The Big Day

I haven't posted anything for quite awhile because life has been more than just a little bit crazy.  So many things have been going on, but the biggest, of course was Ashley's wedding.  Ashley went on her first date with Jim in November, they officially started dating in December, got engaged in March, and got married on the 12th of June. It all seems like a bit of a blur, but a really good blur. :)  Funny thing is the first time I saw Jim, before they were officially dating or anything, I thought to myself that she was going to marry him.  Then I told myself that I was being ridiculous because there was no way to know that and who knew if we would even like him. Turns out that we do like him, and love that he brings out the happy in Ashley.

Breanna explaining how she started calling him Barbara.  Long story...

The wedding dinner was the evening before the big day.  It was great.  We had it at the Farmington Community Center and Jim's Mom made a ton of salads and cakes, and they had smoked pork sandwiches too.  It was really yummy and so nice to have it so close.  There wasn't a huge program or anything.  Jim's Dad said a few things, and everyone introduced themselves.  Then Tony said a few things and read a letter to Ashley from Alexis.  (The hardest part of all of this wedding stuff was not having Lexie here!) The letter definitely made us all cry.  Heavenly Father cares about all of his children though, and he blessed Lexie to feel and be a part of what was going on in truly miraculous ways.

Thursday morning Ashley was all ready by about 9am, and we didn't need to leave until 10am.  She was bouncing all over the house for that last hour-full of nervous energy.  The temple was a busy place when we got there.  The Salt Lake Temple closed for most of the summer starting on the 23rd of June, so I think everyone was trying to get their weddings done before then.  But the temple of course is a house of order, and they have a system that makes it all work out.  Ashley decided to just wear her regular temple dress to be sealed, and she looked radiant.  You would be proud of me though, I did not totally lose it in the temple, or all day for that matter.  I got teary eyed here and there, but I think I held it together pretty well overall. :) I believe it was because I didn't feel sad at all.  I felt happy and at peace.  It was wonderful to be there with family and friends in the temple, I suspect it is kind of how the Celestial Kingdom will feel. It was 90 degrees when they came out of temple, of course it was the hottest day all week, and we had to wait a bit to get on the steps to take pictures.  They looked so happy, glowing actually.  It was a weird, wonderful and amazing thing to be a part of. After a few pictures we left to go help set up the reception.

And that is where the fun began.  For several days the forecast had 0% chance of rain, but then on Wednesday morning they added late afternoon, early evening thunder storms to the forecast, a bit of a problem when planning an outdoor reception.  We were trying to decide if we should still do it outside or if we should move it to the church.  We prayed about it, and Tony had given Ashley a blessing the week before that said the weather would cooperate.  We felt peaceful about it, so we decided to go ahead with the outside plan.  Julie, my sister, had worked like crazy to make her yard look fantastic, and we wanted to use it.  They are even building a house right next door that was supposed to be started the 1st of June, but they had to postpone it so it was still the pretty grassy field.  Anyway...we got there to put our stuff up, the banners, pictures and other little extras.  The wind was pretty bad though, and we were a little worried about how all the pictures and centerpieces were going to hold up with the wind.  It wasn't ideal, but we figured we would have to make it work.  At 4:30 we left to go home and change for the pictures at 5.  Well then there was the severe thunderstorm warning, you know the kind that they interrupt radio broadcasts for with all the beeping, yeah one of those.  By the time we got back there at 5:15 it was raining.  The door I made, had blown over and all the glass in the frames had broken.  The Ash fell off, and broke.  It kind of seemed like a catastrophe.  There was quite a  bit of family there by this point and Ashley's roommates and bridesmaids and some friends were there and everyone just went into immediate action pulling everything in the house.  All the pictures, all the tablecloths anything that would get damaged in the rain.  At this point I was a little frustrated and momentarily fearful I have to admit, but I pulled myself back together.  You could tell with the wind and how quickly it blew in and with the clear skies beyond the storm, that it was going to blow over quickly.  So we decided to have faith and make things work.  All of Julie's neighbors put tablecloths in their dryers.  They shook all the glass out of the frames for the door, and glued the Ash back together, and we glued it back on the door.  After the rain stopped squeegees and towels were brought out to dry off the tables and chairs.  The kids raked up the sticks that had blown on the yard through the crazy wind, and dry tablecloths were coming back from the neighbors.  With every one's help in less than a half hour the whole thing was set back up when guests started coming at 6:30.  Because of the rain we were a little slow getting pictures taken, so Ashley and Jim weren't with us in the line for the first little bit, but everyone understood that of course.  After the storm it was calm and almost no wind.  It was a beautiful evening and a lot of the people that came just stayed and enjoyed the beautiful yard and refreshments.  

So many miracles happened in that little amount of time.  That everything was able to be taken in and then put back out in that short amount of time is amazing.  It was like time stood still so we could get it set back up.  Everyone pitched in and was helping it was the coolest thing to see.  That door is solid wood, and it slammed to the ground on all those frames, but none of the frames broke, just the glass, so we just put it back together.    Normally when a storm like that blows through, Julie's yard is usually covered with sticks and branches and leaves that takes them an hour or so to clean up.  The younger kids were able to clean them all up in just a few minutes, and there were no sticks in areas that they have to clean up by hand.  So many little things that made it so that not only could we pull it off, but it looked beautiful still.  It was an experience that I won't forget.  I felt so much gratitude for everyone just helping out like that.  Overwhelming gratitude.  Ashley was great through it all too.  She was a little upset when the door blew over, but she decided to have faith in the Lord's promise.  She was great.  I guess you receive no witness until after the trial of your faith.  It really was beautiful.  It just looked and felt beautiful.  So many people told us they were praying for us.  The Lord was watching out for us, I have no doubt.  The rest of the reception was perfect.  No problems.  The rain even cooled off the temps a little so it wasn't quite so hot. I guess the moral of the story is that the Lord doesn't stop the storms in our lives, but He always gets us through them. It was a joyful day!  Now I just have to be patient and wait for grandkids. :)

We had to have Lexie there!