Fun at Y Mountain, Then and Now

The night of September 28, 2007 Kayleen and I went up to Y Mountain just for fun. We took a big cookie and the camera and just had some silly fun. We were just friends then, but getting to be good friends. It wasn't till months later that we actually started dating, but it was one night that we both remember as one of the first times that we really got to know each other and be good friends.
So on Sunday, we celebrated the anniversary of that special "date" (that we didn't consider a date back then) by making another big cookie and taking our camera up to the mountain. A lot has changed in a year! And we couldn't be happier!

Paisley Ginger! (and other adventures this weekend)

We had a very fun weekend, homework-free (I'll probably pay the price for that in the next few days, trying to catch up!) But we had a lot of fun.

On Thursday night we went to Institute, which we are loving! We are taking the second half of Doctrine and Covenants. On Friday we went to our Stake Opening Social / Tailgate party. We enjoyed some good food and fun with our new friends in the ward. We were going to go to an organ recital with my summer roommates Ron and Matt, but it got canceled. So we hung out at the dance at BYU with them and also with Shaun and Lanette. It was a blast! We spent half the time waiting in line for a free snow-cone -- but it was worth it. :)

On Saturday we went up to Layton to see my new niece, Paisley! She is so adorable. We are glad that Brandon and Norine have this new addition to their family. Here is a picture, of course:

It was fun to hang out with Brandon and Norine and Bradley, Julie, and Aliza at the hospital for a few hours on Saturday. Then back home to Provo again to get some errands done and get to bed early, so that Kayleen could give her talk in Sacrament Meeting on Sunday (she did a wonderful job, of course!) We ended the weekend well having dinner with our friends Kerri and Keith.

Another weekend of random adventures gone by too quickly, and now back to work and school for another week!

Why Leeny is the favorite half of JordiLeeny

Here are a few favorite pictures of my hun. She is the most wonderful wife. She makes me so very very happy. Nothing new has happened with us in the last week or so. Just enjoying married life so very much, thanks to Kayleen!

Birthday Barbeque at the Barlows'

So, I've had a hard time keeping up with the blog since we don't have Internet at home. But things have been going well. School is crazy already, but I guess that is expected when you are in graduate school. Kayleen isn't as busy with school, but works a lot more than I do. But we take time to have some fun, too. Last Saturday we invited our friends over for a barbecue at our house to celebrate Brian's birthday. We used our new grill that we got from Andrea and Rebekah, and the hot dogs were pretty tasty, I must say! And of course we had birthday cake, too. We have a big backyard that we used and I think everyone had a good time. We sure did! I didn't take any real formal pictures, just some snapshots. Here's one.

L to R: Brian, Chris, Miriam, Kayleen, Malea, Aleisha, Megan, Ron, Sarah

Thanks for a good time, friends! Other than that, Kayleen and I have just been having more random adventures between just the two of us. We love married life!!!

Back to Life

We are back to normal life here in Provo. We've had a wonderful week and everything turned out perfect. Our wedding was beautiful. We were sealed in the Provo temple by my Grandpa Barlow and enjoyed a small lunch reception at the Skyroom at BYU. Here are some pictures with the Barlow family, the groomsmen, and the girlfriends.
L to R: Brandon, McCoy, Norine, Rebekah, Mom, Brad, Jordan, Kayleen, Andrea, Heidi, Trevor, Julie, Aliza, Bradley

L to R: Brian, Kayleen, Shaun, Jordan, Ron

L to R: Lanette, Kerri, Megan, Kayleen, Sarah, Jordan, Meg, Hilary

We decided not to have a big reception in Utah, so we were done with all the wedding stuff by about 4 in the afternoon. It was really nice to just be able to relax for the rest of the day. We went up to Park City for our honeymoon. We had a lot of fun and were happy to spend time together. We went to the Olympic Park and Museum, the shops on Main Street, and rode the roller coaster at Park City Mountain Resort. We left Park City on Thursday morning so that we could make it to our friend Meg's wedding in Salt Lake.

They had a beautiful wedding and we were honored to be at their sealing. We also went to their luncheon at the Lion House and to their reception that night. We had some fun decorating their car (ironically with the paint leftover from when our friends decorated our car the week before!) Now we have just been getting things ready to go back to school tomorrow - Kayleen has decided to go back to BYU! She is just taking a couple of classes and is working full time now. We are excited to start our life together and things are going well so far!

Quick Update

Well, friends, it's been a fun and crazy week getting everything ready for tomorrow! We've definitely had some big adventures recently. I figured I'd write an update since we'll be heading out of town for a few days. We are so very very excited to have the opportunity to be sealed together in the temple for eternity tomorrow!
It has been so good spending time together and being together, sharing meals, and just having alone time together to talk and enjoy each other. We've done well at fixing up our new apartment (Kayleen did most of the work, while I've been at work). We bought some new bookcases and endtables at Ikea (we love that store!) and we are getting more "hand-me-down" furniture today and tomorrow. Kayleen went through the temple on Tuesday night - thanks to Mom, Rebekah, Bradley, Ron, Brooks, Shaun and Lanette, and Brian and Megan for coming. My mom was really helpful with that and came down twice this week to help Kayleen get ready. She definitely spoils us! Megan Wells was really helpful too and was Kayleen's escort in the temple. We're really glad we have married friends that have been in our shoes and are so good in supporting us. We went out to eat with Brian and Megan Tuesday, and Megan went with us to the temple a second time on Wednesday, and then we all had a little double-date movie night at our place last night. We love our Brian and Megan friends!! We love all our friends!
Kayleen's parents will be in town today and we'll be getting final preparations ready! And tonight will be fun too - I wouldn't call it a bachelor party but my best bud Ron and I are taking advantage of my last night as a single man and he has some stuff planned that should be fun.
And then tomorrow WE ARE GETTING MARRIED!!
Thanks for all your love and support, love y'all....

Moving in!

Last night I was lucky enough to have Brian, Megan, Jason, Meg, Keith, and Cameron help me move all my belongings to the new apartment. They even helped me put some stuff away and clean the bathroom. What awesome friends I have! It only took a small bribe.... Well, I just provided pizza, but wished I could have done more to thank them for all their help.
So we are one step closer! It's exciting to think that I have an apartment for me and Kayleen. It's nice to finally not have to worry about meeting new roommates and wondering how we'll get along. Although I must admit, I've never had a bad college roommate. I especially had tons of fun with roommates this summer and last summer, living with my best buds (Ron this summer, Shaun and Brian last summer). But it's even more exciting that I'll have my amazing Kayleen as a roommate now! We'll have some fun and crazy adventures I'm sure!

Wedding Reception and other adventures in MN

Well folks, it has been quite an eventful weekend! It started on Thursday when I arrived in Minneapolis and Kayleen was there waiting with a nice big sack lunch for me. What a good little wife she will be! :) It was so good to be together again, after being apart the entire month of July. I stayed with her family at their home in Lakeville, which is about half an hour south of the airport in Minneapolis.
That same day (Thursday) we took a stroll through the annual Dakota County Fair! It made Enterprise seem like the big city. It was fun to see the historic buildings, the booths, art displays, animal exhibits, and a play (featuring Kayleen's sister Marissa). Here we are in front of the tractor display.Later that night we went back to the Downing's house for band practice. Kayleen's dad, uncle Dean, brother Jake, and brother-in-law Matthew have a band called "The Righteous Brothers-in-law". (also known affectionately as "Jake and the Fat Men" haha) Dean brought over and set up the keyboard so I could play a few songs in the band for the weekend. It was a blast!

On Friday Kayleen and I went to Northfield (half-hour from Lakeville) with her mom and sister Regina to see Regina and Terence's apartment that they will be moving into. They are moving back from Philadelphia so Terence can work at the college there. So now Kayleen and I will be the only ones living outside Minnesota, but they are working hard on convincing us to move back there when we are done with school. Luckily they've still got a few years before we decide!
Another highlight from Friday was going to play the piano for the folks at the Centennial Care Center, where Kayleen used to work. It was sad to see all the people there who can't care for themselves anymore - it makes me admire Kayleen even more for wanting to work there, for the wonderful job she did, and for how much she loves to take care of people. She loves so unconditionally.
Friday night, my mom and sisters Andrea and Rebekah came down to Lakeville to eat dinner with the Downing fam (they had come to the Twin Cities on Thurs also, but stayed at a hotel right near the airport). It was good for everyone to meet each other and enjoy a delicious meal together. After dinner Kayleen and I separated for a bit - I went to play with my fam for the night while she had a little "bachelorette party" with her sisters and friend Laura.
We had some fun at Underwater Adventures in the Mall of America - it was really cool to walk through the underwater aquarium and see the sharks! Here I am with my sister Rebekah and you can see in the background that Jaws is about to get us! But we narrowly escaped...
Saturday was the big day, and we were ready to party! The morning was spent in last-minute preparations for the program and reception at the Downing Residence. Kayleen's dad and brother Jake did a great job getting the yard looking beautiful (Kayleen helped too!) and her mom did great at getting everything organized and getting all the food planned and set up. We were glad to have some good help from Kayleen's aunts, cousins, siblings, and friends. The weather was perfect (we got nervous when we felt some raindrops on Friday night). When everything was in place and the guests had arrived, we started with the Marriage Blessing. It was a short program with prayers, scripture reading, and song. Regina gave the main message and conducted; the parents of bride and groom offered prayers; my sisters Andrea and Rebekah and Kayleen's maid of honor Laura shared some scriptures; Marissa sang worship songs. It was all very beautiful, and all who were present, irregardless of different religions, were happy to have a time to specifically include our Heavenly Father in the celebrations of the day and ponder on the great love of our Savior Jesus Christ, and His importance in our marriage.

After the Blessing, the tables were set up for some delicious food. Everyone got a chance to meet and greet and socialize with one another. It was so good to meet so many people Kayleen has told me about. There was good music and dancing and the band played too! (yes, I joined in on a few of the songs). Kayleen and her sisters and Laura and Jake's girlfriend Brittney also did a "surprise dance" which has been the tradition of the Downing weddings. They basically made me sit in a chair in front of everyone while they danced around me and tried to embarrass me. It was pretty funny. And yes, it is all on video. Haha. They did a good job with it and it made everyone laugh. From there, people just stayed around to chat and/or dance and/or eat more. It turned perfect.

More pics of our adventures: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2202148&l=8f220&id=17829252
More pics of the reception: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2202151&l=1b5e6&id=17829252

Trying out this "Blog" thing...

Welcome to our new blog! After enjoying reading about Shaun and Lanette's adventures on their blog so often, I figured I'd try it out for us, too!
Our first big adventure to be written about will be my trip to Minnesota this weekend for our wedding reception out there! I'm so excited to see Kayleen again after over a month of being apart. I've loved our daily phone calls but it's definitely time to be together in person.
We are so ready and excited to be married! I finally found a cute little apartment for us to live in, on the south end of Provo and hopefully will get it all ready for Kayleen to move in on the 16th! There's lots of other things to be done before the wedding, so we are keeping busy.