4th of July Weekend

I know its a little late, but we had a great 4th of July weekend and I just wanted to share some pictures! On the 4th, Todd and I attended a bbq hosted by Ryan and Julie! SO good, guys! Ryan was the master chef and cooked amazing hamburgers. There was so much food, it was incredible. Julie made homemade vanilla ice cream and served it with blueberry and strawberry sauces. It was quite patriotic! We played Apples to Apples ( I always lose terribly when we play with the Holbrook family), and Julie kicked our tails. I finally got to try out the "Motorino" which was a blast! Mason was fearless of that thing! Ryan actually had to make him hold onto him.
Speaking of Mason, look how cute he is! I have never met someone so young and daring and just SO CUTE!

Later that night, we went to the park and laid on the grass and watched the fireworks. They were so close! It was a pretty good show. It had most of us captivated, but I think Mason got bored after the first 5 minutes, and was sound asleep when the fireworks stopped.

Fireworks

Todd and I after the fireworks



The next day, we hosted a little family get together. It was the first time we had a lot of people in our little place so it was our house warming party! Todd and Ryan made a wonderful artichoke pasta dish and we had otter pops for desert. :-)

Ryan and Julie and the vacuum they gave us in the background (thanks guys!!)

Mom Holbrook, Von, Todd, Mason, Julie, and Ryan enjoying their dinner

We walked to the park from our place. The kids needed more room to run around!

The Crew

Max loves the slide

Crazy Mason

We are so blessed to live close to family! It is so fun to get together and hang out, watch movies, and play games. We love our cute nephews!!

Riverton Reception

Two weeks after the wedding, Susan hosted an open house for us in her beautiful backyard in Riverton. The yard was amazing! She really did a great job. We weren't really sure who would show up, but it ended up being a wonderful night. A lot of people from Susan's ward came, and Todd and I both had family come. It was really fun to meet some of Todd's aunts, uncles, and cousins. My family was able to make the trip down to Utah, even after my little brother Michael broke his collar bone at football camp.

Von and Susan sampling out the yummy fruit baskets before the open house.

Doesn't Mason look sharp! He is just so darn cute!

Todd and I with our moms and Grandma Johns. Aren't they beautiful? Todd's good friend Preston also came.

Here we are with Liz and Katherine, some of my friends. Katherine and I have been good friends ever since I came to BYU. People think that we look alike and are sisters! Its funny, because she is half Chinese.

The Casper and Holbrook crews enjoying the evening.




Caleb actually had a really big smile on his face! Susan asked these twins in her ward to pass out favors at the open house. They were adorable!

Well, now that the wedding events are finally over, I guess we can get back to "real" life!

June 12, 2008

What a day this was! It has always been my dream to get married in our small, but lovely Columbia River Temple and to have an outdoor reception at my grandma Casper's beautiful house! Well it all happened! Both Todd's family and mine were able to make the trip to Basin City, WA and witness our wedding! It was the first time Todd's brothers had been together in years, and it was such a blessing to be able to see Derek and Brianne and Easton! We are so glad all of you made the long journey! My mom is amazing! She took care of most the planning, and allowed me to just enjoy the day. I know that my grandma, aunts and uncles, and cousins spent a lot of time working at my grandma's house, getting it ready for the reception. It looked beautiful! Todd's mother did a wonderful job with the luncheon, and she even had vanilla ice cream served with chocolate cake for desert, just because she knew that I would like it! My aunt Jill did a wonderful job with the flowers, and my aunt Lisa made an amazing cake! My Grandpa Allred also did a wonderful job with the music, it was so fun to have him play. It is quite overwhelming to describe the days events so I thought I would just post a bunch of pictures! Enjoy :-)

The people who made this day so wonderful! We love you guys!!

The greatest day of our lives! I'm so glad that I am finally sealed to my best friend for time and all eternity! Todd is such a strength to me, and he is always helping me be a better person. I love you, babe!

It was such a blessing to have so many family and friends present!

Todd and his brothers...reunited again!

I love this picture!

Casper kids

Neices & Nephews

Todd, Mason, Ashley, Madison, & Caleb

Our Families!

Ladies in blue!

The girls

The most darling picture ever!!

Another very cute picture!

My dad caught it, and then gave it to Meg

My shadow!

Wow! There are so many pictures, its hard to just choose a few of them! I am so grateful for families! They are forever! I truly married into an amazing family, and I am now proud to be a Holbrook girl!

How We Met!

Its hard to believe that I met Todd 16 months ago. I was finishing my freshman year at the time and my roommate, Veda Mann, was determined to set me up with a really nice boy. Veda was taking a psychology class with Todd at the time and knew him from Santa Barbara. She mentioned Todd's name several times and stressed what a good boy he was. She showed me a few pictures of him on Facebook and that was that. Several weeks went by without any mention of Todd and I forgot about him. One sunny March morning, on my way to class, I noticed a guy walking towards me. He was looking at me, and had a huge smile on his face. I instantly recognized him from facebook and couldn't help but smile back! We had never met, and never spoken to each other, and we just smiled and walked right on by. I couldn't stop smiling all morning. I called Veda and I told her what happened. She already knew! Todd had already talked to her and she had given him my phone number. Later on in the day, I received the following text: "Hi, Christianne! My name is Todd, I'm one of Veda's friends. I don't normally text random girls, but Veda said it would be worth it. Did I get the right number?" And that is how it all began!

The very first picture Todd ever saw of me was of Veda and I hiking at Stewart Falls (above). He told me that when he saw it he wanted to ask me out.

Another funny coincidence is that I visited Todd's hometown of Santa Barbara one month before I met him. My sister, my roommates, and I stayed with Veda's family over a three day weekend from school. I fell in love with the place! I can remember thinking to myself that I would love to marry someone with connections to SB! Todd and I have already been there to visit twice since! Thanks Joe and Geri :-)!
Todd and I started dating very soon after we met, and we have been together every since....well...errrr...I guess not "together" in the physical sense. Soon after Todd asked me if I was his girl, I took off for a family reunion in Alaska, and Todd left to spend a month as a counselor for EFY in Santa Barbara. Five weeks later and after I had a LONG night at the SL Airport due to delays, we had a fun reunion in Santa Barbara. We then took a road trip to Washington and spent some time at our cabin in Priest Lake, ID. It was definitely a fun summer! We knew that marriage was a possibility, but I was headed to Jerusalem for that fall semester and everything seemed centered on that trip. Todd unofficially proposed to me in August, before I left, and I wore my CTR ring on my ring finger the entire time I was gone. Todd put a real ring on my finger in January and we finally married in June! What a journey! I feel like the finish line was in the distance for so long, and now its all over! I mean...its just the end of a wonderful beginning!

Summer 2007