13 days out...

Almost 2 weeks have passed since our big "I Dos." Two weeks ago, we were heading to the River Walk with Trace's family and now here we are just a couple of old married folks. Wedding number one was absolutely perfect. Even though I lost the marriage license and Trace forgot the bread for communion, things were perfect. I have never felt more blessed in my life - to be surrounded by our families, making that huge of a commitment - the feeling is indescribable. We are so thankful that everyone was able to be so flexible and helpful. We needed all the help we could get! I surprisingly held myself together, my mouth was doing a weird twitching thing, but overall the tears were at a minimum. Good thing.. because the new waterproof mascara that I bought was very disappointing!!

Skip to the honeymoon and the perfectness continued! The bed and breakfast was impeccable. I guess Labor Day weekend is a convenient time to get married because the other couples at the B&B were all celebrating their anniversaries. I'll be honest, we went all out to celebrate. First meal as a married couple... Digiorno and Doritos. It was perfect! The next day, we made it out to the beach. Trace was not exaggerating when he said it was windy. I think we both ate a ton of sand. Trace was a tad nervous about losing his ring. He kept his left hand in a perfect fist whenever we were in the water. Humorous and endearing - like always!

Eventually we made it to the Randy Rogers Concert. We both got frisked for the first time at the entry to the concert - I guess Corpus Christi is a haven for guns/pepper spray/ drugs in concerts. The place was packed, but T and I found a perfect place on the grass and I loudly sang along to EVERY song. Like T said, a Randy Rogers concert was our first "date." Here on our honeymoon, he confessed that "I had no intention of dancing with you" that night. And wouldn't you know, that is exactly what we did! We spent that night and this night dancing the night away. Perfect!

Honeymoon - September 2011

1st "Date" - April 2009

It's Legal!

What's brown and sticky?...a stick. Who's now married?...we are!!! Due to my upcoming deployment (I leave Nov 20), we had to bump up the date of our nuptials to Sept 3 so we could get Jess processed into the system before I leave. There's stuff like insurance, legal matters, and things like that which take time to do; more time than we would have had if we wouldn't had hurried up and done the deed. Both families were there and my dad refereed the ceremony. It took place at an old mansion that has been converted into a restaurant called The Lodge at Castle Hills. We had a private room and the two of us stood in front of the old fireplace with my dad behind us. Jess looked absolutely gorgeous (like always) in a beautiful white dress with a skinny silver belt. After we exchanged rings and vows and a big 'ol smooch, we had communion which was presided over by Jess' dad.
Jess' ring is an exquisite white gold ring with channel set diamonds. After the ceremony, we dined in a private room and were able to avoid any awkward silences. That's good considering our families hadn't really met before the day. Kayman made Jess' boquet, the center pieces at the dining table, and red velvet cupcakes for us to feed each other. During the dessert exchange, Jess decided she wanted more than just a bite of my cupcake and tried to remove my middle finger with her incisors. Kayman also played photographer for us after the dinner. Here are some of the pics she took. If you want to see more, here's the link to shutterfly: http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=0AZuGTVk3aM2L_Q


After the shindig, we scampered off to Corpus Christi. We stayed in a b-e-a-utiful b&b called Ocean House. Our room had a king sized bed complete with a plethora of pillows, all delivered from Heaven. Saying it was comfortable is like saying Sully is only stinky (he really smells like a butt). There was a nice surprise when we walked in the suite. The Smiths (my aunt, uncle and cousins) had a gift basket of chocolate covered strawberries and champagne (Jess called it cham-pimple) waiting for usIt was sooooo nice. We hit up Padre Island (the north one) one day and the beach was actually pretty nice. The wind was another story. It was blowing so hard that we watched some poor soul try to set up a tent for 45 minutes, only to give up in the end. It also blew the fine top layer of sand so deep in our ears that it took a good 3 days to get it all out. Randy Rogers Band and Pat Green put on a show that first night too so we decided to hit up Brewster Street Icehouse, a famous Texas watering hole, beforehand then went to the show. Ironically, a Randy Rogers concert was where we went on our first date back in our old El Paso days so this brought us full circle. We hit up the public beach in Corpus on our second day before having to head back to SA.

Now even though we swapped vows, rings, and spit, we're still having a big to-do on Nov 12. We're still having a bit of a ceremony, photographer, music, food/beer, and a great time so we hope everybody still comes and celebrates with us. We hope everybody understands the reason for this, but if you don't that's just too bad!