All the Birds of This Day

As Carl and I drove down the pretty canyon from Sundance this morning, we were greeted by two things, which are actually, in a nice way, the same thing: new life. I called my mom on our way home and she told us everyone was at the hospital because Nicole (my sister-in-law) was having the baby. The long-awaited first grandchild, dear Dash Stephen Christensen. We went straight to the hospital and after a grilled cheese sandwich from the snack bar, our nephew came into the world. It was neat to see my little brother holding his son. I remember when Dane (my brother) was born. My grandparents came to stay the night with me, in the morning my grandma tied two pieces of yellow yarn around my pigtails and put on my striped, rainbow dress. It was June and I'd spent months preparing for a new brother, I'd helped my mom sew a quilt (which probably consisted of me being more of a bother) and arranged my stuffed animals on the bed. I was young, but I remember being so proud of a little brother. It was nice to walk into the hospital room today and find that some things never change.

Upon our drive into Provo, Carl and I also embraced new life, married life. I have so much I want to write about and so many people I want to thank for making our wedding day the most blissful, beautiful day we could imagine. We loved every minute of it. We had a wedding picnic in Manti, after we were married in the temple, and when I look back on my life for moments of perfection, that is one I will remember. At the picnic, I said a few things that I wish I had been able to say to so many more people. In essence, what I wanted to convey is that, whenever I've imagined my wedding day, as so many of us do, I've never cared about fancy things, but rather, I wanted the day to be evidence of the people who make up our life. I feel so blessed that our wedding was just that. Darcie made a beautiful dress for me, Nicole took our engagement pictures and made my hairpieces, our friend Lynette Danbury made Carl's suit, my dad made our matching wedding bands, my mom made the picnic lunches, my aunt made my bouquet, my sister did my hair and makeup, our dear friends lisa and jacob made a perfect and delicious wedding cake, my cousin heather helped take pictures, Carl made our guest book, our friend Diana took the most lovely wedding pictures for us (I will post them soon), Carl's family helped from Oregon and then drove 13 hours to be there with us, and Carl's brother Matt made us a wedding video, there are so many other ways in which people stepped up to help us. I tell these things, not to flaunt, but because it means the world to me. There are so many other kindnesses that were shown us for our wedding, both from friends nearby and friends in other places. I feel like I am beginning to be without proper eloquence for the measure of gratitude and happiness we feel, so I will leave it at thank you, thank you for care, love and service, one to another.