Walking on Water

Next, we left the temple with all our family that could make it and close friends. We went to a luncheon at Mimi's Cafe. We had some yummy food and got to spend time with our family. One of my favorite memories from that luncheon was all our family and friends got up and introduced themselves and said a little something to us if they wanted to. It was really special to get to hear so many stories, memories and advice from our family and friends.

After the luncheon Colton and I went and got our bags and headed out to the Desert Sheraton Oasis where we spent our first night as Mr. and Mrs.! We had Jason's Deli delivered and watched movies all night. I must admit my entire wedding day was so relaxed and I got to enjoy every moment of it, which I'm grateful!

The next morning we checked out of our hotel and headed to the Phoenix airport to catch a flight over to San Antonio, Texas. On the way there, bare in mind I am blonde, I forgot my id back at my house. We left the resort with just enough time to make it to the airport. Let's just say Colton got to see exactly how fast, and safely of course, he could drive back to Mesa and then on to the airport. Lucky for us, and I have NO idea how it worked out, we got to the airport in time and didn't miss our flight.

TEXAS! I had never been to Texas before. Since we both had school and work we decided to take a short trip somewhere that weekend and go on a bigger honeymoon during the winter break. Colton didn't tell me where we were going until we arrived at the airport. We stayed in the most awesome hotel on the Riverwalk from Friday until Monday. 

Friday and Saturday:

Friday we rented our car and drove around in... the green hamster car from the commercials. I know what you are all thinking and yes, it is completely alright to be jealous of our sweet ride! After we checked in our room we wanted to go explore the Riverwalk. We spent the rest of the day Friday and all of Saturday walking around, going on boat tours, seeing the Alamo (which is tiny), shopping and eating delicious food!

Right out of our hotel

 

 The Riverwalk

The dessert that Wild Forrest Cafe gave us for getting married. This dessert alone was worth getting married ;) Only joking of course, but only a little...

The boat tour that takes you around the whole Riverwalk

You literally walk on water

Sunday:

The last full day of our first honeymoon. Sunday we got up and drove over to Dallas. The drive there was so green and lush, unlike Arizona. We went to Sea World in Dallas! I got to touch a dolphin which I told Colton was something I had always wanted to do and my cute husband made it happen. 

"Awweee" moment: a baby killer whale was born just a couple weeks before we got there and he swam next to his mama the whole time. When she would jump out of the water he would just float around waiting for her to dive back in. They even taught him to wave. Made me want to get my own for my pool back at our house. 

Monday Morning:

Our flight home was in the afternoon on Monday and we decided to find this TINY zoo and go check it out on the way to the airport.

For those of you who know me, you know I am OBSESSED with elephants!So naturally I had to take like 100 pictures with them

We then got on a plane and flew back to Mesa, Arizona where we were forced to come back to reality and go back to school and work. We quickly got into a routine back home. I attempted, and sometimes failed, at making dinners, slept in until 9am-10am every morning and worked every night until 6:30pm. Colton went to school a couple days a week and got up at 5:30am to work out, go to work and be home by 2:30pm. Life being married felt so normal to me because I married the best guy out there, sorry ladies you all settled for second best ;) Colton and I spent the first few weeks of being married staying up every night talking for hours instead of sleeping. We still continue to do this almost two years later at least once or twice a week. Those were and are my favorite memories because we stay up talking about everything and anything and laugh a LOT. Why go to sleep when nothing in your dreams could be better than what is right next to you? 

The girl whose dreams can't compete with real life, Erica

The Girl Who Wore the White Dress

The next big thing for us to do...pick a date! We decided to get married over Labor Day weekend on Thursday, September 2nd, 2010 in the Mesa, Arizona temple. That way we could always have a long weekend to celebrate together. Honestly, the four months of our engagement are a little bit of a blur because of how much there was to plan, decide, do, etc and with work, school and vacations it was a busy few months. A special thanks goes out to my wonderful mother who spent many hours making sure my wedding was exactly what I wanted and for making all the food for our reception.

The night before we got married Colton had school until 10pm so I wasn't able to see him that night. I did however spend the evening over at his house talking to his parents. Colton loves knights and I took him a knight statue that said "Thank you for being my knight in shining armor". His mom is one of the most welcoming and loving people that I know and she gave me some great advice about marriage. That's one of my favorite memories that I have of her so far. At the time I was living with my brother in the house we grew up in because my parents had bought a farm down in Lehi and were trying to sell our old house. As I was about to fall asleep I got a text from Colton saying "See you in the morning beautiful". Everyone told me that I wouldn't sleep much the night before I got married and let me tell you, they were all wrong! I had one of the best nights sleep of my life! There was nothing to be nervous or worry about. I was about to marry the young man of my dreams in the most beautiful place to get married. I fell asleep wondering how I ever got so lucky. 

In the morning, my sister and mom came over to do my make-up and I did my own hair. My sister laughed at me most of the morning because dresses are definitely not my style and neither was being all girly girl. My mom drove me to the temple where I met up with Colton and saw him for the first time that day. I got out of my mom's car and ran (or awkwardly skipped/ tripped/ stumbled) over to Colton, who had a GIANT smile on his face. We took pictures of just us, some with our families, and then headed into the temple to be sealed for time and all eternity. We were sealed at 10:30am on Thursday, September 2nd, 2010. That's when my real life began. Words can't express the feelings I felt that entire day. Lucky, happy and excited are all understatements. I know without any doubt that Colton Kent Walker is the best thing that has ever happened to me. Every morning I wake up next to my best friend, the best husband, and most handsome guy around. Life cannot possibly get any better, yet every day I get to spend with Colton it always does. 

What would a story like this be without some wedding day pictures? Enjoy! Also, thank you to Brittney Gurr for taking all our pictures and doing an absolute wonderful job on them! 

“True love doesn't have a happy ending, because true love never ends.” 

The girl who wore a white dress, Erica

Beauty and the Beast

Now that we had finally kissed :) A couple nights after our first kiss, while sitting at the table eating dinner at his house, Colton said to me, out of the blue, "Erica, I don't want you to kiss other guys because I want you all to myself" and from then on we were officially a couple. We saw each other every day that we could, even if it meant just studying next to each other all night.

Weeks after dating, at his house in the middle of watching a movie, Colton started to get all fidgety and finally turned to me and said, "I love you". Colton had this way of catching me off guard and keeping me on my toes, in a good way. Let me tell you, I was definitely caught off guard here. I didn't even have to think about it before I responded with "I love you too". I had never felt the way I did for Colton about any other guy I had dated in the past. He was different and our relationship was different. I knew I was in love with him days before he told me but honestly had not expected him to tell me for weeks, maybe even months.We continued to date and get to know each other for the next few months. The more I got to know Colton, I got a greater understanding of just how unique and special he is. I was going to try my hardest to make sure this "cute neighbor boy" stuck around for a long time. 

On Saturday May 1st, 2010, Colton picked me up to go to San Tan Flat, which is an indoor and outdoor BBQ place with live music, fire pits you can roast marshmallows at, and just a lot of fun. When we were driving out there, I would be in the middle of talking about one topic and Colton would just completely not hear me or start a new topic. I figured he just had a lot on his mind but it was strange for him to be acting this way. When we got there it was loud and I told him I wasn't a huge fan of the noise and he went inside to find a table inside. I had asked the man working there how long of a wait it was to get a table inside and he said at least an hour and a half. I was bummed. Colton came back over and said "I got us a table inside" and I was a little confused because of what the worker man just told me but I wasn't going to complain because I got to sit inside now. We got a booth and ordered our food. Colton continued to act as weird at San Tan Flat as he had in the car. I was in the middle of a sentence when he just got up, went and talked to our waitress and then walked outside. My uncle, cousins, and even my oldest brother happened to be at the restaurant eating outside and walked by me. We talked and I told them I would come see them outside with Colton after dinner. (My family being there was purely by coincidence because Colton didn't tell anyone where we were going, not even me).  Colton came back in and sat down and I started to laugh and said "Is everything alright? I was in the middle of a sentence and you just left me here" He started laughing too and said "Sorry, just got a lot on my mind. I went to check if the band is outside. We should go outside." He got up and started leading me outside. At this point I was just along with whatever Colton wanted to do hoping maybe he would go back to his normal self. 

When we got outside he wanted to get our picture drawn by one of those guys who draws you as a cartoon. There was a line of people waiting but Colton just took us directly to the bench to be drawn. I felt like a little kid back in elementary school cutting in line and felt guilty that those other people were still waiting. The man asked us which Disney couple I wanted us to be drawn as and I picked Beauty and the Beast. As the man was drawing, I kept asking Colton if he was sure it was okay that we went in front of all those other people because they all were staring at us. He kept telling me it was fine and he had asked the man earlier if he could go in front of them. My brother happened to walk by as our picture was being drawn and laughed (later we found out he couldn't tell what it was at that point so he had no idea what was going on). There seemed to be a crowd of people gathering around us and I felt a little self conscious. I kind of felt like an animal at the zoo being watched. Finally, the man got done drawing us and handed Colton the picture. He then turned it towards me and asked "How do you like it?" At first I was a little confused because it looked nothing like Beauty and the Beast. It looked like this....

I looked over at Colton who was down on one knee and he asked me to marry him. I said "Yes of course!" and we kissed. Everyone around cheered and clapped for us. Once back inside at our table I was too excited to eat and wanted to go show both our families. We went and showed off the bling to my cousins, uncle and brother outside and left. That night was THE BEST night of my entire life. I was going to get married to my best friend :)

The girl who now had a diamond ring, Erica

Butterflies

Butterflies. That's all I could think about as I was waiting for Colton to pick me up. It had been almost two months since I had seen him and I was excited! When he got there he was looking handsome, like extremely handsome. I was surprised how easily things went back to the way they had been in November. It was like no time had passed by at all. We went to Olive Garden, my favorite restaurant, and then went to Harkins to watch The Princess and the Frog. This was the first time we had ever been out to see a movie in theaters.

Waiting in the movie theater for the movie to start I got that "little kid on Christmas morning" excitement hoping that Colton would hold my hand for the first time. As the lights began to dim, Colton turned to me and asked, "If you were a pirate would you like to have your parrot on this shoulder (placing an imaginary parrot on my shoulder closest to his) or on this shoulder (putting his arm around me to my other shoulder)?" From there I just smiled, I thought it was a little cheesy but totally adorable, and snuggled up to Colton. He held my other hand and we sat that way the whole movie. I was afraid if I moved an inch he might let go and that would be the end of that. 

After the movie, as we were driving home, Colton actually apologized for holding my hand and being so straight forward. All I could think was "how adorable is he!?" I told him I was more than happy to hold his hand anytime. Colton dropped me off at my house, hugged me (and yes I know you all are very disappointed there was not a little goodnight smooch) and then he left. From then on Colton began to call and text me every day. I think it goes without saying but I'll say it anyways... I was ECSTATIC! Finally, "cute neighbor boy" was falling for me. 

Two weeks after holding hands for the first time, Colton and I were hanging out at his house and had just finished watching X-Files. I told him I was tired and asked him to take me home. When I stood up he pulled me close to hug me and then said "I want to kiss you Erica Olsen" and he kissed me, for the first time. My heart raced and I am sure I had the biggest smile on my face after...but that first kiss was the first time I had ever felt that special. Colton had not kissed anyone since before his mission and I was the lucky girl that got the privilege of kissing him. He took me home, didn't kiss me at the door (strange, I know), but he did tell me how beautiful I was before he left. I am pretty sure I fell asleep smiling the biggest smile that night and woke up the next morning with that same smile on my face.

The girl who likes her imaginary pirate parrot on the farthest shoulder, Erica

Playing Hard to Get

As I got to know a little more about Colton's dating history since being back from his mission (at this point it was over 2 years since he had been home) I came to realize he hadn't kissed a girl since BEFORE he left on his mission and hadn't been on many multiple dates with the same person. Ladies and gentlemen that means it had been four years since he had kissed anyone. I quickly changed my opinion of him from being a "ladies man" to being a true gentleman.

After our first date I was pretty interested in Colton (I even made him a card and got a little bucket full of all his favorite things and took it to him the next day after our first date). He continued to ask me out and I continued to accept his offers. Colton made it VERY clear that he wanted to date other people and wasn't looking for anything serious. Still, I was hopeful. October came and went with us just being "friends" that went on dates. Near the middle/ end of November things got crazy at school and work and I wasn't able to go out with him the rest of the month. He texted me every few weeks but nothing too exciting (trust me, if there were some juicy details to share I would but sadly... there aren't any). In early December I took a trip out to California to visit my best friend Conger at USD. Colton had called me while I was out there but I was trying to play "hard to get" and "accidently" hit ignore on his call. He text me after and asked if I would go out with him that same weekend. I didn't reply until after I got home and told him I had been busy. Maybe I hurt his feelings but I never heard back from him. 

It had now been almost two months since I had been out with Colton and I must admit I was a little crushed. Colton is everything a girl should want to look for in a guy. He always opened my doors, told me how nice I looked, was charming, goofy, handsome, polite, considerate, understanding, etc. One night I had been out with friends and I was driving home with my best friend/brother Stewart. That night I told him how upset I had been that Colton wasn't showing more interest in me and that I thought he had found someone better to date. Stewart and I creeped on Colton and drove by his house to see if he was home. I held my breath as we drove by and to my happy surprise all the lights at his house were off and no cars were out front except for his.  As if that was going to be solid proof he wasn't dating anyone else, one night at home alone. Yeah, definitely a brilliant fool-proof plan right there on my part. haha! I text him saying "Hey I just drove by your house. I hope you are doing great!" He didn't respond until the next morning saying "I have missed seeing you. Will you go out with me this weekend?" Bold. To the point. Made me happy. I text him back saying "Pick me up Friday at 7 :)". The hardest part... waiting almost a full week to see him again and managing the butterflies I felt.

The girl who played hard to get, Erica

Hidden Treasure

Picking up where I left off: Lucky for me, my grandma wouldn't give up on setting me up with Colton that easily. It was now Sunday, September 27th 2009, 4 months after I had seen "cute neighbor boy" at church. My grandma called me and told me she had given my cell phone number to her "cute neighbor boy" but she said "he is shy so he might not call you so I'll give you his number so that you can call him." First off, no. I would not be calling this kid first. Can you picture that conversation? "Hey kid who has my number but won't call me , my grandma wants you to ask me out so.... (long, awkward pause).... you planning on doing that sometime soon?" Yeah, not happening. I couldn't hurt my grandma's feelings though because she is one of the sweetest ladies I know so I agreed to it and wrote down his number. After our phone call ended I had no expectations for this boy calling me. Ever. 

                                                                                        

The next night I was making dinner for my family and my phone rang. It was a number I didn't know and was not the number my grandma had given me. I never even thought it would be "cute neighbor boy" so when I answered and this attractive voice said "Hi, is this Erica?" I was a little shocked. He introduced himself and asked if he could take me out on a date that weekend. I obviously agreed and he asked me if he could call me on Wednesday with a date plan. He had to make a plan to call me to make a plan for our date. Cute right? I told him I was off work at 6pm and he could call me anytime after that. He told me he would call at 6. Wednesday , at literally 6:01pm, Colton was calling. I couldn't help but smile and think "man, when he says something, he means it." We made plans to go out Friday night and he would pick me up at 7.

October 2 at 7pm this attractive boy was ringing the doorbell to take me out. He was so polite and introduced himself to all of my family. We went to Paradise Bakery to eat dinner and then went on to goofy golf. Typical "first date" activities. Our conversations were mostly me talking and him laughing. When I get nervous I talk a lot and fast.  When Colton gets nervous he is even more shy. I had told Colton I thought boys who could play piano were "extremely attractive" and he told me he had a surprise for me at his house anyways so he would play the piano for me. I met his mom and dad when we went over to his place and I felt so welcomed from the very beginning. Colton played the piano and we all listened. I asked him how long he had been playing (it was better than anyone I had personally ever heard before). He told me he couldn't read music and that he made all those songs up on his own. I think my jaw literally dropped with how impressed I was. Colton has a real talent for playing the piano that I still envy and am jealous of to this day. After, he handed me this....

A little folded up map saying "Erica's Treasure Map" (he even burned it to make it look like a real map). He sent me on a treasure hunt and eventually I ended up finding a little wooden treasure chest in his backyard full of gold dollar coins. He told me we would go to the store and pick out something to go to the park and play with. We got a glow-in-the-dark football and threw it back and forth while talking at the park. I was surprised he had done something so creative and thoughtful for our first date. My initial thought about him after that was "this guy is a real ladies man and knows how to get the girls". I was dropped back at home after that, given a hug, and told I would be called to go on another date. It was a really fun and exciting first date! My grandma does know how to pick the good ones! As I thought about our date over the next few days and the treasure hunt Colton had sent me on...I never would have guessed that my greatest treasure would be the boy who sent me on the hunt. 

The girl who found her hidden treasure, Erica

From the Beginning

That's us, Colton and Erica! Well I guess I'll start by telling our story from the beginning. That's always a nice place to start right? Back story: my grandma has lived in the same house my whole life next to the same neighbors, the Walkers. We kids always were running treats, bread and other things over to the Walkers house. When their dog had puppies, we always went over to play with them. Growing up, my little brother Ryan and I would scoot the little tramp my grandma had up to the wall and throw rocks at my grandma's neighbor kids swimming. The boy we happened to throw rocks at most often? You guessed it, it was Colton :) My grandpa passed away in 2004, Colton and his mother sang at his funeral. I was an awkward little 7th grader in jr. high when my grandpa passed away. Colton was a senior in high school, had a steady girlfriend, was going to go to college for a year and then serve a two year mission for our church. I don't remember seeing him after my grandpa's funeral for many years. 

Now I joke and say I didn't know what was right in front of my eyes but Colton and his family have always been a part of my life. Whether I noticed it or not. 

May 2009, I was getting ready to graduate from Mountain View High School. My grandma Olsen had been telling me about her "cute neighbor boy" for a couple months now and that I should meet him. I never thought anything of it because I was busy living in my "high school world".  Prom night I was going with some of my closest friends. My best friend Conger was in my group and she spent the night at my house after instead of driving back to hers in Fountain Hills. We slept in, as teenagers often do, and I missed church. I promised myself I would go to my grandma's ward later in the day after Conger had gone home. She left and I got ready to go to my grandma's ward. I was running late and sat next to my grandma's husband Orville near the front. My grandma was up on the stand going to sing in the ward choir. She saw me come in, keep in mind the meeting had already started and there were speakers giving talks, my grandma walked down off the stand, right over to me and whispered to me "there is my cute neighbor" POINTING over to him. Oh how i was so embarrassed! She then walked back up onto the stand. Not awkward or distracting at all, right? I kept peaking over at this "cute neighbor boy" to see if my grandma knew how to pick the good ones. I was impressed and immediately began to worry about how I looked, what I would say to him, etc. The meeting ended and he was the first one out the doors. I was shocked because I had been sure my grandma had talked to him or his mother about me and thought he would at least come up and say "hi" since it had been years since I had last seen him. I left church and didn't think about "cute neighbor boy" after that and my grandma didn't bring him up again. I graduated high school, got a job, enrolled in college and began "growing up". Lucky for me, my grandma wouldn't give up on setting us up that easily.

Until next time... and thanks for reading!

The girl who threw rocks, Erica