New Year, New Start.

Another year has come and gone. Last new year's I was caught up in thinking how much change was going to happen in 2010, and I'm in the same mindset with 2011 as well. Here's a review of my 2010.

January
- I had spent New Year's with Ray in Utah. He was living temporarily in Provo, and since I had two weeks of holiday's, I drove down to Provo to see him, much to the dismay of my parents. I was protected though, and I really enjoyed my time in the car. After two days of nine hours straight of driving, I finally made it safely to his apartment, and we had a blast together.
  I remember spending the last few hours of 2009 on Temple Square watching part of a musical presentation that was put on in the Tabernacle. Jericho Road and Cherie Call performed, and I loved it. Ray just loved his arm around me. haha...
  As midnight was nearing, we were trying to figure out where the fireworks were going to come from and where to situate ourselves to see them best. I'm not sure if we ever really figured it out, but I know as soon as we heard fireworks, we ran and ran and ran in that direction. We finally got to a place where we could kind of see them, so Ray stopped me and kissed me, which was my very first actual New Year's kiss. Good memories all around.

February
- This time it was Ray's turn to visit me, so he flew up for a week, and lucky for him, it was one of the coldest February's I could ever remember. We decided it would be fun to go on a train date, so we got on to the LRT in Edmonton, and rode it to the North Side, and spontaneously decided to get off at where I thought the dollar theater was... haha. It was a bit further than I had anticipated, but we definitely made it there, practically frozen solid. We watched the movie, then had to make it back to the LRT station... I don't really know why I suggested that. It was miserably cold, but we made it through just fine.

March
- Ray and I had decided to get married on May 8th, so in order to save on money, we didn't visit each other this month. It was miserable, but I was thankful to have the YSA because it gave me plenty of things to do. I had been heavily involved in the YSA ever since I was 19 so it was something I was comfortable with. My calling as the Ward Welfare Specialist gave me plenty of things to do as well. I had to keep track of who was looking for a place to move into and who was looking for roommates. It's definitely something I'm not the most skilled at, but I think I helped some people...
- My best friend Monie and I had become obsessed with swimming. We went all the time. I'm pretty sure we went at least twice a week this whole month. At first our swimming was mostly just doing a couple laps, stopping and talking until we got cold, then going for another couple laps and stopping. Then we got more competitive and started seeing how fast we could swim a kilometer. We actually started doing pretty good. I think the fastest I ever swam a kilometer was about 25 minutes. That's 40 laps!

April
- By this time, Ray had moved back to Colorado. He had decided that he was going to move up to Canada the month before we got married, so I found an apartment for him to move into with some guys in my Single's ward, and I bought a one-way ticket to Colorado. Ray picked me up at the airport, and we spent a few days in Colorado Springs. Ray was still technically renting his apartment in Provo, so we road tripped it there together to pick up the last of his things. Then we started the long trek up to Canada in his old beat up truck. Thankfully it made it all the way there. Crossing the border into Canada was a huge ordeal, but we were able to prove that Ray wasn't staying in Canada forever, despite his truck full of personal things. We got to Edmonton, and got his stuff settled in to his temporary apartment.

May
- FINALLY it was time for me to get married!! Ray flew back down to Colorado a week early to arrange last minute things, and I drove down with my mom. The whole drive down, mom was asking me if I was sure I was ready for this because it's been an awfully big hassle. It was tolerable at first, but then it just got frustrating... I was definitely sure that this is what I wanted. We spent the few days before the marriage in Colorado Springs to help out his mom with reception details and fun things like that, then the night before I was to get married, mom and I drove up to Denver where the temple is, and I was so emotionally worked up from everything that I threw up halfway there... The rest of the night, I was just tired and after Dad arrived at the hotel, I fell asleep for the night.
   I woke up in the morning excited as ever. Ray's sister-in-law came to the hotel and did my hair for me, and after we were all ready, we drove to the temple, where I saw Ray and we were able to get ourselves ready. As we waited together in the Celestial Room, I remember nothing but laughter. We were so happy and so content, that we just laughed and laughed together. We were finally called to go to the sealing room, and it was done in a flash! The room was full of loved ones, and I was grateful to have their support. After the ceremony was done, I went to the Bride's Room and got all dressed up in my pretty white dress, and I found Ray waiting for me at in the waiting area of the temple. Then we made our grand entrance together as husband and wife into the world. Everyone was waiting outside with cameras. It was a beautiful day. We spent the afternoon taking our wedding photos, driving to Colorado Springs, and having the reception. It was a busy and beautiful day.

June
- We had made it back to Canada and moved into our quaint little basement suite together. The waiting began for the whole green card process, but our newlywed life together was pretty much bliss. We had our second wedding reception in Edmonton, which ended up being chaos... I'm just glad we made it though and that there were pretty pictures that came out of it.

July
- I took Ray to Southern Alberta for the first time. We went to the Cardston temple together, and I took him to Waterton to see the pretty things they had there. We saw a lot of bears, and I think Ray was overly fascinated by them. I like to keep my distance from bears, and he likes to see how close he can get...

August
- I saw the Backstreet Boys in Concert with a bunch of my girl friends. It was pretty much amazing. The teeny-bopper within me re-emerged as if it had never been suppressed. haha.
- My little brother got his mission call back in April to serve in the Utah St George Mission, so as a farewell present to him, Ray and I took him with us to the Calgary Zoo. That day was entirely awesome. Ian and I were already close, and Ian had finally taken a liking to Ray because of their common interest of longboarding. It was special to have that time together.

September
- Ray and I participated in a lot of random things... The Edmonton Corn Maze being one of them. We went with a couple of our friends who were engaged and made a double date out of it. The summer was beautiful, and I really think we made the most out of it.
- Ian left for his mission. I don't know what was wrong with me, but I was definitely sick the morning he left, so I was throwing up while he was doing his final packing and saying his goodbyes. Apparently my mom asked Ray if the morning sickness was a regular thing. It wasn't. But I was able to give Ian a big hug, tell him I'm proud of him, and he was off. Thankfully, once he got through all the customs stuff, he called us from a pay phone and I was able to have a really good heart to heart conversation with him.
- Ray had gotten a job doing some art for a couple people in Calgary, so he had finished that, and we just had to drive it down there. One of the highlights for Ray, was getting out of the car in the parking lot, looking down, and seeing a huge pile of change just lying there on the ground unclaimed! Well it didn't stay unclaimed for long because he was right down there picking it all up. It was 60 cents or so, but Ray was ecstatic.

October
- Ray's visitor visa for Canada was about to expire, so he had to leave Canada and come back to get a new one. He was gone for about 10 days and it was misery. I couldn't have been happier when he came back.
- Our first Halloween together, Ray and I decided to dress up as Zombies. We made awesome zombies. We showed up at our ward party, and Ray scared a few kids and made them cry. He was quite pleased with himself. haha.

November
- Ray was called as the Sunday School teacher for the older youth, and they pretty much loved him. He decided to have a party for them as a reward to those kids who read the reading assignment prior to being taught the lesson at Church. It was a great night. I made pizza from scratch, and apparently it was delicious. I made 3 pizzas and there wasn't anything left. We watched a movie together, and then played some games together on the Wii. Ray really takes pride in being loved like those kids love him.

December
- We received notification from the US government that they needed some more information from us to process my immigration paperwork. We sent in the stuff they needed, and they received it just before Christmas. It'll take them 60 days to come up with a decision, and we'll be notified when that happens.
- Our first Christmas together, we decided to have our own little Christmas celebration the day before. We opened the things we got each other for their stockings, and that was really fun. Ray got me a wedding band, so I am officially married now. haha. We spent all of Christmas Day at my parents house. We had a big breakfast, and waited around until Ian called us. It was so good to hear his voice. He is so happy doing what he is doing. I'm still so proud of him. Ray played board games with the Elders all afternoon as they waited for their turn to call their homes, then we had dinner at my Grandma and Grandpa's place. So much food...

So there have definitely been a lot of changes going on in my life, but it looks like within the next three months, I'll be adjusting to life in a whole new country. Life is sure exciting isn't it?... Sometimes it's scary, but things happen, and life changes. All will be well...