Wedding part 2.....

May 15, 2010- Wedding day! This was our actual wedding day. The day we signed our marriage licence, the day Erik saw me for the first time in my wedding dress, and the day we were sealed for time and all eternity! We were married in Salt Lake Temple (picture above).

For those of you who don't really understand a "Temple marriage" or a "sealing".... let me briefly explain. It's not really what you think of when you think of your typical civil wedding. There is no flower girls, no bridesmaids, no aisle for the bride to walk down, there is not even a ring exchange. It is still beautiful, it is still meaningful, there is still symbolism, still tears and laughter, still love, and most of..... it is still the uniting of a husband and wife. The main difference between a temple sealing and a civil marriage is that you are "sealed for time and all eternity" versus "till death do you part". And as most people know.... not everyone is able to witness this ceremony.  It was hard to not have most of my family in the room with us, and none of Erik's family with us..... but we kept our heads high and knew this day was truly about us. Erik and Kimber. Husband and wife.... making promises and commitments to each other, and covenants with the lord. It was perfect.

Wedding day: I got up early because I had quite a bit to do. I slept great the night before!! Everyone kept telling me I wasn't going to sleep at all..... wrong! I stayed at my aunt's house..... and we were up until about 1am trying to fix my dress (yikes!!) and passed out the second I hit the pillow. Erik, on the other hand, slept at my grandma's house and I guess didn't sleep well at all! He's the one in the relationship who worries...... he thinks about years down the road and it really hit him what was about to happen the following day. He claimed he wasn't nervous at all to marry me..... but his mind was racing, and he was a little nervous for all the attention he was going to receive. 

Erik and my family headed back to my aunt's house (where the reception was taking place later that evening) to finish setting up tables and chairs, linens, centerpieces..... and everything else we didn't finish the day before. I worked on the slide show, got my hair and make-up done, got ready and had to head out to meet my mom and Erik by noon. Our ceremony wasn't until 3, but they wanted us (bride and groom) there by 1:45. I wasn't nervous at all...... My brother (who was driving me) kept asking "Are you nervous?" "Is it hitting you yet?" Nope. Nothing. The moment I saw Erik in his suit I got a little flutter in my gut. Not nerves though.... excitement! Erik was a mess!! haha.... my family kept making fun of him, and was shocked how calm I was. 

Temple: The Salt Lake temple is huge. It's gorgeous!! It's grounds and landscape is incredible! Therefore.... it's crazy busy ALL the time. Erik and I were one of 53 weddings in the temple that day. Note: The man performing our sealing mentioned they were so busy that they had lots of general authorities and President Monson had even performed a few of the sealings.... how cool would that be?? Erik and I went our own ways to get ready. There was about 11 other brides in the bridal room getting ready with me. It was a bit hectic.... but I found much amusement in it all. (There was one bride who had apparently put on a few extra lbs. and she was literally laying on her stomach as two ladies were on top of her trying to get her dress zipped.... it was hilarious!!) I had my dress and everything ready to go the fastest (I was even ready before Erik). I was ready to get this show on the road!!! I sat and watched the other brides until someone came to tell me Erik was ready. They guided me to where he was..... then I started to get nervous, and my heart started beating really fast!! It was the first time Erik had seen me (or the dress). It was amazing!! We were nothing but smiles. 

Sealing: The sealing was not more than 10 minutes long. The man performing our sealing was awesome!! He made us laugh..... even making fun of my future cooking (we felt like he really knew us.... even though we had never seen or talked to this man in our lives). He gave us great advice and had most of us.... especially me in tears! The sealing was beautiful and something we will both never forget!

And just like that..... BAM!!!!! Married!!!! Husband and Wife..... for time and ALL ETERNITY! 

Us with grandma Reeder (mom's mom)

Us with my parents!!

With my immediate family......

With my best friend Whitney, and her hubby Cody. Love these guys! They are both still in school.... so they left after their classes Friday night (from Washington), and drove the 11 hours to Salt lake. They arrived at 6am Saturday morning (day of wedding), stayed awake and was apart of everything all day Saturday, and then turned around and went back home Sunday morning. What troopers!! It meant so much to have them there!!

Brothers...... Kade is so excited to finally recruit some men into this family!! Love these boys!!

Sisters...... my best friends!

Husband and Wife :)

Then off to the reception we went...... only a half hour late....

Us with Grandpa Montoya (dad's dad).... he literally would cry every time we came around him. It was so sweet!!

My aunts and sister (Rachelle..... the cook in the family) spent days cooking homemade Mexican food..... my favorite!!! Thanks for all the work. Beautiful picture of me stuffing my face.....

Cute niece Aubrey....... found the dessert table

Sweet niece Olivia..... sick :(

Huge thanks to my Aunt Weda and Uncle Brian for letting us do this at their house! They have a beautiful house and yard, and they put so much work into making this special for us! Again, to all my aunts (Aunt Vivian who even flew in for the weekend just to help cook) and Rachelle for all the awesome food. Aunt Suz for the beautiful centerpieces. And my mom's family for making drinks, and desserts and salads. Everyone helped out..... Thanks!!

Let the dancing begin!

Wedding march!!

Money dance! Erik and my cousin Kalee

Me with little sister Demi

Cutting our cute little cake.....

cake fight..... (I won this one!!!)

Look at that technique!

And Rilee catches it!

And we're off...... tired and exhausted!!

But wait.... the car we borrowed to take to the hotel..... Thanks siblings and cousins!!!!

What a great day it was!!!! Thanks for all the hard work everyone put in!! Again our "simple little dinner" turned into something much more than we were expecting. We love our Utah family!!!!

So we leave you...... the new Mr. and Mrs. Fitzgerald!!!

Wedding part 1.....

We have returned!!! And despite my weakness I have shown to the blogging world..... I am determined to blog about this huge step Erik and I have made in our lives!! So sit back..... it has been a crazy three weeks.

Here we go:

May 8, 2010- we decided to have an "open house" or an engagement party as most people saw it as. We were not married yet, I did not wear my wedding dress, there was no wedding cake, nothing fancy about it. But..... It was a chance for all our New Mexico friends and family to wish us luck. I have already posted most details of the wedding so I will try to spare repeating myself. Lets jump back a little, and share some pictures....

 About a month before (weather was still not great)..... my dad decided he wanted to fix up the backyard a bit (as I have mentioned in previous post). A "little project" in his mind. HOLY SMOKES!!!! What an understatement.....

He first started out by building a 12ft x 12ft deck coming out of the pool.

We then went out and bought all these bricks (or whatever they are) to build a "small" retaining wall to use as a flower bed in front of the deck. This "small" wall gradually got larger and larger. Multiple trips BACK to home depot for hundreds more bricks..... and multiple trips back to the lot to retrieve more loads of dirt (to cover our not so "small" flower bed)...... here we have.....

One retaining wall built within another retaining wall. And a wall that wraps around the whole deck. We just kept building.... and with a few minor details (not leveling right, wall collapsing in, and not knowing how to stop the dirt from the upper wall from sliding down to the lower beds....) we managed to get it done!

May not look like much.... but trust me!!! It was a ton of work. On top of the deck (I think I have officially mastered the drill), the rock wall, planting a TON of flowers, maintaining the pool and pond.....we also layed red rock around the whole pool, we built steps, pathways, dug up and re transplanted multiple bushes, and sod.... we redid (twice) the side yard with sod and more red rock and pathways. End result.....

Not bad, huh?? Again..... have to give most of the credit to my dad. He is awesome! Hardest worker I know! I didn't get many pictures of this reception (and no photographer.... dang!). Not even a single picture of Erik or I..... opps! Maybe someone else has more on their camera?

New Mexico open house was a success. Mother got little sandwiches and desserts and drinks. Almost everyone from our church stopped by, along with lots of other close friends and coworkers  to wish us off. It was so nice to just relax and chat with everyone.

Oh yes..... there was a chocolate fountain as well!!! It was a major hit..... highly recommended!

Toward the end of the night...... some of our close friends stayed. We had a fire, opened presents, and went hot tubbing and swimming.

I've always been taught that trials are blessings in disguise.... and as much as I did NOT want to move to New Mexico a few years ago, we could not help but to sit back and realize how much we really do love it here...... and everyone we have come in contact with.

~We shall return.... Mr. and Mrs. Fitzgerald~

We are off tomorrow!!! I know...... I've said it once, I'll say it again.... I stink at updating this thing. I promise, pictures of the yard and some excited things are coming! For now...... I'm writing down a few quick updates and thoughts before I finish packing and head off to bed..... my last time going to bed in this home "single."

Where does the time go?? As Erik's grandma says "tempus fugit!!" 
>These last few weeks have been crazy! Finals completely consumed us. I had 3 huge "medical" papers, and lab write-ups, and 5 finals this semester. I'm grateful for the Man upstairs for really helping me out this semester, because I know I was not as motivated as I have been in previous semesters to pick up the books and start studying or to do homework.  **Whoever thought having a wedding the week after (technically the week of) finals was a good idea...... WRONG!!!** However it did make things more interesting (tested my patience..... which I think we all realize I do NOT have). But in the end.... it is the end! And I actually ended up with pretty good grades this semester (if I do say so myself).  Erik should be getting all the recognition here tho!!! He had tough tough classes (those engineering classes.....) and had a TON of homework and tests and papers and long labs. My sweetheart could never catch a break, but he stuck with it through all this crazyness (me being his number one crazyness), and also dominated this semester!! Hurray!!! Summer time!
>Our New Mexico reception was a success :-). One down, two to go! We had an amazing morning! Something very special and something we will definately never forget. Grandma Reeder and brother flew in the day before to share this special day with us and help out with the reception.  It meant so much to us to have them there. We spent a few hours before the reception finishing up the yard (aka painting the hot tub, getting the fountain in the pool set up, arranging furniture, setting up tables).  It was sunny and hot, and a very relaxing day. About an hour before ppl were suppose to show up, we were finishing up some centerpieces and starting to prepare the food. Right then, the wind picked up..... and of course, the pool gets a leak! Dad heads straight off to home depot and Erik and Kade immediately stop what they're doing to help with that.  15 minutes before reception...... Food is still not prepared, yard still has tools and paint and wheelbarrows scattered everyone, the cover is not off the pool, all the trees and plants and pictures have been blown over from the wind, cars were not where they needed to be to provide enough parking..... the chocolate fountain was not coorporating (because of the wind), nobody had showered or gotten ready..... and the list could go on!  Needless to say, everything worked out just fine, we got ready, guest showed up.... and we had a great time! We got lots of compliments on the yard..... so go dad!!! He did an awesome job. I'll post pictures upon our return!
>We found a house!!!! We will not be homeless when we return back from our honeymoon..... we were a little worried. It's nothing fancy or exciting..... but we are happy. Our friend Chris is the manager of them, and we have lots of our co-workers on all sides of us. It should be fun, and we are grateful for Chris for helping us out! Our move in day is June 4 (we get back from our honeymoon May 30.... so we hope the parents will let us stay a few more nights with them) so we have time to pack and clean when we get back. 
>Um.... what else?? Oh yeah.... we're getting married!!!! We head to Utah tomorrow. Friday will be a crazy day setting up and getting everything ready. We're so excited to see all our family there (and Whitney and Cody are even coming down!!). Should be a beautiful sealing and fun reception. We're excited.
>We head out Monday to Washington. We are excited to see all of Erik's family! It will be a fun week getting ready for the big reception, enjoying time as all the family and friends start coming in (some which we haven't seen in a long time..... and a few I've never even met before!). We're really excited for this too!!
> Yep..... excitement! That's all we are feeling right now.  Life is good! Everything is coming together. And i'm done worrying about having the perfect dress, the perfect flowers, the perfect receptions. If I don't have something..... I'm not going to have it. If something doesn't turn out right.... it doesn't turn out right. We're done worry.... and we're on to enjoying. Hope our guest are okay with that!
>I've spent the last few night packing.  Packing for Utah..... for Washington.... for Puerto Villarta...... for the new house. So many changes. So many adventures. I'm beyond excited! Erik is sitting next to me now (playing tiger woods on the xbox) and we both just looked at each other and smiled ,"life is good!!"

So we leave you, dear blogger world....... and when we reunite, we will be married! Together for eternity!!! Mr. and Mrs. Fitzgerald :-). Until then......

Yes, we are alive!!!!

Dear Blogger World,
Sorry you have been next to... nonexistent. I hope you will forgive us, considering everything going on. I'll be honest and say it's probably a good thing we have not been posting.  I went to post a few weeks ago, but couldn't even type because I had burned my finger tips of on a sizzling fajita skillet at work..... and I was not in the most positive mood. I had spent hours and hours on the phone trying to hunt down a flower girl dress (we had gotten them months ago, but one was the wrong size and by the time we went to exchange it... the dress was unavailable and was no longer made--- go figure--- but a few places still had them, and it was our job to hunt it down). Flowers were not working out..... centerpieces were being doubted by some. When I had a few hours to study, I found myself writing and responding to emails for almost 3 hours! This wedding has completely consumed me, and I felt I had been defeated.  I literally went into the bathroom.... but my head in my hands and sobbed, and sobbed and sobbed. I wanted to give up...... I wanted to be married (never have I doubted that), but I wanted to give up on the wedding planning. I wanted to give up on school (finals were starting that same week), on work, on looking for a place to live, on finances.... the list seemed never ending. I had about 7.38 minutes to throw a pity party for myself and let it all out, and then it was time to pull myself together and head to work.

Dear Wedding......
Regardless of the resentment I have shown to you over the past few weeks, I'm beyond excited for you!!! It all starts next weekend (brings a smile to my face just thinking about it). And just as everyone has said..... it will all come together. And look at that...... you are! We located the flower girl dress, Suz found a solution to the centerpieces and they are turning out great! Aunt Rosie found awesome deals on flowers for both big receptions that will work wonderfully. Our backyard is looking like an backyard...... and an awesome one, if I do say so myself (it was a little scary there the past few weeks). Tuxes are ordered, rentals are reserved, hotel came through...... Just a few more things to be completely and I think we'll be good! I'm going to try my best not to stress over you, and just enjoy the excitement and happiness I KNOW you will bring to us.

Dear family of the bride (Especially Mom and Dad)......
Thanks for all the help you are giving to us!!!!!! Dad leaves for work before 6am..... returns from working all day usually around 7pm. Goes straight to the yard and works until after 10. His weekends are spent out there from the time he wakes up, to the time he goes to bed. He has done so much in the yard (I will post pictures soon!). I know he wants the best for us.... and has been stressing to get this done (and now he's gone all this week on business).  Mother has been a HUGE help with everything!!!! From calming me down and talking me through this whole thing, to gathering and printing off addresses, to confirming payments on everything, to getting rentals, cakes, food, refreshments, chocolate fountains, more and more decorations, hundreds and hundreds of phone calls on a daily basis, coming with me to my dress fittings, pretty much doing it all! I would literally be lost without her! Kelsy and Rachelle have been a huge help as well! From also putting in a ton of hours into the yard, to putting together the music for us, to folding..... stuffing.... and licking (gross!) nearly all 350 announcements.  Thanks times a million!!!!!

Dear family of the groom.....
We are sooooooo excited to see you! 2 weeks and 6 days..... we have been counting down! Erik's dad has helped us a lot. He found us (and took care of) a caterer (which was huge.... and we're very excited about), the cake which is also huge and was included in the package, he took care of the tuxes, looked at the venue and has given us lots of advice and help with all of this! Erik's mother has also done a ton for us! She went to the venue and asked a ton of questions for us and gave us lots of suggestions on what we should do with it. She has also put in a lot of work and is taking care of the rehearsal dinner for us! And is also taking care of present opening (day after wedding) for us.  She has also given us a ton of advice and sent us lots of links to help us get through this all.  It's not easy planning a wedding 2000 miles away.... so we are very grateful for Erik's family and all they do for us! And Brett and Mark..... we love you! Are you ready for a sister?? :-)

Dear Erik.....
I love you so much!!!!  You get on my nerves sometimes (haha)..... but I really am so grateful for all you are doing for me! I have been a bit crazy these past few weeks.... so thanks for putting up with me! What kind of man would jump in a freezing cold pool to clean it? Or pull out a huge tree with his bare hands like a gorilla? Or play "mule" and haul all those bricks and rocks and dirt and boards like it was nothing? I'm definitely marrying a stud!!! I thank you for all the hard work you put into this wedding, the yard, school, work, providing, etc. I shall be your wifey in just a few weeks....... and you're stuck with me FOREVER!! are you sure you don't want to back out??

And now for Erik's wonderful post. He saw me start the blog "dear blogger world....." and then I left to do something real fast and this is what I came back to. Isn't he so sweet??

Dear Blogger World,
Life has been so hectic lately and I have been having a hard time. I have to take birth control now so I have been flying around the neighborhood on my broomstick. Erik and I work together as you know which is okay until he asks me to switch shifts "he bugs!" As far as the wedding planning is concerned I am doing everything! Erik is such a lard a**! He doesn't do anything which makes this not so exciting....... We are still living in my parents house because Erik is to cheap to get an apartment. Speaking of cheap every time I mention the debit card we have to drive to the ER because Erik has chest pain. Blogger world Is it supposed to be like this?

I will continue this post (along with some pictures) in the next few days! Hope all is well with everyone!

Q: What's cuter than us???

Answer: NOTHING!!!!

My sister Crystal and my 2 nieces were down here to visit us a few weeks ago. I love my sister...... and my nieces! Crysti is so crafty and so fun to be around.  She always has so many projects to do for her home, and her girls..... I hope to be half the mom she is someday (don't worry.... that day won't be for a while)! We spent many nights playing cards, staying up until 2am talking and laughing and having "heart-to-hearts".  I look up to Crysti in so many ways, and I just hope she realizes how much I do love her and appreciate all she's done (from taking me to and from dance, being there for me through some of life's toughest trials and challenges, and just being an amazing person and sister), and still does (helping me with wedding plans, calling and talking to me for hours about anything and everything, and continuing to be my example) for me. 

Aubrey~ my cute niece....... makes me smile!!! She is such a sweet girl. She's very easy going, and does things at her own pace.  She's always been a bit shy, but it was so fun to see her break out of her shell while she was here.   

She loves her disney movies! I think she watched "Anastasia" and "Sleeping Beauty" about 27 times.

Me: "Hey Aubrey, how about we go outside and play"

Aubrey: "But this my fav-ite mooovy"

Me: "How many time have you seen this movie today?!"

Aubrey: "for twenty-eight yearrrrs"

Oh, ok. The things she came up with made me laugh. She's really getting a cute personality.

My other forvorite thing Aubrey says is, "Well......" She literally would say "well...." in front of everything she would say, and would truely look like she was thinking very hard about what you said, or about what she was about to say.

Me: "Aubrey, are you going to do gymnastics when you're big?"

Aubs: "Well...... yes."

Me: "Oh cool, can I come watch you?"

Aubs: "Well.... alright."

Me: "Thanks. Should we go to the zoo today?"

Aubs: "Well.... that sounds fun."

HA.... so cute, right??

Whenever I would ask Aubrey to smile at the camera...... she would look the other

way and cross her arms......

Olivia~ on the other hand would be tapping me on the back of the leg..... "Cheesh, cheesh!!!" Want to talk about complete opposites?? These little girls are totally opposite of each other.  Don't get me wrong, they are both beyond adorable, and very funny, but as far as personalities..... very different!

Livy was almost 2 when she was here. She had grown so much since I had seen her at christmas, and was talking so much more! This little girl would repeat EVERYTHING you would say. And was communicating quite well "ilk"- milk. "poopies"- diaper change. "namies"- pajamas. "ug"-hug (usually said in between cries). "side"-she wanted to go outside. "buh-byes"- she was bored and ready to move on to bigger and better things. "azy"- crazy. "ince"- prince (they call erik "prince erik" from the little mermaid). She could say almost everyones name, and if you asked who was who, or what was what she would know, and point. I taught her how to say "peace out"- she released quite a bit of salivia while saying this clever phrase, so beware if you're face to face with her..... other than that, soooo cute (and she knew it..... she would smile every time she would say it). Mother taught her "dane-it"- dangit. My mom thought it was so funny. And Livy would run into the living room where we would all be gathered, and yell "dane-it" and run off.

Prince Erik and Olivia...... Not the best picture, but I thought it was cute. And shows how tiny Olivia is (compared to big Erik..... probably not that fair. You're good, Livy!)

But Livey doesn't let her size stop her! She IS the boss. If she's playing barbies, or eating, or whatever it is.... she'll just grab toys, or your candy (usually from Aubrey) "mine".  Aubrey usually just says, "oh, babies?" and gives her anything she wants. See what I mean by opposites? She would also just grab anyones fingers, and drag them where ever she wanted to go. She may be little, but she's so dang cute! Who could resist?

Little Livy is like the energizer bunny. She would sleep until noon (any other 2 year old out there that does that?)..... but would go go go until all hours of the night.  She's a bit stubburn..... everything I would say to her, she would simply reply "nope"- that word was very clear, and very much used (Crysti's got a handful). She's also very independent. No matter how difficult the task may be, if livy is determined to do it.... livy's going to do it! She does not like anyone helping her. For instance: one night I took her up to get her pj's and a diaper. This girl loooves her diaper (she hugs it every time she see's one, and Crysti says she sometimes has to sleep with one-besides the one she wears.). So she got very excited when I gave her a diaper, and then I was looking for her pajamas, and she yelled "aub-ee, aub-ee!" I turned to see if Aubrey was there. "Aub-ee namies, aub-ee namies!!" She was screaming and laughing and was just so excited. Okay... take Aubrey's pajamas to her. "oh.... are these your nammies, Livy??" The excitement began all over again "yyy-eah!!!!!! livy's nammies!" She insisted on hoding her pj's, aubrey's pj's, her diaper, and aubrey's pull-up. When we approached to the stairs, I tried to help her.... but she would freak out and start crying.  Alright, fine... have it your way. I think it took a good 15 minutes.. and she would continue dropping one of her items (and then another item when she would bend over to pick up the original dropped item), but she did it!! 

Another quick funny story about Aubrey (sorry, I couldn't move these pictures up with the rest of aubrey's pictures). Anyway.... Crysti and I were having a heart to heart one night (about 1am). Aubrey slowly walked to the table where we were....

Crysti: "Aubrey, go back and lay down or we're going to turn off your movie"

Aubrey: "but..... I have m-ynms in my yammies."

Crysti: "What? You have m&ms in your tummy?"

Aubrey: "Nooo..... I have m-and-ms in my YAMMIES!"

Me: "I think she said, she has m&ms in her pajamas"

Crysti (very confused): "You have m&ms in your yammies?"

Aubrey (relieved): "Yeah!!!"

Crysti: "oh...... why do you have m&m's in your pjs?!"

*Aubrey and I are dying laughing*

Crysti (seeing how random and funny this is) "does that mean they're all the way down at your feet?"

Aubrey (smiling ear to ear): "well...... yeah."

They were footed pj's, so crysti had to unzip them all the way, reach her hand down by her feet.... she pulled out multilple peanut m&ms. "Is that all??"

Aubrey: "um... no"

Really?? Crysti continued to dig down both pant legs. After multiple m&ms and lots of good laughs, Aubrey seemed content and back to her bed and movie she went.

I could sit in one room with my sister and nieces and be perfectly content. But don't worry.... we didn't. We went to the park, we played outside quite a bit, did lots of shopping, rode a carasal (olivia: "horsey *hahaha* tute"), met the easter bunny, did some wedding stuff, and just enjoyed each others company.

Sorry this post is ridiculously long. I'm obsessed with my nieces!!! Can you tell?? I adore them beyond believe, and can't get enough of them. Erik loves them too! Every time he would walk in the door from work or school they would run up and give him a hug. Or every time they he left Aubrey would ask him where he was going.... and why. After they left, Erik said "man, now who am I going to play with??" (Um.... I'm right here!!) But needless to say, we were sad to see them go.  Wish we were closer to them (And crysti and scott!!), but in the meantime.... We'll just enjoy their visits. Please come back and visit us soon!!! We love you!