Wedding pictures

by Matt. Alayna's Uncle Matt came to the wedding from Issaquah. Yea, cause I know you're asking, the Issaquah in WA. He was the official photographer and got some great shots despite the rain which began after the wedding and lasted about an hour. (Well, until the great storm of the century later that evening.)

Thank goodness the Nauvoo Temple has this great porch to take cover and take pictures.

This was the view looking out from the porch. It was beautiful and possible because the building across the street had been torn down. I tell you now Jenny cried when she saw what had been done. She went to school and lived in that building when she went to BYU Nauvoo for her first semester of college. She watched the progress of the Nauvoo Temple construction that winter and overcame her fear of nuns. They still lived in part of the building which had originally been a Catholic boarding school. Our Tulsa stake had stayed there when we held a youth conference in Nauvoo. The bowling alley where you had to set up your own pins was gone. I will admit feeling sick that it was all gone. The view though, was lovely.

And we were happy to have all our children and grandchildren together in Nauvoo. It was as if the stars had aligned.

I love this picture

and this one at the State Bank of Nauvoo.

Such a great town! And couple! Good times!

Recital Season, part 2

Emily had her voice recital on Saturday. It was her first performance singing and let's just say we were all a little nervous. Emily sings in the car and around the house and she usually tries to sing as obnoxious as possible. Her goal is to sound so obviously bad that there is no mistake whether we should be laughing.

This recital had pianists, drummers, singers and guitar players of all ages and abilities. We were relieved when Emily sang quietly on key, remembered all her words and walked on and off the stage without incident. I would have taken a picture during the event but didn't want to distract her.

She could be looking at the cute boys that played guitar, but who could blame her. Who doesn't like a boy in a band?

She played

beautifully at her piano recital. After a wedding, a reception, house guests and a trip to Nauvoo I assumed she would be anxious by Saturday night. But no, she was cool as a cucumber. That's her teacher sitting beside her to turn the pages of her music. Undoubtedly trying to be inconspicuous.

Emily's teacher is maybe in her mid-twenties but she has a music degree from the University of Tulsa and therefore connections to score this beautiful auditorium for her piano students performance.

Here's the view from the outside of the building. I still consider myself a visiting Northwesterner to OK so my children performing on TU's campus or graduating high school and attending sports camps on ORU's campus or band camp at the University of Arkansas, etc. reminds me to ask myself. . . . .where am I and how did I get here? Emily is an Okie. She thinks I am ridiculous for more than the above reasons.

Alright, already,

enough with the tornadoes. There were sixteen in OK last night. I dropped a letter in the mailbox at the Glenpool Post Office while the sirens were going off. I realize I should have been at home in the bathtub with a football helmet on my head and a twin mattress over the helmet but I was busy and too distracted to notice my life was in peril. When the sirens sound it apparently signals the time to go outside anyway and see what is happening. I saw plenty of gawkers. Last week as we drove to Nauvoo we learned of the pending tornado breakout predicted for later that evening in OK. It was to be spectacular!? The final count that day was 34 tornadoes. Tulsa was spared as the stormy weather lost it's oomph heading east. The Tuckett family arrived home late Wednesday night after the wedding. Thursday morning a F-1 tornado found their front yard. And their tree.

That same storm tracked past our house. When we drove into the driveway later that afternoon we could see the gutter spout that sits on the ground beside the garage door up the hill in the backyard. Our once clean white house was covered in dirt, grass and leaf debris. On the bright side, it was too wet to mow. Their were seven tornadoes in Tulsa that morning. We claim number 3 on the chart.

Lest you think our destination wedding was balmy, the night after the event was the storm of all storms in Illinois. The hail was only golf ball size. Embarrassingly small really. The rain though was something else. The rain was relentless. And torrential. Was someone building an ark? Was there still time to repent and find someone building an ark? There was no pause between the lightning and thunder. And that one time when it hit the house it was REALLY loud! The smoke alarm went off. Doesn't that mean the house is on fire? Did we need a fireman and his truck with all that rainfall? Eventually the house didn't burn down and we went back to sleep. Thank goodness because the house was awesome.
This was Emily's bed where she slept through the storm and didn't wake up when the house could have been smoking hot because lightning struck and the alarm was alarming and her covered wagon was close to floating down the Mississippi.

This was Justin and Miranda's bedroom where the lights never worked again after lightning struck and they were scared to death but not enough to wet the bed.

This was Lonny and I's room and yes as a matter of fact I always do make the bed.

These implements which hung on the opposite wall were not implemented.

My advice would be to not sleep with the enemy in this room.

This is what the bedroom looked like from the hallway.

This is the bathroom. Not sure what Colton was doing in there but it may just be better not to know.

This was the great room which you can see was just so great.

The view was also grand from the wagon.

The kitchen. Who would not want to sit across from this crowd in the morning?

And when you were full of pancakes you could brush up on your horseback riding skills. And get your photo taken. Ha!

This was the boys bunk room.

And this was the balcony of the bunk room where somehow Geoff's friend Wade ended up sacking out between WWF matches featuring Colton and Bryce.

And standing on top of the bunk bed gave Kirsten a birds eye view of the collateral damage.

Take the family to Nauvoo. You won't be sorry.

I know, I know

it's hard to believe this boy is off the market.

One minute we're sitting around, minding our own business watching Toy Story. Again.

. . . .the next minute some nice fellas talk us into making a rope.

Which everyone knows can only end with someone having to tie a knot.

I tried to hold on . . . . .

even the bride wasn't sure what had just happened.

So we had cake.

And just cause they got hitched we let them play with a knife.

We spent

our last day in Utah at Camryn's baby blessing. She was such a little angel, seriously. She wore the same dress Miranda had worn when she was blessed, the world's tiniest shoes and a very cute headband. Which by the way I witnessed Miranda making out of white tights. I was impressed.

We took pictures before we went to the church, expecting one or both of the kiddos to suffer a meltdown. Camryn wore that dress all day long and Bryce has the proof here, that he can be adorable. Camryn was placed in his arms, they looked at one another, the cameras captured the moment and all the adults in the room said aaahhhh. It's the small things that remind us to keep them.
Justin gave her a beautiful blessing. Just right for a beautiful doll.

We missed having Geoff, Eric and Emily there. We had sent them to drive across the country the day before. They had all their belongings in the back of the truck so they could not really stop for the night unless they unpacked. They did arrive home, barely. Their lives for twenty hours were sustained with enough snacks to last a semester. The road was shut down for 100 miles in Wyoming with no marked detour. Was it snowing? Was there a parade? Does anyone know? Eric was the only one of the three to receive a speeding ticket. I am assuming Emily did not take a turn driving but there are some things a mom just doesn't want to know.