Our Blissful Blur :)

Yay I just got our dvd of photos, thanks Greg & Dawn! It was so fun to look through all of them and remember our wedding day. We've been married for over a month now, hardly newly weds anymore, haha :)


So we got married on 06/07/08. We didn't pick that date for the numbers...we simply picked the first Saturday of the month and viola it's a number that even George will remember :)


It was a wonderful day...a blissful blur, the peak of a whirlwind of festivities. Of course the most amazing part of the day was getting sealed to my love. It was the greatest moment of my life to kneel across the altar from my best friend, George, and be sealed for eternity. It's an incredible experience to take part in forming a family. I felt SO blessed and happy! The ceremony was short and sweet, and I held in the tears until it came time to give hugs to so many wonderful family and friends. So many loved ones came to support us and we are so grateful for that! My cheeks hurt from smiling so much. It was absolutely the best day of my life. We couldn't have done it without you all, thank you SO much!

Neither one of us slept much the night before... So naturally the day started out early. I tried to eat some breakfast...Terrie made yummy crepes, mmm! I then went and got my hair done for the third time that week (bridals, reception, and finally the real thing). I came back to my family doing yoga out on the lawn. I love them, they're all so relaxed and easy-going, it helped me remain calm.

I definitely had bride brain and sort of wandered around doing last minute things. My mom finally made me sit down and she went over a list of things I should have with me for the BIG day. Thanks mom! Then around 11 a.m. my parents and Shena got in the car for the drive up to Manti. It's about a 2.5 hour drive from Cedar and it was fun to chat with my folks and catch up with Shena.

George and I got our pictures done before the ceremony. It was a lot of fun walking around the temple grounds and posing with my husband-to-be.

Our wonderful parents - we truly wouldn't be where we are today without them. We are SO grateful for your love and support. We LOVE you!

Some of my favorite humans on Earth

Four of the Bates boys...hard to tell they're brothers!

Mmmm at last...a kiss!

I love you SO much George :)

Bridal Spectacular

A few days before the wedding we gathered up a photo crew to get some bridal shots. I felt like a big snowman trying to get around in my dress. It was actually a lot of fun eventhough I felt so silly getting so many pictures taken of me by myself. A BIG thanks to my photographers: Sara, Misty, Mom, and Abbie - you did great! I'll spare you of the 3.5 billion photos and just put up a few.

With a lot of help from my photo crew we actually kept the dress pretty clean.

Red Rock Princess

Full dress shot

I wanted to get a few shots on the motorcycle for George since he loves his bike so much. He tried really hard not to peak when he brought it over (noticed his closed eyes). It's a good thing we took those pix when we did because he sold it the next morning...now that's true love :)

I think this is my favorite...

The wind picked up a bit and my veil went wild...I love this shot :)

This is George's favorite :)

Bridal Shower & Bath

June has been a whirlwind of a month. With all of the wedding festivities I haven't found time to blog in almost a month... So over the next couple of weeks I'll hopefully get caught up.

At the end of April my best friend, Aly, threw me a bridal shower up in Salt Lake City. She made an amazing spread for lunch and we enjoyed great company including David Beckham! Flake won the kissing game and got right on his lips!

It was hard for me to cheat on George, and Aly thought it was hilarious haha!

I've been to a lot of bridal showers, but I couldn't get over the fact that the shower was for ME... Aly got in touch with George and came up with a trivia game for me to see how well I knew him. Every time I got an answer wrong I had to chew a piece of bubblicious gum. I did pretty well, but definitely had a mouthful of gum by the end.

One question was "If you could be any animal what would you be and why?" I figured a fish since George LOVES water. But his answer killed me: "How about a humming bird. They fly, they can hover, no one wants to kill them, everyone feeds them and they're cool." Hahaha I love it! It was so fun to get together with all my girls from up north. Thank you ALY and to everyone that came!

The after-party party... Getting announcements ready to mail out

My sister, Sara, threw me a bridal shower here in Cedar City a few days before the big day so that my mom and sisters could be here too. Since we've been having great weather we had it outside on her lawn. The food was outstanding with SO many different kinds of delicious cookies, fruit, dips, and more. It was so fun to relax with all of my friends, and just a little torturous to have all the attention while I opened my gifts. Everyone was so generous and fortunately gave me "tasteful" gifts so I wasn't too embarrassed, hehe :) Thanks Sarita, Abbie, and Mom for throwing me such a fun party and for everyone that came to join in on the fun!

The amazing spread of delicious food!

My mom, Abbie (sis), Kate and Evie

My motras: Eliza and Elaine

The Great Northwest

A few weeks ago, George and I took a trip to visit the in-laws to be. My parents have retired to a small town in northern California called Crescent City. When I say northern, I mean 20 miles from the Oregon border and just a stone's throw to the Pacific Ocean. They are a 10 minute drive to the tallest trees on the planet (coastal redwoods) and the 2nd cleanest river in the U.S. (Smith River) Where is the cleanest river? I don't know, ha. It was a GREAT trip...very relaxing and wonderful company. Thanks to both of our families for everything you do!

Our first morning there...I LOVE the ocean!

Above is a photo of the "trail" after a windstorm

My parents acting like children...throwing rocks :)

How Big? SO BIG! Coastal Redwood - unofficially the biggest one is 379' tall and 26' in diameter

George always has to climb things...even uprooted trees

Wild irises lined the rocky coast

We drove from Crescent City to Seattle, with a quick stop in Portland to visit my bro, Maccy. Unfortunately Steph was at work so we didn't see her. The trip was 9 hours in the car, ugh! But we finally made it to George's parent's house around 2 a.m. (with a short nap). Then we decided to go to the Seattle Temple to the 6:30 a.m. session. I did surprisingly well staying awake. I was rewarded when I came out and ran into my good friend, Paige! We grew up in Alaska together and I knew she lived in the Seattle area. It was so great to give her a hug and seeing her made my day! Love ya Paige :) Christine has a photo of our lil reunion, I'll have to get her to email it to me so I can post it on here.

This was the first time for me to meet George's family. Everyone was so kind and made me feel comfortable. His parent's live on the outskirts of Seattle in a town called Monroe. It is SO beautiful and green with flowers everywhere. I was a little camera shy with them, so I only have a couple photos. George's brother David and his family came down from Canada, and Bill and his wife Christine flew out from Nebraska. Plus his brother Rodney and his wife Samantha live in Monroe too; so it was a mini-family reunion!

George and his parents at the locks

Cooking in the kitchen - George, Bill, Natalie, & Rodney (All 5 of the Bates boys look like "twins")

A cool small trip we did was to the Hiram M. Chittenden Locks in Ballard. These locks allow the passage of boats from the salty water of Puget Sound to the fresh waters of Salmon Bay, Lake Union, Portage Bay and Lake Washington. Depending on the tide I think it's about a 50' difference bettween Puget Sound and the freshwater. They even have a fish ladder so that the salmon can spawn, pretty cool.

The Locks

It was a fun trip to take before the BIG DAY. We feel SO blessed with such wonderful parents!

Props to my Aly :)

I can't thank Aly enough for designing our cute announcements. I love them! And I love her :) Aly is the most amazing gal, and soon to be mother too! I couldn't ask for a better friend. She designed and had these printed for me in less than a week AND she threw me a fun bridal shower up in Salt Lake, just two weeks after we got engaged. Wonder woman!

Our wedding announcement...

It was covered with a vellum sheet that had flowers on it

and tied together with a chocolate brown ribbon

Everyone can come party at the reception. There will definitely be a chocolate fountain :)

Thanks again Aly, I love you girl!