EMRY'S FIRST PHOTO SHOOT:) 10/23/13

OUR NEW HOUSE!

We bought a house! As we were planning for our wedding we were also looking for houses. We found this little 1200 sq ft house with 3 bedrooms and 2 baths that was in foreclosure. It was another HUGE blessing from the Lord that we were able to get it! So many people were putting in offers because it was priced so much lower than it's value. We closed a couple of weeks after our wedding and moved in sometime in May. We love it! It shares a wall with one other house, but we have our own backyard, deck and front yard. The subdivision has 2 swimming pools, tennis courts and is calm and quiet. (mostly older people live there) We have been blessed with wondeful neighbors and a close location to work! The outside is an ugly, boring brown, but the inside is hardwood floors and vaulted ceilings, its so nice! And, thanks to my dad we got a whole house full of beautiful furniture! I haven't taken any pictures of the inside yet, but will post them when I take them!

Marks mom and brothers and sisters spent nearly every day for almost 3 weeks over at our new house painting, fixing and cleaning things for us while Mark and I were at work. Mark's dad would come over after work and help fix things up too. When we bought it the walls were an ugly purple. One room was peach with green stripes. Ug! Now every room in the house has a fresh coat of paint (thank you WalMart wedding gift card givers!) Mark, his dad, and brother Chris even tiled our kitchen for us. It looks amazing! We would love for any of you to come and visit us! Tennessee is a beautiful place to live and we are loving our new life together out here!

The Crew(except we're missing dad)

Julie, Kallie, Mark, Me, Chris, Jenni, Mom

TENNESSEE RECEPTION

Mark's family was so wonderful and gave us a beautiful reception in Tennessee as well. By this time we had had a reception in Utah, California and now Tennessee! We were pros! Mark's mom, dad and siblings all teamed together and made the reception so beautiful and memorable. We had an ice cream bar with all the toppings you could imagine! And this time, unlike our first reception, we actually got to enjoy the food! Haha. Thank you Bakers!

Mark's sister Julie made us a delicious cheesecake wedding cake

So, on the way to our reception we had a little...well...kinda big accident. The reception was only a couple of miles away (they say accidents are most likely to happen close to home!) We were driving along and the next thing we know traffic had come to a dead stop, with not enough time for us to stop! And there you have it, a totaled car:( At least it wasn't our wedding day! The amazing thing about this all is that it actually turned out to be a HUGE blessing! Heavenly Father is always looking out for us! Because our car was totaled, the insurance company gave us $1600. We were in debt for the car, and this allowed us to be free and clear! We then set out searching for a new vehicle. We didn't think we could find one for under 2000, but we found a 1996 Honda Accord for sale. Mark offered him $1700 and was surprised when he told us that he'd planned on selling it for $1600 (so he felt bad taking more than what he originally planned on selling if for.) So...we got a new (well new for us:) car for the EXACT price that the insurance company gave us. We are now officially out of car debt, and didn't have to pay a penny out of pocket. I know Heavenly Father knew what we needed and allowed us to go through this experience so we could reap the blessings!:)

Yes, I am in my pajamas. I was planning on changing at the reception. People probably thought i was strange, hair all done up and in my PJs. At least my dress didn't get ruined!:)

CALIFORNIA RECEPTION

After our wedding, we spent a wonderful week in Lake Tahoe on our honeymoon. We had a reception the following weekend in Rescue, California where I grew up. My AMAZING friend Jessica did sooooo much for our wedding! Not only did she make all 6 of my bridesmaid's dresses, but she and her also amazing mom Audrey(my second mom:) threw us a reception in their backyard. It was so beautiful! Unfortunately we don't have the rest of the pictures from this reception. But as mentioned before, I will post the rest once we get them. Until then, at least you can see how beautiful it was. Thank you Audrey and Jess!

Dancing in a gazebo!