Our Wedding and Honeymoon...

Diego and I had such a beautiful sealing down in the Mesa Temple on December 26th. We each had so much family there from all over...once the seats filled up people had to stand against the wall. Our sealer, Brother Fish, was so special. He spoke both English and Spanish so everybody could understand his beautiful words... 

The reception in New Mexico was so great too...like a dream. The chapel cultural hall had been so beautifully decorated by Diego's family; it looked like a fancy outdoor reception tent...draped with soft cream and green fabric all along the ceiling and the walls. We walked in just as the large Mexican Mariachi band arrived, so it was an exciting entrance with great music and cheering. We were so happy. The food was great, the music, the dancing, the cheerful good people, new aunts, uncles, and little cousins smothering us with hugs and pulling us out to dance...What a special night.

We spent the next few days in New Mexico with Diego's family and his sister who had just returned from her mission. Then we flew down to South Padre Island, TX, where we had a wonderful honeymoon and did a lot of exploring on the beach, sand dunes, national wildlife refuge, beautiful river walks, went into Mexico for a day, went on a dolphin watch cruise, took lots of pics, etc.

We spent New Year's Eve and Day with my grandparents and several aunts, uncles and cousins in Bayview, Texas. We had a great time there for the countdown--imagine lots of little and big cousins, aunts, uncles and grandparents with confetti, noisemakers and firecrackers going wild in the little canopy overlooking the resaca (river) under a full moon on a warm Texas night.

The next morning I went for a run along the resaca and a few miles of grapefruit and orange orchards. When I got, home Diego and I did some reading and had a really nice talk. Then we went into the kitchen where everything had come alive again with my grandfather making his famous Swedish pancakes for everybody!

A bit later in the morning we played a long, exciting football game with about 12 little and big cousins on the field between the orchard and the resaca. Diego picked me and all of the smallest cousins to be on his team. Yet, because he was such an amazing coach with such good game-plans and a real knack for making little kids feel like champs, our team came out victorious!

We spent the rest of the evening eating more good food, enjoying good conversations, watching football, cleaning up the house and doing laundry. Then Diego and I drove back out to the Island and enjoyed more fun adventures together for the next 2 days. On Sunday we attended my grandparents' small Spanish branch out in Port Isabel. The testimony meeting and classes were very inspiring and memorable, as were the kind members. We had a delicious dinner back in Bayview with more family, then we were driven out to the Harlingen airport where we began the long journey home.

We are very happy and more in love than ever. It was so great to grow closer to one another and to our families as well. We are settling into our little Provo apartment now and back in work and school mode. We've been so touched by everybody's support, love and enthusiasm for us. We feel so blessed to have such a special family and dear friends.