Well
it’s all said and done. The “I do’s” have been said and it all ended with a
party. Maybe I should rewind just a little bit and tell how the Hardwick’s came
to be. Tyler and I began dating January 1st of 2009. He kissed me
under the fireworks at midnight and it all has been down…wait uphill from there
:P. We dated for 9 ½ months. I went off to BYU and he went on a mission to
Rapid City, SD. I tried dating a little while he was gone but no one seemed to
measure up. I guess I would have to say that it was meant to be from the start.
He flew home on October 27th, 2011 but because he got in a little
later, he wasn’t going to get set apart until Friday morning!! Oh my gosh I was
in a panic! Just knowing that he was home and texting me a little but I couldn’t
see him nor talk to him. Of course his dad was sending me pictures to my phone
which made it even worse even though I greatly appreciated it. My good friend
Hannah Richins and I tried to keep me busy. We cleaned my room, went out to
dinner, and went to the High School’s Haunted Crack House. I stayed up until
midnight making a poster and watching Hocus Pocus (which I hadn’t seen since I was
a little girl because it had scared me so bad, what a loser I know).
Of course that night I couldn’t sleep because of
what I knew was coming the next day. I hadn’t seen my man for two years! Anything
could have happened! I probably slept for a total of 4 hours getting up at six
to get ready. His was released at 7 in the morning so I was thinking he would
be over around 8, but no, of course it wouldn’t be that quick. So as I was
staring down the road for a familiar car my mom tried to keep me busy. I played
piano, we played uno, and we sang around the piano. Was he driving down the
street yet? Nope! Of course not! Finally after waiting for two and a half hours
I saw the car. As soon as the car drove up I ran outside and basically tackled
him, he was holding a huge bouquet of roses and I’m so glad he didn’t drop
them!
That day was completely blissful and couldn’t have been more
perfect. Everything just fit and went right back to the way it was like he
never left except for the fact that both of us were way more mature and more
physically fit ;) Ever since that day there has been hardly one day since we
have been apart.
Well 2 weeks later, TO THE DAY, Tyler proposed and the
planning began. The planning was long and sometimes very stressful but was also
very fun at the same time. I mean come on, you only get to plan your own
wedding once! My mom was a huge help and I couldn’t be more grateful to her and
the rest of my family. She got everything together and delegated so much so
that the day could be absolutely perfect.
Thanks mom and family! We were
married on February 17th 2012 in the Oakland Temple. The day started
at 4 am (for me anyway) so that I could get started on my hair and makeup.
Thanks to Katie Olson and Myrlai Waite I was able to look exactly how I envisioned
I would look on that day. We left at 7 for the 2 and a half hour drive to
Oakland where we arrived a half hour early than we were supposed to be there.
We went inside and I got ready. The sealing was absolutely wonderful and I wish
I could relive it over and over again. So many of our friends and family
traveled very far to be there and I couldn’t thank them enough for sharing that
special day with us. Of course I bawled through the whole thing and Tyler only
cried a little as usual, but it was still absolutely perfect. After the
ceremony I had to go fix my face from being all messed up and as I stood in
front of the big mirrors it was so hard for me to believe that I had just
received my “MRS!” The day had finally come that I had waited so long for and
it was more perfect than I would have ever imagined.
Tyler
and I walked out to greet our family and friends with huge smiles on our faces
that just wouldn’t seem to go away. (More wedding pictures to come when I receive
them!)
Thank you to all who came! We took pictures for around 2
hours and then headed to our hotel. Because we were leaving the temple around 3
we hit the evening traffic. It took us 2 and a half hours to drive an hour so
by the time we got to the hotel we were definitely ready relax and enjoy each
others’ company. The hotel was SUPER nice and we were very happy with it. The
next day we slept in and headed back to Gridley for our reception. The
reception looked absolutely beautiful thanks to my wonderful mother and family
for putting it together. We took more picture with the bridesmaids and groomsmen
and then the party began. We stood in a line with our parents as all of our
friends and family greeted us. The food was awesome and I’m glad we had enough
to feed everyone including some left over! What a wonderful wedding planner! ;)
As a part of the
reception we had a little program where Ty, my brothers, and I all sang and
danced. It was awesome and we had a blast! Tyler even sang a country song with
a cowboy hat and his country voice. Oh boy! Hopefully everyone enjoyed it.
The night ended for
Ty and I around 10 as we headed back to our hotel in Sacramento. We were
exhausted by the time we got there and hit the sack really quick. The next
morning we went to pack our things in the car to head to the airport and…drum
roll please…Tyler dropped our keys in the trunk and closed it! Good thing we
were about an hour ahead of schedule and a locksmith came to help us into our
car. We were able to make it to the airport on time and walked right onto the
plane to head to Long Beach to begin our honeymoon, a cruise to Mexico! Get
some!
We spent a week on a ship while we traveled to Cabo San
Lucas and Puerto Vallarta, both of which were very beautiful, well parts of it
anyway. The weather was perfect and of course it made me not want to go back to
the winter of Northern California. While in Cabo we did A LOT of bartering,
well Tyler did for me since he speaks Spanish decently well. It was way fun
watching him speak to the people trying to buy things for WAY CHEAPER than they
wanted. We walked away with a lot of things that totaled not costing very much.
The beach there was beautiful. The water was so clear and went from green to
blue and we really enjoyed swimming in the water that wasn’t as warm as I was
hoping. The next stop was Puerto Vallarta. The weather wasn’t as nice and we
had to take a taxi down town. We did a bit more bartering and really made some
of the people’s day. The people really appreciate you buying from them. Because
we were so tired and the beach wasn’t as nice as Cabo we decided to head back
to the ship and relax. A few hours later as we were heading to dinner a few
people told us how they got held at gun point and everything stolen from them
on one of the tours. Tyler and I knew that it had been a huge blessing that we
had just wanted to go back to the ship for that day. The last two days on the
cruise were very rocky. Tyler who doesn’t get motion sickness had to take
medicine. Every step you took felt like you were going to fall over and even
after we got off of the ship we still felt like we were moving. Because we
wanted to save money on a flight home, we had to wait in the Long Beach airport
for 8 hours before our flight took off. By the time we got home we were so dead
tired but still wanted to open presents. We couldn’t have been more blessed
with the things we were given and I want to thank everyone for our gifts and
all of their help.
The week we got home
we had the privilege of playing mommy and daddy for my niece and nephew for a
week. It was a lot of fun but tired us out even more. We made it through,
however, and are now in our first little home. We finally got most of our stuff
put away and things put on the wall. It feels a little more homey now, but of
course it will never feel like my true home. Wherever my husband is, however,
will be home. Home is where the heart is, and that is with him! Tyler and I hardly
see each other at the moment because of our conflicting work schedules, but married
life is awesome. It has totally been worth it so far and I know that it will be
even more worth it as it goes into eternity. Well, I believe this post is long
enough for now. I will have to spend a little more time going into what Tyler and
I are doing personally a little later on. Now and Forever…more pictures to come :)
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