Sitting in a tree . . .

On March 8th my sister Carrie got married.

She married this Banjo-serenading patient-with-the-inlaws dude, Ben. He’s pretty cool.

They started dating last spring, though they’d first met a few years back at BYU.

And then last summer things took a serious turn. Carrie dumped dude #2 to focus solely on Ben. That’s commitment in the Carrie universe.

Then last fall it became more of a question of when, not if. And when the finally did get engaged in November, we were all excited for her.

THE PREPARATION

But she planned her wedding for early March. She and I had a full-on-fight about this. (Seriously, in the Costco parking lot). But she won. And that was the only kerfuffle we had when it came to the wedding. After that I did a better job of minding my p’s & q’s and behaving like the helpful/supportive sister I wanted to be.

Votive for the reception.

I knew I was expecting when she announced her engagement, but I hadn’t announced the impending baby (and associated nausea). Still, I wanted to be part of the fun! I volunteered to decorate the reception center.

When I hadn’t done much by the end of January, I think I stressed Carrie out and she almost had a break down. But I assured her that it would be fine (fine!) because we had the plan pretty much laid out, it was just a matter of execution. And execution (once the plan is laid) is the easiest part.

Finally, about three weeks before the wedding I buckled down and started to work on the decor. We made tissue-paper pom-poms for the ceiling, photo candle votives for the table, floral centerpieces using roses, babies breath, and willow branches that we spray painted the turquoise color and then hand-glittered with my snow glitter. I also made some graphic chalkboards for the various tables, buckets for the sparklers for the final send off, and a ribboned entry path.

Candace, Nicole, Leslee & Carrie as we arranged flowers for center pieces. THANK YOU NICOLE!!

Leslee came over about every other day for the last two and a half weeks and we worked on these projects together. For the floral arrangements I was able to call in my friend Nicole (Thanks a kajillion, again, Nicole!) to show us how to do the arranging.

I made some chalk boards for various tables around the reception.

We set up the morning of the wedding. All family of the bride came over and helped set up.

The reception center looked beautiful when it was all decorated.

THE BIG DAY

The night before the wedding Carrie had the wedding dinner at her childhood friend’s house (Morgan’s). It was lovely. Of course, I was 40 minutes late because I had been told it was at 6:30 and never looked at the invitation to confirm (Carrie was handing out bad time information all weekend!) Everyone else figured it out, but no one called us until we were just walking in the door – very late. Oops.

After dinner my siblings (minus a few) all met up at Shivers for shakes and fries.

The next morning we set up for the reception and then went home, got ready, and went downtown for the ceremony. It was beautiful.

After the temple pictures we all headed back to our house where we had about 40 minutes to relax until we had to get over to the reception.

The reception was fun, and beautiful (if I do say so myself!). Carrie was a beautiful bride, Ben was a handsome groom, and the whole day was smooth and flawless.

AND OTHER THOUGHTS

Olivia was SO excited for Carrie’s wedding. She really got into the whole excitement of the event, especially as we worked on the decorations.

Everett, on the other had, was very NOT excited for Carrie to get married. He whined and complained every time we talked about it. I think he has worried that Carrie being married means she will no longer be his Carrie. And that’s true. It’s just a reality that will be interesting to watch him adjust to.

Congratulations Carrie and Ben on your lovely day!

This picture reminds me of Toby Tyler when the colonel lines Toby up with the girls, and says they look like two peas in a pod!

This year the Ridgecrest Elementary Talent Show fell on March 28th. Olivia and her friend Kira decided they wanted to sing a duet, and Calvin wanted to get in on the action too with a recitation about the presidents on the dollar bills and magic trick.

Olivia and Kira have been practicing for a couple weeks, and they were so excited for their performance. It was really cute. They both wore their Easter dresses, and sang their little hearts out.

Calvin’s performance was CLASSIC! It cracked me up. He was such a good showman, and his talent was – seriously – the most unique one there. He’s already planning what he wants to do next year. Good grief, I LOVE that kid.

Olivia with her bloody tooth.

After the show was over Olivia’s tooth (that has been loose for weeks) sprung a leak and started bleeding profusely. She didn’t want to pull it until she got home and had a chance to take a good look at it in the mirror. Once we got home though, she pulled it right out. She now has the darling, and classic gap. She has been going around wishing everyone “Merry Christmas” today, and then commenting how she can’t really say that because of her missing tooth.

Showing off her gap-toothed smile. Be still my heart!

After that excitement was over, and the small children were left in the charge of capable babysitters, Wyatt and I went out to celebrate March 28th – dinner at Taste of Punjab, and a movie. It was a nice, relaxing and fun evening.

We’re looking forward to many more talent shows for years to come with our little lovelies.

Today I will plant my cold hardy vegetables as per my garden planting guide.

I picked up a few seed packets at Target the other day. This is my plan:

We’ve never planted or really eaten radish’s before, but I thought I’d try!