a wedding, a ticket, and some clam chowder

This past weekend Tanner and I rode out to sunny CA with our friends Sarah and Brandon. It was my previous roommate, Melanie's wedding; so we decided to pack up and head out west. A good 10 1/2 hours was the only thing in between us and our destination of Fairfield California.

The drive through the top half of Nevada is less than spectacular and I found myself constantly checking the map to see how far we'd gone. We were only about half way through when those blue and red lights came up behind us. Dang it. Speeding ticket. We were in the middle of the desert with nothing in sight for miles so I figured the ticket couldn't be that bad. Well much to our dismay (especially Brandon since he was driving and this was his first ticket ever), going 80 mph in a 65 mph in the middle of nowhere = $245 ticket. What?! Moral of the story: avoid driving through Nevada at all costs. 

We finally arrived at the bride's home around 12:30 am and all went straight to bed (so the bride could get her beauty rest). In the morning, while Tanner slept in, I got up and watched Mel as she got ready for her wedding. It was fun to watch her get ready and it just reminded me of my wedding not too long ago. Tanner and I were privileged to be invited to attend the sealing in the Sacramento temple. It was my first live sealing since my own, and I loved every minute of it. The spirit was so incredibly strong I couldn't help a few tears from falling. I actually was able to listen more carefully to this sealing than my own and really enjoyed being able to hear all the advice and blessings the sealer gave. It was such a special experience to watch as one of my closest friends knelt across the alter with her eternal companion and to see the light in their eyes. One of the best parts was being able to hold the hand of my sweetheart and to remember those same feelings from a month earlier when we knelt across the alter. What a beautiful thing to experience.

 (The new Mrs. Malaj)

(A little collage I put together of the couple) 

(Dini is from Albania and his parents weren't able to get a visa to come for the wedding; so this picture is them skyping with their parents right after the sealing. Such a sweet thing!)

After the couple came out and pictures were taken we knew we had some down time before the set up of the reception happened. Fairfield's claim to fame is the headquarters of the Jelly Belly factory. We are on our way back from the temple when not long after I laid my head down for a quick little nap, when I heard Sarah yelling, "Brandon!" I popped my head up to see nothing but smoke from our screeching tires surrounding our car and right in front of us a completely stopped truck. We weren't able to stop in time and smashed into the back of the truck. Not a single scratch on the car in front of us but Brandon's car wasn't so lucky. Lets just say the hood looked like an accordion. When all was said and done, we were so incredibly lucky for the accident to not have been any worse. We were on a CA freeway with cars speeding by at 65+ mph and we walked away with some hood damage.

The rest of the night consisted of reception decorating, yummy fruit with dip, decorating the get a way car and a little late night swim for the boys.

(classic window paints and oreos)

The next day, despite all the bad luck we had faced this trip, Brandon still wanted to make it out to the bay area. We visited the Oakland temple and spent the rest of the morning at Pier 39 in San Francisco. Boy does Tanner love clam chowder bowls, he was happy to be there. The drive home seemed to go well except the fact we didn't get home until 3am, but we had so much fun.

(Oakland LDS Temple)

(Having so much fun driving...clearly)

All in all, I was so thankful we were able to be there for Melanie on her big day. 

We wish Dini and Melanie Malaj a happily ever after!

Mitch+Cindy

31 years ago today Mitch was sealed to his best friend Cindy. 

31 years ago today, my Dad married my Mom! 

Happy anniversary!

I love this picture of them!

A new blog?

Well, this is going to be my very first post on this nifty little blog...I think from time to time I might drop in and leave my two cents. A plus side is since this is only really being read by friends and family, I can be as mushy-gushy, romanticy as I want.

Which is good because I can be quite the cheesy individual.

And seeing as how Kristyn was so incredibly kind and sweet in her post and sentiments considering your truly, I decided I would counter-attack with some of my own comments about the "too-awesome-for-words-Kristyn-Alissa."

I would definitely agree that we share a lot of things in common (mostly for things that we do not like) but I would have to agree even more that there are many things that we do not hold in common. For example, I cannot make pancakes to save my life...and Kristyn can...In fact, I can't really cook anything, and she is a very talented with anything that has to do with food. Kristyn is so on the ball and so organized, whereas I can be a bit forgetful and scatterbrained. Evidence of this can be traced to when she would need to call me to wake me up from a nap, or while I was at practice to remind me I had work that day. I even remember when I saw she had written down my entire work schedule on her spongebob calendar. I knew that she had my back, and without her, I might have been fired. :)

What more can I say than Kristyn has always been there for me the past 7 years, and I really love her for that. She stuck with me all the way to my annoying High School years, through my annoying college years, through my whiny annoying missionary years, and she still puts up with me being annoying now....

Plus, she is just so dang kind...in fact, she is outrageously thoughtful and kind.

Example: Sunday Morning Crêpes.

I was just so exhausted this past sunday and found I had no strength in my limbs as I flopped out of bed, skulked across the apartment to lay down on the couch. Kristyn came over, told me to go back to bed and she would make breakfast. Feeling very lucky, I stumbled back to bed, to awake an hour later to my adorable wife who had makes crêpes! Crêpes for goodness sakes!! She also made a fruit smoothie and strawberry purée to put on them (from the awesome $1.00 bag of frozen fruit sale we found at Macey's during our first ever grocery shopping experience...SCORE!)

Either way, that gesture made my day extraordinary. Kristyn has just been good and doing those special things for me over the years, from coming to my races, to little notes in my car, to all the well timed letters I received in France.....

Seriously, I am a super lucky dude.

our story has begun

Hello! We are the Smedley's. Yep, Friday June 14th, 2013 at 1 o'clock we sealed the deal and made it official. Married life has been amazing and we just are having so much fun being able to spend time together every day. No more curfews or driving the other person to their house; we live together! This marriage was a long time coming and I like to think it was meant to be. Tanner and I really were made for each other. 

We are very much alike and yet at the same time we are complete opposites. Tanner is the most fun loving, tender hearted person I have ever met. His personality just draws people to him. He loves being the center of attention but without trying to. He is just naturally the guy everyone wants to be friends with. As for me, I'm definitely a bit more on the reserved side and enjoy just watching the center of attention. I am more of a red personality and like things to be planned and in order. Since we are opposites, we balance each other out. Just in the past two weeks alone we have learned so much about each other and how to better help us. 

One thing we have wanted to improve on is journal writing. By we I mean I need to improve; Tanner is so good at writing every day and lets just say I am less than good. I have been using the same journal since I was 8 years old. Yikes! I know right? That is pretty bad. So to get me motivated I thought I could use a blog  to keep a record of what goes on. So here we are. 

Thanks for stopping by.