Memories...

Now that I've figured out how to add pictures, I decided to reminisce a little. This is what has gone on in our life in the past year or so... We got engaged last year on July 12th. It was one of the best nights of my life. The man of my dreams got down on one knee, and while I held a huge bouquet of red roses and smiled myself silly, he asked me to marry him, in both Portuguese and English. Well, history tells the rest because I obviously said yes. :) A week later, I went back to the States to wait out an agonizing six months until I would see my money again. He finally got to good ol' Utah on Christmas morning. I can honestly say, that was the best Christmas I have ever had. From Christmas, we got to spend the rest of our months together, right up until today. What bliss! Dad took our engagement pictures, which turned out fabulous. Then, on the most wonderful day of my life so far, we were sealed in the Bountiful, Utah Temple on January 17th, 2009. Pedro and I talk about that day all the time, and we both agree that it was perfect. The nerves never really got to us until right before the ceremony. But we got to spend a wonderful 15 minutes or so in the Celestial room together, so that helped. Then it was the sealing--what a feeling. Absolutely amazing. It was kind of weird at the same time though because one minute we weren't married, and then the next, we were. Then came time to change and greet the family and friends outside. When Pedro and I first laid eyes on each other in our tuxedo and wedding dress, I believe we both breathed in very deeply (I have the best-looking husband in the world, and I don't think he thinks I'm too shabby). Then we grasped each other's hands and headed for the door. That big, huge crowd met us there. They had to be "shooed" out of the temple doors. :) The pictures on the temple grounds were beautiful and fun to take. The luncheon at Tucano's was super delicious, even though I didn't get to eat very much. And everyone's comments were just right--especially the ones by the daddies. The craziest part was getting ready for the reception that night at our church in Heber. But thankfully, we had lots of help. Pedro and I both have super moms and super families, so we didn't worry too much. As it turned out, the reception was also perfect. We laughed and smiled, I sang, we danced (a lot!), we hugged and kissed, talked and even ate a little. Usually the couple gets out of there before everyone else, but not us! :) We were there til closing time. And, I will admit, I was super anxious to leave, but at the same time, I wanted to stay just a little longer. We finally got to the bathrooms, changed our clothes, and then ran out to the car. It was covered with cheesecake! Perfect. :) Pedro pretended to lick it off. We said a million goodbyes--the one that almost made me cry was Nathan's. Then, after the perfect day, we were off. Our honeymoon was superb! Half in the States and half on a beautiful beach in Brazil made it just right. We took a whole week to relax and be on our own, and then we came home to another reception in Brazil. It was fun, but extremely exhausting after a week of honeymooning. After that, we went home and slept ourselves silly. For about 3 weeks, we lived at Pedro's parents house. We were very grateful to them, but living in a bedroom with a queensize bed got a little squishy. So, we decided to venture out. We found a perfect little apartment right next to our church building. It wasn't in great condition, but we were up for a little work. We cleaned, painted, cleaned again, and painted again. We drank, slept, and ate paint, and then it was finally done. We started moving in. It took us a while to get all of the things necessary for a house--like a fridge, a stove, a table, a closet, a couch, and some cupboards, but we did get those things eventually. And now we're living comfortably in our cute little apartment. I'm training to be an english teacher at a school called Transworld. Pedro is an english coordinator at another school called Microcamp. He is also taking classes at night at the Catholic University of Pernambuco. He is studying Business Administration and hopes to be done there in about 2 years. Our tentative plans are to move back to the States when he is done with school here. We'll see what happens...Like Forrest Gump's mom always said, "Life is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you're gonna get." We've almost finished those "hard first 6 months," of our marriage, and we are madly in love. We spend every moment possible together, laughing our heads off most of the time. We're also doing our best to stay active in the gospel. Pedro is the ward mission leader, which is hard work, but there isn't a better man for the job. I am the second counselor in the young women's presidency and loving getting to know the girls and the other leaders. We went to the temple this week, and it was a wonderful experience.
Well, that is our life in a nutshell. I hope you all enjoyed it. I'll try to keep you updated. Love you all.

*Sarah*