Weddings Weddings Weddings!!!!

There are so many weddings that have taken place since April 11, 2009. Dan and Rach kicked off the trend. Not only have almost all the women closest to me found their one and only (EVEN my SISTER), but many of my good friends have too (Scott, Scott Carter, Trevor, Jared, Danielle--high school friend). I think I understand the expression "when it rains, it pours", a lot better now. Only, it is like a rain that cures a drought, a good rain.

Sadly, I missed Lindsay's and Ashley's weddings, but I have had the blessed opportunity to go to so many others and laugh, sing, play, cry, and mostly thank God that my best friend's have married in the temple to such fun, good, handsome, smart, and worthy men. And, that one of them married a Harry Potter scholar, which may be the most important qualification when searching for a marriage partner.

So with the event of Anna's union to Cua--I call him Wow-- FINALLY being over, I feel bursting to tell ALL of you how it went.

The wedding day was a typical July day in SLC--hot, busy, happy. We all woke up at 6:30 a.m. because my sister Jessica's son was up. She literally said "I can't sleep so I will wake them up." Therefore we had ALL morning to get ready. It took me about five minutes. Somehow the time passed and we started getting serious about getting pretty. Anna was finished with her makeup and put on her dress. Short. Cute. Chic. Her. Her hair was so smooth and straight. It was perfect for someone who usually sports a pixie cut.

I, of course, was red. We ate Subway for lunch and finally made our separate paths to the temple. I waited outside with my adorable freckle faced cousins and my nephew. I started to see everyone come out of the temple so I knew Anna was only a few minutes away. The few went faster than I thought and she was actually ready before anyone was there to meet her! I made my way over motioning to the glass wall behind me, hoping those inside the waiting room would see. They did and finally she had a crowd to see her in her first 1/2 hour as a married woman.

I am bored of this so I will just skip to the reception in Rupert. I thought all the hard stuff was over. I was wrong. After getting NO sleep the night before till about 4 a.m., I woke up first thing Saturday morning to my mom cooking, singing, and banging pots (she claims she never bangs pots, but we all secretly know this is her passive aggressive way to say "GET THE H@*$ UP") I know what kind of day it will be. So I automatically start helping. We had wonderful eggs benedict for breakfast with homemade english muffins. That was a good way to start. Then the tent came and the dishes had to be done and the chairs wiped off and the tables moved and the yard raked and the house swept and the lights put up and the table cloths figured out and the . . .
Well, you guys are married, you know. Aside from all of this, I mostly was the muscles for the tables, my mom and I had to decorate cakes.

Of all of us, I am the least qualified person to do this. My mom is so good with artsy stuff. Anna is an artist. Nicki, Rachael, and Ashley are incredible with things that require fine motor skills. Lindsey is also an artist. I remembered my teacher looking at all my frosting techniques. He gave instructions and told me to "try again". My mom was extremely stressed so I said, "I have to do it."

Angels helped me do the crumb layer, which is the most important part. We have to make a good foundation. The crumb layer is a light layer of frosting that fills in the holes and seals the crumbs. That way no crumbs get in the pretty frosting. My mom made three cakes (if any of you know something about cakes you know there are about 100 things that can make a cake fail, all of them magnificently easy to do): Red Velvet with Vanilla filling and cream cheese frosting.

2. Three layered chocolate cake with lemony curd filling, buttercream icing and the most amazing dark chocolate ganache spread over the top. We had a little trouble spreading, but the taste more than made up for it.


And finally, a like-you've-never-tasted-before white cake with raspberry filling and almond buttercream frosting. After tasting all of these that my mom made from scratch, you might understand why with vehemence I treat boxed cakes as abominations--even though I used one once because I was afraid of ruining a good one and not having time to replace it.

So finally, I was done. It took all day. I took breaks, but not to rest, just to do more stuff. At 5:59 I was not changed out of my frosted outfit into my lovely green dress. Instead, I was taping and tugging tablecloths trying to convince them to stay down instead of flying away on the wind. So then I prayed that the wind would stop and as soon as I said "amen" i had the most brilliant idea and I forgot to get a good pic of it. We had lovely gute string that had been used in other parts of the decor. I wrapped it around the tables in a long continuous spiral--around cloths and all. It looked darling and people thought it was a normal part of the overall theme. So then the wind began to die down and we really started to enjoy ourselves.

Oh, on top of everything my mom did, she also did all the flowers with the help of my adorable cousin--only 14 but a natural florist. The bouquet was gorgeous. My momma is amazing. Infallible cakes, incredible arrangements, and the beautiful yard that she perfected all summer long. Well done mamma.