Liz and Thomy

Last Wednesday I flew out to California (by myself) for a wedding. Liz and I have been friends since we were twelve. I had a great visit, and the wedding was wonderful. The only negative was how much I missed Jim and the kids. I came home yesterday, and received the best hug of my life from Logan. I'd hidden in the back bedroom when my mother-in-law arrived with the kids, and he didn't know I was home. I coughed and he wandered back to see who it was. His face totally lit up and he flew into my arms. Annie absolutely clung to me. Today I've had a little girl who has wanted to be held EVERY MINUTE. It's wonderful.

Now for the wedding pictures:

The night before the wedding, we dressed Liz up and took her out for dessert (it was our little bachelorette party). We made her do a couple of silly things at the restaurant.

In this picture she had to ask a guy to write his best pick-up line on a napkin. These were the only single looking guys in the restaurant, and it turned out they were from Austria and didn't speak English!

Liz had to sing to the cooks.

She also had to arm-wrestle a strong looking man.
She even won!
The last thing she had to do was find someone who had a picture of his wife or girlfriend. The first family she talked to, told us not to get her too drunk. (I suppose we were a bit loud and silly, and they assumed we'd be drinking.) She told them that we were only having dessert and she was being married in the temple the next day. It turned out they were members of our church, too!

The preparations for the wedding were a bit crazy, and an hour before we had to leave for the temple, Liz's mom realized that Liz's bouquet and the bridesmaids bouquets hadn't been made! We'd bought the flowers the day before, but hadn't put them together. Her mom commissioned me to go and make the bouquets since I was already dressed and ready to go. I asked Thomy's sister, Dorianne, to help me and we whipped up five bouquets just in time. Neither of us had arranged flowers before, but we were pretty happy with the result.

This is Liz's bouquet.

The temple sealing was a very special experience. I was so grateful to be there.

This is on the steps of the temple just as they came out.

All of Thomy's family. I got to spend a lot of time with his parents, and his youngest sister while we were there; they are great people!

Liz and Thomy

Bridesmaid fun

Liz with her siblings; I hadn't seen most of them in years. It was fun to see them and meet their spouses.

Me :)

Beautiful!

Liz with her parents.

The reception was held at a beachside lagoon.

The first dance...they didn't stop dancing for most of the night.

The cake



Thomy's best man decorated their car.

Pulling the plastic wrap off so they could get in. He'd also filled it with balloons.

The look says it all.