2 years ago-

2 years ago today, I woke up on my wedding day & it felt like any other day.

Kind of the way birthdays go when you're little. You think you'll wake up feeling different, but you realize everything is pretty much the same as it was yesterday.

My soon-to-be in-laws were staying at my parents house. My mom made everyone german pancakes & peaches for breakfast. I ate a little, but the nervous excitement was starting to creep in.

I got my nails done, the color looked too white to me, but it didn't matter.

I ran some errands (can't believe i left buying frames for the reception table until the morning of!).

Family started to show up. Everyone hugged but it all felt slightly surreal. Happy & wonderful, but not really different- not how I thought it would feel. Almost like it could have Thanksgiving; it was funny to think that they were all here for me, for my wedding day!

The clocked ticked on and finally I decided I'd better get ready. I started my make-up & my best friend curled my hair for the up-do that I had in my mind but hadn't thought necessary to practice. Then time flew and Mckay was there to pick me up and take me to the temple. My hair wasn't working. It wasn't holding curl, there was "too much of it"... none of that mattered (surprisingly, and thank goodness), I pinned it half up and it looked like my hair on any other day of the week. We hurried out the door & I looked at my freshly cleaned & sparkling engagement ring in the afternoon sunshine.

Next, Mckay & I were riding in his rental car up to the Logan temple. And all of a sudden, there it was, towering above me as we drove up the hill. Standing so majestic and grand, beckoning two people on a lovely September day.

& that's when it felt different.

When he took my hand and we walked from the car to the doors of the temple. His hands felt familiar and warm and his grip was gentle yet firm. That walk, brought the weight of everything down on me, our wedding day. We saw more family & friends to greet, I was aware of how my grey jersey-cotton dress felt so soft on my skin, I hugged my sweet Aunt Debbie and felt her hair brush my face, everything felt heightened.

We walked hand and hand into that beautiful temple and walked out sealed for eternity. Two people, one life, forever. I hadn't felt peace or love or hope like that before. I remember looking into his eyes as we were married and feeling an unexpected calm wash over me.

Happiness shook me to my core that day. The reality of the commitment we had made was etched deep into my heart. He was mine and I was his, & I don't think there has ever been a sweeter feeling than to know that we were each other's.

It certainly hasn't been perfect, but it has been wonderful.

We're still babies when it comes to this marriage thing and some days I certainly act like I need a Marriage 101 class. But these two years have been the sweetest two years, & I look forward to many more with him.

welcome to kennebunkport! -snippets of our labor day in maine.

With our lives about to get pretty busy (with work + school) we saw this Labor Day as a good opportunity to go do something fun without the guilt of neglected homework.  So we up and went to Maine!  I had never been & Mckay had been once before, but only for a football game and he didn't really see any of it.  I was so excited for the long weekend and the chance to explore the coast.  We camped for two nights in Kennebunkport and then spent one more night in a B&B (lest we get too nature-y) in Rockland & made a quick brunch stop in Portland.

We had such a blast!  The camping made my weekend.  We had such a fun time snuggling in the tent in the early morning sunshine and sporting our new head lamps -two camping musts.  Friday night we made it to Kennebunkport & set up our tent in the dark then had fabulous lobster dinner at Nunan's Lobster Hut.  

Saturday we:

 hit up The Wayfarer for breakfast 

window shopped downtown Kennebunkport 

stopped in at an "upscale church tag sale" where cute old ladies tried to sell us old table linens (I did score a vintage milk glass vase!)

took a glorious nap at Goose Rocks Beach

ate dessert before dinner 

built a monstrous campfire 

made tin-foil dinners 

talked for a few hours by the heat of the fire 

had a second dessert of s'mores 

& finished the night off with a few rounds of Speed  [not of the methamphetamine variety] under the stars.

The next morning we left Kennebunkport and drove another two hours north to Rockland for our last night.  We stayed in a cute B&B, The Captain Lindsey House and I was most excited for the fluffy duvet cover and TV in the bedroom (we have neither).  We shopped a little more, had a fabulous dinner at In Good Company, saw a movie and then lounged and watched TV in the comfy bed.  On Labor Day we woke up to a yummy breakfast and then walked to the Rockland lighthouse.  It's 7/8ths of a mile out on a granite breakwater in the harbor.  It was a long walk, but gorgeous and so fun to walk hand in hand with Mckay and laugh and have such an enjoyable time together.  We stopped at another lighthouse on our way out and then hit the road for the 6ish hour trek home.

Lastly, we stopped at a farm stand!  One of my top favorites of the North East is the plethora of fresh produce stands you can find dotted across this part of the country.  We loaded up on fresh everything including blueberry pie and apple cider.  

It was such a perfect, fun, relaxing, romantic weekend.  I sure do love Mckay more than anything in the world & spending time with him makes me a most incredibly happy girl (mush).   I feel so lucky to live the life I do.