A Nice Day for a Dwight Wedding

I’d say it’s about time that I give my take on the wedding day! First off, it was amazing! It was everything I hoped for and more (cliche, I know- but true). All of the hard work and time that we spent planning and prepping came together perfectly. 

I’ll start back to two weeks before the wedding when I started getting what felt like a cold. I was annoyed at the timing but also relieved that it came two weeks before the wedding and not two days before! But this cold just seemed to hang on and just as I thought I was getting better, I got worse. Greeeeat. The weekend before the wedding I had my Bachelorette party that Jeremiah explained a little bit about. I was feeling pretty well that whole weekend which was a relief. I had a blast! We volunteered at Feed My Starving Children which was a great way to start the celebration. You are trying to pack as many food boxes as possible in the 90 minutes you have, so it was fast-paced and fun. Feed My Starving Children is a Christian organization, so at the end we had the opportunity to pray over the food being sent to Thailand and the woman who prayed also prayed for Jeremiah and me without even really knowing us, but just knowing that we were getting married. It was really special. 

We stayed at the cutest Airbnb in Downtown Phoenix, had a bunch of delicious snacks, and talked a lot! Then I opened some presents, we went to the delicious Cibo Pizzeria for dinner, followed by Bitter & Twisted for really interesting drinks, and the Duce for drinks and dancing! We danced for a really long time, but I love dancing so it was awesome! The next morning we just had a casual morning at our Airbnb with brunch. It was the perfect bachelorette party for me. My sisters and other bridesmaids and friends who helped put it together did such a great job planning!

The best sisters and cousin.

Some of my very best friends!

The bachelorette party was just the beginning of wedding festivities and as I said my sickness was unfortunately not going away. So on Tuesday I finally went to a Minute Clinic and she told me I had a sinus infection. Perfect timing. Starting Tuesday I was taking quite a few different medications to wipe the sickness and slowly but surely I got better. I felt about 90% by Friday, the day before the wedding, and finally 100% on Saturday. Actual perfect timing!

Thursday morning most of my bridesmaids, flower girls, and my mom and I got our nails done. Thursday evening I spent time at the Airbnb that a lot of my out-of-town family was staying at and we just had a good time together eating food and hanging out! Friday morning we gathered things up to take to our rehearsal at 3:00 that afternoon. My parents were a big help in staying organized so we had a checklist of things to remember to bring and the rehearsal went very smoothly! Pretty much just everyone figuring out where to stand, when to walk, etc. It was much faster than I expected! After that we headed to Magliano’s for the rehearsal dinner which was fantastic. We had a very large rehearsal dinner (most of both of our families were coming from out-of-town) so it was a great opportunity to have conversations with everyone and thank everyone for coming. Plus, the food was fantastic. 

My dad and I at the rehearsal!

Going to bed Friday night I thought I would have a hard time sleeping with all the excitement that lay ahead, but I actually got an excellent night’s sleep! Kind of funny, but it was good because I had a busy day ahead. I woke up feeling very calm, just excited, and that’s pretty much how I stayed the whole day! 

As Jeremiah said, I got to the venue at about 11:00, as did my bridesmaids and the hair/makeup artist. The hair person got to work right away and did such an awesome job! I loved every single style that my bridesmaids got done! My mom brought a bunch of snacks into the bridal suite so while everyone took turns getting their hair done, we snacked, talked, and just kind of got prepared! It was a very casual, slow morning/afternoon! We also ordered lunch from Salad and Go, which I highly recommend. I got my hair/makeup done right in the middle of the bridesmaids and it took quite awhile, but that was fine because she did amazing!! I was a little worried because during my hair/makeup trial I had my hair in an updo, but decided the week of the wedding that I would prefer it down. So I didn’t know exactly what to expect, but I showed her  few pictures of styles that I liked and it turned out great. I was really happy I went with my hair down (or half-up/half-down technically!). I also am really not used to so much makeup on my face, so I kept asking people, “Are you sure it doesn’t look like too much??” They kept reassuring me that it looked good, and once we got the professional photos back I was very glad I had my makeup done because it turned out great in the photos! Oh, I also had a spray tan done because I had some bad tan lines on my shoulders, and I was skeptical about that looking okay, but it also turned out just fine! 

As I said it was a pretty slow, relaxing morning and then 3:00 rolled around. That is when the photographers and videographer showed up and things started moving very quickly! I got in my dress, we started getting some pictures done, I had to record my vows for the videographer in the midst of that, and then suddenly I was back in the bridal suite after pictures just hiding out until the start of the ceremony! Our coordinator got everyone lined up and took the bridesmaids up, and then it was just my dad and I left in the bridal suite! Starting then I was getting a little more anxious, but honestly I still felt very calm. Then just like that we were right outside the doors of the ceremony, the coordinator asked if I was ready, I said “Yep!” with a big smile and they swung the doors open. Jeremiah had the hugest smile on his face and I looked at him and no one else the whole walk down the aisle. It was incredible that this moment was finally here! The ceremony was so wonderful. Alan, our friend/officiant gave the perfect sermon, we prayed, and exchanged vows. I was really glad we did both traditional and our own vows. I can’t believe I made it through my vows without crying. I had to take many deep breaths to keep from doing so, but I managed! Jeremiah’s vows were incredible. It was just really special! Then we had our braid ceremony which I am so glad we did! Jessica, our friend/pianist/Alan’s wife sang “God With Us” so beautifully while we braided the three strands representing Jeremiah (and family), me (and family), and God. Really a special moment and after we finished we just got to enjoy Jessica singing the rest of the song. Also, throughout the ceremony I managed to notice some of the decorations/details which looked incredible!! We had an amazing eucalyptus arch against the white backdrop and it looked soo good. Anyone who came to the wedding probably noticed that I was obsessed with eucalyptus. So we had the arch, we had eucalyptus down the sides of the aisle, in our bouquets, and incorporated into the centerpieces. The sage green of the eucalyptus was the perfect accent to the gray and navy I thought! Anyway, after the braid ceremony we prayed and exchanged rings and Jeremiah dipped me during our kiss! I couldn’t believe how wonderful the ceremony was. 

We were whisked right back to the bridal suite after the ceremony for signing the marriage license and the start of our pictures. We had pictured just the two of us, then family and bridal party pictures while the cocktail hour was going on. Surprisingly my face was not hurting from all of the smiling! Guess I was just too happy to care about it! It was a little interesting coordinating our big families in the pictures, but we managed. Then it was time to line up for the reception! Such a fun party!! Jeremiah and I had practiced a few moves for the entrance to “Uptown Funk” which was a great start. Then we had our first dance which did not start quite so great. The DJ started playing the wrong  song… A song which neither of us had ever heard before. I felt like I was looking around frantically, we were trying to figure out what to do, but we just kept dancing. We were both saying, “It’s okay… It’s disappointing, but it will be a funny story down the road.” Luckily my sister-in-law went and told the DJ the right song so he cut the first one off, apologized, and played the right song- “You’ve Got a Friend in Me” by Michael Buble. The perfect song seeing as Jeremiah truly is my best friend. We also had a fun little choreographed part in the middle! 

After that my dad gave a really sweet speech, prayed, and it was time for dinner. We were served our meal right at our table which was awesome that we didn’t even have to get up! We ate the amazing food pretty quickly and then started our rounds through the tables to say hello to everyone and thank them for coming. It was so much fun to get around and chat with everyone. One of the things Jeremiah and I have often commented on since the wedding was how amazing it was to have so many people we love so much and who love us right back all in one room. Really incredible and we can’t say thank you enough to everyone who celebrated with us! 

Also throughout the reception we did the shoe/newlywed game, really special father/daughter, mother/son dances, bouquet/garter tosses, cake cutting, and a couple wonderful speeches from our siblings! I loved every single activity!! For the garter toss I had no idea Jeremiah and his groomsmen were going to have nerf guns and it was so hilarious! Such a fun surprise! Then of course there was a ton of dancing! The DJ chose perfect songs to keep everyone dancing and our dance floor was packed almost the whole night! It was a little loud, so I apologize to those guests who were not partaking in the dancing, but I had a blast! Needless to say my feet were absolutely killing me by the end of the night because I never took my heels off. The blisters on my feet are just now fully clearing up! Worth it though! At the very end of the night while everyone was getting ready for the sparkler send-off Jeremiah and I had the dance floor to ourselves for one last dance to “When I Say I Do” by Matthew West. It was a really special, quiet moment to end the night. Then the awesome sparkler exit to our decorated car thanks to some of the groomsmen! 

It was really an amazing day and while it did go by rather quickly, I felt like I did a very good job of taking in each moment and memory and all of the excitement. The vendors that we chose did an incredible job of putting everything together on the day of as well. I have to give a huge thanks to my parents once again for hosting the celebration and helping with every single detail. 

So that’s it! Jeremiah and I are married and I am now officially a Dwight! Even got my name changed at the social security office already. Also as Jeremiah said, we had an absolutely wonderful honeymoon in Cancun, relaxing, swimming, reading, and eating way too much! A perfect week! 

Pretty much all of this was a repeat of what Jeremiah said, I just wanted to give my point of view as well! I plan to write another post in the next few days on happenings since the wedding and our move to Denver! Stay tuned! 

Does it get any cuter than my nieces and nephews??

My handsome husband!

Love this photo with my parents!

Ready to get the party started!

Our choreographed part of our first dance!

Our last dance of the night.

The huge smile I was referring to!

Mawwage

Ladies and gentlemen, for the first time ever, please welcome back to Blogspot the newly married Mr. and Mrs. Jeremiah and Hannah Dwight!! That’s right, the wedding has come and gone – just as fast as everyone promised it would. But before we dive any deeper into that, I should back up a few weeks. Also, go ahead and grab your favorite snack/beverage, because it’s been an eventful month, so this is gonna be a LONG post!

Hannah last wrote just a few days before our graduation ceremonies, so that’s where I’ll pick things up! It was a fun week of celebrations. We attended Commencement on Monday evening, where the former CEO of Starbucks, Howard Schultz, gave a great speech highlighting ASU’s mission of making higher education more accessible. He also left us with a new vocabulary word:  umbutu, which means “I am because of you” in some African language – a good mentality to keep in mind during graduation week. Then Tuesday morning was Hannah’s Barrett Honors College convocation, Wednesday afternoon was my engineering convocation, and wrapping up the week on Friday evening was Hannah’s College of Health Solutions convocation. Despite the literally thousands of names being read, the excitement of graduating made the ceremonies fun. It’s awesome to celebrate our accomplishments in the presence of some of the friends and family who played such an important role in supporting us and facilitating our success. In the words of Mr. Schultz: Umbutu! Umbutu! Umbutu!

It’s still crazy to think we’re both finished at ASU! I know I speak for both of us when I say it was an incredible experience. We made great friends, great memories, and learned a ton. But even though we’re no longer ASU students, and even though we’ll be living in a whole new state, we’ll always be Sun Devils. Yes, I know that’s cheesy… but it’s true, and saying that reminds me (1) how proud I am to call myself a Sun Devil and (2) to always cherish my college experience!

Once graduation week finished, it was time to focus more than ever on wedding prep! Thankfully we’d done a good job taking care of most things ahead of time, but that still left a surprising amount of “little things” to take care of. We had our final meeting with our coordinator, where we finalized decorations, ceremony timeline, guest count, reception layout, and much more. We also assembled guest bags for our out-of-town guests and delivered them to the hotels where they’d be staying. And we helped Hannah’s mom put together the favors, which were cute little boxes containing two of her trademark chocolate-covered Oreos with beautiful transfer designs on top. She must have put dozens of hours into making those, but I think it was worth every minute because they turned out great! (I should know, as I taste-tested plenty of them!) I’m sure there were more things I could mention, but Hannah and her parents were so on top of everything that much of it went unnoticed to me! But if you’re thinking I was a hands-off groom, you’d be wrong – I think I helped with a lot of the planning and preparation, and I really enjoyed it, too!

Amidst all this, Hannah and I had our bachelor/bachelorette parties the weekend before the wedding. Both were a ton of fun, and a much-needed break from the busyness of final wedding prep. For mine, Nathan and Brian planned a weekend up at Lake Havasu! Twelve of us drove up Saturday morning and rented a pontoon boat to spend all afternoon on the lake. We cliff-jumped, hung out on a few sand bars, gorged on burgers/snacks/beer, had way too much trouble anchoring the boat, and just enjoyed perfect boating weather. After that we grabbed pizza and went back to an Airbnb for the night, which included both standard (beer pong) and not-so-standard (Nerf war) bachelor party antics. We grabbed an awesome brunch at a local diner called Sam’s Place before heading home the next day. I couldn’t have asked for a better bachelor party!

Hannah’s bachelorette party began with volunteering at Feed Our Starving Children Saturday afternoon! Now, I know what you’re thinking: “Who starts their bachelorette party – an event meant to celebrate YOU – with service directed towards others??” My wife, that’s who! Consider this a testament to one of the many qualities I admire about her:  her thoughtfulness. Anyway, after that they hung out at their Airbnb before heading to Cibo (a delicious pizza restaurant) for dinner, followed by Bitter and Twisted for drinks and The Deuce for more drinks and dancing. Then they spent the night at the Airbnb and finished with brunch the next morning. From what I understand it was a really fun weekend!

All our wedding prep culminated with the rehearsal the day before the wedding. It went pretty smoothly, and was surprisingly quick! Afterward we drove up to Scottsdale for our rehearsal dinner at one of our favorite Italian restaurants, Maggiano’s. It was a nice, long, family-style dinner, and almost all of our out-of-town guests were able to come, so it was perfect for catching up and mingling prior to the wedding itself. The food was great, too; my favorites were fried ravioli and four cheese cannelloni! We were even treated to a few toasts from family and friends, which varied in their degrees of sentimentality and humor but were all very thoughtful and appreciated!

And then, after over 14 months of engagement and 6 years of dating, our wedding day arrived!! In short, it was amazing – as great as we could have asked for. But you’re probably looking for more details, huh? So I guess I’ll elaborate!

Hannah and her bridesmaids arrived at the venue around 11am to get their hair and makeup done, but I didn’t arrive till around 2. ‘Cause, you know, not that much to prepare when you’re a guy! My groomsmen arrived shortly after, and we just hung out in the groom’s room for a couple hours. We played fooseball, chatted, and ate some awesome Fractured Prune donuts my brother-in-law brought! Finally it was time to get ready for photos, so we suited up and went outside for some groomsmen shots as the guests began arriving and Hannah’s uncle played bagpipes.

Shortly after, the ceremony began. It was so neat to look out over the audience and see all of our closest family and friends there for us! As each bridesmaid came down the aisle, my heart beat faster and faster. Then our pianist, Jessica, began playing Canon in D. The doors at the back of the aisle shut for a moment. Everybody stood. And as they reopened, I’m pretty sure I smiled bigger than I’ve ever smiled in my life; there was my gorgeous bride – she’s never looked so beautiful!! It was completely surreal. Our officiant, Alan, gave a beautiful sermon in which he urged us to exemplify Christ’s love for us in our own marriage – love that initiates, is sacrificial, and forgives. Hannah and I read both traditional vows and custom vows to one another (though apparently Hannah’s written-out vows nearly didn’t make it to the ceremony!), and our unity ceremony consisted of braiding 3 strands of rope representing me, her, and God, as Jessica sang God With Us. Then we exchanged rings, Alan pronounced us husband and wife, and just like that, we were married!!

We went down to the bridal suite to sign our marriage license and take a few pictures as the rest of our guests enjoyed cocktail hour. A waitress even came and brought us some of the appetizers we thought we were going to miss, and they were delicious! Truffle mac and cheese bites and beef wellington. Meanwhile, guests mingled, highlighted their favorite verses in a Bible we provided, wrote both serious and silly answers on advice cards, and signed our guest book. Then we took pictures with our bridal party and families, which was a bit chaotic, but we managed to salvage enough time for some shots of just the two of us before the reception began.

For our grand entrance, we danced in to Uptown Funk by Bruno Mars. Then we had our first dance, which actually began on the wrong song! We were both a little confused, but just started dancing anyway; thankfully Hannah’s sister-in-law Terrisa went up to correct the DJ and after a minute they put on our true first dance:  You’ve Got a Friend in Me, by Michael Buble. It’s such a fun song that represents my favorite thing about our relationship – our friendship – and we even threw in some fun choreography during a jazzy section of the song. Then Hannah’s father welcomed us all, gave a toast and a blessing, and dinner began. We had a delicious meal that included parmesan-stuffed flank steak, brown butter chicken, and sundried tomato gnocchi. We ate as quick as we could, then walked around while everyone else ate to personally thank them for coming. Then we had best man and maid/matron of honor toasts, father-daughter and mother-son dances, and then open dancing began. We were really excited to see that almost everyone danced at some point! I guess we owe the DJ (and probably also the open bar) the thanks for that!

After a bit, we played a newlywed game where the DJ asks Hannah and me questions like “Who’s the better driver?” and we each hold up a shoe representing our answer. Then we cut our cake and fed each other the first bites – and I refrained from smooshing the cake all over Hannah’s beautifully makeup-ed face. Then came the bouquet toss and garter retrieval/toss, which I had some fun with:  the song we chose was the theme to Mission: Impossible, so I had a few groomsmen stand around Hannah with little Nerf guns while I dodged their shots and used a bigger Nerf gun to take them down. I approached my laughing damsel in distress with a kiss on the hand before removing her garter – gotta keep it classy, right? – and then shot it into the crowd of single men. After an anniversary dance, we opened the floor to dancing again. At the end of the night, Hannah and I danced to another favorite of ours, When I Say I Do, by Matthew West, while our guests lined up outside for our sparkler exit. The sparkler exit was a really fun way to leave the venue, and unbeknownst to us, Brian and Nathan had prepared our getaway car with writing on the windows:  everything from “just married” to “honk” and “shotgun wedding”. Funny, of course, because a 14-month engagement is anything but a shotgun wedding!

We spent the night at a beautiful resort in Scottsdale called The Scott, and departed for our honeymoon the very next day! Our destination was Cancun, where we stayed at an awesome all-inclusive resort called Azul Sensatori for an entire week. We chose Cancun because it wasn’t somewhere we felt the urge to go sight-see or fill our days with excursions, so this let us just relax at the resort almost the entire time. We don’t normally vacation that way, so our honeymoon was the perfect opportunity to change our vacation style a bit!

The resort had several restaurants and bars, including a couple swim-up bars in the pools. Our favorite restaurant was called Tapaz; it was a Spanish-style restaurant where we were brought 7 courses of appetizers for our meal. Pretty fun dining experience!

Our room was awesome, too. We got upgraded (for free!) to one on the first floor right next to one of the pools, and we made great use of our prime location! We spent a lot of time lounging and reading on our patio, and when we got too hot we’d go grab a drink and swim in the pool for a bit. The room even had its own Jacuzzi! In the middle of the week we went to a spot just 30 minutes from the resort for some jet-skiing and a catamaran/snorkeling cruise. We also sat through a 2-hour timeshare sales pitch to get a 2-for-1 deal on a beachside couples massage! Score!

Hannah took her GoPro and made an awesome video (see below), so I’ll let that do the rest of the talking. In case the embedded video doesn't work, here's the YouTube link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_3Ise1KK8dE

As you can tell, May was an incredible month. It’s amazing to finally call Hannah my wife. I love her with all my heart, and I can’t wait to spend the rest of my life with her!

In case you’re wondering what the immediate future holds, I’ll fill you in a bit. Right now a lot is still up in the air. I haven’t yet landed a job, but we’re flying out to Denver for a few days this week to find an apartment. Assuming we’re successful, we’ll move there at the end of the month, though it really just depends on when our lease begins. We’ve been told that inexpensive housing is extremely competitive in Denver, so we would appreciate your thoughts and prayers as we search there this week! And regarding my job search as well. It’s difficult to be in the middle of so much transition and uncertainty, but we’re confident God will guide us and it’ll all work out soon!

It's May! YAY!

We are just about three weeks out from the wedding now! 22 days, but who’s counting? ;)

We have come a very long way in preparation since our last post! We have pretty much everything ready to go; we just have some final meetings and details to iron out before the big day. So we have figured out all of our song selections, food selections, did our cake tasting and decided on cake flavors and design, ordered a bunch of miscellaneous items, sent out invitations, ironed out order of ceremony, the list goes on! There are so many details to consider and luckily we have a crew of people helping us get ready! For one, my parents have been a massive help. We have weekly “wedding meetings” in which we go over where we’re at, who needs to do what still, questions we need to ask vendors, what needs to be purchased, etc. These have been very necessary for staying on top of things! I also have a few of my bridesmaids working on some tasks for me, and am always getting people offering to help in any way they can. It is so nice to have that help!

We have a final meeting with our photographer tomorrow and a final meeting with our venue and coordinator next week, I also have my hair and makeup trial next week, and a few other miscellaneous things! I am currently preparing gifts for the bridal party and writing out a very detailed timeline of events and things to remember day of to hand out to everyone in the bridal party. I am having way too much fun with that, but what can I say, I like to be organized!

            So another big event that is happening next week for Jeremiah and me are our graduation ceremonies!! As of today (for Jeremiah, I finished Monday) we are both done with our degrees! For me, a Bachelor of Science in Kinesiology and for Jeremiah a Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering! How cool is that?? It hasn’t really sunk in for me fully yet, perhaps because I am going back to school in August. But I can’t wait for the ceremonies next week, because I am sure it will feel real then! Jeremiah is done with school forever (or at least for the foreseeable future) and I am so proud of all of his hard work and accomplishments! Yet again, he managed to maintain a 4.0, which is just incredible. All the while, maintaining a TA job, looking for jobs in Denver, and helping with wedding tasks.

            I am very proud of how I finished off my time at ASU, both GPA-wise and otherwise. Looking back on my time in undergrad I am really amazed at all that I was able to fit in the four years. I pushed myself out of my comfort zone on multiple occasions and tried a bunch of new things, and that really helped shape an amazing four years. In my four years, I was part of the Leadership Scholarship Program, I tried out three different clubs (Devils Advocates- 2 years, Honors Devils- 2 years, Nutritional Health Awareness- 1 year), I worked at Gammage for 3.5 years, I worked as a Community Assistant for one year, worked as a PT Tech for just over a year, worked as First-Year Success Coach for one year. I also studied abroad for a semester, backpacked Europe, road tripped from AZ to FL, attended a ton of ASU football games and a few other ASU sport events, worked in a research lab for a semester, and completed an Honors Thesis. And even with all of those things, I am sure there are things that are missing; all of the day-to-day things that I did that I am going to miss. All in all I am so glad that I chose to go to ASU, but more importantly, I am so glad that I decided to make the most of my experience in undergrad. I tried things that I didn’t like and I tried jobs that really tested me, but I learned from each of them, and found new experiences to try! I am so proud to be graduating as a Sun Devil!

            I’ll wrap up with some specific events of the past month or two. Last Friday I attended my senior banquet for the Leadership Scholarship Program. My parents and Jeremiah came with me and it was such a great night. The committee did a great job putting the program together, we had some great speakers, a fun senior video, and we all received graduation stoles as our parting gift! LSP was one of the experiences in college that shaped me the most, primarily because I met some really incredible people who were with me all four years.

            This past Monday I went to a luncheon for Gammage’s graduating student workers. I started working at Gammage during my freshman year thinking it would likely just be a short time, but three years later I was still working there! I just had my last shift last week and it was a sad day! My boss was seriously the greatest, she is so funny and just really helpful. Plus my coworkers were all so nice and fun to work with. And who doesn’t love getting to watch Broadway shows for free? The lunch was a really nice end to my time working there, my boss Virginia said some nice words about working with me, and we all got a really nice Gammage mug. Grateful to always be part of the Gam Fam!

            I pick up my wedding dress on Monday and can’t wait to see it with the alterations completed! YAY! The day is getting so close, but still feels pretty surreal!

We're Moving?!

WE’RE MOVING TO DENVER! I can definitely say I never thought those words would actually come out of my mouth, but here we are! So you may be wondering, what on earth happened since your last post? Jeremiah had an awesome job lined up in AZ, I was well on my way to staying in AZ for physical therapy school, we’d stay close to family and friends, our future was perfectly planned! …Well, God clearly had a different plan for us.

            Last August I began the long, tedious process of applying to physical therapy school. I chose three schools in AZ to apply to and three out-of-state. The out-of-state schools all looked like good, interesting programs, in states that I thought would be great places to live in with good prospects for mechanical engineers. But the whole time I was thinking, there’s no way I’m actually going to move out-of-state for grad school, besides for as long as I can remember I hoped, visualized, and basically planned to go to Northern Arizona University’s PT program in Phoenix. I submitted all of my applications regardless and waited to hear back about interviews. In December when I was up in Colorado for my family’s annual Beaver Creek ski trip we drove through the campus of one of the schools I applied to called Regis University. It was a beautiful campus; pretty close to the airport so we thought it would be fun to just drive around the campus. As we were driving around passing some really cute homes close to campus I literally joked to my parents and Jeremiah, “Hey, we could be living in one of these cute houses next year, Jeremiah!” and I laughed about it. Turns out that was a very accurate statement because next year I am going to be starting physical therapy school at Regis University in Denver, Colorado and I am so excited.  

            By mid-December I had heard that I had been offered a spot in Midwestern University’s PT program in Glendale, AZ. I wasn’t particularly excited about the program, but was excited to have secured a spot in an AZ school and in any PT school at all for that matter! By mid-December I had also found out I received interviews for both NAU and Regis! I was really excited about both, but a little bit nervous as well of course! My NAU interview was first, I prepared quite a bit, and was feeling pretty good. I usually do pretty well in interviews. The interview at NAU was structured as a group interview, so I was interviewing with two other girls and being interviewed by three people. When the interview started, quite honestly, I am not really sure what happened. I got in my head, was too focused on the other girls’ answers, and comparing myself to them. It was not good and I was SO disappointed in myself. This interview was supposed to go perfectly so that Jeremiah and I could just stay put in Phoenix. I had some good answers toward the end of my interview, so it wasn’t a complete bust, but when I went back to meet with Jeremiah I basically fell apart because suddenly the future seemed really scary and uncertain. But God was watching over me the whole time, I just know it, because just two days later I flew up to Denver for my interview at Regis University and the interview couldn’t have gone better.

            The interview at Regis University was a full day event and was extremely organized. There were so many people there for the interview, so it was just a little bit intimidating! But I was feeling strangely calm. Luckily, I was in the first interview group of the day. This interview was also structured as a group interview with two other people and being interviewed by two people. The interviewers were so kind and friendly, the three of us being interviewed played off each other really well and it was just very conversational. I was smiling the whole time. After that, the rest of the day I just had a great feeling about the school. Everyone I interacted with was so welcoming and felt like they wanted me there. We were able to tour the campus, sit in on a second-year class, get a quick lesson in the anatomy lab, ask questions of a student panel, and have lunch with faculty and current students. They talked about their commitment to service, developing leaders in the field, and built up our excitement for pursuing a career in physical therapy. It was also the highest ranked program that I applied to! Simply put, I had a great feeling after my day at Regis. Yet at the same time, I was scared to be excited because I couldn’t honestly imagine how it was going to work. Making a move to Colorado, and having to make Jeremiah start over on his job search, leaving both of our families, it was all not in my plan.

            By the end of the week I received an email from NAU telling me that I was an alternate for their program… Once again, I was extremely disappointed. Being an alternate meant I could still get into the program, but I could be placed on their Flagstaff campus, which Jeremiah and I had decided we wouldn’t want to attend because of few engineering prospects, and I wasn’t a big fan of the campus. Then a few days I heard back from Regis University with an acceptance into their program! It felt so good to see the congratulations! Then a couple days after that I heard back from NAU, saying I was off the alternate list and was offered a spot on the Flagstaff campus. At that point, Jeremiah and I both really felt like God was leading us to Denver and Regis University. Of course, it wasn’t just a simple, okay let’s move! We talked about it a lot, talked with our families, prayed, and ultimately decided that we were excited to take the opportunity. So, we are moving to Denver!

            Now, to fill in some of the details… We don’t know exactly when we will move, we just know it will be some time this summer. My program starts at the end of August. We also don’t know exactly where we will be living. The campus is in Northwest Denver, but both timing and location will depend on where Jeremiah is able to find a job. This is perhaps one of the best parts of this crazy experience is Jeremiah’s unconditional support. Despite having a job that he was incredibly excited for in AZ, he was behind me 100% and even excited about the opportunity. He has been reaching out to his network to try to find opportunities and has been applying here and there. Just a couple days ago he spoke with his boss for the job here in AZ that he had already accepted to tell them that we are going to be moving. We are hopeful that an opportunity just as exciting for him will come through and know God’s got a plan for him no matter what! Jeremiah is incredibly qualified and hardworking so I am very confident in him!

            We are excited to start our married life together establishing ourselves independently and exploring a new state and new stage of life together. Of course there are a ton of nerves and uncertainties as well, but we’ve got each other to get through those! I have a lot of other updates on wedding planning, school, etc. but I think this is enough to read for one day! Hopefully I will get another post up in the next week or two. We are down to 11 weeks to the wedding! So crazy and exciting!!

A beautiful picture of the campus!