Joseph and Eliza ~ est. 2024

Happy Wedding day to these two love birds!

I'm just going to give a quick recap of the day, might come back later to add more details. We left the Airbnb a little later than planned, and Corey took us to the Meridian Idaho Temple, then he went and hurried to drop off his car at Christian's Auto Repair nearby cause his car needs a new battery. We were grateful it started for us this morning. On our way with some kids - glad it didn't feel hot yet at 8am. 

At the temple - boys huddling around cousin Isaac and his phone ~

Girls all pretty in pink. 

We waited for Corey to get back, and Ethan and Bella (who followed Corey to the car shop and to bring him back after dropping it off) so we were a little later than the requested 8:30 arrival time, but it was ok - we still had time to spare in the marriage waiting room before the 9am sealing. The sealing was beautiful. I don't remember things that were said, but I do remember that Joseph and Eliza were staring each other down gazing into each others' eyes during the sealing ordinance. I can't look at someone that long without having to break it up every few seconds with a glance away, so they must REALLY be in love! Everyone waiting outside to receive the bride and groom ~

Peter can stare people down like Joseph and Eliza did to each other. Peter was having staring contests with everyone while we waited for our turn for pictures. He beat Uncle Jared solidly...

Uncle Neil was no contest... (Peter telling him the rules "no cheating..." (Uncle Jared clapped)

He beat cousin Mikey... (Mikey did have the wind blowing in his face)

And then Ethan took him on. Ethan was the only one who beat him, but it left him with his contacts all dried out! Ethan was grunting and screaming "How are you so good at this!?!? Ughh! I'm NOT going to lose to you!"

Almost time for photos for Wrides and Hibberts.

The pictures taken by the photographer will be better than what I got on my phone, but here's one of Joseph and Eliza with the Wride sisters - 

Then it was off to the luncheon. We hurried over to slice up lemons and get ice water ready. The caterer was there with the food, but the building was locked. We chatted for a few minutes and then Amanda had the keys and she was still doing pics at the temple, but she showed up soon enough. The caterer set all the food up for us, it looked amazing. Wes called while we were waiting for J & E, he had a question for his endoscopy and forgot that today was wedding day, so that was a fun surprise for him to be with us for a moment. Wes saying hi to Peter. 

We waited for a while for Joseph and Eliza to come. It seemed like everyone was really ready to eat when they finally did. 

We did very brief introductions and then we went one table at a time to eat. I really liked Whatever Works Catering. They brought in all the food, set it up on burners, lit the burners, and yeah there was a ton of food, it was great. On the lunch menu was:

• Entrees: Lemon chicken split with artichoke pesto pasta
• Sides: rice pilaf and rolls
• Salads: spinach bacon split with strawberry gouda
• Plus a fruit platter
• Desserts: brownies and cookies

Everything that was vegetarian or gluten free was labeled. I had bought 8 extra things of grapes last night at Costco, and those were well used, we didn't need the extra salads I got, we did use one of the rolls. Plates, napkins, and utensils were all provided by the caterer, we ended up being short a few plates (note to self - some kids probably took another plate on their second helping?) We brought cups and had lemon water and ice water in dispensers that I borrowed from my neighbor Barbara. So yeah, then we all ate and people gave speeches: Corey, Scott, Grandparents, and Joseph's best friends Scotty and Talmage, and also Eliza's friend Eliza. And Ethan spoke for a moment to represent the siblings. Eliza's dad's mom's mom stood and shared this Robert Browning quote which I've heard before, but a different line really stood out to me today - 

Grow old along with me! 

The best is yet to be, 

the last of life, 

for which the first was made. 

Our times are in his hand 

who saith, 'A whole I planned, 

youth shows but half; 

Trust God: See all, nor be afraid!

The last of life is what it's about! And the last of life is what the first was made for! Joseph and Eliza are just at the beginning the real part of life - exciting! Being young is fun tho, and I'm glad to believe that when we are resurrected we will be at the prime of our life. And as for babies and small children, I kinda feel like a huge part of those sweet and wonderful years when they are little are just a blessing for us, their parents, to enjoy, cause they don't remember any of it. (Babies are magic!) Eliza sang a song "Georgia" but changed the lyrics to say "Joseph" and "him", it was really beautiful. Joseph played a number on the saxophone, and that was the first time Eliza has ever heart him play!

After the lunch, we cleaned up food, moved around tables and chairs a bit (to make room for dancing at the reception) 

I think Katharine had the right idea... it's time for a nap!

Kids at the dessert bar, yum!

I'm taking notes for when we have the open house in Salt Lake next month... (Amanda let me borrow the cute signs she had made)

Joseph and Eliza cutting the cake, and shoving it in! (They didn't let it get too messy)

A highlight of the evening was when the Dahls showed up! They are our dear friends and they drove 7 hours to celebrate with us! They win!

They are on their way to Salt Lake to drop some kids off at FSY, so they worked it out with their schedule to be able to come, but we just thought that was so cool. We love the Dahls! Two visits with them in the same year, we're so lucky! After the cake, they did the "first dance" as husband and wife. I can't remember what song it was.

Wes called during that too (more endoscopy stuff), so lucky him to be able to experience the wedding with us!

Does he look sad? He's ok. I missed two weddings when I was on my mission too. He'll be ok. Then Eliza danced with her dad and I danced with Joseph, we danced to Stand by Me. Then the real dance party started. It was really fun. We tried to prepare better this time, so we had Napoleon Dynamite read, and also did a fair share of practicing a few Just Dance songs: Dynamite, YMCA, and That's What Makes You Beautiful. Of course Runaway was also a blast, here's a video that my mom took of it via Marco Polo for my siblings, I took a screen recording of it. It was really fun, we danced the whole time, it was a major party. We all sent off the newlyweds before sunset, and then cleaned up the clubhouse. Bella, Natalie, and Katharine playing.  

We sent kids back to the Airbnb in different shifts, Abi went back to the Stevens to swim, MALS all slept at Bella's house again, Corey and I had NODPK with us at the Airbnb along with Neil's family and my parents. We made it to back to the Airbnb by 11, Corey went straight to bed so he can make it on the ride tomorrow morning, I packed a bit so H and Mel can take stuff when they leave with Wayne at 4am tomorrow morning. We are getting up at 6 to leave at 6:30 to meet the Stevens at 7 for a bike ride. And now I'm finally done blogging this wonderful day (a week later!) I just had an outline and pictures to help me remember things, and I think we caught it all. It was a wonderful day and it all went perfectly! Eliza's parents did an amazing job. 

Lily is 15!

Happy Birthday Lily! Katharine saw the candles lit and jumped up to blow them out. 

Like a good older sibling, Lily didn't mind sharing the spotlight with her little sister.

One two three blow!

Daniel played her the Happy Birthday song a few times - when we sang to her, and then again when my mom came and we sang again...

Glad that music practice is getting put to good use! Good job Daniel

I made some fruit smoothies with whipped cream instead of cake. 

We didn't put candles in those but we did sing, and we sang again when my mom came by. My mom got her some great gifts, I was home with her when my mom came by, and the rest of the kids were on a neighborhood walk about, so we had more cookies for that. Sugar sugar everywhere. I think Lily's favorite part of the day was talking to a friend she met at FSY. Wayne took Lily out yesterday to a book store, so she liked that. I am getting increasingly lazy and thus, like I did at Christmas, I resorted to cash again. 

I did fold it into a heart though, if that gets me any thoughtfulness points? Corey is taking her out to breakfast tomorrow. Actually I had a Disney Lego set of a Disney Castle and I told her she could chose between that or cash. I'm ok that she chose the cash. Little kids still choose legos. Peter made a space ship today - 

And Owen made a big pirate ship! They both worked hard. I told Owen he's turning into a real lego master.

I saw today that BYU currently has a lego exhibit, so we've got to take the kids to that soon! It looks really cool. Maybe after the wedding. Got home from church today - Had the kids try on outfits, trying to figure out their clothes... we're not done with it, but K liked one of her two options. She wore this to church today - 

K watching VeggieTales Jonah with Daniel after church. Such a pretty little girl! Daniel is a little Ethan, and K is a pretty good Lily look alike. Happy Birthday Lily, we hope it was a good day! One more year and she'll be driving, crazy. These kids just keep growing up so fast. 

Bells Canyon Hike

Well I did a good thing today - I got my girls up bright and early and we went on a hike.

I had given them fair warning a few days before and the night before that we were getting up as soon as it was light. I woke them up at 5:20 and they only dragged their feet a little bit. We decided to do Bells and I guess I haven't done it in a while, cause I didn't remember how long it was, or it might have been cause they were asking to be done. Lily was having a hard time breathing, feeling like something was stuck in her throat, so I kept saying a little more, let's just go a little farther, but then she turned around to go back. She was either going to wait in the car or maybe she'd walk home. Abi Sophi and Natalie walked a bit further. It was pretty cold, like low 40s, so our hands were very cold. ASN kept going, but they were anxious to bail out as soon as possible. Abi was continuing to follow us and hike, but wanted to make something clear aa she said "I want to go home, and I do hate this, but..." then said she didn't want to bail like Lily. She didn't want to be that kind of person. I kept looking at my strava to see how far we were from where I wanted to go, I thought we were almost there, so we went a little more. Natalie was the most ready to stop. I said they could go back and Abi could drive them home and I'd keep going alone, but they'd feel bad if they left me to hike alone. Another strategy - I said "Let's run! And see how quickly we can go!" I followed it with "...but don't twist and sprain your ankle..." Natalie did good during that brief part of our hike game. So we kept going, and when we got to a place that the map said was "lower falls" which meant that the place I actually did want to go was quite a bit further up the mountain. Ok, I guess it would take us another 40 minutes to get there, so, we will stop here. We took a photo and started to walk back. 

That was good enough. Plus I was worried that Lily might be in the car watching a movie and thus sucking up all the battery power. So we started to hustle back down, and 5-10 minutes into our descent and guess who we met upon the trail, it was Lily!!! She was hiking back up! But now Abi Sophi and Natalie were all done and ready to go home, so we talked and made a new plan: A would drive home with S&N, L and I would go up to the waterfall. So we did, and it did take us another hour, but we made it up. It was like going up a stone rock stair master. Lots of lunges. But the waterfall was worth it. Lily was impressed with how big it was. 

Despite how large the waterfall looked, Lily decided it wasn't really that big in quantity of water, but  because the water was hitting and spraying off of rocks underneath it, making is spray out and look bigger. It was all misty and cold - some branches of a tree down near the water had ice on it, and the tree trunks near where the mist was landing were all coated with black ice too. 

I brought along two hiking sticks which I made from some branches in our yard that I cut down. they doubled as sticks to stretch out my shoulders on the way down. Stopping by the small lower falls where Abi Sophi and Natalie turned around...

So it was fun and a good way to start the day. Then I admired our flowers after we got home... 

...and mowed the lawn, finished cutting down the wild tree that I cut the hiking sticks from, and I was sad to see some berries at the top, I think I chopped down a mulberry tree, darn. I ate one of them, it was sweet and good, so that's too bad. I didn't know what it was, I figured it was just some big fast growing out of control tree, like lots of the other plants in our yard. 

Other things that went on today - 

little kids playing trains - 

And I took another few steps to getting the catering for the wedding lunch figured out. I think we're going with 120 people and so we're going to split different entrees, salads, sides, and desserts:

• 60 Lemon Chicken 
• 60 Artichoke Pesto Pasta
• 60 servings GF Spinach Avocado Bacon
• 60 servings GF Strawberry Gouda
• 60 rice (adds $180)
• 60 rolls
• 60 brownies
• 60 cookies

Plus they include a fruit tray. Estimate $1680, pretty reasonable. Corey and I went to the temple for a session (he was having a bit of a hope crisis - not faith in God, just in business: "I don't think I can/want to go on like this" "why is it that I always tend to go deep on good faith and then feel taken advantage of" "like I'm way patient and then that good faith turns into resentment - must be a problem with me" "I think I'm too much of a push-over and not clear enough about my expectations and what I need." "but I've also found when I push back on investor-types who have all the leverage, it almost never goes well. They are offended and hit back hard" - so that was some of the thoughts on his mind and what he was wrestling with, and so the temple was great, but as soon as we got out, we got a phone call and there was drama related to us about people who were or were not properly invited to Joseph's wedding, so we called J to tell him he had to fix that. I was a little irritated but Corey handled it well, I went on a walk and decided to call Nicole to vent about it, not about J. Joseph is doing great, it's a lot to try and keep everyone happy with all their different expectations. He went to pick up his wedding suit at Mr. Mac, and guess what he saw that is coming soon there in the Fort Union shopping center? A new Momentum climbing gym! Awesome! He sent a picture, that will be fun! We only cancelled our membership last week, but I'm already looking forward to December when we climb again!

Happy Birthday Corey!

Happy Birthday to Corey! So here's an example of one of the differences between Corey and I. On my birthday this year, I went to the library where I could be left alone. Other times I turn the kids into my personal slaves. For my birthday meal, we had salad and some cake and ice cream. On Corey's birthday he takes the kids biking! And then takes them out for ice cream and fries at Leatherby's with his birthday cash. He is outward focused on his bday, and for me, that's a time when I focus on what I want and don't feel guilty about cashing in on it. So, there's a little difference showing how Corey is a bit more selfless. But perhaps it could be argued that since I'm with kids all day, it's ok for me to do the opposite and take personal time on my birthday. Anyway, I found it curious. He and I went on a ride this morning to Corner Canyon and then we went out biking again with all the little kids. (Abi Lily and Sophi are still at YW camp, but they got home later this afternoon.) We parked at Peakview and all road along the Draper Alpine Trail to go to Ghost Falls. 

Peter was struggling a bit. Corey stayed with him for a bit, but then we traded cause I wasn't feeling brave to take the kids down the hill. I also thought K, who was on the bike with Corey, would be mad if it was slow and boring. So I stayed with Peter and we did a little bit of Canyon Hollow down. 

He still thought that was a little fast and scary, but he did good and it was a successful first ride in the mountains for Peter. When he was ready, we turned around and returned to the Draper road. We walked our bikes up the hill and got back the car. I checked Life360 to see where Corey and the kids were. Corey was following behind Natalie, Owen and Daniel, with Katharine on shotgun. I think Natalie was leading the way in front. They went down Ghost Falls and then on whatever trail to the bike park. Peter and I drove from Peakview to the bike part and picked them up. After we stopped to take a picture at the temple to send to Wes. But the sun was a little too bright!

Ok, that's better. 

We were all loaded up and headed back home at 12:20. I had to go to a high school reunion meeting at 1. I made banana shakes for everyone first, then left for 2 hours. When I got home, the girls had made it back from camp and Lily was up in her messy messy room... talking to a boy...

And I told her she better clean up or I'm going to text him this pic of the reality of her cleanliness habits. There's always an excuse. She said she had to hurry and pack for YW after she got home from FSY, so she hasn't had time to clean up things. She's got a lot of dirty laundry and mess that she needs to clean and organize. Abi and Sophi  do too, cause they were at FSY and Oakcrest, but their situation is not as big as Lily's. I let them have some time to chill and relax after a long week, and they told us about some of their week. A&S were teaching Daniel's friend Millie how to make friendship bracelets. 

After I got back from my meeting, it was finally time to go get Ice cream. At Leatherby's

Wayne joined us. Katharine studying the menu...

And taste testing the water. Hmmm...

Corey ordered some cheese fries, and I figured out everyone's ice cream requests: 

• Abi got the Annie Lynn with peanut butter cookie dough and Dutch Chocolate
• Sophi - Annie Lynn with cookies and cream & brownie fudge
• Natalie ordered the Emily raspberry chocolate rhapsody 

Thankfully they had a kids menu, so the little kids each got the Gavin dish with one flavor of ice cream: 

• Owen - cookie and cream
• Daniel - blue bubble gum
• Peter - Dutch choc chip
• Katharine - Dutch choc chip

Fries delivered with fry sauce and ketchup. Nice Natalie - 

They ate some fries, and then the ice cream sundae's were delivered. Everyone enjoying their desserts. Corey shared with Katharine (and this time she was willing to share, so that's good) and I took a few bites here and there from kids dishes.

Natalie's "rhapsody" was very very large. There was literally a pool of syrup and sugar in the platter underneath her huge sundae bowl. When she wanted to order something so large, Corey told her that she had to finish all of it or she had to pay for her dish. 

And the mess we left behind. 

Joseph and Ethan each sent him a video that they had made. Here is the video from Ethan ~

And from Joseph (who is up backpacking with Eliza's family for the weekend, they are featured in the video, fun!)

"OreyCorey" is how you say Corey in "Corey-Latin", which is similar to the word conjugation of Ferb-Latin, which Ethan introduced to our family. Several of our children speak it fluently. So when Ethan was in California selling pest control for a few months, in June 2020, he asked a lady that he met to wish Corey a happy birthday, and that is her featured at the beginning of J's video. Now Corey is wondering if Eliza's family will be calling him "Oreycorey" in two weeks at the wedding? Ha, I guess we'll see. That was a cute video by Joseph. We have talented kids, and I'm glad they are skilled at creating and sharing family memories and footage digitally! And as a final birthday tribute, let me sa that I'm pretty much in awe of Corey. He's such an caring husband and an awesome father. I need to find a way to preserve the emails he has sent to the kids on missions. His emails to Wes are so good and thoughtful and instructive. I'm grateful to have him call us all to gather for scriptures every night. 

I would that everyone had a Corey in their life. Happy 48th! Hoping we have atleast another half a century together.