My Sister's Wedding and Our Big Announcement

The third weekend while I was working in Idaho, my sister got married in the Salt Lake Temple. I drove down with my parents. Dakota stayed in Idaho since we would only be gone for a day and my parents had someone coming to feed their cat. Their neighbor nicely fed our dog too.

I stayed that night in my own bed while my parents went on to drive to Salt Lake. It was so nice to see Grig! I'd really missed him. It was really nice to be home, even if it was only for a couple of nights.

The next morning, we left our home super-early to go to Salt Lake. We dropped Kevin off at the hotel that my parents were staying in, so he could play with his cousins while we went to the temple sealing. He was pretty excited.

It was a beautiful ceremony. My sister and her new husband looked so happy and the feeling of peace was very strong.

Doesn't she look beautiful?

Once the ceremony was over, we quickly went to get Kevin and his cousins so they could be there when my sister walked out of the temple.

 After the temple, we went to a dinner served by his family and then we had a reception later in the evening. I took pictures during a lot of it while Kevin played with his cousins in the nursery room. They had a good time.

Kevin likes to play with two toys at once.

My sister designed these dresses for all of her nieces, and my mom made them.

 When the reception ended, we drove back home and I got to sleep in my bed again. It was really nice.

The next day we drove back to Idaho. We made a stop on the way though. During the last family reunion, my aunt announced that her dog had just had puppies. She wondered if anyone wanted any. Grig and I have been discussing for a long time whether or not we should get a puppy. We decided we would go and look and them and decide if we wanted one.

After visiting, we tentatively picked out a puppy and decided that if we could get so much money stored away by the time he was old enough to take home, that we would get a new puppy.

Unfortunately, Dakota is getting old, and I'm pretty sure she has cancer. We don't know how much longer she's going to live and we wanted her to help train the puppy before she leaves us.

This is the cake I made Dakota for her 14th birthday last month. She loved it!

We've been able to save up the money amount that we needed, so our big announcement is that we have decided to bring a new puppy into our family.  This is him:

Isn't he cute? He's got a great, calm personality to match. We are picking him up next Friday, the 19th. 

From there, we went straight to the next reception back in Idaho. This reception went faster for me than the one in Utah, because I knew almost everyone that came. It is always fun to reconnect with people I haven't seen in a while.

The matching father and son

The daddy/daughter dance

My sister with the only sister who couldn't come. We made a cut-out copy of her so that she would know we missed her. My dad posted the face on. I think it looks pretty awesome. 

It was a fantastic event, and a very happy one. I am so grateful that my family all gets along and loves each other. I am grateful that we know that husbands and wives can be sealed together in the temple for all eternity. We believe that when marriage is performed under the proper authority, that it can go far beyond "death do us part."

That is a comforting and wonderful blessing.