They Grow Up So Fast

A few months ago we brought home a handsome baby boy, a week or so later he started school.  Last month that same boy graduated from high school and went off to college. Two weeks after that he returned from serving a Full time Mission for our church and last week he was sealed for Time and All Eternity in the LDS Las Vegas Temple.  .  .  .  . They grow up so fast.

 

We are very happy for our son Kyle and love his new wife, Megan.

I was prepared to not be so thrilled with my sons choice in a wife because I had heard so many woman say that's just how it is and now he has a new first lady in his life, but so far I could not be happier for him. I say "so far" because I'm sure someday Megan and I will have our differences or Megan will let it slip how much I bug her. When that day comes I'm sure, for a few days, I will find faults with her, it's just the "mother-in-law" thing to do, but at present things could not be better.

Megan is from Henderson, Nevada, which is why they were married at the Las Vegas Temple. We use to tease our kids about being able to elope because there are Temples in Nevada, I just never expected any of our kids to really get married there.

Kyle and Megan were sealed on Saturday, January 22nd. It was a beautiful sunny day and everything was perfect, other than we seemed to be running behind by about 20 minutes all weekend. On Friday we met Megan's family for the first time. Being an in law is great, it's not like in high school where you really need to get to know your child's boyfriend or girlfriends family; once they are adults it's their worry; sure you want them to have great in laws, but it's their choice and they are the ones who have to deal with them for years. So far all of our kids have great in laws and that now includes Kyle's. Friday night Megan went through the Temple for the first time and receive her endowment. We were staying on the Strip and it took longer than we expected to get to the Temple, but they were kind enough to delay the session till we all got there. I was told the next day that a dear friend of Megan's family was also running late and knew that they wouldn't hold the session till she got there, so as she drove to the Temple she prayed that somehow things would work out and she would make the session; knowing that, I don't feel so bad about being late. Saturday morning we were all on time, well almost. My brother Brent realized when he went to get dressed that his pants were not with his suit, so he and his son made a detour on the way to the Temple. With a minute to spare before Kyle and Megan entered the sealing room, in walked Brent and AJ.



 

The family and wedding party were to be at the reception one half an hour before things started. Again we were running late, but we weren't the only ones late. Megan had forgot her shoes and she and Kyle had to go back to her house to get them.  Even with all the late starts, things ended right on time and the bride and groom were thrilled to have all the hoopla over and to be able to get on their way. 

 

Between the sealing and reception we had a yummy BBQ lunch for the wedding party and family. Thanks to my wonderful and dearest friend Becky it worked out great. The food was yummy, the company was great and the clean up was easy. Happily we even enjoyed our son Kody there, well not really, but we pretended. We had a life size post of him made up and as you got you food you couldn't help but be face to face with him. We missed not having him there in person, but the poster reminded everyone that he was in our hearts and thoughts.

 

We all had a good time and had lots of good laughs. I think the best laugh we had was over the groomsman's pants. The wedding colors were Cranberry, grey (wet cement) and black. Megan wore a beautiful creamy while dress in a mermaid style with rooshed organza and dark red boots. Her maid of honor and brides maid wore black dresses and dark red heels.  

Kyle wore a grey suit and his grooms men were the best in show. They wore  white shirt, black skinny ties and grey tweed pants from H&M. We managed to find pants for my grandson to match the grooms men and made them little bow ties.

 

They looked almost like the groomsmen only the groomsman's pants were much tighter. Kyle had a pair of pants from H&M that were the perfect color and looked great on him, so the guys deiced that was the pants they wanted to wear. Kyle got me their pant sizes and I went shopping. None of them live by us except our son-in-law Tyler, and Ty said we had the right size for him so none of the guys tried on the pants until the morning of and by then it was too late to change anything. All of their pants were tight, beyond tight, comically tight. There were bets made on who's pants would spilt first. Kyle's best man and cousin Ian's pants were the best fit, but Ian was made to wear tight fitting 60's style pants. By the end of the night no ones pants had spilt but there were some stretched seams.

 

Watching the dancing was another enjoyable moment of the evening.  We love to dance and although there was not a lot of dancing at the reception it was enjoyable.

There was the first dance of the bride and groom, the father-daughter dance, the son- mother dance, but my favorite was watching our oldest grandson, Mack dance. He has the moves and he uses them. Our granddaughter Baysil is normally the one to watch dance, but this night was all Macks. 

 

We had great support from family and friends coming in from out of town and we loved seeing them all.

Friends from California and Utah came,

 family from Utah, Arizona, and Washington were there

and dear friends we had served in the Air Force were able to come.

 

The reception was held at the Dragon Ridge Country Club in Henderson. It is a beautiful place with a wonderful view of the Las Vegas valley. It was a clear night and you could see all the lights of the strip and surrounding area.

It was a wonderful day. Kim and I both agree that having sons get married is the way to go. Sure there are things to do, but mostly you just show up and enjoy the hard work of the brides family and friends, and we did just that. I'm sure in a few day it will really hit me that my baby boy is married, until then I have laundry to do.

Christmas in Seattle

We celebrated our 2nd Christmas in Seattle this year. The celebrations began the day after Thanksgiving and I feel like I am still cleaning up from things.

We started the season off with our annual tree hunt. This year Kaira Fern and Ty's family, and Kassey and Will joined in our search for the perfect tree.

After finding our trees we went home to decorate the house and the little people had fun tents to play in that Grandma Jane sent to them.

With our tree in place it was time for the Festival of Trees. This fun event is sponsored by the hospital where Kim works. The first week in Dec they put on a 3 day event. Large Christmas trees and wreaths are decorated and put on display at the Everett Comcost Area. 

There are fancy parties for adults, an open house for the public to view the trees, with crafts and cookies for the kids. The event ends with my favorite, the Teddy Bear breakfast and ice skating. 

We've made it a tradition to take the grandkids. Kim ended up having bishop responsibilities and wasn't going to make it so Kaira went with Kloe and I in his place. This year was Henry's first year. Santa and Mrs. Claus are there along with a giant teddy bear. We had a yummy breakfast, heard a story, sang songs and watched a fun play.

Then just as it was time to go ice skating, who showed up? Grandpa Kim!!! It was a fun day and started December off in a great way.

 

We found lots of Christmasy things to do all through out the season,one big hits was The Festival of Lights.

Karly got home the week before Christmas. Then day Junie and her parents, Kerin and Cory, came into town we all went up to Vancouver to the Christmas Market. It reminded me of the Christkindel Markets in Europe. They even had my favorite Christmas store, Kathe Wohlfahrt.

Kyle got in town the 23rd just in time for the big day. Christmas Eve started with breakfast at the Mukilteo Cafe, then that night we had our traditional festivities.

Family and friends gathered, we acted out the Nativity, sang Christmas songs, ate yummy food and had our talent show. Kassey and her family even joined us during our talent show through skipe. That was one of the best Christmas presents I got this year.

 

I tried to up load a video so everyone could see how much talent our family has, but couldn't get it to work. Thankfully Kerin and Cory were here and stayed up to help finish wrapping presents. This bishop stuff had really sapped Kim's energy and he went to bed as soon as the rest of the kids did, don't worry though we woke him up to finish with the "important" duties.

Happily everyone slept in until after 7am and Christmas was a nice slow day.  I was worried little Junie would wake us all early, but even she slept in.



Kaira and Ty's family came over in the afternoon and joined us for more presents and dinner.

 

The day reached it's peak with our call from Kody.  I loved my missionary phone call and am counting the days until Mother's day when I get to talk to him again. It really was a great Christmas and wonderful time together as a family. Now we are on to Kyle and Megan's wedding. Happy New Year!