One.

One year of my life has been spent loving and serving the most wonderful man I have ever met.

A year has come and gone.

I feel overwhelmed with emotions as I think of what this first year of marriage has brought us.  (I have already cried about it this morning.)  

I can truly say that this has been the best year of my life.  

I am so thankful to God for putting John and I together. My life has been enriched and full of joy.  

I have loved becoming a wife.  

It is a sacred role that I deem most important.

Our first year of marriage was full of many smiles, laughs, and tears.  It was full of intimate moments laced with love and tenderness.  It was full of honesty, hilarious moments, and lots of food and music.  Most of it was spent in apartment 133 at Wood Creek, though we have said goodbye to that place now.  I will never forget living there and feeling that sense of, "Look what we've created together.  Everything in here belongs to us.  We built a home together."

I have loved learning how to share my life and soul with another.  I have given this man all that I have and it is something that I never regret, not even for a moment.

I feel that I have been given the divine task of being a wife to John Murphy and I know that I am the one who got a better deal.

I am enlightened each day with his patience, selflessness, and kindness towards me.

A part of me is so sad to close the chapter of our first year together.  

I know that the future has a thousand glorious surprises for us.

My heart is so full it may burst.

Happy one year anniversary to the man who made me a wife.

DIY Wedding

Our family began on May 27th last year.  

We had a DIY wedding reception.

Here are a few of our favorite things from that day.

Paper flowers Center Pieces

Guitar guestbook

Boylan's Soda in an antique Utility Sink

Antique Window Chalk Board Menus

"What love means to you"

"Two Love Birds" Pinwheels

Thread Spool Cake Topper

Photo Booth

Handmade Wedding Dress and Veil

Sparklers

We made over 300 paper flowers and glued them to branches to make the center piece arrangements.  We filled large mason jars with bird seed to secure the branches.

We put vintage records underneath each of the large flower arrangements.

My sister and her husband made our home made "Peg Board Games" using golf tees and then dressed them up by gluing buttons to the top of the tees.

We also decorated the tables with antique books tied together with string and teacups and saucers.

We left the guitar case open for wedding cards and any other money!  It was surprising how many people just walked by and would throw in a $20. Score!

Instead of having a wedding guest book we had a "guitar guestbook".  (Because let's be honest, who really goes back and looks at that book time and time again?)

For our table setting we used my great grandmother's silver and napkins from my parents wedding.  This added a really sentimental and personal touch to the decor.

I wanted to save all of the bottle caps so I could do (this) project.

We used an antique utility sink for the drinks.  It looked fantastic and kept the drinks pretty cold.  Now I use it in our bedroom to separate laundry!

I bought some old windows from an antique shop in Roswell.  I got some spray chalk board and then we made these.  It made for a unique way to share the menu.

The live jazz band made for such a classic atmosphere. 

Our first dance to "Embraceable You".

This lovely little idea came from my sister.  She is the one who did all of the paper signs by the way.  We loved going back through and reading the responses we got.  Its amazing how love is something different for everyone.

The cake was made by my best friend's mother.  It was an almond pound-cake with butter-cream frosting.

My aunt made all of the cake table decorations.  She made these pinwheels to go on top of the windows.  She made the cake toppers out of vintage thread spools and some of our paper flowers.  She also made two clay birds to go on top of the main cake.  My little bird had a veil on and John's was holding a guitar that said, "Murphy Rocks" on it.

Our friend Taylor did a photo booth for us.  One of my biggest regrets of the night is that John and I never even got to go get in it!!  It was such a busy night that we never even got to eat!

(My mother and I designed and handmade my dress and my veil.)

We left to the flair of sparklers and fireworks.  It was such a magical evening and I want to do it all over again!

And that was part of the beginning of forever...

Heart and Soul

I spent Saturday here...

with them...

i have pearls on my shirt. this makes me happy.

(i'm not so secretly jealous of her long gorgeous hair. i'm so tired of looking like a colonial soldier with my short ponytail.)

The tender mercy happened after our 3 and 1/2 hour journey to the Columbia, South Carolina temple. (i CAN'T WAIT for the Atlanta Temple to open back up soon so that we can have a temple closer) When we got to the temple I ran in to an old friend in the temple.  We had been in the Hillard North Carolina Singles Ward together and she was GETTING MARRIED that very day!  

So, she invited my sister and I to come to her marriage sealing.  Turns out she married a boy that my sister and I were in PRIMARY with! So, we got to see so many people that we knew when we were little kids!  It was great.  I saw my old bishop and his wife.  That felt good.  She was like a mama to me when I lived in Charlotte.  We also saw Nina Hemby, an old family friend.  It felt like a family reunion in there.  

I wonder if thats how heaven is going to be,  seeing people you didn't even remember how much you loved and missed, but then instantly feeling those ties of love again?

Tyra and Cameron were BEAMING.  Their sealing ceremony was so special and an incredible spirit was in that room.  They looked so happy and I was reminded of when I was sealed to my husband for time and all of eternity.  

How grateful am I for that sacred blessing.  I can feel the power of that phenomenal binding tie.

Then one of the best parts was when I got to see this girl.  She was also there for Tyra's wedding.  Jamie is my soul friend.  I was in North Carolina when she was learning about the Mormon Church.  We became close very quickly and I went to a few of her lessons with the missionaries.  She was so ready to accept the gospel and was baptized last summer. I sang at her baptism.  We were instant friends.  We stayed up late playing volleyball at church.  We went to playgrounds late at night with our friends and we pushed each other around in old grocery carts.  We shared deep feelings and many of the same struggles. I love her dearly and cant WAIT for her marriage to Jay in December in the Raleigh Temple!

It was a very special day and I can't help but to feel that we were there for several very special reasons.  I missed my John who was yet again at his Saturday interpreters course.  But when we came home he, mom, and I went to Honey Camp and he serenaded us by the fire.

Dear Weekend,

I love you, I wish you'd come around more often.  This weekend was perfect.  I really loved camping, being with my mom for her birthday, making breakfast for lunch with my sister and her husband and John today, and going to the temple on Saturday.  Hey, thanks for being so fun.  See you in 5 more days.

Love, The Murphys