Whirlwind

Last week was been an absolute whirlwind, let me explain. A bunch of my friends are getting married shortly, some to each other. My good friend Rene is marrying a guy named Mike (he's a good guy, I approve) in Utah just before Christmas. Adding to the complexity is that Rene’s older brother Dennis (also my friend) is marrying my good friend Ame about a week later in California. I met my friends through our YSA activities out here, though they are in Idaho at school most of the time. I’ve known them all (except Mike) for over two years. So yes, that’s right- Dennis and Rene’s parents have not one, but TWO weddings out west over the holidays. How I feel for them!

So Dennis & Ame and Rene & Mike came home last week for Thanksgiving, it was so nice to see them. I only went to school on Monday of last week, I skipped math class on Tuesday to go to the Palmyra temple with Rene for her to receive her endowments. Which would you pick? Ha! It was a really great day, but it was quite long. I got to their house at noon, we munched and left at one in the afternoon. I rode up with Rene and Mike and Rene’s uncle. It takes a good three hours to drive to Palmyra. We walked around the temple grounds and took some photos. Later we got something to eat and killed time at the little church bookstore in Palmyra. Rene’s session wasn’t until 7:30 that evening so that her parents could get there after they got out of work.

It was really nice to be in the temple with Rene and her family and other people that I know. It made me think back to when I went through for the first time and how my life has been blessed since. After the session, we had fun eating at Denny’s all together and probably didn’t leave there til nearly 1 am! And there was still the drive back home. We were blessed that we didn’t hit deer several times on the way home, we came very close. Finally I got back to my car and slowly drove home to avoid hitting deer, I made it home at 3:30 am! It was a very, very long day but it was so nice.

The funniest part of Tuesday was that Rene realized that she didn’t have a white bra with her until we were in Palmyra! And there isn’t a Walmart or anything like that close by-it’s a small town. She had some luck at a nearby dollar store, so that was our running joke for the evening. That was almost as good as my Mom’s friend who was hemming her wedding gown while in the car to the temple!

Me and Rene:

Wednesday was spent sleeping in and working on different projects. I am throwing Ame a bridal shower in the near future (I would throw one for Rene but she had to go back and Ame is staying home longer) so I made invitations and I also worked on some of my assignments for the party held for the couples on Friday, the day after Thanksgiving. Since both couples will be living out West after they are married and will not be back here for some time, a “pre-reception” or “preception” was planned. I offered my services when I found out about that a few weeks ago, coordinating things between four of us ladies has been a little crazy!

Thanksgiving was a nice day with the family, it almost always is just the four of us since we never seem to live by other relatives. Like usual, you spend far more time cooking and cleaning up than actually eating the meal, but it was nice. I made my own pumpkin flower arrangement to decorate our table; Mom and Laura made one as well. Dad did a really good job with the turkey, he likes to experiment with seasonings. It was nice to spend a fairly relaxing day with my family and to remember our many blessings.

My flowers:

Yummy dinner (Mom took the pic):

Friday revolved around the party, Laura and I went over in the morning to help set up (it was held at our little branch building because it was “neutral” territory located between the two families). Most buildings have a gym, but not our little building- the chapel and RS room open up into one large room. It’s a little funny eating and having merriment in the chapel (we have branch dinners in there regularly), but there’s not a whole lot that we can do. As far as church rooms go, it’s pretty nice and neutral (no burnt orange carpet or cinderblock walls like back home!) so it makes for a nice party space. I’ve seen receptions in rented hotel ballrooms where the room was uglier than our little building. Our chairs are pretty ugly though, but oh well.

Our little building cleans up well:

The "Cinderella" theme decor: Silver branches, gold pumpkins and little clear slippers on the tables:

My jobs were :

1) To cover the RS chalkboard and put the lettering for the party on the fabric (I printed the letters large, then cut them out and traced them onto nice paper which I then cut out again). I bought fabric and sewed the cover. Unfortunately I had a “Doh!” moment because I bought 40” fabric when I should have bought 60” wide fabric so I had to scramble and add the border at the bottom. I meant to do that, right?

The Couples: Mike & Rene, Dennis and Ame

2) To find and decorate two baskets that would hold cards that people brought to the party. One for each couple- each basket was to be decorated in their wedding colors. You would not believe how hard it is to find complimenting baskets that would be shaped pretty for cards. Mom and I scrambled for two weeks- even places like Joanns and Michaels had a pitiful offering. I wound up using one that Mom already owned, and one that she found someplace, they complimented each other well enough in shape and size and coloring.

I bought fake flowers and taped them together and wired them to each basket, adding big bows. As a final touch I created a scroll with each couple’s names and attached it to their basket and added a faux butterfly or two. I hate most fake flowers (and I hated them even as a child) but I was pretty pleased with how they turned out. In a perfect world (or for my own shindig) I would have created blooms out of paper or fabric instead of storebought ones, but there was no time for that.

Rene's colors are red and aqua:

Ame's colors are lavender and yellow:

3) To bring lights for the fake plants that had been gleaned from other buildings. The lights were from my extensive collection (people used to borrow my rose lights back home for weddings). Laura did a good job of putting them on the bushes.

We came back before the party started and helped with a few last minute things. We also loaned cake servers, a punch bowl and baskets for baked goods to the cause. The only real glitch that night was that Dennis and Rene’s parents were late getting to the building (and they were doing most of the food) due to car trouble but it was fine. It was nice to spend the evening with my friends and I had a nice time talking and laughing with everyone. Laura and I stayed to help clean up, and made it home about 10:30 that night. Dennis, Rene and Mike went back to Idaho this weekend, I'm glad Ame is staying longer. All the couples are so incredibly happy that it's hard not to have that happiness rub off on you. Most of my friends from out here have moved permanently or are away most of the time at school, so I can get a bit lonesome. I love it when friends come home to visit.

Me with Dennis and Ame:

Cutting the cake:

Playing a silly game with shoes ("Voting" with your or your finace's shoe as to who is more likely to do/not do something- pretty funny!)

So now you can see why it’s been a crazy week, it’s been nice to relax a bit (and sleep off the turkey) this weekend. There are not many people getting married out here (this party makes two open houses that we’ve attended since moving here over two years ago) so it was nice to be needed. Mom and I collect pretty things that people have used for weddings in the past, we joke about becoming a rental house!

This week also marked 6 years of being home from my mission (I came home two days before Thanksgiving way back when), thankfully I was not depressed about the anniversary unlike last year. 2009 has been a pretty good year, lots of blessings, so I can’t complain too much. Hope everyone had a good holiday and a good week.

Now onto getting back in the grind at school and getting ready for Christmas! I’m excited about the latter.