Melissa's wedding

We were so excited last fall to learn that my sister Melissa would be getting married to Jason Meads! The wedding was on February 11, and Ann Marie and I got to fly to Utah to be there for the wedding.

The week before the wedding really put our family through the ringer. A week before, my mom went outside early in the morning to take Ian out on his paper route, and she slipped on a patch of ice. She dislocated her right shoulder and had to go to the ER to get that fixed, then a few days later a doctor found that she had also broken her shoulder. So Mom wasn't able to do much because of that. Then about the same time my dad saw a doctor and found out that the fever and knee pain he had been dealing with for several weeks were actually an infection in his leg, so he started taking antibiotics to get that healing, but it's been a long recovery. Then Michelle's doctor decided that she needed to deliver her baby early (the baby's heart rate had been very fast during the last trimester and Michelle had been taking medicine to help with that, so the doctor felt that it would be better for the baby to come early). So Michelle was induced that Wednesday and Baby Lena was born early Thursday morning. So we were sad that Michelle wasn't going to be able to make it to the wedding. But we were also really looking forward to being there when Melissa got married.

Ann Marie and I flew out of Atlanta on Thursday the 9th. I woke up in the morning feeling like I had a stomach bug and so dizzy I could barely stand up. I was really worried and I said a prayer telling Heavenly Father I couldn't be sick right now because I needed to get to Utah so I could take care of everyone and asking to be healed. Ryan also gave me a blessing, and soon I felt better, so that was a huge blessing.

I was trying to figure out what I was going to take on the plane because I had the bags with snacks, extra clothes/diapers, coloring books, etc. and I needed to get Ann Marie to the gate, so I wasn't sure how I could get a car seat onto the plane too. Ryan said I should just check the seat and have Ann Marie use the seat belt, and I thought he was probably right because there was going to be too much stuff to carry as it was, so I checked the car seat.

The security people were sort of impatient and they acted like I was dumb for not knowing their specific system. They told me to leave the stroller somewhere so they could bring it through to me and then after Ann Marie and I went through they ignored me when I asked them to get our stroller, so that was kind of annoying, but we had plenty of time, so it wasn't a huge deal. The Atlanta airport is so big that they have trains to take you to your terminal, so that was interesting.

When we boarded the plane I had a hard time convincing Ann Marie to use the seat belt. She kept insisting that it didn't fit (which was true), and she figured out how to unbuckle it pretty quickly. Finally the flight attendant came by and said she had to be buckled, so I pulled the appeal to authority card and told Ann Marie she had to because the flight attendant said so, and that worked long enough for take off. Ann Marie napped for a while, so I was able to read a book, but once she woke up she was crawling all over.

We had a layover in Las Vegas. The landing was really rough for me. I was recovering from a cold, so my head was full of fluid in places that don't normally have fluid, and that prevented my ears from popping properly. My left ear was popping, but I could hear every pop and it hurt. My right ear wasn't popping at all. So by the time we landed my head was ready to explode. Then we found out that our flight to Salt Lake would be delayed an hour, which meant I was going to have to entertain my two-year-old for two hours in the Las Vegas airport with a splitting headache. We walked around a bit and ate a lot of snacks, and somehow we made it through. I was praying that Ann Marie would sleep on the next plane so that I could get a little nap.

God answers prayers! Ann Marie fell asleep soon after take-off, and I dozed off soon after that. It was a much-needed nap. I woke up to the flight attendant announcing our final descent, and I felt much better. Such a blessing.

My Aunt Colleen picked us up at the airport and came in to help us with our suitcases, then we stayed the night at her house. She had a twin bed with a trundle bed for us, and Ann Marie generously told me I could have the trundle bed. :) (The regular bed had sheets with flowers, so clearly it was intended for Ann Marie.)

On Friday we just stayed at Colleen's house playing with toys. We were expecting my parents and three younger siblings to arrive around lunch time because Melissa's reception was that evening and they were going to sleep there that night, so when the doorbell rang we thought it was them. But instead it was Melissa and Jason, and Melissa was really upset. My parents had called and they weren't coming that night. With their injuries it was just too much to pack all the suitcases and they felt like they couldn't come. Obviously Melissa was devastated, and we were really concerned about Mom and Dad. They promised that they would be there for the wedding the next day, but we were really worried that they wouldn't be able to come.

My Aunt Sue and Uncle Spence arrived that evening, and two of Aunt Colleen's kids came with their families, so we all had dinner before going to the reception. Ann Marie and I got ready early so we could be there for pictures, and we borrowed Aunt Colleen's car.

We did the pictures that we could. Jason's family did a fantastic job with all the decorating. Melissa was, of course, upset that our family wasn't there, but she put on a brave face and she was so beautiful. We did have most of my dad's family there for the reception, and I really enjoyed visiting with everyone. Ann Marie fell asleep in my arms soon after the pictures, which was actually nice because I was able to talk with people more.

I didn't get around to taking any pictures of the wedding festivities because I was busy enjoying being with everybody, so if you have any pictures please share! (I've stolen a few from blog/Facebook posts.) Here's Ann Marie trying on the dress I made her. It was a fun project and it was interesting to learn how to sew with lace. I love how it turned out.

We were trying to figure out how to make sure that my parents and younger siblings would make it to the wedding the next day. Aunt Sue promised Melissa she would have my mom at the temple on time (she was going to drive up and pick her up), and that led to the idea that Sue and Spence would drive up in two cars and pick up all of them. So Sue called my mom and they agreed to that idea, so it looked like that was going to work out.

Ann Marie woke up after a while and enjoyed getting to know my little cousin, Rose (picture stolen from Jason and Kiersten's blog).

We all made it to the Oquirrh Mountain Temple in the morning and the whole family made it, so that was a huge relief. Elizabeth, Ian, and Ellen took care of Ann Marie in the waiting room while I went up to the sealing. It's always so special to be with family for live ordinances at the temple, and especially after the trials of the last week it was such a relief to be together at the temple. Being with family in the temple is the best. Eventually we all went to the sealing room, and soon Melissa and Jason came in.

It was a really special sealing. Melissa and Jason smiled the entire time and were so happy. They are so good for each other and they are so great at supporting each other through the hard things they deal with. We are so happy that they found each other.

Jason shared this on Facebook and I stole it (How many brides get to wear a gorgeous fur cape for their wedding?):

Aunt Sue shared this one on Facebook and I stole it:

We had a few quick pictures outside the temple, but we didn't stay long because it was really cold. Then we went back to the church for the luncheon (it was at the same place as the reception and they had the same decorations).

There are a few songs that our family has the tradition of singing at all our wedding receptions (and we always cry!). I love this tradition so much. My mom wasn't able to play the piano this time because of her broken shoulder, but I had been practicing the songs and was able to fill in, so that was fun. Uncle Jason recorded it.

Turn Around: (You can kind of hear that my grandpa was singing along quietly, which was really sweet because he sang this song for many weddings.)



Perhaps Love:



The Men in My Little Girl's Life (The tradition is that the bride plays the piano for this song, and the joke is that she's not allowed to get married until she can play it, so Melissa played the piano for this one.)



I stole these from Jason and Kiersten's blog too:

After the songs we had some pictures taken of our family since we hadn't been able to do that the night before. Then we saw Melissa and Jason off and got things cleaned up.

We went to Aunt Colleen's house for a while afterwards and spent more time with the family. Aunt Colleen had offered to let me borrow her car so I could drive up with my family and spend a little more time with them, so I took my mom, Ann Marie, and my sisters in her car, and Sue and Spence drove my dad and Ian in the other car.

I was really grateful to get that extra time with my family. We went to church the next morning (getting to go to Sunday School and Relief Society was kind of a treat since I'm normally in Primary!).

After church my parents stayed at church for choir and Ian stayed for collecting fast offerings, and we girls went home. But just a couple of minutes after we got home Ian called and asked for a ride because he was done. Elizabeth said she would pick him up, but then a minute after she left she called because her car had stopped just a block away at the stop sign, so Ellen and Ann Marie and I went to get Ian. A neighbor was helping Elizabeth push the car back to the house. Then just as we turned the corner we saw my parents coming home with Ian, so we just went back around the circle. It was kind of comical.

We had grilled cheese sandwiches and tomato soup (home canned) for lunch and then just had a quiet afternoon together. I took some pictures of some old photos of my Grammy, grandpa, and great-grandmother, and then Mom started telling some stories from her childhood, so that was really nice.

Eldon Bernard Warthen and Jenna V Jensen (my mom's parents)

Ruby Snow (Jenna V Jensen's mother)

Ruby Snow

Grammy at Aunt Sue's wedding in 1994 (?)

Jenna V Jensen and Elden B Warthen

Eldon B Warthen

Ian shared this picture on Facebook with the caption, "was going through my camera and found these two beautiful red heads." ♡ Ann Marie loves her aunts and uncles.

In the evening Ann Marie and I drove back to Aunt Colleen's house and we stayed the night there. I mentioned to Colleen that I had taken pictures of some old photos, and that reminded her that she had a big photo album with a lot of pictures from Grammy's family in it, so she showed me all the photos, which I really enjoyed. They need to be put on Family Search.

Colleen was babysitting her granddaughters and couldn't take us back to the airport, but I asked Ryan's sister Becky to take us, so we were able to see her for a little bit. (We take what we can get.) It was nice to get to chat for a while on the way to the airport.

I decided to take the car seat on the airplane this time. I was able to hang it on the handle of the stroller and it worked pretty well. It was hard to get it on the plane because the aisles are so narrow, but it was totally worth it to be able to strap Ann Marie in.

Some pretty views from the plane as we left Utah:

Unfortunately, our flight had to be changed. Our flight to Las Vegas was delayed enough that we would miss the flight from Las Vegas to Atlanta, so they put us on a different flight that went to Denver and then Atlanta. So our first flight was going to be an hour later, and then we had a three-hour layover in Denver. :( (I like the Denver airport better than Las Vegas, but that's a long layover.)

I thought these restocking trucks that said "The snacks are on me" were funny.

At the Denver airport there was a plane that was carrying the body of a soldier who had been killed, so when they were moving the casket into the plane they made an announcement and asked for silence. A lot of people went over to watch, so I wasn't really able to see anything other than a couple of the people from his escort, but it was very sad.

Somehow we made it through the three-hour layover, although by the end Ann Marie was getting bored and naughty.

I sent a text to Ryan saying I couldn't believe we were still in Denver, and it was a good thing because apparently he had never received my earlier text about the flight change. At that point he and Kevin and Heidi were already an hour out of Augusta on their way to the airport, so they ended up pulling off at a rest stop and playing there for a while to kill time.

Ann Marie fell asleep just before the plane took off, and unfortunately I think that meant that her ears didn't pop during takeoff. So whenever she woke up she cried really hard. I tried to convince her to drink out of her sippy cup or eat a snack, hoping that would help make her ears pop, but she was too hysterical. So she alternated between sleeping and crying. I was able to do a lot of reading since she slept a lot.

We didn't get to Atlanta until about 10:00, so it was really late. We took the train to baggage claim and I tried to figure out how to get all our suitcases and stuff outside to the car. Then when I was outside Kevin came running, and I hugged him and said, "My hero!" because he helped me get the suitcases to the car.

It was a long drive back home and we were really tired. Even Ryan was having a hard time staying awake, but somehow we made it.

Michelle's wedding

My sister Michelle got married and I got to fly out for the wedding all by myself while Ryan stayed home with the kids!

I got to Salt Lake City on a Thursday and Melissa picked me up at the airport. We went straight to Temple Square and did an endowment session at the Salt Lake Temple. Melissa just received her endowment in January, so this was our first time doing a session together and it was really special. I had never been inside the Salt Lake Temple before, so it was neat to see the inside for the first time. It was all so big, so we kept having to ask temple workers which way to go. After the temple we had lunch at Kneaders and went shopping for wedding presents for Michelle. We opted for practical and got Michelle and Donovan a bunch of household things like toilet paper, garbage bags, and paper towels, because poor starving newlyweds in college need that stuff! Then we drove to my parents' house and hung out. Melissa and Elizabeth and I stayed up way too late talking.

I woke up early in the morning and couldn't sleep (maybe my body was telling me to get Kevin ready for school or something), so I finally got up and sorted out all the crayons and colored pencils and stuff. I think some of the colored pencils were mine from first grade because they had the old Crayola logo on them. When Ian got back from his paper route he sat on the couch and laughed politely at my jokes.

On Friday we spent most of the afternoon decorating for the luncheon and wedding. My Aunt Sue took my youngest sister Ellen shopping for decorations for the luncheon and I'm told that Ellen came up with most of the decorating ideas herself. Aunt Colleen and my cousin Aubrey came and helped too.

The head table with bottles of bride/groom skittles where Michelle and Donovan and the parents sat.

The happy bride.

FYI: taping tablecloths is a lot of work

Michelle's friend Adam made this poster that they used instead of a guestbook. "Distance means nothing when one has a motive."

Love my sisters!

For the reception we had tables on one side and rows of chairs on the other so that people could move over to the chairs for the program.

Michelle went with a vintage theme for the reception and hired a decorator who already had all the vintage furniture. The final result was very pretty!

In addition to the cake we had some of Michelle and Donovan's favorite things--popcorn, chocolate kisses, licorice, Star Bursts, mini muffins, and Reese's pieces.

Meet my new brother-in-law!

Ellen

Practicing for the program

The next day was the wedding. At one point Melissa, Elizabeth and I were all squished in the downstairs bathroom working on straightening all of Elizabeth's long, thick, curly hair, and then Melissa also fixed Ellen's hair. Fun times. Five girls means lots of hair.

Mom and Dad had to go earlier to the Brigham City Temple with Michelle, and then Melissa and I went a little later. Aunt Sue brought Elizabeth, Ian, and Ellen to the temple for pictures after the sealing. It was so fun to see so much family in the waiting room at the temple. There was lots of hugging. I don't get to see my extended family very much since we don't make it to Utah very often. After what seemed like a long time we went upstairs to the sealing room. My grandma sat with my mom next to Michelle, so I got to sit next to my grandpa and Melissa. After a while Michelle and Donovan came in and they were so excited. The sealer spoke for a while before performing the sealing. He talked about the plan of salvation and making covenants. One insight he shared was about keeping covenants. He talked about how at home he has saved some love notes from his wife and he keeps them because they are special to him. And similarly we keep our covenants. We hold on to them and treasure them because they are special and sacred to us.

Next Michelle and Donovan went to the altar and they were sealed for time and all eternity. There was a special and very peaceful spirit. Then we all got to go hug the bride and groom and then we went outside the temple to wait for them to come out for pictures. I didn't take a lot of pictures outside of the temple because you hire a photographer for a reason, so hopefully at some point Michelle will send me some of those. I was pretty windy and we all felt like our hair was blowing in our faces, but hopefully we still got some good pictures.

Ellen and Ian

My mom's family headed to the church for the luncheon as soon as they could, and everything was pretty much ready by the time we got there. Michelle and Donovan and my parents stayed at the temple longer for more pictures and said we should tell everyone to start eating, so we just got started. I took some bad candid photos of people eating and walking around which weren't especially amazing photos, but they did at least capture the memory.

My charming grandpa.

Dad sang a few of the traditional songs for the luncheon (Sunrise, Sunset; A Love Until the End of Time; maybe there was another one?).

Here's Uncle Jason's Sunrise, Sunset video (poor Mom, they didn't realize until Dad started singing that the sustaining pedal on the piano didn't work at all):



We cleaned up everything from the luncheon (putting it that way makes it sound easy, but it's actually a lot of work) and then there was actually some time before the reception. I think I got a nap, by which I mean I got in bed and jumped forward half an hour in time, so I'm assuming I was unconscious during that half hour, but I had no memory of being asleep. (I think any mom has experienced that kind of nap.)

Things were mostly ready for the reception, but we still went early to do some final prep, mainly making lemonade and popcorn and cutting cake. Just before the reception started we had more pictures in front of the backdrop which I'm assuming I'll see at some point. Michelle had some old mission companions there to help with food and the guest book, so I mainly talked to family.

Michelle asked me to MC the program, and it had been such an emotional weekend that I was a little worried I'd just sob at the microphone, but I held it together and the program was beautiful. I think Michelle asked a friend to record the actual program, but here are some videos I took the night before during the rehearsal when they were working getting the sound system right.

Melissa and Dad singing Perhaps Love:


Dad singing Turn Around:

Michelle also accompanied Dad singing The Men in My Little Girl's Life. When they were practicing I heard Dad say we're not allowed to get married unless we play this song, so it's a good thing Michelle passed the test. :) I didn't get a video of that one, but it was great. We are so blessed to have a wise, insightful, and spiritual man as our father.

After the program Michelle tossed the bouquet and she and Donovan cut the cake. We seriously considered hooking a fishing pole to the bouquet to make sure Melissa would get it, but didn't end up doing it. Fortunately she caught it anyway. After that the reception was pretty much over and Michelle and Donovan left (Aunt Sue got all the kids together to decorate the car). Then there was a bunch of clean-up and all the work of taking presents and supplies back to my parents' house. The living room and kitchen were full. Mom had a billion leftover mini muffins and chocolate kisses.

On Sunday we ate leftover mini muffins and went to church. In the afternoon Michelle and Donovan opened all of their presents and we were able to consolidate things more so there was space in the living room. I got to talk to my dad out on the front step for quite a while that evening.

On Monday my parents and I went to visit my grandparents for a while, which was of course really nice.

My dad took me to the airport that afternoon and I ended up having lots of time before my flight left. Delta is really fancy, by the way. I've never ridden on a flight with TVs before this trip. I didn't watch anything because I brought books to read and I didn't have earbuds, but I did like that I could check the flight status on the screen and see where we were and how much time was left. Unfortunately there was a lot of turbulence, which was no fun because I don't like feeling my insides bouncing around. Flying without kids is pretty fun, though. I got a lot of reading done.

It was great to be back home and see Ryan and the kids again. And my own bed.