The Best Day Ever (Part 1)

I got up early the next morning.  I had everything ready for the wedding so there wasn't much I had to do beyond getting myself dressed and getting to the temple, but sleeping in was not an option.  I got up, showered, ate some breakfast, and reported to my sister in order to be coiffered.   

We weren't doing anything fancy, just curling my hair a little differently from my normal way.  Becca was about halfway through curling my hair when my curling iron died!  Yes, the curling iron I had used every day of high school and through four years of college died on my wedding day.  Figures!  Well, I certainly couldn't go and buy a replacement with my hair half straight and half curled, so I had to send Becca to the store in search of a new one, while I waited at home, stressing.   Thankfully, she was able to find the exact same curling iron at the nearest store and quickly resume fixing my hair.  

Once my hair was ready and I was dressed in my favorite dress, Marmee and I loaded my wedding gown into her car and headed to Manti.  Adam would be riding down with his parents, of course, and the rest of our family would be following behind later.  Marmee and I had a nice ride to Manti, only managing to get lost once which gave me an excellent excuse to call Adam.  :)

Naturally, the Coxes beat us to Manti.  We had just pulled in to a parking stall when I looked in the rearview mirror and saw Adam walking across the parking lot towards the temple.  While I was watching my handsome fiance, he spotted us and changed course, heading directly for us.  All my life I believed in those wedding traditions about the groom not seeing the bride in her wedding gown before the wedding and neither of them seeing each other the morning of the ceremony.  Well, at that moment, all those ridiculous traditions flew right out the window!  I couldn't wait to be with Adam and clearly, he wasn't going to give me that option anyway.  He helped me out of the car and we walked hand and hand to the temple.  

One Day More!

On Monday, May 1, 2006 Adam and his dad came to my house in the morning to collect my things and take them to our new apartment.  :)  I never even had time to go over there until after our honeymoon!  Our wonderful family took care of getting things set up for us while we were gone.  But that's jumping ahead.

That night we went to Brick Oven for our "rehearsal dinner."  Since there wasn't really anything to rehearse, we just skipped that part and went out to dinner.  Good deal, right?  Earlier that afternoon, Adam and my dad had met for the first time.  {These are the main events I can remember at the moment, but I'm sure there was a ton more going on that day.  I probably was just oblivious to it.  I was a little preoccupied!}

   Yes, this picture is from before Adam and I were even engaged, but I don't have a photo that is applicable to this post, so I just thought I'd add a random snapshot that I don't think I've used before.  (That was a long sentence!!)  Sorry this post is so short but my head hurts.  I'm going to sleep...

Almost There!

April was agonizingly slow but it was drawing to a close.  The last week of the month hosted my sister Becca's graduation from BYU (Go Bec!) and my endowment.  Adam's parents and younger brothers flew in from Massachusetts on Friday in order to be there for my endowment on Saturday.  Yes, this was only the second time I had met them and in a few short days I would be their daughter.  (Let me just explain something about the awesome Coxes.  They don't have in-laws.  They figure we're gonna be family for eternity, we might as well dispense with the unimportant distinctions now.  And it's kinda fun to watch the look on people's faces as they try to figure out how we are all related. :)

Wasn't it nice of the temple to have their flowers match my dress?

The Beccas are missing here.  Bearden was the one holding the camera and Cox was unable to come due to morning sickness.  Silly James!

After attending the temple on Saturday morning, our two families spent some time visiting and getting to know each other better.  On Sunday, Adam attended my ward with me (as he always did) but this time we had the whole Cox clan in tow, minus Jon and Becca who attended their own ward in Provo.  It was fun to stand up in Relief Society and introduce my soon-to-be mom and announce the fact that I had two more days til my wedding!  Can you believe it!  

It's late and I can't think of a good title...

I have to admit I have a double standard.  When Adam was shopping for my engagement ring, I told him he had to pick it out.  When it was time for me to buy Adam a wedding ring, I dragged him to the jeweler's and made him decide on every little detail.  And boy did he agonize over each detail!  Actually, there are many more options for men's wedding bands than I had ever imagined, so I don't blame him at all for having a hard time deciding.  I wish I could tell you what kind of metal it's made of and what type of finish it has, but I really can't remember.  I don't pay close enough attention to little details I guess.  It is a beautiful ring, though.  Adam, of course, did an excellent job.

After Adam finished designing his wedding ring, we ordered one for me.  In order to have it fit right up against my engagement ring, I had to loan it to them so it could be custom made.  Strange how naked and bare my left hand felt without that ring there even though I'd only been wearing it a few months.  I guess it just belongs there.  

But my nose gets red when I get cold!

It was a frigid February afternoon when Adam and I finally got our engagement photos taken.  I think Chris, who was of course our photographer, was the one who finally took matters into his own hands and ordered us to take the photos.  We chose to use Maeser Hill for our backdrop as it had so much sentimental value for us.  It was a sunny day but it was cold!!!

Adam is so cute!

Just chillin' while Chris gets the camera settings worked out.

Some random shots of us being goofy.

I just think this one looks really cool.  Why does Adam look perfect in every shot and I'm always making a funny face??  I don't look very happy in this one.  It's cause I was FREEZING!!

And of course we had to send announcements to France.  I think the French version just looks fancier, don't you?

Counting Down the Days

It's funny how I can remember so many details from the weeks before Adam and I started dating but the months between the engagement and the wedding are just a beautiful blur.  It's like once we discovered we were in love this rosy haze came over life and it was just happiness.  I guess there was a lot going on.  I remember being stressed out and getting behind in my classes because I had too much on my plate with work, school, and Adam.  

February brought the Valentine's Day when I made Adam his own batch of oatmeal raisin cookies.  I hate it when people ruin a delicious cookie with raisins, but they are Adam's favorite.  Of course, I was not accustomed to using raisins and they didn't turn out very well, but Adam didn't complain.  :)  Adam turned 23 on February 20th.  I gave him a model sail boat and some clothes (pjs and a sweater... random, but cute).

In March, Adam attended POST training in order to become a dispatcher.  I guess since he was going to have a family to support soon he figured he should get a higher-paying job.  He had to travel to Salt Lake every day for the whole week.  It was terrible!  We couldn't meet on campus between classes and he was in class all day so I didn't get many text messages or anything.  And he was gone all day long so I didn't really get to see him in the evenings!  I was glad when that week was over.

April brought the end of the semester.  Finally, the end was in sight!  Just a few short weeks before our wedding day!  As the day drew nearer, things grew more hectic.  But it was wonderful.  Start with final exams, one of which I just decided not to even take (statistics...), add on working long hours, many of them graveyard shifts, to cover for others and make a little extra money, throw in an awesome bridal shower, and top it off with tons of last-minute wedding plans and you get a vague idea of how it felt.  (I'm sure there are lots of people who know how that feels actually. :)  Thankfully I always had Adam there to remind me of what was really important and to make me laugh and make me happy.  Sometimes you just need to cuddle up on the couch and fall asleep watching the A Team.  And I wasn't the only one who would fall asleep watching those shows...

Mr. Tilney! How came you into my backpack?

One Thursday afternoon I was sitting in Adam's kitchen waiting for him to walk me to the library on his way to work.  He was in the other room putting on his shoes or something.  As I waited, I pulled my notebook out of my backpack to check on something, and I discovered this:

Not sure if I was supposed to have found this little love note yet, I quickly hid it back in my backpack without reading it before Adam returned so he wouldn't know.  I kept expecting him to mention it or try to get me to look in my backpack but he never did.  So I didn't say anything.

We parted ways at the doors to the library and I headed down two flights of stairs to the social sciences section of the library.  I had just sat down at a table, gotten myself all situated, when I opened a different pocket in my backpack to discover this:

It was the absolute most adorable little kitty I had ever seen!  And sneaky Adam had hidden him in my backpack some time that morning.  Now I understood the note.  I quickly pulled it out and read it.  After I had sufficiently recovered from the note, I decided I had to talk to Adam about it NOW so I headed back out of the library.  I wasn't going to get much work done today.  How could I concentrate on boring old history when I had the sweetest fiancee ever?

I named the kitten Mr. Tilney after the hero of my favorite Jane Austen novel, Northanger Abbey.  He and I have been inseparable ever since that day.  Kinda like me and Adam.  Mr. Tilney is the best cat ever.  He never makes any messes or claws the furniture.  He only meows when I give him permission.  And he is unsurpassed among stuffed animals for his ability to comfort and bring cheer.  I love him so very much as to me he symbolizes Adam's love for me.