The wide world!

So it's been just under a year since I posted last and my, things have definitely changed in that one year...I won't bore you with too many details...Just know there was snow...lots and lots of snow.

We had our first Idaho winter and boy oh boy did it suck! (Again, lots and lots of snow!) But we made it through and Jessi started and finished her last in-class semester and started her internship. She had a hard time finding a place that she wanted to intern and ended up choosing an animal adoption center down in Salt lake city. She stayed with Dan and Chris Flitton while she was there and then she drove back home on the weekends. It was hard to be apart for most of the week but Jessi grew to really love what she did there. We even got to foster a tiny little Chihuahua-terrier mix who we christened Pippin, or Pip for short. She was so cute and sweet but a total terror!

10 weeks went by and Jessi finally finished her internship and we were planning on moving out of our apartment since our contract was about to end. We found a nice little basement apartment below a family's house in the next town over. We were a day away from signing the contract with them when they sent one of to us to review. What we found wasn't pleasant reading....let's just say there were a ton of clauses in there that nobody had told us and we couldn't bring ourselves to sign. Then Jessi said "let's just move to Texas, there's nothing holding us here". That was Monday 14th July...today is Thursday the 24th July...and we're on our way to Texas.

That weekend I had been experiencing servere abdominal pain and on Monday it hit a crescendo. During my pain-induced stupor, we agreed that we should move to Texas and Jessi could focus on getting her career going since she was about to graduate. After we talked about moving, the pain was unbearable and so Jessi took me to the hospital where we found out that I have gastritis, a stomach ulcer brought on by certain foods, but mostly stress.
After hearing this news, it further cemented our decision to uproot ourselves and move. I gave FedEx my notice the next day and we started to pack up our apartment.

July 23rd 2014
Jessi graduated from college with a bachelor of science in animal science. She graduated magna cum laude (top 5% of her class) and is pretty much awesome! Her parents flew up from Texas to be here for her ceremony and to help us move to Texas.

July 24th 2014.
I had my last day at FedEx and we finished cleaning the apartment and then we left rexburg. Jessi's parents are driving one car while we drive another and we're headed to Provo as I type this. We're staying in Provo tonight and then heading to new Mexico tomorrow, then on to Texas. Life sure is surprising sometimes....

And so it begins!

So I recently married the woman of my dreams, my best friend and pretty much the most wonderful person on the planet and in the heavens above! This page is devoted to our life together.

The wedding(s)...

Jessi and I were married on December 22nd 2012 at the Redlands, California LDS Temple. 

My brother Simon & his wife Jan

Cecily (my best friend) & her husband Brenden

My parents & us

The whole temple crew.

Jessi & Susan (one of our photographers)

Jessi and her Grandparents.

The two families. 

Adam - brother & best man, Jessi, Me and Allegra - bridesmaid and sister (Adam's wife)

Ashby & Lily (Adam & Allegra's kids)

It was such a beautiful day. I will never forget it. After the wedding we had an amazing reception at my parent's house. They did such a fantastic job with everything. The decorations, the food, the cupcakes and  the photography were all fantastic. 

After the reception Jessi and I went to a little hotel in Carlsbad, California where we spent the night. 

The next day we drove back to my parent's house, picked up all (well, most) of our things and headed off to Texas where we were staying with her parents and where we were also going to have another wedding with her family and friends. 

It was going to be a 20+ hour drive to Texas so we wanted to split it up into three separate days' driving. 

We also thought this would be a great opportunity to have a little mini-moon so we divided the trip into 6 hour days and we booked hotels (thanks to Jessi's parents!) in the cities where we stopped. 

The first night we stopped in Tucson, Arizona where we stayed at this really cool little Spa which was built in the style of an old Spanish Mission and which still had the some of the original buildings.

The original fireplace from the mission. 

The next day we set off for Texas and got to our second hotel on Christmas Eve in a tiny town called Van Horn. The town was so small I could pretty much spit over it.

 This hotel was actually a motel and was pretty motel-like. Needless to say it wasn't anything special but it was still nice to have somewhere to stay. 

We opened up some presents we had gotten from our family members that night and then went to sleep pretty quickly. 

Christmas morning came along and we got ready to go. After a continental breakfast in the morning, we left the Spit-Town of Van Horn and set off for a few more hours driving. 

We finally reached Liberty Hill, Texas where her parents live at 5pm on Christmas Day where we unpacked and then had a little Christmas Present opening sesh and then Christmas Dinner. 

That next week we spent just getting everything ready for our Texas wedding which would take place on the 28th. Jessi's parents hired a giant canopy tent, had a BBQ restaurant cater and hired a professional DJ. 

The day finally came and we spent the day getting ready (well, Jessi did, anyway) and making sure all the decorations were in place. The photographer showed up around 2pm and we spent most of the afternoon taking pictures all around the house and the grounds. 

Anson - Man of Honor, Me - Groom, Bree - Bridesmaid

Jessi & Nick (Jessi's brother)

You are correct...those would be goats.

We are in Texas afterall

Jessi and her Dad.

Jessi & Parents

Some of the family.

After the photos, we got ready for the ceremony. Jessi wanted to have an actual wedding ceremony with an aisle and everything. It was supposed to take place inside the canopy but it was freezing cold that day and terribly windy so we had to amend things a little. We ended up putting the caterers inside the freezing tent (sorry!) and we had the ceremony in Jessi's dad's workshop (complete with vehicle lift!) 

Waiting at the alter with Julio (Jessi's Uncle) & Nick (stand-in bestman)

Jessi's vows

My vows...from an iPod

Jessi's Grammy

Head Table

Jessi is not wearing a polar bear...it was just cold in there!

Joe (Wyatt Earp) - Jessi's Dad

Daddy, Daughter dance

She was thoroughly amused

Garter grab/toss

The ceremony started and Jessi looked gorgeous in her dress. She walked down the aisle to the song Reign of Love by Coldplay. Julio said his thing and we shared our vows with each other. Once the ceremony was over everyone was invited to help clean the chairs away and the food was brought out.

 The day went off with only a couple of hitches: the DJ, thinking the wedding wasn't until the next day, didn't show up for 2-3 hours after he was supposed to so we had to use my iPod for the ceremony and a few of the dances; during the garter toss, I had a bag of miscellaneous items under Jessi's dress which I was going to throw out before I grabbed her garter. I threw out a stuffed Giraffe, a shoe and a cup but nobody really knew what was going on and so noone laughed except Jessi and I!

All in all, they were wonderful days and we are so grateful for all those who helped make them what they were, especially both of our families. There are too many people individually so I'll just do it here: 

Thank You! 

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