Married.

Last week, I was able to go home to Utah and visit my family and friends.  It was seriously the best, and I was so incredibly happy to see everyone!  The only downside is that Jason wasn't there with me.  I'll tell you what, your perspective completely changes once you get married and commit yourself to someone.  There was a time when I thought no one could take precedence over my family, and I was right.  No one can take precedence over my family, except there is one little detail.  Jason is my family. Obviously, my family is still my family, and I love them more than words can ever say, but Jason is now my Family as well; We are now our own little family. Never have I ever cared that I was going on a trip without a boyfriend, especially if it was a trip with my family.  It's always a plus to have your S.O. there with you, but it wasn't a necessary thing for me.  I never cared all that much. I was like, "I'm going to cali with my family TTYL, HAGS!" and that was that.   Okay, maybe not quite like that, but still, you get my point.  Jason has changed my life in so many ways.  In ways that I probably haven't even realized yet.  Being in Utah with some of the people that I hold the most dear was so great, and I loved every minute, but being there without Jason was like going on a big family vacation to Hawaii and leaving your mom home, or one of your siblings.  It's like... hey, why are we leaving mom home?  It's just not a family trip without Mom.  Ohana means family.  Family means that no one gets left behind!

Being in Utah without Jason was like that, and I started to get a familiar feeling every night when I went to bed, alone.  It took me back to a time when I was single.  I don't know about you, but the times that I get the most profound thoughts are at night when I'm going to sleep, or in the shower.  Being single is fun, or so we all tell ourselves.  And for awhile, it is.  Then after awhile, it's not.  It's really, really not, and we keep trying to tell ourselves that it is, and sometimes we actually believe it.  We enjoy "the game," and we go to party after party, meeting tons of new people and fooling ourselves into thinking that we are making "so many new friends," and that college life is the best because I get to "do me."  

That is the great thing about college life and single life, we get to discover ourselves, and we make mistakes, and we do a lot of fun things with a lot of fun people, and if we are lucky, we make a few life long friends.  I'm not saying that being single is a bad thing, in fact, it is necessary. But still, at the end of the day, when the excitement is gone, and the people who constantly surround you have gone home, you're left alone.  At the end of the day, your lonliness overwhelms you, because you realize that you really are on your own.  Don't get me wrong, I love a good party every now and again, but after awhile it gets old, and you realize that these parties and these people and this environment is so.... empty.  And even though you try to ignore those feelings for so long, they always catch up to you because you can't hide from yourself forever, and you can only surround yourself with people for so long.  Then, when you're all alone wondering where you want your life to go, you get that feeling of being unfulfilled.  If you're in this stage of life, or have ever been in this stage of life, you know the feeling.  I'm glad I didn't give up and stop going to parties, and hanging out with a million different people, and coming home every night feeling unfulfilled.  If I would have given up, I wouldn't have met Jason. 

While I was in Utah I got to visit with my mom and dad, my brothers who everyone knows, I love dearly, all of my wonderful in-laws who I adore, and some of my very best friends!  At the end of the day though, I got that familiar feeling of being unfulfilled, because I wasn't with Jason.  It wasn't quite the same, because lucky for me, I get to keep my Jason forever, and I know that, but I realized now more than ever, that he really is the most important person in my life.  And for those of you who are married and have spent any time away from your spouse, I'm sure you have had this similar feeling.  

Being married rocks, and I would seriously recommend it to everyone.  When people say, "don't get married, it's a trap!"  I think it is the saddest thing in the world.  And I know that at the end of the day, they get that overwhelming feeling of loneliness that I once knew all too well.  The growth that I have had since I chose to take my life to the next step and marry my best friend has been anything but small.  I know I have a lot more growth to do, and I know I'll have my sweetheart by my side every step of the way.  There hasn't been a more perfect thing for humans than marriage and families.  I'm lucky to have my spouse by my side every step of the way, forever.  Marrying Jason was the best decision I have ever made, some may say it's the newlywed in me, some may say "call me in 10 years," and to them I say, you may be right, but the only difference between newlywed's and people who have "fallen out of love," or "changed," is effort.  Newlyweds are constantly trying to make each other happy.  If everyone stayed in their newlywed habits, I think the divorce rate would be much, much lower.  I love my husband, I wont ever stop, because I made a commitment to him, and I made a commitment to God, and that is more important to me than anything else in the world.

This all just kind of spilled out of me when I sat down to write, I intended to write about my super duper fun trip to Utah!  Guys, it was super fun!  Can you tell I missed Jason? Here's a picture of us at the temple in South Carolina today.  

We drove 2 hours to get there, and upon arriving were told that it was closed for maintenance... just our luck, right?  We still had a good time, despite the circumstances, and we were able to feel the spirit even though we didn't get to do a session.  Anyway, for those of you in that lonely state, to you I say, It only goes up from here.   

The One With the Winner and Mr. Heckles

Hello my pretties!  Jason and I had WAY too much fun with this little video announcing the winner of the giveaway! Watch to find out who won!

In other news, Jason and I live above Mr. Heckles.

Except, our version of Mr. Heckles is an old lady with a light pink bathrobe.  Apparently this woman has nothing better to do than pound her sealing for 5 minutes every time either of us walk from one room to the other.  You may think I'm exaggerating, and I seriously wish that I was!  But, unfortunately, it's true.

Yesterday, I was putting away laundry while Jason was at work.  You know, just your average, everyday activity.  Then, someone came to my door and knocked quite loudly.  I got nervous, because I don't know anyone in North Carolina yet, so I ignored it and just sat there waiting for whoever was at the door to leave.  The knocking started again, and again, I ignored it, willing whoever was at my door to go away.  Once more, the knocking started, so I decided to go to the door to look through the peep hole.  The only problem with that is, I'm too short to look through the peep hole.  So, I hesitantly opened the door to see a lady in a pink bathrobe.  She explained to me that I was being much too loud, and my footsteps were like elephants have been walking around in here. Talk about the last thing a girl wants to hear.. am I right?  I mean... elephant footsteps?  What am I? 500 pounds?  Anyway, I told her I was just walking around my apartment, and I'm sorry and I'll try to keep it down.  I thought that would be the end of it... oh how I wish it was the end of it.  Last night, when Jason came home and we were eating dinner and doing dishes, suddenly we heard a loud pounding sound coming from underneath us.  Mr. Freaking. Heckles.  We took a few steps, and the pounding started again.  Seriously?  We don't even have shoes on, lady!

Tonight, we had a friend over for dinner and we finished it off with Breaking Bad.  Guess who was tap-tapping (more like pound-pounding) away underneath us? None other than Mr. Heckles.  Has it stopped?  No.  I can't walk from one room to another without hearing that awful pounding.  I'm going crazy.  Anyway.... that's all the news I have for you... to be continued.

Congrats Emily Cooper for winning the giveaway!  And Thank you all for entering!  Stay tuned for more giveaways in the future!  Emily, please email me at sheree.otterson@gmail.com so I can get your prize to you!

xoxo,

Sheree

The Wedding.

My wedding was pure perfection.  From the Rehearsal dinner the night before to the actual wedding day, I couldn't have asked for everything to go better.  It was so sweet to hear everyone's speeches at my rehearsal dinner.  I laughed, I cried, and I was so touched by everyone who was there to support us.  Not to mention the amazing food that we had, courtesy of La Jolla Groves.  I'm so happy that my friend Caitlyn was kind enough to film all of those speeches for us.  That is something we are going to be able to re-watch and enjoy for the rest of our lives.  If you want to check out more of Caitlyn's work, be sure to go to Caitlyn Cutler Videography.  If you want to see our wedding video (and trust me: you do) click on the link below!

Jason & Sheree Wedding  

I got a lot of questions the week prior to my wedding along the lines of, "are you nervous?"  It was an odd question to be asked the week before my wedding.  I've always heard of the term "cold feet," and I have always wondered if I would get them.  I am happy to say that the term "cold feet," is foreign to me.  I was in no way nervous to marry Jason.  What would I need to be nervous about?  He's my best friend, and I couldn't want anything more than to spend eternity with him, and I know that I am so lucky to be able to say that.  I truly found the best, and I am lucky he's all mine.

The night before my wedding, I slept like a baby.  Seriously, I just went straight to bed, no thoughts to keep me up; nothing. I just hit the pillow and BAM.  Best sleep of my life.  I woke up and my dear friend Kaci came to my house to do my hair and then I went to the darling Jade Baird to get my makeup done.  After I was all done up, it was off to the Temple to meet my soon to be husband.  The temple ceremony was so beautiful, and I am so blessed to have been married there surrounded by my family and closest friends.  It was truly an incredible feeling, one that I will cherish for the rest of my life.

Pictures are amazing.  I'm obsessed with pictures.  However, getting 2 huge families and multiple friends to cooperate and form one picture is so frustrating!  I don't know how my photographer Shay did it with patience and a smile on her face.  It was seriously such a project, but I'm happy to say that we were able to get some great shots!

After we were done taking our pictures, we went to our reception hall with the wedding party to eat some food before the reception (because any of you who have been a part of a wedding, know that it's so busy you can barely get a bite in.)  I am so glad we did that pre reception dinner!  If you're getting married soon, seriously do it.  I didn't even know what food we had at my reception until I got my pictures back!  There is honestly no time to eat during the reception, so I would strongly suggest eating beforehand, cause if we wouldn't have, Jason and I would have been starving.  And quite frankly, hungry people suck.  I know I am the worst when I am hungry!  So do it, eat before, you wont regret it.

Our reception turned out beautifully.  My mom is amazing.  I don't know what I would have done without her.  My mom and I went around to multiple thrift stores for weeks to find enough candle sticks to cover each table.  We spent weeks painting and glittering these candle-sticks.  The flowers that I chose for my flower arrangements were soft blushed pink and cream.  We had garden roses, heather, sweet pea and hydrangea's, and I loved the way that they turned out.  I wanted my wedding to be simple and classic, and it turned out exactly how I imagined it!

We had a line for a small amount of time during the wedding, you know, common courtesy and all.  Which, can I just say something about lines at weddings?  No one likes them.  Literally, no one.  When I go to a wedding, I don't know the parents often, and I usually only know either the bride or the groom well, so wouldn't it just be easier to go to a wedding, not have a line, and then be able to talk to the people you really do know for a longer period of time?  Just sayin'.  Anyway, after 45 minutes. we had our friend Coulsen cut it off so we could get to the other things we had planned.  We cut our cake, and I was sure Jason was going to shove it in my face, but he didn't cause he thought I would be mad!  I really wouldn't have been... and I did put some cake on his face... oops! And can I just say how in love with my wedding cake I was?  Seriously, I am obsessed.  Then we did the garter toss (I was definitely blushing for that one.) and the bouquet toss.  We had dancing at the end of the reception, and that was so fun for us!  You know those weddings that they try to have dancing, but then it is just awkward and basically only the bride and groom are dancing while everyone else is watching them?  Well, I'm happy to say, that's not how it was at our wedding.  Jason and I love to dance!  And so does our "crew."  So, we had a very large number of people dancing and having a good time.  Anyway, I wont bore you anymore with the details, but please do enjoy our pictures!  I know I do!