I slept through most of it anyway. We arrived at LAX and then the eternal wait for the baggage began. Me and Patrick waited forever and feared the worst. That our baggage hadn't made it. Then, low and behold, we saw our bags come down the conveyor and gave a huge cry of relief.
We needed to get some things from Patrick's mom's house and since everyone was in Utah still, we ended up getting a ride from Pat's brother's friend, Miguel. He's pretty awesome. And a lifesaver. So we drove to Pomona and got Pat's birth certificate and had some In-N-Out burger along the way. We also had to get directions to our ship. Then we were on our way to Long Beach to embark on our cruise to the Mexican Riviera. Little did we know that Patrick had forgotten to write down one of the KEY points in the directions and ended up on a 3 hour tour of all the beaches along the Pacific Coastal Highway. Yeah. That was a joy. At least I can say I toured them.
So we were freaking out because our ship debarked at 4:00 p.m. and we had less than a half hour to get on board. Yeah. Talk about cutting it tight. We ended up making it to Long Beach Harbor only to take a wrong turn and drive the opposite way of our ship. At this point I was telling Miguel that I wanted to see what kind of "high performance" machine his Scion tc was. I think we were going about 80 along the pier. We went back the other way and asked some cops where we were at and where we needed to go. They showed us and then we were off again. We went through the wrong terminal (The signs totally suck!) and got stuck in a crowd of people moving SO slow. So I told Pat that we had to get out and run if we were gonna make it. We pulled to the curb, unloaded our stuff, and then bolted for the Big dome next to our ship. At least we could see it and it hadn't left yet. We got to the doors and had less than 5 minutes to board the ship, but they were locked. We were both almost in tears when I spotted some female security guards and told them that we were supposed to be on the ship, but we got lost and didn't know where to go. They were so wonderfully understanding and radioed for someone to open the doors because there were two passengers who needed to get in.
They unlocked the doors and then ushered us quickly through security and check-in. Again, they knew exactly who we were and were all smiles as they told us that "It happens all the time." I was a little misty and we were both red faced from running with our luggage. They informed us as we were boarding, that the captain hadn't boarded yet. We actually ended up boarding the ship next to him. It was kinda cool. The we got on the ship and finally were able to breathe. Everyone on the ship was going throught the emergency procedures and we just stood there smiling at each other. We felt so blessed.
After the ship debarked, me and Pat went immediately to our room and laid down. OMG! The whole day had been so stresful and had one adventure after another.
The ship we were on, The Carnival Pride was ENORMOUS. I think it was about 14 stories tall. Maybe more. The whole ship was done with a romantic/venetian theme. there were statues everywhere, everything was done in shades of deep mahogany and burgundy. And there was a huge mural of angels and Venus in the Atrium. The first 3 days out were beautiful. Nothing but sea to look at. And sunsets out at sea are breathtaking. We toured the ship and participated in some of the activities. Patrick competed in the Guitar Hero Contest but unfortunately didn't make it.
On our second night on the ship, we decided to attend the formal dining event that was happening in the Normandy Restaurant. It also happened to be the Captain's dinner, so we got to be entertained by our hosts, hostesses, waiters, and waitresses. They were hilarious and the couple we we seated with were very nice. We had been eating at the buffet the ship had and were interested to see how good the food in the Normandy was. It was okay, but, Patrick being so basic as he is, preferred the pizza bar and hot dogs and hamburgers. I wasn't too impressed with the Normandy either, and ended up eating in the Mermaid Lounge with Pat. They had 4 different food stations and offered a wide variety of dishes. I think I ate so healthy the whole time I was at sea. Patrick loved breakfast time, of course. He got to have as much bacon as he desired. I think one of the best parts of the trips was being served breakfast in our suites. It was nice to be able to sleep in and not have to worry about missing breakfast. On our 4th day, we arrived at Puerto Vallarta. Apparently, they had gotten their rain season early and had just had 4 days, straight, of rain before we arrived. It was SO humid and hot. you could literally taste the sea on the air. We exchanged some of our money and then toured the shops along the coast. Everyone was so enthusiastic about giving us free beer, margaritas, and tequila. However, no free water. Hmmm.
We were at this one silver shop and I had asked if i could split some money. The lady gave me 2 torn Paper bills. Now, in Mexico, their not so lenient about accepting torn money as we are in the U.S. No one would take the pesos. So we had to trudge up a huge hill and ask anyone we could find for directions to the nearest bank. We finally got to a bank and had to wait forever in line to exchange the torn bills. I think the only funny thing about the bank were the aremed guards. There were, like, 6 and they all carried AK47s. I definately would have thought twice before robbing a bank with them there.
On the ship itinerary, we had been told that we could get a free charm breacelet and charms at all of our ports. We were excited to see what that was all about and decided to participate in the hunt. I think that we saw more of the cities we went to more because of that charm bracelet than of our own volition. The places you had to go to collect the charms were spread out all over the cities and we got to see so much on our way to each charm. There were really cool sand sculptures and art along the coast. We actually went to a jade shop and Patrick had an interesting conversation with the shop owner about geology and other stuff. She was really cool and I bought a really pretty jade necklace with my Mayan zodiac sign.

We also got to take part in a Tropical Jungle Excursion. Our tour guide was hillarious. We traveled up to the Sierra Madres mountains and hiked back into the jungle to a restaurant. It was beautiful and lush. Then we took an educational hike through the jungle and got rained on in the process. It was kinda nice though, because it made the air less thick and sticky. After the tour, we went back to our ship and had dinner and then were off to the next port.

Next on our cruise was Mazatlan. It was a lot less humid than Puerto Vallarta but a lot bigger too. We were debating on things to do that morning and had decided to just walk around the city. Once off the ship, we were approached by a tour guide who offered to take us all around Mazatlan and also to the places we wished to go. For only $50. For the both of us. It was a fantastic deal and he had an airconditioned van that we could ride in. We were joined by a family of 6 from somewhere back east. They were a blast and were so excited to know that we were newly weds. We got to see the cliff divers and bought some souveniers from the peddlers along the coast. Our guide was very knowledgeable and kinda reminded me of my dad. He knew a lot about everything and had his own theories and gossip on current events. It was a blast. We got to go see a Cathedral, and me and Pat bought some galleta flavored ice cream. Galletas are cookies and the ice cream tasted like vanilla wafers. It was so yummy. We also went to the market and I bought some little candies and such. It was a lot cheaper than the shops along the coast and the people were so lovely and helpful, unlike the peddlers along the coast.
The next day we went arrived in Cabo San Lucas. It was so tiny and everything was basically right on the shore. It's actually so small, that we had to take a boat into the pier because the ship couldn't fit. It was very fun. We walked around a bit and decided to get the last charm for our charm bracelets. As we were walking into Cabo, we got hounded by all kinds of peddlers that were so obnoxious. We must have talked to this one guy for like, 15 minutes. When we finally told him no, for the um-teenth time, he was so rude and called us names as we walked away. We got to take pics with the iguanas, which was cool. We made our way over to Cabo's mall. Yeah. It has a mall. A HUGE mall. Anyway, we got a bite to eat, took some pics, and went back to the ship. Our debarkation time was 3:00 PM. So little time to do anything. On the way back, there were all these little kids selling chicle, or gum. I figured I could buy some since we were trying to get rid of all our pesos. They were extremely insistant and once you bought from one, all the other came running to you to get you to buy something from them. It kinda reminded me of ducks. You feed one and they all come running to you. Me and Pat were a little shocked by it, to be honest.
So after Cabo we were on our way back to Cali. It was a very nice trip back. We wish we could have had more time to do things, but the ships activities were so expensive and they gave you very little time to do anything. That's why we didn't do a lot of activities. Anyway, we got back to Cali, but they debark you by last name. It took forever to get off the ship, so while we were waiting, the comedian on board gave a free stand up show during the entire debarkation. He was so funny. We had gotten up at around 7-ish because they told us that we would be off by about 10. NOPE. We didn't get off until about noon, I think. Maybe even later. Me and Pat both felt so bad for Pat's mom, who was picking us up, because she had to wait for so long. We eventually did make it off the ship, and of course, Pat forgets his identity info in his luggage. So that gave us a little delay going through customs. I would have to say, all in all, the trip was fun (I SO would do another cruise!), it was a good vacation, and I'm very glad to be married to such a great man....even if he irritates the hell out of me sometimes.

The Wedding

Alrighty, now to talk about the wedding. It was SPLENDIFEROUS! Yeah, it was that amazing. All of the planning was a killer and there were many fights and arguments and hurt feelings all around. And my parents still have three more daughters. Tee hee* But in all seriousness, it was a really fun and exciting experience. I am so glad I have my sisters and mom to ask for advice, and who were so excited that they couldn't wait to jump into planning. It was neat to see everyone's enthusiasm. I especially loved that my step-mother-in-law was so helpful and so much fun to talk to. I love her so much. At the beginning of the planning, I was having difficulties because Patrick had gone back down to California for summer break and because the lease on his apartment was up. It was perhaps the most horrible experience I've ever had. I literally went through a withdrawal. I would go to the store with my mom and see some goldfish crackers (which are his favorite snack) and burst into tears. Then I'd end up carrying them around the whole time only to have my mom tell me to put them down and knock it off. Needless to say She didn't take me with her to the store very much. It was thuper duper exciting when Pat came back up to help me out with the rest of the planning. His dad, Jim and step mom, Valerie, were really helpful with everything. I cannot express my gratitude enough for all that they did. Well, I didn't want anything too fancy and was only thinking about inviting a few people. Then I realized how many people I kept naming and that we were going to have a lot of invitations to send out. Plus there were all the guests from Patrick's side of the family and all of our friends. I think we ended up sending out over 2oo invitations. AND there was the issue of an open house in California for those who were unable to come to Utah. The color scheme was beautiful. It was mostly centered around my ring, and my taste for clean and crisp lines and photography. So I went with purple, black, and creme. Everyone I told would tell me that it sounded austere, but the pictures and everyone looked fabulous. Plus, they were colors that complimented everyone. The men lookd dashing and the women looked classic. And thank goodness for my sisters' idea to use purple ribbon as their sashes. I couldn't find the right color anywhere and low and behold, my mom had extra ribbon from the table decorations that matched perfectly. And didn't look half bad either. I think the funniest part of the whole experience was choosing a vest for Pat. I had initially chosen black on black, but upon seeing the ensemble, decided that it was too bland. So I chose a jewel-toned purple vest and it looked totally awesome. I was thinking about a purple suit but he said the vest was pushing it. We were all set to go to the Salt Lake Temple on 06/07/08! My dad's family had come up from Arizona and I was so thrilled to see all of them. I hadn't seen them in 3 years and it was nice to hug all of them again. We went ice skating with my cousins, aunt and uncles the day before the wedding and then had an impromptu dad's-famous-chili party that night because the rest of the family, Pat's and mine, had arrived and were famished. Everyone loved the chili. Later, while the men were talking, I had my bridal shower. I hadn't been able to have one earlier because all of my friends had gone back home to their respective states at the end of school. It was actually a bit of a surprise. My mom had decided to get all of the women together and throw the shower the previous day. It was wonderful. The story of us was told, I received fabulous gifts, I had a veil fashioned of all my gifts, and even had the ring test administered to find out how many children I would have. (Apparently I'm to have 5 children, 3 singles and a set of twins or a combination of one child and twins. We'll see.) We all bundled into the car and were off to the temple the next day. I wanted my dad's family, who are not LDS, as well as those who couldn't be with us in the temple to enjoy themselves while we were being sealed, so my mom arranged for them to take a tour of the temple grounds. Which was magnificent and in full bloom for late spring. I thought my uncle Terry would really enjoy the architecture of the temple, since he's an architect and that my grandmother would enjoy the flora since she likes to garden. The sealing ceremony was so sweet. Our sealer was the nicest guy ever, who read a beautiful poem that his wife wrote. Before the ceremony, because there were so many weddings that day, they had us wait in the Celestial room. There were at least 6 other couples in there and more still coming in. We kinda joked and laughed, reverently of course. After that we were led to our sealing room. Kneeling across the altar from Patrick I couldn't stop smiling. My jaw ACTUALLY hurt. In retrospect, it's kinda funny because Patrick was crying. Everyone was so happy for us and I was so relieved that there was enough room for everyone. I hadn't contemplated so many people R.S.V.P.ing to be in the sealing room with us and was worried that some wouldn't be allowed in. It all went by so fast and then we were hugging people and making our way to change. After we changed we went to take pictures. My photographer is such fun. And AMAZING! It was funny because, there were so many marriages being performed that day, that everywhere around the temple we had to wait in line to take our pictures. After about 4 hours of photos, we went to change and then were on our way to the dinner being held for the family. About half way to Provo, we got some calls asking where we were. We told them we'd be there in a half hour. Little did we know that there had been a time limit on the place reserved for dinner and that we weren't going to make it in time to even eat. After this news, which put me in tears, me and Patrick, who were starving, quickly grabbed some chicken nuggets and a Powerade at McDonalds and then some tacos at Del Taco before we got to the reception. I sometimes think about that incident and it still makes me sad. That everything was going perfect until the dinner.
When we got to the church, for the reception, no one was there yet. So me and Pat just chilled for a little bit and waited. Then everyone started showing up and we all set up the cultural hall for the reception. It was awesome. So many people showed up and gave us advice and hugs. We all had a party and danced and did all the things typical of a reception. during the traditional "I feed you cake, you feed me cake" ceremony, I was nice and kinda smashed cake all up in Patrick's face. He, on the other hand, was vicious. He not only smashed the cake straight in my face, but came back for a second round. The jerk. Ah, I love him. We ended up staying until the reception was over. Which was surprising because I was really tired and we had a lot to do still. After the reception we went to my parents house to pick up my stuff and say goodbye to everyone, then we stopped by our condo to pick up Pat's stuff and finally we were on our way to the Honeymoon. Yay!

The Engagment

Okay, so to tell everyone about our engagement...it was short. We had "officially" gotten together in December. While he was in California. On Christmas break. Yeah. I wasn't quite sure the whole "long distance" thing would work, but hey, I guess it did.
So about a month and a half into the relationship, I had this epiphany that Patrick was the "one". Now, if you really knew me, you would understand what a HUGE concept this was. I've always wanted to be married, but I was beginning to think that it would never happen. Plus, I always had this horse-being-put-to-bit thought flit through my head whenever I thought about marriage. I liked Patrick a lot and we had expressed our mutual love for one another, but I was so afraid of marriage. I was petrified that he would ask me and had no idea what I would say if he did. Plus I loved him to much to hurt him.
Well, all this freaking out about marriage was giving me anxiety attacks all the time. Seriously. I would be sitting in my truck and then start thinking about him and then all the other thoughts about love and marriage would bombard me and I'd be gripping the steering wheel and trying to gulp in air. It was horrible. I just didn't think I was ready, that I would make a good wife, that I could handle the responsibilities of marriage, that he loved me enough to ACTUALLY propose...
So I had been praying and thinking a lot about IF he did propose. I was driving somewhere and I started thinking about him, as usually happens about a million times a day, and miracle of all miracles, I didn't get attacked by all of the old thoughts. I had the calm, almost euphoric, feeling come over me and this little voice in my head saying, "Yes, you can." Yes, I can. Profound words considering the question I had been pondering in my heart.
After that, I pretty much had my mind made up on marrying him. But, if you know Pat, he'll take his sweet time doing something. I was beginning to get frustrated because we had been talking about marriage and contemplating it, but he had yet to get down on that knee. So I decided to make it easy for him and told him that it didn't matter if it was fancy, it could be as simple as holding my hand, walking right beside me and just asking away. No big right? Apparently it was.
I think it took another month for him to ask me and it came in the weirdest of moments. We were wrestling on the floor and out of the blue he put his hands on my face and asked if I would marry him. I was laughing and stopped abruptly to ask him if he was serious. He just kept holding my face and stared at me. Being the emotional person that I am, I immediately burst into tears and kissed him and made him wait a whole 2 seconds for my answer.