Forever & Eternity

Alex and I met in late July and were married the 20th of October. To many people this seemed fast, but to us, time seemed to be sitting still. We both desired to have a family of our own and wanted to be married in the temple for all time and eternity. After we met in person we knew something was right...what, I'm not sure, but something. At first we weren't sure if it would work because we lived an hour apart but we gave it a try. At first we would go a few day between seeing each other and then 48 hours felt like a killer. The last two weeks before our wedding we spent every waking hour together that we could, whether it be at our house or my parents house.

Weeks before our wedding many questions were asked by various people...Where are you getting married? What is a temple? Why are you getting married in there? Some of these questions really struck me. All of my life I'd known that I wanted to be married in the temple, it had been a goal, but why? What was my reasoning? I like to go places where it was quiet and I could really think, think about why the temple mean so much to me, and to us as a couple. One day I decided to pray about it and one thing came to mind "Families Can Be Together Forever". I'd known this song since I was little and knew that through the power of the priesthood and the sealing ordinances Alex and I would be married for all time and eternity, not just till death. This brought great joy to my heart knowing that we would still be a family after we died. I don't know if either of us ever got nervous, the temple brought so much joy to our hearts.

The day of our wedding was busy...VERY busy. It started out with a 5am hair appointment with Paige. She did a great job and I thank her. Then back to the house grab all my stuff and off to the temple. On the way in we were stopped at a traffic signal just the other side of St. Johns. A semi truck came flying up behind us. Alex kept rolling forward because the guy wasn't slowing down let alone stopping but we had no where to go. A short distance off our bumper the guy managed to skid to a stop, breaks smoking and all. We made it to the temple and finally decided we were there, nothing was going to happen now and we could breathe again. While we were sitting there waiting, one of the sisters who had been escorting us came up and whispered "Your bishop got a flat tire". We looked at each other and smiled. A short time later Elder Bair came and got us. As we knelt across the alter, we promised forever. After the ceremony was done and everyone was excused Elder Bair stood us in front of the mirrors and asked us if we could see ourselves...we couldn't. Then he asked what we could see, we could see each other forever. He told us this represented that our family would go on forever, there was no end. He then proceeded to add my parents and grandmother...he explained that only through the sealing ordinances could families be together forever.

We went back down to the dressing rooms. Alex changed into his suit and I changed into my wedding dress. We went out into the front lobby and thanked some of the people who came from church. After some of the family arrived we went into the atrium and took some pictures of Alex and I, we eventually added family members. Since we had got out early we waited around for a little longer and then went outside as everyone arrived. Crystal did a wonderful job on all our flowers and especially my bouquet. After taking many pictures we went to the church to spend time with family. We all ate a wonderful lunch thanks to all the family members who came. After lunch we all went into the Relief Society room where Bishop Hamann spoke on the importance of temple marriage. After he was done speaking Alex and I exchanged rings.We both had a wonderful time at our open house and would like to thank family and friends who came to see us. We had really good cheese cake made by one of my young women leaders. At the end I went out to see what people had done to the jeep...as soon as I walked out of the church I see my mother in law and brother standing there with rolls of toilet paper...BUSTED. We then had to make them help us take it off so we could load all the gifts up. Again thanks to everyone that came!