Arizona Wedding

Mike and Carly got married on March 7th.  It was wonderful! Sadly, though, this is my only picture of them on their wedding day.  Yep, just one, but don't they look smashing!   

Chris and I had been counting down the days until we could enjoy some of that Arizona sunshine, and THIS TIME, Arizona didn’t disappoint.  It was 15 degrees when we boarded the plane in Indianapolis, so we were definitely ready for some spring.  Jane was anxiously looking forward to seeing her cousins.  She talked about it for weeks leading up, carrying the Christmas card pictures of their families around and naming them individually.  Usually, though, she just refers to them collectively as “the cousins” (or sometimes Emily... and the cousins).  The flight went pretty well.  Jane’s easy, but Peter is a handful.  He is CONSTANTLY moving and just wants to get down and run around.  It was a direct flight, though, so that was nice.  It was so fun to see everyone again.  Jane is funny, though.  She is SO excited to see everyone and then when she does see them, she gets so shy that she defaults to animal noises.  If anyone other than her parents tries to address her, she just meows or makes monkey noises and does a funny little penguin walk (I kind of love it).  After being around them for a day, she loosened up a little.  

She loves Grandpa and became good friends with Nate while they played in the sand box together.  It’s nice to see them repair that relationship.  Jane would have spent the weekend in that sandbox if she could.  She loves digging in the sand and loading it into the trucks.  She is also the cleanest kid in the sandbox.  She likes digging, but still not a big fan of touching the sand.

We spent the day before the wedding enjoying a little bit of Arizona.  We headed to Joe’s Farm Grill for some great burgers and then to a pretty lake.  It was a fun day of hanging out in the sunshine and slacklining.

 That evening was the family dinner.  They had it at a fancy law firm in a huge boardroom.  It had the biggest table I think I’ve ever seen.  The dinner was nice and it was fun to visit with everyone, but Peter was really difficult, so it made it hard to really enjoy it.  That would prove a theme over the whole trip.  It was a great trip, but one of the harder ones for the kids.  We were three hours off, the kids weren’t sleeping well at night, and we had little control over our schedule, so they weren’t getting good naps either.  Jane rolls with things pretty well, but Peter, who still requires two good naps a day anyway, had a harder time being flexible.
My favorite part of the evening was hearing each of the parents and siblings of the bride and groom say a little something.  It was fun to laugh and remember good times, get to know Carly and her family a little better, and reflect on the love we all feel and the significance of the occasion.

Sarah was so good at keeping the little ones occupied during all that adult talking stuff.

The sealing the next day was great.  That is the first time our whole family has been in a sealing room together.  I felt very blessed to look down the row and see my whole family in the temple together.  We took pictures for a while outside the temple.  Jane fell asleep in Grandpa’s arms and then Chris took over and I spent most of my time chasing down a very cranky Peter, so I hardly got any photos, but the temple, bride, groom, and whole wedding party was just perfect.

The reception was held at a friend’s house with an incredible back yard.  It was huge and even had a great place for the kids to play.  It even had a nursery inside!  Hallelujah!  I was able to put Peter down for the night and enjoy the rest of the evening.  We danced and talked and had a great time.  The boys decorated Mike’s car and in the end we sent them off with some sparklers.  Jane spent most of the evening on a little carousel yelling “faster” to the little boys pushing it around.  Otherwise she was back and forth between the playroom that opened up to the back yard and the dance floor on the basketball court.  She was in heaven with her cousins and her freedom.

Being in Arizona made me miss the west.  Chris says vacations like that make it really hard to come back to Indiana.  I understand that, it’s a reminder of what we're missing, but vacations like that make it easier for me to live so far away.  I miss them too, but having these weekends make me feel not so far away.
On Sunday, everyone left early in the morning.  We had the big house to ourselves for a while and we let the kids nap while we packed slowly.  Then we decided to go to the Mesa Temple.  It was perfect.  It was so nice to walk around and let the kids roam outside.  The Mesa Temple is beautiful and old.  We stopped in the visitor center and went through a video exhibit on families that brought us both to tears.  After spending the weekend with so many loved ones, it was the perfect thing to sum up the blessings that we are so grateful for.

Jane is inviting the birds to "come down here" (then points to the cement right in front of her toes).