Arizona Reception

I know it's 2 months late..
But here are some pictures from our reception in Arizona. Tyler's mom went all out and enlisted help from so many beautiful strangers who didn't know me at all but still lent us decor and made us a cake and spent hours setting up and cooking food and washing our dishes. She turned a cultural hall into a total dream and I don't even think the pictures do it justice.

 



 My father-in-law hung an old parachute to create this faux ceiling and was up on a ladder for most of the set-up getting the chandeliers to hang just right and finding ways to get them plugged in and lit up. He and my brother-in-law, Ryan, turned an old chandelier into the cool cupcake stand you see here.



I have no idea who made the cake and cupcakes, but they were delicious.

 

 The chairs were decorated with borrowed vintage aprons. So cute!

 

Momma Dalton borrowed the furniture to decorate this cute sitting area.

We thought the window treatments were pretty, so we opened the dividers behind the bride and groom table and put this adorable love sign back there. It was one of my favorite features.

 

It was really fun to celebrate our wedding twice, and I couldn't have wished for a more wonderful family to marry into.

 

 



Coming up...

August 15 (9 days): The Daltons are coming to visit!

August 15 (9 days): We start our first home improvement project--painting our new apartment! (It's not a coincidence that this is happening when the Daltons are visiting. Thank goodness for in-laws!)

August 23 (17 days): We leave for our belated honeymoon cruise to the western Caribbean! Woooooooooooo!

September 2 (27 days): School starts (my last year. Holy smokes.)

Our New Home

Finding an apartment was... well, it was torture.

I don't want to complain, because I think every married couple who has tried to find affordable housing in Provo has experienced this.

I am fortunate enough to have a desk job where I can browse KSL and Craigslist for homes pretty much the entire time I'm at work. Between tasks, I would refresh the page every half an hour and call or text about apartments within 10 or 20 minutes of their being posted. Tyler and I were always at the apartment on time for the showing, only to be accompanied by 3-5 other couples viewing the same apartment. We would all fill out an application and then never hear about the apartment again. We probably went to see 15 or 20 apartments. It was really frustrating because we were doing our best and nothing was panning out. I was getting pretty discouraged. That's an understatement. I became very anal about seeing apartments on time and filling out applications correctly. My stress was affecting Tyler. He let me cry into his shirt on several occasions. He endured me with patience and compassion.

Now normally, I don't bother with KSL posts that don't have pictures, but one caught my eye because it was pretty cheap and had washer/dryer hookups. (That was Tyler's and my dealbreaker. We had our hearts pretty set on having a washer and dryer. That, and ceilings tall enough for Tyler to stand up in.) So we inquired about it, and were told we could come by to look at it on Sunday. We had never heard of that happening before. Around here, apartment showings are usually during the week or on a Saturday. But it ended up being such a blessing, because apparently fewer people come on Sundays. Our ward time had just gotten switched from 9 am to 11 am, so we were able to be the first ones who showed up for the 10:00 showing. The apartment was SO cute! Both of us instantly knew we wanted it, which had never happened before. It just felt like the perfect place. We left just as the next couple was arriving, raced home and filled out an application and paid the credit check fee as quickly as we could.

And what do ya know, two days later I got an email letting me know that WE GOT THE APARTMENT!!!!! I screamed! Tyler, who was just getting ready to shower, came to see what was wrong, afraid I was being raped (we had been watching a lot of Law and Order: SVU lately).

Our lease started today, August 1! We couldn't wait to go see the place again, and I had Ty take some pictures to share with you guys. Behold! Some of my favorite features of our little home:



Hardwood floors and a fireplace..



..as well as a charming bay window in the living room!



Checkerboard linoleum in the kitchen

Our old school bathroom..



..which will require two shower curtains

And what makes me the most excited is that we're allowed to paint! We are so excited to make this cute old place our own. All the searching and fighting over apartments and discouragement was totally worth it. I am completely in love with this place and can't wait to build our life here.