Giving Thanks and Wedding Bells

We celebrated Thanksgiving in Utah - and what a celebration, indeed. Christopher (or for anyone who met him after age 7, "the boy") and Krystal immediately secured highly-favored status in our book by setting their wedding date for the weekend following Thanksgiving. So we were lucky to spend the holiday and the week thereafter with nearly the entire Christine and Alan Riley clan. An impressive feat, with Riley addresses spanning the globe.

We kicked off the week with a morning run along Riley Drive {you know you're in Payson when...}, the menfolk skeet shooting in the hills {you know you're in Payson when...} and a delicious Thanksgiving dinner. We also celebrated Grandpa "Alli's" 60th birthday with cute gifts of 60 favorite items from the grandkids and a list of Gramps' 60 best tales. If you know Alan and his penchant for storytelling, you know that coming up with a list of 60 was a breeze :). Noah also initiated Laine into the "cancer test" club. {If your hand is bigger than your face...} Thanks for not actually hitting that sweet little face, Uncle Noie!

Then it was off to St. George for the reception and wedding. They could not have ordered a more gorgeous weekend - I'm starting to understand the appeal of St. George.

The morning of the wedding, all seemed to be humming along smoothly. Way out of character for a Riley family gathering. Eerie, even. Fate did catch up with us, however, when in the 11th hour, we had dead car batteries, a bride separated from her dress/make-up/vehicle, a forgotten marriage license passed out the window of a moving car, a temple recommend locked in a car {the keys were inside the temple in my father in law's suit coat pocket... in a locked locker... that was occupied. that's a fun story.}, forgotten shoes and tender mercies. When all was said and done, we all made it to the ceremony. Perhaps just a little worse {read: sweatier} for the wear. And it was such a lovely ceremony.

Ben and Laine were flying home to Australia from St. George, and none of us could bear to part a moment too soon. So we all ended up staying an extra night with Grandma and Grandpa Riley in St. George. We had a great evening together, playing cards late into the night and keeping Grandma awake against her will. The next day, we also made great use of Aunt Nan and Uncle Scott's gracious invitation to use their cabin and four wheelers.

While the girls were quite content to "go fast" and find gourds along the route, the boys embarked on a slightly different adventure and returned with this slithery fellow. And now I'm petrified at the thought of raising boys.

We welcomed the Christmas season with a visit to Temple Square to see the lights {where Jesse had yet another run-in in a crowded place with the same sweet family he bumped into on a crowded NYC 4th of July} and the little ones ate the apples out of the wedding bouquets.