After a year and a half of paperwork, we finally had a temple clearance. We've been through trials & tests of faith, but we made it. We love and appreciate each other more, and are stronger because of it. And we did it together. We always knew that "one thing" is missing in our marriage. The special promises that only eternal couples share. We had wanted to be sealed for our second anniversary, but our 3rd anniversary was perfect.
We had hired a photographer to come and take some family pictures since most of the family would be together. Overall, the pictures look nice, but the picture above is my favorite. I did some iphoto editing- cropped it, blurred it, antiqued it, and I love it. It will always remind me of this day.
A couple months after we were married, we were able to tour the open house of the new Twin Falls temple. I've never seen a city more excited to get a temple. A city that was use to driving for 2 plus hours to get to the nearest temple. The city that Charley grew up in! We knew right then, that was the temple we wanted to be sealed in.
Charley's parents are ordinance workers in the Twin Falls Temple. And it turns out that Charley's old Stake President- The one who sent him out on his mission- is the Twin Falls Temple President. It was an honor and a blessing to be sealed by President Karl Nelson. The council he gave was beautiful... and yes, I remember *most* of it! We were surrounded by family and friends. It truly was an amazing day. We are so grateful to those family and friends that drove the distance to share it with us.
After the sealing, we all went outside for family pictures. I think the biggest stress of the day was finding a dress!! It was hard to find something that I liked- something simple that could be worn for future temple visits, as well as dressy enough for pictures. I finally found something that fit my personality. Well, and that FIT period! Here are some more of the pictures that the photographer took:
The pictures didn't turn out as great as I had hoped. Only because it was really windy, we were looking into the sun, and Charley's glasses automatically darken. He keeps saying he looks like he's in the C.I.A.... But, to the photographers credit, she gave us our disc three hours later before we left to come back to Salt Lake!!!
And then you know me, I can't resist. I was behind taking pictures of my own with my phone. These are just a couple snapshots, but I love them!
When Charley and I got married, we bought matching wedding bands. They are tungsten. Inexpensive (the are metal, not gold), but VERY durable. My wedding band was actually a men's ring. I loved it. I told him that I would rather wait until we went to the temple to get a wedding ring. He's kept this in the back of his mind all this time, and knew this was what I wanted. A couple months ago we went looking for rings. I found a VERY expensive one that I loved at the mall. Luckily, I have a friend at work who's husband is a jeweler. He owns his own Jewelry store in the District. (If anyone is looking for a ring or any jewelry, he's amazing!). I took him a picture of the ring, and he & his jeweler made it for me. It was a lot less expensive. It's actually been sitting in our cupboard for a couple weeks. I put it on for an hour or so, then put it back in the box and told Charley I didn't want it until it was official.. on the 4th.
So that's what he did... Right after the sealing, and right before pictures....And here's the ring!
I LOVE it! It's the prettiest ring I have ever seen, and it's mine! It's a princess cut "bridge over water" setting. It's actually two separate rings, the inner band comes out. And yes I have NAILS for the very first time in my life. (That's a whole story in itself, but more or less, a couple friends talked me into it... saying it would make my pictures and my ring stand out more...). Ok, but a small confession- only because my close friends and family are the only ones that read my blog. The center stone is a CZ. The jeweler told me not to tell anyone, and nobody would ever know! Could you tell?? Nope, really- you can't. I'm only telling because I don't want everyone to think that I paid $6000 for a ring, because that's how much it would have been had the center stone been real! Wowza!! I'd be sick to my stomach if I ever lost it. I'm more of a simple person. I cared more about the design of the ring than the value of the stone. So for me, It's perfect!!
So, yes, the day was perfect. Everything I had imagined it would be. After the sealing we all went to Golden Corral for dinner. We visited a little and then we were on our way back to Salt Lake.. We had a small getaway that we had to be to the airport for the next morning. (See next post). But one last picture... This is what the sunset looked like as we were driving out of town. A beautiful sunset for a beautiful day.
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