Dance With Me, Baby!

 Aunt Mabel wrote a message of love on a quilt square for the bride and groom

 Lexie's dad, Ken, must be taking some dancing hints from this experienced duo

 Can we hear a cheer for a zestful life?

At 87 and 92

Aunt Mabel and Uncle LeRoss are the bomb!

Family dance

Tim/Karen   Alisha/Jason    Lexie's parents: Leslie/Ken Kelley

The groom and bride dance with a parent

Tyrel chuckled, "Do you have any last minute advice to give me?"

Well OK.....

(Keep communicating.....Listen to understand, rather than to convince)

What might your one-liner advice be for your marrying son or daughter?

Arizona Wedding Reception

Here are some glimpses of the wedding reception decor in Gilbert, AZ

Lexie's grandma was the crafty visionary, along with the bride

Think rustic . . . and very coordinated

 Cool signs and lettering, huh!

 Gift deposit station

Don't you just love the vignettes for each function in the room 

 Centerpieces

Burlap on black

Picture frame to boundary the scene

The standing initials inside the book.....so crisp and fun to look at

There is a picture of the new couple inside the apothecary jar

On top...again you see the book-page paper roses Lexie taught us how to make

The Once Upon a Time sign.... a book with the insides ripped out

 Mr. and Mrs.......almost

They chose to have their reception the day before they married

to help with their travel plan on their wedding day

 A beautiful couple

We think they are great together

 My "Mom" wrist corsage

I love the greenish star flower at the top

The layered cake in the middle of the cookie table.... 

And to top it off...."We do!"

Lexie put wedding ideas she liked on her Pinterest page
Her crafty grandma studied that page and kicked into make it/do it gear . . .
with lots of help, she assured me
Aunts and friends made the fruit punch and a bazillion cookies

The whole room was a veritable vison of cute.....and tasty

Mesa in August

Precious privilege
We got to attend Lexie's endowment session
And then step out into the 112 degree air
Always a little startling

Even in the evening, to step out of a building and find it was 95 degrees,
was another surprise. . . every time

I had a useful chat with myself before I left Idaho:
Self, do not make an issue of the temperature in Arizona....surely the good folk there do not enjoy listening to visitors carry on about how hot it is.  Ok, I said, I will remind myself along the way....no whining about being hot.  And while you're at it.....do not do or say things that will take away from the sweet purpose of the trip.  
Aye Aye, self, . . . .got it

Experiment:  I carried a tiny water spritz bottle in my walk-about bag
I imagined it would feel refreshing on my neck
It did ....for about 3 seconds....then it felt like another layer of sweat

I loved seeing the plants that are hearty and beautiful in the Arizona sun

After our few moments in the sun
we were ready to chill in front of the Olympics on the big screen

We got to stay with my Aunt Mabel and Uncle LeRoss Jones
who live a few houses away from the temple

They were super hosts to us

They circled us in like we were one of their own

We pretty much adore them

P.S.  I love Candice and her beautiful tummy

She was such a trooper....8 months pregnant and right there at every event

Taking to the air

Woo Hoo....Wedding Week!

Ah....the much contemplated travel back pack....my only stash
(considered a 'personal item' in Allegiant speak)
Determined to avoid the luggage charge
I borrowed it from a friend
If she could travel for weeks in Europe with just this back pack
surely I could make it 5 days

What a super stretch for me
I'm one who likes my "toys" when I travel....books, journals, art supplies....more books

I 'practice packed' two weeks ahead
Whew... once I whittled down my can't-live-without list
 I actually had room to slip in 2 books before I walked out my door....Yes!

I broke in a gorgeous new journal for the trip, too

Eight of us family adults traveled together
A caravan of two vehicles across the state
to the cheap flights (if you don't take luggage!) of Allegiant in Idaho Falls

When we lined up at the check in desk the employee took one look at us and said
Why are you all dressed up?
Huh?
Til then, it hadn't occurred to me that our skirts and shirts looked out of the ordinary
Our white shirt gang responded
We're on our way to a wedding . . .  little brother is getting married
(actually the wedding wasn't until Saturday....but you know the routine)

I guess we did look different than the t-shirts and flip flops around us

Chillin' in our be-ready-to-hurry-to-the-temple-clothes

We were scattered through out the plane
Alisha behind me

Tim in front of me

And in my row....

All in the family!

Landed in Mesa, AZ
I'm doing the paper work at the car rental desk
My sons are GPS-ing and plotting our next move

We rented two vehicles
This big one for 5 of us
A smaller car for the other 3
since we would be sleeping in two different places

Off we go!

I must say, having only a backpack as luggage was a refreshing change from my usual baggage
 when it came to hauling my stuff around

How about you.....have you ever traveled as a minimalist?

CELEBRATE a marriage!!!!

I'll start at the end and work backward with some posts

 August 11, 2012

A new family begins

Tyrel and Lexie were married in the Mesa, Arizona LDS temple

My youngest....and last child to be married

 We love Lexie and Tyrel .....so happy for them

We had a blast getting to know Lexie's family better while we were in Arizona

 It was a bright hot cactus day

Lots of glistening as we took pictures
Can you say one hundred and twelve degrees?

We had plenty of reasons to smile on this very happy occasion

What is one of your memories of Tyrel or Lexie?

Croff kiddos

I had a fine visit from the little Croffs while their parents 

were out of town

They played and played

Daisylyn had ideas about how to organize all the little creatures

Sterling had a new affection for his blanket

Bonded, brother!

Girls At Play

Lots of catching up to do

Tim and Karen's girls spent the day

as Karen took off for girls' camp

They played with lots of pleasant interaction

Doesn't Audrey look tall and grown up

What a gorgeous chick

Sydney claimed hierarchy as captainette of the ship

Katelyn....a happy camper

OK....all three are represented in this shot

We made folded books out of picture pages from an old nature book

Then we drew our own pictures

that we glued into our books

Audrey is currently hooked on bats....so that was the theme of her book

Thanks for coming to play