Reception Pictures!

I have gotten about a million requests for more pictures.

I'm tellin' ya. VALORY JEAN PHOTOGRAPHY is where it's at.

Click on her name to see her amazing work.

Also, All of the decorations where done by my amazing sister, Erin with

Floral Design by Erin

She has some serious talent as well.

Kinda jealous that she got all of the creative genes.... (not sure whom from. Mom?? Auntie Fran, most likely.)

My delicious and beautiful cake was done by

Wedding Cakes by Dawna

(my best friend, Jammie's, mom)

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Annnnnd, here we go!

Such a fun night!

we got our WEDDING PHOTOS!!!!

I love these pictures so much. 

If anyone is getting married, they need to ask

Val Dahlin, with Valory Jean Photography

to take their pictures pictures. She is AMAZING. So nice, so fun to work with, and she takes amazing pictures.

Today was so fun to go through these photos, and to relive the best day of our lives so far.

I cried.

Tears of joy, of course.

Here are a few, to give you a taste of what I am talking about..

indulge....

I could not have asked for a better day.

It was perfect.

and I am going to treasure these pictures for the rest of my life.

Autumn Time

It's autumn time,

It's autumn time, 

The leaves are falling down!

I LOOOOVE this time of year.

Jared has to suffer with me telling him every fall about all of the things that I LOVE about this beautiful season.

just to name a few:

kneaders pumpkin bread

kneaders pumpkin steamers

General Conference

the leaves changing on the mountains

driving the alpine loop

smelling the air (this is a true one)

shopping at thrift stores for Halloween costumes

Halloween!

candy corn

(Jared hates candy corn... too bad.... more for me!)

stepping on crunchy leaves

Gilmore Girls

(for some reason, I only watch GG during the fall)

Oktoberfest!

Hot Chocolate

soups

watching Disney's Legend of Sleepy Hollow

and Hocus Pocus

my Mom's front porch

and all other fall decor 

My Halloween decor this year WINS!

Meet: The Ghost Family

from left to right: Boo Jr., Spirit, Casper, Donna, and Boo Sr.

Yep, those are dryer sheets that you see hanging over my living room. Why, might you ask, would you hang dryer sheets up?? They're GHOSTS, guys. C'mon! A whole family of ghosts!

Can you guess where we got Boo, and Boo Jr.'s names? Yep. I just barely learned that Jared's whole plan while naming our ghost family, was to name all of them Boo so he wouldn't have to remember which one was which...

 Booooooooooo, you whore! (name that movie!)

note my awesome throw on the back of my couch

my Great Grandma Coleman made it

my Beautiful Aunt Becky gave it to me as a wedding gift. I love her so much for giving that to me. She is such a sweet auntie.

Trick or Treat???

I hope that y'all have fun doing your favorite things of this beautiful time of year!

Happy Autumn Time!

Deutschland

Holy Guacamole.

I feel like I've dropped off the face of the planet earth for the last month...

September 3rd, we got married, then went on our honeymoon.. (Bow-chic-a-wow-wow!)

Then on September 15th through the 30th we went to Europe!

It has always been a dream of mine to go there, and it was everything I had hoped it would be.

And here is a little taste of our trip:

Day 1

• Flew to Frankfurt. Rented a giant black van/bus that I named, Georg. Drove to Rothenburg, Germany.
• Got to Rothenburg. Wandered around the Disney Fantasyland city. Went into a massive Christmas Store, and looked longingly at Black Forest Coo-Coo Clocks.
• Went to Dinner. We ate Sauerbraten, red cabbage, and bread. Lots, and LOTS of bread.
• Night Watchman's Tour!

Day 2

• Ate a hardy breakfast with more bread, meats, cheeses, nutella, jams, and hot chocolate.
• walked around the city a bit more
• drove to Neuschwanstein Castle (the Disneyland Castle) (side note--I made sure to make Disney references every day of our trip)
• checked into our hotel
• HIKED up to the castle, and took a tour of said castle. It was sick-nasty!
• spotted a frog on our way down.

can you see the frog?? 

Day 3

• drove to Salzburg, Austria. 
• left 10 minutes after arriving because of stressful traffic reasons :)
• decided to drive to Halstatt, Austria instead.
• arrived in Halstatt, walked around. This place is soooo pretty! It was probably one of my favorite cities of the whole trip.
• ate dünors.
• drove to Wald Im Pinzgau, Austria

Day 4

• Woke up in Wald Im Pinzgau
• drove up the mountain to Gretlholf
• took some Sound Of Music pics. see below..
• listened to the moo-cows and their cow bells
• walked to the church, went inside, and drank some trinkwasser from the fountain.
• drove to Venice, Italy
• rode the water taxi into Venice
• Explored Venice in the pouring rain
• ate margarita pizza -- Jared ate a whole fish..
• went to St Mark's Square and put on my glare face to all of the weirdos that hand you flowers, and then want 5 Euro. Stinkers.
• Went on top of our little apartment that we stayed in and watched the eeriness of Venice settle in. It was a pretty cool place to see.

Day 5

• Went to a Fresh Fish market in Venice--where I saw a massive Sword Fish. So nasty.
• I also saw nasty fish that were staring at me.
• walked to the water bus
• went to Burano, Italy
• Bought Linens :)
• Came home, took a nap
• Then we went out again that night, and wandered around eerie Venice.

Day 6

• Left Venice back through a water taxi
• found our car at the airport
• Drove to the Cinque Terre on the Italian Riviera
• Layed out on the beach, and read/relxed
• Walked along the beach, Jared and I also had a rock skipping contest! (I won)
• Hung out in our little city that we stayed in that night--Moneglia, Italy
• Watched the people from the Catholic Church carry around the lit up altar around the streets.
• played Rook with Jared's parents

Day 7

• Explored the Cinque Terre
• went on a hike from Monterosso to Vernazza... It was so hot. And there were soooo many stairs. I thought I would die. Good news, I didn't die.
• Walked through Vernazza, and saw the neat shaped noodles.....(side note: it took me about a minute to figure out what the noodles on the right were... Jared was like, "I dunno.." oh, he knew EXACTLY what they were. We all had a good laugh about the male genitalia shaped noodles.)
• had the BEST GELATO EVER!!
• Rode the train to Manarola
• ate pesto lasagna
• took the train back
• napped
• got pizza from a local store, took it back to the hotel, and then we played Rook again.

Day 8

• Left bright and early and drove 7 hours back to Munich. The boys wanted to go to the Soccer game, and so Jared and I delivered a package to Elder Zach Huff, and went to the REAL Oktoberfest.
• Ate the best food ever.
• Went to a mall, but every place closed at 8, so then we rode to the airport thinking that from there we could catch a bus to our hotel. Turns out you couldn't. So we waited at the airport until the game was over for us to get picked up.
• Went and stayed at a Marriott.

Day 9

• Left Munich, and drove 
• Went to Dachau, Germany, and visited a concentration camp. It was really eerie. I walked into a gas chamber, and that is when I told Jared I wanted to leave. It was hard being there, but good at the same time. I am so grateful to all of those people who suffered there.
• drove back to Switzerland
• stopped in Appenzell, Switzerland
• ate crepes
• lost our passports (we didn't know we had left them at the restaurant at this point)
• drove to our hotel
• realized once we got to the hotel that our passports were missing..
• the nice hotel peeps still let us check in and go to sleep.

Day 10

• called the US Embassy to find our passports
• They told us to call Bürn US Embassy, but they don't open til 2, so we go about our day
• drove this beautiful pass in the Swiss Alps
• saw a Porche gang, as opposed to a motorcycle gang
• 2 o'clock came around, we call Bürn
• The lady says that her co-worker has been working on a case with 6 missing passports
• we talk to that person, they are at the Police Station in Appenzell.
• We drive immediately back to Appenzell
• RETRIEVE OUR PASSPORTS!
• tell the lady in the restaurant thank you.
• drive to Andermatt, Switzerland

Day 11

• Walk around Andermatt--to the church, and by the river that goes through the city
• drove to Lucerne, Switzerland
• ate more crepes
• drove to Aachen, Germany
• Go to Jared's old apartment building
• eat the ice cream he used to eat
• eat the dünors he used to eat
• went to his old ward's party
• came back to our hotel
• walked around Aachen -- just Jared and I walked to the old grocery store that he used to shop at. We got drinks for everyone, and then came back to the apartment, and played Rook again.

Day 12

• Went to church in Aachen. The sweet Elders translated for us. It was fun to sing the Hymns in German
• Drove to Heidlburg, Germany
• went to the Bishop's house for a visit
• ate his delicious ice cream -- ROSEMARY flavored. So good. I will probably crave it for the rest of my entire life.
• left the Bishops house
• Drove to the castle at night to see it lit up

Day 13

• Walked to the Castle--about 3 miles
• climbed 303ish stairs up to the castle
• explored the city
• Went to the Christmas store
• walked back to the hotel--another 3 miles
• took naps
• drove to Jared's favorite Italian restaurant in Manheim -- Vapiano
• walked to the grocery store and bought 12 years worth of chocolate.

Day 14

• Flew home

These are the highlights of our trip. It was definately a trip that I will never forget. I saw some amazingly beautiful places, and will probably wish to go back for the rest of my life.

I'm a married woman

Guys.

I got married last week!!!

It seriously was the best day of my life. 

I am soooo in love with my husband, Mr. Jared Von Keetch.

We got a freaking ton of gifts that were addressed to Mr. and Mrs. Von Keetch.... Not to be confused with..........

Mr. and Mrs. Von Trapp

The Von Trapp Family:

[Gretel, Marta (I played her once in a play), Biretta, Kurt, Louisa, Fredrick, Liesel, Fraulein Maria, and Captain Von Trapp.]

No, no. We are just the Keetch's. In case you didn't know.. That is the KEETCH FAMILY. As in TACO AMIGO KEETCHS. As in KEETCH'S FRESH PEACHES. Ya.... We are pretty cool.

I've been asked about a million times this question:

"How's married life??"

I don't know what it is, but that question makes me seriously cringe. Probably because I have only been married one week, and all I have learned thus far is what sex is all about.. Someone needs to be original and come up with something else to say, like: 

"So, tell me your favorite thing about being married." 

or... something to that effect. 

Now that that is off my chest, I do want to mention one thing that really stood out to me about that day that I want my future kids to know about that day. I still get emotional when I talk about it with other people. Here is kind of a run down of our day:

We got married in the Salt Lake Temple. I was one of 5 brides that day, and I could not have been happier with that! I felt like a princess the whole day.

After the temple, we took pictures, kissed, held hands, etc.

Then we got to go to the luncheon where we met:

NEIL L. ANDERSON

(a member of the Quorum of the 12 apostles)

That was freaking sweet.

During the luncheon My parents gave little speeches, Steff, Aly, and Cam did a musical number. An acoustic version of When You Look Me In The Eyes, by The Jonas Brothers. Completed with their own taco amigo version, When You Cook Me Crispy Fries. It was pretty clever.

Then Von got up and spoke. He told a lovely story about how Jared is the way that he is.

"Lord, make him a boy. And he did."

"Lord, make him like his mother. And he did."

"Lord, make him like me. And he did."

"Lord, make my son eternally happy. And then he met you, Anna."

*tears*

It was wonderful.

After the luncheon, Jared and I went home and took a nap.

We seriously slept. No shenanigans going on at this time of the day, I promise.

Then we got to go to PARRRTAAAAY at our reception held at the beautiful Wadley Farms. 

My sister takes ALL of the credit for everything. The flowers (see link of my bouquet here), the centerpieces, all of the decor for that matter. She. is. AMAZING.

We went on our honeymoon to the Stein Eriksen Lodge, in Deer Valley.

I could not have asked for a better night, or a better day.

Everything was perfect. I am so so so happy, and in love. Jared is my best friend. We are total nerds together, but that is what makes us great. :)

Thank you to everyone who helped out on our special day. We love you!!!!

I don't remember how to blawg

I don't even remember the last time I blogged.

 

I'm guessing it was before the mission. I was looking back, and I was a pretty good little blogger. For a while there, I blogged at least three times a week! Also, props to my older sister, Erin for trying to update my blog while on the mission. It lasted until about September of 2012! That is pretty darn good!

 

#winning

 

Today is my mother's birthday. She is 54. (she probably won't be too happy with me for posting her age), but I just love her so darn much. I will never forget how old she is because she's exactly 30 years and 20 days older than me.

 

Bless her alma.

 

We made a list/mini album for her of 54 things we love about her.

 

Hope she likes that.

 

We get to go celebrate tonight with a little bit of Teppanyaki's, and Catching Fire!!

 

 

He's CATCHING FIRE!