Patrick and Ashley's Wedding

Well, I missed Melanie's 11 month post, and I'm really behind on the blog. Pretty typical. I'm hoping to get a post up on the wedding, our Moore Family Vacation, and Melanie's birthday sometime this week, and then just go from there. I'm sorry about all the stuff I missed in between. All the pictures are at the bottom.

Patrick and Ashley got married in Payson, UT on August 1st! Congratulations to them!!

We flew out Thursday afternoon after my lab was over and had a quick, but nice visit. Melanie was a champ on the flights there and back, only crying a little because she just really wanted to do her thing, and we couldn't let her. Thank goodness we had direct flights though! Flying with kids is at least 10x as stressful as flying alone. She gave her best cheesy grins to all the flight attendants and passengers walking by, and absolutely loved the cookies that the flight attendants gave her. :)

We got in late Thursday night, so we just chatted with people a little bit and went to bed. On Friday, Melanie and I got to hang out with my friend Alison and her daughter Lily, who shares a birthday with Melanie! It was so fun to have those little girls together! They were pretty funny. Melanie was a little bit of a punk, greedily stuffing Lily's snacks into her mouth. Spencer and the gang went to the temple for Ashley's endowment session. I also watched Ashley's sister's baby so that they could go without worrying about finding a baby sitter.

On Friday afternoon we went up to Provo. We stopped by the brand spanking new Life Sciences building to see the new version of the office Spencer used to work in and the new DNA Sequencing Center to see Dr. Wilcox. We got to chat with Gale in the office, one of the advisors who Spencer worked for, and that was really nice. And, of course, we got to show off Melanie! We went to the bookstore after that to get BYU game day shirts and some ice cream. Then we tried finding some dinner for Melanie, and I learned that Taco Bell is the very worst. Everything had awful "cheese" sauce on it that was too spicy for Melanie and after three attempted orders, Melanie and I were both pretty much in tears. I went up to the counter yet again and said, "I just need something that my 11 month old daughter can eat that doesn't have weird spicy stuff on it!" I'm pretty sure the poor cashier thought I was crazy. She ended up nibbling and making faces at some tortilla and eating a bunch of gold fish or something. I don't remember. We did a little bit of shopping together and headed back down to Payson to put Melanie to bed and help with some wedding prep!

Saturday was the wedding, and it was beautiful! The house was just a block and a half away from the Temple, and Brigham was brave enough to watch Melanie for us during the sealing ceremony. After the sealing we had a luncheon at Magleby's, which had good food, but was too classy of a joint to have a diaper changing station in their restrooms, so I had to change Melanie's diaper in the back of the car. They are lucky it was nice outside, or I would have changed it in a booth in their dining room. Melanie really enjoyed their breadsticks and noodles, though!

We went back to the house after the luncheon and Shirley and Dave were nice enough to come for a little visit! It was so lovely to see them!

Once everyone else came back, we said our goodbyes to Shirley and Dave so we could help get everything ready for the reception, which was being held in the back yard. We set up tables, lights, decorations, candles -- lots and lots of candles, and prepared the food. There was cheesecake and a chocolate fountain with fruit and things to dip. The reception was just beautiful, and it was so fun to watch Patrick and Ashley. In all the time I've known Patrick, I've never seen him smile so much! They are so sweet together. I hope we have a chance to live closer to them one of these years so I can get to know them both better. I think Ashley and I will be great friends once we get a chance to get know each other a little more.

We flew out again on Sunday morning, and it was back to reality (also known as anatomy) for me. It was so nice to get to see all of Spencer's family and especially to get the chance for Melanie to meet her great-grandparents and other family members. Melanie was just thrilled to see Carrina and Collin, too!