4 year anniversary

My sweet husband and I have been married for 4 years now.  I really can't believe it.

Look at us :) we were just babies (ok, we still are, but not as much).

I really cannot put into words how much I cherish this man.  In four short years, we have been through a lot together - birth, death, financial hardships, financial plenty, house buying, parenting...the list goes on and on.

I'm so grateful for the love and the relationship that we have built over the last four years.

We celebrated by going to dinner and a show at the Candlelight Dinner Playhouse.  We were treated really well.  It was fun to go somewhere that we had a connection to, and celebrate with people we know and love.

I love you babe.  Here's to eternity!

The Lee Greenwood story

Every few months the Candlelight has a pretty big name come in.  They've had Diamond Rio, Maureen McGovern, and the Gatlin Brothers, just to name a few.  Yesterday the loaded in Lee Greenwood's show, and he's here until Wednesday evening.

When they do these shows, I usually go in during load in to have lunch with Neal, and to just see him.  He's usually there for 12-14 hours on load in days, so if I don't head over there, I usually don't see him until he's passing out in bed that night.  

So, I headed to the Candlelight yesterday to eat lunch with Neal.  After we ate, Neal headed back to setting things up, and I started looking at the other people who were sitting there eating.  When I looked at one of the guys who was sitting there, he looked kind of familiar, but I thought to myself "Nah...that's not Lee Greenwood.  There's no way he's here already."  I kept looking at the picture on his bio, and back at the man sitting there, but I couldn't make up my mind.  See, the stars don't usually show up that early.  They usually hang out in their hotels or go see the sights while the techs set everything up, and the band gets their stuff the way they want it.  So, to finally convince myself that the guy I was looking at was not Lee Greenwood, I walked over to Colin (Neal's friend and fellow sound engineer) and said "Is that Lee Greenwood?"  He chuckled a little and said "Yup."  I got pretty excited, not going to lie.

I went back to where my bag of chips was still sitting (over by who I now knew was Lee Greenwood) and as I was finishing eating my chips, he looked at me and asked "When are you due?"  I was thrilled - one, because a stranger could actually tell I was pregnant, and two, Lee Greenwood was talking to me!  We had a really, really nice conversation for about a half an hour.  We talked about kids, he showed me a picture of his beautiful wife, we talked about his son's experiences as a freshman in college, and some other things.  It really made my day!  He was a very down to earth person, and just very kind and caring.

A little while later, I went back to eat dinner with Neal before the show, and ended up sitting next to him at the sound board for the show.  Before the show started, Charlie, the Candlelight's stage manager, walked down from upstairs where Lee and the band were, said "You really must have made an impact," and handed me this:

I was so thrilled!  It was so kind of him to think of us, and give us something so personal.

His show was absolutely incredible.  He sang some really amazing Christmas songs, some that I had never heard before.  He plays the piano and saxophone on top of singing.  Before one of the songs, he began talking about his son, and mentioned that his son was born in April.  Then he said "One of the technicians here actually has a bundle of joy due in April.  Congrats to him."  I was pretty excited when he said that!!  After intermission, he sang some of his country hits, and ended with three incredible patriotic songs.  He sang the last three songs with such enthusiasm and passion, that I literally sat there and bawled my eyes out.  You could tell he truly felt what he was singing.  He ended with his most famous song, "God Bless the USA," and as he was singing it the whole house stood up.  It was incredibly touching to look out over the audience and realize that the majority of the people in that group probably served in the armed forces, and had friends who died fighting for our country's freedom, and the freedom of others.  It was an extremely touching moment.

After the show, he went out in the lobby to sign autographs.  After he was done visiting with the patrons, I walked up and thanked him for the photo he gave us.  He smiled and gave me a little hug, and then asked if the three of us could get a picture together.  So we took this:

It really was an incredible experience, and was such a wonderful opportunity to meet him!  If you have tonight or tomorrow night free, I highly recommend going to see him in his show.  Hurry quick though.  There are only something like three tickets a night left.

Diamond Rio at the Candlelight

Last night (aka July 1st) the country band Diamond Rio was at the Candlelight Dinner Theater.  They will be doing one more show there tonight.

A couple weeks ago I was asked if I wanted to serve.  Neal and I talked about it, since it was on one of my days off (and I love my days off).  I decided that it was going to be the only way I would get to see the show, AND I would get paid to see the show instead of paying to see it.

So, I served last night, and I'm SO glad I did!  Pat, the food and beverage manager, sent me and 3 other servers up to the green room to serve the band drinks.  That was WAY cool!

I got to watch the show after taking care of my server duties.  I also got to see Neal on stage with them.  It was pretty cool!!

Neal on stage with the keyboard player.

Sound check

Neal's view from monitor world.

Graduation and the Candlelight

In May Neal officially graduated with his Associates of Arts degree from Front Range Community College.

The biggest piece of news for us though, is that Neal will no longer be running the nightly shows at the Candlelight.  He's been doing the nightly shows for over two years now, and he's learned the sound board and the space so well, that he's starting to get bored.  That combined with being promoted to stage manager at the Union Colony Civic Center, we've decided that he needs to open his schedule to be more available for calls at the Civic Center.  He's also hoping to be available a whole lot more for Point Source, the audio production company he works for.  He will still be doing the big shows like Diamond Rio this next week, Lee Greenwood, and Maureen McGovern later this year.

He's pretty excited to mix front of house for "Proud to Be an American" for Lee Greenwood.

It's a little bit of a leap of faith for us.  We're not going to have a "guaranteed" biweekly paycheck.  But both of us have felt very strongly that this is the right thing for us to do.  We know the Lord has taken care of us before, and He will do so now :)

One month! Woo-hoo!

So I haven't been on here in a while.  Between making finishing touches on the wedding plans, actually having the wedding, going on a honeymoon, coming back and starting school and working full-time right away, I haven't had much time!  The last month has been wonderful though, and being married is AWESOME!

The wedding day went very well.  The sealing ceremony was wonderful.  Neal and I were able to sit in the Celestial room for about a half-an-hour before our ceremony began, and we were able to just chill and be with each other.  As we walked from the Celestial room to the Sealing room, I felt so warm and excited.  I was getting married to my best friend!  Seeing all of our friends and family in there made me so happy.  (Funny blooper: as we walked into the Sealing room, Neal stepped on my dress and ripped the loop that made my dress bustle...the rest of the day was interesting with that!)  We then went outside and were able to see the rest of our family and loved ones.  We took LOTS of pictures and had so much fun!  Kelsey Hansen, one of our best friends and photographer, did a wonderful job.  We get the pictures soon!

On the way up to the reception, a couple crazy things happened.  I got extremely nauseous and we had to pull over - I hadn't drank anything all day, and had only had a small bowl of cereal for breakfast.  I don't do well with no food and no liquid in my system.  We also got stuck in traffic - there were major accidents on I25 and I70, so no matter which way we went from Denver to Longmont, we were hosed.  We were late to our ring ceremony, but oh well.  I am so grateful for how well Neal took care of me while I wasn't feeling well.  His love for me really shinned.

The reception was so amazing.  I hadn't seen all the decorations together because the day before, Neal finished everything while I was getting my nails done.  When I walked in I teared up.  He worked so hard, and everything was absolutely perfect: just how I envisioned it.  We danced and ate cake and threw bouquets and garters and saw family and friends and had so much fun!  We then left, and were pelted with marshmallows (long story) as we did.  When we got to the apartments, we realized my grandparents had my house key, and Neal's parents had his.  Yup.  We didn't have a key to get into our apartment on our wedding night.  Luckily my grandparents only live about five minutes away from us and we were able to get one quickly.

We left the next morning for Pagosa Springs, and had a phenomenal time down there.  We went to hot springs, and ate out, and did hikes, and had "old time" photos take.  The LDS chapel was within walking distance from our hotel, and so we went to church on Sunday.  They were the most wonderful ward!  All friendly and LOTS of families.  The best thing about our honeymoon though was that we didn't plan anything.  We literally woke up in the morning and figured out what we wanted to do (something that is rather rare for Neal and I).  We came home on Tuesday, and real life began.

The last month has flown by.  I started school (I'm taking Yoga and Child Psychology...two highly recommended classes), and began working again (40ish hours a week).  Neal also went back to work, and is actually mixing the last show of the King and I run for the Candlelight Dinner Theater where he is the sound designer and engineer.  He's done a wonderful job with his first show, and everyone loves him.  Today marks the beginning of tech week for the next show: Big River.  It will be a much different dynamic, but a VERY fun and entertaining show!  Come see it if you're in the area!  The cast and crew do a wonderful job, and the food is amazing.

Here starts the beginning of our journey!

Two weeks!

So Neal and I have two weeks until our wedding!

We went to the temple Tuesday night so I could get my endowments.  That was wonderful, and being in the temple with him was wonderful.  Everytime I saw him, I couldn't help but smile. The Assistant to the Temple Matron said I glowed when I saw him for the first time, and Sister Hansen said Neal kept looking at me during the session to make sure I was ok.  We all went to CiCi's pizza after, and had a wonderful time.

Wednesday, I got sick.  Talk about annoying.  I stayed home from all but two classes Thursday, and didn't go to work today (I've been working from home).

Anyway, the wedding is coming, and we're quite ready!  We're getting sealed in the Denver Colorado Temple, and having our reception at the Longmont Stake Center.  We're then going down to Pagosa Springs for our honeymoon.  Both of us can't stop talking about how ready we are to quit saying, "Ok, go home now, and I'll talk to you tomorrow," and instead say, "Ok, let's go to bed now."

Neal is doing well.  His first show as the head sound engineer at the Candlelight Dinner Theater is going well.  The show is "The King and I," and it is a WONDERFUL show.  I highly recommend it to anyone who likes theater, and anyone who doesn't.  The cast is great, as is the music.  We've definitely learned what a gremlin is though.  They like to attack the microphones!  Crazy when something odd happens for like five minutes, and then stops.

All in all, life is good.  I'm looking forward to being in a family ward (and maybe primary!!).  We're ready to move forward, and quite excited!

PS, anyone who is available May 7 at 4:30pm, we're going to be making the decorations for the wedding at my parents' house.  Let me know if you'd like to come help!