My little brother Denver got married a week and a half ago in the Salt Lake Temple to a beautiful girl from Nebraska. It was a great event. Wonderful words of advice from the sealer, a sweet couple, a nice reception in the Joseph Smith Memorial Building, and a romantic (surprise) getaway on a white horse-drawn carriage.
And now for the wedding weekend highlights:
the flower girls
Anna had a great time in her flower girl dress (I'm not sure what else to call it), matching with her cousin Carlee.
And I have to tell you that I am showing much restraint by only posting 2 pictures!
family dinner
Thursday night before the wedding we had a family dinner (Denver & Bree's immediate family, a grandma, and a cousin/maid of honor) at The Roof. Such good food. And it's a buffet. So you can go back for seconds, and thirds, and . . . .
Before the trip we told the kids that we were going to a really nice restaurant that had lots of food spread out on a table and you could pick anything you wanted to eat. This, of course, had Hoover Conner licking his chops. One night I found a piece of notebook paper laying by my bedroom door (this happens a lot). It said: "Is there: pizza, hamburgers, hot dogs, frys, chicken nugets, chicken burgers." Below was pictured a stick man with a big thought bubble floating above his head. In the thought bubble was a another stick man, rubbing his hands together, standing before a loooong table piled with all the foods he listed above. And some milk. Next to the first stick man it said, "I can just amagin it."
At the actual dinner, Conner did not find any of the items on his list. But he was in heaven. He filled his plate with ham, rolls, carrots and dip and proclaimed it, "The best dinner ever!" Give the kid some ham and he is happy. The best part, of course was the fact that he could repeatedly go back to the ham-carver man and request another slice or two.
The best part, for me, was the dessert bar. Talk about sensory overload! Too many good things to choose from. The mini creme brulee was a definite favorite.
Excitement and reason for applause came in the form of Payton losing his first tooth!
We're sitting there eating, when out of the blue Payton's tooth is sitting on the table in front of him and he {slightly bewildered} announces to us what happened. He was so happy to finally enter the toothless grin club. When we got back to the hotel we made sure to send an e-mail to the tooth fairy so she would know where we were.
bachelor party
We have a tradition in my family of taking each of my brothers out, the day or night before their wedding and treating them to a prize-filled event complete with public embarrassment. The girl always gets a bridal shower so the guy should deserve a few toys too, right? And we like to see the boys squirm a bit.
Because of location, time constraints, etc. this party was a little bit different than the previous two but I think we were able to capture the spirit of it all.
First we made sure Denver had "the sign" to wear during the public portion of the event. "I'm getting married tomorrow, wish me luck." It's always fun to see how many and what type of people actually say "good luck."
Public embarrassment fueled by good intentions: Denver had to Build A Bear. For Bree. He was a good sport. And went through ALL the motions, including touching the heart to his heart and making a wish, waving it around his head, touching his nose, and finally giving it a kiss. He also selected a sound device to be placed inside the bear, on which he recorded a personal message to Bree. Awww.
He chose the perfect outfit for the bear. (Their honeymoon was in Hawaii). Conner thought it was a crack-up.
Back at the hotel we changed into pj's and whipped out all our laptops for an Amazon.com bachelor party shopping spectacular. Each couple was given a budget. Then I also had each individual pull a slip of paper from an envelope that listed one set of criteria that one of their purchased items had to fit under. Things like "something that is purple" or "something that can open" or "something that can be used in the dark" or "is smaller than your hand". I think most all couples were able to combine both of their requirements into one item. Scott and I had something "that starts with the letter 'B'" and "something furry". We found a cozy, faux fur blanket.
The other fun part was including Kent & Becca in the festivities through Skype. They live in Texas and Becca was in her last month of pregnancy. Good thing they did not attempt the trip because baby Nicholas was born 3 days later!
The following morning we enjoyed doughnuts & milk in the hotel room while Scott and Sam set out to deliver the stuffed dog (Bailey) to Bree. We pre-arranged things with her mom, but it was a total surprise to Bree when they showed up at her aunt's door at 9am with a special delivery.
After she opened it Sam said, "If you squeeze it in a special spot, it plays a message from Denver." So they started squeezing the arms. Nothing. The feet. Nothing. Almost all parts of the dog were pushed, and squeezed and mauled but still no message from Denver. Soon all minds went to the gutter ("if you squeeze it in a special spot . . . .") and the scene became quite comical (I'm told). All because of Sam's innocent comment, which we teased him about for the rest of the weekend.
the reception
Scott is not one for events where he had to sit and "be good" for long periods of time. He can do it, and he usually finds some creative coping strategy to power through it. Knowing this about him, I usually just smile and let him do his thing.
So they had these cute clear favor boxes filled with yummy chocolates, tied with a bow of tulle and a tag labeled "DB". We collected our favor boxes, took them apart, and the boys (that includes Scott) decided to start tying their tulle together. After they got 4 of 5 strands together, I commented "is that your escape rope". And an idea was sparked. Scott easily convinced the boys that they should go around the room and politely ask the other guests if they could have their ribbon. And pretty much everybody said yes. They proceeded to gather and tie this tulle together during the rest of the reception. You can just imagine how long it got. At one point they decided to measure and Payton almost made it to the other end of the reception hall.
Payton also collected little "thank you" charms from everyone. Cuteness helps. Currently they are in a pile on the kitchen counter and nestled in the carpet in just about every room of the house. Tomorrow is vacuuming day.
And to prove I was at the wedding . . .
The end.
