Wedding Preparations…

It was approaching the end of October and wedding preparations were under full swing. My mom was busy working with Tammy to line up all the decorations and the food. Shonnie was preparing her house. Mike and I were busy having photo-shoots with Paige, visiting with all the right people both spiritually and temporally, namely doctors (not fun!) and church leaders, picking out announcements, designing our wedding cake, and getting our picture books together.

On the 25^th of October, we went got our engagement pictures with Paige. Later that week we were able to design our wedding cake with Mike’s aunt Julie. She is very talented. We decided to create a unique cake, a Mike and Hailey cake. For our personal cake to feed to each other, it was a tennis ball. Pretty clever!

Bridal showers were also a fun part of the mix. I was very blessed to have so many showers from friends and family. Kash and Sandy put on one from the Foxhill ward. Tammy threw a really nice one for me and Cassie at her house. Both sides of Mike’s family put on a shower. Plus, even the tennis team put on one for me. All of them were so fun and different. At the ward one I got to see a lot of old friends and they were very generous in their cash offerings. My family’s shower was very entertaining, especially when Brooke decided to suck too much Helium. She hit the floor and Tammy started screaming, “She sucked helium, she sucked helium!” It was really funny. The Hill side had a tennis themed shower where my mom was almost drooling over the hot dogs. It was a lot of fun because I got to know that side of the family a little better. The Goates side made me some nice dish towels. The tennis team shower was definitely the most interesting. I think you could guess why. Meanwhile, Mike was also being educated by Arnie and Ryan at his Bachelor’s party.

Before the shower with the Goates side, I had a special surprise. I showed up to the Hill house to meet my mom and catch a ride to the shower. Mike had gotten my ring earlier that day. He had his mom set up a candle lit table. In the middle of the table were heart shaped brownies. Mike proposed to me again, this time with my real ring. It was so cute. I may be one of the few girls that can say she has been proposed to multiple times even though I said yes every time!

However, we were also able to break up the planning days with some good old hick fun. We went sledding down old main hill with Ryan and Kenzie. We got some trash bags, cut some holes and had awesome sleds. It was surprising how fast you could get going in those things. The next day we stepped it up a notch. We went hooky-bobbin. Imagine boating but instead of boat and water you have truck and lots of snow. Now that is a good time.

The last few steps were to get my dress altered, get some bridal pictures, and to get our marriage license. It was fun for Mike to see me in my dress. It had to be kept for a secret for so long. It was like a big unveiling. We walked around the Bountiful temple taking a lot of different pictures. We thought about going up into Mueller Park canyon, but thought it might be too muddy. So we walked around Main Street in Bountiful. Yet again, Paige nailed it. The last step, before the big steps, was to get our marriage license. It was funny because when you get your marriage license you have to swear that you are not cousins. It was the easiest test I have ever passed. Now with all the smaller details worked out, it was time for the important steps, going through the temple and then the actual wedding!