What's Cookin'

I started posting some recipes in my "What's Cookin'" section. Ash and Kenz, this is for you, but really these are things that I would make on any given day, that are simple and quick. Enjoy!

Beauty Redefined

This is really cool. Check this out: http://www.beautyredefined.net/

Relief Society Broadcast

The General Relief Society Broadcast was amazing! Sister Beck, Sister Allred, Sister Thompson, and President Uchtdorf all spoke. The spirit was so strong, especially as they each talked about how we are each daughters of God and that He loves us. The Church just released a few weeks ago a new manual called “Daughters In My Kingdom” that is a compilation of stories about the first women in the Relief Society. The Presidency put this together so that we could learn of our Relief Society heritage and be strengthened by the examples of early, faithful women in the Church. I remember last year when Sister Beck announced that they would be doing this, and how much enthusiasm she had for it. I haven’t had much of a chance to look at it yet, but it looks like an amazing book. I am excited for the opportunity to read of my Relief Society precedents and learn from their valiance. Matt did back-up interpreting for Hungarian at the Conference Center tonight. They do this just in case the system stops working in Hungary, and they actually do it for all of the languages. I went with Stephanie (Matt’s mom) and then the three of us went out to dinner at Z Tejas afterward. President Uchtdorf’s talk was incredible. He uses the best imagery and he is a wonderful storyteller. There was one point where he started to get really emotional as he told each one of us as an apostle of the Lord that God has not forgotten us and He loves us. The entire Conference Center was dead silent as he spoke these words of comfort and love to us. I think that every woman there felt like he was talking specifically to her – I know I did. It was a great broadcast. I am looking forward to General Conference next weekend!

I would strongly encourage everyone to watch the Relief Society Broadcast, especially sisters. I came away feeling strengthened and edified.

Today's song/video in the Erickson home: Reflections of Christ

Some catching up

September 18, 2011

Yesterday was Matt and my’s 3-monthiversary! This has been such an amazing three months. I’m not sure that life could get any better. Sometimes I get nervous that this is simply a dream that is too good to be true, but then I see Matt and he holds me close and I am reminded that he is really in my life. He is my best friend and my companion. I am so grateful that I have him to go through life with. I wouldn’t have it any other way.

It seems like school is already starting to run away from me, no matter how hard I try to keep up. One thing that keeps me going, however, is how much I love my classes! They truly fascinate me. I am taking exercise physiology, chronic disease prevention, obesity and weight management, technical communication, and biomechanics. I feel like I am finally taking all of the classes that I wanted to take from the very beginning; I just had several pre-reqs in my way before. I love learning about how the human body works and I am especially enjoying the studying I am able to do about lifestyle management. I am realizing more than ever that it takes a tremendous amount of effort to maintain a healthy lifestyle and prevent diseases, more than most people are willing to give. Too many people have convinced themselves that good health is their personal right, and that someone else should fix it for them. When in reality it is each individual’s responsibility to take care of themselves and to accept the consequences of poor lifestyle choices. I am finding that the only way that I can even begin the process of maintaining good health is by reading and learning and pondering on it every single day. This way I can be reminded of the choices I need to make on a daily basis. This kind of thing is not something that is learned all in one sitting and is then carried through for the rest of your life. It takes daily effort. An analogy that one professor shared was that if you were to ask a successful business man if all of the money he had earned and the success he had acquired was his right, he would say that it absolutely was not his right. Rather, that he had worked hard day in and day out to get where he was. Sadly, too many people are not willing to put in the same kind of effort when it comes to their physical health. That is one of the main points that I have learned thus far. I am liking this field of lifestyle management more and more as I study it. I had always planned on helping people in the medical field, but this method of disease prevention does not involve medicine or surgeries. It is simply helping people realize the importance of eating right and exercising. I think this is a fantastic approach to the increasingly heavy problem that is American obesity.

Matt and I are beginning a Flexitarian diet. I would recommend it to anyone. It is not vegetarian, but rather focusing your meals on whole fruits and vegetables, and eating meat sparingly. We have already started and it really is amazing to see the effects that it can have on your mind and your well-being. I’ll continue to give up-dates on it.

We are starting to make some more married friends. School is going well. Work is going well. BYU football is not going so well (BYU 10 – Utah 54, boo). Life is great. We finally got out all of our thank you cards the day before our 3-monthiversary! That was a great feeling. I reach out to everyone who is going through that process…it’s lengthy. We were happy that we got to go to the Roderick-Egan wedding on Friday night! They were an absolutely stunning couple and the dinner/reception hall was incredible. We are very happy for them.

Matt continues to be a stalwart example to me of dedication and personal righteousness. He makes me want to be better, and following his example has helped me to be so in little ways. Going to the temple with him is the most amazing experience. I love being able to talk with him about all that we see and hear. Listening to his spiritual insights has led me to higher ground. I love him dearly! I also love Sundays because they give me the opportunity to reflect on my relationship with my Father in Heaven. I know that He loves me and that He is helping us along the way in our marriage, and I am so grateful for that.

Here is today’s song in the Erickson home: We Thank Thee O God for a Prophet

Everyone should visit Wisconsin at some point.

Everyone should visit Wisconsin at some point! It is such a great place. I am really glad that I can say that I am from there. It is so fun to go back every once in a while and visit my family and old friends. On August 5, Matt, Paul, Stephanie, Tiffany, and I went to Wisconsin for our second wedding reception and to visit my family. We had a great time! We came in two hours late Wednesday night, but we were afforded the luxury of staying in Rachel’s bedroom, queen bed and all. A few months ago Rachel took it upon herself to make her room awesome, and she did just that. Each wall is a different color: purple, hot pink, blue, black, and green. All of the colors are coordinated with the bedding and the curtains and she has done a great job decorating. We were very pleased that we were the lucky ones who got to stay there, even if it meant Rachel had to sleep on Sophie’s bed for a few nights. I was so glad for the time that we were able to spend just hanging out with my siblings. One of the hardest things for me moving away to college three years ago was the fact that I wouldn’t get to see them grow up and I was afraid that they would forget who I was. They haven’t, fortunately. This makes me especially grateful for the time that I do get to spend with them and for the experiences that I get to have with them, and it is even better now that I have Matt to share them with me. I was amazed by how much each one of them has grown! Whitney is getting ready for her second year of college (weird) at BYUI and is busy with concerts, friends, boys, work, and who knows everything else. I think she is very excited to be back at school. Rachel is a cruising 16 year old who is wound up in boys, high school, and work. I should emphasize that she is considerably more wound up in school and work than boys. I think she would appreciate that. Sabrina is 100% pure stud who seems to get prettier every day (even with the braces). Soccer and now tennis occupy most of her time, but she is still turning into a composed and beautiful woman. Banks is growing up! He’s passed Sabrina in height (which Sabrina has convinced herself doesn’t matter), he has whole conversations when he talks to people, he’s very smart and witty, and he’s a mean rock n’ roll machine on his guitar. Kallan is just as loveable as ever and she loves being where other people are and doing what they are doing. She’s always there for a hug! Chase is one cool kid. I think that Matt has felt the most welcomed by him than by any one else. He’s feisty, confident, and fun-loving. He’s always there to play a game with someone, show a magic trick, or help with anything. He really is growing up! Sophie is a little princess. Sometimes I’m convinced that she runs the house, and that’s how she likes it. She is fun and cute and ambitious. She finally started warming up to Matt, now she just needs people to stop asking her if she likes him, because she always says no! Well my siblings aren’t the only ones who have changed. Parents get older too! Not to say that they are old, because they’re not. I can just see changes in them as time goes by as well. My parents have handled this whole “first daughter getting married” thing wonderfully. I didn’t expect it to be terribly difficult, but they have made it smooth beyond belief. Honestly, I’ve been very proud of the way that they accepted the transition and have welcomed Matt and the Erickson’s. I have wonderful parents!

So now on to the activities that have happened. On August 4th the Ericksons, Matt, and I went with my family and my grandparents to the Wisconsin State Fair. I think that Paul was blown away by the display of Wisconsin culture, as were we all. You can get just about any food fried and put on a stick at the different vendors there. Matt and I actually bought a fried Snickers on a stick for a whopping $4. It was good, but I think we both agreed that a 50 cent Snickers bar would have been better. We all went down the burlap sack slide (watching Tiffany go down with Sophie was precious!). Of course we all ate an original Wisconsin State Fair cream puff! Banks’s ended up all over his face somehow and I’m pretty sure he smashed one in Sabrina’s face as well…crazy kids! On August 5th my parents arranged for us to have our second wedding reception at the Country Springs hotel in Pewaukee, WI. It was very nice. My mom did an amazing job planning the whole thing.







The hotel catered it for us with bruschetta, mini quiche, mini chicken cordon bleu, salmon on bread, fruit, and lemonade. My mom had beautiful flowers and an amazing cake. She really went all out and it was wonderful. We had a line consisting of my parents, Matt and I, and Matt’s parents, with my grandparents greeting people at the door. After everyone had made it through we cut the cake and I threw my toss bouquet (which Whitney caught). I was so happy with how many people came to see us. I think that my parents were very pleased that they had so many friends come as well. The room was a pretty good size and it was full almost the whole time. It was great! Everyone had cake and kept mingling, and Matt and I finally got to eat. We think that there were four or five other wedding receptions happening that same night in the hotel ballrooms, and the other ones were much louder than ours! They all had dance music going and flashing lights and lots of alcohol going. My siblings enjoyed dancing through the windows of the other receptions; periodically someone inside would see them and start dancing back at them. We went back home and Matt and I opened all of our gifts and cards. It is amazing how generous people are! We felt very loved and supported. Every time we would get a check Kallan would yell “How much did they give you?!” It was very fun to open presents with them.

On Sunday Matt and his family came to church with us. I finally got to show him off to my home ward! I love going to church with him. My dad shared a touching testimony during sacrament meeting where he testified that Matt and I had done the right things and that we had pleased God. He said that we had each lived out lives well enough and righteous enough to marry in the temple. He said that he thought we had found each other as a reward for one another as a blessing for th way that we had lived our lives. He also spoke of complete joy, and he told the story of when he watched Matt help me through the veil when I went through the temple for the first time. He said that his joy was full. I was incredibly grateful for his testimony and for his love. He has been an amazing father through all of this. The Erickson’s also got to experience a crazy DuPaix family home evening. I think that they really enjoyed it. The kids were running around and sitting on their laps. We drew pictures as part of the game and everyone was laughing and joking and having a great time. Then on Monday, Matt and I took Sabrina and Banks to Six Flags Great America! We didn’t get there until around 1pm and then it started raining and a lot of the rides were getting shut down, which was a bummer. We waited it out and ran through the rain to the different big rides until we were able to make it on all of them. I think that we rode each big ride once. We were able to get Banks on every ride except one…Vertical Velocity. He was absolutely terrified to go on it. He waited in line with us and then walked through and waited. I’m sure that he will conquer V2 someday soon. Matt and I had a great time with them.

We had a wonderful time hanging out with the family, playing games, laughing, wrestling, and eating smores around the campfire in the backyard. It was a great way to have our final official celebration of our wedding. We have been pretty excited to get back into the swing of school, especially being married. Hopefully it will be a great semester! If nothing else this summer has been a time of absolute spiritual heights. My life has changed forever, and I really think this is the happiest time of my life. I am so grateful to the Lord for helping me find Matt.

The Good Sunday

I don’t think that I ever would have thought growing up that Sunday could be the best day of the week. I just saw it as a day where I had to wear tights and a dress and sit quietly for three hours, until we went home, where we couldn’t watch tv or play outside. Times have changed! I love Sundays! In fact, I need Sundays. I’m finding that is more and more important to have a day that isn’t so fast-paced, when the laundry gets set aside, the flashing images on the tv aren’t penetrating my mind, and going out and buying things isn’t an option. Fortunately, my focus has shifted in other ways as well, and more importantly I’m seeing Sunday as a day where I can focus with clarity and purpose on my Heavenly Father, His Son Jesus Christ, and the gospel of Jesus Christ. It has turned from a Sunday-don’t-day to a Sabbath day. I am so grateful for the Sabbath day and I’m so grateful that Matt and I can go to church together every week, partake of the sacrament, and be spiritually uplifted. The other part that I love about Sundays is that I get to spend the whole day with Matt! We talk, we read, we visit people, and talk some more. It is wonderful. One thought that was shared in church today that particularly stuck out to me was that the Atonement of Jesus Christ serves two functions: to redeem us from sin and to empower us for good. We focused today on the empowering effect that the Atonement can have in our lives if we will prepare the way and let it. This is something that I would like to do better. I want the power of the Atonement to fill my whole soul with empowerment, knowing that with the Lord on my side, anything is possible. I can love more, forgive more, serve more, and be more humble knowing that I have this enabling gift at my side. What a tremendous blessing! The Atonement has such eternal potential that I am just beginning to unlock. Fortunately, I know that the Lord loves me no matter what, and that gives me great strength to press forward.

Highlights from the past few days: 1. Mini-golfing at Trafalga with Matt on Saturday night (we combined for 9 under par), 2. Visiting Amie and Ashlyn and catching up with them, 3. Watching The Pink Panther with Matt—so funny!

Does life get any better than this?!

Cultural Masterpiece

It’s crazy how fast the time goes. I know that I’m not really qualified to say that we’ve been married for a long time, but I can’t believe that it has been over a month since Matt and I got married. I think that the craziest part is that my wedding was something that I had at least thought about for a lot of my life, and now the wedding is finished and we’re married! Sometimes it is hard to believe that it actually happened, and to me. Being married has been the greatest thing that has happened to me in my short 20 years of living. The amazing part is, I think that being married will always be the greatest thing that has happened and will continue to happen forever! That is an exciting thought.

Matt and I are getting ready to move next week before we head out to Wisconsin for our second reception. We are really looking forward to both of those things: moving and celebrating. We are so excited to spend time with my family again! I think that Matt has said that specifically five or six times, because we really are excited! I think that he really enjoys spending time with my younger siblings. They love him so much. Chase is probably the cutest with him. He will run up to him and hug him and sit on his lap and ask him questions and talk to him…so cute! When we were in WI in January Chase was loving asking Matt if he was taller than things. Are you taller than that car? Are you taller than that tree? Are you taller than the door? The height questions didn’t seem to stop! I know that Matt was very happy to feel loved by my family and to feel welcome. Maybe this time Sophie will finally admit that she likes him!

We have been attending our new ward for the apartment that we are not yet living in and it has been great! I’m very excited to get more involved in the ward and to start making amazing friendships. I think that the weirdest part so far has been all of the babies! We are in a student married ward, but there are quite a few babies in the ward – enough for a nursery. Relief society every week is highlighted by the toddlers all playing with each other in the front, and by the chain reaction that is started when one of them starts crying. Matt received a calling to be a district leader over home teaching in the elder’s quorum.

On Saturday Matt and I went to the annual Kamas Demolition Derby! This was our second time going together, but first time married. I asked Matt to go with me last year for one of our first couple of dates. We had a lot of fun together last year. During the closing fireworks was actually the first time that Matt put his arm around me. Cute huh? Last year we dressed up like gangster thugs and this year we dressed up like construction workers. It’s tradition to dress up like a hick somehow, so that we fit in with the Kamas crowd. Matt and I each wore a reflective safety vest and he wore his construction boots.


Matt already had his costume, because he’s a construction management major. I just had to go get a safety vest. We had a great time! It was so fun to see friends again and to go to this ‘cultural masterpiece.’ Demolition derbies are the craziest things. Basically, it’s just cars ramming into each other until they can’t go any more. There were three preliminary rounds, and then the top three from each round, and the top three from the consolation round all made it to the final round. Last car running won.

There were plenty of breaks in between the rounds. For one of them there was a dance competition, then there was a ‘what would you do for 18 free holes of golf’ competition (a man licked horse’s poop…NASTY!), then there was an hour-long interruption for a jousting competition. That may sound at least slightly interesting, but it wasn’t. The jousting was ridiculous. They took way too long and hyped it up way too much. Sir Charles Andrew battled Sir Jay something. The crazy part was that they were absolutely convinced that this was real and that they were real knights. The announcer gave us a lengthy introduction of the sport and of each competitor. When they finally went, they charged each other, their sticks broke, they dropped them, and moved on to the next round. Nothing exciting. They told us to watch Fox Sports this Fall to see them on tv, but I’m not convinced that they’re going to do well, and I really don’t think that the derby people will be inviting them back next year. The crowd was booing them and telling them not to do anymore. Oh well. The rest of the derby was fun. The same car that won last year won again. A black and yellow sportyish car, #59. We had a great time eating dinner and playing horse shoes at the Hewlett’s cabin before the derby, and the firework show was awesome afterward too. I think this is one tradition that we will always look forward to.



Sunday was Pioneer Day. We celebrated by going to Grandma and Grandpa Erickson’s house for a chicken cordon bleu dinner, followed by some wonderful story telling from the fam. Then yesterday everyone had work off to continue celebrating Pioneer Day. Matt, Paul, Jordan, and I went to the driving range and putting green at Eaglewood golf course in Bountiful. This was the first time that I had golfed in 12 years. Matt did a wonderful job teaching me though. He is very good at golf. Just last week he beat the older men that he works with at his internship. What a stud! I couldn’t believe how far he could hit it. He even came really close to getting an eagle on a par 4 (he ended up getting a birdie, but he hit the green from his tee shot!). We played nine holes at Bountiful Ridge after our warm-up. I was glad to be able to go with Matt, because he would tell me what clubs to use and where to aim…which I didn’t do very well, but that’s okay. He ended nine holes with +8, and I had +34. It was my first time! They kept telling me that I did great, and I guess I did for a beginner. I shouldn’t expect to be any better anyway. Matt’s dad took us to Applebee’s for lunch afterward, and then we spent time chilling at the Erickson’s house. We watched Knight’s Tale, which I hadn’t ever seen before. Great movie.

Well, that’s what’s up in our lives right now. We’re getting ready to move next week! Matt is getting a new group of Hungarian missionaries tomorrow and the MTC just released a new curriculum that he is learning right now. Hopefully the transition will go smoothly for him.

Life’s great. I’m so grateful for my pioneer ancestors and for their dedication so that my life could be so tremendously blessed!

Dehydration...& Lake Powell!

Don’t ever let yourself get dehydrated! It is really, really not fun. Especially when it get’s worse than just being thirsty. The apartment that Matt and I live in right now is…let’s just say, not well insulated. It also came with a less-than-satisfactory air conditioning unit that only works some of the time. This is a very bad combination for an apartment facing the sun in the middle of a Utah desert summer! Our bedroom has consistently been around 88 degrees, even at night. Needless to say, we have stopped sleeping in the bedroom, on our wonderfully soft queen bed because it’s just too hot. Fortunately, the apartment that we are renting for the summer is normally men’s housing, so it came equipped with three bedrooms and three sets of bunk beds. Also fortunately, Matt is very strong and buff and he has been bringing out one of the twin beds from the other rooms to the front room and setting it right in front of the a/c unit for us to sleep on. Yes, we have been sleeping on a twin bed in our front room every night ☺. To tell you the truth, it hasn’t been so bad! We’ve often talked about how we are going to look back on this time together and laugh about it. We end up waking each other up a lot during the night, but cuddling really close with your husband all night long is an amazing thing, and is something that we won’t be able to do forever, so I’ve been enjoying the time while we have it.

Anyway, back to getting dehydrated. Matt and I joined Matt’s family and the Schauerhamer’s (cousin’s family) in Lake Powell this week from Tuesday to Thursday. We were both able to switch some shifts with people at work to make it happen and we’ve been looking forward to it for a little while now. We made the six hour drive south to the Wahweap marina with Cami and Justin Moody, who also happened to be going, and met the fam out on the boat. We spend Tuesday afternoon boating out to a beach, setting up, eating lunch, hiding from some rain, playing catch, and going wakeboarding out on the boat. We weren’t out for very long, however, because Matt’s cousin Sam took a bad tumble and we thought he had a head injury, so we went in early. I did get to go on the wakeboard for one go-around before we went back though. It took me three tries, but I did make it up and held it for…a little while. And then the wake came back to get me and I just got swallowed right back into it. Oh well. I did make it up! I’m counting it as a success! Before I went, Matt went, and he is just amazing. Okay, so he doesn’t wakeboard a ton or anything, but he made it up solidly on his second go and he held it for a long time. He was going in and out of the wake and holding the rope with one hand! He looked great! On his last go he was determined to show us that he could get sweet air, so he went out wide to the right, bent down really low, came back in and pulled up. He really did get two to three feet of air before he fell in. He counts it as getting 10 feet of air because he’s 6’6”…I just think he’s great ☺. We stayed in a hotel in Page, AZ for the two nights that we were there. For whatever reason there was a sizeable group of French tourists at our hotel and I got to talk to them a little bit. I asked a little boy why they were visiting and he said they were seeing everything. I’m assuming that means the Grand Canyon, Lake Powell, and Southern Utah, because you just don’t see those things in France. Later his dad was asking me questions as to why I spoke French and if I had ever been to France. I was a little shaky, but I felt good conversing with him. At the end he told me that I speak very well. I really appreciated that.

Wednesday was our touring day. We spent several hours going to different Lake Powell destinations. The lake is about 100 miles long and it took us quite a while to get to our different stops, but they were magnificent. Because we were spending so much time sitting on the boat exposed to the sun all of Wednesday, I was feeling fairly under the weather. My stomach was a little unsettled and a had a bit of a headache. I was drinking just as much water as everyone else, so I figured that I was fine, but it kept getting worse. Fortunately, I was still feeling okay when we made it to our various stops.

Our first destination was Rainbow Bridge. It was amazing! It’s basically just a really, really tall arch made of red rock. We were able to hike a ways to get closer to it and take some pictures. It is so tall! Very cool thing to see. Our next stop was Hole in the Rock.

This was this “knotch” found in a wall of red rock that sloped downward that a group of pioneers led their handcarts and oxen and horses down in order to keep going on their journey. It was hard not to wonder if they hadn’t thought of any other options, because this looked absolutely impossible to even walk down individually, much less with a giant wooden cart, livestock, and families. There is a tremendous story told accompanying this site. I don’t know all of the details, but all of the handcarts had made it down with four men holding the back of them, and one leading the horse in the front. This went on until all of the carts had made it down except for the last one. The husband of this cart had been one of the men helping with the other carts, but the rest of the company was on their way and there was no one left to help him with his cart. Him and his wife and children said a fervent prayer, and then the wife strapped herself to the back of the cart as her husband led it and their children were inside it. She knew that if she were to let go they would all fall to their death. She was miraculously able to hold the cart, as four men had done previously, even though she broke her leg from the tension on the way down, and they made it to safety. What an amazing story! Just looking at the path that they took put chills down my spine after realizing what holding back a cart down that slope really meant. Incredible.

Our next visit was Cathedrals Canyon. This was so cool! It was just a small passage that could not fit more than one boat, but that had soaring red rock on either side of it, probably 70 or 80 feet tall. We had to have people guarding all corners of the boat because it was such a tight squeeze and we did not want it to hit. We took the boat back as far as it would go and we were able to make it to a place to turn it around. The canyon continued on for a really long ways, and some of us got out and swam some distance after the boat could not go any further. That was really cool! We were swimming in between giant rock that was only as wide as two or three wingspans!


That night was not a fun one. I got pretty sick and had a fever and was achey and had chills the whole night through. I didn’t sleep much because I kept trying to get warm, even though my skin was burning. The rest of the family went out to eat at a Mexican restaurant, while Matt stayed behind to take care of me. What a sweetheart. We had to make the six hour drive back the next day, so I wanted to feel at least a little better, but that didn’t happen. I sat curled up in the front seat with Cami’s pillow and blanket trying not to think about how much my body was hurting. Matt concluded that even though I was drinking water while we were on the boat, I had started the trip partially dehydrated because of the state of our apartment, and being out in the sun all day just pushed my body over the top. I was able to find temporary relief in Tylenol extra strength and Ibuprofen, but Matt tried diligently to keep me away from them because it didn’t want me to have too many or to just mask the symptoms. What a smart man…though the relief was extremely appealing. The aches and burning skin and headache went on Wednesday night, Thursday, Thursday night, Friday, Friday night, Saturday, Saturday night, and, well now it’s Sunday, and I am feeling much better. I haven’t slept much, I haven’t eaten much, and I’ve drunk enough liquids to float something really heavy, I’m sure of it. The most amazing part about all of this, though, is how wonderful and helpful that Matt has been through all of this. I’ve hardly gotten up once to get myself more water or Gatorade and Matt has been doing all of the food preparation and, well everything else for us both. Isn’t being married the best?!

Matt and I were able to make our weekly temple trip yesterday. We went to the Draper, UT temple, which is absolutely stunning. I love going to the temple with Matt. We are going to try to make an effort to attend as many different temples as we can. So far together we have gone to Draper, UT, Chicago, IL, Bountiful, UT, Mount Timpanogos, UT, and Salt Lake, UT. The Provo temple is closed for cleaning and renovations for a while, but that one will quickly be added to our list when it is open again. I just love the peace and refinement that comes from visiting the temple. Whenever I have gone with the right mindset and have focused on spiritual matters while I am there, I have always come away feeling refreshed inspired to action. Going with Matt has been so wonderful because we are able to share those feelings. We have committed to attend the temple at least once every week for the rest of our lives, and I am really looking forward to it. I’m feeling much better now, hopefully that keeps up. And hopefully our a/c starts working better! Overall, life is just wonderful.

Cabo Getaway

Matt and I spent seven wonderful days in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, loving the beach, the sun, the food, and each other. It was incredible. Absolutely the most amazing trip that I have ever been on – France included! We didn’t do many other things besides hang out around the resort, because it was just so amazing, and because everything else was so expensive. We did have some trouble getting there at the beginning, because it was pretty difficult to find out exactly which hotel we were staying at. When we got off the plane there here dozens of timeshare “vultures” waiting to catch people and rope them into buying a timeshare. We walked right past them to the man who Matt had arranged to pick us up. We took a 35 minute bus ride to San Lucas. The land was so dry and desert-like. The buildings all along the road were little beat-up shacks that looked closed and run down. It was sad to see, but the people we passed looked the same. We made our way out of the city to the resort stretch of the beach. The driver took us to a Casa Dorada hotel, but the concierge was not able to find us on their list. That had us slightly panicked, since we were already kind of unsure of where we were supposed to be. She made a call to a different Casa Dorada and they were able to find us at the Hilton. The driver then took us over to the Hilton, which instantly took our breath away. The concierge here was initially unable to find us on her list too, then we really we worried. Fortunately, we were able to pull up our confirmation on a computer and they eventually found us on the list. It was a scary process, however. We were worried that we wouldn’t have a place to stay! When we finally made it to our room we said a thank you prayer for all of the nice people who had helped us and that we had made it safely. Then we began our honeymoon extravaganza! We spent some time every day we were there on the beach, mainly playing catch with a Frisbee. We also spent a lot of time at the pools, which were amazing! There were jellyfish in the ocean so they had red flags up telling us not to go in the water. We weren’t too bummed about that though, because the pools were incredible.

We ate almost every night at El Meson restaurant at the resort. They had free chips and salsa (made by a lady who would make it in front of you on a cart) and wonderful food and desserts. I think our favorites were pastor tacos, tortilla soup, churros with rich chocolate sauce, tres leches with berry caviar, chicken chimichangas, and chicken tacos. They were so authentic and amazing. The one disappointment came with a salad that I ordered, the Organic Mexican Salad. It had jalepenos in it which I couldn’t see because it was dark and the dressing was not very good, which made for an overall bad taste. Our next favorite part about El Meson was their breakfast buffet. It included breads of every kind, pastries, fresh fruit, cheese, meats, pancakes, French toast, eggs, oatmeal, yogurt, cereal, potatoes, stuffed chilies, bacon, sausage, and fresh orange juice. So amazing! We ate until we were stuffed every day. One funny story about the food is that several months prior Matt and I looked at the restaurants menus online to get an idea of how much it all would cost. We saw that an average meal was around $200 and we were so confused and so nervous! We did not understand how tacos or a burger could cost that much. We were pretty worried that we were getting in way over our heads and that we were either going to starve while we were there or leave broke. After probably 15 minutes of panicking, we looked at the bottom of the menu and saw “All prices are listed in pesos.” What a relief!! We were so excited to see that! The exchange rate at this time was about 1:10 so $200 really was close to $20. We still dropped close to $700 by the week’s end on food, but that’s better than $7,000! Over the past few months whenever something has seemed difficult or hard we look at each other and say “Don’t worry, it’s in pesos!” and everything seems a little bit better.

We made friends with some of the workers at the resort. Julio cleaned our room every day and we were very pleased with his work. Estefania greeted us at El Meson and even learned our names. Pablo was the concierge we talked to several times and asked for tennis rackets. Matt was very excited to be able to use some of the Spanish that he has been learning. We didn’t say too much in Spanish because they were so polite in English. The thing we heard the most from them when we told them ‘thank you’ was ‘It’s a pleasure!’ What friendly and helpful people. Matt and I really enjoyed going for walks along the beach, both during the day and at night. We made a heart in the sand that said ‘M+A.’ That was cute. One thing that we couldn’t believe was how empty the resort was the first few days we were there! There were always close to 100 beach chairs set out and maybe 20 of them were taken. The restaurants were empty too. We felt like we owned the place…besides the fact that we were the youngest and cheapest people there. By the time Thursday came around close to 200 people or so showed up for a charity event that happens every year. It became pretty packed after that, with drinkers, smokers, and loud people. Fortunately, they didn’t take away our fun. One night we rented Kung Fu Panda from the Vacation Station and watched it in our room while we ate sandwiches and Starbuck’s hot chocolate ice cream. I really enjoyed spending simple times like that with Matt. We had a lot of fun together.

We put forth a concerted effort to keep doing the things that we should always be doing: we said prayers individually and together twice a day, we read scriptures individually and together for 15 minutes each every day, and we dressed up and didn’t go to the beach or pool on Sunday. I am so grateful for Matt’s righteous example to me when it comes to spiritual matters, and all matters. He takes it very seriously to be a spiritual leader in our family and I am so grateful for it. Anyway, Matt and I had an amazing honeymoon together. I absolutely loved it and I loved being with him all the time. I am really looking forward to all of the time that we will have to be together. I could not have imagined a better trip!

The Wedding Day!!

Where do I even begin?! Matt and I were sealed in the Bountiful Temple for time and for all eternity on Friday June 17, 2011. It was an absolutely perfect day. I could not have asked for a more wonderful wedding day or for a more wonderful husband. We’re married now! It is so crazy to think about. This is the one thing that I have wanted more than anything else for my entire life, and it has come true. What a truly blessed life I have. The sealing ceremony was incredible. We were able to have President Walt Gasser (Matt’s mission president in Hungary) seal us. We had a sealing room (#2) that fit 50 of our closest family members and friends. It was completely full! I was on the verge of tears the entire time. Oh, another thing I forgot to mention, we were able to sit in the celestial room together for about 15 minutes before we met with Pres. Gasser. It was spectacular. I am so happy that we got married in the Bountiful temple. The celestial room was so beautiful. I was so happy to be in there with Matt and to think about what was coming for us. Every time I looked as Matt I just felt this overwhelming sensation of love and happiness. He looked so handsome and so confident. I love him and cherish him dearly. I am excited to go do sealing’s for the dead so that I can more fully comprehend the sealing covenant we entered into. By the way, I was tearing or crying through most of this. Matt was beaming and smiling. I promise my tears were ones of joy! Afterward we kissed, exchanged rings and then everyone came up to give us their love and hugs. My biggest tears came from hugging my parents. All of Matt’s family said that they loved me and welcomed me to the family, and my family told Matt the same. It was beautiful and wonderful. I could not have imagined a more spiritual or loving marriage. So, after the ceremony, Matt and I got to take a minute to look into the mirrors on either side of the room. So amazing! I’m going to be with Matt forever! Then we went back to change into our wedding clothes. This is where the ultimate mishap of my life happened! My mom was helping me change into my dress and I had it on and the zipper broke as she was pulling it up! I was so scared for a while. Everything had gone so perfectly up until now that I knew something had to go wrong, but this?! Everyone was out waiting by the doors for us to come out! After standing there staring while my mom and two temple ladies tried to figure something out, they took my dress down to the menders in the basement of the temple while I saw there in a robe thinking about not being able to wear my dress on my wedding day. I had decided that I was going to be okay wearing temple dress out, even though I really, really didn’t want to. I knew that somehow it would be okay. They came back up 10 minutes later with a seamstress and they tried sewing the dress on to me, but it didn’t work because I couldn’t get it up all of the way. So they had me put it on and then three ladies with pins put their heads underneath the back of my dress so that they could get to the start of the zipper and pin it. One lady said “Don’t worry, just wait until you’re pregnant – there’s no sense of modesty anymore then!” That made me smile. But it worked! They were able to safety pin my dress onto me! Fortunately, the pins were slightly masked in the back by my veil. I hurried and fixed my makeup and cleaned up my tears and then hurried out to find Matt. He was waiting patiently looking very handsome in his suit for me in the lobby. He looked floored when he saw me in my dress for the first time. He kept telling me how beautiful I looked and he said it couldn’t have been more perfect. I got my bouquet, we pinned on Matt’s boutonniere and we headed for the doors. Jessica (our photographer) told us to wait until the doors closed behind her before we came out. I could see everyone waiting to cheer for us. Jessica went out, we waited, and then we went out to all of the cheers, and tears, and hugs from our family and friends. I think that moment was one of the happiest of my whole life. Matt gave me a big kiss and then we went around giving everyone hugs. First siblings, then friends. My roommates were all so excited! After that settles, we all went to the front of the temple to take pictures. Jessica did an amazing job arranging us all. I think we will have some really amazing pictures. I can’t believe I’ve written this much and I’m only at 11:30am!

After pictures we headed over to Eldredge Manor, a very beautiful reception hall, where we had our luncheon. It was amazing! We had lemon chicken with steamed vegetables, bread, salad, potatoes, and sparkling lemonade, and raspberry swirl cheesecake for dessert. Matt and I were at the head of the room, with my parents on my left and Matt’s parents on his right. Everyone else was scattered at tables across the room. One table for my siblings and Kim, one for my roommates and friends, one for President Gasser and his family, one for my grandparents and aunts and uncles, one for Matt’s siblings and cousins, and so on. We passed the mic around the room and had each person introduce themselves and say how they were connected with us. Some of the funnier introductions were from Chase (“I’m Chase and I’m Andrea’s coolest sister…brother”), Grandpa Erickson (“I’m the uninvited guest”), and Ashlyn (“We just want you all to know that Amie, Parker, and I are taking full responsibility for this marriage…just so you know). Cutest one was from Sophie (“I’m Sophia and I’m Andrea’s sister” in her cute 4-year old voice). After that we watched a slideshow of pictures that Ashlyn had compiled for us of our years growing up. It was close to 15 minutes long and was to the songs “Rhythm of Love” by Plain White T’s, “I Do” by Colbie Callait, “Hey Soul Sister” by Train, “100 Years” by Five for Fighting, and “Rather Be With You” by Joshua Radin. It was so good! Ashlyn did a great job with it. We didn’t get to see it until the luncheon because she was in Europe the weeks before the reception and she only finished it the day before. I absolutely loved it. After that my parents each had a turn to say some words, followed by Matt’s parents, and finally by Matt and me. I was crying during my parents’ little speeches. My dad said a lot of nice things about me. He talked about how I was his little girl and about how he had cried watching me go through each step of life into the world. He talked about how he cried when he dropped me off for kindergarten, when he dropped me off for high school, and when he dropped me off for college. He also told a story that I hadn’t heard before. When he and my mom had four daughters a man from the scouts in their ward came to him asking for him to donate some money to the scouts program. He asked why he should donate when he had four daughters, to which the man replied, ‘Don’t you want your daughters to marry an eagle scout when they get older?’ My dad said that he did donate and he was glad that he did. He was very pleased with who Matt is as a person, and with the fact that he is an Eagle Scout. He also said that we make a very nice couple together and that it was fairly obvious that our relationship was going somewhere when they first saw us together. My mom talked about how strong and self-motivated I have been and what a great daughter I have been. She said that I have been a wonderful example to my siblings and that I have always wanted to do what was right. Stephanie talked very highly of Matt. She said that he would always come back and apologize when they had gotten into an argument. He has a very loving and humble heart. She talked about what a good man he is and what a good boy he was. Paul told an interesting story. He told of Matt’s senior lacrosse game where he took a hard ball to his cup, and even though he was deeply in pain, he was determined to finish the game against Olympus High. We were both a bit confused about this story, but it was a good one to illustrate Matt’s determination nonetheless. I went next and thanked everyone for being there, thanked my parents for raising me the way that they did, thanked the Erickson’s for raising Matt the way that they did, and thanked Matt for marrying me. I expressed my deep love to him. Matt finished by doing the same. I felt so much love for him. It is amazing how it seems to get stronger and stronger every day.

We had three hours following the luncheon to get everything in place before the reception. Fortunately, Nicki was taking the reigns on preparations and I had handed out some assignments to people as well, so Matt and I didn’t have to be involved in getting things ready at all. It was such an absolutely perfect day outside! Not a cloud in the sky, yet not too hot, with a very slight breeze, probably 75 degrees or so. Perfect! I am so grateful that Nicki was able to take charge of everything and get it all done. It looked amazing and she did a terrific job. We came out around 4:30 when Jessica the photographer came to take some initial pictures of the group. We were still a bit discombobulated when she arrived getting things into place, so it took us a while to get the pictures taken. We had some family pictures, some friends pictures, and some set-up pictures. It was so beautiful. I’m really excited to see those pictures. Then the guests started arriving! There was a steady stream of people from 5:30 all the way until the end of the reception. So many friends and family members came – it was amazing! We got so many compliments on the way that everything looked and on the food. I could not have been happier. My feet got pretty tired about half way through and I had to take my gold heels off. Both my parents and Matt’s parents had a great time meeting people and joking and laughing with people as they came through the line (which consisted of my parents, Matt and I, and Matt’s parents). I was surprised by how un-involved Matt and I were in the reception besides the line. I guess I had expected to be mingling more and talking with people, which we were, but we didn’t leave the line the whole time because so many people were coming through! The amazing things was that everyone stayed after they had gone through and eaten food. It was such a nice night that everyone just decided to stay and hang out and enjoy the time with us, which we weren’t expecting. Fortunately we still had food to spare at the end. Around 7:20 or so Matt and I cut the cake, fed each other nicely, and then kissed. Then I climbed the steep black stairs in my dress so that I could through the bouquet over them to the crowd of girls below. My sister Kallan caught the bouquet. I don’t think I’ve ever seen her happier. I came down, sat down, and Matt took off my garter. I think he was pretty lost on what he was supposed to do, so he just lifted up my dress until he found it and took it off. He flung it out to the men and his cousin Jake snatched it right in front of Chase’s face. He said he was going to add it to his collection. We got a picture of Kallan and Jake with us holding their prizes. After that, Matt’s sister Tiffany sang “The Call” by Regina Spektor from the balcony as Matt and I had our first dance. It was very sweet to have her sing for us. She did a fantastic job! Matt and I just talked about how quickly the day had gone by and how we just could not believe that this was all happening to us. After that my dad and I had a daddy/daughter dance to the song “My Little Girl.” I was crying almost the whole time. It was so sweet to dance with him like that. He told me how proud he was of me and how right Matt was for me. He told me that I was being such a good example to my siblings and to others too. He told me that Kim had started talking about what her wedding was going to be like, and he attributed that to my example. It was a tender moment for both of us. Following the dances Whitney turned on some dance music and we invited everyone to join us in dancing. We still had people showing up to greet us at this point so we didn’t get to dance much. We kept talking with people. Around 8:15 or so Matt and I finally went in to change so that we could leave. There were still so many people there, I couldn’t believe it! It took us a while to get ready, because we weren’t entirely packed yet. Matt had to help me take off my safety-pinned dress. Then we changed and went out the back door through the procession of probably 100 people waiting for us and blowing bubbles (wedding favors) and cheering for us as we walked to the car. It was so amazing to see so many people there who loved us and cared about us. Whitney, Parker, Amie, Ashlyn, Ashley, Mckenzie, and gang had decorated the car, with our own cake frosting! We got in as quick as we could and we drove off to everyone’s cheers. That’s the end of what I know about the reception. I heard later that they had about 60 people stay for the next hour or so to help clean up. What an effort that must have been.

I have so much love and respect for Matt and I know that he does for me as well. I could not have chosen a better man to marry. I’m so excited for the future and I could not have been blessed with a more perfect day!

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