5 Year Anniversary

Today is our 5 year anniversary!!! We were married on November 21, 2003 in the Salt Lake Temple. Originally, we thought we would get married on November 22 which is Tom's mom and sister's birthday. We asked if it was ok to get married on their birthday and we even booked the temple. But then my dad thought it was a good idea to look at the football schedule, even though it was months away. We found out that our wedding was during the rival BYU vs. Utah game. That just wouldn't do...especially because my family is BYU fans and Tom's is U fans. We didn't want any rough feelings going on that day so we switched the wedding to Friday, Nov. 21. This year is just the same, today is our anniversary tomorrow, the 22nd is the BYU vs. U game. Just like our wedding day...it brings back memories:

I remember waking up early and having my friend McKayla do my hair and make-up. I was so nervous and excited. It was snowing and Tom drove up to Bountiful in his parents truck to pick me up. He gave me a dozen roses and we drove to the Salt Lake Temple. My mom was worried that we would be late. When we got to the temple, it was still snowing and we quickly stopped to take this picture.

We filled out all the paperwork before separating to go get dressed. We met in the hallway and went up to the Celestial room to wait. Our sealer, Ned Winder came and gave us some "interesting advice" before we went into the sealing rooms. It was a wonderful ceremony and we were blessed to have so many family there. Afterward we went outside to take pictures. I remember it was freezing, but it had stopped snowing. I was in a short sleeved dress, but was so blissfully happy that I didn't notice the cold while we took a million pictures.



After pictures, Tom and I checked into our hotel downtown to change. We were starving at this point, so we headed back to the crossroads mall. We ate at the Sbarro at the ZCMI foodcourt.(Crazy, I know) I remember being a little embarrassed because my hair was done up and it was kinda obvious I was a bride. It was Tom's mom and sister's birthday the next day and we hadn't gotten them presents yet. We quickly shopped for them and bought a new memory card for the digital camera I gave Tom for a wedding present. Tom had given me a new snowboard. (I had taught Tom how to snowboard on one of our first dates and always complained that I needed a new board because mine was so scratched. I loved it!!!)

After shopping, we headed to our reception which was held in the rotunda of the Matheson Courthouse in Salt Lake. My mother had decorated it beautifully! My colors were red, yellow, and orange to go with the fall season. It was gorgeous! We took more pictures before the reception started. It was a very packed reception and we spent most of our time in the line greeting and thanking people for coming. We heard that our food was amazing. There was mini cordon bleus, meatballs, pasta, sandwiches, salad, and tons of great desserts. Unfortunately, Tom and I didn't get to eat any of it because we were so busy. In fact, the only bite of our wedding cake we got was the bite we fed to each other. But it was a great reception and we had a wonderful time.Doesn't he look young?

We had a 10 day honeymoon. It was amazing. We drove to Tom's grandpa's condo in St. George and spent a couple of days there. Then we drove on to Monterey, California. Our favorite things were the Monterey Bay aquarium, the 17 mile drive, Pebble Beach, "Honeymoon Beach," and Yosemite. We drove back to St. George on Thanksgiving Day. When we hit Las Vegas, we were starving so decided to stop at the Mirage Casino and had our first Thanksgiving dinner together at their buffet. We always laugh about that today. It was so fun.



A lot has happened in the past five years. Here are some of the highlights:

We have lived in 4 places: Mapleton (3 weeks while we waited to get into our apartment), Wymount in Provo (18 months), Pleasant Grove (3 years), and now Bloomington, IN.

While still at BYU, Tom worked as a teller for Zionsbank and Beth worked as a lab assistant for a professor. We both graduated from BYU in 2005. Beth in Elementary Education in April and Tom in English and minor in Business in August. After graduating, Beth worked as an elementary teacher for 4 years-2 years teaching 2nd grade and 2 years teaching 3rd grade. Tom worked for Zionsbank in their Human Resources department. Now Tom is an MBA student at IU and Beth is a stay at home mom.

Traveling is one of our favorite things to do. We also like to camp and hike. Here are some of our favorite vacations:
Tom's family cabin at Yellowston Ranch in the Uintas (many trips)
Monterey and Carmel, CA
St. George (several times, I forget how many)
Jackson Hole, WY
Grand Teton National Park
Yellowstone National Park
Arches National Park
Capital Reef National Park (2 times)
Canyonlands National Park
Capital Reef National Park
Zions National Park (5 times)
Yosemite National Park (2 times)
Grand Canyon National Park
Moab, Utah
Sun Valley, ID
Reno and Lake Tahoe, NV
Las Vegas, NV
Irvine, California
New York City, NY
Orlando, Florida
Paris, France
Venice, Bologne, Florence, and Rome; Italy
Here are some pics from some of our favorite trips:

San Rafael Swell, UT 2004
New York, October 2004
Little Wildhorse Canyon, UT 2005

Delicate Arch, Arches National Park 2005
East Rim Trail, Zions National Park 2005

Jenny Lake, Grand Teton National Park, July 2005
Paris, France June 2006

Venice, Italy June 2006
Hiking the Narrows, Zions National Park , May 2007
Cocoa Beach, Florida June 2007
Hiking the Subway, Zions National Park, August 2007
Grand Canyon, June 2008

Other Fun Pics of Holidays and Friends:

Now we have a daughter and we've moved cross country. It is amazing all that has happened in just five years. There has been so many fun memories. Thank you so much for being such a wonderful husband Tom, I love you so much! You are a wonderful father, husband, and friend. I miss you on our anniversary....hope you are having fun in Cincinatti. I can't wait to see you tonight!