How I Became Mrs. Malone, Part VI

Just in time for Valentine's Day, here's the final chapter of How I Became Mrs. Malone (wherein, I actually do become Mrs. Malone.)

When I last left you, I had spent Spring Break in Hawaii, gone to Atlanta in May to meet David's family, and then spent a week in California together in August. After a difficult fall semester (in which I did not get to see David at all), I was very much looking forward to Christmas when I would be reunited with David again. David flew in on Christmas Eve and after a rather low-key Christmas, we spent the day after Christmas shopping for new shoes. (My Christmas present from David. He still really hates the shoes I got that day, but they are comfortable!)

I knew that the engagement was coming and I knew it was coming that night. When you have a long distance relationship, it's really hard to be spontaneous with moments like these. I knew David had the ring--and despite my best efforts, I never did find it--and I knew he did not want to wait a long time before making our engagement official. Not that everyone didn't already know we were getting married. Not that we hadn't already set the date. I'd already ordered my dress (a gorgeous Maggie Sottero ivory lace gown which I love and will love until the day I die), met with the florist, and sampled cakes. All I needed was the ring. The actual proposal was immaterial to me. And I guess I had already gotten my spontaneous and surprising proposal a year and a half before. This time, I was prepared and ready for it. And I finally knew what my answer was going to be.

The night of our engagement.

So the day after Christmas Eve, David and I got all dressed up and went to a quaint Italian restaurant called Osteria Romantica near La Jolla Shores, my favorite beach in San Diego. We had a delicious meal, during which we recounted our entire relationship from the very first moment I saw David with applesauce bulging out of his pockets to the long months of separation that we had endured. After dinner, we went for a walk on the beach. It was a chilly night--as chilly as San Diego gets during the winter--and I was surprised by the number of people still out, having bonfires. We walked until we were far enough away from the other people and David said some really nice things (I was too anxious to really pay attention by this point) and then, against my wishes, David got down on one knee, in the sand, and proposed. I quickly said yes--almost before he had gotten the question out of his mouth--and stuck out my hand for the ring. It was a simple square-cut solitaire with a thin, delicate band, but it was perfect for me. Inside, David had inscribed "uxoriously yours." (Uxorious means excessively devoted to one's wife. I would have loved to have seen the jeweler's face when David requested that.) We drove home to my expectant parents and announced that FINALLY, we were officially engaged, to the shock of no one.

The NEXT day, December 27th, I went to the San Diego temple to take out my endowments for the first time. It was wonderful to have my family there--my mom and dad, grandmother, Jason, my sister-in-law Elisa--and David. Afterwards, we went to my favorite Mexican restaurant, Fidel's, in Solana Beach. The rest of our Christmas break together is a bit of a blur. There were wedding preparations to contend with, engagement photos to take, decisions to be made, etc. I wanted to get as much done as I could while in San Diego since I would not be back until two weeks before the wedding. And though it can be done, it is mighty difficult to plan a wedding in San Diego when you live in Washington D.C. Thank goodness my mother has done this 3 times before and knew just what to do.

One of our engagement photos.

New Year's Eve was not as eventful. David and I had both gotten sick and we just laid around all night. I'm not even sure if we were able to make it to midnight before falling asleep. On January 3rd, both David and I flew to Chicago and then I boarded a plane headed for DCA (Reagan airport) and David got on one for BWI (Baltimore). David had finally managed to get enrolled in a language training class near Fort Meade for 5 weeks, which meant that he was now only an hour away from me. We spent as much time together as we could. He would borrow the rental car assigned to him and the other girl attending the class to come see me during the weekdays while I would take the commuter train up to BWI on the weekends and then we would rent a car and travel around. We went to Mt. Vernon, Gunston Hall, the Baltimore Aquarium (and ate at Roy's for the first time, which has become one of my favorite restaurants), made several trips to the D.C. temple, ate at Chipotle's approximately 10 times(since there none in Hawaii), went on a tour of the West Wing (compliments of my friend Jen who worked at the White House), and visited Old Town Alexandria. Over Martin Luther King, Jr. Day weekend, David and I rented a car and drove up to New Jersey to see Jason and Elisa. (Luckily, David and Jason get along really well because they both share a love of Legos and Star Wars.) We drove into New York City on Saturday and did a session at the Manhattan temple, went to the top of the Empire State Building, and then visited Times Square. It was my third time to NYC and David's first but I think you could spend your life there and never see everything worth seeing. Still, I like my NYC in small doses.

Me David, Elisa and Jason on the top of the Empire State Building

While David was tackling Korean during the day, I had just started my last semester of grad school which included an internship at the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History. I worked with a curator in the Music, Sports and Entertainment department to assist her with the publication of a new book on the museum's collection of puppets. I spent time researching, organizing and re-cataloguing the collection and untangling string after tangled string of 100 year old puppets to be photographed for the book. I did, however, get on a first name basis with Kermit the Frog, Howdy Doody and Charlie McCarthy. Oscar was there too but he really is a grouch. (Just kidding...)

At the Smithsonian with Howdy Doody, Kermit and Charlie McCarthy.

I also had a class on race in America (which ended up being one of my favorite and most thought-provoking classes even though it was the one most outside of my academic comfort zone) and a class about vernacular architecture (loved the subject, HATED the professor).

We spent our birthdays together and then David flew back to Hawaii on February 9th, the day after my birthday. We went back to our long distance lives, me busy with school, work and my internship and David with work and his first semester back at school. I wanted to go to Hawaii for Spring Break again, but the tickets were incredibly expensive and so I opted to go to Utah for Spring Break to visit my sister and do research on a paper I was writing for my vernacular architecture class on Mormon tabernacles. I flew into Denver, where Cassy had been visiting friends, on March 14 and then we drove back to Utah together, stopping in East Carbon to visit my grandmother, grandfather, and my parents and sister Bobbi, who were also in Utah that weekend. It was the last time I saw my Grandpa before he died in October.

Salt Lake Assembly Hall, Temple Square

While in Utah, I visited a bunch of tabernacles (Brigham City, Bountiful, Salt Lake, Provo, and Heber) and went through a temple session in Provo and Salt Lake (so gorgeous inside!), did research, visited family, ate at all my favorite places, and played with my absolutely adorable nephew.

The absolutely adorable nephew helping me research at the Bountiful Tabernacle.

I flew back to D.C. on March 21st, and got down to the business of graduating. I turned in my application for graduation, studied, took, and passed my comprehensive exams, and finished all my coursework (though I cut it close this semester). My friends threw me a bridal shower and my high school friend Whitney was able to come, having come down from Massachusetts to visit that weekend, which was a real treat.


I graduated on May 16, and my parents had flown in that day, while Jason and Elisa drove down from New Jersey. We spent the rest of the week exploring. I took them on a tour of the American History museum, we visited monuments and memorials, the Masonic temple in Alexandria, the Udvar-Hazy extension of the Air and Space Museum, went to several baseball games, and visited some Civil War battlefields. My parents left on May 22nd. I spent the next two days packing, shipping my books and other belongings to Hawaii, and saying good-bye to friends and then I left D.C. for good on May 24th.

Family photo with Kermit.

I had two weeks until the wedding and one week until I would see David again. There were details to finalize, dress fittings, another bridal shower to attend, and some freaking out to do. I wasn't really worried about getting married at this point, but more stressed with getting everything organized and arranged, with all the friends and family coming in for the wedding, balancing between spending time with my family and with David's, who were all flying in (minus one sister) from Atlanta for the occasion. We got our marriage license, went to the Wild Animal Park, went to a Padres game, had tuxedos fitted and us girls had our nails done. And then, it was the day before my wedding. All the days leading up to June 6th are now a big blur of activity. I can't even recall how I felt, if I was nervous or anxious or just excited.

Me with my bridesmaids: Jen, Cassy, me, Bobbi and Kara

I woke up the next morning, did my hair and makeup, and my mother and I drove to the temple together where we met David and Jacob a little before 10am (they spent the night at my grandparents' house). David and I were whisked away to be attended by many different people and we were finally brought in the sealing room at 11 am. I wish I could remember what Brother Kirby said (I know there a something about our children) but all I remember is looking at my friends and family watching, some of them crying (Kara!), and then being told that I could kiss David and thinking he was just a little too enthusiastic about that. After the ceremony was completed, we were able to greet all our guests and then we went outside to take pictures in my gorgeous, beautiful wedding dress. (My dad even told me that of all the wedding dresses worn by his daughters, mine was his favorite.)


After all the photos were taken, David and I checked into our hotel at the La Jolla Hyatt and then drove back to my parent's house were we had an informal early dinner for close friends and family on the back deck. We had Mexican food, catered by the best little taco shop in Poway, El Ranchito. I really wanted to have a dinner with just my close friends because I knew I wouldn't get much of a chance to talk to them during the reception. After everyone was done eating, my mom proposed a toast, which took most of the participants a little by surprise. So after chatting with everyone, and helping to clean up, David and I drove back to La Jolla, to our fancy little hotel room, to spend our first night as husband and wife. (I'll spare you the details.)

We came back to my parent's house in the afternoon and David and I took Jen and Jacob (the maid of honor and best man, respectively) out to lunch at Mimi's Cafe and then returned home to help with the last minute reception details. David, however, had to finish a paper for one of his classes, so I helped while he worked on that downstairs. Of course, we were both late getting ready for the reception and we ended up being 15 minutes late (I hate not being punctual). The reception was held at Templar's Hall in Old Poway Park and it's a beautiful location for a wedding reception. The centerpieces consisted of brown urns filled with purple and white flowers on top of a stack of antique books. I called the theme of my reception "literary romance."

The centerpieces.

We had a beautiful cake and cupcakes, lots of fresh fruit, sandwiches, salad, and pink lemonade. We danced our first song to "Blue Eyes" by Carey Brothers, but I forgot to toss my bouquet. It was a beautiful reception, though not a terribly fancy one, but I mostly enjoyed getting to wear my dress and talking to all the guests who had come to wish us well.

My high school friends: Nicole, Kara, me, and Tessa

After cleaning up and saying our final good-byes to friends and family (who we most likely would not see again), David and I drove up to my parent's cabin in the Palomar Mountains where we spent the next two nights. We came home, packed up all our belongings and then flew to Oahu together on Monday, June 9th and I saw my new home for the first time. (For the record, David did carry me over the threshold.) The next day we flew to the Big Island where we spent the next four days at Hawaii Volcanoes National Park. We hiked into the volcano, trekked through a lava tube, saw breathtaking waterfalls, went swimming on a black sand beach, and visited the only historic house on the island. I even built an entire puzzle by myself while David wrote his last paper for his class. :-) It was a wonderful honeymoon and a great start to our marriage.



I can't believe it's been eight months already. It's certainly always entertaining being married to David and the next two years that we'll spend living in South Korea will certainly be quite the adventure. Thanks for letting me share our story with you. I'm sure you'll get to hear lots more about our adventures together as they happen.