The Best Day of Our Lives (Part Reception)

After the delicious food and entertainment at the luncheon it was time for some dessert!! Wedding cake!! Or I guess really Costco cake since I didn't leave much wedding cake for them. Grandma Shepherd can make the best cake I've ever had!! About time for the reception to start it began to rain and as the reception was intended to be in the backyard, my fast thinking family improvised. They thought quickly and were able to bring everything inside. Here are a few pictures of the beautiful backyard that Grandma and Grandpa Shepherd had worked on for so many years to beautify. I have many many fond memories growing up playing in this yard. But the most wonderful part is that you can't tell that just a few weeks before the whole thing was dug up by bulldozers as they began renovations on the house. They stopped long enough to plant grass and let it grow some just for the reception. Here are a few pictures of the backyard and the house all ready for the party to begin!!


Here are my diligent Kumps working on the finishing touches for the flowers. I can't thank them enough for their hard work in getting these done for the bouquets and reception. The flower arrangements were absolutely stunning!! And of course Grandma Shepherd getting more flowers for the cake. I know this wedding wouldn't have been as wonderful and beautiful without the hard work of so many family and friends!! Linda as the mastermind behind the flowers. And it was also her Birthday and she never even said a word about it until after the reception. What a woman!!!

Grandma putting some finishing touches on the cake. I have to tell you it was the most delicious cake I've ever had!! Which is what I wanted! Chocolate with raspberry filling and butter-cream chocolate frosting. It was so good that I made sure we brought some cake with us on the honeymoon.
And it even looks absolutely beautiful!! Grandma did such a great job with the flowers!!
Here are some of the results of the hard work of everyone to put everything together. See how great the flowers look!!!
Here is another shout out to Grandma Shepherd for doing the framing for these pictures and finding the green to match. We have two of these hanging in our home from our two receptions and it is fun to see the advice that we got!!
But don't worry, it wasn't all hard work!! We did find ways to have fun and enjoy the day!! Each in their own ways. :) And I especially hope that all of the Hinton's enjoyed the reception after all of their hard work putting together the amazing luncheon!! Even our wonderful photographer Emily found time between taking pictures to have a few laughs. Emily is a family friend and did absolutely amazing on the photos. We couldn't be happier!! If you want to contact her for jobs let me know!! Most of all I appreciate the feeling of love I felt from all of the dear family and friends who sacrificed so much to travel up to DC to celebrate with us. I cannot express my gratitude to them and wanting to share this day with Dustin and me!! And also for all of those who I knew they would have come if they could. We feel truly blessed. I have been trying to find pictures of everyone to include in here but there are a few that I found were missing. I couldn't figure out especially why there were no pictures of Dad Hinton, until I found the following evidence! OH Dad we love you!! I am still not sure if Darren was banished or trying to get in from the rain....or if he was just needing some attention....
I wish I had a few more pictures of everyone else. But thanks to Nate to took the task of parking everyone, and even carried umbrellas to walk everyone to the front door. And to Katherine and Michelle who I know helped serve the cakes, and Aunt Cheryl and Aunt Cathy for helping behind the scenes, because I know they did!! And to everyone else for their help with quick thinking and meeting the needs. And Matt for setting up the music for us.
My two adorable nieces and my wonderful Sister-in-laws!! It is good to know that our future beautiful babies won't feel too alone in their gorgeousness thanks to Kitty and Isabelle. Even Josh found his own way to have fun at the reception!! See we cater to everyone!

Right before cutting the cake. Again people thought quickly as Dustin and I went to go cut the cake in the dinning room, realizing that there wasn't enough room for people to watch, so they found a table and moved the cake to the Living Room. Thanks again to Grandma for her hard work!
Cutting the cake....self explanatory.
Yummy!! Oh yeah, the cake was good too :) Giving the bouquet to Grandma Maughan, as she and Grandpa were about to celebrate I think 53 years of marriage in two weeks. They have been an amazing example of what a marriage should be and I wanted to thank them for that!! See!! Love grows with time!!
Dustin chose the song for our first dance, unknown to me. We danced to Kalai's "Divide Me". Man what a wonderful husband I have!! Heading out!! I told everyone we were leaving at 6:30 on the dot, but we were close!! Here we are leaving at 6:45 with Grandma's cake in hand, trying to not get too wet!! Oh and there is Nate!!
Making our escape.
Notice that Dustin is still holding that cake that his wife wanted to eat so much! We ran to go say goodbye to mom and dad and got attacked.
Despite the looks of it the car was decorated but the rain washed the paint off, but Jessica and Sarah got us back a few weeks later with both of our cars saying "just Married" and things like "Happily Ever After" on them.
And so now the real adventure begins as we embark on eternity together. Thanks again to everyone for all of our help during the wedding and your love and support!

New Recipes

I have been trying a lot more new recipes lately. I wanted to eat things with more vegetables and try new recipes and try to be the cute good chief of a wife I always wanted to be. And it helps that I have the most amazing husband who'll eat anything (accept mushrooms) and try anything I throw at him and be SO grateful for it. It makes me feel to appreciated and so I want to cook more for him!! I am sharing some of the recipes I've tried lately. I really like the Mediterranean and Thai foods. So I hope you try some and like them too!! And food network is my new best friend. I can just type in an ingredient I have in my fridge that I want to use and it pulls up things and you can sort them by their ratings, and how easy they are. I find that the ratings are SUPER helpful. And you can find lots of substitutes for the wines in the recipes, just type in google what they suggest and I get things like chicken broth, or a vinegar or oil instead of the wine. I also have been trying to clump my meals together that have similar ingredients, like cilantro, to make sure I use all of it.

Moroccan Lamb Kabobs:

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/dave-lieberman/moroccan-lamb-kabobs-recipe/index.html

We ate these with lots of onion, green peppers, and zucchini on the kabobs and I just put salt and peper on them and they absorbed the flavor of the lamb, which was absolutely amazing.




Moraccan White Bean Sliders:
1/2 red bell pepper
3 scallions
1/2 cup cilantro
1 clove garlic
1 tsp coriander
1 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1/2 tsp harissa (receipt below if you can't find the paste in the grocery store)
2 cups white beans or 1 15.5 oz can rinsed and drained
3/4 cup panko breadcrumbs
1 large egg
3 tablesppon olive oil
8 small pita breads
1/2 cup mayonnaise and 1 Tbl harissaa, mixed
Lettuce leaves and sliced tomatoes

In a food processor, pulse red bell peper, scallions, cilantro, garlic, coriander, cumin, harissa and salt until finely chopped. Add beans and pulse until coarsely mashed.

Transfer misture to a bowl and add breadcrumbs and egg. Mix with hands and shape into burgers (can place on wax paper and refrigerate 30 minutes to help solidify). Heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add sliders and cook 3-4 min on each side or until golden brown. Spread harissa and mayonnaise into pitas, line with lettuce leaf, tomato and a slider.

Harissa Recipe link:

http://www.whats4eats.com/sauces/harissa-recipe




Sriracha spread Alaska salmon

1 cup cilantro leaves
2 Tbl Sriracha souce (Thai chili sauce)
1 1/2 Tbl fresh lime juice
1 Tbl peanut oil
4 Alaska Salmon steaks or fillets
Sea salt to taste

Heat oven to 350 F. IN a food processor mis first 4 ingredients together. Rince salmon under cold water and pat dry with paper towel. Place salmon on a spray-coated baking pan; eason with sea salt. Spread mixture over salmon. Cook salmon until opaue throughout (10-15 min for fresh, 15-20 for frozen)

I put the fish on vegetables like asparagus or red and green peppers to add some flavor to the vegetables as well.


Here are two more that we actually like to eat together to get some vegetables in:

Asian Green Bean Salad:
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/emeril-lagasse/asian-green-bean-salad-recipe/index.html

For this one I recommend using half of the olive oil. We have also had it with feta cheese to give it a different flavor.



Chicken Satay with Spicy Peanut Sauce

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/chicken-satay-with-spicy-peanut-sauce-and-cucumber-relish-recipe/index.html

This one is Dustin's favorite from what he last told me. We have had it on skewers and cooked on broil or just cooked in a pan and on the skewers made it taste SO much better!!



I hope you enjoy these!! They have been fun!!

Phoenix

This is the husband again.  We had the opportunity to spend some time in Arizona visiting friends and family.  For both of us, it was an amazing experience hanging out with so many amazing people.

The trip started at my Hinton family reunion in Flagstaff.  We had a blast camping, playing softball, and playing marshmallow blowgun wars.  Probably most fun for me was seeing all my family and watching  Nicki trying to remember all the names of my huge family.  Coming in a close second, however, was seeing my brother change his boy's diaper on the hood of his van.  Priceless!

We also spent some good time in Phoenix where we got to see some of Nicki's old friends.  

I got to meet Pat and Robin Finn.  Awesome people.  Pat and I chatted up sports while Nicki and Robin caught up over buffalo wings.  Great food, great people, and sports, what more can a guy ask for?

I also had the privilege of meeting the Mitch, Jenny, and Monica Moses family.  We had a good ol' time swimming and shopping.  It was fun getting to know such thoroughly good friends.  I especially enjoyed working my charms on Monica.  I think she likes me!

Here are Jenny, Monica and Nicki on our shopping trip to the outlets.  This was a huge accomplishment for me as we shopped for around 3-4 hours.  My longest shopping experience yet without wanting to poke my eyes out.  I won't bore you with the details on what we bought, but we were pleased.


We also spent a fun evening with Nicki's old roommates eating and singing karaoke.  Apparently it was a common occurrence for Jen, Emily, Bonnie Jeane and Nicki when they lived together.

We were also hosted at a potluck at Nicki's old bishop's house where some friends got together for some good food and laughs.  It was a privilege to meet the Nielsen's and we thank them for their hospitality.  It was also great to finally put faces with all of those names.  On the flip side Nicki finally got to meet my old roommate Marshall and his wife Janelle.  Nicki isn't the only popular one.    

One part of the trip I am especially proud of is my rental care, as detailed below, and the hot girl that came with it.  'Nuff said.

*photo shoot courtesy of Tammy Diva Inc.

Skydiving!!

Dad Shepherd, Nicki, and I had the time of our lives skydiving in June.  This is something that all three of us have always wanted to do.  We thought it a particularly good time to go since we were married for eternity by then... jk

On 19 June, we traveled down to Skydive Orange, roughly 2 hours south of us, to have the experience of a lifetime.  We were not disappointed in this regard.

When we arrived, a book-sized set of permission forms were handed to us.  The next five hours were spent going over these forms guaranteeing, in about 1000 different ways, that we wouldn't sue them.   Once finished, they shuffled us out outside where we practiced throwing back our hands, head, and legs properly.  The purpose of this was to not drive our tandem jumping instructor crazy when falling out of the sky.  We were now fully qualified jumpers.

We waited for a while, took pictures, and watched other jumpers land.  They called our numbers and we went to the hanger to gear up.  A sturdy harness and helmet was strapped on us, we met our jumping instructors, and then headed to the plane.

The plane had two benches where we sat in front of our instructors.  The plane took off and seemed to reach 13,000 feet really fast (our jumping altitude).  Before we knew it, our instructors were pushing us to the plane's open door.  We didn't have much time to get nervous.  Our instructors counted to 3 and pushed us out the door.  The sensation that followed is simply indescribable--elation, exhilaration, terror, enjoyment, and sheer joy!

At 6,000, after about a minute of free fall,  feet we all pulled our shoots.  Instantly, the screaming wind stopped and it was almost silent.  Floating out of the sky is an incredibly peaceful feeling.  We floated down for about 5 minutes.  Our tandem instructors, while guiding us back to the hanger, spun us around by pulling on the shoots' sides.  This was enough for Nicki to loose it when she hit the ground.  Her lunch didn't stand a chance. 

All in all, it was an amazing experience!  We strongly recommend it to everyone!

Enjoy the pictures.

Cedar Point

We've had a long hiatus from posting.  So, the next few posts will be catch up.  We apologize for not posting in chronological order, but better late then never.

So, going back in time to the Monday before the wedding, we took a trip to Cedar Point Amusement Park.  The point of the trip was to de-stress from wedding prep and just have fun.  Lucky for us, school was still in session and it was rainy--we got the park almost to ourselves.  The only down side was that the fastest roller coaster, the Dragster, was out of commission.  That meant we missed out on a 120 mph thrill ride.  Despite the downside, we still rode lots of coasters at really fast speeds.  One highlight was riding the Millenium Force three times in the rain at 93 mph.  Basically, the rain hit our faces so hard that it felt like a hurricane--awesome!!!

As this was my first trip to Cedar Point, I must confess that I'm a big fan.  Even though we all got soaked and cold, it was definitely worth it.  No doubt Nicki and I will find ourselves back there soon.

The trip was particularly fun for the whole Shepherd family as they got to visit Ohio.  As the pictures show, they showed their loyalty with plenty of Ohio State gear and making human signs.  Enjoy the pictures!

Click here to view these pictures larger

Wedding Featured on LDS Bride Blog

Nicki and I just found out that our wedding was featured on the LDS Bride Blog.  Our photographer, Emily Heizer, submitted our pictures and it was selected!  Nicki provided the details to go along with the pictures.  All in all, I think it turned out pretty great.  Here's the link: wedding feature.

Enjoy!

The Best Day Of Our LIves (Part 1)

Hello hello from Reston, Virginia. We just wanted everyone to know that we actually did it. We actually got married and that life is wonderful. We have lots of updates, but we'll start with the most important.

We are truly grateful to all of our family who was able to fly and drive out to DC to be with us. We were able to have all of our siblings there and lots of extended family. We feel truly blessed to have had the help of family and friends.

The festivities really started Thursday night when the majority of the people came in. So as you can guess there was not a lot of sleep. Jessica and Sarah stayed up with me "prepping" and running our own beauty shop plucking, painting nails, etc. And we even had the help of our expert photographer with making our own flower bouquets for the shoot Friday morning.

After getting to bed, two hours later we got up and prepped for Jessica, Emily (photographer) Shirlene (cousin and photographer assistant) and Dustin and I to head downtown to take pictures at the national monuments and Dad and Sarah would join us after seminary.

Despite none of us sleeping and all being exhausted this was absolutely so much fun. We had no stress so we pretty much went to all the sites we wanted and anytime we saw a fun tree or something pretty we'd stop to take some photos. And we were like a walking phenomenon because everywhere we went people honked their horns and shouted "Congrats!". So don't be surprised if you see candids of us on YouTube or facebook from people we've never met before. Many people took pictures of us and even the tour buses announced that there was a bride and groom as they drove past and people took pictures of us as they drove by. I guess we're just that cute!!

Then dad, Sarah and Jessica went home while Shirlene, Emily, Dustin and I trucked it to the Temple to get a few more pictures. By the time we got here we were done. So we got a few shots, the lighting was really bad because it was noon and the sun was HOT. And then we headed home. Then some more errands and we were able to have a fabulous Bar-B-Que at the Shepherd home with everyone. We even brought out the zip line and of course everyone LOVED mom's fruit tarts. It was nice to have everyone help. After we all set up, worked on flowers, went to set up the church for the luncheon, etc.

We hope you enjoyed this first installment. Below are pictures from our Friday photo shoot. The one with the police officer is him checking our permit. We are SO glad we got a permit and that Emily found out we needed one in the first place!! Shirlene was a perfect assistant and always had it ready. All photos are courtesy of Emily Heizer Photography: www.eheizerphotography.com