I Don't Even Know Where to Begin

"The first step in writing letters is to get over the guilt of notwriting. You don't "owe" anybody a letter. Letters are a gift. The burning shame you feel when you see unanswered mail makes it harder to pick up a pen and makes for a cheerless letter when you finally do. I feel bad about not writing, but I've been so busy, etc. Skip this. Few letters are obligatory, and they are Thanks for the wonderful gift and I am terribly sorry to hear about George's death and Yes, you're welcome to stay with us next month, and not many more than that. Write those promptly if you want to keep your friends. Don't worry about the others, except love letters, of course. When your true love writes, Dear Light of My Life, Joy of My Heart, O Lovely Pulsating Core of My Sensate Life, some response is called for." - Garrison Keillor

I love that, am applying it to blogs, and I'm not apologizing for my belatedness :)

When last I wrote, I was a single lady. Now, I've been married for a month. It's been the best month of my life. Being married to Luke makes me feel like I figured out the big secret - that marriage is awesome, and it doesn't necessarily mean I'm grown up.

Luke and get to watch "Fringe" into the wee hours of the night and go to yard sales on the weekends and sleep in on Sundays. We get to spend time with our families without feeling the pang of singleness.

But Luke, specifically, is the best husband that a girl can have. He is selfless, hilarious, doting, and responsible. He makes me feel like I'm the perfect wife, even though we've eaten chicken exclusively for the past four weeks (there was a sale.)

The wedding was perfect. Like everyone says, it goes by in a flash. Some kind of flowery time machine that you get in wearing a huge, fluffy white dress. But unlike what everyone says, you do notice who comes to your reception. I loved seeing everyone. I missed people who couldn't make it. It didn't ruin my day, but the happiest days should be shared with everyone. Here are some of the lovely desserts that I obviously didn't get a bite of:

And here is my beautiful bouquet, created by the incredibly talented Erika Eddington.

If you are thinking, "I wish I could see more wedding pictures," rest assured, you are probably a girl and are probably going to see more pictures soon. I haven't gotten the CD from my photographer yet, and since most of you are my Facebook friends, I didn't want to repost all the other pictures here. So that's that.
After the wedding, Luke and I made our way to the Oregon Coast for our amazing honeymoon. We made a Google map beforehand, and actually stuck to it pretty well. The plan was to drive to Redding, CA, then over to the coast, stay somewhere, drive to Newport, sleep, Tillamook then Portland, sleep, Seattle then Bellevue, sleep, and then Spokane for our open house the following Friday. Is it okay if I just do a montage of pictures now? You can scroll through them really quick if you want to.








Did we stay on a steamboat that was also a bed and breakfast? Yeah. We did.
In Portland, we saw Shilah and Craig Will. They are the best, and weren't awkward about being part of our honeymoon. Craig looks like he was awkward, but I swear he wasn't.

On our last night, we ate at The Crab Pot in Seattle. Piles of crab and two hammers = bliss.

Again, I don't really have words for our Spokane open house. It was beautiful. We just breezed into town and were treated like royalty, with a newly painted house, tulle and lights everywhere, and wonderful ward friends and old friends and chocolate strawberries and everything good. Here are some pictures, again.





The cake was done by the ever-charming Abbie Mecham, and the evening was brought to me by my 10 siblings, their spouses, and other loving friends and family. I was and am truly humbled by everything that everyone did.

I will try to be posting more often now, but I can't make any guarantees. But thank you for reading, and thanks for the support. I couldn't be happier.