And we're back

So, the wedding is over. We're home from the honeymoon. We're moving into our apartment. I've returned to work and Heather started school today. I'll try to summarize the events of the past week and a half. I apologize in advance for the long post.

The first couple days I was out in AZ, we got some of the final preparations done. My dad got into town on Thursday. (P.S. He bought a brand new 2005 Mustang GT convertible. It's pretty freaking sweet!)

Friday the 19th we had our wedding photos taken. I think they're going to turn out well. I'll post some once we get them back. The photographer was using a Digital SLR, so hopefully I can get the original images to post. If you're wondering if it was hot in AZ, the answer is yes. Very yes. Man, I was dying in my suit when we were getting the pictures taken. Heather looked amazing in her wedding dress. She couldn't have looked any more perfect than she did. I have a few photos my Dad took with my camera.

Saturday morning was the wedding. It was awesome. It was a very special experience and I'm so happy I got to share it with someone so amazing and who I love so much. After the wedding, we had a luncheon at Macaroni Grill. That was a lot of fun. We finally had a chance to sit down and just have a good time for a little while. The most important part of the whole thing was over, so I felt that weight lift off my shoulders. I get stressed out easily and just waiting for something that big to happen was weighing down on me. There wasn't really any reason for me to be stressed, I just worry about something going wrong and it gets to me after a while. At the luncheon, Evan (my best man) gave a great toast. Way better than any of the ones I've given, and I've given several. After the luncheon, we had a few hours before we had to get the reception for photos with the wedding party. We went back to Heather's parents house. We took a nap for a little while and then we had to start getting ready. We had to pack everything for the Honeymoon, because we were leaving straight from the reception. In the mix, Heather mentioned to me that she couldn't find her wallet, but didn't think would really need it for anything. This will be important later on. We got to the reception and Heather got read in her dress while I took some photos of the decorations and cake and stuff.

Everyone showed up and we started taking our photos outside the reception hall. Again, it was a little warm. It was a wise decision having the reception inside an air-conditioned room. The wedding reception went off without a hitch. In fact, the entire day went really smoothly in my opinion. We stood in the reception line for most of the two hours. Heather didn't want to do the cake cutting or the bouquet or anything like that. So at about 8:40PM we started walking around and just chatting with people. Then just before 9:00PM we went and got changed and ready to leave. Everyone at the reception went outside the front door and waited for us to come out. They gave out little bottles of bubbles to everyone, so they were all waiting for ammunition in hand. We had our final goodbye with parents and stuff before going outside. We were bombarded with bubbles. In all the excitement I almost forgot to open Heather's door for her. We got out of there and headed over to the Gainey Suites Hotel in Scottsdale. It's a really nice hotel. I liked it a lot.

The next morning we started getting our things together to leave for San Diego. I scheduled the hotel shuttle service to pick us up at 12:30PM, but I forgot that check-out is at 12:00 noon. I realized this at about 11:45AM. Needless to say, we got packed very quickly. We then had to wait a while for the car service to pick us up. It was very fancy. They picked us up in a Lincoln Town Car. Very nice. During our trip to the airport, we realized the first thing we needed Heather's wallet for. Her ID. We didn't know what to do, without an ID. Apparently, if you don't have ID, you have to get screened at security. So they had to take her aside and go through all her carry-on items and give her a full security screening. It was a hassle, but we survived. We waited for a while and then boarded the plane. It was about to pull out from the gate but returned and we were informed by the pilot that there was a warning light that they needed to get checked out. He said he would let us know what was going on. About 15-20 minutes after pulling back into the gate, they announced we were ready for takeoff and we pulled out. I'm not sure what it was, but we made it there alive, so I guess that's the important part. We arrived in San Diego, only a little late. The weather was beautiful. If I could live anywhere in the country, I'm pretty sure San Diego would be it. Unfortunately, I forgot which car rental service I used, because I booked the car about 2 months before the wedding. I had to call my roommate and have him look it up on my email. We finally got on the right shuttle and headed over to Enterprise. Problem #2, Heather has the credit card in her wallet. The wallet that we don't have. Rental Car companies need a credit card for the deposit on the car. They used my Debit Card, but that meant that they take $300 out of my account until the car is returned. This made it a little difficult when we got to our hotel because they charge the entire amount when you check in. I had to give them a cash deposit and put the rest of it on my card because I was short about $300 by that time. It was a big hassle and I was a little stressed out because of the whole thing. We go to our room, which we loved by the way. We stayed at the Hotel La Jolla. It's a very narrow building and the rooms are only on one side of the building, each room facing the ocean. It's very unique. We were on the 9th floor, which is the best place to be. We had an amazing view of the ocean.

The 11th floor of the hotel is a very nice restaurant that we never had a chance to eat at. But the restaurant has jazz musicians at night, so on the 10th floor, I believe it can be very noisy. The 9th floor has easily the best view of the ocean, which is only a block away. The rooms were rather small, but not too small for us. The were very clean and looked like they've just been remodeled. I was very happy with the hotel all around. We loved it there and plan on going back, possibly for our 1 year anniversary. (Hint: Book far in advance, because it appears to be a very popular hotel. They were completely booked when we got there.) While there, we were able to go to beach, walk the trails along the La Jolla shores, visit the Gaslamp Quarter of San Diego, go to Magic Mountain and more.

Heather and I at Magic Mountain on our honeymoon. Yay! (I meant to post this right when I took it, but I couldn't remember the e-mail address I had to send the message to from my phone. Oh well, here it is.) This was on the Goliath. I don't know what's up with the Asian guy in the back, but he looks like he's up to something.

We had a blast. I was pretty sad to leave it and return to the real world, but at the same time was excited to get settled into our new place and start our new life together.

We flew back to AZ on Thursday afternoon. We opened our wedding gifts and spent the night at Heather's parents. The next morning we packed up and left on the 10-hour drive to Provo from Mesa. Long drive, you say? Well, it's nothing compared to the 13-hour drive to California we get to do this Friday. Anyway, we're back in Utah. I went back to work and Heather started school. We're back to the real world now. Sorry for the super-long post, but it's hard to summarize a week and a half. Especially since it was the best week and a half of my life.