Whitney and Adam's Wedding

Last Sunday, after Paul went home teaching and we got home taught, we made chocolate chip cookies. Alice is happy when eating chocolate.
Very happy.
Trying to be cool and not make such a big deal out of it.
Weird kid.
So happy!
She always makes us laugh with all her funny faces!
That evening, we started a new thing where, if we don't have plans for the evening, we let each person choose what the family will do for 10 minutes. We use the kitchen timer, and have 40 minutes of family time. Grace picked Cranium, Alice picked playing with books and toys, Paul picked playing the piano and singing, and I picked watching old clips of when Grace was Alice's age. Pretty fun!
On Monday, Alice was very grouchy all day. We even ended therapy early because she was in such a bad mood. She slept 4 hours that afternoon. I watched Lion King with Grace, and Paul made chicken salad for dinner. Then Alice had her first sugar-free pudding cup. She didn't know what to think of it.
Grace was there to show her support.
She loves it now!
Grace was a good helper getting the table cleaned off so we could do our FHE lesson on the creation. We read about each of the days of the creation out of the Bible, colored a puzzle, cut it out, and put it together. The kids liked it.
On Tuesday, I gave Alice full-on pigtails.
Pretty cute. We cancelled walking group because of the strong winds, so I got a ton of errands taken care of in the morning, including visiting teaching a less active new convert. She seems nice, and hospitable - she let us stay over an hour - but she says she's too sick to come to church. Too bad.
That evening, we had 40-minute family time again. I chose to sit out on the back porch for a while, but I didn't realize how could it would be!
Then I went to sewing, where my sewing teacher taught us how to make peanut brittle, and even bought us each a candy thermometer! Here's Kim showing off the near-finished product.
Apparently, not much happened on Wednesday. No pictures!
On Thursday, I took Alice to the library, and fed her lunch outside in the 70-degree weather. We got Grace out of school a little early so Paul and the girls could take me to the airport. Little did we know my flight would be delayed 2 hours because of maintenance problems on the plane! Paul made me a folder full of stuff to do - stories to read, crossword puzzle, word find, mad libs, etc. - so I kept busy. I just feel bad Justin had to wait 3 hours for me so we could share a rental car. It was snowing lightly when I finally got to Salt Lake. Justin and I got in our tiny 2-person Fiat, and stopped for food at Burgers Supreme and Krispy Kreme. Paul made the girls pancakes for dinner at home.
He also took care of cub scouts, though we got the local blacksmith to do the main teaching of the tools lesson.
What boy doesn't like tools? Justin and I got to the hotel in Nephi around 10 pm, and most of the family was there, including lots of mom's side of the family. There was lots of visiting and eating of leftover reception food, and our last night with Whitney as a single girl.
After a rough night of sleeping with very pregnant Sarah, we woke up on Friday to 7 inches of snow.
Whitney's final meal as a Flake!
We spent the morning getting ready for the big event. It's fun to get ready with all your sisters, but very crowded!
Here's the whole white dress ensemble with the pink accents. Unfortunately, the camera I brought to the wedding didn't work, so I ended up with only cell phone pictures. Sad. Hopefully other people will send their pictures around.
While I was getting ready for the wedding, Paul was getting the girls ready for school. Alice needed it!
Paul stayed to check out Grace's class for an hour or so. It was his first time, and he really liked it. Meanwhile, we went to Whitney and Adam's wedding at the Manti temple. Nice temple, nice wedding, FREEZING pictures!
Back at home, Paul put Alice down for a nap, and tried to maximize the lighting for his skype interview. It must've worked, because he got offered a spot in the UCSC science journalism program for the fall!
He called to tell me about it as we were driving to the wedding luncheon. So exciting! But then I saw this ventriloquist dummy at the luncheon hall, and thought maybe I was in the Twilight Zone. We all visited for a long time waiting for the lunch to start, and took lots of pictures, then we ate a nice meal. No programs, no speeches, and we were on our way back to the hotel. I had a nice talk with Dad on the way. We only had an hour at the hotel before we had to leave again, so we visited, and fixed our hair and makeup and stuff.
Then a long drive to the reception at the old church in Leamington. We helped set up, got group pictures taken, and then the reception began. The DJ was awesome, with great music and emcee-ing, and the Cafe Rio buffet was great too. I missed Paul during all the slow dances, but I had a great time with the conga line, the chicken dance, and some of the zumba songs.
Meanwhile, Paul was working on Alice's standing. She's getting really good!
Here's the cake. There was a German chocolate theme. After the rose petal send-off, we helped clean up, and made it back to the hotel after 10. We were all thoroughly trashed, so we visited a little, and were in bed by midnight.
Meanwhile, Paul sent off a chapter of his thesis, and built a tent/fort for the girls to wake up to.
Apparently, they loved playing in it.
Alice practiced standing more.
And they even ate lunch in it! Meanwhile, I got packed up, we all said our goodbyes, and Mom/Dad dropped me off at the airport with a quick stop at the BYU Bookstore. My flight was half an hour late, and I slept the whole way.
Meanwhile, Paul helped Grace repaint last year's car for this year's Pinewood Derby. Then he passed the girls off to our neighbors, and he was waiting for me at the airport just past the security check. It was such a pleasant surprise! He had a rose for me in the car. Then we went to Dunkin Donuts for payment for the babysitters, and on to Chama River Brewery for dinner with a restaurant.com certificate. Too bad the food wasn't great, but it was great to be with Paul, and to catch up on each other's lives.
We picked up the girls at 6, and I was so happy to see them! They were happy with their gifts and souvenirs, but Alice wasn't pleased that I only brought one mint brownie for each of us. Poor Adolf! We got the girls in bed, Paul and I finished telling about our time apart, and we went to bed early. What a weekend!

Blue and Gold Banquet 2012

Monday was President's Day, so Grace didn't have school. I shoved her into the stroller with Alice for walking group, and she and Kyi both joined us for Alice's therapy. Paul took a break from work and took us all to Subway for lunch, then Grace and I grocery shopped. I had stake RS activity practice, and made fried chicken for dinner. Alice ate tons of mashed potatoes, and Grace ate tons of chicken. Paul taught FHE on honesty, then we finally finished the fourth season of Twilight Zone. P.S. The picture above is of Eli calling on Alice. So it begins.
On Tuesday, I went to Mother's Group for the first time. It's a playgroup for first-time moms, but they keep inviting me and Alice, so we went. It was just okay. Alice was the only kid that couldn't walk, so one boy kept petting her like a dog. I took the girls with me to my RS practice that afternoon, but they were pretty disruptive. Then we played out back with the neighbors. In the evening, Paul went out with the missionaries while I baked 5 cake mixes worth of cupcakes - 48 mini and 91 regular- for the Blue and Gold banquet.
On Wednesday, I watched Biggest Loser at Kim's, and Grace had a half-day of school. She came home with a George Washington hat.
How about a close-up?
Grace played out back in the 70-degree weather for 2 1/2 hours, and even had to wear sunscreen and a hat. I frosted all the cupcakes and put blue and gold sugar sprinkles on top. Then I had another RS activity practice. That evening, we went to the church, and Paul and I set up 10 tables and 70 chairs for the banquet. We started watching MonsterQuest that night.
Thursday was the big day for the Blue and Gold banquet. I cooked a 20-pound turkey in our oven, and a 13-pounder in Kim's. We had a little fun dressing Alice in my scout shirt, then we got to the church before 5. We signed a bunch of awards, and got pinewood derby kits organized. We set out cupcakes, poured waters, set up microphones and projector, and I carved the 2 turkeys.
The program started at 6, with a flag ceremony by the webelos, and lots of food brought by everyone. I presented a slideshow of pictures I've taken at scout meetings over the past year. Everyone loved it!
Paul handed out awards, we had the scoutmaster give a speech, and then Paul gave a speech about showing gratitude. He went on and on about how much work I put into the banquet and how much he appreciated it. I was embarrassed, but pretty proud too.
All the kids loved the cupcakes. All 33 pounds of turkey got eaten, as well as about 100 cupcakes.
We ended up with 63 people in attendance!
The highlight was the boys' song at the end. It was a great banquet, and I'm so relieved that it's over! We had a decent amount of help with the clean-up (diminished by the fact that New Beginnings was directly after our event, so lots of our regular helpers had to go), and we got the girls in bed at a decent hour.
On Friday, Paul let me sleep in until 8:30. He got the girls all ready, and took Grace to school. When I went to walking group, I saw this ice forest due to sprinklers in the cold.
After picking Grace up from school that afternoon, Paul walked her up the hill behind our house to see the dedication of the Protestant cemetery.
It was in conjunction with the Civil War re-enactment, so they had lots of flags and soldiers on horses. Pretty cool.
Then the girls played outside. Alice was nervous about the slide.
But she loves the steering wheel!
Then the girls came inside for a rest. Grace showed off her Abraham Lincoln mask.
Alice was such a big kid in her sparkle jeans and polo!
I don't think Grace was very happy that I made her come inside.
But she got over it. Then we all went to the church for the dress rehearsal of my stake RS activity presentation. It was fine. The best part was when Paul said, "Why do you have to dress as pioneers?" The lady in charge agreed, and I got to wear what I wanted - yay!
On Saturday, I got up early, and caught the carpool to the stake center for the stake RS activity. Our presentation went well, and I'm SO glad it's over! We also did a service project sewing chalkboard mats for kids in Asia. Meanwhile, Paul and the girls made a fort in the living room.
Paul and the girls picked me up at the stake center, and we went to ABQ so Paul and I could take turns at the temple. We ate dinner at Wendy's, and got home in time to put some tired girls to bed. Paul and I had a nice talk about goals afterward. We're gonna be better.
I'm excited to go to Whitney and Adam's wedding this week! Party!