Wedding Week

Andy, our tiny baby boy, is married to the darlingest girl, Becca!  We spent the weekend celebrating at our house, followed by their temple celing the next weekend.   There were so many perfect moments.

Dinner in the Park (Friday night, 5:30pm)

The Highland Family Park became the destination for the pre-family gathering.  Just being together was the special bit.  The fact that Mother had 15 huge caramel apples and water bottles for us all made it even sweeter, if that was even possible.  The cousins reunited and the siblings caught up.  Flag football and jungle wars was the best bit.

The Temple Sealing (2:00pm)

Every guest in the sealing room shared their chair.  It's possible to say that we doubled the maximum amount of patrons.  As more and more guests arrived to fit into that sacred space, I wanted the veil to part to see the angels filling in the empty space directly around the altar.  As soon as Andy and Becca entered the room, several eyes filled with tears and a quiet peace permeated our souls.

Becca: "I felt the spirit so strongly in the temple."  The party and the entire day was so fun.  We had the best time."

Andy, "Thanks Mom and Dad.  I love you guys so much."

Meg: "I love when Dad or my brothers get emotional.  I think it surprises them that they can be so tender."  Andy had tears flowing down his cheeks.  Austin's eyes were filled with tears as well.

When the sealer asked Brother and Sister Bacock to stnad in the front of the room, Maisie and Meg audibly gasped for joy.  They love our newest Babcock girl.

After all the guests left the sealing room, the sealer asked the parents and the wedding couple to stay.  He led Andy and Becca to the altar and asked them to face the mirrors.  There he witnessed to them that all the blessings and promises depended upon their faithfulness.  He talked about their posterity for generations and generations to come.  Then he asked the parents to come and stand behind the couple.  He asked them to turn around and see the generations of parents that came before them.  I was hoping to see my father and my grandparents as I gazed in the mirrors, instead, I felt them there, in the room with us 00 of course they were rejoicing with all the family.

The Pictures

The photographer was stellar.  She moved people in and out of each of the frames with jsut the right amount of authority and sass.  The temperature was just right for our event.  The bright sunshine filled the sky, but the shade of the double spired temple created the perfect shadow and refuge from the sun.  Andy and Becca are so photogenic, their pictures can't not be amazing.

The Luncheon

After pictures we moved on to the reception hall where we ate.  Then each of their family members gave their speeches.  Molly went first and brought the entire crowd to tears when she spoke, "I can't live without Andy, and Andy can't live without me."  I think our speeches ran too long, but we wanted to love that boy of ours and welcome our new girl with so much inclusion and love.  Hopefully, they both felt that.  We conveyed personally conveyed message about watching the groom step into manhood while quietly remembering him as a child.

The Food

Bendy suggested that we have Cafe Rio catered.  160 burritos, chips, salsa, guacamole, sour cream and cheese later 130 guests were filled to the brim.  Molly offered me the other half of her burrito, which proved to be the perfect amount.  Austin and Eddie picked up the burritos while Maisie and Ryan (Josh and Luke as well) helped me set up the salsa bar.  Good food I tell you.

Mother suggested and offered to make Lemon Ices for dessert -- the pickiest of eaters wanted the recipe.  She worked with Sis, Ash and Melanie to make that happen.  Bless them.  Oh!  The Cooks helped us with all the food refills and last minute mint/berry a top the ices.

(We had about 30 extra burritos -- Jim took them home, froze them and then we grabbed a few Sunday on our way home.) 

The Reception

The venue was packed with friends and family congratulating the newly weds.  It's hard to put into words the pride we felt whenenver we caught glimpses of them as they mingled with family and friends.  Family from Idaho, Utah, Texas, California and friends from Arizona, Cleveland and Colorado came to join in our revelry. They were there the entire day patiently enjoying the planned events and festivities.  

I have to give a HUGE shoutout to the Armstrong Family, those two parents and those three little girls had a very long day, and yet they never showed a bit of annoyance nor inconvenience.  What a joy it was to have that little family there representing the next phase of life post marriage.  Natalie: "I was quite impressed watching Elijah as a father."

The Dance Party

The DJ played the perfect music, and the crowd ate it up.  The bros chanted, "Fiend" as they surrounded Andy and gave him a chance to put his hands in the air and just feel the attention.  Maisie, Maddie and Meg bounced to the beat of the mosh pit and came out sweating and grinning.  Elijah ran into the middle and helped Ed back flip off his hands -- the crowd went wild.  Ryan bopped and fringed the perimeter, which was a safe place for his 12 year old self.  Molly grabbed her cousins and danced and ran in sync with the music.  Austin knew just how to get to the center of the circle when the Killers played.  Whitni, Lyndsey and Nicole supported their older brother by shaking their grove thang when they knew the songs. Maisie's Josh was the ultimate dancer.  He knew just how to move that HUGE frame of his, I would have never guessed that.  Andy got Becca up on his shoulders and she just grinned and grinned as they danced as their young adult selves.

The party ended and Andy and Becca drove off in bright blue Corvette -- engine revving and Becca waving out the top.  Many of the Guymon families had left, and the Babcocks families waiting around for a while not wanting to divide into three different states again.

We missed Nick like crazy, but his recorded message was played and his love and happy laugh was the sweetest music.  He called for a few minutes, I could tell he was being brave, he missed us, and we missed him.

My greatest hope is that all of my children will follow Jesus Christ, choosed to be sealed in holy temple ahd live in family, then follow Him and his precepts though out their lives and eternity.  God's plan is most certainly a plan of happiness.  Andy and Becca have just begun the part that will be hard and require faith and humility, but because they are united as a couple, all that hard becomes sweet.  

Hoorah for Israel!