Day 13 -- Moving Day #1

Our first day in church as a newlywed couple!

Here's us, all spiffy and dressed up outside our new apartment.

Not much else to report about today. We went to sacrament meeting, went home and joined my parents in the unpacking process, and are now going to bed, exhausted.

Day 12 -- Happy Birthday?

AUGUST 22nd -- MY 20TH BIRTHDAY!

WHAT WAS SUPPOSED TO HAPPEN:

• Get up at 6 AM
• Finish cleaning and last-minute packing
• Get on the road by 9 AM
• Be home to BV by 3 in the afternoon
• Relax and start unpacking
• Take pictures with the family at 6
• Reception/Open House in the ballroom at 7
• Go home and sleep in our own bed

WHAT ACTUALLY HAPPENED:

• Got up at 8 AM
• Had way more laundry to do than realized (required laundry. had to wash all the towels and dry and fold them for the next people who would use the beach house.)
• Found it entirely impossible to get all the sand off of the hardwood floor
• Ate cake for breakfast
• Got on the road at 11:30 AM
• Hurricane hit, flooding the roads
• Two hours into our six-hour drive the truck broke down
• Somehow made it to the conveniently placed gas station out in the middle of nowhere
• Called AAA
• Waited an hour for a tow truck
• MEANWHILE : Nice young redneck named Bob inspects our engine and all of the trucks inner workings. He has no idea what's wrong with it, but suggests his friend Donny as a mechanic to fix it
• MEANWHILE, BACK ON THE RANCH: The Bellamy and Cluff clans are circling the wagons. They call rental car companies, cab companies, airports, train stations, the national guard...
• No luck
• Got picked up by the tow truck. His GPS couldn't even find the street where this elusive Donny lived
• Found it eventually
• He was closed on Saturdays, but took it anyway
• Aunt Kit called to tell me that her brother just happened to live in the town where we were stranded. So this uncle once removed that I had never met was coming to get us
• He came to get us in his big yellow truck (the plan was that he would take us halfway. Then Buck and Whitni Watkins, who were conveniently in Roanoke at the time, would meet and take us the home stretch)
• Rode about three hours
• Got pulled over by a cop for going about 84 MPH
• Cop let us off when he heard our story ("These kids are on their way to their wedding reception, officer. They've had a rough day.")
• Five miles down the road, the truck stopped working. No, I'm not kidding
• Pulled into a gas station
• Buck and Whitni drove the extra miles out to come rescue us
• We left "Uncle Ben" there, where he occupied himself with the beautiful Virginia scenery and a camera, until that same cop happened upon him half an hour later. The cop was amused, and they passed the three hours in friendly conversation while Ben waited for Aunt Kit's husband Scotty to come get him
• MEANWHILE, BACK AT THE RANCH: The band that played at the reception was receiving updates of our status from my mom, and announcing them to the crowd
• Rode with Buck and Whitni for a few hours
• Were forced to go excruciatingly slowly on the mountain road into town
• Hit EVERY SINGLE RED LIGHT when we actually got into town
• Had to go to the apartment and shower and put on makeup
• Rushed to campus and got changed into our dress and tuxedo in record time
• Were announced and entered to standing ovation and a drumroll, a full hour and a half late to our two hour reception

Later, Buck and Whitni got their own warm welcome and were hailed as those who "rescued the bride and groom!" We mixed and mingled sort of like a blender, exchanging the most minimum of pleasantries before moving on with a "thankyouforcomingandhopetoseeyouagainsoon."

Crazy, crazy day. But, as Brayden kept reminding me while I was having hysterics about how many things were going wrong, "But just think of all the STORIES!" It does make a great story. Weirdest birthday I've ever had.

**PICTURES TO COME! CHECK BACK IN A DAY OR SO!**

Day 11 -- Aloe Vera

Almost drowned today. Twice. We went to the beach, despite my ridiculous sunburn. The hurricane was only 200 miles off the coast, so the waves were crashing in from three directions at once and they were stronger than they'd been before. Apparently, I couldn't handle them.

After that, I finally succumbed to the agony of my sunburn. We went back to the beach house and watched movies all day.

It was wonderful :)

Brayden had never ever used Aloe Vera before Wednesday. But in the past two days, he's decided that it is a sacred nectar of healing. He's perfectly fine and burn free now.

I, on the other hand, am swollen and sick and can't sit back against anything or eat anything substantial. But, I slaughtered him in Scrabble!

We also went on a midnight beach walk. By this point, the tide was encroaching upon the boardwalk, which was a good 500 yards away from the usual shoreline. The whole thing was incredibly surreal. The sound of the waves and the wind. The city lights far off on the horizon.

Couldn't capture it on film. Need a new camera.

Day 10 -- Fulfillment of a Dream

This day truly cannot be conveyed in words. So, the SparkNotes version:

I rode a horse on the beach at sunset.

I literally rode off into the sunset. It was Brayden's early birthday gift to me. It was perfect, wonderful, and amazing. Breathtaking. Beautiful. Thank you Brayden, for fulfilling a dream.

Day 9 -- Catamaran

6 hours on the sea + no sunscreen = REALLY STUPID!

We're sunburned.

We can't even hug.

Moving in any way shape or form is excruciatingly painful.

And this is nothing compared to what we'll be feeling in the morning.

But there is no better way to get sunburned! We went on a catamaran cruise this afternoon, compliments of Aunt Beth. We sailed out to this beautiful little island where the surf was clear and the fish were bold and playful. We collected two bags of shells, then got to sail out to the Cape Lookout lighthouse.

And I saw wild dolphins! They were swimming and jumping alongside the boat! I couldn't get my camera out in time, but they were beautiful.

On the way back, Brayden got the hoist the sails (something it took two boys to do on the way there. He's so buff.)

I fell asleep for most of the ride back. This time, I stayed in the shade, instead of out on deck.

As we were pulling into the harbor, we saw wild horses. Brayden woke me up to see them.

THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU AUNT BETH FOR THE WONDERFUL WEDDING GIFT! The cruise was amazing.

Next time, I'll wear sunscreen.

"If I could offer you only one tip for the future, sunscreen would be it. The long term benefits of sunscreen have been proved by scientists, whereas the rest of my advice has no basis more reliable than my own meandering experience."

Day 8 -- Spork

We had our fancy "One Week Anniversary" dinner today. And by fancy, we mean cheeseburgers. On plasticware. But the whole evening inspired a delightfully hilarious question.

"WHICH SIDE DOES THE SPORK GO ON?!?!?"

We were doing the whole dinner with paper and plastic, so that I wouldn't have to do dishes. We had plates and cups and napkins and knives, spoons ... but no forks. But, because I'm a rotten little thief, I'd rescued a handful of sporks from Taco Bell when we stopped for lunch on Friday. They were in the glove compartment in the truck. But when Brayden brought them in and started setting the table (trying to follow proper table etiquette) he got stuck. Is it a fork? Is it a spoon? In a proper table setting, where the heck do you put the spork?

In the end, he ditched the spoons altogether and let the spork fulfill its full potential.

Day 7 -- Julio

Today, we had a race against time as we tried to build our sand castle. Brayden was on the front line, gallantly digging moats and ditches to protect our pile of sand from the rapidly rising tide.

Unfortunately, he put me on building duty. And I can't build sand castles. Instead, all I could come up with was this sand turtle.

His name is Julio. And he tragically perished just minutes after this was taken. But we loved him while he was with us. Even though he wasn't a castle.

Tide, you may have won this one, but one day, we will defeat you!

On a side note, Brayden is an awesome boogie boarder. I hope to achieve his level of awesomeness someday.