We're ready Santa!

Our first Christmas (married), yay! We kicked off the season in style... cut down a tree Grizwold style with Mikey's family.

We found our peeerrfect tree! It's the one directly behind us, not the monster one. After months of determining a general theme for our tree and collecting ornaments and Christmas decor, it was all set! We have such a festive home.

We hung a "mantle" so that our stockings would have a home.

2009... Our first Christmas Together ornament

We were celebrating thee entire month of December. We had Christmas parties every weekend! At last we got into bed Christmas Eve around 1 AM or so. I woke up every single hour, like circa 1990 style- I was so excited for morning! At last, at about 8:30 Mikey agreed we could get up and get the show on the road. As I had hid Mikey's really fabulous gift at my Dad's for 4 weeks and then in the office room, I could not risk him walking into that room. So- I created this sign 12/24 to avoid any mishaps:

I received a gorgeous Brahmin bag and Michael Kors watch from Mikey, which I LOVE. All on my very own- months of research, hours of shopping and lots of hours of work- I got Mikey a "bomb" gift...

Merry Christmas & Happy Holidays from the Devins!

What a fabulous first Married Christmas

Stayin' at the Ritz~

Conversing back and forth for months about what to do for our honeymoon we decided on one thing- some place warm. That was the only requirement that needed to be met. With that in mind, Mikey decided he would take the liberty of planning our honeymoon extravaganza. I had NO idea where we were going until about 10 before our plane landed in Orange County, CA. Mikey told me to pack for warm weather, and knowing me he gave me some specifics on what to pack: casual but cute and a couple of "nicer outfits." He of course made his own personal request: "something slutty," ie: short shorts, dresses, etc. I packed my bags August 7th, got married August 8th and off we left from Little America at 8:30 AM on August 9th.

Here we are at the Salt Lake Airport walking to our mysterious flight. Flying as married couple... cheesey and sooo fun!

After about an hour and a half of begging for an answer as to where we were going or at least some clues, we played a game of hang man. LOL... I was still as confused as ever! I was given clues such as: the name of the place we are staying is the same as the Fresh Prince of Bell Air's cousin (Carlton) and so on. I did not win in that round of hang man to say the least. At last he told me... we were staying at the Ritz Laguna Niguel! AHHHH!

Talk about love at first sight! I will always remember the wonderful "scent" of the Ritz! The lobby and hallways were lined with gorgeous, fresh flowers each day: yellow, pink, purple; each day was a new vibrant color! We had a beautiful room that overlooked the pool.

Nerds: in our bath robes because we are cool like that.

Every morning we enjoyed breakfast and coffee on this amazing patio that overlooked the ocean and this Laguna Beach neighborhood! Delicious coffee, lattes and incredible quiches each morning!

We enjoyed both the beach and pool. Whether we were dining at a fancy restaurant or just at the pool cafe, the food was AMAzing! Pulled pork sliders anyone?

Our romantic dinner overlooked the ocean- what a view!

We told our waiter we were celebrating and he was all stoked for us. At the end of our meal he brought this yummy little dessert.

After dinner we preceded to our favorite little patio- nighttime style. Each table (about four of them) had a fire pit in the center, and these crystals in the flames, I like to call them "diamonds." As we continued to drink a bottle or two more of celebratory wine, we held an outdoor photo shoot. Please enjoy...

There are about 20 very similar shots... LOL... we had so much fun!

I was pretending to be sexy... see the grey sweater on the arm of the chair? A staple our entire stay for each outfit! Well, woke up the next morning from this great night and was getting ready to put my Grandma sweater on for coffee and a beach walk- it was no where to be found. I was super sad. Did I drop it? Did I leave it on the patio? Did I leave it at dinner? (I looked at the camera for evidence but from the camera screen I could not locate the sweater on the arm of the couch). So, I called the front desk, no sweater but they told me to call back again, so I did... and someone turned it in! I was so happy to get my granny cardi back! Once we got home and we looked at the pictures we laughed- I had left the grey granny sweater on the couch during my sexy photo shoot.

We spent some time venturing around Laguna- walking all over, falling in love with the city and eating lots lots yummy food, treats and drinks all along the way.

Is that Stephen Colletti?

NO- it's my HUSBAND!

Yay for posing with the Ritz sign!

The hotel bar had an AMAzing view!

In our walking adventures we discovered a fabulous little Italian restaurant we frequented during our stay. Here I am one night on our way back... after two bottles of wine. I was posing with everything.

To say the least- I was PLEASANTLY surprised with the honeymoon of my dreams! It was all perfect and finally relaxing and being together, alone, after 18 months of wedding planning was so great! We are both lucky, but I am realllllly lucky to have such a sweet and thoughtful Husband... and alas, we are the Devins!

Thee bestest day ever: Our Wedding Day

Approximately 548 days of a lovely engagement, an engagement party, bridal shower, couple's shower and a bachelor/ette party... we were married Saturday, August 8, 2009.

Why the long engagement? Well, we knew we wanted to get married someday) and to be engaged (because it's fun), but finishing school, getting "stable" jobs and being somewhat ready were kind of priorities in both of our lives. To my (ultimate) surprise, Mikey proposed February 14, 2008. I was not "expecting" an engagement for at least another year. The engagement story deserves a post all its own... so long story short: we were both super excited to be engaged, even if it was for an over-average (in Utah) amount of time. It was perfect for us-Mikey graduated, I got a real adult job and we had the time to plan the Wedding Soiree of our dreams!

We were married at St. Thomas More Catholic Church by Father Paul. We had a traditional Catholic ceremony and it was beautiful. The mass truly was beautiful and represented who we are as a couple... people tell us they could just feel the love in the church :) There are really no words to describe the way I felt throughout the entire thing... from walking down to aisle, to reaching Mikey, sitting on the alter, vowing our lives to one another to officially being married and walking back down the aisle together=AMAZing! There is no better or more happy and peaceful feeling... just beautiful right?

you may now kiss the Bride...

ALL of the proud Parents

Averi & Brandon, our flower girl and ring bearer AND future couple

As you can clearly see from the large Wedding Party, we are blessed with great family and friends, SO blessed we needed each of these special individuals to play a special role in our BIG day! I would have it no other way.

In front of St. Thomas More... the stained glass squares are gorgeous!

This is one of my favorites- outside near the Grato, surrounded by roses and greenery.

Our ceremony was followed by a reception at Willow Creek Country Club. Dinner, dancing, drinks, friends and FUN sum up our reception. We were both in agreement that we wanted a partay. The entire theme of our Wedding was reflective of who we are. Simple, timeless and elegant components all made up our perfect day. Invitations, programs, signs, linens, ribbons, napkins attire and accessories all had clean and classic appeal- black and rich ivory with kicks of hot pink in the flowers for fun.

With two photographers, we ended up with 1,700 memory-capturing shots. It is hard to pick just a few to post... I have about 300 wedding pictures posted on my Facebook account!

My Dad of course gave a wonderful speech, followed by my Maids of Honor/Sisters Whitney and Emily. By the end of Whit's speech, we were both in full-tears. Mikey's family and friends also gave lovely, and comical speeches: John & Alicia, Jon, John, Grandma Pat and Cy. Thanks for the tears everyone.

We danced our first dance to Dustin Kensrue's "Pistol" - a song Mikey dedicated to me, an absolute favorite of both of ours. It was really great to have such a meaningful and fabulous song that was so unique to a first dance. Ah- true bliss.

You're the girl of my dreams, darling please wear this ring. You're an angel through and through. Time to lay down my life, honey I'd do it gladly for you ...

My Dad and I danced to Rascal Flatt's "My Wish" - the lyrics speak perfectly to our relationship. I surprised my Dad at the end of the dance when "Footloose" came on; one of our all-time faves!

Mikey and his Mom danced to Elton John's "Blessed."

Prior to the cake cutting moment, we had both agreed to be sweet... a delectable bite followed by a kiss. NO cake was about to get on this face, hair or dress! We went with a very simple black and white four-tiered round cake. Each tier was a different tasty flavor with an accompanying flavored buttercream filling. We froze our top tier to enjoy next August 8th-while I am sure it will taste nasty as hell, I love the tradition! Patti got us our beautiful Waterford toasting glasses and Kristen got us our delicate and pretty cutting and serving pieces.

Alicia surprised us by singing us a BEeeautiful song... Alicia-what was the name? She has a great voice!

Our reception was a blast- it was a big dance party... just what we wanted. We, along with all of our guests, danced the night away. The band was fantastic; they had a great sound and played all types of music.

Many of our guests enjoyed cigars. Months later Chris, pictured here, shared a great cigar story with me :)

ONE of the friend tables at dinner.

John talked the band into letting him sing- he did a good job, Cy too!

The band and the dance floor.

1) The ladies anxiously awaiting the bouquet.

1a) Zoomed-in shot, which I love. Please notice Alex's face and the "come to me" arms, Jaima's arms and her happy shout out face and Kristen's arms ready to punch Jaima's arms if she catches it. Alex wins for sure but who caught it....

Whitney, and lets be honest, she is my little Sister so that is not who I wanted to catch it. Oh-well :)

Dominic caught the garter...

Us and our "winners" so to speak...

Friends and family saw us off blowing bubbles and wishing us "farewell..."

Off we went to Little America, the place of our engagement. We left the next morning to our surprise honeymoon.

Aaahhhh- that is the short version of thee bestest day of our lives! Now... our life together truly begins, for better or for worse!