Wedding Bells

We've spent the last two days recovering from the weekend. I didn't post on Friday because we had so much going on and I wasn't organized enough to post in advance. What were we doing that took so much time, you ask?

We were celebrating these two.

Isaac, my youngest brother, got married on Friday evening.

I've gotten to spend some time with my new sister-in-law and she's swell. She's a good match for Isaac. And the small people at my house happen to think she's fantastic. Last week they stopped asking when Uncle Isaac was going to come over and started asking when Falisha was going to come play.

I helped with the family dinner after the sealing and spent the better part of Friday morning and afternoon getting ready for it. And I didn't take any pictures.

Blargh.

Just know that it turned out well. For centerpieces I covered mason jars with tissue paper in the wedding colors (half in teal and half in cream) and tied a ribbon around it to hold the paper in place (like this, but my bows were much smaller). Then my amazing visiting teachers (who had helped us setup that morning) came while we were at the sealing and filled the jars with wildflowers. It was simple, but it was nice.

We had the dinner catered by Kneaders. It was superb. I highly recommend them.

At every table was a stack of 4x6 cards and a few permanent markers. Each guest was instructed to write marriage advice for Isaac and Falisha. After the dinner we

gathered them all up and I put them into a photo album for the bride and groom. Most of the advice (which I read while I was compiling it) was sweet, some was funny, and at least two contradicted each other. My favorite was Peter's. He included an epilogue.

We all had to be gussied-up on Friday and then again on Saturday for the reception. All four of the sisters (between Isaac and Falisha) were bridesmaids. Our outfits were really cute, I actually wore mine to church yesterday. But of course, I didn't take pictures of it either. Well, I took this picture while Cooper was throwing a tantrum (that happened a lot this weekend) (tantrums, not me taking pictures during tantrums) so at least you have an idea of the color scheme.

All the men had teal ties, including the miniature men.

The best pictures I have are of Phoebe. And, next to the bride, I think Phoebe was the most popular girl at every wedding function. (Thanks to Paige for letting me use some of the pictures she took.)

Phoebe was fascinated by the goldfish in the centerpieces at the reception, can you tell?

Congratulations Isaac and Falisha!

Bittersweet

We've had a number of sleepless nights recently. Well, not entirely sleepless, but they're pretty darn close. None of our kids are sleeping well, which means the parents aren't either.

I've been trying to identify the culprit behind the lack of sleep. Here are the suspects:

• Our house is too hot for them to stay asleep. We keep the thermostat at 80 degrees in the summer, so maybe they're waking because they're uncomfortable.
• They're thirsty. We do live in Utah after all. It's crazy dry here.
• They really, really love us. The boys wake up most nights saying that they want to snuggle. We love to cuddle them too, so we're torn between walking them back to their own beds and scooping them up and tucking them in with us.
• We've taught them to be awful sleepers.

I have a sneaking suspicion it's a combination of all of the above.

Add to the sleeplessness during the middle of the night the fact that Phoebe has had trouble going to sleep on her own since we got back from vacation. Her naps have been short and at odd-hours due to various family stuff we have going on (more on that later) and when I do put her down for the night she prefers to stand and scream angrily at me rather than sleeping.

Last night I let her cry. Bryan was working late and I could only split my attention so many ways. I still tried to do her bedtime routine (which involves nursing her, then holding her while I sing to her) without distractions from her brothers. After I laid her down I went out and read to Peter (Cooper was the first one down for the night) while she cried.

I set my time-limit at an hour. With Phoebe if you go in to comfort her, but don't rescue her, well, then she gets REALLY angry. When the hour finished I could tell she was winding down, so I waited just a few more minutes. At an hour and six minutes she was asleep.

I remember feeling a sense of relief when the boys would finally go to sleep on their own at this age. Not so with our Miss. I went in to check on her and when I saw her slumbering in her bed I felt a huge pang of sadness. I wanted more than anything to scoop her up and snuggle her. This was surprising to me. I spend most of my time everyday holding Phoebe, why did I feel so guilty that I didn't hold her as she fell asleep?

As much as I think I need that time in the evening to put my house back together and work on other projects, I really enjoy the quiet time I often have when I nurse her and snuggle with her before bedtime.

Maybe the sadness came because while she might be ready to learn to sleep on her own, I'm not.

Acknowledgement

I failed to give appropriate credit for the pictures I've been posting from our trip. I only brought my phone, so all the pictures that are lower in quality are from me. The better pictures were taken by various members of Bryan's family. They used a real camera.

And thanks go to my mother-in-law for taking the time to send me the pictures so I could post them.

Thank you!

One Last Post of Vacation-Photo-Goodness

Expressions of Love

I watched this last night just before I went to sleep. It made me ask myself, "What more can I do to express my love for Bryan?"

What do you do to show the important people in your life how much you love them?

Aw Nuts

Peter was retested for his peanut allergy yesterday. Since his blood test score was so low, the doctor thought there was a good chance that his skin test would be negative, or at least small. If that was the case then we would move on to the next step and do a challenge at the hospital.

Here's a picture that I took at the appointment, just before the nurse came in to read the results.

See the plus? That's the control. See the giant, angry welt below that? That's the test site for peanuts.

Yup, he's still allergic.

The doctor sent me home with a thick pack of papers to read regarding Peter starting Kindergarten in a few weeks. I am so scared for snack time. And Halloween treats. I have to meet with his teacher and make sure there's an Epi-Pen at school for him and possibly provide posters for the classroom. And she told me to volunteer often, especially on holidays when the chance of treats is greater.

If people think I'm obnoxious about protecting Peter from peanuts now, just wait. I have a feeling I am not going to be popular among Peter's classmate's parents.

Cabin

Our second night in Idaho we roasted hot dogs and marshmallows. As I followed Peter in afterward he said, "You know, I really love camping."

Yup, I love this kind of camping too.

Slip N' Slide

One highlight of the drive up through Idaho was our visit to Downata Hot Springs. I had never been to a hot spring prior to this and the picture in my head did not match reality. I thought it would be a series of warm ponds that people could wade into, but it was more like a warm community pool.

Peter loved this little water slide. He was highly disappointed that we weren't stopping here on our return trip. He's definitely getting braver in the water. I haven't decided if this is a good thing or a bad thing.

Cooper loved it too, despite the look of terror on his face in this picture.

I got in on the water slide action too, but I chose a slightly longer slide.

Phoebe may have ended her feud with the water. Here she is lounging in the pool with Uncle Dallin. I must say, Uncle Dallin, Uncle Ben, and Aunt Kate were huge helps in wrangling the small people. In fact, I think we wore both of the uncles out about two days into the trip.

Long Time Gone

We now interrupt your regularly scheduled vacation recap to show you what I did tonight. Remember way back in February when I decided I wanted to do something with my hair? Well, I finally followed through.

Before:

Wow, this hair is insanely long.

After:

I went short, can you tell? And I realize that the picture is blurry, but I'm too tired to go take another one.

Look! I have a neck!

Rather a bold move, don't you think? I've been wandering around my house, swishing my hair because it's so light and fun. I went with the suggestion that a few of you provided on that post five months ago and am donating it to Locks of Love. I have the twelve inches of hair that were cut off all braided and bagged and ready to send.

I've had my hair this short before, but not since Bryan and I have been married. He's still getting used to it. I'm curious to hear what the boys will say.

Oh! It just occurred to me that Phoebe might not recognize me without my hippie-length hair. Gee, I hope she likes the cut as much as I do.

It's Always Fun At Grandma's House

We spent last week caravaning with Bryan's family up through Idaho, crossing a tiny bit of Montana (a new state to add to my list), and then basking in the National Park-iness of Wyoming.

We started the trip off staying at Bryan's grandparents' house. It's only an hour from our house, which doesn't sound like a real trip kick-off, but it was nice to be with his family an extra night.

Cooper and "Grandma-Great" (as she sometimes calls herself) enjoyed a few of the adventures of Stuart Little.

Peter discovered one of the many treasures that they have decorating their home and happily pounded away at this very old typewriter for quite a long time.

And Phoebe, who started pulling herself up to a standing position and cruising while we were in California, decided it was time to crawl. She still only does it occasionally, but it's nice to know she has the ability.