Family Pictures

 

 

 

Fall Fun

Braces

Spontaneous Trip

We took a trip to Helena, our state capital!  It was really, really cool!  We walked around the Capitol building, saw the orginal governor's mansion built in 1888.  In town there was an indoor carousel with an ice cream parlor where we spent some time.  We walked around a little downtown-ish area and ate lunch at Subway.  So much fun!!!  The colors, artwork, and architecture of the Capitol were astounding.  I was blown away.  I love old stuff like that.

 I told the kids to wave, not realizing that the dude on top of the capitol also has his arm in the sky.  Ha ha ha

 The underside of the dome.

 Old phone booths!

 The old Governor's mansion.

Wedding

My sister, Kelley, sent these pictures that were taken at Matthew's (her son's) wedding to his beautiful bride, Molly, this past July.  

 

 This cute little girl, Ellie Joan, I was photographing belongs to my niece, Lorraine.

 My two sisters and me.  Janna and Kelley.  We were missing one more sister, Amy.  :(

And this picture I love the most.  My sister's extended family is so lovely and supportive, as you can tell!  The Tenneys always represent!  The Barlows????  Not so much.  Ha ha ha ha.  Oh well.  It was a GORGEOUS wedding and such a fun memory for me.  I loved every second of it.  I love that my mom and I are holding hands.

Before the sealing, Kelley, me, and my parents ate lunch at Pei Wei in Sandy.  Well, we were enjoying ourselves a little too much and left the restaurant a little too late.  So we drove as quickly as we could to the Salt Lake Temple and realized upon arrival that there were also forty-thousand-or-so people also arriving for weddings.  So parking was a total nightmare.  Kelley (the mother-of-the-groom) was under extreme duress.  And that is an understatement.  Basically, she was freaking out and I was starting to freak out, too.  We were in some underground parking garage in a total standstill, gridlock, no movement.  I told Kelley to jump out and run inside and I would drive around and find parking.  She could not be late, of all people!!!  If I missed the sealing, fine.  But she couldn't miss it.  Of course, hindsight being what it is, I'm pretty sure they would not have started the wedding without her!  I mean, come on now.

She hung in there and we luckily found a spot.  Seriously, it was a small miracle.  We don't even know how this empty spot opened up.  But we parked, removed our shoes and RAN from the parking garage, across North Temple at top speed and through the gates of Temple Square and into the temple.  We arrived later than we were supposed to have arrived and we were sweating and trying to calm our panicked hearts and get into the calmness and serenity that is required in the temple.  Ha!

This story is only part of other added stresses that I had to help Kelley limp through during my 24 hours there.  The night before the wedding, she and Trent hosted a wedding dinner at a restaurant in Gardner Village (can't remember the name of it now.)  Well, the dinner started at 6:00 so we left Lehi around 4:30 to pick up the flowers for the centerpieces and then drive up to Gardner Village.  Plenty of time.  Ha!  There was an accident on I-15 and we sat and sat and inched and inched for about an hour in bumper-to-bumper traffic.  We were trying so hard to remain calm but as the time ticked by we were starting to lose our minds.

We exited 7200 South.  The car accident was AT 7200 SOUTH.  So the highway patrol was not allowing anyone to exit.  Kelley was just about in tears at this point.  Somehow, luckily, magically, shockingly, they opened the exit right as we approached.  The accident was pretty much in its end phase so the officers opened the exit and we zoomed off the freeway.  We frantically got to the restaurant and organized all the centerpieces and things required for a beautiful ambience at the speed of light.  People began arriving so on time!  We were just barely finished as the first family members began walking in. 

Luckily, because of our misfortune, we were able to text and warn family members of the accident so they found alternate routes and arrived on time.  But not us!  We were hustlin'!

As I write this now, I am laughing because it is just so typical for stressful situations like this to occur when stress is the last thing on Earth you need!  Murphy's law; right?  Anyway, Kelley and I decided that we bonded those 24 hours that we were together because we had to endure so much hardship!  Ha ha! 

One of my favorite memories of the weekend is driving back to Lehi after Matthew's sealing and, once again, driving a hundred miles an hour.  The reception was at 6:00, and the sealing had occured at 3:30-ish, I believe.  So we would be getting back to Lehi with just enough time to pee and then run out the door again to Thanksgiving Point in Lehi.  So Kelley exits the freeway at Bangerter, I believe, because there's a McDonald's right there.  She is driving like a maniac crazy-person.  She swoops into the drive-thru and orders herself the largest Diet Coke imaginable and then whips back onto the freeway headed South!  Ha ha ha ha.

Oh, I am laughing! 

So glad I wrote all this down so 30 years from now I can read this and remember and laugh again. 

P.S.  I told Kelley when the twins get married, to leave herself at least TWO HOURS to get anywhere in the Salt Lake Valley.  No matter what!  I also reminded her that from her house to the Salt Lake Temple, we are passing FOUR temples!  Ha ha ha!  (Timpanogos, Draper, Oquirrh, and Jordan River!)

Eggs

Christie says to me this morning, "I want an omelet!" as I'm making an omelet for myself.  So I make her one, too, with turkey and swiss cheese.

I place the omelet in front of her and she says, "I don't want eggs!"

"Well, I say, that's what an omelet is.  It's eggs made fancy!"  Christie is unconvinced and refuses to eat the eggs.  She wants an omelet.

"Christie," I attempt, "You need to choose the right and eat the food your mommy makes you."

She leaves the kitchen and runs to her room.  A few seconds later she comes out and walks straight to the table, sits down and says, "I just had to put my flute away in my room."  Her flute is actually a recorder that she plays with while watching an Articles of Faith musical DVD.

Then she sits down and eats every bite of her eggs ... I mean, omelet.

A Rose

I've loved this for so long and finally wish to post:

 

 

Our perfect Father does not expect us to be perfect children yet.  He had only One such child.  Meanwhile, sometimes with smudges on our cheeks, dirt on our hands, and shoes untied, stammeringly but smilingly we present God with a dandelion – as if it were an orchid or a rose – and He receives it.  –Neal A. Maxwell

 

"The Lord is much more concerned with the offerer than the offering.  When we judge our efforts or the efforts of others to be merely a dandelion, I am grateful that He sees a rose."  -my friend, Heather.

So thankful for insightful friends who share the Gospel with me, who set a good example and make me think about my journey, my weaknesses, my efforts, and whether I am being as kind to others as He is kind to me.