Remembering our Wedding Day

Dallas' cousin got married this weekend, so we went and celebrated with them at their reception. It was nice and beautiful and we're glad we got to go. And, just like every reception we've attended, when we left, Dallas said, "I wish we could get married again." I always respond that we've already been married and we can't have a repeat. Dallas then tries to convince me it would be possible, but eventually, he grudgingly admits that it probably could not happen.

However, he is right about one thing We did have a great wedding day and if it were possible, it would at least be fun to go back and re-live it or watch the day. Luckily we have a ba-jillion photos to help us remember. And today, I am dedicating this post to remembering a few of the events of our wedding day. WARNING: This is super long...we will not be offended if you don't read it or simply skim it. 

Dallas and I decided to get married in the Salt Lake City temple. We chose this temple for many reasons. Number one, according to Dallas, it is the "castle" temple. Number two, it was a very convenient temple location for many of our family members. Number three, we were getting married on my parent's half anniversary and that is where they got sealed, so I figured it would be special to be sealed in the same place. Truthfully, any temple would have worked, because each has been dedicated as a place where we can be sealed together forever, but, these were some extra perks for the Salt Lake Temple.

Salt Lake has its perks, it also has a few downsides. The largest is probably the fact that thousands of couples choose to get married there, especially in the summer. Therefore, we had to call right away and schedule a sealing time. Dallas called in early February and, lucky for us, two slots were still available on the day we wanted to get married. Unfortunately, it was either a sealing at 7:30 a.m. or one at 4:00 p.m. Dallas called to check with me and, since I'm a morning person, we chose to go with the morning sealing. 

The day before our wedding my sisters threw me a bridal shower. It was terrific - I got to see almost all my sisters and nieces and a lot of Dallas' immediate and extended family. Afterward, Dallas and I spent the rest of the day together - which I loved. We had been separated for part of the summer and he had just driven up to Utah the night before, so I was super excited to see him. I don't remember everything we did, but I know we went to the mall and got some more ties for the brothers at the wedding, drank an orange julius, found me a swimsuit for the honeymoon, and just enjoyed being together. Then we went to his grandma's house and made sure we were packed for our honeymoon. By the time Dallas dropped me off at Becky's it was almost midnight....and I still had a few things to do. 

I fell asleep no problem. I crashed on Becky's couch sometime after midnight and woke up around 4:00 a.m, about 15 minutes before Emily and Braden showed up. She helped me do my hair and make-up, which was excellent (because I know very little about either). Since we had to be at the temple by 6:30, we left around 5:30 a.m. Shockingly, for maybe the first time in my life, I arrived before I was supposed to. Even more shockingly, my mom was there waiting for me! With my dad, of course. :)


While Dad and Braden parked the cars, Mom, Emily, and I patiently waited for Dallas. Finally, he showed up. And he looked great! He was wearing his light suit and dashing blue bow tie. A temple worker guided us to a desk where we did something with our marriage license. We then went to different rooms - I went the bridal suite and perhaps Dallas went to a groomal suite? I'm not sure where he went, but after changing into our ceremonial clothing, we spent some time together in the celestial room. This is a beautiful, peaceful room and I think we were both glad for the quiet, together time we got to have there.

After about half an hour in the celestial room, we were introduced to our sealer. He was a jolly fellow...I remember thinking his name would be easy to remember, but I have forgotten it. The ceremony was just as I thought it should be - simple and special. Unfortunately, I do not remember what the sealer said...it would have been good to write it down. When we walked out of the sealing room, Dallas was so excited he clicked his heels. I don't know if that is a customary thing to do in the temple...but nobody said anything, so I guess it was okay. :)

Emily and mom then helped me get into my wedding dress and fix up any hairs that might have gone amiss. I was glad that both of them were there to help me. Emily was a great help and it really means a lot just having your mom with you on your wedding day. The next hour was then spent taking pictures and Dallas did a great job giving his best smiles. Here are some photos to prove it:

After pictures we went to the Joseph Smith Memorial Building to enjoy a special luncheon with our families. My mom and dad hosted the event, greeting everyone and then assigning tables to think of advice or a story to share. This was our first meal as a married couple...pretty great. Hopefully Dallas wasn't expecting all our future meals to taste that yummy. If he was, he is probably currently disappointed. When everyone ate their dessert, we showed a video of photos of me and Dallas, from childhood until we met. I spent a ton of time scanning and editing pictures and putting it together...but it was worth it. Here it is on youtube: Amy and Dallas.

With the sealing, pictures, and luncheon complete, it was time to get ready for the reception. Both our families skidaddled out of the building and headed to American Fork to prepare. Unfortunately, we took our sweet time and didn't realize our keys had left with Dallas' parents until it was too late. To add to the misfortune, not only our keys were gone but also our phones. Therefore, there was no way to call anyone and ask for help. We ended up chilling at the JSMB for a couple of hours until someone happened to find the keys and realize our dire situation. By the time we got the keys, we had just enough time to drop our things off at the hotel and return to American Fork for the reception. 

Since neither of us had lived in Utah for several years, we debated about whether or not to hold a reception. In the end, we went for it and I think that was an excellent choice. We got to see lots of friends and other family members that had not been at the sealing or luncheon. Dallas' family did a fabulous job decorating, playing music, and creating a scrumptious ice cream bar. Unfortunately for us, we did not eat anything except for the little tiny piece of cake we exchanged. I wasn't sure if Dallas would want to do the garter toss, so I checked with him a few days before the wedding. He responded with a big smile and enthusiastic YES! And then sheepishly said, "I mean, I don't care - what do you want to do?" I laughed and decided we would definitely have one. That and the bouquet toss were pretty much the end of the reception. And then, we were off! With only a few more hiccups...i.e. leaving some of my luggage in Emily's car that was already back in Provo. But other than that, the day was complete and we were free and happy as love birds and off on our merry way.

Waiting for Baby

Saturdays are usually a great day for everyone, but they are especially great for me and Dallas because that is when we start a "new week" for baby.  By a "new week", I mean that Saturday is when our phone app updates and tells us our baby's new size and what exciting things she is doing inside. During the week Saturday seems to take forever to arrive, but somehow, almost every Friday night sneaks up on me and I inwardly squeal with excitement when the clock strikes twelve and I realize baby is finally 1 week older! Dallas and I then excitedly watch the little video clip. We've watched it so much, Dallas has got the jingle down like a pro. :) Other than when he was in Africa, we always wait til we can watch it with each other. It's a special time for us.

I'm not a fan of head-chopped photos,
but at least you can "see" baby!

This past Saturday marked week 33 for little baby. I remember thinking that once we got to week 30, I would be so close to having our little baby - but now that we're finally here, I feel like we still have so long to wait! I keep reminding myself that she will be here before I know it, and I really have plenty I could be doing to be getting ready - such as exercise, scan a ba-jillion pictures (all from back in the day when digital didn't exist), work on this blog, do some family history, read - all sorts of books and especially anything that will help me with baby, substitute (because we really aren't rolling in the dough...), and so much more.



Although I am excited for baby to come, I am also loving this time she is inside of me. I love feeling her kick. That is definitely one of my most favorite things. It reminds me that I really do have a little baby, a little person inside of me. Sometimes I feel like that is a very crazy and miraculous thought. I also love how excited Dallas gets to feel her kick and that he always asks how she is doing.


We still don't have a name for baby. A few months ago we made a list of about 30 names and have since narrowed it to about 15 names. Sometimes we'll try out a new name for baby everyday. This has helped us realize some names we really like and vice versa. But I don't know if we can reduce it much more than the 15 we currently have...and we gave up on trying to think of matching middle names. I hope it all comes to us when baby gets here.

I haven't taken very many pictures with this pregnancy. Actually, Dallas and I don't take very many pictures in general. We just don't think about it. That is something we are working on. Our goal is start taking at least one picture per week. Anyway, these are the whopping three pregnancy pictures I have taken. Maybe I'll take another one this week or the next. That will be another thing I can do while we wait for baby...


Note: The pictures on here are ones my friend took for her website (we took these last Wednesday afternoon...the last chance before the ultra-freezing weather came). She is super sweet. I don't know if Dallas and I helped her website much, but we appreciated the opportunity to get pictures taken...and also the reminder that we should be taking more pictures. :)

Pink Shirt = 19 weeks, Yellow Shirt = 21 weeks, Black Shirt = 30 weeks

Dallas' Birthday

Tonight makes almost a full month since October 12, 2014 - which was Dallas' birthday! This was the third time I got to spend a birthday with Dallas and I have loved every one of them! ...Hopefully he has too.

The first October 12 I enjoyed with Dallas was back in 2012. We had known each other for about 6 weeks and, due to the 6 hour drive separating us, we had probably only "seen" each other 3 times. I felt I was constantly thinking up reasons to visit him...and his birthday seemed a perfect excuse! Lucky for me, his birthday fell on a Friday that year, meaning I didn't have to skip work to arrive on his birthday. Unfortunately, the drive was long and the traffic was heavy... meaning we didn't get there til the last hour or two of his birthday. Dallas didn't seem to care though - he was so happy to see us and we (Amanda Bush and I) were so happy to see him! That night we didn't get in much of the birthday festivities, except Dallas and I did get to go on a nice little walk. :) 

I know it may not sound like much of a birthday, BUT! The next day, we woke up and Dallas made us a delicious breakfast. During breakfast we shared some thoughts from his mom. I had called her a few weeks earlier to find out about Dallas' birth story and things they loved about him. It was sweet - I remember her saying he was born "with a twinkle in his eye" and they named him Dallas because it sounded "rough and tough." After breakfast, Dallas had to go to a laser/optics conference. That was actually perfect because it gave Amanda and I time to make preparations for the rest of the birthday festivities. Amanda tied together a fleece robot blanket and I made a stuffed pepper dinner (one of Dallas' favorite dinners). When he got home we enjoyed the dinner and gifted him his new robot blanket. After that, we all got dressed up super nice and headed to Dallas' concert! We took the bus and just barely made it on time. Dallas did a fabulous job and I was so glad to be there. Afterward, I don't remember what we did...probably ate angel food cake or something else yummy. 

The second October 12 I was lucky enough to be MARRIED to Dallas! This birthday involved a LOT of math. It was the Saturday before Dallas took the Math GRE. Therefore, his greatest birthday wish was to have plenty of time to study. SO! I woke up early that morning and got stuff for breakfast - biscuits and sausage and gravy, orange juice, eggs, and probably some fruit. After our delicious breakfast, Dallas got right to work studying. This worked out nicely because I had not yet bought him a gift. Lucky for me, amazon.com had some excellent gifts and I signed up for the free amazon prime trial so that we could get it super quick. I bought him two games - two Killer Bunnies additions and Spot It. After an exorbitant amount of studying, we went shopping - looking for some running shoes and other things that I needed Dallas with me to get. I think we found the running shoes...but nothing else (mittens, jeans, etc.) However, the amazon gifts I had bought that morning were on the doorstop by the time we got home from shopping! That was a birthday miracle. 

After that, we hustled home and changed into some fancy clothes. I had reserved a spot for us at a special restaurant. It was a fancy, old-timey house in Columbia that had been fixed up to be a restaurant. We got there and realized the prices were extremely high. No worries though - we decided to get an appetizer and main course and share them and then go use a gift card we had at cold stone to enjoy a yummy treat. Truthfully, neither of us were super impressed with the food, especially for the price, but it was a fun atmosphere and something different. And Cold Stone was, of course, delicious. I enjoyed it all - but that's always easy when Dallas is there. :) 

Ah! And the following Monday we attempted a surprise birthday party with some of our friends. Unfortunately I was a little late leaving the house...so the surprise kind of collapsed. But! It was still fun to spend time with our friends and enjoy some angel food cake with them.

THIS October 12 fell on a Sunday. For this birthday we had a bit of pre and post birthday celebrations...which I suppose all have had a bit of that. For example, on Saturday Dallas had a frisbee game and we decided since it was his last day of being 27, we could go out to eat. I found a coupon for Outback Steakhouse, so we went there. We also found some great tennis shoes (thanks to his Mom) and he was so pleased. His previous ones had long since perished and he was in desperate need of a new pair. 




On Sunday, Dallas once again had lots of math to study. He woke up early and got right to work studying while I made some breakfast burritos. Afterward, Dallas went back to work while I wrapped up his presents and wrote a little note of "28 things I love about Dallas." It didn't take long to think of 28 things...but I did have to re-write the note so that he would be able to read it. :) Then I came and got Dallas and we opened his gifts...just in time to hurry and get ready for church. 

After church, we went to Dallas' grandma's where we enjoyed a yummy dinner of pot roast and potatoes and all sorts of other deliciousness. The most miraculous part of the evening was that Grandma made an angel food cake for Dallas - that is his favorite! And she didn't know it! Pure inspiration. :)  The next day I made Dallas something great for dinner... probably stir fry. Afterwards, we invited some friends and played our new game "Resistance" and ate lots of cheesecake (Emily Eden helped me make it). It was a terrific birthday and I'm already looking forward to his next one, especially since baby will be here to enjoy it with him!

The First Post

Here it is! The Blog you have all been waiting for. For all the latest updates on the Smith Family. Amy is going to be super good at posting, especially when our first little bambina arrives, so stay tuned. (--Dallas)