First Christmas!!

Who doesn't look forward to their first Christmas together as a husband and wife?  It's busy having two families at Christmastime that you have be sure to visit for the holidays.  I jetted out of work a little early on Christmas Eve day and we headed down to have Christmas Eve and morning with my family.  We went to grandma Jewkes' that night to have our family party over there.  We spent the night at my parents' house, and had Christmas breakfast there in the morning.  Grandma and grandpa Jones came over to have breakfast with us, as usual.  We left in the afternoon to come have Christmas with his family. 

We had dinner at Grandma Schick's house. Jay and Jared and their kids all came down (after totaling their car after hitting black ice shortly after leaving their home in Oregon).  We were so glad to have them there, and safe!  We got money from my parents and Jewkes grandparents, the game "Sorry" from my Jones grandparents, 50 mink females from Brent and Jan (and yes, we were excited about it), food storage from Grandma Beckstead, several things from Grams (Cook's Nursery gift card, Cafe Rio gift card, Orange Sticks, etc), house decor from Ryan and Lou (they drew our name on the Schick side), and a small house tool kit from Clayton (he drew our name for our Beckstead family). 

After dinner at Grams', we went back to Brent and Jan's to open our gifts with everyone. They had got us all a few gifts like new sweats and hoodies, and then the gifts we exchanged names for.  The funny story we'll always remember...Ali had got a "gag gift" at her bridal shower from her great grandma.  At the time she opened the gift, Ali had no clue it was a fake gift.  Her grandma kept saying, "Don't you like it? You can put it on your kitchen table or a front entry table like this."  Her grandma then proceeded to lay out a small piece of shag carpet looking material, a "marble" colored cat, with matching colored vases/candlesticks in different sizes.

By this point, Ali was wondering how she was going to avoid putting this out as a decoration, but not hurt her grandma's feelings. Finally, her grandma starts laughing once she sees how mortified Ali is and tells her it was all a joke and gives her a real gift.  Well, Arin and I both had to leave early from the shower Ali's other grandma had put on for her, so neither one of us saw this "gag gift."  Ali and Alex drew Brock and Arin for Christmas and re-gifted the gag to them.  Arin is pulling out the pieces one by one, and we're all laughing, not sure if we should be laughing or not.  Ali is telling Arin, "You can set it out on your table, It will be so cute. I picked it out special for you!"  Then Ali and Alex finally busted up and told us the whole story.  I'm sure that won't be the last of the marble cat and his shag carpet in the Beckstead family!

The cutest gift was this little horse that Clayton made for Cade! He spent his nights building it. I'm pretty sure it was Cade's favorite gift of the year!

After we finished up at Brent and Jan's, Zach and I ventured back to Payson so we could hurry and open our gifts to each other really quick before heading off to bed. We both had to work the next day...talk about a super bummer!  We had a conservative Christmas because we agreed that our new cell phones and TV we bought for our family room would be most of our Christmas.  Zach bought me some cute new black, sequined Ugg-style boots and a new set of sweats.  I gave him a DVD of "Mormon Messages," a book about the timeline of church history, a talk on CD, and a new pair of sweat bottoms. All-in-all we had a pretty great first Christmas together and enjoyed some wonderful company of our families.  (A few days later we went to the Beckstead part at a church nearby Grandma Becksteads as well.)


 

 

 

 

 

First Snowmobiling Trip

Zach talked a big talk about snowmobiling while we were dating, but never did take me (no snow that season). I hadn't been on a sled in years so I was really excited!  It was like -18 in the parking lot, and when we got the machines out and were trying to get ready to leave, one of the pull ropes pulled out and wouldn't drive with the rope out. The spring that coils the rope back in broke, and so we were minus a machine.

 Brent didn't want the rest of us to waste the whole day, so he was very generous and let the rest of us go out.  Ali couldn't go, so Alex was by himself and Clayton had a date.  We had a great time and the boys helped me learn to drive.  It hurt my shoulder after too long though.  Teaching me to carve wasn't the best idea on our first trip and me just learning how to drive in the first place. I think they had to tip me back up like every 15 seconds. Nevertheless, we had a lot of fun and it got a lot warmer when we got on top. We spent a few hours in a little meadow type area that had some untouched powder.  It was a fun trip for my first time going!

Yes, we are weird, we know!

First Christmas Tree

Charlie Brown has never been so proud as he was of this little guy!

 

We really wanted a real tree for Christmas. Since we missed buying the permits because we were out of town that weekend, we decided to buy one at a lot.  Fredrico's Christmas Trees in the R.C. Willey parking lot in Orem! We walked inside the chain link fence and began browsing.  There were several bushy and beautiful "Chistmas-like" trees, but we didn't fall in love with any of them.  I turned to my left and started laughing and said, "How much do you think they wan for this one?" The salesman started explaining to us that the busy trees are genetically altered to be bushy like that for Christmas and that this was a Natural Fir that you would find in the forest to chop down on your own. 

 

We continued browsing around, but didn't see anything we liked more than little ole Charlie! I said, "Hun, I really do like this one." And we both giggled, and he lit up like a little kid and said, "I do too. Let's get this one."  We paid the man, and away we went, off to Payson to set up our newly found "diamond in the rough."  We'll surely never forget this Christmas OR this Christmas tree.

 

We stopped at Wal-Mart to buy some cheap decorations to get us by this year, and a base to put the tree in.  We had such a fun time decorating and making it all cute as we possibly could. We decided the top looked like a "Christmas Cactus" but we loved the 'lil guy anyway.

 

We were so cheap, we even hung the decorations by paperclips like rednecks!

 

 

The final project turned out so darn cute!

 

And don't forget...our first stockings!  TB and ZB!





Ali & Alex's Wedding

The night before the wedding, they had a dinner at a place called "The Blue Lemon."  Good food, and Blane and Jessie sang a few songs at their dinner too! It reminded us of our wedding just two and a half months before!

It snowed during the day and probably made the pictures at the temple beautiful! I didn't have an umbrella so I had to re-curl part of my hair at Jan's house before the reception.  Zach and I were deemed the task of sitting at the signing book. It was kind of fun since we had just gotten married. it was almost like having our own reception.  We saw everyone that would've come to ours too.  We had a really fun time sitting there chatting with everyone that came through.  We even got a few cards of our own! Doc Heaton and his wife were even apologizing for not coming to our reception and we laughed and said, "Don't worry, you didn't miss anything because we didn't have one!"

First Picture in Front of Our First House

Tayler came to visit and stayed with us for the night so once we got back from church, we had her snap our first family photo in front of our first home.  It snowed the night before and was beautiful!

Londyn!

Brock and Arin's baby is finally here! Unfortunately, we couldn't go up that day with everyone else and had to wait to go to the hospital to see the baby the next night.  There are not many babies that don't come out looking like aliens, but wow, she was beautiful!  Not because I'm biased since she's my niece, but she literally was a doll!  My sister was even with us that night and she thought she was super cute too.  I was just getting over a cold and didn't dare to hold her though.  Zach did though. I think it made him anxious to have his own.

Isn't she cute?

Typical Zach

Finally...a decent one!

A Night in the Riverwoods

Small world! I found out a girl I new briefly at work was going to be getting married shortly after we were. So I congratulated her and wanted to see a picture of her and her fiance.  I opened the picture attached to the email and was completely surprised. MIKEY J! A great friend of mine from high school.  She was marrying (of all the fish in the sea) someone I knew, grew up with, and was great friends with.  In fact, his dad and my dad are great friends as well.  She actually ended up doing her endowment session the same night Ali did hers so we were there when Mike and Jana were there as well.  Crazy!

My parents came up to the reception that was in Provo at The Riverwoods, and we tagged along.  After we went to the reception, we went to dinner with them at Tucano's there and walked around the grounds all lit up.  They have really neat little fire pits all around The Riverwoods, so we actually stayed fairly warm too. It's always fun to get together with my parents and have a nice meal with them.

Grandma Jones' 80th B-Day

You only turn 80 once, right? So why not have a big party to celebrate?  We went to Elmo to celebrate grandma's birthday. Christy put together a really neat book of pictures of all of the kids, grandkids, and great grandkids to give to grandma.  We laughed at old memories, and made some new ones we can laugh about in the future.  All grandma's friends showed up, and the family was there (Sherrie/Mark, Christy/Will & their kids, Chad & his kids, Curtis, Mom/dad and all us kids, and Kim/LaDawn and all their kids).  What a great family get together.  Zach and I even brought "our honeymoon baby."  What a sweet little baby Christy has!

Our Fairytale Wedding!

I guess he must really love me, because he actually went through with it and we're officially Mr. and Mrs. Beckstead, sealed for time and all eternity. We only had two and a half months to plan the wedding, but it turned out beautifully! That was all thanks to our wonderful families (especially my mom and sister and all that they did). We are both so blessed to have wonderful families that helped make our day so perfect. I couldn't have asked for it to go more smooth than it did. Sure, there was a little wind, but surprisingly, it didn't interfere with our pictures and made the our wedding video really come to life.

 

Zach & Tawn's Wedding Video

 

The night before our wedding, we spent the night setting up for the dinner. We were up until midnight working at the Manti Historic City Hall to make it perfect for the next day.  After all was set up, Zach stayed with his family at The Carriage House Bed and Breakfast.  Shyanne and Krisina came down to help set up as well, and those two, my mom and I stayed in the cutest old house my mom rented for next to nothing.  We ended up going to bed around 1:30 or so by the time we had everything in order and my mind could stop racing for the events of the next day.  On that note, it was a good thing I had some clean laundry in my car that I had just done at my  mother-in-law's house because I totally wasn't thinking and didn't bring a dress to wear into the temple, only my wedding dress I'd be wearing out. Phew! My garments were barely covered at the bottom and the dress was silky, so it kept sliding up.

 

Just one of my fave pics from the wedding :)

 

Wedding Day Play-by-Play

 

5:45 am - Wake up...sick might I add. Not from nerves, just from my usual sickness issues. In fact, I was calm as ever and not a doubt in my mind. In all honesty, the thoughts most people say they had about having cold feet never crossed my mind. I never questioned the decision I had made, or wondered if I was marrying the right person. I knew I was! After throwing up for awhile, and getting my stomach settled a little...

6:00 am - Took a bath (the house was so old it only had a bathtub, pedastal style). I took my time and relaxed, trying to feel better.

6:30 am - Still sick...Krisina and Shyanne went to the gas station on the corner to get me a Sprite. I blow dried my hair while they were gone.

6:50 am - After returning, they curled my whole head of hair! What awesome friends!

7:50 am - Started pinning my hair up. Krisina finished while I attempted to make my make-up "picture perfect."

8:30 am - Started packing everything up and packing it out to my car. I had to get my laptop ready to and show Krisina and Shyanne how to play our picture montage of us growing up at the wedding as well as get my temple bag all geared up with curling iron and make-up, etc.

9:00 am - Left the house with my mom to pick Zach up to head to the temple.  Of course, I had to have my mom there to help me get into my dress that had nothing short of a zillion buttons up the back that had to be secured with little elastic bands

9:20 am - Walked into the temple legally single with my handsome fiance and my mother

9:30 am - Got all set up at the temple and into my dress. Cute little ladies running around helping me with everything. Also, my white bra was not in my temple bag...awesome! They had to get me a sports bra from the baptistry. Wow...you'd think I forgot everything!

10:00 am - Zach and I talked to the sealer for awhile. What a neat guy. Max Anderson. We sat in the sealing room while he talked to us before he let our families in.

10:30 am - Everybody was there and the sealing began! What an awesome experience, to be sealed to my husband for time and all eternity. Once the sealing was over, each person in the room got to come congratulate us.

11:15 am - Ummm...my hair was TOTALLY flat. Krisina had to re-curl my WHOLE head of hair! It looked beautiful, but...it took us awhile to get my hair ready to take pictures!

11:45 am - We made our first big entrance (or rather exit from the temple) as a married couple.

12:00 pm - Picture time with the family and friends!

1:00 pm -  Our dinner/luncheon. We had it at Manti Historic City Hall. So cute! Jon Judd catered for us. We had tri-tip steak, parsley & butter potatoes, green beans with bacon and onions, homemade sour dough rolls, salad and...black forest cake & ice cream. We didn't serve our real cake because, only the top tier of the cake was real. The rest was styrofoam.

2:00 pm - We had Jessie and Blane Cozzins sing a musical number.  We also had each of our dad's give a little speech about us. Both were really touching!

2:20 pm - Cut the cake! Unfortunately, I couldn't shove cake in Zach's face because we had to leave the temple grounds to get to our dinner before we finished pictures so...we had to go back to finish up after the dinner. I couldn't get his suit dirty! :(

2:30 pm - Boquet throwing and thanking everyone for coming!

3:00 pm - Family and friends that were still there helped keep clean up and we headed back to the temple with Ty, my mom, Eva Chau (photographer) and Parker Walbeck (videographer) to finish up pictures and video footage of us. It was so incredibly windy, I was wondering if any of the pictures wouldn't have hair in my face!

4:15 pm - FINALLY! We were done! My mom helped me get out of my dress...in the parking lot below the temple where the reflection pool is. I so didn't care! I threw on some gym shorts and a t-shirt and we headed to the hotel.

4:30 pm - Did I mention my friends got us a hotel? When we got in our car after the dinner, they had decorated our car all up of course, but they had got the keys from Zach earlier and left a hotel key and a Victoria's Secret box on the driver's seat. I won't say what was in it, but they know, and we know. Thanks Shyanne and Lydia! :D

6:30 pm - Arrived at Clayton's house in Payson where we were going to live while we fixed up our house, and packed our bags to leave for our honeymoon.

7:30 pm - Left Payson to go to Brent and Jan's so they could drive us to the airport

8:00 pm - Got to Lehi and Ed and Ali took our car to wash it so the window marker and silly string wouldn't get hardened on the car and ruin the paint or anything while we were gone. We left some of our valuables from our wallets, and our rings and such, in Brent and Jan's safe. Grabbed some new clothes/garments Jan had bought for Zach for the honeymoon...did a few last minute packing, and got razzed from Brent about why it took us "so long" to get to Lehi.

9:00 pm - Packed up our bags and everything else we needed for our trip and loaded up in the Tahoe. Brent and Jan drove us up to the airport and Clayton rode along. The whole way, Brent gave Zach a lecture on being responsible and how he was a husband now.

9:45 pm - Arrived at airport where Brent gave us a $100 bill and told Zach one last time to be responsible.

9:50 pm - We whizzed through security. There was literally no one in the airport.  We rushed to Cafe Rio so we could grab some dinner before they closed at 10! Made it in the nick of time!

10:15 pm - Got a voicemail from the airline saying our flight was delayed an hour...awesome. So...the rest of our wedding day was spent waiting in the airport. Our original flight was supposed to leave around 11:45 and we didn't end up boarding until 12:50. What a day!

 

That's the description of events of our wedding day. I have so many more details in my journal and other details in the book I'm writing about our "love story." All our emotions and "behind the scenes" things we remember about that day are written down elsewhere for safekeeping! I just wanted to re-cap the day so I can always remember the other little details of the day. I'll always remember the feelings! I'll probably write another post later about the things I really remember during that day. But for now, this is all the rest of the world is getting. :)