Just wow

I didn't take one picture (hey I hired a photographer), but I lifted this one from Facebook my SIL posted.
My heart is full.  So full.  I feel gratitude in abundance.

I don't know if I can adequately get it down but I have to try.

Tuesday morning this was happening:  Emma the makeup artist and Natalie curling her sister's hair.

I love all three of these sweet girls.

Stella and Natalie and I drove to the temple together: two women I'm not technically related to but I feel like I am.

I took two steps out of the car and the strap on my sandal broke.

Stella said, "What size do you wear?"

I said, "9."

"I have some navy blue shoes that are 8 1/2." (My dress was navy blue.)

She dug them out of her suitcase, I threw the broken shoes into the car and away we went.

#1 takeaway from the day:  sisterhood in all its forms is real.

Maybe not the #1 takeaway.  The high point of everything was in the temple.  My feelings leaked right out my eyes.  There was a box of kleenex stationed next to my chair and one next to Amy's.  Not the temple's first encounter with mothers.  I felt immense gratitude that we were at this point.  All the everything Adam and I have ever wanted for Braeden was happening in that moment in that room.  And I realized that there was no way I could have dreamed up a better wife for him.  Sometimes it pays to let your kids make their own choices!

Imagine.

In the temple I also felt immense gratitude for Adam and the love we share and the life we have and the covenants we've made to each other.

There was record breaking heat.  It was 103 outside the temple when we were taking pictures.  My face will be red and shiny in every picture.  Really, I wasn't counting on looking super great in the pictures anyway though.  Photogenic I'm not.

We next went to Magleby's in Springville where Anna's parents hosted a lovely luncheon.  It was delicious and so very nice and my anxiety about the reception started escalating.  Adam and I made an exit.  I got $11 shoes at Walmart because size 8 1/2 shoes were pinching my toes (even though Stella insisted I could just keep them.)

The $11 Walmart shoes were super uncomfortable like you would expect so I ended up wearing my casual sandals I brought to run around in while we were setting up.

By the time Adam and I got to the Art Museum, preparations were in full swing.  I had put Olivia at the helm and her sweet boys were setting up chairs and my friends arrived to start helping.  Marianne showed up with several hundred rolls she'd been sent to Costco for.

Stephanie and I frosted the styrofoam cake and Desi adorned it with flowers and it didn't look half bad!

I felt overwhelmingly loved.  My parents were there helping to entertain Stella (and I backed up to my dad so he could tie my sash on my dress which is what I've done my entire life.)  Ammon and Melanee pitched in prepping food and Ammon left for the store to buy a knife because I forgot to bring one to slice the rolls.  I had a small and effective army of friends manning the kitchen.  They are the type of friends you can just hand things over to.  Every time I turned around I saw one of them refilling ice or water or replenishing the food table.  My darling nieces served me in so many ways.  Desi completely and expertly handled the flowers.  She selected them and ordered them and picked them up and then created an amazingly beautiful bridal bouquet, all the corsages and boutonnieres and decorated the tables and cake.  I didn't even have to think about it.  Emma and Liberty and Liliana and Carolina were her lovely assistants.  And I saw during the reception Savannah, completely without any sort of prompting, clearing dishes from tables.

Emma and Lili and Savannah don't have sisters but I just hope they appreciate the sisterhood they are part of.  Those nieces are a force for good in the world.

My friend Cortney texted me a picture of them dancing:

I appreciated help from Adam's family.  Geri helped prep food on Monday and Megan and Talia took the food to the venue Tuesday morning and Geri and Whitney helped unload the van the next day.

And I would be nothing without my sisters.

Starting Monday they were by my side, bossing me around in all the right ways and helping with the kind of rapid efficiency they excel at.  Tuesday morning I turned around and the food prep was done and Olivia had washed all the dishes.

I don't know how I would live my life without those girls.  Olivia was there til the bitter end and (to the delight and surprise of my friends) I had to bully Marianne into leaving because she was driving all the way back to Nevada. My friends said, "Thelma!  We've never seen this side of you!"

My sisters are the kind of girls that have to be forced to stop helping.  That's all you need to know about them.

The next morning I talked to my sweet mother who has had such a health struggle for so many months it would completely demoralize someone of less fortitude.  She said all the right and reassuring things to me about how it had all gone and then she said, "I'm so sorry I didn't help more.  I really wanted to."

I assured her that I knew that.  I said, "I've met you.  I'm familiar.  I know who you are."

(My sisters got it from somewhere.)

I never quite cooled down from the picture taking.  I went from that inferno to a small respite at the luncheon to running around in the heat again.  (a garden reception seemed so idyllic...in April when we made the arrangements)

Before the reception began, my friend Susan said, "You look very red.  You need to drink some water and sit down."

I outlined the various errands I was running around doing.  She said, "I'm going to follow you until you get some water.  Get some water now."

And true to her word, she tailed me until I had a cup full of ice water in my hand.

And I think Susan was on the right track.  I never cooled down and I think I got a mild case of heat stroke.  When we finally got home, I felt nauseous and had a terrific headache.  I took a cool shower and felt some better.

The next day I delivered gifts of thank you and a plate of brownies to my friends.  Marie Louise and I sat on her front porch (it was about 20 degrees cooler than the previous day, of course it was) and we visited and laughed.  Then I went to Susan's.  I told her thank you for making me drink water. We sat on her couch in her lovely living room and visited and teared up a little when we were talking about things close to our hearts.

I feel blessed to have the people in my life that I have.

(And you know I'll add pictures to this family record that is my blog when I get them.)

(And I'm not sure when I'll stop talking about the wedding.)