Wonderful Day! (OR...longest post in Blogger history)

Whew! It's over! But what a wonderful day. I took lots of pictures, and want to get things written (typed!) down while it's all still fresh...even though I really just want to sleep! Warning: long post ahead with lots of pictures! This isn't one of those posts where I'm worried about going on and on forever and boring my readers...I want to record the events and feelings of today for me, and for my family, so I'm not going to worry about how long it ends up being. I'm just warnin' ya!

The day started bright and early as I had 5 people to get ready (and by 5 I really mean 6- 'cause we all know that husbands really can't get ready themselves either!). We had to be to the temple at 9:50 a.m., so I was up at 6! This is super early for me...I'm so not a morning person! If 9:50 seems like a weird time to you, I'll give a crash course in Mormon weddings as we go.

I wanted to do some fun, fancy hair on the girls, but needed to get my hair curled first. This took almost an hour! Got the girls up and dressed and primped and made them pose for some "hair shots"!

Don't want to leave Bookworm out, but seriously - this took like 2 seconds, so this picture is not to show off his hair...just his handsome face!

Mormon Weddings 101: For those of you who aren't LDS, I'd like to give a quick explanation of the craziness of a Mormon wedding day. It's an all day event! First is the marriage in the temple, which usually takes place in the morning. There are several sealing rooms in the temple and multiple weddings take place on any given day in the temple. So they are scheduled at intervals throughout the day. Ours was at 10:20 a.m., and we needed to be there 30 minutes early. Since we don't have a typical wedding ceremony with the whole "walking down the aisle", and bridesmaids and groomsmen with certain wedding ceremony responsibilities, there is no rehearsal dinner. Instead the marriage is followed by a wedding breakfast or luncheon for close family and friends. Then in the evening the wedding reception takes place. Of course all families do things differently, and I'm sure this isn't exactly the case for all LDS weddings.

We got to the temple on time (amazing!), and the ceremony was just really beautiful. And J (my bro.) and C (his bride!), were seriously radiant! It was just a joy to be a part of. We then went outside for pictures. I hope to get my hands on some of the professional ones so I can post them - but for now my seriously amateur shots will have to do. Also - it was windy and COLD! BUT - the storm stayed away until the end of the evening so YAY!

My baby brother and his adorable bride!

That's my dad in the wheelchair...not sure where mom's at!

Posin' with the nieces and nephews. At least trying...did I mention it was COLD? That's the actual photographer's elbow in the picture...I'm too tired to crop tonight!

This is the same temple my wonderful husband and I were married in over 13 years ago. I got a little carried away with took some shots of the temple, because I just love it so much. Besides what it means to me spiritually, I just really think it is an amazing piece of architecture.

I didn't actually take this picture...I just wanted you to have a full shot, and I was too lazy to walk a gazillion miles in my heels to get the whole temple in my shot! The rest of these are mine.


We left the temple a little after noon. The luncheon didn't start until 1:30, so we zipped home so Monkey could go to the bathroom, we could let the dog out, and I could touch up the girls' hair. Then we got a call from my mom! "We need your help!" She said. On the way home they realized something was stuck under their car. My mom thought she must have run over something that got stuck, and they exited the freeway (conveniently the exit that goes to our house), but couldn't dislodge it. My dad has a lot of health problems and severe chronic pain - no condition to crawl under the car and try to fix it. At this point it's almost time for us to be at the restaurant for the luncheon. So we rush the kids out to the car, Hubby throws his jack, disposable mechanic's jumpsuit (yes they actually make those!), and roller board (I don't really know what this is called, but mechanics lay on it to roll under cars) into the back of the minivan. We rush to where they're stranded and it's Hubby to the rescue! I HAD to take some pic's for posterity's sake!




My mom actually didn't run over anything, the cover for the undercarriage of their car actually FELL OFF! It was still partly connected, so Hubby had to finish detaching it. Then off to Mimi's Cafe! The luncheon was yummy - but tiny servings! At least that helped with my diet...portion control built in!

With a couple of hours to kill until the reception, we came back home to let the dog out again and change into our reception clothes. Monkey fell asleep on the way home, and I didn't want to bring her in and lay her down because of her hair. So we propped her up in the corner of our over stuffed chair, with a chair pillow to help keep her from falling over. It didn't work - this is how I found her after I helped Cowgirl and Pixie change and re-touch up their hair.


So I moved the pillow, and leaned her back more. This is how I found her the next time I came in! (so lady-like)

It was finally time to wake her so we could change her dress and fix her smooshed hair...this is how she reacted to that unpleasantness!



We then had a LONG, but lovely evening with pictures, new family, old friends good food and lots and lots of joy!

Uncle J and Bookworm

Aunt C and the girls

The kids also enjoyed helping Uncle "D" trash decorate Uncle J's car.

I don't know if the "Multiply and replenish the earth" joke for newlyweds is just popular with Mormons, or if it is for newlyweds in general...but we definitely play it up around here!

After all - we believe in abstinence before marriage, so these newlyweds are more eager than most for the honeymoon to start! We have to totally tease them...right? Of course the joke is completely above my kids' heads - but it's funny for us!

It was just a really wonderful day. Not just for the newlyweds, but both our families. We really, really love C, and we love her family so much also.


I hope you all had a wonderful Thursday - and if I haven't been by to visit you lately, please forgive me...I am determined to visit you all this weekend now that things are calmed down!


The rest of the pics are just more miscellaneous shots, as well as some better hair shots...Hubby took the first ones and didn't really know the angles I wanted so I can recreate the look if I need to!

I don't know why she felt like this had to be a mugshot!