The DR

As many of you know, Rachel and I are now married! We had the most amazing sealing, I loved it and it will be a day I treasure for the rest of my life. It is beautiful that life, with all of its disappointments and inevitable failures, surprises you with beautiful experiences. Not that I thought that our marriage would be traumatic or that I would have bad feelings about it, I think that there are just some things in life that are so wonderful that you can't contemplate them accurately until they have already passed. It was more wonderful than anything my imagination would have been capable of conjuring up. Any of you that were there know what I'm talking about, it was a beautiful wedding. We were truly blessed with a day full of grace and wonder.

I wanted to talk a little bit about our honeymoon. We went to the Dominican Republic to visit the place where I served my mission many years ago. This was so amazing! When Rachel initially wanted to go the Dominican Republic, I was actually a little worried. I was hesitant because sometimes traveling in the 3rd world isn't as much fun as you might think it will be. I should have known that my Racher would love it! We had so much fun. The only think that wasn't perfect was that Rachel got a cough. Not just any cough, a crazy uncontrollable cough. It was so sad to see Rachel coughing and coughing until it hurt. We tried to get her some medicine and cough drops but they were only marginally effective. So Rachel just ended up having a cough the whole time, but it somehow didn't affect us very much.

I was really impressed because she had a good attitude the whole time. We were able to visit all of my areas, see some people that I loved and who loved me and Rachel had a good time the whole time. I always loved Rachel's spirit of adventure. I imagined all of the adventures we would have together because she really is good at making the best of hard situations. But I didn't understand how resistant to bad moods she actually is! If anybody has driven in the DR, they know that it is not for the faint of heart. It is scary and Rachel took it all in stride. People here think that I am a crazy driver, but I think Rachel now has a new appreciation for my driving. She's more attracted to me because of my third world driving.

Now of course, I know that a lot of Rachel's good attitude had to do with the fact that we were in the third world. Rachel LOVES the third world. I'd wager that had we been in a better off nation, she wouldn't have enjoyed it as much. But this is just another thing that I absolutely adore about my Racher. She is so unique and I am so lucky to have her. I've been blessed with a beautiful, sweet wife who is the best company in the world, 3rd, 2nd, or 1st world!