She sells seashells by the seashore...

Just wanted to post some of the pictures from our Australian reception! Enjoy!

Friends are the Bacon Bits in the Salad Bowl of Life

After having fun in the snow it was time for our third (and thankfully final..) wedding celebration. I will tell you what...weddings are fun but the stress of receptions spread over a month is too much for this girl! We had previously held our wedding ceremony in Sydney and then followed it with a reception in Australia at Sam's parents house. Our ceremony in CO was to be 2 days after Christmas in hopes of snagging a chance to see old friends who were back just for the holidays! We were blessed to have some of my oldest and dearest friends come to our reception as well ad numerous relatives... some that flew in just for the day! The reception was beautiful, thanks to the hard work of my mom and aunt Gretchen, and the air was filled with laughter and warm greetings from friends and family! I can't imagine any better way to celebrate Sam and I's union!

Walkin in a winter wonderland....

So that Sam could have his first white Christmas, we headed out to Colorado 2 weeks after our sealing in the Sydney temple! My mom greeted us at the airport with a nice warm jacket for Sam...which came in really handy in the below freezing Colorado weather! :)

The view from my mom's front yard in Salida. The snow was so powdery it just covered everything.

Sam and I having our first snow fight...he threw a snowball in my face, I white-washed him...we're pretty even!

Sam had a blast snowshoeing! He was running as fast as he could in the snowshoes which did result in him tumbling into snowdrifts from time to time......

Even with our snowshoes on we were still sinking into the snow pretty far!

Since I had missed Thanksgiving dinner with my family in the states, mom prepared a Thanksgiving/Christmas dinner with all the usuals...turkey, cranberries, mashed potatoes...yum yum!

Sam and I with my baby, Forrest...I felt pretty special at home...these two boys were fighting over my attention the whole time...ha ha

After 2 days of snowboarding (and a small concussion for me) Sam went out for a boys day out with my step-dad John. John taught Sam all-about cross country-skiing which Sam now lists as his favorite winter sport! This is him standing with one foot on each side of the continental divide!

Actions Speak Louder than Words

Here are some fun videos from our honeymoon at Tuross Heads. Sam introduced me to all sorts of fun new sea creatures. I just had to document my first adventures with them!

Cruisin' on the coast

So I realize there are absolutely no wedding photos up of us yet, but Sam's sister is still in the process of getting us the digital copies, so we will be sure to post them asap for you! :)

Anyway, Sam and I were married in the Sydney Australia LDS Temple on December 9, 2008 at noon accompanied only by Sam's parents, his brother and sister-in-law, and some close church friends. It was a beautiful ceremony and I felt so blessed to be able to be sealed to Sam for time and all eternity in the gorgeous Sydney temple. I was now officially Mandy Parker and me and Sam were looking forward to starting our new life together as man and wife, and as eternal companions!

Before heading home for our big, blow-out reception at the Parker house, we traveled to Tuross Head Resort, a nice little beach resort about 2 hours away from home for a short honey moon. We rented a little house right on the beach for 2 nights ...and although it was windy the whole time, had a great time walking the beach!

The picture above is of Sam holding a little cuttlefish we found on the beach!

Sam and I taking a candid photo on our long beach walk

The view from our beach house at Tuross Heads.

Cheesy, yes...but we thought it was cute!!!!

After a fun stay at Tuross Heads, we started out on our second leg of the honeymoon which was to be a 100 kilometer bike ride (on elcetric bikes thankfully) from Tuross heads to home, with one overnight stay! Considering I had only been on a couple rides in 10 or so years I was pretty proud of myself when I completed the first 60 km on day 1 and completed most of the 40 km the next day! My les were killing me! But it was really nice getting to spent time with Sam, see the beautiful countryside, and take part in a sport that is so important to my new husband!

Day 1: Just leaving Tuross Heads

While I struggled just to pull myself :) , Sam pulled a trailer he cleverly designed that held all of the stuff we had brought with us for the trip! The trailer weighed upwards of 50 pounds and gave Sam a good workout the whole way home! :)

In the Land Down Under

I flew out to Sydney, Australia on Nov. 2 and straight into the arms of my fiancee! It was a long long trip but it was good to be back with him to start preparing for our sealing in the Sydney temple and start getting used to living in a different country. Sam greeted me at the airport with a big smile and a fresh picked rose from his mom's garden. The only mood dampener was that apparently while I had been flying to Oz, my cat, Osiris, had died of unknown causes. It broke my heart...but Sam was a willing shoulder for me to cry on.....
Below is a whole collection of random photos from the many adventures I had. My time in Australia was just long enough for me to start figuring things out before Sam and I had planned to fly back out to Colorado to spend Christmas with my family.

My baby, Osiris... Forrest (my other kitty) went into a severe depression after Osiris died...we will all miss him a lot!

This is just after arriving in Sydney. Sam and Emily picked me up from the airport and we made a quick stop by the Sydney LDS Temple before starting the 6 hour drive home.

Soon after I arrived in Australia, our local church decided to have a BBQ down at the beach. The food was delicious but it was freezing outside!

Cymmon, Toby, and I at the BBQ. Don't let our smiles fool you...we were cold! :)

Needing some much needed together time, Sam and I headed to the beach for a date.

Mine? Mine? Mine? he he!

Even though Thanksgiving is an American holiday, my sister-in-law helped me cook up a great dinner for my new Aussie family to enjoy! We did quite well! I was very proud of us! Cymmon even made a pumpkin pie from scratch!

Sam tearing up the track at our friend's the Wright's house!

No Boys Please....

So after all those updates we are finally back up to right before I moved out of Memphis and headed to Oz...
So my friend Amanda put on a last-minute, but awesome bachlorette party! It was a great way to say goodbye to my friends and make some good memories before heading out.

All the girls had to make wedding dresses out of construction paper without using scissors! It was a great activity and the girls did awesome!

Engagement photos!

Well...the title is kind of self explanatory... :) Below are just a few of Sam and I's engagement photos! The pictures were done by one of my best friends who also happens to be an old college roomie! She did an excellent job! (If you need a good photographer, I would highly recommend her....) ;)

I am super-woman...hear me roar! he he he!

My talented husband

Sam is an exceptional musician (even though he won't admit it). Here is a little snippit of him playing his Irish whistle. Isn't it beautiful? :) p.s. I tried and tried to get this to be upright but finally gave up...so just tilt your head and enjoy...I'll try and fix it later! :)

And here is update number TWO!

So here is segment numero 2 from the further adventures of Mandy and Sam in Colorado. We had quite the long list of adventures in the 3 weeks we were home so pardon the long list of photos following... :)

So after traveling back to Estes and spending some time with dad, Sam and I starting looking for a 14er to climb (Sam had been looking forward to climbing one since I mentioned it in Dec 2007). I was thinking something somewhat easy like Mt. Elbert...the tallest 14er but also a relatively easy climb... good for beginners, right? Well... Sam decided that instead of starting out easy, we would just tackle Long's Peak (which is classified as a 3, the most difficult you can get before you need ropes to climb). What is that saying he likes so much?.... oh yeah.."Bite off more than you can chew, and then chew it." Yup... that's my man! :)

Long's requires an early start in order to summit before potentially dangerous storms come in, as they commonly do, during the late afternoon in Colorado. This means we got up to the trail head at 4 am (no you aren't reading it wrong...I said 4 am!) :) The picture below is after about 2 1/2 hours of climbing as the sun is just rising over the mountains and burning off the morning mist...

At the base of Long's Peak's boulder field..hmmm...wonder where they got that name....

Sam was excited about seeing snow...especially since it was still 'summer' in Colorado

On the home stretch...after passing through the very windy key-hole, we scurried along the steep narrows

This is about where I gave up...Poor Sam was still ready to go but with my legs shaking and exhaustion setting in, 1000 more feet seemed impossible... Sam started getting nauseous from the altitude soon after so we congratulated ourselves on a good 7 hour climb and turned back down the mountain.

So Sam had planned on proposing at the summit of Long's but since I wussed out and the altitude was getting the better of us he pulled me over at the keyhole and proposed with the words, "Mandy, you have the key to my heart. Will you marry me?" I of course said yes and had a smile pasted on my face the whole rest of the way down! What a romantic man I have!

In response to Sam's proposal, we made and appointment and gathered at the Denver temple with my closest friends to celebrate our engagement and enjoy the peace and beauty of the Lord's house....

Sam and I with my best girlfriends, Casey and Christina, and their husbands

Now re-energized by the exciting events of the week, Sam and I set out to squeeze in as many more adventures as we could before he flew home to Australia. Since Sam had lugged his bike all the way from Australia (we affectionately call his bike Zoe...his other girlfriend), we sent him up old Monarch Pass while mom and I followed behind on foot.

After getting excited about the wilderness, we packed up mom and John's camper and headed out to Cottonwood Pass to spend a couple days enjoying all that the mountains had to offer....

Here's a picture of my puppy, Kaleb. The silly thing was terrified of the fire and kept running off to hide in the forest. Ah...well, anything done with Kaleb in tow turns out as some sort of adventure.

While me and mom enjoyed the warmth of the camper and slept in, Sam and John rose at the crack of dawn to go high mountain lake fishing....

Sam's first catch....

Gotta love the ever-changing weather in good 'ol Colorado

John headed out early to catch a football game back in Salida so mom, Sam, and I spent the rest of the day hiking up to Ptarmigan Lake.

Here we are! At the high mountain Ptarmigan Lake.

On our final day before Sam flying out, we decided to try one more 14er. Since we hadn't summited Long's Peak we decided to try Mt. Shavano, a difficult climb (a 2 on the difficulty scale) but still obtainable.

Stopping for lunch at 12,500 feet

Just up that 'small' pile of rocks and we are at the top!!!!

We made it! Sam at the very very top of Mt. Shavano celebrating our victory and enjoying the beautiful scenery!