August 6, 2010 was easily the BEST day of my life!


Josh and I dated for four years, plus we were good friends for a couple of years before that. Not only that, but we had a ten month engagement. So this day was a long time coming!


I pretty much knew from the first time I said "I love you" that Josh and I would be together for a long, long time. You could kind of say that Josh and I "grew up" together. We've been through a lot of really difficult times together, but a lot of really amazing times, too. Everyone tells us that we just look like we "fit", and I like to think that's the truth! We waited a long time for this day to arrive...but I can definitely say it was well worth the wait!!!

WARNING: This is a post of many photos and many words! If you get bored easily...stop reading now ;)


Our day started pretty early. I woke up at about 4:30 that morning. My good friend Jenn came over to do my hair, and my new sister-in-law Jessica came over to help me with my makeup. Thank goodness I have these girls! I would have looked like a clown without them!
Then it was time to head to the temple and get SEALED!!

Josh picked me up and we were on our way. We both had butterflies and it was a strange feeling knowing that we were about to get married. But the sealing was easily the best part of the day. The temple is such a beautiful place and it was amazing to be there with Josh and with our family and closest friends. I never loved Josh more than I did at the moment we kneeled across the altar together. I hate to admit it, but I don't remember most of what our sealer said...that whole day was such a blur. But it's funny how at times when I need some words of wisdom, his words just pop into my head. He is an amazing man and we were lucky to have him seal us for time and eternity.

Then of course, it was time to go out and see our families and friends and take some pictures.

Aren't these flowers beautiful?! I loved my bouquet!

After we took all of our pictures, let's just say I was EXHAUSTED! It was hot, my dress was heavy and tight, I was a little dehydrated, I didn't eat much for breakfast that morning, and I didn't sleep much the night before. So right before the luncheon started, it all just hit me. My cute photographer Vanessa noticed that I wasn't looking so well, so I sat down for a minute, unzipped my dress in the back to get some air haha, and she fanned me down. Eventually I was doing well enough to go into the luncheon.

Our luncheon was beautiful. My new sister-in-law Heidi's mother, Pam (hope that all made sense) was so sweet to do all of the flowers for our wedding. Aren't they stunning? I especially loved our centerpieces at the reception. She is so talented and had so many great ideas. The luncheon was very elegant - just how I imagined!

Too bad I couldn't really enjoy much of it... I started to eat my lunch and drink some water, when I suddenly just couldn't do it anymore. Josh was seriously worried about me, but wanted to keep a smiling face so people wouldn't stare and wonder what was going on! So my mom and I ran out of the room, and I plopped down the first comfortable place I saw. Luckily it was a couch, so I was able to lay down and close my eyes for a minute. The room was totally spinning. Any time I tried to move or even talk, I felt like I was going to either throw up or pass out. Finally I just broke down and started to cry, mostly from embarrassment I think and because I didn't want to ruin our day. I asked my mom to "get Josh" so she did. Out came my new husband, my dad, my father-in-law, and my sweet bishop (who is practically my dad, too). We went into a little office and had one of the most amazing experiences of my life. Other than the sealing, this was my favorite part of the day.

Those four men laid their hands upon my head and Josh gave me a blessing. He was nervous and under so much pressure! But I immediately started to feel more comfortable and at ease. It was the neatest experience for Josh and I to be able to share on our wedding day. How many people can say that? So it might sound silly, but I actually a little grateful that I was feeling so terrible. I'm grateful for those worthy priesthood holders who gave me that blessing, and especially for Josh for being the man that he is. The power of the priesthood is so real, and my testimony of it grew so much that day!

After that I laid in the bride's room for a while and my sweet husband sat with me in that room the whole time. I kept telling him that I'm sorry I'm sorry for ruining our day, and that I didn't want him to miss the whole luncheon. But he insisted on staying and said he would rather just be with me. I am definitely the luckiest girl in the world!

I was eventually able to finish out the luncheon just fine. I was still a little lightheaded but I was strong enough to sit down and be with everyone, and I was able to sing to Josh which is something I have always wanted to do for him.

Then it was time to head to the reception. I changed into some more comfortable clothes and Josh drove us down to Thanksgiving Point while I took a much needed power nap! I LOVED our reception. Everything turned out better than I imagined it in my head. Our centerpieces were gorgeous thanks to Pam, our pictures all looked incredible thanks to Vanessa, and our cake was to die for. It had been raining the entire week, but even the weather was perfect on our day. And then it rained the next day...so I think we were definitely being watched over. Everything was absolutely perfect!

We had so many supporters at our reception. People just kept coming and coming. I was shocked that so many people would come out of their way to congratulate us. I did not feel deserving of all this attention at all! But we are so grateful for everyone who showed so much love and support.

After the line died down we cut our cake, tossed the bouquet and garter, and danced together. I also got to dance with my dad which was special for me....I love my dad! I am definitely a daddy's girl! Then, we all just danced the night away!

We then changed and headed off to the honeymoon in Park City. Our send off was a tunnel of people all holding sparklers! This was awesome and I'm so glad they did it this way. I wish I had some good pictures of it :(

We are still waiting to get our photos and video. Once we get them, we will post them! I know they are going to be amazing...we were so lucky to get such a great photographer and videographer. I can't wait to see them!

We are so grateful to everyone who showed their support. And we are especially grateful to our families for all of their time, money, and effort that was spent into planning this day. It was a lot of work, but it was so worth it and it was the wedding of our dreams!

"Showered" with Gifts!

I haven't blogged in FOREVER! :( Life has been so busy the past few months. I have been working two jobs, planning a wedding, and now getting settled into married life and our apartment. So there hasn't been much time for blogging. Unfortunately, I have skipped a lot of important events on this blog. But I promise to be better from here on out, and hopefully I can get all caught up!

My first bridal shower was on July 16th. My cute aunt Sue (wish I had a good picture of her) had a great idea to throw a "couples" shower. So all of the men got to come with their wives, including Josh. It was fun to have everyone there, and I think Josh enjoyed being included in the gift opening ;) thats how I bribed him to come!

Here we are getting ready to open our first gift.

What could it be? A salad spinner from Scott and Kerri! YAY! Plus, a beautiful bowl and some salad tongs to go along with it. We LOVE our salad spinner. We use it more than probably any other gadget in our kitchen. Scott and Kerri had some other family events that night so they couldn't be at our shower, but it was so sweet of them to send a gift that we absolutely love! I posted this picture just because I think it is funny. I'm not sure what surprised my mom so much, but I'm guessing its something she was excited about! :)

Towels! Thank you Grandma and Grandpa and Greenwell :)

This next gift was my very favorite from this shower, and maybe even from our whole wedding. My parents gave us this amazing picture of the temple. I don't know if you can see it, but in the bottom right corner it says "Josh and Ashley, August 6, 2010". I saw these photos of different temples at a bridal show back in January, and had to have one. My mom was pretty sneaky and figured out a way to get one for us without me knowing. It is hanging in our living room as we speak and we love it. It is great to have something in our home that reminds us every day of our eternal commitments and helps us to strive to keep doing the right things so we can continue to go to this incredible place.

We were also given some silverware, a fan, a shower curtain and other bathroom decor, some decorative platters, etc. All in all, it was such a fun day! I love being able to spend time with my family...I don't see them nearly enough!

The next day, my long time friend Ali threw me a shower for all of my friends. Silly me, I forgot my camera that day! Can you believe it?! I am pretty upset. But at least I have the memories in my heart and I love all of my friends (especially Ali) for being so loving and supportive!

The day after that, (yes, I had showers three days in a row!) we made the trip down to Gunnison for the Madsen/Cox family shower. Again, we were completely spoiled rotten at this shower. This family is one of the most supportive families I have ever known. Pretty much everyone from both sides of the family came, other than those who live far away. We were pretty lucky!

A lot of hard work was put into this shower as you can see, and I appreciate everyone who spent so much time and effort into planning it.

We got our comforter set that I absolutely love! Our bedroom is now awesome thanks to my mom, sister, and sister-in-law! We also got this beautiful quilt from Grandma Madsen...

(Apparently Kerri didn't want to be in the picture, but she is in it anyway and looks great as always!) Grandma Madsen amazes me. She is not in the best of health, and it is hard for her to get around, but she still manages to be so supportive. And to make such a gorgeous quilt?! I wish I had her talents.

I wish I had pictures of every single gift we got, but I don't. And even if I did, I'm sure you all don't care to see each of them, so I just posted the highlights! Trust me, there were LOTS of highlights. We got so many other gifts too! Like a gorgeous clock from Heidi and Jess, a minky blanket frome Kerri, and tons of much needed things for our home.

Thank you Kelly for allowing everyone to come to your beautiful home!

And thank you Kerri, Heidi, and Jess for helping to throw this amazing shower.

Lauren, Heidi, me, Jess, Kerri, and Krissy

Mom, me, Brittany, and Lydia

Some women in my ward also threw me a shower on the 29th of July. Pictures were taken on a friend's camera, and I am trying to track them down. When I do, I will post them! We received a lot of our dishes, glassware, a rice cooker, and other gadgets as well as some gorgeous photos and decorations for our home. Without all of these showers, our house wouldn't be complete that's for sure!

The weekend before the wedding, my sister Brittany and sister-in-law Lydia threw me a bachelorette party. My sister threw it at her apartment, so we were all able to go down to the pool that night and sit in the hot tub together.

It was fun to be with all my girlfriends and just relax and hang out! They made me wear a little tiara/veil, a feather boa, and a sash that said "Bride to Bling". And trust me...this shower was ALL about the BLING! :) The girls all got to wear necklaces and rings and pretty much play dress up! That's my kind of party!

Why I post embarrassing pictures of myself, I don't know!

Thank you Brittany and Lydia for the fun party! I have the best sisters a girl could ask for.

I look at all of these pictures and think about all of the people who love and care enough for Josh and I to drive long distances and spend their time and money to support us. I feel humbled that so many people showed their love for us. I'm not sure we quite deserve it!

WHEW! I know that was a long post! Stay tuned...because I'm sure there are plenty more long posts to come :)

Wii love Mario

Yes - I am a nerd. And yes, I love to play nintendo. Especially if its Mario. And especially if its on the Wii. So....

My cute hubby-to-be showed up at my work today with this brand new Mario Galaxy 2 game.

He is so cute and thoughtful. When I heard they were coming out with a new Mario game (for the Wii nonetheless), I think he saw how excited I got and decided to get it for me.

Isn't he adorable!?! Oh I love him...

Don't make fun of us for being a couple of nerds. At least we're cute nerds, right? :)

Engagements

Vanessa Millecam is one of the most incredible people I know. She is amazingly talented with her photography! Oh I just love her. She actually found a way to make me look halfway decent! (Josh I'm sure didn't need a single touchup - he is so handsome!) Here are a few of our favorites from our engagement session we did a few weeks ago. Enjoy!

We are taking our bridals this weekend (if the weather cooperates of course) - so stay tuned for more fun! :)

Preview

Josh and I had our engagement photos taken on Friday. Our AMAZING photographer, Vanessa Millecam (love her) posted this little preview on facebook today, so I just thought I would share.

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=862427&id=1628577416#!/photo.php?pid=862427&id=1628577416&fbid=1360609548472

(I tried to post the pic but it was super blurry...so clicking on the link just makes it look a million times better.)

More to come soon! :)

My Fiancé...

...Is quite possibly the most incredible guy EVER!!!

Yesterday was just one of "those days". I'm not one to complain, but Josh is the one person who I tell everything to. My day could have been worse of course, and I'm sure other people had a lot worse days than I did, but you know how it is. We all have days where we just feel down and nothing seems to be going our way.

So, in the afternoon I'm busy working at my desk and the door opens up. (We don't get a lot of visitors in our office every day, so I was curious who it might be.) In walks the man of my dreams! He was holding this...

An adorable gift, topped off with some chocolate - which we all know will brighten any girl's day - candy, a drink, and a simple love note. (I don't have pictures of the candy and drink because, let's face it, they were gone within minutes after he brought them!)

This almost brought me to tears! Just the fact that he was thinking of me and wanted to show me he cares meant the world to me!! It is amazing how something so simple can mean SO MUCH!! I love Josh - he's perfect for me.

How did I get so lucky?!

Hearts Day :)

One of my very favorite days of the year is Valentine's Day. A lot of people think its a silly holiday (which I guess it kind of is) but there is nothing wrong with having an excuse to show someone how much you love them.

Since Valentine's Day was on a Sunday this year, we decided to celebrate on Saturday. Josh headed over to my house, and I was surprised to see such a large gift in his hand!! I opened it up and found some new pajamas!!! He is so thoughtful. I've needed new pjs for who knows how long! All I wear are Christmas pjs, and I think Josh got sick of looking at those all the time. Let's face it - I wear my pjs A LOT! I'm silly and haven't taken a picture of myself in them yet, but I'm sure you'll see them eventually.

Then it was time for my gift to Josh...Of course, I didn't take pictures of this either (I'm horrible - one of my major goals is to start taking more and more pictures!!!) Anyway, I gave him a book that was filled with "coupons", good for things Josh loves and things that we like to do together. I hope he liked it!

The rest of the night was spent eating dinner, watching a chick flick, cuddling, and just spending time with each other. Sometimes I forget just how much I love this man. I think I take things for granted a little bit too often...I need to be better about that.

Once the night was over, I thought that would be the end of our Valentine's Day celebrations. But I was wrong...

Early Sunday morning, as I was getting ready to go to church, there was a knock on the door. I was downstairs so my mom answered. But this is what arrived.

Aren't they gorgeous? Josh knows how much I love to get flowers :)

I hope all of you had a wonderful Valentine's Day like we did! And guess what? This was the last Valentine's Day Josh and I would share as a non-married couple!! YAY!! Less than six months! (I'm counting)