the greatest movie ever made

thank you thank you to the talented nathan pickett.  i love reliving my wedding day through this little gem.

the fiddle leaf fig.

this is a fiddle leaf fig tree.

it's a pretty nice looking tree, don't you think?

that's what i thought, too, when i opened up the package from briana, brennan's sister. it was her family's wedding gift to us...a living tree.  i love trees and our house needed a plant, so i was very thankful. then briana told us why they gave us this particular tree.

when we got married in the beautiful salt lake temple, brianna recognized fiddle leaf fig trees in a few different places inside the temple.  she wanted us to have a little piece of that holy place in our home.

and now i love this tree that much more, because it will remind me of that perfect day when i was married to this amazing man for all eternity.  (you can read about that perfect day here)

i'm not going to name the tree, but i'll admit, i did move it from our office to the kitchen today while i did homework to keep myself company...i guess i'm already pretty attached so i really hope i can keep it alive longer than i can keep a camera from getting stolen. (i've had 4 stolen in my lifetime)

peace+love

south of the border...

brennandi arrived at our apartment a week ago and there is still plenty to organize...the office floor looks like a tornado came through, but we finally got internet, so i'm going to write about our honeymoon.

the day after we got married, brennan surprised me with a little series of photos to reveal our honeymoon destination...

yessssssssss....sunday morning early early we flew to cancun where we stayed at an all-inclusive resort.  i'll admit, the food wasn't the best there, but i was so grateful that the first 5 days of our honeymoon were there cause i got pretty sick and it was so nice to not have to go anywhere or do anything...and by not do anything i mean go on a catamaran ride, snorkel, and bum around in the water and on the beach two steps from our hotel.  or sit in the jacuzzi tub on the balcony of our room.  it was blissful.

then on day 5, we rented a car and navigated our way to chichen itza and merida.  it was so different from cancun--a lot less touristy and very cultural.  everywhere we went we met a new mayan who wanted to talk to us and tell us about their culture.  we learned so much and really fell in love with the mayan people.  brennan wants to give one of our children a mayan name now...how about itzel or faas or tadeas wright?

day 8 - best day of the trip.  en route to tulum, we stopped at ek balam - some more mayan ruins - where we raced to the top of the temple, kissed in every hidden corner, brennan jumped everytime he came around a corner and saw an iguana, and we met our new friend joel, a little 20 year-old mayan kid.  he took us to a private cenote then to a restaurant in his village where the walls and ceilings were dotted with poisonous geckos--definitely off the beaten path, and one of the coolest experiences of my life.

(brennan se cree indiana jones..jeje)

days 9 and 10 were spent in tulum...tulum is another mayan site, and the town is what i imagine hawaii feels like...it was my favorite place we stayed.  i got to hold a baby tiger and a star fish, then snorkel with a squid, sea turtles, and sting rays.

days 11-12 - playa del carmen.  our hotel was again two steps from the beach, and we just lazed around cause brennan was sick that time -- too many tacos al pastor, i think.

the whole trip was the perfect combination of sight-seeing, swimming, bumming around, shopping, and canoodling...i am one lucky girl.

peace+love

Mr. and Mrs. Wright, officially.

it's officially official.  brennan and i were sealed on friday, june 13th.  and quite frankly, it was perfect. 

when i made the sealing appointment, i intentionally made it later in the afternoon so i wouldn't have to wake up before 8 a.m.  well, so much for that.  i was sleeping soundly until a dear friend sent me a text at 6 a.m.: "hey i know it's early but let's be honest you didn't sleep last night anyway....blahblahblah" 

i think i got 8 text messages between 6 and 7:30 a.m.   

but it was fine, because everything else that day was perfect.  really, there is no feeling like being in the sealing room of the temple, and definitely no way to describe the feelings of kneeling across the altar from the person you love most, ready to make a covenant with them that will bind the two of you together forever...i've never felt happier in my life.  then to see all your loved ones waiting outside the temple, it was the best. everything about that day was so fun and stress free...brennan and i could just be our goofy, happy, in-love selves and not worry about anything thanks to all my family who helped to pull off our backyard reception, which was also perfect.  

the photo booth and tacos were a hit, as was our first dance (video to come).  i just felt so loved that whole day.  so many people came to support us and share their love for us.  it is so great to know that there are people on this earth who care about you.

                 

speaking of love...the greatest part and purpose of this whole day knowing that there is one person on this earth who loves and cares for you more than he loves and cares for anyone else.  man, that guy makes me feel so loved.  and that day he made me feel extra loved and so beautiful.  he makes me feel like the most important person in his world.  i'm so looking forward to moving to ohio with him on tuesday where we'll start our household together and brennan will start his medical school journey.  life is going to happen no matter where you are or what you're doing, and i'm really glad all of it is going to happen with him.

peace+love

the right to brag

to brag = say in a boastful manner.

bragging rights = a temporary position of ascendancy in a closely contested rivalry.

the right to brag = i am a firm believer that if it is not about you, you have every right to brag as much as you want.  

i love bragging for my friends and family when they do awesome things.  like my awesome friend hailey who in high school won 1st place twice in a row in the state tennis tournament playing 1st singles.  also, she finished her associates degree before graduating high school.  and she's a genius.  and she now has a masters and a baby before i've even finished my bachelors.  i love bragging about her.  

and now there's this stud muffin...he is oh so smart.  two days ago he missed a call from ohio state university.  the next day they called to offer him a spot in the class of 2018 college of medicine.  then they offered him a scholarship that will pay for the first year of school.  and just like that, our plans have changed.  it really hasn't been too hard of a change.  it's where brennan served his mission, so of course he loves ohio.  and they have grater's ice cream, so of course, i will happily live in ohio.  also, they have lots more bike trails than galveston.

also, i get to marry him in just three weeks.  

peace+love

how i met my lover

i've been meaning to get back into this whole blogging thing for a while now, but have felt like i forgot how to write.  on sunday we watched "My New Life", the mormon message by Stephanie Nielsen, and that motivated me to get back into it, if simply to share my testimony and how grateful i am for the gospel in my life and the way it shapes who i am and how i live.  perhaps the biggest way it's shaped my life recently is my decision to marry this guy:

man, this picture just makes me smile.  he is so great, and so great for me.  sometimes when i think how much i love him and how good he is to me i just cry.  

we were talking the other day about how awesome it is that things just worked out the way they did.  

i came home from mexico 7 lbs lighter, sick, and heartbroken.  i was not about to jump into another relationship.  in fact, i remember sitting at dinner that night telling my mom how i was done saying yes to every guy that asked me out.  from then on i was only going to say yes if i was really interested.  that was on a wednesday.  on sunday, on a whim, i decided to go to ward prayer since i didn't know any of the new people who had moved in while i was gone.  it was at a guys apartment in old academy.  i was one of the last to leave, and on my way out the door, the guys who lived in that apartment cornered me and said, "we haven't met you yet!"  after introducing myself a couple of them just walked away, but one stuck around to chat.  we talked about how from the back of his head he looked like another guy i'd dated (story for another day) and ender's game.  the next day i bought ender's game and brennan added me on facebook.  on wednesday i went to a gospel doctrine committee meeting only to find brennan there as well.  i had to leave early, so we didn't get a chance to talk, but just a couple of hours later he called and asked me to go to the boise state vs. byu football game with him that friday.  after the game on friday we went to dinner then back to his house and spent 8 hours together that first date.  after that first date we saw each other every day until christmas break and continue to do so.  i actually had a blind date the day after our first date (so much for saying no), but i kept it short so i could get to the ward halloween dance where i knew brennan would be.  

as for brennan, he was pretty frustrated with dating when we met.  he wanted to get married and was going on a lot of dates, but couldn't find anyone who kept his interest long enough to develop into something.  he also never went to ward prayer, but it was at his apartment, so he didn't have a choice.  at the time, he had been taking this girl out who apparently "wasn't very smart".  a couple weeks after we started dating he told me "once i met you i thought, why am i dating this girl?  i should be dating kelli".  and so he did.

it is pretty awesome loving someone and being loved by someone this way--to have that support and devotion.  it has been the best opportunity to develop charity, patience, and humility.  i can only imagine how cool it will be to be married. just one month and twelve days till we will be sealed for all eternity in this beautiful house of God!

peace+love