This is.

I married my best friend and my partner for life on April 22, 2012. Earth Day. We worked our balls off to make this wedding reflect who we are and what we love, and to make it green green green. We couldn't possibly represent everything that we stand for in one day, so I decided to start a photo blog of the first year of our marriage. We walked down the aisle to Bright Eyes' "This is the First Day of My Life." Our friend Alison performed the song with her acoustic guitar. Our friends Tiffany and Hilary read passages, and Kayla's mom Linda read an excerpt from a sweet book called Margarettowne, where a dying father translates his version of love and commitment to his 8 year old daughter that he will leave behind. The ceremony was beautiful. It was amazing. I could write volumes about what our commitment ceremony meant to us from the start of our engagement, what it evolved to mean to us, how it made us appreciate our community and friendships, and ultimately how it served as a catalyst for healing in our relationships with our families. But I won't do that now. This blog is about The First Day of My Life. It starts now. The first day that I spend married to my beautiful partner, Kayla Williams.

We woke up at our venue, House on the Hill, the next morning to find this pile of gifts that we opened the night before. One of my best memories from our wedding will be the after party with Sean and Lauren. We pulled the keg up to the front porch of the house, brought the IPOD dock outside as well and danced and sang into the wee hours of the night. Lauren performed her "Texas" version of an Adele song and Kayla spilled red wine all over her white wedding pants. We decided then that we should lug all of our wedding gifts to the porch and open them in front of Lauren and Sean. It was fun.

Here is our beloved Cocker Spaniel, Bertie, posed in front of the waterfall at the venue. He had his first "cocker spaniel haircut" a few days before the wedding. We like him long and shaggy, but its hot and he needed a trim. We think he looks super handsome no matter what, but his head kind of resembles a bowl cut.

This is a photo of Kayla trying to coax Bertie into the swimming pool. To our knowledge, Bertie has never been swimming. He didn't try it out today, but he was curious. If one of us got into the pool first, he might join in.