10-11-12....Not!

That is the date that my nephew and his girl decided would be a great day to be married...10-11-12.  It is pretty cool.  But it didn't work out that way in the end....10-12-12.....close enough I guess.  Thank goodness they waited another day....we would have had to pull kids from school since Fall break didn't start until after school on the 12th (actually only for M...she missed the last day)

Anyway, Stewart and Amanda were sealed for time and all eternity in the Mesa Temple by my father....isn't that the coolest....to have a grandfather for a sealer.  My sister has 8 children with 5 now being married in the temple by their grandfather....most awesome!  I missed the other 4 sealings and so I was bound and determined to make it to this one to be in the temple with my family.

It was a beautiful day and not very hot....ok, only in the low 90's and possibly only the 80's in the shade.  It really wasn't too hot and I was grateful for that since we would be outside most of the day and evening.  Anyway, it was a nice ceremony.  My sister had all her children home for this occassion except her missionary daughter.  It was nice to be seated in the sealing room with 3 nephews, 2 niece in laws, one niece, my sister and brother in law, my mom and dad and the happy couple....from our side of the family.  My girls and their twin cousins were outside babysitting all the little ones.....6 of them.

It was a great morning and the couple looked so pretty.  We love Mandy and so excited that she has joined our family.  We got to meet her in July at the family reunion and she was lots of fun.  They will live in AZ so that makes my sister happy to have them near by like her other son and his family.

Haley...."my dress is just like yours Mandy!"

"I'm going to the temple someday!"

"Smell this flower"

Putting on the matching ties....

Sophie is so tired....

All the girls...

The West boys!

Now.....on to the luncheon.....  Let's eat!

 

Since the luncheon will be in a separate post, I wanted to post the reception with this one.  It was a perfect night for an outdoor reception....after all, we are in Arizona.  It was in a friend's backyard and I understand that everything for the reception was found on Pinterest....gotta love it.

 

It was very pretty, except for the one very bright flood light that they decided they needed for the bride and groom to stand near so they could be seen...it really needed to be over by the food as I had no idea what I was getting.  And there were not enough tables since our family alone took up at least 2 of them.....but it was all really very nice.

 

I loved the popcorn machine......

It has different shakers full of flavors you could sprinkle in the bag and also had nuts and M&M's to add to it as well. 

 

I loved the picture frame idea.....

 

They had everyone take something to add to their picture and make it how they wanted it.  Then it was captured on an IPad and we were able to write on it to personalize it.  It really was fun to have at a reception.

 

Cupcakes instead of cake......

 

And when you walked in you were suppose to flip through a big dictionary they had there and find a word, sign your name, and write why you picked that word.....very cute.  You also had to take a card and draw a picture of the happy couple, tell them how many kids they were going to have, when and what their names would be.  Then you had to draw a picture of you and tell things about the couple.  It really was a very fun and creative idea....something they will look back on and laugh!

 

It was a great day...but we were all exhausted, especially since we had a long night getting to AZ.  We are ready for bed.  CONGRATS to the happy couple!  Now you get out of here too!