Our lives

It's safe to say we stay pretty busy, what with school, work, extra athletic training time (me) and outside school assignments (him). But we have been attempting to continue doing other things besides, and still try to see each other once in a while!

1. Church. We just got a new calling, we're now the Activities Committee Chairpersons. Right now we've been planning a big ward barbeque as an opening social, and I think it's going to turn out great! We're even lucky enough that my father-in-law, Wayne, is going to come down and make his famous fried doughnuts! I can't wait! Besides that, we've been going to stake activity meetings, and been planning some big events, like a huge tailgate party for the stake before the first home SUU football game. Sadly I'll be doing athletic training, and Gentry will be at work, so we can't actually go to the event, but it's been fun to plan.

2. Work. We've truly been blessed, because at the beginning of the school year, I had no idea how many hours of commitment the athletic training program was going to require. With that type of schedule, it was pretty impractical to try and work a work schedule in with it. So we looked over our finances and decided that I would quit, and we'd have to be tight with our money. But fortunately my employer was willing to work with me and I could work a couple shifts a week so I didn't have to quit. It's not a whole lot, but it ties the ends together, and I'm so grateful for it. 

3. Institute. Silly me, I had the thought that people stopped going to institute after they got married. Wrong! Our young married stake has several special classes just for married students, and we-or maybe I- decided we were going to take one. So now we are enrolled in Building an Eternal Marriage, and while I've been to the class once by myself, and we missed this last week, I can still feel the importance of the class and how it will help us as a couple.

4. Athletic Training. This mostly just deals with me, but it's a big enough part of our lives that it ought to be mentioned. In short... I love athletic training! While I've been very go-getter about all my studies, I'd never found something that I just knew I wanted to do. Well I finally found it! Athletic training is so great, it involves all of the things I've always wanted to do in a career, and puts it all together. True, it is a lot of work, and it involves a lot of extra hours in the training room, but every day makes it a little more worth it!

Our lives are pretty boring for the most part, but we still find time to get out and enjoy ourselves. Last night we went on a date, went and got some amazing Mexican, and then went and saw The Words. If nothing else, I got to spend some time with my sweet husband, whom I love dearly, more and more each day, even when he teases me mercilessly! He's my forever, and is everything I have ever wanted, and more than I deserve. I'm literally in love with my best friend, and it makes life so much better!

Weekend in Delta

So the weekend before school started, Gentry and I wanted to do something to officially end our summer. He had wanted to go up to the Delta high school football game, so we decided to go up with Brandon and Courtni, and then go horseback riding and boating too! Wouldn't you know it, I didn't take the camera with me anywhere but riding, but I still managed to get a few good pictures.

Brandon, Courtni, and Savy riding the horse

My hubby being the cute cowboy 

Savannah loved playing on the farm!

Hoo-rah for summer! Ours was pretty much the best!

Honeymoonin' in Vegas!

I'd never been to Vegas before (I know, shocker) but we went for a week the Saturday after we were married for our honeymoon. It was so much fun! Sadly, almost all of the few pictures I took were all at the pool, and I didn't get any of Vegas itself.

Our awesome hotel

My cute hubby... poor boy, he ended up getting so sunburned!

We had wanted to go to the Vegas temple, but wouldn't you know it, it was closed the week we were there for cleaning. So we decided to drive to it anyway and sit on the grounds for a while. 

After we'd got completely sick of each other (just kidding!) we invited our friends, Brandon and Courtni to come see a show with us the last few days we were there. It was so much fun to have them there with us!

The first week of marriage... completely and utterly awesome!

Finally!

Okay, so I'm a slacker. We've been married for over two months now, and I'm just barely getting around to updating on our life. Oh well, better late than never.

The past two months have been... unreal. I can't believe that so much time has past already, it seems like no time has past at all since Gentry and I were sealed. But at the same time, it feels like we've been married forever. I'll try my best to recap everything that's happened.

The week of our wedding was crazy. Nuts. Insane. We had so many last minute details we had to do, we were running around like crazy, and still trying to finish up our last few shifts of work. We left Wednesday for Delta, but not before going down to St. George for Gentry's tux and the flowers. Once in Delta Gentry's family was amazing, they helped out with everything from food to decorations, anything we needed, it was done. Thursday was our first reception in Lehi, it was a long day getting ready and finishing everything before we could enjoy the evening. So many friends and family came to support us, you could feel the love from every single person.

My best friend, Courtni, was our photographer for the next couple days. She was so awesome!

Our cake was incredible. So incredible, in fact, that we didn't eat a piece of it. We decided that we wanted the cake for both receptions, so we asked Gentry's sister-in-law, Jessi, to make the whole things fake, and we just cut a cupcake on the side. I have to say, that was one good cupcake!

While we had decided we didn't want to smash cake in each others faces, Gentry still managed to get some frosting on my dress. At least he was nice enough to clean it up!

Finally, Friday came. The day we were going to be sealed for eternity. We drove up to Manti together early, and it was so wonderful to just get to talk with Gentry about what was going to happen and our life. Because although we practically hadn't separated for the past six months, the term "we" took on a whole new meaning that day. Our sealing was incredible, I can't even describe it. It was hard to not be emotional through the whole thing because of how strong the Spirit felt.

After taking tons of pictures, we started the long drive back to Delta for our luncheon. My mother-in-law did a great job on the food, it tasted amazing! Gentry's dad sang us a song, as is tradition for every one of his sons. And then Gentry gave me a wonderful surprise: he sang for me too! He sang "She Thinks She Needs Me", and he had no idea how much that song meant to me. Needless to say, I got very teary-eyed.

Final task: our last reception. Everyone was pretty tired, but we were able to get through the rest of the festivities. We danced our first dance to our song "This Kind of Love" by Josh Turner.

In short, our wedding was amazing. I couldn't have asked for anything better, and I most certainly couldn't have asked for a better man to be married to. I love him more than I know how to say, and eternity might just be long enough to spend with him!

Ironies

Looking back, it's hard to believe that only six months ago I met the man I am marrying. That is one of the many ironies I've found in my life, those things that I swore I would never do, and yet I did anyway and much better things have come from it.

I heard a great quote once: "Want to make God laugh? Tell Him your plans." That is so completely true, and while we may think we've got it all figured out, we have to remember that there's someone up above who's got much better things in store for us.

Some of those things I thought I'd never do:

• Get married while I was still in college. 
• Yes, I'll admit, it's a little ridiculous, but everyone knows someone who chooses to stop going to school and they never finish their degrees after they get married. While that may be the right choice for others, that was something I never wanted to do, so it only made sense that I should just wait it out until I'd graduated. But as you can see, I'm defying my own logic, and lucky me I have a wonderful husband-to-be who wants me to go do as much school as I want and supports me fully.
• Marry someone I haven't dated at least a year. 
•  Probably terrible of me, but I used to make fun of those girls who had only known a guy for three weeks, and then up and marries him. I even had a close friend who'd only known her husband a month and then got married. I thought they were nuts. How could anyone be so sure that they'd chosen the right person in such a short period of time?
  Again, the joke's on me, because while my plan was to date at least a year, and then see how I felt about marriage, when the confirmation came a short time in, it felt like the most natural thing in the world. Gentry and I kept going along like we'd known each other our whole lives, and once in a while we'd have to pause and remember: we've only actually known each other three weeks! Four! Two months!
  So while I used to be the one laughing at the girl's who got married so quickly, I only suppose it's poetic justice that I received it in return! And yet, like those girls, I don't even care what other people may say, because I know it's right. 

I could probably go on, but many of the ironies that have happened with me and Gentry wouldn't really make sense to anyone else except us. All I can say is that I'm so glad that things didn't go the way I planned, because my life is so much happier and complete with this amazing guy in my life. He is everything to me, and I can't wait until we're sealed for time and all eternity. Love you, handsome!

He's a Graduate!

This is a little late posting, but I wanted to show off my little brother a bit.

Jameson Gary Smith, 18, has now officially graduated from Utah County Academy of Sciences, and from Utah Valley University with his Associate's Degree! I wasn't able to go to his college graduation, but I managed to make it up for the UCAS one. Congrats, little brother! I knew you could do it! I'm so proud of you!

More Edits

Lately I've had more night shifts, so I've ended up making a lot more picture edits. 

Whatever helps me stay awake!

This was one of those you don't expect to turn out, but...

Pretty much my favorite picture out of all our engagements... literally. 

It turned out so amazing, I've used it for so many things already!

 One of the many pictures that are deemed "bloopers." 

But it's surprising how many of the ones you think you hate at first, end up becoming your favorites.

 I tweaked the quote a little bit, but it totally applies to us! 

And in case you're wondering... 23 more days!