Happy Anniversary

It is our 15 year wedding anniversary. It is amazing how time flies. It seems just like yesterday that we were married and sealed for time and all eternity in the Washington, DC temple. Even though I live just a few miles from the Arizona temple, the DC temple remains my favorite to this day.
I remember getting up early to get ready for the big day. I was so excited as I did my hair, put on my makeup and putting my wedding dress in the dress bag. It was about a 45 minute drive to the temple from our home in Dale City, Virginia. To top it off, it was sleeting ice that day. Virginia is always fun as you never know if you are going to get snow or black ice! My poor mom was sick and had been for the 2 weeks I had been home. The doctors tried to hospitalize her but she would not do it. My mom stubborn? Never:) I did talk the doctors into giving her IV fluids one of the trips to Kaiser. Anyway, it was amazing how my parents ward and friends pulled together for our family. We had enough meals delivered that I think my parents were eating them for weeks to come. My dad had the fun of going with me to buy shoes, pantyhose, etc. I am sure that must have been fun for him! I was blessed to have my family there and Rich's family that flew in from Arizona. My best friend, Jill Salyers, made all my flowers and wedding bouquet. I still have them to this day-they still are as beautiful as the day I had them.
I rode with my Dad to the temple and my mom was driven up in a separate car. They did this so Rich and I could have our own car to drive back after being married. It was sleeting and the sky was dark. But I was so excited to finally marry Rich that I did not care about the weather (we dated for 4 years-whole other story!). Rich had spent the night with his best man at a hotel. I had just prayed they would not get lost getting to the temple as neither of them were from Virginia. Rich's uncle, Richard Lee, also lived in Virginia and took charge of getting Rich's family to the temple. The temple was radiantly white even with all the sleet and dark weather.
We ended up being the only couple being married in the temple that day due to weather. Usually the DC temple is always busy as it is the temple for so many areas. But this day was different as there was hardly a soul there. I absolutely loved the fact that it was not full. What fun to have the temple almost all to your self on your wedding day!!
My bridesmaids helped me get dressed in my beautiful dress as my mom was still not feeling well, so we had her sitting down so that she could make it through the rest of the day. It was an awesome feeling to put on the dress and temple clothing. We then got to go into the main room to wait for the sealer to come get us and our guests. It was an awesome feeling to kneel across the altar from my soon to be husband. I think he was more nervous than I was! First the sealer had a talk with us, which is custumary in temple weddings. He sure did talk for a long time as there were no other weddings that day. The one thing that stuck out to me and still does was he said when you have your children make sure that you pray that you have brought each one down that is supposed to be in your family. I was ready to be done after number 3 boy, but each time I went to the temple we both knew there were more. We are blessed to have listened and have Colton and Camryn in our family. We would have missed out on them if we had not listened to the sweet sealer's advice. We finally were married and sealed. Both Rich and I were crying when we looked into each others eyes and made our covenants.
We then had a luncheon at a restaurant. That was lots of fun and we were all being very silly at that point. We then had a little down time before the reception. We had decorated the hall the night before so that things would be ready. The reception hall was set next to a lake and we decorated very simply with candles. The whole hall had high windows so the candles reflected off the lake and windows. My brother plays the cello so he and his friends formed a quartet. Could not have asked for better music! The food was great and I had so much fun as people came through the reception line.
The next day we went back to my parents house to open presents. My aunt Becky (who has since passed away from cancer) and Mom helped us open them. It was like Christmas all over again! Afterwards we played cards with the family which is always fun and competitive. The next day we flew to the Bahamas for a wonderful honeymoon. Then it was back to Arizona where we had another reception for all of Rich's friends and family that live here. His aunt decorated the church for us and she went all out!! We had carosel horses, an archway covered with flowers, a swing for people to sit and take pictures and many more things that would take a whole other post to describe. This was her wedding present to us. Needless to say, I was in shock when I walked into the transformed church hall. I had no idea she was doing this and neither did Rich. The family kept it a secret and it was an awesome one.
I look forward to many more years of marriage with all the joys and sometimes sorrows it brings. Here is to year 16 next year:)