14 years and going strong...

Today I came home from swimming with the kids to these beautiful flowers sitting on the table. Quite a big surprise since I told Paul about 18 years ago that flowers were dumb, I would prefer a pizza! I have since then grown quite sick of pizza and found that flowers are much more delightful.

We have been married for 14 fabulous years. I have been threatening to write down the events of our wedding day for a while now, so here goes. We planned to be married on August 17, 1996. I am not sure why that date but I am pretty sure it had a lot to do with school and work schedules. It also happened to be Holly's (my sister-in-law) due date. We figured we would be safe, how many first time moms deliver on their due date.

Rewind about three days. I had called to talk to one of my parents at work when I was informed that my dad was in the hospital having his appendix removed that very moment. Technology was pretty good at that time and they were able to do everything through a scope so my dad had a quick recovery. He was able to attend the family dinner the night before our wedding. I have pictures of him dining on popsicles.

We were sealed (married) in Manti which is about two hours away from our hometown of Price. Paul and I drove over together and then went our separate ways. I did not realize that he was starting to get sick (I think nervous). He was up most of the night with stomach issues while his brother was up most of the night worrying about his wife who was ready to have a baby. Mark left early that morning so he could get to the hospital in time for Kimballs' arrival.

We met in the sealing room, minus Mark, and started the ceremony. We had a very kind, long winded sealer. I don't know that either of us remember much of what he said. When it was time for us to do our part Paul made it about 2 minutes until he passed out. When he finally came back around they rushed him out of the room to refresh him with punch and cookies. I was "left at the alter." He finally made it back about 15 minutes later and the rest of the ceremony was done in hyperspeed to make sure he could make it through.

Later I went into the changing room to pack up my stuff and get ready to head out when the sweet volunteers gathered up my stuff and placed it down laundry chute. This would have been okay if it wasn't on loan from my grandmother who was anxiously awaiting its safe return. The next week my mom made several phone calls to the temple to try and locate it to no avail. My parents were wonderful to replace what was lost.

Amazingly we have some wonderful pictures from that day. Our photographer was patient with my dad and Paul as they would need to rest in between pictures. It is fun to look back on that day and laugh about it, it was even comical to me then. I am grateful for having Paul in my life for the past 14 years and the 6 years of dating before that. I am grateful for the companion that I get to go on this journey with. I don't think that either of us could have imagined the wonderful experiences that we have had, or the incredible people that we have been surrounded with. I look forward to many more.