10 years to the day...

I am having blog problems again. These following blentries were supposed to appear in a different order. It may be confusing,but if you read them all, you'll figure it out. You're smart enough.

*A limerick sampling

"Chris" by Megan
There once was a boy from Lodi*
Who liked to wear Mickey Mouse ties.
His sun-darkened cheeks
And striking physique
Made Megan heave quite a sigh.
(*this was as far as I got. Jacob wrote the rest.)


by Kathryn
There once was a girl who loved green,
Chocolate and U2 were her thing.
She also loved Chris
Especially to kiss,
And, therefore, Chris gave her a ring.


by Brynn (last line by Jacob)
In the Rawlins' fam there was a moose
Who had more than just one screw loose.
More looney than ever
She thought she was clever
When she caught Chris in the marital noose.


by my roommate Jen (filled with personal jokes)
There once was a roomie so fruity
Who thought every boy had a cootie.
Now she's ditched single-land
For a gold wedding band.
And to you, Meg, I say, well...Zootie!


by Aunt Karen
Carrie and Megan were roomies
Now they are both with groomies
No more imaginary dogs
Or talking to frogs
Now they are hoping for baby boomies.


by Tammy (not strictly a limerick, but one of my favorites)
Chris and Megan are a cute pair
Who have some things in common.
When Chris is cookin', I know they will share
Many large bowls of Top Ramen.


by JoAnn (Mom)
There once was a guy named Chris
Who wanted a maiden to kiss.
He looked and he looked
And then he got hooked.
And Megan lost the title of "miss."


also by Mom
There once was a man named Chris
Who wanted a Megan to kiss.
When it happened quite late
On their second date,
He said, "I've never been kissed quite like this!"


by Carrie, Michael, and Karen
At Marsha's baptismal dunk
Is where Megan saw her hunk.
He thought she was fine
And said, "She'll be mine."
And Chris gave up being a monk.

The day in pictures

Anniversary

We've spent the year leading up to the big day. We've reminisced about when Chris and I met, our first date, our engagement. And now we get the wedding.


We got married in the Mt. Timpanogos temple. It was a beautiful August day. It was partially overcast, both rainy and sunny. It rained while we were in the temple, but not when we were taking photos. It poured during our indoor luncheon, but was bright and beautiful during our outdoor reception.


The officiator at our sealing was Elder Jack H. Goaslind. I wanted to write down some of the counsel he gave us, but unfortunately all of my journals are in storage at the moment. So, I will just have to write what I can remember in my head. He counseled us to always pay our tithing. Chris and I have done so, no matter what our financial state. This has been a unifying force in our marriage. Without question, we pay our tithing and other offerings to the Church. I have often been grateful that this is something we have never argued about or doubted. We have received so many blessings from obeying this simple commandment. Some are obvious and some are more subtle. But all are sacred.


Elder Goaslind counseled us to pray together morning and evening. He said that when we pray, we should vocally express gratitude for each other. Wow, what a difference that little thing can make. We have consistently prayed together for the last ten years. And when we vocally and specifically thank Heavenly Father for the gift of our spouse, the Lord makes the positive qualities of our spouse more noticeable.


He gave us more advice, and it is written in my journal. And then he bore his testimony. Elder Goaslind received the power to perform sealings on earth from President Spencer W. Kimball. He bore his testimony of the priesthood power and that sealings are real and eternal. For me, hearing his testimony was the most touching part of the experience. I also believe and am sure that the power to seal families together on earth is real. It was on the earth anciently and has been restored in our day. I am confident that, as we remain worthy, our marriage will last through eternity.


The wedding day for me had very little stress. Everything went smoothly. For some reason, that you can only really understand if you know me very well, it was important to me to have every aspect of the wedding as simple and inexpensive as possible. My friend and roommate, Jaye, painted an orange lily that Jacob scanned into his computer. Then Jacob designed my invitations (with the lily) and printed them. My sister Rachel took the engagement photos. And my cousin Lee did my hair. My mom made the food for the wedding luncheon. She may have had some help...I can't remember. The decorations were done by my sister Lisa. And for entertainment (this was my idea), we had the guests compose clean limericks* about Chris and me. I thought it was all kinds of fun. And people participated.


The reception was beautiful. We were in my sister's in-laws backyard. The McClearys--perhaps you know them. We had bird-of-paradise flowers and ferns as centerpieces. We also used orange lilies and a few white and purple flowers for variety in the bouquets. My mother-in-law, Suzie, sent us leis from Hawai'i. We had a green cake, frosted white, with crystal frogs on top. My mom and sister Kathryn and another friend made the refreshments. We served cookies (because I love cookies!) and some orange slushy thing with little paper umbrellas in top. At the end of the night, the popular BYU a capella group Vocal Point performed. Chris was one of them.


I thought the whole day was wildly successful. As I look back, I wouldn't change a thing. Two days later, we had an open house in California. My sister-in-law, Tammy, and my mother-in-law, Barbara, were completely in charge of that. I didn't even offer any input. It was also wonderful and a lot of fun.


I wish I had some sort of funny story about the day, but it was just a good, good day. And ten years later, I'm still glad I married him.

Our Engagement

As loyal followers of my blog, you will remember that this year I am marking the 10-year anniversaries of significant events in my life and relationship with Chris. Well, I am so out of it that I completely forgot to post about the engagement episode. Here it is.

Chris claims that he knew he would marry me the first time he saw me (that was around March 6). I knew with full confidence about halfway through our second date (that was around May 20). We started to discuss our future early in our relationship--within the first two weeks. We knew of course that only fools rush in. But timing is relevant. We waited FOREVER to get engaged--4 1/2 weeks! Chris thought it was a good idea to get married in June of 2000. I thought it was a better idea to get married in August of 1999. I won.

On Father's Day (Sunday, June 20, 1999), we drove together to my parents' to wish my dad a happy day. Chris was planning to ask Dad for my hand in marriage that night. The whole drive, he rehearsed what he would say. He was a little nervous about Dad's potential reaction. He role played (with himself) questions he thought my dad might ask and how he (Chris) would respond to the questions. For example, "He's going to ask me, 'How do you plan to support my daughter?' and I will say..." At this point I'd interrupt: "My dad won't ask that." So Chris would come up with another question Dad might ask. And again I'd interrupt: "My dad won't ask that either."

We had a lovely dinner. (I assume. I really don't remember.) Afterwards we were in the family room chatting. Chris asked my mom to come in the room. Brynn was there, too. Perhaps Michael was. This is the Rawlins family for you. It's all a family affair. Chris began to tell my dad how much he loved me. He was really very sweet and said some nice things. He even cried. Chris thinks it is humiliating that he cries when he feels things deeply. I think it is most endearing. Finally, at the end of his speech, he looked at my dad and said, "I guess what I'm doing is asking for your blessing." Dad responded, "Well, you've got it."

And that is what my dad would say. He's not going to ask a bunch of questions.

Well, some people would consider themselves engaged at this point. But I didn't. Afterall, he hadn't asked me yet. I did start planning a few things. We set a date. I called the temple and found out it would be closed for cleaning. We live in Utah. There are other temples. But this was a huge disappointment for me. When I was little, my mom would bake bread in the mornings and we would sell it door-to-door. We did this to earn money for the temple budget. When the Jordan River temple was being built, we would observe its progress every week when we went to the library. At the time it was completed, we could see it from our front porch. I had to stand on the milk box to see it, but there it was. (Since that time they've built a lot of houses and the trees have grown to maturity which blocks our view...but we know it's there.) I love the Jordan River temple. I had always planned to be married there. This might sound silly, but I thought it would be cool if the temple, wedding luncheon, and reception, as well as my parents' house were all technically within walking distance of each other. Think of the environmental responsibility that demonstrates! But that's okay. I reserved our wedding date in the Mount Timpanogos temple, which is also quite lovely. Personally I think the Timpanogos grounds provide better photo opportunities than the Jordan River. And inside, it's the same ceremony.

That was a little side trip.

I had a couple other disappointments the two days after Father's Day. On Monday night, we shopped for wedding rings. I hate shopping. It was high pressure and low success. I came home agitated. On Tuesday, I had some free time. I decided to go shopping for a wedding dress wondering if this would cheer me up. If you know me, you will know how stupid it is for me to think that shopping would cheer me. But I found a dress in less than an hour. It was only $100. (You have to know me really well to know how important it was that every aspect of my wedding was incredibly inexpensive.) So, by Tuesday evening, I was feeling a bit cheerier. But I was so tired and emotionally drained.

Chris came over after work on Tuesday, June 22. He suggested we go up the canyon. I said I was tired. I said I was exhausted. I said I was emotionally drained. I said, "Can't we just rent a movie and stay home?" How clueless can a person be? Couldn't I see that perhaps he had planned to propose? He had just asked my dad's permission. We had been ring shopping. I love to go up the canyon. I usually don't need an excuse. But whatever. That's the weirdest part of the story.

We ended up at Brick Oven for dinner. Delicious pizza and homemade root beer. It's still a favorite spot for our family. And now they've got that awesome balloon guy. While we waited for our pizza, we played one of those little "test your reflexes" games. Also called "hitting each others' hands." All of a sudden, Chris grabbed my hands across the table. He said, "Megan, will you marry me?" I said, "Are you serious?" He said, "Wait." He grabbed a ring he had hooked on a caribiner on his belt loop. Then he put the ring on my finger and said, "Megan, will you marry me?" I said, "Yes."

The ring was not the ring I wear now. It was a handcarved wooden ring--engraved with hibiscus (Hawaii's state flower). I thought it was beautiful. Chris had ordered it when we had only been dating for two weeks. People had some strange reactions when I showed them my ring. Many said, "A wooden ring? He is perfect for you." Others said, "A wooden ring? And you said yes?" Neal's reaction was my favorite. He said, "And is he planning to someday get you a proper metal ring?" The answer is yes. I wore my wooden ring until our wedding. Then I wore my proper metal one on my left hand and my favorite wooden one on my right hand until it broke. I still have it, but can't wear it because it is broken. For future reference, metal lasts longer than wood.

Again, I apologize for my long-windedness. The end.