I'd like to introduce Mr. and Mrs. Nickerson!

Now that the marriage certificate was signed and it was officially official I was glowing with joy! As we stood out  side the big wooden doors to the reception hall he looked at me and kissed me out of no where and I asked him "what was that about" and he smiled and said "I'm making up for all the times I didnt get to kiss you all day" as the doors opened and we walked towards the reception area I saw the gorgeous room where our presents were sitting and I couldnt help but think "geeze I'm a lucky girl!" First I get married to the man of my dreams, I'm going to be a mother and I have a ton of peoples support behind us!
As soon as we got to the walk way the DJ announced "I'm happy to introduce the new happy couple Mr. and Mrs. Nickerson!" Then we walked out on the dance floor and Aj took my hand and spun me around in a circle! I felt like a princess right out of a Disney fairy tale! It was amazing! I was so in love and I felt like it couldnt get any better than this moment right there!
The night was perfect! Even though I couldnt eat a bite of the food or cake from all the wonderful "morning sickness" I still think it was the best night of my life.
As the night went on and I found myself becoming more and more overwhelmed with joy and I was getting more and more anxious because for almost the whole time we had been Mr and Mrs went hadnt gotten a moment alone to really just celebrate our new beginning. So I decided I was going to steal him before we cut the cake. After he was doing chatting with his buddies I grabbed his hand and led him through the side door where we snuck into the brides suit and he just hugged me so tight and kissed my forehead and told me how much he loved me and that all his dreams were coming true one day at a time. It wasnt shortly after we snuck into the room we were found by my bridal party and rushed down stairs to cut the cake and take pictures. I felt like royalty for that one moment. As we walked back down the stairs he swept me off my feet and carried me back to the reception hall and smiled and starred at me with this deep lost in translation stare that I can only decode as.... love.
After the reception was said and done it was time for us to leave, as man and wife. We had our guests use sparklers to light our path and right before we were about to run out Aj could see my feet were hurting me from the high heels and all the dancing, so he picked me up and carried me out and told me he didnt want his wife to in pain, and he would rather carry me. It was then that I knew he was perfect!

Even though the day wasnt perfect or the months leading up to it, I still believe that all of that was just a test to see how strong we were and how in love we were... we are!

Then 2 become 1!

Finally all our waiting had come to an end! It was time to walk down the isle! As I was stand on the balcony watching my bridal party walking down the isle I couldnt help but think the most basic thoughts; all these people came to see us get married and make that next step! It was kind of a WOW factor! Then, finally, it was time for me to walk down the isle. So as I make my way across the balcony I can hear my guests "oohing and ahhing" and as I walked down the stair case and prayed I didnt trip on my train all I could think is "He looks so happy standing there at the alter" and the biggest smile just came to my face as I reached the beginning of the isle. As the Brides March sounded and everyone rose to their feet my heart began to pound and all the nervous jitters flooded in all at once, but then out of no where my 3 year old nephew let out a huge scream and cried for almost 3 minutes straight. It was like he was giving me a moment to stop and collect myself. As he was screaming all me and Aj could do was stare into each others eyes and smile. I was so lost in those big blue eyes, it was like I was starring at them for the first time! Time had seem to stop as I was starring at my husband - to - be, but then came rushing back as I heard the minister say "you may be seated." As our minister read prayers and psalms my and Aj lipped "I love you" back and fourth to each other and just smiled and I found myself falling deeper and deeper in love at that very moment. But as we were becoming more and more lost in each others eyes it showed, suddenly we heard the minister say "repeat after me, I AJ take thee Stephanie as my lawful wedded wife..." and Aj just looked at him and said "Sorry can you repeat that" I swear it was the cutest thing. As we finished our vows read by the minister we began to read our own vows that we wrote for one another. As he read his I smiled as I listened to them word for word, he had wrote almost 70% of the same exact things in his that I wrote in mine, it was an amazing thought knowing that with out even know what each other was going to write our minds were on the same track. After all was said and done we bowed our heads for one more prayer and I waited anxiously to hear the words "You may now kiss the bride." As we kissed for the first time as husband and  wife it just seemed beyond perfect! After we kissed he whispered in my ear and said I want another one, and dipped me back and kissed me again, it was amazingly romantic! Then we began our journey down the isle as husband and wife for the first time. As I heard the minister say "I now give you Mr and Mrs Nickerson" my heart jumped! I was finally "Mrs. Nickerson"!

Yes, there were things that went wrong and things that went amazingly right during the day but either way it was extremely perfect! I had the man I loved by my side and thats all I truly needed!

Some pictures before the ceremony :)

One promise we made since we took our pictures before the ceremony was not to kiss each other at all on the day of our wedding until the minister said "you may now kiss the bride". It was hard but we did it, and it was well worth it!

"See ya on the other side"

The last words me and Aj said to each other before we came Mr and Mrs still ring in my head to this day, he looked at me as I walked away and said "I'll see ya on the other side" and as I felt my eyes tear up I smiled and said "I'll see ya on the other side. I'll be the girl walking down the isle in white." Finally after all the drama was said and done we had a wedding to get ready for! I got to my moms house where my sister - in - law did my hair and my other sister did my make up. Then we got everything ready and headed to the venue.. Aldea! We got there and immediately everything was looking up! We had the whole place to ourselves for the whole day. I went up stairs to the bridal suite and was in awe! There was furniture and decorations that looked like they were out of a magazine! It was perfect! I got all my stuff set up and hung my dress up to be steamed then I ran down stairs like a little kid on Christmas day to watch the decorators set up the area for the ceremony and sat over the stairs and just stared in awe as I realized this was it, this was the first day of the rest of my life! After sitting there for what seemed like hours I went and checked the decorators in the hall for the reception to see how it was coming along, I wanted to cry at how beautiful it was! Everything was perfect! My cake was just arriving and the caterers were just starting to cook the food, it was perfect. I felt like a princess. After assuming my duties as the bride to make sure everything was going the right way I ran back up stairs to find my wedding party waiting for me, it was like walking into a sea of hormones as everyone started crying and hugging me as I walked into the room. It was so good to have the spotlight, even if it was for only one day it felt great to smile and know so many people were almost just as excited as I was!
After hours of touching up hair and make up and helping get the flower girls and ring barers dressed and ready it was finally time to put on the dress! This was it, it was the moment I'd been waiting for and it couldnt be more perfect! The photographer was outside the room waiting to get the first moments of me in my gorgeous wedding dress and the priceless looks and smiles. It was like a dream come true and all I could do was smile!
After all my pictures in the bridal suite were done it was time to take pictures with my groom (we took our pictures before the wedding cause we got married under the open night sky with all the trees strung with white lights around us) but I was informed he was running late cause he almost got a speeding ticket on his way there, so he was just now taking his pictures with his groomsmen. It felt like forever waiting on him to finish but it was so worth it! The photograph had us each stand on opposite side of this pillar and he linked our hands and had us count to 10 and then we were allowed to peak around the corner and see each other for the first time in our wedding attire! All I could think was "Wow! He looks amazing!"
After all the pictures were done and we were getting ready for the ceremony to start we were informed that there was a major accident on the free way that the guests were suppose to exit off of to get to the venue, 1 exit in front of the one they had to get off on! So what did I do? I held off the ceremony for an extra hour to allow the remainder of our guests to find their way. You could imagine how had it was to keep 4 children between the ages of 3 and 9 happy for an extra hour and then through the whole ceremony. Talk about fun!

Even through the ups and downs with the weeks leading up to my wedding it all seemed worth it when the day finally came. It was like a test to see if I was really ready, well I was more than ready, I just couldnt wait for the minute to say "I do" and become Mrs. Nickerson for the rest of my life!

Prepping for the BIG day!

It was only days before our wedding and everything seemed to be going right! Or so I hoped! Since we got married only days after Christmas on December 29th 2008, it seemed like everything was hectic! We had our wedding rehearsal 2 days before the wedding, that was a total train wreck. The owners of the venue "forgot" to tell us there was another wedding the same day as our rehearsal and as we were rehearsing the wedding guest for this other couple were flooding in and the other bride was screaming and throwing a huge fit because we were ruining her pictures. Well low and behold we booked the venue almost 2 months in advance, she booked it 3 weeks before her day, but yet I ruined her day. Well after that was said and done I was ready to go home and take a hot bath and relax but my family decided to surprise me the pregnant bride - to - be with a bachelorette party at Hooters with EXTREMELY embarrassing games. It was a great thought but horrible timing! I was in the first trimester of my pregnancy and every night I got my "morning" sickness". So I'm at hooters in the bathroom balling my eyes out cause I'm pregnant, hormonal, sick and at Hooters on UFC fight night with a bunch of drunk guys! So what do I do? I call Aj at his bachelor party and ask him to come pick me up! So Aj and ALL of his buddies at his party get in the car and drive 30 minutes to come to my rescue! My sisters were begging me to stay but I knew they just didn't understand what I was going through or how I was feeling seeing how none of them had never been pregnant! So I just snuck out the back door and got in the car and left. Well as you can probably imagine my family was livid at me! Instead of understanding I was stressed, sick and about to get married while pregnant they took it out on me and I was un-invited to my step-fathers 50th birthday the day before my wedding and I was also un-invited to stay the night at my mom's house the eve of my wedding like planned so I could wake up with my mom and sister the day of my wedding and get ready. Instead my mom had my husband - to - be meet her at a gas station with me so she didn't have to drive all the way to my house to come pick me up. In a sense I was MORTIFIED how immature my family was acting, all over an un-wanted bachelorette party!

I know a lot of people think I should have been thankful I was thrown a bachelorette party, but lets be honest, who wants to sit in a bar with almost 100 sweat drunk men on UFC fight night and play games that include pick the drunkest man in the room and ask him for a kiss, while you're 11 weeks pregnant. Don't get me wrong, I love my sisters dearly and I'm thankful they did this for me but I would have been just as thankful with a quite night watching the wedding planner, father of the bride and princess bride while enjoying each others company! But in the end my amazing husband came to my rescue and stood by my side even with the choices my family made and that's all I could ask for. If you don't have a good spouse who won't stand by your side through better or worse then what good are they?

It's only you and me baby!

With only a few weeks left until the "BIG day" we started feeling the stress, not every one had their dresses and tuxes from our wedding party and we were over our limit so we had to cut our guest list. With all the wedding jitters there was also the pregnancy jitters! "Was I going to be showing the day of our wedding", "Was getting married first the best idea", "Will I fit into my dress", and my biggest concern "Will I make a good mom and wife?" With all these worries I filled my head with I put myself over the edge and 2 weeks before our wedding I winded up in the ER with a tachycardia of 210/134 heart rate! After that I was determined to take it easy! So as we finished up the last few wedding details and prepared to move into our new apartment 1 week before the wedding I took every second to soak up the laughs and good times with my husband to be! We went to Glendale Glitters, ate out, went to the movies and cuddled on the couch to our favorite T.V. shows like any other couple would, but to top it off every night we read to the baby, read out of baby books and picked out nursery themes and planned for the big months ahead of us! We made promises to each other to never second guess ourselves and never regret our decisions! We made sure with every little thing going on we would make time for each other and our little son or daughter!

Not everyone had the best opinions about our choices but we didn't get married or have children to impress them, we did it for love! Sure we got a lot of rude remarks about our age and the time line but we just smiled and knew that their petty words were nothing more than words and we had our whole lives ahead of us to make mistakes, mess up, fall in and out of love, travel and make memories but we wanted to do all that together! After all life is about doing what you love why not do it with who you love too!

There's love in the air!

Well, things seemed to be going PERFECT! We were happily engaged, we had our own apartment together and  life was just amazing! Well 2 months into the engagement we got a HUGE shock when we found out I was pregnant with our first child Cayden! Yes, it was definitely not expected but it still seemed like a huge blessing! We had originally planned on a May wedding, but with our first baby on the way that would not be very plausible! So after many discussions and a lot of hard thinking we decided we wanted to get married before the baby was born but before I was showing! With that being said we only had 2 months to plan a wedding with nearly 50 guests! It was crazy but definitely do-able! We had an amazing time planning it, with our families by our side we made the best of our short engagement!
With romantic dinners for 2 at the cheese cake factory or Logan's Road house we talked about guest lists, seating arrangements, colors and baby names! Yes, it was stressful and at times trying but the love only kept showing more and more through the grime! We were nothing more than "a couple of kids madly in love" and we took every chance we could to smile, laugh and stomach the useless comments about how our marriage would fail cause we rushed into it! No matter what people thought we were in love and still are! Like I said there is no right or wrong way to showing each other your love, there's just your way!

How it all started!

From the beginning I knew it was love!
I was living with an ex and Aj came along at the perfect time. It was like the start of our relationship was right out of a movie! I broke up with my ex and I didn't want to move back home so I really didn't know what to do, then I met Aj. He said I could move in with him and be his roommate until I got back on my feet. Well as the days went by we found out we had more and more in common and we became these 2 cheesy people right out of a love story. He invited me to meet his mom 2 days after I moved in with him and right from there he said he loved me because I liked his mom and got along with her! Well it was only 2 days later and he dropped the "L" word and we started to become serious! We took weekend trips out of town to meet my family and started apartment hunting for a one bedroom and everything just fit! Then after only 13 days of dating he said those 4 magic words. I was standing in the kitchen doing dishes after a stressful day and he came up to me and held me by my waist and whispered in my ear how much he adores how strong I am and how he couldn't see life with out me and there was no greater woman for him, then after a pause he whispered "Will you marry me?". I automatically teared up and spun around and said "Serious?", he smiled and said "Yea". So with tears in my eyes and a smile on my face I said "Yes, of course!"

Now, I know you're all thinking "Wow, isn't that a bit of a rush?" But the way I see it is if you know its perfect and meant to be there is no wrong or right time. I think if your'e in love you shouldn't have to wait months or years to make the next step cause that's what every one else in society is doing. We are all the writers and editors of our own life right?

Our love from the beginning :)

Some times people forget why they fell in love with each other and all the great memories they have made together. So my goal is to re-live my amazing marriage from the beginning until now. Yes, every marriage has it's ups and downs but all that shouldn't matter when you look into each others eyes and remember why you married each other in the first place. So here's my attempt to write a blog on the joys, tears and tough times we have gone through that have made our love so strong and amazing! Enjoy!