Australian Invasion: Phoebe & Liam's Visit Part 3...

When Phoebe and Liam were planning their trip, they were hoping to make it to an authentic American Baseball game... sadly Spring Training was a few weeks off, so no baseball games for us. We thought about Suns Basketball game, but they were only playing the Lakers while Phoebe and Liam were here and cheap tickets were close to $100!! But low and behold their trip coincided with SUPER BOWL SUNDAY!!!

A great American pastime full of American Football, gaudy half-time shows, commercials galore, and fattening food abounding! Our friends Andy and Carissa opened their home for the big game and because it was the first Sunday of the month, we had Emolyn & Elsie with us! It was such a fun party complete with 7 layer bean dip, buffalo chicken dip, hot wings (or hot chicken legs in Andy's case), chocolate, brownies, and other yummy things! The unfortunate part is that I got a bad headache about half way through the game so I spent time in the guest room with the lights off trying to get rid of it... Elsie came in to join me for a while cause she missed me and we watched a lot of One Direction music videos... she is a big Harry Styles fan, even at 2 years old.

At one point I was outside with Elsie on the swing set and asked her to pose for a picture for me... this is what she gave me... such a sassy little girl!

 Meanwhile Emolyn did one of her very favorite things with her new best friend Kate - Baking! They made the most delicious brownies!

Sadly there were not a ton of other pictures of the Super Bowl party because there aren't a ton of picture worthy moments when you are sitting around watching football. One memorable thing of course as most may remember was that the power went out at the Super Bowl stadium and delayed the game for over 30 minutes... this was quite the nail in the coffin for Phoebe and I and we were happy for an excuse to leave early to take the girls home! ha!


The next day after Super Bowl Sunday was another huge event - LIAM'S BIRTHDAY!!! YAY! We celebrated with a trip to the Zoo! Aaron was able to get the day off too and came with us!

It was literally a GORGEOUS day in Phoenix! The perfect day for a trip to the zoo!

Enjoying the Native Wildlife on the Arizona Trail!

Cah-CAW!

This is what they did while we filmed

Aaron and I... and a sleeping lion

riding some of the Wildlife

How does won properly ride a Oryx?

Pros

That night we took Liam to Dave & Busters to celebrate! Ashely (Aaron's sister) and Jess came with us and even Kendra stopped by to meet them. The perfect spot for an adult birthday - video games, ski ball, a bar in the middle! Winner! We had an absolute blast! We owned the ticket games and got over 7,000 tickets to spend at will in the gift shop. We played the wheel of fortune game, which is one round would spout out as many as 2,400 tickets in one go! Legendary!!!!!

Another fun piece of the evening is when we discovered that it is actually illegal in Australia to use your car horn unless it is a life threatening emergency! Aaron loved this little fact and then proceeded to honk the car horn along the way to Dave and Busters. You would have thought Phoebe was going to die from laughing she was so freaked out and found it beyond hilarious that we could honk our horn for absolutely no reason. I have not seen her laugh that hard in ages!

CAR RACING!

Dancing while the machine just kept spitting out tickets!

Holly Jolly Christmas...

As I stated in a previous post, soon after the wedding, everyone started asking us about the holidays... even AT our wedding reception people were asking us what we had planned for Christmas... apparently it was going to be a big deal.

Lucky for us we have families that are awesome and understanding and accommodating and will to work with us on whatever worked best for US! I think that was important for me to remember through the process is that I couldn't please everyone and when it came down to it, I needed to protect my family first - meaning Aaron and I. I think the first thing we decided was that we wanted to spend Christmas morning just the two of us. We knew that when we had kids we would want to be a family during that time and so we firgured we would start this year and not risk the trouble of changing it later. So that was easy. What also made it a little easy was that my brother and sister-in-law decided that because they have 4 kids to haul around for the holidays that they would do one day with each family and not divide in the middle of the day. So they do Christmas Eve with my family and Aaron and I decided to do that too. So Christmas Eve with my family and Christmas Day with the Mertz'.

The sad part was my younger brother... it was a really difficult realization that I wouldn't see him on Christmas Day. My older brother got married almost 9 years ago and despite the first couple of years where he and Nicole divided the holidays in the middle of the day, we have spent most of our Christmas Days just Tyler and I with my parents. We would stay up late talking and hanging out just him and I. This would be the first year I wouldn't see Tyler on Christmas Day! Luckily my new in-laws had the wonderful idea of inviting Tyler along for a Christmas Day evening event! We decided we would go see a movie and Tyler would come with us! Super fun :)

So here are some pictures of the lovely Holiday!

First stop the Thompsons! We woke up and went over to my parents for gift opening, breakfast, and some park time! I mainly got pictures of the present opening, but it was a lovely day at the park too so in your mind's eye imagine the sun shining, boys playing basketball and the the little girls sliding down both park slides over and over again.

Mr Mertz & I

The girls opened their gifts first so they wouldn't have to be bored with our present opening. They got the mother load of gifts! A Barbie House from Uncle Tyler, PJs and baby dolls from my parents...

Emolyn got a chalk board from Uncle Aaron and I! And Elsie got a piggy-bank filled with money... she had asked specifically for "money dolla's"

The theme of gift giving this year was Charity! We decided last year after I bought my whole family charity based gifts that we would start a gift exchange this year and only give gifts that gave back as well! Some highlights:

- Shawn got my mom a ring with dried forget-me-nots in it (like a locket, but a ring). It was for an alzheimer's foundation! She cried and cried of course because he dad pass away from Alzheimer's a few years ago right before Christmas.
- Nicole got Tyler a Tshirt made out of recycled plastic bottles - seriously it sounds weird, but it is the most comfortable shirt ever! She also got him headphones that also went to giving hearing to people who are deaf from ear injuries!
- I gave Shawn a To Write Love on her Arms shirt... and Nicole ended up getting him the same one. haha

Jonah & Nathan are now not the only twins in the family!

Emolyn and Elsie quickly took to the chalkboard!

Tyler had to work on Christmas Eve, so he left at 12p. After Shawn and Nicole left with the kiddos to put them to bed at home, my parents, Aaron and I went over to see Tyler and take him dinner, then Aaron and I went home for the night!


Next morning was our first ever lil' Mertz family Christmas!!!! I was looking forward to sleeping in a bit, but my husband was an excited boy and woke me up early too excited to wait any longer to give me my presents! We sat in front of the Christmas tree and gave each other our first Christmas gifts as husband and wife!

We did good this year! Aaron got me the entire Harry Potter BlueRay set! He also got me PJs and tons of snacks in my stocking!! I got him a keurig and a watch along with a wallet and legos and other fun treats in his stocking!

After we finished gift opening, we got dressed and ready and headed over to his parents house :) Three sets of gifts! I like this married business on Christmas :)

Me, Aaron, Ashley, and Jess!

So many fun gifts - Manicure/Pedicure gift certificate, jewelry from Ashley from her trip to Ghana, Christmas decorations, and much much more! We spent the rest of the day hanging out at the house and then we headed over to Aaron's grandma's house with the Mertz extended family. Such a big family!!!

Tyler met us there to go to the Christmas Day late night movie! We were planning to see Les Miserables, but when we got to the theater it was already sold out :( Instead we decided to see the last Twilight movie - Breaking Dawn 2. Jess was gonna kill us for making him sit through it! haha! The rest of us loved it and by "loved it" I mean it was beyond awesome, but so fun to laugh through!

All in all a great Christmas!

Ceremony...

I was entirely  present at the ceremony and was taking in every minute. Even a week later, I could remember John sharing our story and what our dad's shared. But now, nearly 2.5 months later, I have forgotten. Luckily we got it on video and will get to watch it over and over in future years :)

Most people warned me that I wouldn't remember a thing, and that thought made me sad. The ceremony was what I was so excited about! So I was determined to soak in every moment, and even though it is fuzzy now, I am glad I can remember what I can and I cherish it deeply.

After all the pictures were taken, Aaron and I separated into our respective areas of the house to relax, decompress and get ready for the ceremony. I was glad for this time to refresh. I probably looked like a zombie! I literally sat in the corner of the room in a rocking chair and stared off into no where... don't even ask me what I was thinking about. I remember being nervous and anxious to get through the ceremony and on to the party afterward! I was nervous about music and sound. I was SO excited for the words John would share and our dad's would share... but I mainly just needed to switch my brain off and be quiet. My girls waited on me hand and foot... Jeannette held my dress when I had to go to the bathroom... people brought me food to snack on... Elisabeth fed me white cheddar pop corn bits directly into my mouth. However, the most remarkable moment was when I asked Carla to sing for me.

If you have ever heard Carla sing, it is one of the most powerful, soulful, worshipful voices I have ever heard. She was so sweet to honor my request for a song before I walked down the aisle. I sat listening to her sing the word "our God is mighty to save..." and I sighed with the relief of the knowledge that I was deeply loved. You could hear a pin drop in the room because no one had ever heard Carla sing, save my mom.

 

While Carla was serenading the girls, John was down with the guys in the basement praying

Aaron said there wasn't a dry eye in the room while they prayed. What a group of strong, sweet, Godly men.

Then John came up to pray with us... and the tears kept coming

I want to take this time to talk a little about my friend John Lynch... I am such a lucky girl to count him has someone in my life. Someone who is readily available to me, someone I know I can count on to always be for me. He has been my pastor for my entire life and my dad's best friend. For probably the last 10 years, since I have been of a marrying age, John has asked if he could somehow be apart of my wedding someday. I would laugh and assure him that he was going to be performing my ceremony! I wouldn't imagine having anyone else. Aaron too has counted John a dear friend for most of his life as well, so it wasn't much of a conversation at all when the subject of who would perform our ceremony came up. It was John.

My FAVORITE thing about a John Lynch wedding is how he takes the bride and grooms life story and masterfully weaves it together to show what an amazing love story God has written for them! It was the one moment of the entire wedding that I looked forward to the most... I admit, even above being pronounced Aaron's wife. I was so excited to know people got to hear our story - an awesome story! A story full of hope and waiting and trusting in God's timing. It is a story that proves God is FAITHFUL! He is always working for our good and His glory and it is something amazing to behold when it all culminates in a day like this. This was the moment my friends and family would be reminded or told for the first time that there is a BIG GOD out there and a precious SAVIOR who desperately loves us!

And so with that the focus of the day... with John at the helm to beautifully convey to everyone there, I was more than ready to walk down the aisle to the love of my life.

Of course I had to show you one of the greatest moments in Wedding history... Jack was awesome!

Me and my dad... I could hardly keep it together at this point... my dad has already lost it

And there he is... my love.

I'll have to post our story on here someday as John read it. There was so much laughter and memories. John asked us to pear down the childhood part, because the 16 years of our love story was going to take up enough time. I stood there across from Aaron and just kept thinking, This is it! I can't believe I'm here! I can't believe its him! 

As part of our ceremony Aaron and I asked our dad's to get up and share something. They were perfect! My dad shared about how my entire life he had been the one to help me make big decisions, to calm my fears, to answer my questions. I would spend hours with him discussing God and life and fears and pain and hopes. But from this day onward, he would no longer be that person for me... Aaron would. Of course my dad would always be there for us, he would always be the first man in my life, but now Aaron was the most important man in my life.
Pat shared such sweet things to. He affirmed Aaron in what an amazing man he was, and affirmed me of how wonderful it was to have me in his family. And then he spoke to my parents. He spoke about the joining of families and thanked them for raising me and loving Aaron. He assured them I was going to be loved and protected by him and Laurie as well. Then the four of them stood up and hugged each other. What a great moment!

After that was time for the rings...

 Success...

We exchanged traditional vows and were pronounced husband and wife and then we decided to take communion as our first act as husband and wife. My cousin Lyle and his beautiful wife Anya sang the hymn "Before the Throne" while Aaron and I took communion.

I was in their wedding nearly 2 years before and it was my honor to have them as part of mine and Aaron's wedding day

The BIG MOMENT!

If you notice behind and above us in the ceremony was our gorgeous Chuppah! Laurie's family is Jewish and so we were so excited to honor that in our wedding with a Chuppah above us and Aaron smashing the glass after the ceremony. The glass signifies that although the glass can be broken, our marriage never will.

Presenting Mr & Mrs Mertz!!!!

And this was the moment we became husband and wife!

Wedding Party...

WE HAD THE BEST WEDDING PARTY!!!

It's true! Not only have my bridesmaids lavished me with amazing bridal showers and a bachelorette party and words of encouragement, support, laughter, wisdom, distractions, and excitement throughout this wedding process, but they also made my wedding day so much fun! The groomsmen too loved my husband so well through this wedding planning process. They too offered Aaron wisdom, support, distractions, encouragement, and laughter and memories - if I could post pictures of the bachelor party at a cabin up north complete with guns and boys being boys, I would and you would have a picture of how close these boys are.

The pictures of our wedding party give but a glimpse of how much fun this group was!

This picture is awesome - Elsie is starting to fall apart, Shawn's face, Jack's face... excellent

If you'll notice, my brother and sister-in-law took the opportunity to make-out

From left to right: Nicole, Ashley, Kendra, me, Jeannette & Elisabeth

From left to right: Tyler, Shawn, Jeremy, Aaron, Andy & Bruce

Andy: Aaron and I have known Andy for YEARS! Over a decade! I have known him my entire life as our families have been at the same church our entire lives. He is an amazing servant! So willing to help, to listen, to relate to wedding stress and offer to do anything to help us. He and his wife are so fun and we love them so much! So thankful for Andy!

Shawn: I'm going to write a TON of stuff about Shawn in my post about our families part in this wedding, but I'll say it here too, my big brother is amazing! I think he was as excited about Aaron and I dating as we were. He was talking about our wedding before Aaron and I had actually gone out on an official first date! I think the fact that I made his best friend is ACTUAL brother gave him more joy than anything.

Jeremy:He has been in my life from the time I was born. He and his sister Kendra (also a bridesmaid) were Shawn and my closest friends from the time we could speak. Aaron and Jeremy share a relationship that involves the deep things on their hearts and minds. He and his wife are such a sweet couple and we are so excited to meet their little Leah here shortly!

Bruce: When Aaron talks about Bruce, there is a deep respect and so much appreciation in his voice for this man. Bruce is an amazing man... once of those men who does and knows and remembers everything. He is a man of great influence and I am incredibly grateful for his influence on our marriage. Bruce and his wife Janet did our premarital counseling. They are wise, patient, understanding, fun to laugh with, refreshingly candid and open about their marriage the things God has taught them through their man years. We love and appreciate them beyond words!

Tyler: Again, I will gush and gush about Tyler in the family post tomorrow, but I will say here that I saw something stir in Tyler throughout this wedding planning and celebrating that makes my heart so happy! It was so incredibly awesome to see him be apart of this group of groomsmen and no longer be mine or Shawn's little brother, but to be one of the men. He was so sweet to listen to my yammering on about Wedding planning when I would visit him where he works at Target. He was so excited for all the guy events! I love that Aaron and Tyler have developed a real friendship and brotherhood.

 Kendra: Kendra and I have known each other our entire lives. Most of the major events in my life, Kendra was there. It is such a blessing that we ended up getting married in the same year and being each other's maid/matron of honor. Kendra is solely responsible for the flowers being so beautiful! She did all the bouquets, boutonnieres, and did the mock up for the centerpieces that our helpers executed beautifully! I loved that she was standing next to me, with me all day, and that our friendship will continue!

Nicole: My sister in law as always is one of the wisest people I know. She is so incredibly confident and gives awesome advice. I will talk about her too on my family post, but I just can't say enough how much I love and respect her. I love that she was excited all day! Every time I had a thought, she was always 2 steps ahead of me. She continually was watching me an anticipating my needs and moods and was the constant servant. Since I have been married, she is the person I sit and talk with. She listens to my thoughts and funny stories about learning to be a wife and loves me and protects me and challenges me with such wisdom.

Elisabeth: Elisabeth is one of the most fun people I know. We were in Kendra's wedding together earlier in the year and while as one of my very best friends, I already knew she was a blast, but at a wedding she is awesome! She kept everyone laughing and that was exactly what I needed! I love having her friendship! I love that she was apart of my day. I am so thankful with her being so present with me on this journey and welcoming Aaron into some of our hang out times. She is amazing!

Jeannette: Jeannette knows about weddings! She took a lot of questions from me about anything and everything for planning this wedding and when it came to the big day she was the one reminding me what the most important thing of the day was - becoming Aaron's wife. She was level headed and focused and she even helped me in the bathroom with my dress. She is a good friend. She also was the person keeping us on point during the reception. Her and Dave, our MC, were an amazing team! They created an amazing flow to the reception, allowing flexibility for making sure it wasn't too rushed or drag too much. She also was always a few steps ahead of me checking whether we were ready to cut the cake or to leave the reception. I would not have made it through my reception without her!

Ashley: I LOVED having Ashley in my wedding party. She fit so well with the rest of the girls and I am so glad that the friendships have continued passed my wedding. She was on the dance floor laughing with my bridesmaids. Some of the most fun pictures of my wedding were of all of them having a blast together. She is funny and sarcastic and makes me laugh so much with her refreshing straight forward humor. I just think she is incredible and strong and so much fun!

Then there were our Flower Girls and our Ring Bearer! I have come to LOVE the unpredictability of kids in a wedding party... and my Flower Girls and Ring Bearer did not disappoint.

Me, Emolyn & Elsie - my beautiful nieces

Aaron & Jack - a family friend

This picture is hilarious!

Let's start with Emolyn... she was BORN FOR THIS! The consummate professional, it was as if her whole life had led to this day and being a flower girl. I loved the way she stayed close to my side and wanted to look at my dress and my wedding rings. I love that she got manicures and pedicured with us the Thursday before the wedding and came to the family bridal shower like a real lady. She is the sweetest, funniest, smartest, and diarmingly wise little girl I know!

Next is Elsie - She is the wildcard! I was not sure if at 2 years old she was going to be able to focus long enough to get down the aisle, but I so much wanted her to be apart of my day. Other people warned me the unpredictability of a 2 year old flower girl, but I figured that other than tears and a tantrum, I didn't care how she got down the aisle. If she wanted to yell and laugh and run the whole way down it would make a good story and a cute photo op! She was amazing though! Aside from the melt downs during some of the group photos (the girl doesn't like to stay still too long), she was the joyful, funny Elsie I know! She was such a ham most of the time too. She walked down the aisle perfectly (mainly because she just follows whatever Emolyn does) and during the ceremony she stuck to the corner of the yard with her other Aunt Michelle and played with toys and ate goldfish crackers.

Lastly is Jack - who made for one of the best moments of our wedding! Such a shy boy, I was so thankful that he even made it down the aisle at all with all those people! What a handsome little boy huh?! Those shoes! The look on his face! The fact that he held the Bible in front of his face whenever he could... it was priceless. Also if you scroll up to the funny group shot at the top, his face is my favorite part! Such a little boy who doesn't know what to do with kissing. He was AWESOME!


I should also take this time to point out the Bible that Jack held down the aisle. Aaron and I weren't wild about a ring (with no rings on it) or a sign... so we were undecided about what Jack would carry until my mom suggested my Aunt Patty's childhood Bible that she has had. My Aunt Patty was my dad's only sister and she was killed in a car accident when she was 18 years old. I have had her Bible since I was little and it is the sweetest white Bible!

The sweeter part of the story is when my mom found it and opened it up, we discovered it was a gift to Patty from her older brother, my Uncle Barry who passed away several years ago from cancer. It was like they were both represented at the wedding in that little Bible.