One Month

We can't believe it's been a whole month! What a fun month it has been. I can't remember another in my whole life that was happier, crazier, and more enjoyable. To celebrate we went to eat at Olive Garden (thanks Gma and Gpa!), got ice cream, and rented a movie. It was a perfect evening. One month down, eternity left to enjoy!

Moving to Kansas

This is the only picture we have from moving. Somewhere in the middle of Wyoming. I had to stop and get a 50 cent ice cream cone!
Yes, it's true, we made it to Kansas. After visiting my parents for a few days we loaded up the truck and made the two day drive to Wichita. We couldn't have done it without my dad and my little brother. First of all, my dad is a MASTER PACKER. I knew we couldn't fit everything in the truck without his help. He made us pull everything out first so we could inventory what we had to pack. Then a few hours later the truck was ready to roll.

We drove through Wyoming, which is gorgeous, but we decided we didn't want to live there. Then we drove through Colorado, stopped to sleep in Limon, and woke up early the next day. Upon hearing that Kansas was compltely flat, Taylor was beyond excited when we saw rolling hills. I heard numerous times, "Look there are hills!" That day we had a special mission: Atwood, Kansas. About an hour out of our way we went to pick up this guy:


Meet Duke. He is a rare Fox Red Lab. He's kind of a strawberry blonde color. We then proceeded on our journey, not really knowing how it was going to work having a puppy in a hotel.

We got to Wichita and were greeted by 50 mph winds and a great thunder and lighting storm. I was slightly nervous about this grand entrance. Wednesday morning Tay and I woke up at 6am to go apartment hunting and had signed a contract by 10:30am that day. As we drove around we saw these yellow ones that looked kinda worn down, and we just passed them by. The second time around I may Taylor stop and look at them. Although they are not the cutest from the outside, we walked in and fell in love. Huge living room, dining room, kitchen. two bedrooms, two full size bathrooms, and.....the clincher....our own washer and dryer! We signed immediatley and were moved in by the next day.

We have done alot in the week we have been here. Here's a brief recap:

• Looked around Wichita State a few times. I snuck frozen yogurt into the computer lab!
  
• Worked in my classroom. I thought my old school was in the ghetto. Was I ever wrong. Let's just say I heard that the staff was very excited to get air conditioning last year. (WHAT?)
  
• Put together our apartment. (Picture tour coming soon!)
  
• Went to our new ward. Trying to remember everyone's name.
  
• Got a Sam's Club membership (Dang. No Costco)
• Looked at all the gorgeous homes near where we live.
  
• Went bargin hunting at thrift stores.
  
• Ate at Jason's Deli (Thanks Leslee and Sean!)
  
• Bought a used X-Box. To keep Taylor entertained for the next month before school starts.
  
• Worked out at the fitness center at our complex.
• Enjoyed (kinda) the most intense thunder and lightening storm ever.
  
• Getting invited over to dinner by someone in our ward (yeah! we will have friends!)
  
• Witnessing a near fire at the pizza place on date night.
  
• Figuring out where the RedBox is. (That's a must).
  
• Enjoying the ridiculously low gas prices!
  

So far we have been impressed by Wichita. We are excited to explore our new town, make new friends, start school and work, and just settle into our routine!

The Honeymoon

Our honeymoon was fantastic. We really were on vacation for two weeks (on account of visiting both of our families). We put 2,000 miles on my car, stayed at 5 different places, and ate out more than anyone should in a year. Here's a brief recap of what went down.

Sunday: Woke up and drove to Vegas. We stayed at the Paris hotel which was amazing, but we both realized that we don't really like Vegas. It's crowded, dirty, hot, and you have to walk through about a billion clouds of smoke just to get anywhere. We did ride up to the top of the Eifel Tower (at the hotel) which was fun. We ate a delicious meal at Jimmy Buffet's Margaritaville. Needless to say the next morning we were kinda looking forward to saying goodbye to Sin City.

The top of the Eiffel Tower

Monday: We drove to Costa Mesa, California where we stayed for 3 days. We stayed at the Marriott, which is always a good choice. Upon learning that it was our honeymoon they brought us sparkling cider and strawberries. That night we drove down to Laguna Beach, walked around the beach, ate some dinner, and just enjoyed being together and being on vacation.

The first thing we did when we got to California: Laundry!

Laguna Beach

Tuesday: We went to a waterpark, which looked promising in the ad's, but turned out to be pretty mediocre. We only stayed a few hours after our backs took a pounding on one of the rides. Not to mention it was windy and not the warmest day. The warming pool was our best friend, until the lifeguard told us we couldn't sit "face to face". What? After that we went to the Irvine Spectrum, a huge outdoor mall. I discovered my love for Pinkberry frozen yogurt, and I insisted I have it the next day too. Then Taylor's parent's friends, Orin and Melinda, took us out to a delcious mexican dinner. It was great to meet them and hear stories. Orin reminded me of Taylor because at the resturant he had to sit where he could see the TV with sports on. Oh, and Orin has inpsired Tay's "Man-Cave/Sports room" which he has been working on at the new apartment (more to come). After dinner we went to a movie, The Proposal. It was pretty good, but Taylor fell asleep.

The Pier in Huntington Beach

Wednesday: We drove up to Newport Beach and Huntington and looked at houses. We spent the day at Balboa beach and just relaxed. Taylor got FRIED. We rented beach cruiser bike and rode up and down the board walk. We ate more great food. Hung out, and nursed Taylor's near 2nd degree burns.

Balboa: Laying on the beach and riding beach cruisers on the boardwalk

Thursday: We woke up early and drove to L.A. It was in the wake of Michael Jackson's death so downtown L.A. was pure craziness. We bought a Star Map and attempted to look at the homes, but we just saw alot of security gates, and got carsick driving through Beverly Hills. 8 hours later we finally made it to Santa Barbara. We relaxed, ate at one of Taylor's favorite little Italian places, and reminisced about his time in Santa Barbara.

L.A.: Trying to avoid the Michael Jackson craziness, finding star's homes, and paying $12.50 for an hour of parking.

Friday: We drove around Santa Barabara, walked around the UCSB campus (well everything was closed for the 4th). Then we started the long drive up to Taylor's parent's house. It was a fun week, and we were excited because we still had a week of vacation left!

Our honeymoon may have been a lot of driving, but it was fun because we were together. We are used to driving an hour each way to see each other, so the fact that we got to actually drive together was fun. It was also fun to have Tay show me around his old stomping grounds. We really needed another week just to explore everything. I'm sure we will be back in California before we know it.

The Draper Reception

The whole wedding party. Taylor's family, my family and my cousins Erin and Jill.

Tay and my dad cutting up strawberries for the ice cream bar.

Taking a break and putting my cousin Bridgette to sleep. Don't worry, we won't have one of these for a while. Sorry moms!

After a long (but wonderful) morning, we left the temple and headed to my Aunt Ronna's house to help set up for the reception. Well at least we tried to help. Every time we asked what we could do we were told to sit down and relax. So much for that. It was fun to see all the projects Erin, Ronna and I worked on up around the yard. I had planned all these details and was so excited to see them work together.

Me and my Daddy

Tay and his Mom

We figured the Draper reception would be fairly small, mostly family and a few close friends. We were very surprised by the turn out, and glad that we had made lots of food. It was fun to see old friends, family that had driven lots of hours to see us, and just relax and have some fun.

My lovely bridesmaids: Kelsey (my sis) , Erin and Jill (my cousins), Megan (Tay's sister)

The handsome groomsmen: Jon and Matt (Tay's brothers) and Rob (my brother)

I loved our cake (too bad we didn't get to eat any. I heard it was delicious!)

Two hours flew by. We cut the cake, (but didn't get to eat any), did the customary throwing of the boquet and the garter (well, it was really a baby headband cause we couldn't find the garter), and headed off into the sun in our car that was decorated with frosting, rolls, and whipped cream, completed by strings of coke cans from the back.


This post wouldn't be complete without a shout out to this beautiful lady:
I am so lucky and blessed that she agreed to help me with all this crazy wedding stuff. She is one of the most talented women I have ever met. I mean did you see those centerpieces? She not only let us use her home, but gave so much of her time and talked me through a lot of decisions. Thanks Ronna for everything. We couldn't have done it with out you. We love you!

Emerging as the McFarland Family

After the temple ceremony we came out of the double doors as THE MCFARLAND FAMILY! It was so wonderful to have so many people in the temple, but I was amazed at how many people were waiting for us outside the temple as well. We took lots more pictures, gave lots of hugs, and tried to take in every moment.

The Morning of the Big Day

The day started very early with hair and makeup. We decided to do our pictures before we got married, to have more time to prepare for the reception. My mom and I picked up Taylor at his hotel, and headed down to Temple Square. I got ready in the Joseph Smith Memorial Building while Taylor....

waited so patiently for me. Didn't he look so handsome? He was very particular about his clothes, and now I see why. He looked very GQ in his suit and tie.

Then they turned Taylor around as I came out and I tapped him on the shoulder. It was so cute to see his face as he saw me in my dress for the first time.

Then we took pictures for a few hours. We walked around feeling like celebrities for a little bit. We walked around with our entourage: my mom, Tay's mom and sister and our photographer and videographer. It was way hot out, but after seeing the pictures and video, it was worth it!

The Family Dinner

Friday night before we got married we were lucky enough to celebrate with family, friends and delicious food. Stacy (my mother in law) created a magnificent atmosphere with no detail over looked. It was nice that all Taylor and I had to do was show up. I told myself I wasn't going to cry. That didn't last long.

We loved the food, the caramel apples and pretzel favors, and the slide show of growing up. The thing we loved the most was being with family and friends. We were completely overwhelmed with how much we are loved and the sacrifices people made to share our special day with us.

WE ARE MARRIED!!!!

What do you say about the most perfect day of your lives, other than how wonderful and amazing it was. As we watched the storms roll in Friday night at dinner, out the enormous windows of the Joseph Smith Building, we wondered what the next day would bring. We were blessed with beautiful sunshine. The day was perfect, hectic, but perfect. Our favorite part was sharing it with all our friends and family. We were SO lucky to have so many of our friends and family join us on our special day. Taylor and I talked about it our whole honeymoon. How lucky we are to be so loved. We also can't wait to see more family at the upcoming open houses. Every day we are so thankful to be married to our best friend. There is nothing better than waking up right next to the love of your life. One week down, eternity to enjoy.