It's been a while....

Wow.....it's been a while! Sorry about that. A lot has been going on and the time just flies.

Our Sealing was wonderful. Even though the weather was a little uncooperative, Tom got some great photos! It's always so fun to be in the city. Thanks to everyone who came to the open house. It was so nice to have everyone over.

So, lots has happened since then. We went to Florida for Thanksgiving to visit my family. Then we got to spend Christmas with both sides of our family. That was really great! We know that is going to just get harder to do again.

Josh's mom and my mom have the same birthday! We wish we could have celebrated with them both, but that couldn't happen, sorry mom. We did get to throw Sally a surprise party at our place for her big 59+1, as she likes to put it. It was a lot of funny to see her get sprayed with silly string when she came in. Also, there was a great roast! I have to say, the Pratt's were the funniest giving her a "Near Death for 60 Years Certificate." Those Pratt's are so cleaver.

The we Winter's birthday!!! She turned 30 this year and we wanted to have a fun night with her. We decided on a Carnivale theme. We had beads and masks and really great New Orleans food! It was fun really running away with the theme! Josh made Winter a great ice cream cake! It was lots of fun and we have some great pics we will have to post!

In between Christmas and now, we've been able to take a couple VT trips. Those were great! The Page family is so welcoming and lots of fun. It's easy to see where Winter gets it from. We also go to go up with our friends Keith and Meredith. That weekend, we got to go snowboarding. Wow, did that kick my butt. More specifically, my tailbone. It still hurt for weeks for me to sit certain ways. But it was a good time. We also got to see the Snowboarding US Open. That was awesome!! Most of the Olympians were there competing. It was so great to see them all. Also, the trips they were doing was insane! I could barely stay up and they were throwing themselves all over the place and landing, most of the time.

It's been a busy and wonderful year for us!!! Well keep you posted on some upcoming events! Also, I'll post some pics from some of the fun stuff we did this year.

~Colleen

Open House FAQ

We have received several people asking the same questions about our open house to celebrate our sealing so we thought it would be a good idea to address these questions publicly.

Frequently Asked Questions:

Q: Are children allowed or should we hire a sitter?
A: Children are more than allowed, they are welcomed! We apologize if that wasn't clear on the invitation.

Q: What is the attire?
A: Colleen and I will be wearing formal attire (wedding dress and suit respectively), but only ask that our guests where business casual attire.

Q: Where should we park?
A: Colleen and I live in a private community (Harborview) which has limited on-the-street parking. It is recommended that you park in front of the main entrance on either side of the road. It is about a 200M flat walk from the main entrance to our home. If you are unable to walk that distance or need to park closer we will have a few reserved spots in our driveway. Just let us know ahead of time so we can reserve you a spot.

We look forward to seeing everyone in one week!!

What is a Sealing?

A sealing is a marriage that lasts for eternity. In most civil marriage ceremonies there are the words "until death do you part." This means that at the death of either spouse the marriage is no longer binding. A sealing is a sacred ordinance that binds or seals the marriage of a man and a woman for all time and eternity. This ordinance makes it possible to be married forever and not just until death do you part. Colleen and I were civilly married on May 9, 2009 and are anxiously looking forward to October 24, 2009 when we can have our marriage sealed for eternity!

Because of the sacred nature of a sealing, this ordinance can only be performed in the Lord's Holy Temples under the authority of the priesthood. Below is a short video from mormon.org that explains the role of temples in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Wedding Pictures!!

Sorry it has taken us so long to post the wedding photos, but at last here they are! You can click on any of the slideshows on the right or go to http://picasaweb.google.com/josh.francia to view them all.

If anyone has more photos from the wedding they would like to add, send them to us at josh.francia@gmail.com.

ENJOY!!

Thank You

We wanted to thank everybody that helped us with our wedding!! We truly appreciate all your hard work and determination. We recently returned home from our fabulous honeymoon in the Caribbean and will post some pictures soon.

Thanks again for making our special day perfect!!

Much Love,
Josh and Colleen

My Story: Why I Became a Mormon

In the beginning of last year, I knew there were a lot of things I wanted to change about my life.

In January, I started a new job and that made me realize that I could change whatever I wanted in my life. There were so many things that I wanted to figure out in my life I wasn't sure where to start.

Then there was Josh. He was a huge ray of sunshine for me. We got along so well and had a great time together.

On our second date, I noticed that he didn't order any alcohol to drink. I noticed it on our first date too, but just figured it was the first date so he didn't want any. So the second time, I waited for the waitress to leave and asked Josh "Do you drink?"

I had no idea that asking that question would lead me to where I am today. He then told me that he doesn't drink for religious reasons. So I asked, what does that mean. Then he told me that he was a Mormon. I told him that the only thing that I know about Mormons is Julie from "The Real World". He laughed and told me that Julie was not the best example of a Mormon. I told him good, because I think Julie is nuts.

We only talked about it a little bit that night at dinner. It wasn't until the next date that Josh told me more about the church. He told me all about who Joseph Smith was and what he did. He talked to me about the Book of Mormon and the Word of Wisdom ( Mormon's law of health). I'll admit, at first, I was turned off by it. It was a lot of information to take in and I didn't know how I felt by it.

A couple months after we had been dating, Josh asked me if I wanted to talk to the missionaries. I said sure. I thought it would be nice to hear this information from people other than the person I was dating. I wanted to understand what the church was all about.

I was so nervous the first time I talked to the missionaries. They seemed intimidating to me. All dressed up with their scriptures and very polite. Only after a couple sessions did I realize that they were 19 year old boys and this was just as much a learning experience for them as it was for me.

I really started to enjoy the talks with the missionaries. I'm sure they didn't like talking to me as much though because I would fire crazy questions at them all the time. Josh tells me that I am very direct with my questions. I think I was the most hung up on the Word of Wisdom. I kept saying, "It says hot drinks, why can't I have iced tea. I love iced tea. I thought tea was good for you." I understood the whole no drugs, smoking, and alcohol thing. That all makes sense to me. The iced tea thing just didn't make sense to me.

So my sessions continued and they were going great. There was only one problem. There were questions I wanted to ask the missionaries, but not in front of Josh. I realized that this would be a dilemma for me. So, I told Josh I was done with the talks for a while.

What Josh didn't know is that I decided to talk to missionaries online at mormon.org so that I could ask them any question I wanted without Josh being there. They weren't horrible questions, just things I didn't want to talk about in front of Josh early on in our relationship. I wanted to understand everything on my own. I wanted to do this for me. I didn't want Josh to think that I was going to go through this just to be with him. I truly wanted to learn.

I needed that time with the missionaries online to better understand the church for myself. I loved going down to the computer lab at my apartment complex and waiting for the next available computer so I could make my appointment online with the missionaries.

After several weeks, Josh noticed that we weren't having our talks anymore and I wasn't asking him any more questions. So, he decided to ask me if I have any questions. I said no. I know that he thought at that point that I was over it and I didn't want to talk about the church anymore. Well, being who I am, I can't keep a secret. So, I told Josh that I don't have any questions because my questions were being answered by the missionaries online. He replied, "Missionaries from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormon Missionaries)? They have missionary chat?" I said yes, I had been talking online with a few of them over the last couple weeks.

He asked me if I wanted to meet with the "offline" missionaries and I said sure. Through the summer, there were some great sessions and I really started to feel that the church was true. Every time I would learn new things, it would make me happy. I would even read my scriptures before I went to bed and on the train into work the next morning. I gained a testimony that the church is true over the summer. It made me feel so happy. I started living the word of wisdom, no iced tea and all! I've really grown to love lemonade on hot summer days.

I decided in late August that I wanted to become part of the church. I joined the church September 20, 2009. Josh baptized me and it was a wonderful day. There were really wonderful people there with me and really wonderful people there with me in spirit. It felt great. I could not stop smiling all day. It was the most wonderful feeling. I'm so grateful for all the support that I have had from my family and friends.

I've been a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints for over 7 months and I'm so happy. I have a wonderful fiance that opened up my world. I know that I wouldn't be where I am today, with so much happiness in my life, if I never met Josh. I know I wanted to do this for myself, but I never would have known about it without him.

Our Story: The First Date

After about two weeks of going out to lunch I finally decided to ask Colleen out on a real date. I was much smoother with my date request than I was with my initial lunch proposal. Our first date was on February 23, although Colleen thought it was on the 22nd for the last year or so. The day greeted us with a winter snow storm and I remember waking up and thinking, "I am pretty sure I could work from home today, but I should go in and see Colleen."

In addition to the wintry weather, I awoke feeling under the weather and dreading driving to work. I left for work at the usual time and didn't realize that we had a delayed opening until I saw that the parking lot was completely untouched.

After work Colleen came over to my house and then we left for a night on the town!!

We ate dinner at a restaurant in SONO called Bulldog. I never heard of it before and we soon found out why. It was the weirdest restaurant I've ever been to. Picture Friday's + Bob Marley + College Dorm Room = Bulldog.

I ordered chicken parm and they thought it was a good idea to serve that on top of a heaping pile of mashed potatoes! My Italian ancestors were rolling over in their graves.

I ordered a Mexican burger and I only ate a quarter of it. It wasn't that good.

So Bulldog was a bust, but we did have a good time chatting. On a side note - Bulldog went out of business 6 months later. After dinner we did the status quo for dates and saw a movie. I was excited to see this new film that had just come out: JUMPER!

That was probably the dumbest movie I've ever seen. Horrible acting and even worse story line. It was good thing Josh is cute or this may have been our first and only date.

I agreed - not with the me being cute stuff (although I do (-:), but the movie was really bad. I think the saving grace we got from the movie was that a few months later we learned that the two stars of the film got engaged.

He drove us back to his house and then we talked a little bit and then I went home. It was still snowing, so I didn't want to risk staying out too late. The date's activities were a bust, but the company was awesome!