3rd Anniversary!

3 years ago, on June 23, 2007, Matt and I got married in a beautiful ceremony on the rooftop of the CW Moore Plaza.
Our wedding day actually started out pretty terrible! If you were there, you know exactly what I'm talking about! The week before our wedding we passed around a HORRIBLE twenty-four hour stomach flu. It all started with Cadon (as illness in our family seems to ;}) They flew in from Virginia and Cadon was sick. Saturday, one week before our wedding, was Matt's bachelor party. I spent the night at my parents house and in the middle of the night I got sicker than I ever have been. I literally could not stop throwing up. It was awful. Little did I know that upstairs Carissa was sick too! Sunday morning, Father's Day, Dad got up and got very sick as well. It was miserable! I think everyone ended up getting it except Matt and Mom.
The week came and went and then it was Friday, our rehearsal dinner. Everyone was having fun and (to my knowledge) feeling good. Apparently I was wrong! One of Matt's aunts starting getting sick and my poor grandma was getting sick also.
Saturday morning came, our wedding day!! My cousin Amy and Maid of Honor came to pick me up and take me to get my hair done. We stopped at Albertson's on the way to get some champagne and orange juice to have while getting our hair done. That was when the day started on a downhill slide! My cousin Riki called to say that her daughter Caydence, my beautiful flower girl, was sick and throwing up. The awesome people that Riki and Joe are they were trying their hardest to get her well. They were even calling pharmacists in town to try and find out anything they could do to help her feel better. When I got that call I remember sitting down in the aisle in Albertson's and crying. How could I not have a flower girl!? They spent all that money to buy her a dress and fly here for my wedding and now she was sick! It was an awful feeling. I felt sad and guilty! We headed off to the salon. I was getting my hair down when the second call came in. It was my dad. He said that Spencer had been helping load stuff up in the truck when he all of a sudden got sick. I sat and cried on the phone while Angie did my hair. I just felt so sad. All I wanted was a fun day with ALL my family and they were dropping like flies! The great brother that Spencer is he came to the plaza and TRIED so hard to get ready for the wedding. He laid down in the basement on a blanket with a trashcan next to him. He couldn't even stand! Eventually my Uncle Tim took him home to be with my cousin Eric, who was home sick with the same thing. Uncle Tim never came back, he got sick on the way home! Matt's aunt who was sick Friday night stayed at their hotel, she had come from California but was too sick to make it to the wedding. My Poppy was very sick during the entire ceremony and ended up having to leave right after. Which led to me crying even more. I spent the day trying to get things set up and crying in between. One thing I remember very clearly is being in the elevator with my Uncle Derek. I was crying and crying and he just put his hand on my shoulder and didn't say a word. Someone, I don't remember who, came to get on the elevator and tried to give me a hug and say that it would be ok and comfort me and Uncle Derek just plainly said "Not right now. It's not the day it should be." That made me feel so good that he understood that although it was still a happy day and still my wedding day that it wasn't what I had always hoped for.
I always hear stories about people's weddings and the little things that went wrong, the flowers didn't come, the cake was ugly, someone fell walking down the aisle. Those are stories that get funny as time goes on, and in the big picture, they're not that big a deal. Having important family members flat out miss your wedding is a big deal. It still breaks my heart that I have zero wedding pictures with Spencer in them. The next day when he was feeling better we did all put our wedding clothes back on and tried to recreate some so that he wouldn't be totally left out. It makes me sad that so many people that traveled so far spent their time here in misery!
Matt and I sat down and counted, and including everyone who was sick before the wedding it was a total of 26 people that this plague affected. That's what we started calling it. The Plague.
I don't want anyone to think that I didn't have a great day. I did. I married my best friend, I had an absolute blast at the wedding, we ate delicious food and delicious cake. We got to spend the day with our closest friends and family. My entire family stayed up until at least 1 am the night before finishing wedding stuff. Caydence was a soldier. She put on her dress and she came and walked down the aisle. They ended up leaving right after the ceremony, but what an awesome thing for such a little girl to do. A big thank you especially to my mom. We did most everything ourselves, decorations, centerpieces, programs, all of it! I definitely could NOT have done it without her help. Of course Matt was amazing too! Made me feel better, and gave a sweet little speech after the ceremony thanking everyone for being there and mentioning those that couldn't. Made me cry, again! Everyone did more than they needed to to make our day great. And it really was. Truly.
THANK YOU to everyone that came from near and far to be with us. Thank you for your support and your love!! Thank you for the incredible memories and the great pictures.
Here are just a few:


Matt with his great "catch"! Hahahaha!

One of my most treasured pictures, Caydence and I:
We have been married for 3 years, and together for 6 1/2. Wow, time flies!! In 3 years we have been through a lot. We bought our house before we got married but it has been a constant project of making it ours and making it pretty! We have been through cars breaking down, washing machines and dryers breaking, best friends dying, dogs getting sick, nephews and a niece being born, family moving away and coming back, new jobs that turned into careers, growing up, and starting a family. We live a simple, normal life and I wouldn't change it for the world.
Matt - Thanks for the memories. Thanks for the ups and downs. No one said it would be a cake walk. Thank you for Paiton, she is most precious thing in my world. She wouldn't be her without you. I love you.