Just Married

Tommy got married yesterday. It's been a busy couple of days getting everything ready for the big day. Rachel asked Stephanie to do the cake and Stephanie asked me to help. It was huge and the inspiration picture we were given was perfect and intimidating. Stephanie baked the cakes on Thursday and on Friday evening the two of us put it all together at the deli. We decorated until 1:00am when I started getting freaked out. The deli is on Capitol Hill in Seattle and was recently broken into. (Well, not so much broken into, they climbed through some open windows...) Anyways, we were getting a little loopy by the time we stopped and were very unsure of how it was going to turn out. The next morning I was ready to scrape everything off, smooth it out and put ribbon around each layer. But, when we put the layers together at the reception, I felt a little better. Rachel was very excited about it, and that's all that matters. As long as the bride is happy.

The temple sealing was awesome. It's always nice to actually hear what the sealer is saying and not be the ones everyone is staring at.

We head home tomorrow afternoon. Seth has started working with the strength and conditioning coach at the U of I. He works with the athletes in the mornings and then will finish painting Grandpa's house in the afternoons.

Nothing new in Memphis.

Here's a house we saw a couple weeks ago on a Sunday afternoon walk


Too bad there is a jail one block down and a whole row of abandoned houses on the other side of the block. Why do you think cities don't put any money into their roads or appearance or cleanliness? Is it because of mismanagement? High unemployment so no one pays taxes and the city doesn't have any money to work with?

OM

Does this look like a kid who enjoyed the college life or what!

Les and Ty got back this afternoon from the Odyssey of the Mind competition. They had all kinds of pictures and lots of fun stories. Ty enjoyed trading pins with the other teams and got some fun ones from China, South Korea, Poland and Mexico. His presentation went well and I think that they placed somewhere in the middle. They enjoyed neat opening and closing ceremonies, complete with lasers, smoke and flames. The rest of the time they spent visiting presentations by NASA and other teams and eating college dorm food. Les feels like we had it pretty nice in old DT after living for 4 days in Iowa State University's dorms. Pretty old and worn down.

I survived as Mr. Mom for four days and still have the same number of kids as when I started. Getting three girls ready for church is getting easier and Aimee was proud of doing her own hair this morning.

Right now it is raining pretty good with some thunder and lightning. Aimee built a fort on the couch to protect her, but I'm loving it! Nothing like a good storm!

Brant

Hooray Kanyon!

I made Kanyon take off the training wheels the week of his 6th Bday. He did great the first time and then refused to try again unless he had knee and elbow pads. Seriously? The boys ended up taking bikes to the Father's and Sons Campout this weekend, Kevin was busy doing something so Kanyon hopped on and away he went. Kanyon said it was okay to put this video on--I love the ending. ENJOY!

It's HOT

This is (left to right), my dad, his mother (Pearl), his sister Bonnie, his dad (John), his little brother (Ron). Notice the Mormon derrick in the background. It is used to lift hay from the hay slip (see last weeks blog) up onto the hay stack. The hay was stacked "loose" (not baled) with this method.

Yesterday was HOT. About 90 degrees. Today is a little cooler and the rest of the week should be in the 70's.

Matt and I went to the Fathers & Sons Outing Friday and Saturday. It was nice, no rain, good food. Dave Johnson was in charge of the food - we had breakfast burritos. Matt and I stayed and visited with Beve Sterglund till about 2:00 in the afternoon.

We came home and showered and went to Amanda's reception. Kimbre was already there doing the bride's and mother's hair. They all looked very nice. Richards had a very large tent (from Sun Rental) set up in the back yard and it was quite cool under it. Mom helped with the serving.

Seth, Lacey and family are in Seattle for Tommy's wedding. They will be home tomorrow.

We're still waiting instructions from the guy's insurance company about fixing the Explorer. My patience has about run out. Nobody seems too excited about getting this thing fixed except me.

We had a little bonding with Matt and Kimbre last evening before they went home. Does the setting look familiar??

Hope you are all well.

Dad and Mom