Watching the Jazz Play

You know how much I love basketball! Last night we had the opportunity to run downtown and watch the Jazz play the Orlando Magic. It's funny to me that we finally got our free tickets from Jr. Jazz well after the season was over. My kids enjoyed the game, but they would have had so much more fun a month ago when they were all still playing.

It was a good game, but the Jazz were ahead pretty much the entire time. The most exciting part was when they chose our section as the "winning" section and they threw tiny basketball balls and other prizes into the stands. Scout was super excited to receive a small box with Jazz earrings and cuff links (which required a little explaining since the kids had no idea what to do with them).

We got home just after 10:00 pm and the kids were all tired and definitely ready to sleep. This morning I woke up to find a small box of popcorn on my desk. It seems that Curly held it all through the game and then carried it to the car for me. He knows how much I love it.

Such a sweet boy.

Happy Birthday, Great Aunt Jan

One day when Teach and Twiz were first married, I pulled out a new frame and tossed the stock picture in the garbage. Teach pulled it out and asked me who it was, and then promptly christened her our "Great Aunt Jan."

Great Aunt Jan has had a place in our hearts (a tiny place) ever since. She has shown up in the most unlikely places, including a notepad full of her pictures and then in several cards mailed home from vacation and packed into several suitcases for others. She has been a source of fun and laughter long enough that we sort of feel like she really is part of our family.

So when Drama Queen made our family calendar for Christmas, she placed Great Aunt Jan's birthday in March; 3/3/1833 is her official birth date. Yesterday we had a party in her memory. Drama Queen and Teach planned it and we held it at their house. Drama Queen made a large pot of rice and some chicken and we all brought ingredients for teriyaki rice bowls.

We had a gift exchange game with a $5 limit and we shared family history stories about our real ancestors. It was fun and different and a bit crowded. I think Great Aunt Jan would have been pleased.

Dog Walker's Wedding Day

Yesterday was a wonderful, amazing, happy day! I was smiling so much my face was hurting. And last night we got home about 10:15 and I was so tired all I wanted to do was sleep so I went to be and didn't get up for 11 hours.

But you don't want to hear about me, you want to hear about Dog Walker's wedding.

They were sealed in the Salt Lake Temple at 10:20 AM. We waited around for a while for pictures on the temple steps, and then we hustled back to get all the food to the church for the luncheon. We didn't have to hurry that fast. Our newlyweds were a good half an hour behind us; but it all worked out well and we had a nice fiesta for about 70 people. 

Waiting for them to come out.

Mr. and Mrs.

Luncheon pics

After we cleaned everything up, most of us took off for the other church to finish setting up the reception. We didn't have a ton of things left, since Cat Lover's family handled most of the decorating beyond the lights, the stage and the backdrop. They did a fabulous job and by the time we were finished, the entire gym had stars and flowers and giant fans everywhere. We got so many compliments!

Dog Walker and my favorite girls

Most of my favorite guys

Cat Lover's parents catered Leatherby's ice cream sundaes for the food, so I only had to worry about water and then the cake was my responsibility too. My friend, Dana, got there about 5:30 to set it up and then we only had to do pictures before our steady stream of guests began to arrive.

Little Warrior and Twizlet sharing a dance.

Things didn't let up until about 8:10 and then we had a brief slow period before we finished up with dancing and cutting the cake. We blew them off with bubbles and had the church cleaned up by about 10:00. We took so many pictures! I will post more after we get them back from the photographer..

Cutting the cake

Almost a Married Man

It's been a rough week. The wedding is hours away and we still have so much to do. We are good and set for the ceremony, I hope. Although we have had a few crazy moments like when we realized Dog Walker had no idea where he had put his temple recommend. Finally, after hours of looking and a frantic phone call to the Bishop, Drama Queen thought to look in his Sunday School roles and there is was.

I had to remake my jacket because it was too tight through the shoulders and I knew I would be doing lots of hugging and I just didn't want to deal with the discomfort. That took me several hours today and several last night as I dissected the original jacket.

We were able to really start setting things up at the church around 9:30 tonight because of the basketball games. We didn't feel comfortable staying terribly late, so we are about halfway finished getting lights and things up. I guess we will have to plan some time after the luncheon to finish putting things together.

Lots of big helpers...

 And we didn't get anything ready at the other church where we are having our luncheon although thankfully, all the food is ready and will just need to be warmed. Tables and chairs go up quickly, so it shouldn't be too bad. We have to be at the temple at 8:45 AM, so a few hours of sleep would be nice. Tomorrow will be here soon and our Dog Walker will be a married man.