Kicking off eternity

  Ryan and I were lucky enough to be able to have a full week for our honeymoon, thanks to a wonderful person who signed his time share in Park City over to us. The day after our wedding, we headed up to Park City, where we stayed until coming home on Christmas Eve day.

While we were there we:
- went out to dinner at some crazy restaurants
- walked around Old Main Street
- watched some of our favorite movies
- attended a singles ward sacrament meeting (who'd've thought that there's no normal wards after 11:00 in Park City?)
- bought some DayQuil for Jen's cold that she got from being outside for so long on the wedding

- swam in the pool while watching the snow fall outside
- spent a day skiing at Canyon's

- saw the lights at Temple Square

- visited the giraffes and elephants at the zoo
- rode in a horse-drawn carriage in downtown Salt Lake City

Pretty much it was a much-needed break from all the stress of school and wedding planning - and a great kick-off to our eternity together :)

Pre-first day of forever

The last few months of being engaged were pretty crazy. We were busy finishing up with school, getting ready for finals week, and planning all the last-minute things for the wedding that we'd somehow forgotten about until the end. Jennifer's mom had a wonderful friend take over the entire kitchen/reception refreshments operation, and Ryan's parents had the tough and difficult task of taste-testing all the Italian food in Utah valley to find the right meal for the luncheon (poor them!). In any case, we still managed to find time to have fun:

 Going to a murder mystery dinner by BYU up at Spring Haven Lodge

 Writing letters to Santa Clause, c/o Scott and Lisa

 Having fun at a bridal shower with Ryan's family

 Freezing to death and eating great food with the Cougar Club at the last BYU football game

 Celebrating Thanksgiving with Jen's mom

 Playing hockey for the last time of the semester

 Practicing for and dancing in Christmas Around the World (Jen is a member of the BYU Folk Dance team)

 Attending the Provo Temple with both sets of parents

 Hanging out in the emergency room after an eventful night at the ice arena - Ryan fell, scraped his cheek, split open his chin, and got a mild concussion

Jen got her first taste of how the adrenaline kicks in when you're taking care of someone you love. It lasted until the doctor came in and took over with his needles, and then she had to step out and sit down while the nurse brought her some juice because she got so dizzy... Jen does not like blood...

All in all, it was a wonderful engagement! We wrapped up that week by taking a bunch of finals, some of which we studied for, others... not so much... We also spent our last engaged week moving out of old apartments and into our new apartment, finishing up Christmas preparations, getting temple recommend interviews and a marriage license, and getting pretty much no sleep. Friday the 16th came at a perfect time :)