Married Life!

Married life has been GREAT!  Dan is such a good husband, and my best friend... and he's a saint for putting up with a demanding and slightly spoiled wife... spoiled with love; )

Dan is from Washington and Utah, so the heat is not his favorite!!  But he's a trouper.  Here he is at a pool party with a grilled steak in-hand (his favorite!).  I am slowly breaking him of his habit of sticking out his tongue in all pictures... but he still looks cute!

Now because Dan and I got married so quickly, we didn't have much time to get a home.  So, we stayed in my roommates house in my room for about a month (haha!), and while we were waiting for our house to close (we put offers in before we were married), Connie and Tim let us live with them!  I'm not so sure it was fun for them... but it was sure fun for us (Laura Croft, Lego Star Wars and Indiana Jones, Star Wars marathon)!  They moved Mike's crib into Abbey's room to let us sleep in Mike's room on an air mattress.  We had a blast playing video games and playing with the kids... and now, Abbey and Mike love Dan more than me!!  Mike said Dan's name before mine!!

Here we are having fun on my computer.  I love how this computer brings families together!  What a good investment; )

Dan's in the background playing the famous video game (Lego Star Wars is the BEST!!!! I miss it!)

Abbey and Mike with their favorite uncle!  It's true!

Because Dan and I were living with the Merrills... the kids schedule and normalcy was askew.  Abbey was very naughty!!  Haha! (Sorry Connie!)  Here she is in the 'time out' chair.

Dan on the air mattress


One night Dan and I made a gourmet dinner for everyone (Tim did the grilling though)... Dan is so helpful!

Yum! Shishkabobs!!

Oh, this was cute!  Abbey and Uncle Dan were dancing... and Abbey was calling Dan 'my prince'!  Look how happy she looks!

Our New Home!   

I love our home!  It was quite dirty when we moved in (we ripped out the carpet the first day), but we've been so busy cleaning, painting, scrubbing, bleaching, etc...

Here I am with incense our first night in our house... it was the only thing that cut the smell of yucky carpet.  My dad came over and cleaned the hallway and bedroom carpet for us while Connie and Mickey helped me DEEP clean everything.  Thank you guys!

Napping... in my house!!  See the book beside me?  Me and Dan have been reading 'The Eye of the World' series.  On the way to and from California Dan read for us (we are on the same book... there's 11).  Dan had me drive the whole time on our trip because he has bad luck with the law enforcement!  We are obsessed with these books: ) NERDY!  Haha!

This was taken before we saw Harry Potter 6!!  Dan read the first book... and we bought the movie set and had a Harry Potter marathon.  We love Harry Potter... NERDY 2X!!  Hey, we haven't had TV OR the internet!  

So, we have no fridge yet (except for a mini one that keeps turning our milk sour in 1 week)... can you say 5 dollar Little Caesars?!?

My cute husband playing the guitar... he's so good!!

House work!!  We are in the process of scraping up the carpet glue on the concrete in our family room so we can stain it... and make it look cool!!  It's a lot of work!

My marriage involves 4 people... Me, Dan, Harry... and Laura Croft.  Damn Laura.

I have my Harry boy now!!  Thank you Connie and Tim for putting up with my boy for over a year!  Now, he's the king of the house... and already making friends in the neighborhood.  Dan's not a cat person... but he loves Harry.  He's been VERY cuddly... and the other day he snuggled in Dan's neck!  He only does that with me!  He loves Dan!!  Look... he's smiling.

4th of July

Dan and I went up to Pinetop and Heber to enjoy the mountain air and cool breeze with my dad and his new wife Mickey for the 4th.  Usually the firework show in Heber is phenominal... but this year it wasn't quite up to par!!  20 bucks to park for a less than 10 minute show:(  It was nice to have a little get away and spend time with my dad and Mickey though.  We stopped on the way to Pinetop to look over the Mogollon Rim... it was beautiful!

Isn't this little chipmunk so cute?!?

Lookin' all rustic... that's my brawny man

Doesn't nature suit him??

Huntington/Newport Beach Getaway

We drove to California early Saturday morning (3am!) so we could relax a little on the beach!  The Hurley U.S. Open surf competition was going on, so we wanted to catch some of that on Sunday.  We left Sunday afternoon after a fun little vacay!

This picture is on the Newport Beach pier... we ate at SUCH a good restaurant called Rockin' Baja Lobster.  YUM!  It was hard for me to not eat at the Old Spaghetti Factory like tradition demands, but it was worth it!

On the Huntington Pier watching Brett Simpson win the U.S. Open.  It was so crowded!  There was so much traffic, and nowhere to park... we ended up parking 10 blocks away from the pier.  Good thing it was nice weather and cute houses to look at walking to the pier... I even got to see Plumeria bushes in lucky peoples yard!!  

Our best modeling poses; )

Walking along the Newport boulevard at night

Newport pier

 

Well, I am all updated!  Yay! 

Three months later...

Wow!!  I think that may be the longest I've EVER taken to post!  There have been a lot of changes in my life lately to say the least... and It's time to catch up!

Okay... first things first.  I am now Carrie Elder!  I met Dan in December through my roommates I was living with at the time.  I had just gotten out of a relationship that made me a little blue, and the girls invited me out to hang out with friends of theirs!  That was the first night I met Dan, it was at Mattas Grill.  We went to his house (and 6 roommates) afterwards and played Guitar Hero and Dan was getting his hair cut by one of his roommates... into a mohawk!  After everything died down and a few people left, I was able to talk with Dan and get to know him a little.  I remember thinking he was super cute and really nice!!  He seemed genuinely interested in me, and he singled me out out of a dozen single ladies!  I thought he was cool because he had a game on his cell phone that I love... Zuma!... and he was funny playing Guitar Hero.  He got my number and we became friends on Facebook.  I saw him a couple of other times when I went out with my roommates... once we went ice skating, and he was following me around!  I think he was trying to make me laugh... and he biffed it pretty hard a couple of times!  Haha!  A few days later he asked me on a date!  We saw 'Yes Man' and went back to my house and played around on my computer taking funny pictures.  I really liked that I could be myself around Dan, and he made me laugh.

Our first date

Christmas came and went, and so did New Years.  I was going out a lot with my friend Nikki to singles activities and parties... and that's where I saw Dan again!  I was excited to see him because it had been a long time since I saw him last.  He invited me to the party him and his roommates were throwing for the Super Bowl.  I took Nikki with me, and it was SOOO crowded at their house.  We left the party, and I took Nikki home.  As soon as I dropped Nikki off, Dan texted me to ask if I was still at the party.  I ended up going back to hang out with Dan... that's the night I got to know Dan a little better.  I learned that his dad had died tragically like my mom did, and I felt an immediate bond to him!  He told me about his family, and his mission, etc.  We ended up watching a movie together, but I got no kiss (my nose was completely stuffed!  I was getting over a cold.  Otherwise, Dan said he would have kissed me!).  After that night, we saw each other everyday.  My roommates and his roommates took a trip to Show Low for the weekend... and that trip was when I started falling in love with Dan.  We played cards, drove to my moms grave in the snow, ate out, got ice cream... we were inseparable!  Everyone else was watching TV and dancing to hip hop music back at the cabin... and Dan and I were in our own little world!  

SO, I will sum up this already loooong winded story!  Over Easter weekend, Dan and I went to meet his sisters and mom in Utah (his little brother, Ben, is on a mission!).  We stayed with his sister Carissa and her husband Darin (and their 3 cute little kids!), and we had a blast playing Guitar Hero with his ohter sister Annie.  His mom and her boyfriend came over on Easter... and that's when we told all of them we wanted to get married!  We were planning on getting married at the end of May.

Carissa pitching to Dan... I fell in love with Dan's family immediately!  They are so fun loving and genuinely happy people.  And I loved seeing Dan as 'big brother'.

  

Annie... she's a firecracker!!

When I got home, I was trying to plan a little ceremony (my temple marriage hasn't been cancelled with my ex yet... so we can't get sealed yet!).  I was so stressed out because I was having to pay for everything out of my own pocket... and I'm poor!  Planning a wedding is not very fun (I learned that with the one I planned before)... and a big extravagant wedding wasn't at the top of my list.  When you've been married before, in a very unfulfilling unhappy marriage... and then years later meet someone who is perfect for you... little things like flowers, and invitations and cake don't matter as much!  I just wanted to start my life with Dan!!  Everything fell into place with Dan, taking me completely by surprise... I knew he was the one.  Awwww!  When we met with our singles ward bishop to tell him we wanted him to marry us, we wondered, "Why wait?!?"  Bishop said, "I can do it Saturday".  And that was that!  I got a dress the day before, shoes the day of... got my hair done at work by my friend Afton, did my own makeup... Dan's cousin Aaron and his wife Laura got us flowers, and a cake (thank you, thank you, thank you!!)... family and friends took pictures for us (Dan's mom and sisters drove up from Utah that day!) , and we got married in our Bishops beautiful home!!  

There you go... Mr. and Mrs. Elder!!

Dan's roommates.  From left:  Scott, Mike, Jared, Van, Adam, Jesse... and the pretty girl in the pink is Mel... the boys' friend from Utah who stayed in their house as well!  Right after we got married, all the boys except for Scott moved away to work in the summer!  Mel left to California as well.

TO BE CONTINUED!!