Great Grandpa Webb

At the end of February, Nate's Grandpa Webb passed away at 97 years old. 

 

Natalie had a very special relationship with her great-grandpa.  She loved him sooo much.  Great-Grandpa lived with Nate's parents for the last few years of his life, so Natalie was able to spend some time with him.  Whenever we couldn't find Natalie, we always knew she was in Great-Grandpa's room.  She would choose spending time with him over playing with her cousins.  She would spend hours in there with him every time we came to visit.  She loved to talk to him, read to him, draw him pictures, and most of all, she loved taking care of him. 

 

About a year ago, when his second wife, Cheryle, died, Natalie sat right next to him during the funeral.  Afterwards, he told Natalie, "the next time you see me, I will be dead."  I guess this is a line he would tell people often.  Natalie happily responded, "then we can be friends in heaven!"

 

We did get to see him many times after that.  And thanks to a spur of the moment trip to Snowflake, with the main purpose of me being able to scout out our girls camp site, we were able to see him right before he passed away.  I was so grateful we (especially Nate and Natalie) were able to see him so shortly before he died.  I think it made it easier for Natalie because it made it seem more like she got to say goodbye.  As we were about to walk out the door to leave Snowflake, Natalie and Great Grandpa were about to do a puzzle together.  He was asking Nate's mom where they could put it together and she told him we were leaving right then.  He said a disappointed "oh."  Natalie gave him a big hug which made him smile. Natalie said "It's okay.  I will see you soon."  It was just five days later that he died.

 

This picture is actually from last March, so it is a year old.  But I couldn't find another one.

 

 

We went to Snowflake for the funeral on March 8th.  Natalie was okay, but pretty sad.  She understands that she will see him again, but she misses him now.  I asked Natalie to smile and this was the best I could get.  She told me she didn't feel like smiling.

 Our family.  Arie was napping at my parents' house.

Grandpa Webb's living children, and spouses. 

On the right side of the picture is our little Kaitlin's grave.  You can see her small headstone just to the right of everyone.  She is right there close to her great-grandparents.

Here is his obituary:

Maurice Eugene Webb
(September 13, 1916 - February 22, 2014)

Maurice Eugene Webb of Snowflake, Arizona, died February 22, 2014 at the age of 97. He finally used up all of his 9 lives – he should have died at least 8 other times in his life because of injuries or illnesses! He leaves behind 4 living children: Eugene Webb, Keith Webb, Patricia Larson & Joyce Brimhall, all of Snowflake, 3 sons-in-law: R.H. Larson, Dennis Wilkins and Chris Brimhall, 3 daughters-in-law: Mary Webb, Pam Webb and Rita Webb, 41 grandchildren, 35 grandchildren-in-law, 139 great-grandchildren, 6 great-grandchildren-in-law, 4 great-great-grandchildren and numerous step children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren. He was preceded in death by his wife Luella Ballard Webb who died in 1977 after 39 years of marriage, 3 children: Barbara Webb, Steven Webb and Janet Wilkins, and his 2nd wife Cheryle Sandall Webb who died in 2013 after 35 years of marriage. His posterity at the end of 2013 numbered 241!Up until the time of his death, he read constantly, climbed stairs dangerously, and he could name all of his grandchildren and most of his great grandchildren. If he couldn’t name them, he could at least tell you who they belonged to. He was pleased to be in several 5-generation pictures. Reese was born in Pinedale on September 13, 1916 to Jonathan Henry Webb and Della Ray Webb and was the 5th of their 10 children, all of whom preceded him in death but two brothers, Jay Webb and June Webb. Reese was raised in a happy home, with his parents taking in several cousins to raise as their own and had happy memories playing with cousins and friends in the Mesa/Lehi/Apache Junction/Pinedale/Lakeside areas. He had a beautiful singing voice and performed many solos. He was taught by his mother and aunts to dance very early, and was known for sweeping many ladies and young ladies off their feet on the dance floor. He was also famous for his donkey call. He loved to visit with his future mother-in-law, the widow Julia Ballard, while his future wife Luella Ballard curled her sisters and friends hair before the dances. He knew that his future wife would be as good a cook and friend as his future mother-in-law. As a young man, he played many baseball games, but during one fateful game, he threw the ball from centerfield to home plate and suffered a severe injury that resulted in osteomyelitis in his right arm. The doctors at that time wanted to amputate his arm, but his Dad told the doctors that he had lived a good life so they should do everything they could to save the arm. He had many careers throughout his life: bus driver, welder, mechanic, saw-mill worker, log truck driver, partner in Webb & Sons Sawmill, finance manager, big machinery operator, carpenter, town councilman, member of the irrigation board, beaver rancher, cattle rancher, custodian, sprinkler salesman, landscaper, long-haul truck driver, tractor driver, sheep rancher and hay farmer, but the most important work he did was within the walls of his own home. During all of this time, he served in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints as a Counselor in the Bishopric in Vernon, Snowflake Stake Clerk, Ward Clerk, missionary, Branch President (during his mission in Bogalusa, Louisiana)and Home Teacher, but his favorite church calling was Nursery Leader. He also loved to give quarters gifts for special occasions. His children remember their happy home life. They didn’t take many vacations but were always working together and playing together. They were raised in a home where love, service and the Gospel of Jesus Christ were taught by example. A viewing will be held Friday evening, March 7, 2014 from 6 to 8 p.m. at Pioneer Park LDS Chapel in Snowflake, Arizona. An additional viewing will be from 10:00 a.m. to 10:45 a.m. Saturday, March 8, 2014 in the Pioneer Park LDS Chapel in Snowflake, Arizona, with the funeral servicesbeginning at 11 a.m. Silver Creek Mortuary in Taylor, Arizona handled the services.

Big Changes Around Here

Callings.  We went a few months in our new ward without them.  But no more.

Let's start with me.  I think I mentioned that I was in charge of putting together the music for the Christmas program.  This wasn't a calling, just an assignment.  I led the choir and played the piano part of a duet.  I also played the piano at the ward Christmas dinner.  This ward is really lacking in the musical instrument abilities department, and it was made clear that I knew music.  Now, since moving to Sahuarita eight years ago, I have never NOT had a music calling.  I've had a few others scattered in with the music ones, but it has been predominantly music.  Honestly, I really, really, wanted a change.  Yes, music is important.  But I wanted something different.  When they called me in about 7 weeks ago to give me a calling, the member of the bishopric said they had kind of "gotten wind that I had had a lot of music callings" so they were going to give me something else for a change.  (Maybe I was a bit too vocal about being destined to do nothing but music in a musically challenged ward, and that I was already burned out.)  Anyway, they asked me to be the Ward Young Women's Camp Director.  I don't know if I've ever seen this happen, but on the Sunday they sustained me, after they called my name and I stood up, and then they said I was being called as the camp director, there was an audible gasp from several people (including the lady sitting right behind me) in the congregation.  It was kind of embarrassing.  I think people were truly shocked that I wasn't being put in a music calling. 

But I am pretty excited about planning girls camp.  It is a bit overwhelming, but I think it will be fun.  Normally, they always do stake camp, but this year, each ward is being left to do its own thing.  So I am in charge of every single aspect of camp.  I will obviously be assigning things out and working with the YW Presidency, but I am the one who is putting it all together.  The more I plan stuff out and think about it, the more I realize that there is so much to do and keep track of.

Okay, on to Nate.  About the same time as I got my calling, the Elder's Quorum presidency came over to our house and called Nate to be a teacher in the Elder's Quorum.  He was really excited about this calling because he doesn't mind teaching.  And, he is busy, and this wouldn't require a lot of time.  He only had to teach one Sunday a month. 

So, callings... check.  Breathe a sigh of relief, because you really never know what you are going to get, right?  ;)  That sounds terrible, but I know you feel the same way... don't make me start naming callings.  We all have our own personal list of things that make us cringe.  Not that we wouldn't do them, but... you get my point. 

But then...

One week later, we get an email on Sunday morning (addressed to Nate) asking if both of us can come in and meet with President Johnson, the 1st counselor in the Stake Presidency, after church.

???

No, no.  We just got callings.  We are good.  Thanks. 

Just kidding.  We of course said yes.  Then we spent the rest of the day speculating on what was going on.  I think we came up with just about everything.  Except for the right answer.  Nate even determined at one point that the calling was actually going to be for me even though the request was specifically addressed to him.  That was about as close as his suggestion that maybe the stake presidency was just calling people in to visit with them to get to know them better, and since our last name starts with W, it had just taken them a while to get to us. 

President Johnson didn't get right to the point.  I think they actually enjoy watching us squirm a bit, not knowing what is going on.  He talked to us for a bit about worthiness, and if there were any reason why Nate couldn't accept a calling, etc...  It was interesting answering these questions before knowing what the calling was.  It was like being backed into a corner with no escape.  :)  And it made me even more confused because I kept wondering, what on earth are they calling him to?  When he told us they were reorganizing the bishopric, I still didn't put it together and was surprised when he extended the call for Nate to be the 1st counselor in the bishopric.  Our bishop is staying the same, but they are replacing both counselors.  I guess they do that in our stake;  they leave the bishops in for a long time, but replace the counselors about every two years.

There was a miscommunication, a couple of times, about when this would take place.  Originally, President Johnson thought it was happening the next Sunday.  A few days later we found out it would be done at ward conference.  Ward conference then got moved.  From the time Nate was called until he was sustained, it was 5 weeks.  It was way too long.

Nate was sustained on Sunday (two days ago).  All of our parents came to be with us and so the dads could ordain him a high priest. 

So, big changes in our house.  I know really busy people get called to time consuming callings all the time, so we will make it work.  We didn't tell the kids until Saturday what was going on.  I don't think the boys really understood, but Natalie did.  She was mad, which then morphed into sad and pouty.  She knew he wouldn't be able to sit with us at church.  She exclaimed, "I'll never get to see you again!"  The boys understood a bit more once Sunday came.  I lost track of how many times I heard them ask, "where is dad?" both before and after church.  (He was asked to attend the early morning meetings.)  Of all the days of the week, Sunday is the one and only day that the kids can count on seeing their dad.  They will have to adjust to that a bit. 

We've been told by numerous people that our family will be blessed by this.  So, I've been making a wish list.  Okay, not really, but maybe a little bit.  :)  I am excited for this opportunity Nate will have to grow and help others, and the growing experience it will be for our family as well.

Fun times at FHE

FHE lessons with little kids can be.... You can fill in the blank with almost any word imaginable.  Tonight it would be: frustrating, good, and funny--in that order.

Let's start with... frustrating.

First of all, I think the phrase "It's time for Family Home Evening" must translate into kid language as "Come on kids, it's time to bounce off the walls and be as crazy as possible."  That is how we usually spend the first half (or all) of FHE--just trying to get kids to #1) stay sitting, and #2) in one place, #3) quietly, and #4) with their hands, elbows, legs, toes, tongues, etc. off of anyone else.  Meeting all four criteria would mean an unacceptable surrender of the children's rights, and therefor, the parents usually get to the point of begging, pleading, and threatening that just #1 be met.

Okay, now on to... good.

Our lesson tonight was on the sacrament.  Not so much the traditional lesson on the sacrament (though those things were mentioned), but on sacrament passing procedures.  *Sigh.*  Someone else please tell me that this is not just my kids, and that you are sitting there smiling because you already know from experience where I am going with this. 

Let's backtrack a bit... This has been going on for months.  But for example, yesterday at church, after the bread was passed, I ended up escorting a noisy, whining, Kelton out of the chapel because he was not allowed to hold the bread tray for everyone, or hand the bread tray back to the deacon, or whatever other "holding of the bread tray" he didn't get to do.  As I am in the foyer with him during the passing of the water, I hear weeping, wailing, and gnashing of teeth coming from inside the chapel doors.  I think to myself, "is that my kid??"  Oh yes.  Of course it is.  I open the doors to intercept a screaming Damon from Nate, who has already loaded up both Damon and Arie (because he can't leave her) and is on his way out.  Damon, at the ripe old age of three and three quarters, thinks he is old enough hold, pass, and do cartwheels with the water tray.  Nate wouldn't let him hold it... led to a tantrum on the floor... led to Nate not giving Damon a cup before passing the water back to the deacon... led to catastrophic meltdown.  Awesome.  Who knew the sacrament could be the means of such fighting?

So... on to our lesson.  We laid down specific ground rules that I would have never imagined in a million years would need to be instated.  Bread may be passed from person to person.  You take a piece of bread, then you get to hold the tray.  You do not get to hold the tray until after you take a piece of bread.  The last person gives the tray to Dad, who gives it to Mom, who gives it to the deacon.  The water tray is not held by anyone but Mom or Dad.  (this got a lot of complaints and mad facial expressions.)  Deacon gives the tray to Mom, those sitting by mom get their own cup, Mom gives the tray to Dad, and those who sit by Dad get their own cup.  Dad passes it back to Mom who passes it to the deacon.  Once rules were established, and grumping was done, we practiced...over, and over and over again using a pot lid.  :)  And you know what?  I think they've got it!  They got the role play down and could answer all procedural questions correctly (almost... see next section).  We'll see what happens when they are actually put to the test.  Now, if we could only get Arie to not snatch a second piece of bread as the tray passes back by her. 

Which leads to... funny.

Ahhh, so after all of our wrangling and explaining, and practicing, I just wanted to drive one last point home--to make sure they really understood.  In very clear, slow, deliberate speaking, I asked Damon, "So, who holds the water tray?" 

His serious response... "Um... minions??"

That's it.  Despicable Me and Despicable Me 2 are on their way back to the library first thing in the morning.

Happy boy

Kelton has been begging and begging and begging me to teach him piano lessons for at least the past six months.  I wanted to make sure he was really interested and wasn't wanting to do it because Natalie is or because he sees other kids come over for lessons.  (I currently teach 7 students, not including my own kids.)  Natalie showed him how to play a song a few months ago and he has really been begging since then.  One time when I asked him what he wanted for his birthday, he asked for piano lessons.  So he somehow got it in his mind that once he turned six, he would start piano lessons.  He has really been asking a lot in the past few weeks.

So today was the day.  Even though I taught four other lessons today, I felt bad that he kept having to ask.  He was so excited to start that he did all of his after school jobs at super speed.  He caught on really fast to the things I taught him.  I have to say, when my kids do well at the piano, I think it makes me more proud than just about anything else.  I hope he keeps up his excitement for many years to come.

And this one has many more years to wait her turn.  But she likes to practice.  :)

Gilbert Temple

Last Saturday we took our family to the Gilbert Temple open house.  We started by watching a video in the chapel next to the temple.  Well, Nate and the kids watched a video.  I tried to keep Arie quiet in the foyer.  I think she knows that if we are at church, she is supposed to be in the halls.  After the video, we walked through the temple.  It was beautiful, as expected.  The chandelier in the Celestial Room was especially impressive.  It was strange though... to be walking through the temple with the noise of a large, talking crowd.  It was so opposite from normal.  Not that this was surprising, but it was also interesting to note how absolutely different it feels to be in an undedicated temple as opposed to a dedicated one.  Maybe this isn't quite the right way to say it, but right now, it is just a building.  Once it is dedicated, it truly becomes a House of the Lord, and you can feel it.

Melanie and Tyler and Jade, Rob and Tina's family, and Mom and Dad also went to the open house on the same day, but we had different reservation times so we didn't go together.  But Melanie lives just around the corner in Gilbert, so we all hung out at her house afterward.  Then we all went out to eat dinner at Chili's.  It was a fun day. 

But, I did feel a little bad because Natalie and Kelton were both a bit sick.  They weren't complaining too much, but both had slight fevers and didn't look real great. 

Well, that was the beginning of a very fun week for our family.  There is a nasty flu bug going around like wildfire that has infiltrated our household.  It starts with coughing, then more painful coughing, then fevers, chills, severe aches and headaches, stuffiness and then feeling generally crappy.  It's one of those that morphs from day to day instead of getting better as each day passes.  Everyone in our house has caught it, some to varying degrees, but today, almost a week later, this picture just about sums up how we are doing.

But we'll live.  I hope.  I had friends tell me this one takes a full week to start getting better.  I didn't believe them, but now I do.  Being sick and taking care of sick kids simultaneously is not good for improving my patience.  But I must say, I am so grateful to live in today's world, with today's medicine that has made this somewhat bearable. 

My favorite 6 year old's birthday

Kelton turned 6 this past week!  He has been so excited for his birthday to come.  He's been using our calendar count down blocks to count down the days.  It's kind of funny though because there weren't really any presents that he was wanting.  He was just excited for his birthday to come. 

 

As always, we woke him up by singing "Happy Birthday" and gave him his presents in bed.  I love this picture... he's so excited, but still sleepy, and the light we had just turned on was really bright.  It's also fun to wake Kelton up because he is my only "baby" who is technically already the new age when we get up in the morning.  At the time we took this picture, he would have been about 20 minutes old on his actual day of birth, if that makes any sense.  (He was born at 5:55 a.m.)

It was a little difficult to come up with presents since we just had Christmas, and Kelton gave us absolutely no ideas.  I never took a picture of his presents, but he got Pikmin 3 for the Wii U, two Star Wars guys (Obi Wan and Darth Vader), Uno Power Grab game, the movie "Bolt," and an Angry Birds puzzle.  Grandma and Grandpa Burgess gave him Sonic Lost World for the Wii U, which he was super excited about.  If there is one thing this kid loves right now, it is Sonic the Hedgehog.  Grandma and Grandpa Webb sent a $20 bill (which made his eyes grow wide to get so much money) inside of a rousing, singing birthday card which took him off guard a bit in his sleepy state.  But he spent the afternoon after school listening to it over and over again until he knew all the words.  After presents were opened, we got kids ready for school and off on the bus.

The kids' schools do not allow anything homemade to be brought in for the kids.  I'm sure I've complained about this before.  I guess I get it, but it is still annoying not to be able to make cupcakes for a dollar or two to take in for a birthday treat.  So we took in popsicles.  Ah, the benefits of living in the desert in the winter.  I even had to take them in a cooler so they wouldn't melt too fast, and even so, it was close.  Kelton got to wear the special birthday hat while his class sang "Happy Birthday" and then everyone got a popsicle.  (Arie is friends with Kelton's teacher, Jenn Vaterlaus.  We are in the same ward and Arie always climbs up on her lap in Relief Society.  That's why Jenn is holding Arie in this picture.)  Because I took the popsicles in at the end of the day, Kelton got to come home with us instead of riding the bus, which he thought was fun.

At home, Kelton spent pretty much the whole afternoon doing his new puzzle.  I was surprised that he didn't go straight for the Wii U games.  It's kind of a cool puzzle.  It's three puzzles that push together, once finished, to form one big picture.  Each puzzle has different sized pieces.  In all, I think there are about 160 pieces.

You can see his two Star Wars guys in the back of this picture... He would intermittently play with them while doing his puzzle.

 

 

When Kelton first came downstairs this morning, he asked, "Where's my cake?"  I told him I hadn't started it yet and that it would be done when he got home from school.  I felt bad because I would have liked to have had it done and sitting on the counter when he woke up, but time just didn't permit.  I even ran out of time that morning and had to finish it after he got home from school. 

 

I have to interject something here, and hopefully my kids will understand when they read this someday.  I am getting burned out on cake making.  For the first few years, it was fun.  But making cakes is time consuming.  And with four kids who are still small, time can be hard to come by.  Birthday cake making has become somewhat of a chore.  For the last few birthdays I have found myself wishing that my kids would be happy with a cake, frosted in the pan, with some sprinkles or something on top.  Because that's what normal people do.  Not crazy, cake making people.  But years ago, I set a standard of crazy cake making, so here we are.  Really, I kept this one simple and the frosting transfer didn't take too long. 

 

Natalie came over right after I finished the cake.  I asked her if it looked good.  She said, in an even tone, "Yeah, it looks good.  I mean, it looks really good.....for a thirty year old."  She makes me laugh.  I'm still not quite sure how to take that comment.  It reminded me of how a mother talks to a preschooler who has just held up their prized drawing, and the mother has absolutely no idea what it even is.  Have I even mentioned that life would be very dull without Natalie?

 

Anyway, Kelton requested Sonic, and he got Sonic.


Here is his reaction to seeing his cake.  He loved it.  Which, I guess, is why I put up with the crazy cake making.

Happy birthday Kelton!  We love you!

Frozen

With six people to buy food for, we have been running out of room in our deep freeze.  Add that to the fact that every time I get stuff from Costco, I have to pretty much empty the whole deep freeze to rotate the food and get the new stuff put on the bottom.  I have been very fed up with the whole process for quite a while. 

But no longer.  As of today. 

We went from this:

To this:

So much better. 

Our little deep freeze served us well for nine years, but it was time for an upgrade.  Oh, and note to self... if you every buy another freezer, do it in the summer when it a thousand degrees outside--and in the house.  Because transferring a freezer full of frozen stuff to another freezer when you are already freezing is about as fun as it sounds.

10 years and counting!

Nate and I celebrated our 10th wedding anniversary on January 2nd!  It was on the same day as Melanie and Tyler's wedding in San Diego, so we were in California for our anniversary.  So here's what we got to do on our anniversary:

 

We got to go to the temple.  I wish we could have done sealings, but it didn't work out time wise. 

 

We got to go to the beach.

We also got to go to dinner without our kids.  We put them to bed at the hotel and left grandma and grandpa in charge.  Then we went to Outback.  There was also a Krispy Kreme next door, so we got donuts afterward too. 

We are hopefully planning an actual trip to celebrate our 10 years of marriage.  In the past 8 1/2 years since we've had kids, we've never spent a night away from them together.  We've been saving up and would like to go to Puerto Rico (where Nate served his mission), but we will see if it works out.

I am so thankful to have this sweet, loving husband who makes my life so much better every day.  Ten great years down, and many more to come!

Trip to San Diego for a wedding

This past Wednesday, we drove to San Diego for Melanie and Tyler's wedding.  I also opened my new camera on the way and read through how to at least make it function, so I took a lot of pictures.  So maybe I will just walk you through our weekend using mostly photos.

On Wednesday night, we had a dinner with both of the families at a nearby church.

Damon and Jade--cute little crazies

Arie loving on daddy

 

Tyler's dad gave Melanie and Tyler a little test to see how well they knew each other.

The next morning, January 2nd, was the wedding in the San Diego Temple.  It was very nice.  I wish we would have had more time to actually be in the temple and look around.  We didn't get to see the spiral staircase or the Celestial Room.  But as soon as the sealing was done, Nate and I rushed out to go get our kids (who were being babysat at the hotel by a local young woman from one of the wards) so we could have them back in time to take pictures.

This next set of pictures cracks me up.  I was trying to get a nice picture of this shot...

...when I was interrupted by Thing 1... (Jade)

...being chased by Thing 2 (Damon)

And being at the temple, taking pictures, was hard work for everyone.

After lunch and a little bit of rest, we headed out to La Jolla Beach.  We got there later than we wanted to.  It was a pretty warm day, but we didn't get to the beach until about an hour before sunset.  So it was a little bit cool.  Mom, Dad, and Jade as well as Rob and Tina were there with us.

We really thought the kids would have fun just playing in the sand and maybe putting their feet in the water.  We were wrong.  Those crazy kids wanted to play in the water.  In the cold, January, Pacific Ocean.  Natalie actually got completely in and went under several times. 

 

Here's all of the "we aren't cold!" pictures.

When we finally got them out of the water for good, we heard nothing but crying about how freezing they were.  Natalie was even yelling about how she was never going to get in the ocean again in January.  It probably wouldn't have been so bad if the sun were still up in the sky, providing some warmth.  But it was really fun to watch the sun set over the ocean.

I tried to take one of those cute family-feet-in-the-sand pictures.  It didn't work.

Arie loved the beach too.  She spent some time chasing seagulls, but never got very close.

Right before we left, Arie decided she wanted to discover the ocean and just started walking out in the water, apparently not bothered by the temperature either.  I pulled her back and then had Nate walk her out.

Kelton has had his first loose tooth and it got super loose while we were in California. I pulled it out for him the next morning (after the beach) and the Tooth Fairy visited him at Melanie's house.  The Tooth Fairy has visited him twice (for three teeth) and has yet to retrieve teeth from Kelton's own house.  (His front two teeth were pulled out by dentist Uncle Chad and picked up at grandma's.)

The day after the wedding we took our time eating breakfast and playing in the hotel pool.  Then we packed up and headed to Melanie's house in Gilbert.  The next day (Saturday) was the reception.  We went to Costco in the morning and then spent the rest of the day getting food ready.  It wasn't until after I cut up all kinds of fruit and skewered them all day--and then cut up 12 small-ish baguette loaves that I decided to try to cut my finger off. (Okay, not really off)  Good thing Melanie worked as a nurse and had steri strips and my parents had super glue.

We all went and helped set up the reception.  It looked really nice.  And somehow, my kids made it through the set up, the reception, and the clean up afterward, which didn't end until after 10:00 p.m.

Miss Jade.

Cupcakes!

Photo station set up for guests.

Damon got upset for some reason, and wanted his own picture.

 

 

At the end, we all danced (but all my pictures turned out blurry because of the setting I had the camera on), then cleaned up, and headed home.  We didn't arrive until after midnight.  Our new church schedule is 9:00 and we were not on time this morning.  Considering that when I woke up it was almost 8:30, Nate was in the shower, and the kids were still in pajamas and hadn't eaten, and it takes 10 minutes to drive to the church, I'm surprised were only 20 minutes late.  Our kids looked a bit homeless with their hair undone and the boys shirts were dirty from the reception--but we were there!