6 Months and a Wedding...

I cannot believe it has been 6 months since I walked down the aisle to the man of my dreams... he is so much more today than I could have imagined just 6 months ago! He is my best friend, protector, pillar of strength, he loves me when I am a mess, he pursues me when I want to run away and be alone, he holds me when I cry, he laughs at me when I am grumpy in the morning, he teases me about singing all the time, he hugs me when I get home from work, he makes me food, he dances with me at weddings, he holds my hand in hard situations where I feel uncertain and fearful, he reminds me that I am strong and capable and doing life well, he is proof of God's immense love for me! I am more in love with my husband now than I was 6 months ago and can't imagine how much more in love with him I will be in another 6 months.

I feel like Mr. Mertz and I have been through more than we bargained for in our first six months. I feel like we have been forced to have conversations about our marriage and future family that most people don't breach until a decade into their marriage. That's us, I guess... we talk and are not afraid to wrestle through the difficult topics. However, because of this, 6 months feels both longer and shorter than I expected! in many ways I feel like we have been married for forever and in other ways I feel like we just got married a couple weeks ago and everything is still a novelty!

I actually have thought about my wedding a lot lately! Friends of ours just got married this last weekend (the day after our 6 month anniversary) and we got to be front and center for all the excitement!! Aaron was a groomsmen, so he had his fair share of wedding activities to participate in. I was in charge of the bride and her sister's hair on the big day! I love doing my friends hair for their wedding! I get the bride all to myself for an hour of her wedding day. She is just sitting and relaxing and is surrounded by her friends... it is my favorite time of the wedding - the excitement and preparation of getting ready! Love it! I kept remembering my wedding day and how my bridesmaids were machines! They anticipated my every need and before the thought "I'm thirsty" or "I'm hungry" was even fully formed in my brain their was a drink and a snack in my hand. I couldn't get over how well they loved and cared for and protected me!
Josh and Kate's wedding was in a beautiful church and their reception was in the same location as our wedding! It was so fun to be back where I said "I do" just 6 months before. Many of the same people were there and we got the question "how's marriage?" and I loved being able to honestly answer - AMAZINGLY FUN!

Alright, a little about Josh & Kate - I have known Josh my whole life! We grew up at the same church and were in the same Sunday school class and even went to prom together as friends for my Jr year of High School! He is such a good man!! His friendship with Aaron is beyond valuable and I am so thankful for Josh's presence and wisdom in my husband's life and vice versa. Kate is one of the most bright, fun, beautiful, playful, and strong women I have ever met. When she and Josh began dating, it was pretty evident right away that they were amazing together! They were so fun and playful and comfortable together. I love this couple so much and am so thankful they are in our tiny club of married w/o kids group right now! So excited to hang out with them!

Mr. Mertz and I with the happy couple at their rehearsal dinner!

this picture does not do the stain glass window in the background justice... such a beautiful wedding!

The beautiful canopy of lights of The Hearn House

We are lookin' good!

First dance

Send off!! (my phone doesn't take great night pics)

LOVE this picture of Aaron and I with sparklers sending off the happy couple! (Thanks Erica!)

It was such a fun reception! Good food, dancing, good friends, being a married couple, all of it was awesome!

This was our first wedding as a married couple and I will be honest and say that weddings are WAY FUN with my husband! We kept laughing about how little stress we felt and how much more present we were in all the festivities cause we didn't have to talk to everyone and smile if we didn't want to... haha. We can't wait for our next wedding!! Gotta find some friends to marry off pronto!



So in honor of our 6 months we got a hotel room in Phoenix at one of the resorts and went their after the wedding! We told them it was our 6 month anniversary and they had strawberries and champagne waiting for us in the room! So nice :)

Good job Point Tapatio Cliffs!

The next day we ordered room service for breakfast and spent the whole  day just laying by the pool and relaxing!!! Oh glorious sun! I need a beach vacation ASAP!

Remember that one time...

I dyed my hair red?

It was short lived and only last about 6 weeks, but it was my wonderful post-wedding hair experiment!

A lot of women post wedding chop their hair short after having grown it out for probably the duration of the relationship in preparation for the wedding up-do. I on the other hand chopped my hair off soon after starting to date Aaron and so come wedding time, my hair was BARELY long enough for my up-do... I regret ever cutting it, so I wasn't going to do that now. I did, however, long for a change and so dying it a drastic color like red seemed like fun...

... who knew it would be such a process????

To give you an idea... this is what I was going for:

 

Thus began my quest...

I started by trying to just dye it with a box over my black hair... that was a stupid idea and resulted in no change at all except at my roots where my natural hair was growing out. Next I tryed a color lifter... DON'T EVER USE A COLOR LIFT!!! It smells like a rotting egg and leave your bathroom with that smell no matter now long you air it out... plus my hair smelled like that for over a week... needless to say it didn't work :(

Next step was bleach!

This picture actually makes it look descent, but in reality it was slightly more mustard than this

 I had to leave it bleached for 24 hours before dying it again, so for a whole 24 hours I was a brassy blonde.

Next came the hair dye!

This was a horrible orange color :(

What I got was ORANGE!!! I had to leave this in for another 24 hours... yuck!

Third time was indeed a charm... almost... I got the right color, but within a week it was faded again to nearly orange... I finally bit the bullet and bought a Groupon to Dolce Salon and Spa and had them professionally do it to the right color!

After 6 weeks from the beginning of the process I was done with the grand experiment and ready to be myself again... I dyed it back to dark brown and there it shall stay :)

... you'll see my red hair throughout all of the pictures with Phoebe and Liam, so it was immortalized!

Weddings weddings and more weddings...

My lord I feel like I have been hit with a truck. I realized tonight as I was sitting on the couch with my mom at 7:30pm, feeling beyond exhausted that I really have been SO busy for the last couple of weeks... and don't think it is close to being over... OH NO! I have two weeks left in the semester and plenty of homework to give me a panic attack. But I am determined to not lose my mind, so I am taking the night off and watching a movie and blogging. I figure I am too tired to accomplish any real work anyway, and I will be spending ALL DAY in the ASU library tomorrow working on homework, so I should be fine.

So here are some pictures of the last couple of weeks of wedding fun and festivities :)

First off was Lyle and Anya's wedding! My cousin Lyle seriously picked the most AMAZING girl to be his bride. I could not ask for a better cousin/sister! I was honored to be a bridesmaid in this wedding and so as soon as Anya arrived in town two weeks before the big day we were off and running trying to get stuff for the big day. Anya's cousin Alyona was here from Ukraine too, so the three of us together was a recipe for TOO much fun :)

Alyona and I!!! She is seriously so beautiful inside and out!

 

After some awesome shopping it was time for Anya's bridal shower! What a sweet occasion!!

Thompson girls!!

And then before we knew it, it was wedding weekend!! It flew by!
I have never had more fun at a wedding! I think it was due to the fact that I spent the WHOLE weekend with all the bridesmaids. We were together the whole time all staying at my house. Even after the wedding a couple groomsmen came over and we played Traveling Pictionary/Telephone Pictionary/Paper Game (whatever you know it as). What a beautiful, fun, amazing, godly group of girls! Such a beautiful wedding!
Here are just a few picture highlights...
Personal Shower

waiting for Zlata to arrive!

Bouquet assembly ALL BY OURSELVES!! I was so proud of us!

At the shower we went around and honored Anya, telling her what she means to us. I cannot tell you how much Anya has blessed me! She is one of those people who just exudes Christ's love! You feel encouraged by just having her near. She is so passionate and fun and silly and wise and loving and welcoming. The first time I spoke to her, I knew instantly she was a soulmate! I love this girl and am so proud to have her in my family now :)

Rehearsal/Rehearsal Dinner

Seriously the most fun group of girls ever! We seriously had never met each other except through email until the day of the rehearsal and we were instantly best friends!

Bachelorette Nigh at my house!

everyone stayed at my house the night before the wedding! We practiced hair, did nails, finished the bouquets and boutonnieres and made a trip down to walmart in the middle of the night... in our Pjs.

5:30am wake up call!

I did hair for Anya and the bridesmaids (expect Zlata)... it was so much fun to make these ladies even more beautiful than they already are.

last minute bridal spa!

Alyona and I are hot!

stunning!

Ransom the Bride - there is a tradition in Ukraine where the groom and his groomsmen arrive at the place where the bride is, before the ceremony, and must win his right to see his bride from the bridesmaids. We got to decide what Lyle needed to do to win Anya... we decided a musical of their love story was fitting. I laughed so hard! Steve wrote all the music on the spot. Alan as bearded-Anya was something indeed... all the men were marvelous! I laughed, I cried, I was amazed!

Bravo!

Pictures!!

hotties!

my sestra!

the sun was so bright in our eyes

ERIC KELLEY PHOTOGRAPHY

ERIC KELLEY PHOTOGRAPHY

More pictures...

My handsome brothers were ushers.

Lauren & I were Anya's bodyguards

Thompson family picture!

Alan and I were really the best bridesmaid/groomsman pairing - we were the last ones out and so of course waved to the crowd :) We must give our fans what they want.

The beautiful ceremony! My dad did such a good job :)

Congratulations Mr. & Mrs. Thompson!

Reception - the highlight was when Lyle and Anya shared their heart and passion for worship!

 After the reception the bridesmaids and some of the groomsmen came over to my house for pizza, wine, and traveling pictionary! Picture wouldn't do it justice, but this seriously was the most hilarious time of the weekend. I was crying cause I was laughing so hard!
The weekend ended with a brunch and present opening the following morning.

I seriously miss these girls already!!

We are already planning a wedding party reunion soon - with the wedding party coming from all over the world (Seattle, Orlando, Tuscon, LA, Ukraine) it may take a while, but I think God is on our side with this :)

Next post will be about my second wedding... I have less pictures, but I'll need to get them off my camera before I can post about it.