Post Wedding Reflections, Cache Valley Cowboy Rendezvous, Family Dinner

I should probably write a long entry about Erika’s wedding and festivities. Maybe I will when we get the photographs from the wedding photographer. As we have reflected on the whole experience there isn't anything that I would have changed. It was just a very happy day for Erika and for the rest of the family. We are now waiting on the pictures, I can’t wait to see them. Erika and Jono are now spending time every evening writing the myriad of thank you notes that are owed—a gift or two arrives every day at the house—our friends and Jono’s family’s friends were very generous with Erika and Jono and they received many nice things. They are really looking forward now to their trip to Mexico for their honeymoon. It has been a wonderful and exciting event to look forward to. They are as cute as can be and are really happy. Paul and I had a very nice weekend. We were really happy to have a get-away with fun activities and luxurious accommodations. We went to Cache Valley to participate in the annual Cache Valley Cowboy Rendezvous. Paul was signed up to perform four sets and then he picked up two more while he was there. We left in the afternoon on Friday and drove up to Cache Valley. We stopped at Petersboro on the way and checked out our property to see if any of the pounds of grass seed that we planted last fall had sprung up yet. We saw the tiniest little green spears starting to come up, both from existing grasses and from the new seeds. It has been above freezing for a few days and there has been rain—so it is the ideal climate for the beginnings of new grass; we are so hopeful for a luscious, thick grass pasture to emerge in the next couple of years and we are well on the way to that. Then we headed to Hyrum, UT where the event was being held at Mountain Crest High School, which has a lovely and large auditorium. Paul was performing his first set at 5:30 p.m. He was checked in and went to the Green Room to warm up and then he did his set. We bought tickets to the main event for the evening the headline performer—Suzy Bogguss. The preshow started at 6:30 p.m. so we settled ourselves for the evening. There was a lot of preliminary entertainment including a couple of numbers by Dave Stamey, other cowboy poets and performers and then a fine performance by Suzy. Paul and I really enjoyed ourselves, the concert was very good and then we headed into Logan to stay at the Marriott Springhill Suites. Our room was very nice with a sitting area and a lovely bedroom—very comfortable, we slept well. We had a nice breakfast in the hotel breakfast room and then headed back to Hyrum for the second day of activities and performances. Paul did a very nice job in his performances. He is now performing with his guitar, putting music under the poetry. This was the first time that he did this and so it was a new experience, but he rose to the occasion and did fine performances. I enjoyed listening to him and we also sat in on some of the other sets as well. It was a rainy, cool day—not a day to golf, or do yard work and so the attendance was robust. We have participated before and this was a really good crowd. There were a number of vendors, as well as performers. I walked through the vendors several times, and finally succumbed to the Pampered Chef booth. I have wanted a good quality vegetable slicer for a while now and the representative was doing demonstrations and it looked so appealing that I decided to do it. I didn't actually get it at the show, I ordered it and it will come to the house, but I’m really looking forward to getting it. It was a bonus for the time spent wandering through the vendors. We had a dinner at my mother’s house last Sunday and Peter, Kortney and Eleanor were there, Jono and Erika. My sister, Liza was back from visiting her newest grandchild in Virginia and was heading back to Washington State on Monday so it was a fun gathering including a nephew and his girlfriend and Stephen and his son Steve. My dad commented that it was an occasion when three of his four children (Stephen, Liza and me—David not present) were under his roof—that doesn't happen too often. Usually it is just Stephen and me. We always have a companionable time together so it is always a pleasant evening. My mom is still interested, willing and eager to put on these large family gatherings. Sometimes but not always, I bring a piece of the dinner and I always work in the kitchen when I get to her house, but she is still the queen of the kitchen and still enjoys the challenge of putting on a big family dinner. They are always very pleasant times.

Grandchildren and Wedding Preparations

Even though our lives have focused a lot on Erika’s wedding in the last couple of weeks, we have been happy to have Philip and Camille and their two adorable children back and close. We had another dinner this last week with them. It was especially fun because Peter and Kortney came to dinner with Eleanor and Jonathan and Eleanor had a chance to play with one another. They were very fun to watch playing together. Jonathan finds Eleanor a more interesting playmate than Andrew who is only six months old and doesn’t talk or walk or participate in any significant way. Andrew is an adorable chunk of a baby though, and I think he is just as cute as can be. We put the leaf in the table and had a big crowd eating and talking and laughing. I’m glad that we can pull everyone together from time to time during this period that Philip is in Utah. Erika had two more showers this last weekend. These were both “Friend” showers, to which I was not invited. One was hosted by the wives of Jono’s friends with Erika also inviting some of the women that she works with at South Jordan Middle School. There were about twelve total people at the shower and it was very fun according to Erika. One of the things that happened was that the hostess set up a “photo booth” which was just a piece of wrapping paper attached to a blank wall and a bucket of props next to it and the guests could put on a few props and get their pictures taken. Erika and Jono posed for a picture together, which makes them look like they had a great time at the shower. (Jono didn't really go to the shower, but came when it was about over.) I could hardly recognize Jono with that funny nose and glasses on, and even Erika looked quite different with the glasses she was wearing. There have been many things going on the last couple of weeks and Paul and I have been coming and going to many things—many days. I feel like there is something to keep me busy every single day. But Erika is handling this busy time with great aplomb. Last night she conferred with her comprehensive “list of things to do” and remarked that she had accomplished everything that needed to be done by this point. So we feel like everything is under control. We have added one additional member to the wedding party. K.C.’s girlfriend from North Carolina is coming to Utah to attend the wedding and reception and festivities. When we learned that she was coming, Erika and Elizabeth corresponded and we told her what the women in the wedding party were wearing. She bought the skirt and we ordered another necklace and she will be part of the group. We are very happy that she will be joining us.

Three Weeks til the Wedding

This weekend we moved into February and that means that we are now in the month that Erika gets married. It seems like it is really going to happen now. On Friday the 31st of January it was three weeks until Erika’s wedding day. We have been steadily working away on the activities and plans, but it seems to be more intense now, and the things that we have been planning are actually happening now. Erika had her first shower last Thursday evening. It was a very lovely event, hosted by Julie Bult’s book club. Her book club hosts a shower for the child of every member when they are getting married. I think I mentioned this last week. There are ten women in her book club so it wasn't a huge shower, but the members are very generous. The one that was held for Jono and Erika was themed “Days in the Life” of the to-be-married couple. I was assigned –Company Coming to Dinner—the other assignments were varied and made for a wide variety of the types of gifts given. Other topics included: Birthday (gift was a cake plate and dome top, cake pans, candles and a cake server), Inviting Friends Over (gift was a collection of snacks and a snack tray and some group games and card games), Laundry Day (gift was a laundry basket, filled with detergent, fabric softener, bleach, and dryer sheets, etc.), Meals in a Hurry (this gift included the fixings for tacos, a Panini grill), --you kind of get the idea—other days included Emergency, Sick Day, Baking Day, Cleaning Day, Picnic Day, Payday’s-not-for-another-week Day, Make-Up After a Fright Day. A nice dinner was served and then the group gathered in the seating area and asked questions of Jono and Erika: How they met, when they knew they were meant for each other, questions about the proposal, etc. And then they opened gifts. These women are all good friends. They have been in this book club for 25 years. So it was fun to see the interaction and friendship and how supportive they are of the successes and happiness of one another’s children. It was a very pleasant evening and a good time. The women were very friendly and happy to be participating it seemed to me. We have never done anything like this in either of my book clubs, but it seems like a satisfying idea. We will be attending a Bult Family shower tonight. The party continues. Paul has found a new area of interest. He may have already told you about this, but he went to the Equestrian Arena a couple of weeks ago when he thought there was an open ride, but it turned out that it was a group that does training and competition shooting black powder guns at balloon targets on poles from the back of a running horse. It was so interesting and fascinating that he went back and joined. They have had a competition in the last couple of weeks that he attended, too. It is just one more fun thing that you can do with horses. He is going again tonight. He has had a bit of fun with it himself, and Lakota is a natural. He doesn't object to the loud noise of the gun report, and he has figured out the poles—running serpentine through them—and Paul is just having a riot with this new way to enjoy himself with the horses. Philip and Camille and the little boys came to dinner on Wednesday night. It was a really great time. The boys are just as cute as can be. Jonathan is chatty and happy and easy to amuse. Andrew, who is now six months, is a solid little guy, who smiles and laughs and sits up by himself and is responsive. We had a great time visiting with them and catching up. They are coming again on Thursday when Peter, Kortney and Eleanor will be joining us.

Fourth Week of January

We are entering the final month before Erika gets married and it seems like scheduling will just continue to get busier until the wedding date arrives. The wedding and preparations for it are a major priority right now but there are also other things that are going on as well—so we just feel quite busy. We have been working on the invitations to the wedding this week. We picked them up on Monday and they are just a cute as can be. The pictures that will be inserted in the invitations came on Saturday. This week we will finish addressing the envelops and stuff and they will go out at the beginning of next week. It is beginning to feel like it is really going to happen. This week is also the first bridal shower that will be held in Erika’s honor. This one is being held by the book club that Julie Bult, Jono’s mother, belongs to. Apparently the club puts on a shower for the children of the members when they become engaged. It will be a small shower, there are only twelve or so members of the club, but it looks like a nice event with a dinner. I received an invitation as well and will be attending. This group assigns out a “theme gift” to each guest. I was assigned “Compnay coming to dinner”. So I am supposed to bring a gift that Erika could use on an evening when company was coming to dinner. This worked out perfectly for me, because since Erika was in Elementary School, I have been collecting silver plate table ware, serving pieces and a silver box. I talked to her about it when she was young, but haven’t mentioned to her for years. I’m not sure she even remembers. So I will give her the silverware, and a tablecloth and eight napkins at this shower. I just wrapped it up this weekend and so I am all set to go. Friday night Paul and I hosted a dinner for some friends of ours that we knew when we were living in Frankfurt. They have a complicated living arrangement, since Marsha lives in Provo with two of their children and Mike works in Singapore. I see Marsha frequently, but it is hard to catch Mike when he is in town. He has been here since Christmas, but we just managed to get together. They came on Friday night we had a really nice evening with dinner and conversation. Mike and Marsha are one of our couple friends and we enjoy them very much—their experience is similar to ours in that they lived as a family in Europe for many years and they localized their children in the public schools and attended the local wards and learned the language. Paul and Mike have many similar interests and Marsha belongs now to one of my book clubs. They have been a couple friends for many years. It is fun to get together with old friends. Erika was just a lifesaver that night. I was in the middle of some really fussy work activities and didn't leave work until after 5:00. I still had to stop at the store to pick up a few things for dinner and I didn’t get home until about 5:55. When I got home Erika had set the dining table for me and had spiffed up the bathroom and then helped me get the appetizer tray ready and generally moved the meal along. Mike and Marsha were a little late and by the time they arrived everything was ready to go. It made me think how helpful Erika has been while she has been living at home. I appreciate all the ways that she has been helpful and this time that we have had to spend together. Sunday night, my mother hosted a family dinner at their home. Invited were my brother Stephen and his son, Steve, Paul and I, Philip, Camille, Jonathan and Andrew, Peter, Kortney and Eleanor, Erika and Jono and my brother David’s son, Crawford who is a student at BYU. We were disappointed that Jonathan and Andrew were both under the weather, Andrew had fever and so Camille stayed home with the children, but Philip came. It was the first time that we had a chance to really talk with Philip since he came back about some of the experience in Djibouti and it was very interesting and entertaining. He gave us some insight into what he is anticipating with his time in Washington D.C. and also his next assignment in Ukraine. It was just plain a fun family evening. Eleanor is becoming such a funny little person. We tended her overnight last week and it was fun to see her again this week. I just finished making the dress that she will wear at the wedding and passed it off at the dinner and we think she is just going to look darling as a “Junior Bridesmaid”. The dress is the same color scheme as the bridesmaids with a red skirt and a white top and matching jewelry. I just ordered some fleshtone tights for her so she will match all the other girls in the party. This last week was our Sundance week with our Westgate Condo in Park City. Paul and I share it with the local family members and try to slip in a couple of days ourselves. This year we gave Sunday and Monday to Peter and Courtney, Tuesday was going to be for Paul and me, Wednesday was for my parents, Thursday and Friday were for Philip and Camille and Paul and I had Saturday to Sunday morning. Even before the day arrived, it was clear that Tuesday was going to be complicated for Paul and me. In the first place, because that was the day that Philip and Camille flew in from Djibouti and we planned to see them at the airport. The plan was to go straight up to the condo. It is a busy work evening for Paul because he makes two, one hour long calls to the Philippines and Japan on that evening, but we thought that we could get to Park before it was time to place the calls. As it turned out, Camille’s mom who came to pick them up didn’t have room enough in her car for four people (two car seats) and all their luggage—so I ended up driving to their rental house in Ogden that evening while Paul went to do horses and then go home. By the time I drove to Ogden in rush hour traffic and then drove back, Paul had started his calls and we just didn’t make it to Park City. So one of the two days assigned to us went unused, but all the other days were filled with contented and happy vacationers, including Paul and me. Everyone had a great time, we have gotten reports from everyone. Paul and I arrived on Saturday about fwo o’clock. We settled in and had some lunch and then went to the relaxation area where there is a steam room, a sauna, a hot tub and a relaxation pool. It is a particularly nice area because it is adults only, so there aren't children or teens playing loudly. It is just adults relaxing and it was very relaxing and soothing for Paul and me. It is one of the things that we enjoy most about our trip to Park City.

Third week in January

We have returned from our getaway in St. George and we had a really lovely time. Marilyn and Howard were the most gracious and wonderful hosts. Paul and I left after work on Friday and arrived at the Arrington’s spacious and beautiful home at about 9:00 p.m. Marilyn met us warmly and welcomingly and showed us around their new St. George home. Paul and I stayed in the upstairs guest room, but we got a tour of the downstairs accommodations as well. They seem well situated there and comfortable. Paul and I came to St. George not only to visit with Marilyn and Howard, but also for Paul to attend Back Country Horsemen of Utah State meetings, which ran pretty much all morning and early afternoon on Saturday. I was going to drive him and then go to a session in the St. George Temple, but he ended up taking our car and Marilyn and I went to a session together. I attended an open house in that temple years ago in the mid 1970 are when they did a major remodel and then had an open house. My grandmother was living in Hurricane at that time and some girls from my BYU apartment and I drove down and stayed with her and went to the open house. It was a fun weekend back then. And last weekend was the first time I had been in that temple since then. They had converted it back then to a temple with the film and so we didn’t move from room to room, except at the very end when everyone moved to a “veil” room. After the session, Marilyn and I had a quick lunch in the temple cafeteria and then went to a fun community concert in the St. George Tabernacle. That was a lot of fun. It was two performers—a pianist, sort of a cocktail, jazz style pianist and a woman---a cabaret style singer. They performed separately and together. It was so entertaining and very fun. I gave me a few ideas for our Gates Family performing evenings. I was really glad to have attended. The performers were entertainers “of a certain age”. I’d say the man was in his seventies and the woman maybe late fifties or early sixties. But they were seasoned performers and as I said it was really fun to watch and see all the conventions that they used. They had some spiffy costumes and did their songs in groups of songs associated with a certain period, they did some Big Band songs, a Country and Western Set, a “Diva” collection and some contemporary songs. It was a fun activity for Marilyn and me. Originally we planned to leave St. George and come home on Saturday night, but Paul was asked to perform at a campfire the Saturday evening. So we stayed and Paul and another performer Don Bradshaw performed together, taking turns. Paul did a nice job and the fire was beautiful, it was a clear windless night so the smoke when straight up. There were marshmallows and the fixings for s’mores. Lots of light conversation and funny stories and laughing. We were there until about 9:00 and then went home and visited with Marilyn and Howard a bit more and then another really good night sleep in their comfortable home. Marilyn outdid herself with fabulous meals. We had a ranch hand breakfast both mornings with eggs, bacon, juice, hot cereal, waffles, fruit and Marilyn was very attentive to Paul’s gluten-free needs. For dinner she made a terrific squash soup made from squash frozen from her garden in Idaho Falls. We were well served by all the kind and generous attentions of both Howard and Marilyn. Howard and I had a very informative conversation about family history and he shared some of the ways that he is preserving family history and showed me some of his projects. And, of course, Marilyn and I had lots of opportunities to talk about quilting, decorating, crafts, cooking and homemaking. We had a really great weekend. Paul found out about a horse boarding—there is a location about six miles from where Marilyn and Howard live and now that we have broken the ice with a trip to St. George, Paul may bring the horses down for a ride and we can stay with Marilyn and Howard again. It probably won’t happen this winter because of all the demands of getting Erika’s wedding taken care of, but it is a possibility for the future and that is nice to think about, too. Last night, Philip and Camille with Jonathan and Andrew flew into Utah. They are totally finished with Djibouti, though Philip said it was harder to leave than they expected, that have made many good friends there. The woman who has been their housekeeper and nanny was very hard to leave. She loved the boys and had become a part of their family. They had been in transit for two days. They did have a nice break in Paris, but it is still a way long period of transit. They have rented a house in Ogden for the next five weeks. They will be here until February 23rd when they head to Washington D.C. The boys are just a cute as can be. Andrew is no longer a newborn, but a a smiley six month old. Jonathan is chatty and delightful and we had a nice little chat. We brought a bag with gifts to augment the Christmas and birthday gifts that we had already sent. They didn’t open it at the airport and of course were anxious to get to their house and get settled in and get those boys into beds—so we didn’t have a very long visit, but they are here now and that makes other opportunities possible. Jono and Erika have been working on building their nest. They have bought a sectional sofa set and a kitchen table and are starting to move things into their new place. It is fun to watch. Erika and I picked up the announcements on Monday and the next step will be putting the address on them and getting them ready to mail. That will be a big job—but many of the big jobs have been completed now. We have got most of the decorating things finished now and today we got the proofs from the bridal shoot. We now need to sort through them and decide which ones to put on display.

Second Week in January

The weather here has been cold, grey and stormy for the last week. Maybe the storms that have been rotating through us have moved on to you as well. We haven’t had a lot of snow at least not in the valley, but three different storms have come through this week, leaving an inch or so each time, but nothing really terrible. We were supposed to get a big storm on Sunday, and it warmed up a lot on Saturday in advance of the front. It was 50 degrees on Saturday. All the snow and ice at the pasture melted and then froze solid overnight. Sunday the paddock area was like an ice rink—smooth and slick as can be according to Paul. As it turns out I’ve been under the weather for the last four days. I started out on Thursday with a tickle in my throat on Thursday. Friday I was feeling rather ill, and coughing and I stayed in bed all day on Saturday and didn’t go to my meetings yesterday. But by the evening I was beginning to feel better and I went to work on Monday morning same as usual. I feel like I am on the mend, thanks to Nyquil and Robitussin and Cherry Menthol Cough Drops. I haven’t had a cold for several years now, and I worried that I might have gotten the flu, but I think the days in bed nipped the cold in the bud and I have dodged that “nine-day” cold—you know, three days coming, three days here and three days going. We are working away on the many details to get ready for Erika’s wedding. There is something that we are doing nearly every day to get ready. This week the big push is to get the address list finalized so that we can order the invitations. We have already had an appointment with the invitation people and have the invitation designed and the details worked out. Now we just have to order them. And make sure we have enough. Everyday something comes up which reminds us of one more person who needs to be invited. We hope we haven’t forgotten someone important. Paul and I are looking forward to this coming weekend. We are going down to St. George. Paul has a Back Country Horseman State Meeting that he has to attend on Saturday. I want to go to a session in the St. George Temple. I sent Marilyn an email telling her we were going to be in St. George for the weekend and she invited us to stay with them. We haven’t seen their house in St. George yet, so we are looking forward to seeing that and it will be fun to have a chance to visit with Marilyn and Howard. They are scheduled to arrive on the same day that we are traveling so they will probably arrive at their home only a few hours before we do. (Paul and I both have to finish our workday before we leave, but we are traveling from the South end of the valley and not from Idaho Falls. I think that Marilyn is a very good sport to host us when she is just arriving herself, but we are happy that we will have this chance to connect. I have wanted to make a visit to the St. George Temple. It is one of the Utah temples that I haven’t visited, so this will be nice for me this weekend, too. Philip and Camille are spending their last week in Africa. They fly out on Sunday the 19th. They will overnight in Paris and then fly in the next day, arriving actually on the 21st—what with all the time changes. They have rented a house again, like they did last summer, and will also rent a car. They had a house very close to us last summer when they were here and this time the house is in the Ogden area nearer to Camille’s parents. We are happy that everything has worked out so that they can be here in this area when Erika gets married. We have already arranged for K.C.’s ticket and he will come in on Thursday and leaves on Sunday. So all the children will be here for one brief moment. We will have a family picture taken at the same time that Erika does her wedding pictures. And that will be our family picture for this year. I think it is going to be increasingly difficult for us to have an annual family picture, but I will keep working at it for as long as I can.

Christmas and New Year Holiday 2013

We had a very nice Christmas holiday full of interesting and lovely activities. We stayed very busy and we got a lot done. Erika and I both had two full weeks of vacation which was very nice and Paul had a full week and two weekends—so he had a longish vacation as well. Erika had made a calendar with undertakings that she wanted to accomplish before the vacation was through to get ready for her wedding and the attendant activities associated with it. We shopped and we crafted and we shopped and we crafted and we stayed very busy. But additionally we had some really fun activities. We like to attend at least one Christmas theatrical experience during the season and this year Erika and I (neither Paul nor Jono went with us) attended the Odyssey Dance Company’s version of The Nutcracker. It was held at Kingsbury Hall and it was really interesting and modern. Odyssey Dance Theatre is a very contemporary dance company and does its own version of many classic dance pieces. They brought the Nutcracker to life in the present day still using a smartly updated version of Tchaikovsky’s original score and with the dancing arranged in a pop/hip-hop style with a tiny bit of ballet thrown in. Imagine Clara as the young lady whose imagination is not inspired by a nutcracker, but is drawn into a magical world inspired by her smartphone. There were some really fun costumes and fabulous backdrops that changed like someone moving through screens of a smartphone or ipad. The “toy soldiers” were robots with really imaginative lighted panels on their costumes which changed colors and the “mice” were dressed and costumed in “gangsta” style with a hip-hop swagga. It was so interesting, imaginative and delightful. Erika and I really enjoyed it. If you have seen one too many Nutcrackers, this is the one you would want to see. It was familiar at the same time being very new and interesting. There were still the ethnic dances, the Chinese dance, the Russian Dance but also very smartly updated, and some really cute costumes for them too. The Waltz of the Flowers was done with a corps de ballet in the traditional form, but augmented with “Angry Birds” inserts, very cute and funny. We had a very nice evening. As promised in their publicity bulletin it was a “visual feast full of surprises.” I worked really hard in the weeks before Christmas to finish the fourth and last of my genealogical compilations. This year it was my maternal grandmother’s family the Gordon Book. During those last days before Christmas I finished the book, got it printed and bound and then sent to my siblings and wrapped for my parents and children. It was a great feeling to have the majority of that project behind me. I am still planning this year to move all the histories and associated pictures to The Church’s Family Tree website so that everyone can access to the work that I have done. There will not be books for grandchildren or cousins or nieces and nephews—but the histories will all be available on the website perpetually. And then my work will be done. This has been a very satisfying project and I am glad that I did it, I know my own ancestors better now than ever before, there are a lot of them and I have to really concentrate now to keep the various family lines separated. One of the things that happened over the vacation was that Erika had her bridal pictures taken. This was a huge project all on its own. She didn’t just have solo bridal pictures but pictures with her and Jono. We got a bridal bouquet, she had her hair done at a salon, had her make-up applied professionally with special foundation that kept her skin from “shining” in the flash photography, the wedding dress altered and steamed and pressed, her cute red shoes, Jono’s new suit and tie, and boutonniere, and both of them looking wonderful happy and beautiful and in love. This was the first time that I met the photographer. He is the same one who did their engagement pictures and is a very relaxed and comfortable photographer. It was a freezing cold day, about 37 degrees and Erika was in her dress and Jono in his suit with no extra clothing for the pictures. Between shots they put on coats and tried to warm up. The photo shoot took place at Salt Lake Temple square and City Creek Center with some shots on the upper floor of the Joseph Smith Memorial Building with the giant chandelier in the background. Both Erika and Jono were frozen half to death at the end of the two and a half hour photo shoot. I was there serving as the beast of burden, carrying Erika’s coat, touch-up bag with make-up and comb and change of shoes and purse, and holding Jono’s wallet and phone and keys. So I got to see the whole thing. It was kind of fun. I got plenty cold and I was wearing long pants, a coat and gloves. The two of them were covered with goose bumps by the end. One of Erika’s friends came to watch part of it and took a really cute photo of Jono helping Erika retouch her lipstick. Her hands were so cold she could hardly hold the lipstick so Jono tried his hand (his gloved hands) at retouching it instead. We started the shoot at about 3:00, because Erika especially wanted some photographs with the lights of temple square in the background. (The shoot had to take place before January 1st because after that they don’t turn the lights on anymore. The photographer told us that we would have about a half an hour between the time that the lights turned on and the time when it would be too dark to get good photographs. Erika especially wanted to get a shot of her and Jono in front of the fountains and twinkle lights of the City Creek South Temple entrance. It was on her most wished for photograph list. And her photographer came through for her. We haven’t seen the collection of pictures yet. The photographer is still doing post-production on them, but he did send Erika the picture of her and Jono in front of the entrance to City Creek with the fountains and the twinkle lights. Jono is dipping Erika and it looks like something that you would see in a movie. Erika is so pleased that the picture there worked out. We had a couple of really nice horse activities over the Christmas holiday, too. On Christmas eve afternoon, Paul brought out the surrey and trailered Rory to our house and we had surrey rides. Jono’s parents and sisters came for rides, and my parents had their traditional Christmas Eve ride. Paul and I took a ride together. It was a cold evening, but with a warm coat and gloves and the buffalo robes it was rather fun. Jono’s parents and sisters had never had a ride in a horse drawn vehicle so it was a new experience for them. (We like them a lot—they are really nice people). We have been having my parents for dinner on Christmas Eve for a number of years and they have us for dinner on Christmas day. It is a nice arrangement. And who knows how many more years we will be able to do it. On Saturday Paul and I went by ourselves to the pasture and had a sleigh ride with Rory in the pasture. We just made a large loop several times and had fun just the two of us. Rory really likes doing the surrey, but has to work a bit harder with the sleigh. There was a sprinkling of fresh snow on Saturday morning and so the pasture had that sparkling look of new snow. But there was hard crusty snow underneath that had to be cut through with the sleigh and it looked like work to me for Rory. I was determined to get Christmas put away before I went back to work and was successful at that. And so now our dining room is a workshop for the decorations for Erika’s reception. We have some of the parts of the centerpieces for the reception finished and the ribbon wristbands and necklaces for the bridesmaids and boutonnieres for the groomsmen and lots of other miscellaneous wedding stuff in our “workshop” there. Things are coming together and we are feeling quite accomplished after this time of concentrated work on Erika’s wedding preparation. I need to hem two of the bridesmaid skirts and my own skirt and I have just about finished a little dress for Eleanor—there will always be something to keep us busy. And so we press on.