Eighteen!!!

Eighteen years ago today Jon was panicking when I walked through the doors at the Jordan River Temple. We had our scheduled time for our sealing, and I was told to be there about 45 min - 1 hour before. I hadn't worried about when Jon would be there. I figured we'd meet up before we went into the sealing room. He couldn't get a hold of me the day before the wedding (he was in Sandy, and I was in Provo) so he called the temple to find out what time the bride was supposed to be there (even though he only needed to be there about 30 minutes before show time), and they told him most brides were there about 2 1/2 hours early. So by the time my mom and I came strolling through the doors he had decided that I wasn't going to show. Silly man.

Some of the other funny things I remember about that day:

• I stepped on my train while we were outside taking photos at the temple. My heel had sunk into the damp grass right on top of the train, and there was a big ole grass stain. After our lunch my mom took my dress with her back to Provo to get the grass stain out. BUT I didn't hear her tell me she was going to take it. So when the time came for Jon and I to get in our car and head south I panicked because my dress was gone. This was before everyone had cell phones, so I was in near hysteria while I kept calling my mom's next door neighbor to have her run over and see if my mom did in fact have my dress.

See that little boy? He just
got his mission call yesterday.
He's going to Tokyo, Japan
in November!
See the little girl? She's going
to Montreal Canada in August.
Nat's about 3 months
pregnant in this photo...

• We had our wedding lunch on the patio of Jon's best friend's parent's house. They live across the street from my in-laws, and their daughter is married to Jon's oldest brother. While I was trying to get in touch with my mom about the dress, Jon was sitting in his parent's living room. I don't remember who he was talking to. I was a little tense just sitting there so I went back across the street to help clean up. I hadn't spent much time with my SIL, Natalie, and she surprised me by taking the plates and utensils out of my hands and telling me that the bride SHOULD NOT be cleaning up on her wedding day. So I went back to my in-laws house and sat in a lawn chair outside the front door.
• I ended up doing my own hair and didn't really like it. I don't know what I would have done differently because it was so short, and I was adamant about wearing a veil. My friend Christian's fiance, Kacy, came through our line, and she said she was happy to see me in a veil because she also had short hair and wasn't sure she could wear one.
• We were supposed to do our family photos at the church before the reception. Couple of problems with that... 1) My mom, Jon, me, and our photographer got over to the church, and the door was locked. Took up precious time finding the key. 2) My MIL took the Orem Geneva Road exit instead of the Provo one so she was awfully lost. She didn't make it to the reception until it was almost half over.
• My MIL had all of our flowers (which I'd never seen but they ended up being BEAUTIFUL) AND my FIL's tux. Our receiving line was supposed to be us and our parents, but for a good chunk of the evening it was us, my mom, and Jon's dad in casual clothing.
• We had Jon's good friend, Jared, take our pictures. We had set Jared up with my good friend, Dixie, a few weeks before we got married. So the night of our reception, our photog was mysteriously preoccupied. Most of the snap shots at our reception were taken by Jon's brother, Aaron. Jared and Dixie got married that November, and they will also be celebrating their 18th anniversary this year.

I'm making myself sick with all of the chaos! Good thing that day is long behind us!

Do you know what that day taught me? That there's never a dull moment in the Hill family.

I love you Jon, and I'm grateful that you chose me to be part of the circus.