Merry Christmas to ALL!!
It was a fun filled, eventful year for Natalie and Trent. The year started off in the Happiest Place on Earth, Disneyland. On the evening of January 1st, in front of the princess castle at about midnight, Trent asked Natalie to be his princess. The first thing that Natalie said was “are you serious?” followed closely by “did you ask my dad?” Clearly Natalie was a little caught off guard and is very conscious of her family and making sure everyone feels a part and is happy. After that she accepted and then the phone calls began. At a little after 1:00 a.m. Utah time Natalie called mom. Mom answered the phone by asking if Natalie knew what time it was; to which Natalie responded, “It’s time to plan a wedding.” The next 5 months were spent busily planning a wedding while doing all of the normal stuff that life entails.
In May, Natalie graduated from the University of Utah with her bachelor’s degree in early childhood education. What a fun experience it was for her. She even got to sit by this “really tall guy” throughout the ceremony. Natalie was sitting by her friend and her friend didn’t know who this really tall guy was. As it turns out it was Luke Nevill of the University of Utah’s basketball team.
The next exciting thing that happened for Natalie and Trent was that in May they went to Hawaii with Trent’s family. They had an amazing time, and the scenery was so beautiful. From the hotel room they could look out and see the beach and the ocean. One day Trent played golf with his brother and father and Natalie played on the beach with Trent’s sisters. It was one of the main highlights of the trip for Trent. Another day they went on a catamaran trip along the coast of the island of Kauai. And another day they went and found a waterfall with a rope swing. Trent and Natalie both went off of the swing and fell into the pond about 40 feet below. This was one of the main highlights for Natalie. Other than that there was just a lot of hanging out and catching some sun. The day that we flew home, we flew to Honolulu and drove past the temple and Trent was able to see a couple of missionaries from his mission that live in Hawaii so that was a lot of fun for him.
After another month and what seemed like one continuous wedding shower, June had finally arrived. On June 6, Natalie went through the newly dedicated Draper temple to receive her endowment. Then, on June 13, 2009 Trent and Natalie were sealed together for time and all eternity in the Salt Lake temple. It was an amazing experience to be in the temple with most of our family and friends and share in these special days together. When we came out of the temple the weather was a little overcast, but the sun was still shining so we got some great pictures. After that family and friends gathered together at the Lion House for a wedding lunch. During the lunch it was pouring rain outside. As we drove home we drove through “hurricane Utah” as Natalie likes to call it. There was lots of conversation over whether or not the reception should be moved from outside to a church, but after a couple of phone calls the decision was to risk it and go with outside as originally planned. Prayers were answered and the weather ended up being beautiful all night long. It ended up being the perfect end to the perfect day.
For their honeymoon Trent and Natalie drove to Palm Springs and spent the week in their own villa overlooking the hotel’s golf course. While they were there they hung out by the pool, went shopping, and rode a 360* tram up the mountain. Another fun thing that they did was go the Los Angeles Dodgers game. While neither Trent nor Natalie are big baseball fans, it was a fun experience to be at the stadium that is set on a hill above everything else in the city. On the way home from the game they drove past the Staples Center where the Lakers had just won the NBA championship. They never would have guessed that it was in such a sketchy part of town.
In the end of August, Trent and Natalie both started back to school, Natalie for her Masters in education as well as her teaching license, and Trent still for his bachelor’s degree. While going to school their schedules are as busy as ever. Trent is taking 15 credit hours of school while working 35 hours a week for Zions Bank ATM department so that the bills can get paid. Natalie is going to school, doing her student teaching, and somehow still finding time to work 18 hours a week. Since school started they have spent most nights on the couch with their laptops doing homework. Amazingly they have been able to finish all of their homework even with all of the busy schedules that they have had.
They have also found time to do some fun things like go to movies or hang out with friends. They even found time to go to Natalie’s favorite past time, Disney On Ice- the Princess Classics. During what seemed like the finale because all of the skaters were coming out and bowing, Natalie was really concerned because Cinderella, her favorite princess, had not shown up yet. But never fear that was just intermission, and the whole second half of the program was about Cinderella.
Other than that, Trent and Natalie are looking forward to the holidays so that they can have a break from school and have time to just relax and spend time together and with their family and friends.
