Part 2 ~ Wedding Day!

On Friday morning we got up and headed to Provo for the sealing. This day turned out to be a day full of tender mercies, and to honest, down right miracles. And here's a little background about why it was such a blessing:

About a week before the wedding, Grandpa found out that his liver and spine are completely full of  cancer. He decided not to do any more chemo treatments, and so now all that can be done is to give him radiation treatments to help keep the pain under control as much as possible.

Of course ever since he was called to be a temple sealer in 2008, I know that all of grandkids who were old enough, were so excited to think that he would be the one to seal us when the day came. In a conversation I'd had with Ben last summer, after Grandpa had first been diagnosed, Ben and I both talked about how we'd hoped to have Grandpa as our sealer whenever "the big day" came along. So now with Grandpa being so sick, I know all of us were really praying that he would be able to feel good enough to seal Ben and Kim.

Well, our prayers were answered, and despite Grandpa being in Utah all week and having 5 radiation treatments in 4 days, plus a fractured disk in his back, and being pretty loaded up with medication - he was able to perform the sealing. 

They said it was clear that he was struggling throughout the ceremony, but all went well. Having the wedding was truly a blessing to get such an important event to celebrate together, and such a fun reason to gather as a family, despite some of the stress and anxiety of all that has been going on with Grandpa for the last little while. I'm sure Ben and Kim were really grateful for it too, since I know Ben has wanted Grandpa to do the sealing for as long as that has been an option.

Ok, so while everyone was in the temple, the rest of us got to hang out on the grounds outside. The weather that day was PERFECT!! Sunny, warm, and full of color. Since Ben is the youngest of 5 kids, all his four older sisters have kids now, and that's who we got to play with while we waited. There were actually lots of us cousins (and 2nd cousins) that were all there and it was so fun to be with everyone.

The fountains were some of the main attractions, and I'm not going to lie, I eventually gave up trying to keep all of the tiny kids from dipping their fingers (and toes) in the water - there are just some battles you have to walk away from. :)

  Since the Provo temple is right across from the MTC we saw tons of missionaries coming and going all day, and look at these boys - before we know it, they'll all be joining the ranks of missionaries, too. But in the mean time they're just looking a little too cool.

 And then there's the sunbathing beauties. When Grandma saw all of us girls standing together she said something Grandma-ish (in a good way) like, "Oh look how pretty you all are, you look like a garden!" :) Everyone was pretty colorful that day, it was a blast!

 Yeah, try keeping up with all of these little guys! I'm kind of glad that sealings don't take very long, or one could easily be a nervous wreck by the end of the day. :) But in all honesty, we had a good time and it's already one of my favorite memories.

 Our little cousin, Michael, (the front row boy with his fingers in his mouth) came up to me at one point and asked when the wedding was going to start. I tried to explain that it was happening right then, inside the temple. But I guess he didn't get it because he came back a second later and asked, "Are they in there practicing for the wedding?" :) Ok, let's try this again.....
 
  My camera was probably going every couple minutes for the whole day! Seriously, everywhere you looked there was something beautiful to see.

 Hmm, I had a little glimpse of the future and seeing these two little cousins making their way to the temple one day to go inside and have a wedding of their own. Kind of a cool thought.

 Still waiting..... We tried to get a sibling picture of the four of us, but no matter what, we still had cousins on our laps and gathering around, so eventually we just told everyone to hop in (we're still missing a few of the kids, but it's all good).

 You know it's getting close to seeing the new bride and groom as soon as the rest of the family start trickling out. We all made our way over to the doors to wait for Ben and Kim and the little kiddies, especially Ben's nieces and nephews, could hardly wait another minute.
  There's Grandpa, still standing - which was a good sign! I asked my aunt how Grandpa did and she said he made it and it was a really neat session. His mouth was really dry because of the meds he has to take, but he did it.

 Yay!! There they are, the new Mr. & Mrs. Brown!

  What a day!

 I guess no matter what, once the baby of the family, always the baby of the family. :) Not that that's a bad thing.

 After the wedding we all headed to Springville for the luncheon. It was in a church that wasn't too far from the house where my grandma and grandpa had lived for a little while when my dad was born.
 There were a couple spare hours between the lunch and reception so our little family drove out to the place we'd lived in Spanish Fork right after Kelani was born. We had some fun memories from living there so it was fun to take a look at it after 15 years away.
   Our next stop was at the creamery at BYU. Dad was drooling dreaming of the days you could get a six scoop ice cream dish so he was excited to go back and order one. Well, it doesn't seem that they're still serving it quite the way they did back in the old days, so he settled for the four scoop. :)
  The reception was at this gorgeous little house in Springville. I guess the people who live there rent out the backyard (which turned out to be more like the botanical gardens) for receptions and things like that. It was awesome!

 And as with all good things to do with Ben, the night wasn't over until it ended with dancing! I used to run the video camera as a teen-ager and then Ben, David, and a bunch of the cousins would star in all kinds of home movies. We made a couple different Harry Potter movies, and several random shows, but I think every one of them ended in a dance-off (you should see Harry and Voldemort cut a rug)! Of course, Ben kept it a little tamer for the wedding, but one can't help remembering his Irish dance impressions of old.

Eventually Ben and Kim headed off and the party began to wind down. But that was a day to remember and it's become such a sweet memory already.

Don't think the parties end here, we still had Grandpa's b-day to celebrate - that post is coming soon.....