The Novel

Intro:
Where to even start? I know, I know. I've been a slacker, but cut me a little slack for getting married and that sort of stuff. People ask me everyday: "So, how is married life?" How am I supposed to answer that? Of course it's great. Most of the time I reply, "It's great. How was high school?" They're the same type of question that everyone knows how you'll answer. If I were to say "Well, it's mostly good, but we have had a few rough times," the person to whom I were talking to would think, "Oh no. Jess' married life isn't good. I don't think I'll ever get married because it's probably worse than being single." Now, I know I used to ask that question, but never again. That question is the only bad part about being married.

The Reception:
The wedding reception was so beautiful. I want to thank everyone who helped out in any way, and also thank you to those who came to the reception. A lot of people came and it was great to see them all. For those who don't know, the reception was the night before the actual wedding, and I would definitely recommend that to any of you who are getting married in the future. It saves everybody a world of stress. The reception day was fairly relaxing because we had all day to get ready for it; there was time to go get all of the things we may have otherwise forgotten. My favorite part of having it the night before is that the wedding was the big and final "sha-bang". Too much emphasis is put on the reception when they are the same day, in my opinion. And thanks to Aunt Carrie for putting these pictures on her blog so I could use them too. For some reason I don't have any pictures from that night just yet.




The Wedding:
Though the wedding reception was beautiful, the wedding was better than anything I could have ever imagined. My Grandpa Bob sealed Mark Allen Anderson and me for time and all eternity in the Mt. Timpanogos temple on Wednesday, January 3rd, 2007. I have never been more happy in all of my life than I am right now because I know that I am with the man I love, and that I will always have the opportunity to be with him. What an amazing concept. I love you so very much, Markus Tay.




The Honeymoon:
Mark and I went to St. George after the luncheon on Wednesday. We spent a couple of nights at a condo there (thanks to Tio Jaime aka Uncle James) and had a great time in the area. Thursday we were able to hike Angel's Landing in Zions National Park. It was a little scary because of all the snow and ice on the trail at the top, but it was very fun. Here is a little picture story from that day, including the part where Mark slipped off the mountain because of the icy conditions and barely caught the chain and I thought it was amazing so I pulled out the camera and took a picture before I hoisted him back up to finish the hike with me:







Friday we spend rock climbing in St. George's very own Pioneer Park. It was really neat and we liked it a lot. We both decided we'd like to live in St. George when we're done with school. It's such a beautiful place and we'd have a great time down there. After the play was over, we left St. George and headed up to Brianhead Ski Resort near Cedar City to spend a couple nights in a different condo (thanks to Levi and his family).






Saturday was snowboarding day (thanks to Vic and little brother for letting us borrow boards), my first time ever and Mark's first time of the season. It was great fun! At first I was way scared of actually going down the hill, but once I got the hang of it, it was quite fun. I had to faceplant first (which kept me on the ground in pain for at least 5 minutes) but of course, I'm okay. It's too bad I like snowboarding because it's kind of an expensive activity for the two of us to try to enjoy more than once a year right now. I can handle not going for a while; I was sore for at least 4 days after.




Church at Brianhead was interesting. They have a few men from the closest ward called to be the "Sacrament meeting coordinaters for Brianhead Mountain". We had Sacrament meeting in the Town Hall. Mark and I were wondering why they have a town hall when it's not even a town. There are only condos and a ski resort down there. But hey, whatever makes them happy. We drove back to Logan that day, with a nice stop in Salt Lake for a wonderful dinner with my family.

The New Home:
First of all, Mark and I thank those who came to Logan while we were on our honeymoon to move our furniture and wedding gifts into our house. We are so very grateful for you and for your generosity. Our house is a cute little place in Logan. It's got one bedroom, one bathroom, a kitchen, living room, and a whole lot of storage space. My favorite part of the house is the food storage room, which I took a morning to organize. In a close second place comes the washer and dryer. What a blessing! It took us a while to organize everything, but we're pretty much to where we want to be in our house. We love it. Below is a picture of my first load of laundry! How exciting.


The Ward:
We decided to be in the married student ward instead of a family ward. Today was our first day in our new ward (which isn't technically our ward, but we're going to stay in it because we like it). Our good friends Chris and Laura are in the ward, so it will be nice to have friends there. Basically, we like the ward and are excited to start a new life here.

The End of the Blog.