Love and Laughter - Part Two

Previously on Love and Laughter... Brett and Erin are in hiding for suspected involvement in a series of high profile bank robberies. Wait, that's not right, let's try that again... Brett and Erin were planning a wedding, yeah that sounds more like it. (P.S. This one's long too, you don't have to read it either.)

(Click here if you missed part one).

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I had proposed, she had accepted; the big question now was where to hold the wedding??? New Jersey reception hall? Too expensive. Giant slingshot? Too conspicuous. Enormous wooden horse? Too Greek! (At the risk of being accused of plagiarism by Hillary Clinton, my legal council tells me I must note here that those words were originally used in the movie Monsters Inc. and are not my own... sorry for the interruption). Then we decided on a park wedding, yeah that sounded nice. So we found a beautiful park, had everything arranged, rented all the equipment, even designed and built a cool little dance floor. Then the wonderful day came on which Erin would promise to forever be subject to my odd sense of humor and much-too-long blog posts... and it rained. No, it didn't rain, it poured. Buckets. And ladders. And other assorted items you might find in a tool shed. Needless to say, the park was off (and our poor little dance floor was completely ruined), though luckily we had arranged for a backup location for just such a situation (incidentally, our backup location was the LDS Morristown, NJ Stake Center, the same place where we had first met just over three months prior).



The wedding ended up going just fine, if not quite as planned. We exchanged vows to playfully pester each other for the rest of our lives, and had fun at the reception. In all honesty, the whole day was kind of a blur to me, only a few things really stick out to me looking back; first is how happy I was, no, not happy, elated. Second was how amazingly beautiful Erin looked, and third was how embarrassed we both were. Both Erin and I are quite a bit shy in large groups, and this large group of people had gathered that day specifically to focus on us... we couldn't wait to escape the spotlight. But it was still a lot of fun, and we loved having so many friends and family join us on that exciting day.


There we were, fourteen weeks after having met for the first time, married. Looking back we can't believe how crazy we were. In the moment we couldn't understand why our parents were freaking out (as supportive as they still were); but now we're surprised they didn't freak out even more... One thing we don't wonder though is whether we did the right thing, that's something I can confidently say has not crossed either of our minds (though I'm not sure how much longer I can keep Erin fooled into thinking I was a good catch).

For a few months things were calm as we got settled into our routine, we stayed home a lot, started going to bed at reasonable hours, generally just getting "old"... and then things started to pick up a little. In December we went down to Washington DC for our endowments, par for the course things didn't go entirely smoothly. There was some confusion since Erin and I were married, but not to be sealed for another six months. We finally got things figured out, but not until Erin had sat by herself waiting to come into the celestial room for a good 1/2 hour. Despite the confusion and uncertainty, we still enjoyed ourselves.


One year and six days after our rained-out wedding we were sealed for time and all eternity in the Boston Temple. This was a mostly "uneventful" day (excepting the obvious excitement of why we were there), there was a touch of rain, but only a minor sprinkling of nuts and bolts, nothing we couldn't handle. It actually worked out well, because the cloud cover provided for excellent lighting for our photographer's work.



We had family and friends together, we were more madly in love than ever, and we had made sacred covenants with each other and with God. We couldn't have been happier to be together on that day, especially knowing that in just about 6 months we would have a little bundle of joy joining what we had just made a forever family.

--- Commercial Break ---
Today's episode is brought to you by the letters "L" and "Q", by the number "6" (my favorite number), and by Orbit gum. Orbit gum is good, except for their new flavor "Maui Melon Mint", it's not very good, in fact when my friend tried it she promptly spit it back out, so try a different flavor instead.
--- Back To Our Program ---

So there we were, a forever family of 2 and 1/7th. It was time to celebrate. We had a huge trip planned for late-June, we started off with a honeymoon/1 year anniversary in Cozumel. We explored, we snorkeled, we swam, we relaxed, and we thoroughly enjoyed the all-inclusive food at the hotel. Erin isn't much for most Mexican foods, but she devoured the hotel nachos every chance she could. We're still not entirely sure if this was a special nacho recipe or a pregnancy craving, but either way we were in food heaven.

After Cozumel, we took the ferry and a shuttle up to Cancun where we spent several days with almost my entire family. That was an absolute blast. We went to see the ruins, swam in water holes, acted like crazy people Garners in the hotel pool, and just all-around had a great time. It was almost sad to have to finally leave Mexico, though the sadness didn't last long since we were headed back to the greatest country on earth and, more specifically, towards Orlando and a few days at Disney World with our best friends. At Disney World we just had fun, lots of fun. It was my first time there, and I definitely felt the magic making me a few years younger (though Erin will argue that it was less of a "transformation" and more of a freeing of my true self). Overall the entire trip was amazing, I think with only one thing we'd do differently next time, we wouldn't go on such an intense/hot vacation while Erin was pregnant... that part was a bit rough, but still a wonderful, wonderful trip.



The next several months included several smaller trips; we went up to Sleepy Hollow, I went on a youth trip to Palmyra (the first time since marriage that we'd been apart over night), and we spent Thanksgiving down in North Carolina. But really the vast majority of the second half of 2007 was spent getting ready for the new baby. We had extreme re-organizations of the apartment, we went to countless yard sales to pick up quality baby gear for dirt-cheap, and I constantly pestered Erin with bizarre suggestions for baby names (she was mistaken when she thought that the baby's arrival would put an end to the baby name suggestions, there's always the next one to think of).

Erin and I kept half-joking (okay, maybe one-third joking) that we wanted the baby to come just a tiny bit early so we could get a tax break, but Aeriana proved that she takes after her mom by being stubborn and coming late instead. At 41 weeks along, Erin was induced and our entire world changed. Definitely for the better. Aeriana Elizabeth has been an absolute joy to have in our home, even when she cries incessantly, or spits up on mommy's clean black shirt, or has really really stinky diapers... she's still a joy. It was difficult enough before to leave for work in the mornings rather than spending the day with Erin, but now with both Erin and Aeriana at home it's almost impossible to force myself out the door. Luckily we live close to my office so getting home early is never a problem, and coming home occasionally for lunch is also an option.



It really amazes me how much has happened over the past two years. I've gone from a geeky kid with no definitive long-term plan to an even geekier (if possible) husband and father. It's been two years today since it all started and it's been the best time of my life, so far. I look forward eagerly to the next couple of years, and hope that I can fully enjoy the time as it passes. I'm extremely grateful for all that I've had in my life, and especially grateful for those things that I have been blessed with over the past 24 months.

Erin, happy two years. I love you more than ever and am so excited to spend the next 2 years (times infinity) with you.

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I hope you've enjoyed this special broadcast as much as I've enjoyed writing it. Our regularly scheduled programming will be back on the air within the next day or two... we've got some adorable video we'll be posting. Aeriana is just getting so big and has been so much fun.

Labels: Erin, family, love, pictures, Temple

posted by Brett at 5:50 PM