The Wedding!

The partying is half over! I can’t believe how long it took counting down to the day and how fast it has gone since. I just wanted to write a quick overview of everything for those who couldn’t make it. The week before was pretty calm surprisingly. I finished my last final that Tuesday evening, so I had three days to move into our apartment and get all the last minute stuff done. Alisa came down Thursday evening to help out, and we said goodbye to my old Park Plaza apartment Friday morning! Skyler had to pick up his parents from the SLC airport that morning also, so he came over for a few minutes just to say goodbye. Then, Alisa and I spent almost the whole day shopping and running errands. It was a great day! I had so much fun; it has been forever since we have done anything like that together. It was snowing quite a lot, so I was worried about everyone traveling, but luckily we all made it.

We stayed the night at Vince and Becky’s house with my parents, and I stayed up until 2 a.m. just doing last minute things! Then, surprisingly, I actually slept pretty well until my alarm went off at 5:45 a.m. Then I felt the nervousness and panic a little. We did everything to get ready, but my hair took forever, so everyone was sitting in the car waiting for us to finish!! We headed up to Salt Lake and only after a blessing from my Dad did I calm down and stop making myself sick. I do that for some reason when I get nervous. So grateful for the priesthood. The ride wasn’t too bad and I just tried to chat with my parents. We met everyone at the Chuck-a-Rama in SLC around 11, and once Sky finally got there, I felt great! Lots of people came and we had to overflow into the main area. It was great to see all our family and friends there supporting us. We did introductions and then ate. Surprisingly, I was hungry and ate some food! Everyone was a little surprised. Alisa had gotten a picture of the Salt Lake Temple with a mat that she was having everyone sign. It is a great keepsake. I really appreciate everything Alisa did for my wedding, and her biggest part is yet to come! (Montana Reception). After we all ate and chatted, it was time to leave. We took my bags over to the hotel and headed to the temple. We were running a little short on time, so I was getting a little panicky. Then, I called Sky and he was just barely walking from the hotel! I was definitely getting nervous at that point. But, of course we made it. It was so wonderful inside the temple with family and friends. The sealing was amazing! Then, my mom, Alisa and Skyler’s mom Sarah ran downstairs to get me into my dress to go outside!! It was crazy and we were all hurrying around. I was so flustered! Finally, we were ready and my escort took us to meet Sky. After all these weeks of having my dress, he finally got to see me. He looked so great in his tux! We came walking out the doors and everyone was there waiting for us and cheering! I couldn’t believe it was finally here and going so fast. We took some pictures on the steps and then everyone headed over to the Joseph Smith Memorial Building. It was sooo cold and the sun was just going down. At first I didn’t even care and didn’t need my cloak, but pretty soon I was shivering. We took some pictures of the two of us and then went inside to do more family pictures. Pretty soon we were done and jumping into a carriage to take us away to our hotel! The driver drove us around the west end of temple square and then back. It was so much fun! I’ve always secretly wanted to do that.

Everything went great until about 2 a.m. when Sky started feeling sick. Then, the next morning he was throwing up and wanting to die as we headed to the airport. Great news was waiting for us that our flight was cancelled. We waiting in line for about 30 minutes to talk to an employee who said we had to call the company because she didn’t have time to help us. I was feeling extremely put out at this point. We had just gotten married! Everything was supposed to be happy and wonderful and we were stuck in the airport, sick and with not much hope of leaving to Oregon soon. Sky waited on hold for another 30 minutes and found out the next available flight was Wednesday. I couldn’t even believe it! I was looking forward to time alone and not talking to anybody, and then I’m having to call my dad to come pick me up. I was extremely stressed and emotional understandably! I felt like standing up and saying “I’m supposed to be on my Honeymoon people! Can you give me a break?!” Little did I know it wasn’t going to get better yet. So, Alisa and my family helped out by arranging a place for us to stay that night in a wonderful bed and breakfast castle!! We were in the King suite. It was amazing, but Sky was so sick he just laid in bed most of the time. We plan on going back to have a better time. The next two nights we spent in a hotel by the airport.

Monday was my birthday, and Skyler was feeling a little better and wanted to take me out for my birthday dinner. We went to the Red Rock Café and I had steak!! It was so good. But not long after, I started feeling sick. The next morning, I was definitely sick. So, I spent all that day in bed. Wednesday was terrible trying to fly and drive around being so sick, but eventually we made it out to Oceanside. We stayed in his Aunt’s rental for the first two nights and had a fun Christmas together. We bought each other the same movie; Stardust! We think too much alike. By Friday, I was feeling mostly better and then Sky started getting a head cold. Luckily, that Saturday we had a great reception at the community center on the beach! My parents had flown in Friday, so we toured a little with them. It was so great having them there with us. Sunday we went to church and walked on the beach together and Monday they went home. That afternoon, Skyler and I finally drove to our original honeymoon spot, feeling mostly well. The next few days we walked around the little coast towns and watched the ocean. Our bed and breakfast was called the Chanel House, and it was literally right on the ocean. We had a little porch with a Jacuzzi tub which was so much fun to soak and listen to the waves. That Tuesday and Wednesday were great. We felt almost normal and were finally alone! Thursday, we headed back to his parents rental and flew out the next morning. We were hoping for a smooth day and it mostly was, except Skyler’s bag was 15 pounds over and we had to open all our bags right there in the airport and switch things around. Compared to the beginning of our trip, that was nothing! We made it back to Provo after picking my car and presents up from Vince & Becky’s and went home to our little apartment! Skyler carried me through the doorway which was actually a lot of fun! It has been soooo great having my own place to organize and keep clean. I love it. We are working on finding places to put things since we have no closets or storage places. Other than being freezing, the toilet doesn’t work and we have no microwave, life is great here!! Since then, we’ve started school and went to our first Student Married ward (where I introduced myself as Shalon Hogge :). We had our open house in Provo which was a great success and tons of fun! We had lots of family and friends. We appreciate being healthy and happy. Now, we are looking forward to the Montana Reception!