California- Part One

Open House:
"A successful marriage requires falling in love many times, always with the same person."
~ Germaine Greer~

Sean and Shannon

I only had one reception reception even thought Kai and I are from different states. Kai's family had moved from Idaho to Nevada while he was on his mission. He knew no one in their new residence and so having a reception catering to his location and side of the family was never even a thought.

Now that I think about it (though we would have scored on gifts and money) I am really glad that we didn't. It would have been really stressful to meet the people that Kai grew up with, putting on a smile and accepting congratulations, listening to old childhood stories from best buddies, maybe meeting old girlfriends who mourned the loss of your new husbands bachelorhood. Part of it would be fun, unless you wondered how they were sizing you up. Of course I am much to mature now to let anything like that bother me:) I love meeting new people, but when I was 21, it might have been a different story.

We had the last of a series of wedding events for my brother Sean and new sister in law Shannon this last weekend. For me it was a blast. I enjoyed visiting with family and long lost friends, for Shannon it was pretty stressful. One woman was even outright rude to her. Shannon braved it like a champion though. Her smile never faltered as she warmly greeted stranger after stranger- she even remembered names. I can't remember if they say you do marry families or you don't, but YOU DO.

My Aunt Lisa made all these decorative flowers by hand!

Matt and Katie

-next in line to tie the knott-
Aunt Wendy taking pictures for Aunt Libbie

My wonderful Grandma- I love her soooo much!

Not a flattering picture, but still nice to have the two of us together.

Sean says this picture in quite indicative of their relationship.

Refer to quote above you two!

Family

Cousins and spouses

My mom worked really hard to put this together. It was wonderful and I am so glad that so many of you came to support my brother and his new wife. We know some of you were there in spirit as well:)

I know I promised no more pictures of myself, so cover your eyes if you are sensitive- p.s. my nose is way bigger today.