It's May 11th, a day that I have looked forward to for months, at least specifically.  If we're talking about this day as a concept, then I have frankly been looking forward to it for years.  I tried to make myself stay in bed till 8, but it's hard to sleep when you know you're marrying the love of your life at 1.
It's Wedding Day.
Last night, the Urnesses hosted a lovely Groom's Dinner in their backyard.  The property was decked with strings of lights, chandeliers and gold tablecloths.  Their was a theatrical theme, with pictures of us dressed up in high school under a glowing "Now Showing" sign and with late twentieth century romance music playing. Dallin had told Rachelle that my favorite food is breakfast, so we had a full menu of waffles, frittatas, Greek parfaits, fruit and assorted pastries. My entire extended family and several friends were there, as were many of Dallin's.
After everyone dished up, Dallin and I introduced all our guests.  Then Dallin surprised me by singing "Die a Happy Man" by Thomas Rhett! That he would be singing was a surprise to him as well, but I didn't know that and I couldn't stop smiling. Then we shared our story, stealing the mic and definitely teasing each other as we related our 4.5 years of dating.  My dad spoke, telling about my growing up years and expressing his love for me and Dallin.  Jim shared the story of coming into Dallin's life when he was 2, and how Dallin was one of his best friends.  Then Danny spoke about the origins of the last name Urness and gave me a bracelet from Norway, representing the fight between good and evil.  Lastly, Jerrae expressed her love for me and Dallin, whom she has known since she started babysitting when she was 10 years old and he was 2 weeks.  She said how she had tried not to like me because no one could take her "Dally Boy," but gratefully she quickly cared for me too.  I definitely started to tear up as she gave her toast!  Parley and Dallin's mission companion also spoke.
It was a beautiful night, but today will be hard to top.  Time to get ready!

On the Monday before the wedding, Dallin, Jordie, Jerrae, Mom and I drove up to Payson to take bridals.  We met up with Whitney Skyes, our talented and hilarious videographer who I grew up with, and then separately Dallin and I got dressed up in the cramped car.   After Dallin walked down to the little ravine, my mom grabbed my arm and helped me over the ragged rocks in my gorgeous gown.  I was so scared to get even a smudge of dirt on my dream dress, but when Jerrae told me to fan out my train over the grass, I realized that this week was my one and only opportunity to wear it, and so I was going to have fun with it.  Dallin was turned with his back towards me as they told me to walk towards him.  I took his shoulder gently and spun him in towards me.  He smiled during this first look, and we embraced.
The wind was super strong.  Our mothers worried that this would spoil the moment, but for the next few hours we had a ball taking pictures in the mountains.   Dallin kept cracking dirty jokes.  I tried not to trip in my 6 inch platforms, but being as short as I am I had had quite enough practice.  Despite the camera rolling the whole time, it was still funny to realize that our mothers had never seen us kiss so much in our whole lives. Afterwords, we got Thai food and Skyped Adam over in Mongolia.
For the first time, the wedding was starting to feel real.  My love was so handsome.

Kendall {cousin}, Bri & Brooke {Dallin's sister}, Felicia {my brother Adam's GF}, me,  Olivia & Rachel {sisters}, Paige {cousin},  Madi {Dallin's brother Parley's GF}

Lacey, our English golden, is 1 year, and Oakley the Bernese Mountain Dog from the Ukraine is only 7 months!

my mama and her best friend, Amy, the hostess

• Moving into my new apartment tomorrow and taking the plane to beautiful, sunshiney Arizona in time celebrate my dad's fiftieth birthday.
• The wedding, duh.
• Waking up next to my best friend every single day and enjoying the daily aspects of living together, both good and bad.  We won't just see each other for an hour or two at 11 PM after volleyball practice. 
• Of course, life will still be busy.  Now, we will get home from work and school and cook together, do homework together, go on dates together, be a couple.  I love his company, even during this current week when he's studying for finals and I'm running around like a madwoman trying to pack his, mine and Rachel's things into my living room {since Dallin's contract ended four days ago and me and Rach got permission to stay here until our new place opens up}.  But that's the thing.  True romance isn't about life always being romantic, but about about always feeling in love. 
• Later, we will have a family, and it's almost surreal to think about me and my high school sweetheart becoming parents, developing our own traditions and rules as we raise our own kids. 

Dallin and I are very different.  To summarize, I am Type A and he is Type B.  He is a skilled volleyball player {UVU got 9th out of 250 teams at nationals last week} and an insanely intelligent computer guy.  I can do back-bends but can't hit a ball for the life of me; I love writing and painting and would consider myself "right-brained" if that was a real thing.  My mind is more wired for the COMD path. He isn't afraid to let loose and be himself, cracking up at his own jokes. His laid-back motto is "who carrrreeeessss," meanwhile I the perfectionist get stressed out of my ever-loving mind.
But in many ways we are very much the same.  We have similar palates.  We both appreciate gardens and artwork.  He loves reading fantasy and I love writing it. Both of us rarely sit down in front of the TV yet still enjoy the same movie genres, including more serious-themed war films--and gosh we both despise stupid-humor movies.  We have a similar outlook on politics and spending. We both think recycling is important and don't like collecting junk.  We will most definitely be singing around the apartment after we get married.
Beyond silly things like that, our moral compass is lined up to exactly the same degree.   Our life priorities match. He says that we both do something called "lucid living," where we are perceptive of everything and everyone around us.  We are both very sensitive towards other people's feelings and will usually bottle things up before finally saying something {which we are working on}.  We never raise our voices at each other; it's not in our nature.
We are both so excited to become parents one day and hope that we can raise our children in a way that both fosters their creativity and encourages them to want to be genuinely good, hardworking people.  Of course, that's easy coming from twenty-somethings who have never had kids themselves, but it is encouraging how well we agree on the way we want to set traditions and boundaries in our future home.