Wedding minus 545 pictures

So, here it is, the day before and of our wedding play by play:
9:00 am: show up at Brian's house to pick him up to take care of the 3001 things on our to do list only to find him making pancakes in his jammies. First minor melt down ensues.
9:15 am: head to the rental place to pick up rentals
10:00- 3:00 pm: set up the church, have loads of help from family and friends, miscount flowers by 120, watch Xiana have melt down after melt down, feel extraordinarily guilty, have a major melt down, rethink wedding, get more help from family and friends, feel better, church is set.
3:30-4:30 pm: down diet dr. pepper number 4 and head out to our new house to show family
4:30: jump out of and in to clothes to head back to the church to help with the rehearsal dinner.
5:00-10:00 pm: enjoy a delicious dinner hosted and prepared by Brian and his family, visit with family and friends for quite possibly the first time that day, watch as the gym is transformed into a beautiful wedding hall, remember how much I love my soon-to-be-husband as we listen to our sisters practice the song and also as I watch him sweep and mop approximately 75 feet.
10:30 pm: rip apart 3 bouquets because the little girl's were almost the exact same size as mine... too big for them and too small for me. Put the bouquets back together and breathe a sigh of relief when they end up beautiful. Pack stuff for wedding day, night, and to make our new vacant home livable for one night.
1:00 am: crash and sleep easily and immediately.
7:00 am: wake up hold Xiana. Head out to our new house again to show friends.
9:00 am: Meet my family for breakfast at Black Bear. Thwart Brian's family from their meeting place of Black Bear. Laugh because I think it's both romantic and funny that they go somewhere else rather than risking the groom seeing the bride. Feel nervous only slightly, mostly excited and anxious.
10:00 am: go home, finish packing, visit with family.
11:00 am shower... breathe
1:00 pm: head to Brian's to pick up Ekco to get our hair done by new sister-in-law, Tosh. Eat fruit and chocolate and drink coke zero.
1:30 pm: get hair done and it looks absolutely amazing... get teary eyed.
3:00 pm: do makeup and only drop mascara brush 3 times....nervous?
3:30 head to the church to meet friends and family and get dressed. Make sure slide show (countless hours in the making), music, and flowers are beautiful and cued...they are.
4:00 pm: Get dressed. Stop breathing for a few minutes in part because of the dress and in part because of the adrenaline.
4:30 pm: get ready to walk out the door. Try to keep Xiana from having a melt down, send the girls out in front of me.
4:40 pm: The girls look absolutely beautiful and I put lipstick on them both which they think is a treat. Watch them walk down the aisle and only find out hours later that Xiana yells "daddy," when she sees him standing at the arch.
4:42 pm: take my dad's arm and walk...... realize I forgot the ring and send him back for it..... get to the arch and take Brian's hands.
4:44 pm: Everything is surreal and I can no longer account for a play by play description. Bishop Mooney says some really wonderful things which I cannot focus on for long enough to actually register (he printed it out for us which is an incredible idea). All I know is that I am holding hands with the man I love, the man I am marrying, and I can't believe it's finally here. I cannot be more happy than this moment. Sometimes I stare into Brian's eyes and sometimes I look away for fear of being overcome with emotion. The bishop gets choked up and I see Brian's cheek start to quiver and I have to look away to compose myself. Then we both say "I do." And we're married. And I know, like I've always known with absolute certainty that this is the man that I want to spend the rest of my life and the rest of eternity with. Ali sings To Make you Feel My Love and Cami accompanies her. It is beautiful. The entire thing is perfect. Brian and I are smiling from ear to ear and I can't seem to squeeze his hand hard enough. I want to crawl inside his being and become him. Figuratively speaking I do. Relief, joy, happiness, gratitude and a million other emotions create an indescribable phenomena. We take the girls and head outside for pictures. Xiana is kind of a pill but it doesn't matter because the pictures turn out amazing. We head back in and stand smiling for 500 more pics with family. Then we try to eat something, but it is precisely at this moment that people start piling in. We spend the night hugging, talking, dancing, and sharing this moment, this uncapturable moment with so many people we love. We don't really get to spend any length of time with said people, but in our hearts we know they're there and that is enough. Plus, that's the way it goes. The bride and groom aren't there for everybody else:) It. is. perfection. There is a bit of confusion at the end of the night of who goes where with what and whom. The girls are both a bit miffed at us for leaving for our mini moon without them, but we go anyway:) We head to our new house and I am now Mrs. Andersen. And we now are united halves that make a whole. And it rocks. And that is where this play by play ends....

I usually call my bum butt

This is the ongoing argument in the Frey, er um, I mean Andersen household. Xiana has taken to saying butt instead of bum, but that isn't all. She insists on stating that she usually calls it butt repeatedly throughout the day just to see how many differing reactions she can get. Still, she is potty trained so I guess I can't expect her to use little girl words forever :) She has also recently taken to removing her potty seat from the toilet before she uses it because, as she assures me, "I'm older."--another reoccurring statement in our household. In our new house, she has a castle bed and she no longer wears pull ups to sleep. She has made it three weeks with no accidents. I think it's safe to say she is potty trained. It's really nice because I no longer have to remind her or anything... she just does her thing. She is very inventive and I often overhear her saying some of the funniest things. The other day while driving to my parents house in 30 degree weather with hundred mile per hour winds she said, " I see the sun. We better go to Lake Tahoe!"

I know it's completely out of my character to have been feeling guilty or worried about her with this transition *wink wink* but I was. Now, I find that I didn't need to obsess or be so concerned. We have become a little family quite seamlessly. I do, however, feel utterly guilty for relying on the princess and the frog to be my babysitter whilst I paint every inch of our new home. And yes, I am going to write about my wedding... but today I just want to say that we set up our trampoline and I have never seen a happier girl than Xiana jumping on it with her cousin Kylee. It was.... perfection!

I'm back!

I just looked at my last post and discovered it has been *gasp* more than a month since my last post. However, in my defense I have been privy to the most life changing moments in any person's or peoples' or however you say its lives. Not only did I get married (super duper life changing... will blog about that when I have more than a mere 20 min to dedicate to the spectacular-ness of it all), but I also bought a house... a fixer upper.... which requires lots of fixing... So I have been MIA in all meanings of the words. Still, the truth is that despite all my busyness and new life and the end of the semester, and MOVING... into a (did I mention this already?) fixer upper, I would have made sacrifices to blog had I just had this tiny little thing called Internet. Alas, my long lost friend and I are reunited and now we must dig ourselves out of the proverbial cyber hole together. I can't wait to post pics of my wedding.... a month ago wedding that is, and to post pics of the major MAJOR transformations of our new home, and to catch up on the goings on in our lives as a FAMILY, a genuine family. But all that must wait. Tonight, I am simply going to relish the fact that blogosphere is once again at my fingertips, let you all know that I have returned and I will not abandon you again for a long long time, and tell you all that the semester is over and it was extraordinarily rewarding. I did a new assignment where I had my students revise two papers and then present to the class about their journey as writers over the course of the semester. It was moving to see (and let them see) the changes that occurred. While I can't hold myself single-handedly responsible, I can say that their remarks were very complimentary and at times, down right cheezy. Kudos to them and dare I say it? Kudos to me. If I can plan a wedding, get married, buy a house, and teach composition with relatively few melt downs (and typically minor ones) then bring. it. on!

Easter!!!

Xiana is going to be a cow girl! :) Just kidding... I hope!
Dyeing Easter eggs was partially successful this year. I got a shiny egg kit that did not work. Still, the fun part is the actual dyeing anyway.
Brian made these bird's nests that were the most delicious thing ever. Plus, they really look like bird's nests!! How have I made it 30 years without eating one of these?!
Xiana is just so adorable and it was so fun to celebrate Easter with her now that she is understanding the concept a little more.
My not-shiny eggs.
Brian's masterpiece!
Brian had to work on Easter which is especially unfortunate because he RARELY works weekends. Nevertheless, he was the Easter bunny the night before and got to enjoy a delicious dinner made by my mom.
I know... one picture is probably sufficient, but I can't get over how perfect these Easter treats are!!
Xiana opted to eat eggs only...
The only two eggs that are in fact shiny.
The egg hunt was absolutely adorable. Xiana was so excited as she ran around the house finding eggs and putting them in her basket. Holidays are never so wonderful as when you have small children. Their excitement is uncontainable.






My mom made a coconut cake and we dyed it green and put eggs on top. Xiana really enjoyed that too. All in all this Easter might have cost me my wedding dress (just kidding!! but still, lots of delicious-ness)

Worms and Chains

For family home evening last week we made a family chain. We only went so far as great-grandparents and still managed to create a pretty hefty chain. We explained that everybody has a mommy and a daddy and how it all works. We also explained that when Brian and I get married that will connect the two family's chains we had already created. She had fun, but she does not have a ton of patience thus far.
For our activity we made pudding and crushed oreos to look like dirt. I bought some gummy worms to put in the dirt and Xiana had a blast. She helped with every step of the process.
The finished product is so appetizing!
We are such posers with worms in our mouths!

Spring!! ...er, um, I mean... winter!

Xiana and I are very skillful playdo artists. We made fruit!
It looks good enough to eat, don't you think?
We also made all kinds of snakes and then went online to learn about various snakes. She was really interested. I know that she's only 2, but I really need to get her involved in a pre-school. She loves learning so much and she talks about school every day. She says, "remember when I go to preschool and my teacher sing songs and tell me to sit on my chair and we eat snacks and she tell me things." She really misses it. Her day care at UNLV was so involved. They planted a garden, and looked at bugs and learned about different things each week. After life settles down for us a bit, that is one thing that I am going to invest some time into.

So my dad turned the sprinkler system on and, despite the fact that it was maybe 60 degrees, I couldn't resist letting Xiana run through them. It. was. cold. But she had so much fun and given my affinity for water and fond memories of running through freezing cold sprinklers the first chance I got, I simply could not tell her no.
So she ran through the sprinklers, came in, got warm, and changed out her sopping clothes. Then we woke up in the morning and it had snowed!

Bridal Shower

My dear friend Alicia threw me a bridal shower complete with bridal shower games. It was really a lot of fun. I dare say people who detest these hokie games enjoyed themselves. This was particularly clever: each group was given toilet paper and a time limit and they had to come up with wedding dresses. I'm so glad I was selected to be dressed because I would never have thought of ANY of these creative ideas!


My mother-in-law and sister-in-law... we hid in the other room so nobody could copy us!



And the lucky winner is..... I think that it should have been me by default, but alas...
Seriously... we were equipped with accessories too!
The finished products!
I was spoiled with kind gifts, delicious food, and excellent company! Meanwhile Brian went out to the shooting range with his brothers, friends, and my dad... They enjoyed themselves almost as much as me!

While it is exciting to be moving into a new ward, it is also sad to leave the old. I am so thankful that I have established relationships with the wonderful ladies in the Wingfield Hills ward. I plan on keeping them! Our play groups, girls nights, and phone conversations are irreplaceable. Although, I will say that I am thrilled to be attending church with Brian... as a family. It is beautiful! Xiana asked me, "does Kylee have a mommy with her daddy?" I explained to her that they don't live together and she said, "my mommy and daddy are gonna live together with me." It still melts my heart.


Thank you to all who attended and contributed to this shower. It really means a lot to me. (especially Dawnette and Debbie who drove 3 hours here and then 3 hours back.... it was very thoughtful!!)