Mr. and Mrs. Justin Tyson

“This is my wish for you: Comfort on difficult days, smiles when sadness intrudes, rainbows to follow the clouds, laughter to kiss your lips, sunsets to warm your heart, hugs when spirits sag, beauty for your eyes to see, friendships to brighten your being, faith so that you can believe, confidence for when you doubt, courage to know yourself, patience to accept the truth, Love to complete your life.”

-Jeanette Winterson

 Justin and I would like to thank everyone who helped us celebrate our wedding, rain and shine!! We have been married 18 days and are already loving each other more than we thought possible.

 Thanks to our photograher, Sarah Mudder (www.bestgalphotography.com) and her assistant, Tia Williams (www.lifethroughtiaslens.blogspot.com), I am happy to be able to offer you a glimpse of our wonderful day and their beautiful talent!

"You can never be happily married to another until you get a divorce from yourself. Successful marriage demands a certain death to self."

Jerry McCant

"Friendship is unnecessary, like philosophy, like art... It has no survival value; rather is one of those things that give value to survival."

C. S. Lewis

"There are three things that last: faith, hope and love, and the greatest of these is love."
I Corinthians 13:13

"Newlyweds become oldyweds, and oldyweds are the reasons that families work."

 Author Unknown

"We come to love not by finding the perfect person, but by learning to see an imperfect person perfectly."

Sam Keen

"Is not a kiss the very autograph of love? "

Henry Finck

"Happiness is like a kiss - it feels best when you give it to someone else. "

"Thousands of candles can be lighted from a single candle, and the life of the candle will not be shortened. Happiness never decreases by being shared."

Buddha

"It is the passion that is in a kiss that gives to it its sweetness; it is the affection in a kiss that sanctifies it. "

Christian Nevell Bovee

"A happy marriage is a new beginning of life, a new starting point for happiness and usefulness."

Dean Stanley

"Remember that happiness is a way of travel, not a destination. "

Roy Goodman

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Honeymoonin' in Yosemite!

Well, we're back and the real world has already begun for Justin. While he is at work, I reminisce about our the beautiful views, friendly wildlife, and cozy cabin--all put together for our amazing time in Yosemite National Park.

As we entered the park, Justin began to squeal  and he didn't stop until we left that next Saturday! We had arrived! We quickly realized that those individuals who marked the territory of Yosemite knew exactly where to place the boundaries! Right past the entrance to the park we were welcomed with a large granite faces on either side of us!  Spectacular.

Of course our first stop was the grove of giant Sequoias! It was amazing! The largest tree in the park was 1800 years old and about 1.5 meters above the base the tree's diameter is 25.5 feet.

Check it out!

Well, earlier I mentioned the 'friendly wildlife.' On our hike to Vernal Falls and Nevada Falls, we stopped for a gorp and water break. Not a minute after we stopped, we had a little visitor!  This California Ground squirrel would climb in our laps and even grab and eat peanuts out of our hands! When we made it to the top of Nevada Falls we stopped for lunch. We were eating our sandwiches and our oatmeal cream pies were still in their wrappers out in front of us. All of a sudden, another squirrel snuck up and stole Justin's snack, wrapper and all! :)

Here are a few more pictures:

 Justin and I found a nice, secluded spot on a fallen pine tree in the middle of a meadow in Yosemite valley for lunch two days! This was our view! :)

Our trip felt complete because we saw two bears!!

When we were hiking at Hetch Hetchy, we saw dozens of these little newts!

It SNOWED!

Glacier Point Lookout!  Best view in the park!

Us at Glacier Point!

Mirror Lake!

Our cozy little cabin!

California poppies!

Our honeymoon may be over, but we are still happily married and loving more than we ever thought possible!

Almost, Almost!

Almost time! For a name change, that is! :) I thought I should blog on more time as a single (in the eyes of the government) lady!

Excitement is rising as our big day gets closer and closer! (Currently 5 days remaining!) All of the wedding plans are being finalized for an outdoor wedding at Wedgefield Plantation! However, the weather channel does not seem to be supporting our decision for this outdoor extravaganza...SO, there is a Plan B!

 Mom and I sat down yesterday afternoon and sifted through reply cards, separated them into accepts and regret piles, and began writing phone numbers on each card. We have them organized into who will call who and the directions from Charleston, Florence, Georgetown, and even Wedgefield to the church  where we will have the ceremony in the worst case scenario.

So, in case of bad weather on Saturday, a phone call will be made to all who accepted their invite and say, "Hey! We're getting married at Screven Baptist Church instead!" Staying positive....

In case anyone wants to in advance, the address to the church is:
 2221 South Island Rd
 Georgetown, SC 29440.
(However, unless you get a phone call....the wedding is still to be held at Wedgefield!) :)

After a little stressing, Justin reminded me that the weather channel is often wrong and that I am NOT allowed to freak out until the night before! He also told me to stop doing my silly, neurotic habit of checking weather.com every 30 minutes just in hopes of Saturday being clear! I'm trying to listen! :)

We're both SUPER excited and as long as we are married at the end of the day, it will be beautiful!

Its beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

    Although the weather is beginning to be sunny with temperatures reaching the upper 60's, it feels like Christmas all over again! A pile of gifts in the living room, a table full of food, flower arrangements, and family...this sounds very similar to holidays at the Parrott's! What is the special occasion? I guess it could only be the beginning of wedding celebrations! :) For the record, I have a WONDERFUL family! On Sunday, my Grandma, along with several Aunts hosted my first Bridal Shower!

   To give credit where credit is due, my Great Aunt Jo (grandma's sister) made all of the flower arrangements! They were all so beautiful and very impressive! It really does not surprise me, however. All of the Mahoney ladies know all of the rules of etiquette...and gardening.

   My Aunt Jean (Mom's sister) also helped out with much of the planning! (See where I get my red hair??) She, Kathy, and Aunt Angie made the invitations, the punch, and brought the fruits and vegetables! Oh, what a party!

 

Oh and the little cake squares.... It's not a bridal shower without them! Man, I do not think I have ever realized how addicting they are until Sunday! (This is not a good thing, though...considering there is a fluffy white dress hanging in my closet that I need to fit into in a couple weeks for Bridal Portraits!)

 I was so overwhelmed (in a good way) with gifts! I wish we had taken a picture of all of them together! I told Justin that he would have to wait to find out what we got until he came home to see all of the pretty presents in person...but my excitement won out and I ended up bombarding him with all of the details of the party! Nothing about the detail-by-detail record of the day got his excitment up until he we started talking about the presents! (of course...)

I believe his excitement peeked when he heard we got the cast iron Dutch oven!!

   Thanks to these lovely ladies the shower went beautifully! Grandma Parrott, Aunt Jo Gamble, Aunt Angie, and Aunt Jean all deserve a very big hug and a million thank you's! Justin and I really appreciate all of the love and support! We love each and every one of you!!! Thanks so much, again!

New Look....New Philosophy

 "A young couple's journey through love, faith, marriage, and remodeling..."

 As we begin a new chapter in our lives, we understand that LOVE and FAITH brought us to this point, MARRIAGE! Our love for each other and our faith in the Lord has kept our relationship growing and makes it irreplacable. As we remodel the house, there will be many a blog posts about our accomplishments, but REMODELING can also be taken metaphorically. Justin and I see marriage as a major improvement in both of our lives and realize necessary changes will occur.

Through love, faith, marriage, and remodeling, we are off on a journey! A journey to honor Christ, reflect his holiness, and create a beautifully happy home together!

Sequoias and Waterfalls!

 It's official! Flights have been booked. A cabin has been reserved. We have a honeymoon destination! Where are we going? Let's see if you can figure it out...

• To begin with, cell phone reception may be spotty because of the mountain terrain, and may not be available at all in some locations.

Currently, Justin calls me around 9pm for our nightly conversations. I guess when we are at this location we won't need any cellphone service, since we do not have a 9 o'clock phone call to catch anymore!! (Oh, the little things make me excited!!)

Okay, was that not a good clue? I'll try again...

• Remember Justin is a major part of the planning of our honeymoon, so of course there will be big trees in the vicinity!

Sequoias and Ponderosa Pines are just two of the trees we are anxious to see! (Since most of you know where Sequoias are found, this is a very good hint!)

Some intersting facts about our destination:

• In 2007, 12 bears were hit by cars here! I guess the bears haven't learned to use the cross-walks yet! :)
• The waterfalls are at their best in late May! Woo-hoo! Lucky us!
• We expect to encounter relatively warm days, since the average high is 73 degrees and the low is 42 degrees. There is still a chance for an occasional winter storm, though. (The website says relatively warm days, but I am assuming, since we are both from the Southeast, that we may get a little chilly!)

So, have you figured it out? I'll give you a couple more clues:

• Well, it is in California. We fly into San Francisco on Sunday, May 23!
• From San Francisco we will drive east four hours until we reach our destination! :) 

A picture may help!

We're going to YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK!

We can't wait to have our own pictures of the beautiful sites to share with you, but for now, I had to steal them from Google Images!

We fly out of Atlanta on Sunday, May 23 to arrive in San Francisco late that night. The next day we plan drive the rental car four hours east to our cabin located in Yosemite! We will spend a relaxing week site-seeing and enjoying each others company!! We will drive back to San Francisco on Saturday and fly home to Charlotte on Sunday!

Justin and I are both really excited to have finally decided on a destination and we absolutely can not wait to go!