It's a Hard Knock Summer for Us

This is going to be a very, very long summer.

My list of complaints I'm going to mentally convince myself into thinking positively about:

1. I only spend 4 hours a day with my newly wed husband {all of which are after he's been working/knocking/sweating all day and exhausted OR while we're at the gym}

2. The office I go into occasionally to help out in smells like trash

2a. I suck at door-to-door sales so I can't work out here

3. I don't have means of transportation so I'm stuck in my apartment all day with nothing useful to occupy my time.

3a. no car

3b. I can't figure out the local bus routes {I don't want to get lost here = danger/death}

3c. my driver's license expired

4. Walmart is the only store I can go to while I'm here cause it's the only place open 24 hours {the earliest time Ryan gets home is 9:30 PM}

4a. I can't even get my hair cut and it needs it desperately

5. Said Walmart is NEVER stocked and doesn't have a craft/sewing area so I can't buy anything for me to do or learn how to do

6. I feel like I'm trapped in a sterile sanitarium apartment or under house arrest

7. Ryan hates being outside during 'off' time, I hate being inside during his 'off' time

8. I miss my family and friends and I'm shy and have a hard time making new friends

9. Pool passes at my complex cost $350 for the season

10. Amazon.com LOST my books I ordered so I can start researching/writing my thesis paper

11. No cable and I have to steal my neighbor's internet connection

11a. I'm sick of trying to watch things that are worth while or 'interesting' on Netflix. Hoarders was interesting at first but it makes me paranoid. I've watched every movie that looks somewhat decent...

12. Every time I brainstorm things I could do or learn, for one reason or another it gets shot to the ground and trampled into dust specs

12a. Most hobbies and things I could learn cost significant amounts of money to start and I don't want to spend money because we don't have money to spend

13. I'm alone ALL day in the same 4 walls and it's a treat when I get to take out our trash

14. I feel worthless and like I'm not contributing to our family or to society

15. I miss Ryan all the time and I loathe that we never get quality time together

15a. I feel annoying and needy if I bother him while he's working

Okay, now I've vented and I'm going to work on problem solving and optimism {somehow}

City of Brotherly Love

After much confusion and waiting, we FINALLY made it to Philadelphia in one piece!

We flew straight from Vegas to Philadelphia for Ryan's summer job during the most absolute craziest time of the season. Due to the severe thunder storms and tornados throughout the south and east our trip that should have only taken 7 hours turned into 26 while leaving us restless for 33 hours.

We arrived in the Washington-Dulles airport on schedule for our hour layover to Philly. When we got there we waited for our flight which was delayed 45 mins to an hour--no big deal, right? WRONG. They kept delaying it further and eventually cancelled the flight altogether.

Then, we had to wait in line for over an hour to reschedule our flight only to find out 3 hours later that the new flight was also cancelled and we would have to wait in that airport till at least the following day and United wouldn't pay for us to get a hotel room...

We desperately tried to find ways to get to our final destination, however, the Dulles airport also believes in charging their poor, tired customers $28.99 for wifi so we had very limited options. Because neither of us are old enough to rent a car, we had one choice to get to Philly--Megabus. And boy, was that an adventure.

In order to get to the Megabus pick up/drop off in DC, we had to take a shuttle to a random spot in downtown DC and then proceed to traipse through the streets with ALL our luggage until we found it. We then waited 45 mins in the late afternoon blazing sun for a 3 hour ride into Philadelphia.

Megabus was actually pretty nice overall. I started to cry when nobody would switch their seat so Ryan and I could sit together, until a nice guy about our age saw me crying and he offered to take a different seat. {Thank you SO much nice man, you made my horrible day worth it!} Ironically, we had FREE wifi connection on the moving bus {and to think Dulles didn't have connection in a stationary, high tech building...}

None of this day was fun in the least bit.

Don't travel with United Air.

Despite the trauma, we're here and safe now. We have our own little meager apartment, and even though the walls are barren and I counted 7 mouse traps topped with peanut butter, I'm going to try to keep an open and optimistic mind.

The {mini} Honeymooners

Because we didn't have a lot of time between our wedding and Ryan's summer work schedule in Philadelphia, we did a "mini" honeymoon until December break. We're hoping to go on a cruise to the Bahamas, but we shall see where in the world we end up going. But for now, our {mini} honeymoon was SO fun!

First, we stayed at an incredible hotel called the Vdara which is part of the Cosmopolitan Center. We originally were going to stay in this awesome suite that hand a 180 view of the strip, but when the bellboy took us to 'our' room, we quickly realized it was also someone else's...because of the mistake, they upgraded our room to a penthouse on the TOP floor! It was absolutely amazing. We had a great view of the entire Strip AND to our wonderful surprise we had complete view of the Bellagio Fountains {bea-u-ti-ful at night!}

Here's the view:

View from our bedroom window

Our penthouse living room and kitchen

Living Room

I felt like a princess the entire time I was there. The Vdara is ultra luxurious {and not a bad price} I REALLY didn't want to leave. One night I took a bath with complimentary bath crystals and the cleaning lady didn't restock them the following day. I wanted another bath the next night, but didn't have any, thus, my very favorite memory of the Vdara was when Ryan called the front desk requesting more.

The conversation went as follows:

"I need more bath salts, could you please bring them up?"

"bath salts?"

"yes, bath salts. I want to take a bath and I don't have any."

"bath salts?!?"

"yes, you heard me correctly, please get them up here as soon as possible because I want to take a bath and I can't because I don't have bath salts!...Thank you. Goodbye."

It was really funny listening to my burly husband ask for bath salts. Oh I have SUCH a wonderful hubby. Needless to say, I enjoyed a nice warm soak at about 1 AM because of him!

While we were in Vegas we went to O by Cirque du Soleil at the Bellagio and Phantom of the Opera at the Venetian. I highly recommend both! O was neat because the entire stage was made of water with a moving floor beneath it. The performers did an assortment of acrobatics and dives. The show was a little eerie and had clowns in a dreamworld setting so don't get freaked out if you go! The Phantom of the Opera had stellar voices and the special effects made you feel like you were actually there in the opera house! I highly recommend both shows!

Us getting ready to see O

In front of the Venetian waiting for Phantom to start

While we were there we got to try really yummy restaurants like Tao, DOC, Rainforest Cafe, and Mon Ami Gabi. Tao had asian food comparable to PF Chang's and an even better atmosphere. DOC is a little cafe in the Cosmo and is delish! Seriously if you like Italian you should definitely try it out. My FAVORITE was Serendipity II's frozen hot chocolate at Caesar's Palace. mmm.

We sat out side and enjoyed people watching along the Strip

...and gobbled up our dessert very quickly!

We did a lot of exploring during our stay and stumbled upon cool places like these:

The day before we had to leave, Ryan and I stopped by the aquarium exhibit at Mandalay Bay. There were some cool lizards and big scary sharks. I'm just glad there were all behind thick glass!

Our honeymoon was a perfect mini retreat from all the stresses we were under because of school and wedding planning. We made lots of great memories and I already wish I was back there!

Wedding Bells were Ringing

It's official! There's a new Carnell in town--me!

Our wedding was absolutely picture perfect, had a few rough bumps, but overall, it was just how we imagined it to be!

We got into Vegas on Friday afternoon and immediately went to Costco to order prints for the display tables. We then went over to Paige's hotel room to drop off my luggage and figure out the plan of the night to make sure everything that needed to happen between then and the wedding was accomplished. Ryan and I still had to get our marriage license downtown so, that was top priority on the list of things to do.

Interesting Side story:::

...While planning out the night, a large surprise occurred--my parents announced that they too were going to get {re}married and elope at some small chapel during their stay in Vegas... They were unaware that they needed a marriage license, so Ryan, Paige, my parents and I all traipsed down to the courthouse together where not only Ryan and I got licenses. When we came out, a man of the streets approached us with a nice little pamphlet of chapels nearby. Below is what occurred the night before my wedding:

Yes, my parents did indeed get remarried at the Walk-Up Wedding in Vegas. And yes, it is just like a McDonalds, but instead of hamburgers and fries they serve weddings and cheap rings.

***

So, next on the list was finishing up boutonnieres and floral centerpieces. We had planned on getting back to Paige's and my hotel room about 9 PM however, due to parental technical difficulties of navigating the Strip, we went without dinner or floral designing until 12:45 AM. There were also some major hysterical fits of crying throughout the adventurous night. {I felt as though my wedding was going to be ruined and that I'd have ZERO hours of sleep before my big day}

When we finally arrived to our hotel room, Paige, Eric, Ryan, and myself 'opened up' "Les Fleurs Boutique de la Bathroom de Green Valley Resort." Basically, the 4 of us stayed up for about 2 hours frantically trying to finish up the flowers for the reception. I have very fond, vivid memories of {literally} sitting in the bathtub making centerpieces while Ryan snipped off buds as Paige and Eric wired boutonnieres. Oh what fun {not wanted} memories!

Luckily, I did get about 4.5 hours of sleep before I had to get ready.

Ryan and his groomsmen stayed with the sweetest family, who also happened to be wedding-lifesavers, the Marx family. Mrs. Marx is a fabulous hairstylist, so as a wedding present, she did my wedding up-do. It was EXACTLY what I wanted and beautiful.

Ryan and I arrived at our appointed time in the Las Vegas Latter-Day Saint Temple at 10:30 AM to prepare for the private ceremony scheduled for Noon. I waited for my mother and Paige to arrive. And waited. And even waited some more...{Unfortunately, I was alone by myself in the Bridal suite because Ryan wasn't allowed in}. My mother had my wedding dress and I could not do ANYTHING without it. They were supposed to be at the Temple at 10:30 AM as well, however again, due to parental difficulties, they didn't arrive until 11:50 AM--10 minutes before the ceremony was scheduled to begin. Needless to say, I had a rather lonely and rushed morning...

The wedding was beautiful and we both said 'I Do', so it was a success! We were married for time and all eternity! Our religious beliefs enable us to be married and remain a family after our mortal death in Heaven. I am so grateful that I get to spend my entire earthly and heavenly life with my best friend and only love forever!

Family and Friends at the Temple

Our photographer, Michael Lloyd drove all the way from Utah to Vegas to shoot our wedding. Oh how we adore him! We spent the next 2 hours taking family and personal portraits at the Temple. Seriously, Michael is bomb. Because his photographs, we have extremely vivid memories of every single minute and detail of our most special day!

My father left his formal wedding suit in Utah, so luckily, Mr. Marx let my father borrow one of his suits and dress shoes for the reception. Like I said, the Marx's are {literally} wedding-lifesavers!

Our Groomsmen and Bridesmaids

The Carnell Family

The Larscheid Family

Our reception was held at Dragon Ridge Country Club in Henderson, Nevada. We had hors d'oeuvres for our guests while Ryan and I took sunset pictures on the golf course. Talk about blast from the past...we met an unfortunate swarm of mosquitoes that chased us around just like our first date to Utah Lake for fishing. Oh what adventurous memories we have!

After our sunset photos, we entered the Grand Ballroom to the song, I Believe in a Thing Called Love by The Darkness to kick of our wedding celebration! We had to keep the reception very small consisting only of family members and extremely close friends since Ryan and I paid for our entire wedding by ourselves. However, we were able to feed our guests an excellent salmon or steak entree and a garden salad. Also, I was quite pleased with how the table linens turned out! I think they looked very classy and didn't resemble Blue and Gold Banquets which I was afraid of.

Toasts were given by Paige and Eric, one of Ryan's groomsmen Jeremy, and Ryan's dad Skip. We also had 2 special musical numbers by another groomsmen Kaimi and dear friend Sam Riddle. I especially loved this part of the dinner because of all the tender memories and love that were shared.

We then enjoyed dancing for the rest of the evening. Our daddy-daughter and mother-son dance was to Unforgettable by Natalie and Nat King Cole. It was precious being able to spend a little bit of time with my father to tell him how much I love and appreciate him before the wedding day was over. Afterwards, Ryan and I danced our first dance to Andre Bocelli's, I Can't Help Falling in Love. It was magical and I felt as though time stopped while we were in our own sphere for those few moments. Oh how I love dancing, it truly does waken the soul!

Daddy-Daughter and Mother-Son Dance

Our First Dance

Of course, we did the traditional cake cutting. Our cake was a fantastic cake. I don't think I've ever seen a cake so beautiful which tasted just as good as it looked! I shoved a big glob onto Ryan's face even though we both promised not to the night before...

We also did the garter throw where Ryan's groomsman Sam caught it. My toss bouquet was missed {typical} but our friend Chelsie was a good sport and claimed the prize! Looks like Sam and Chelsie are next on the list!

After a little more dancing, Ryan and I quickly changed and got ready for our mini-honeymoon in Vegas until we moved to Philadelphia for the summer....

Happy Forevering!

Overall, our wedding was as PERFECT as a wedding could be. I don't believe there are such things as perfect weddings, ours definitely had it's hiccups, but it was our fairy-tale night! Thank you everyone who came and a special thanks to ALL of our vendors who made all of this magical!