You Fill Up My Senses

8 years ago today Andrew played his guitar and sang this song (Annie's Song by John Denver) to me as we sat at our wedding luncheon with friends and family.

We dated for a little over a year. Although, we were engaged for only about 5 weeks.

We were married in the Idaho Falls Temple. It was a busy day, but of course one of the best days of my life. It seemed like we had really endured a great deal to get to that point, as Andrew had undergone renal dialysis in the year we had dated, and a kidney transplant just 3 months before we were married.

The Reception

I've always had this feeling that wedding receptions have a lot in common with funerals, at least LDS style. A large number of friends and family come to stand in line and give hugs and shake hands. Then at the end of the line there is . . . not a body in a casket, but a wedding cake. (I know I am strange for this analogy, but that is what I am always reminded of.) So. . . I was determined that a wedding cake (or dead body, however you want to look at it) was a waste of money and that I didn't want one. Well, my family (Dad's idea) decided that we needed a wedding cake. Therefore, we got a wedding cake made out of Twinkies. It was just for laughs at the luncheon, but somehow the tacky thing found it's way to our reception. A tradition was started. Each of my sisters also opted out of a wedding cake (I guess my analogy was pretty persuasive) and ended up getting a Hostess cake instead. We got more comments on our cake than anyone has probably ever gotten on a wedding cake in all of history.

My favorite flowers are daisies, so naturally our wedding flowers were daisies. I asked the florist to make a "ring of daisies" to go in my sisters hair. I was so angry when we opened the fridge at the reception center to find that the "ring of daisies" looked more like it belong in the time of Caesar than at my wedding. What happened to a braided circle of small daisies? So here is a picture of my 3 sisters sporting their "ring of daisies".

When we walked out from our reception we found my little car an absolute mess. We drove my ugly little Geo Metro to the wedding instead of Andrew's car. We were sure glad that we did. Although, Andrew was told if he didn't hand over the keys to my car that the decorating party was going to go get his car too. So he reluctantly handed over the keys. When I walked outside to see what was done, I almost started to cry. We was so tired and exhausted we didn't want to have to deal with the mess. If you notice there were 25 lbs of rice inside the car.

That day was quite an exciting way to start out our lives together.

Andrew, now it has been 8 years and I am glad that we are on this journey of life together. You are my best friend. Together we have faced challenges, hard times, and moments of overwhelming joy and happiness, I wouldn't want to face those with anyone else. You are am amazing Father to the two most beautiful children. You are a patient and loving husband. I have been so blessed to have you in my life. John Lennon's words say it best: Grow old along with me. Whatever fate decrees, we will see it through. For our love is true. God bless our love, God bless our love.

Happy 8 year anniversary

I LOVE YOU!

(Eternity or Bust)