A couple of Firsts

My first attempt at mobile blogging. We had a flower arranging class at Relief Society. Here is a photo of my creation. Another first.

The Big Day

Our oldest son Shay is now married. His best man summed it up so well in his toast to the couple. He said, “It seems like it was only 3 weeks ago that Shay was talking about getting married, oh, wait, it was 3 weeks ago.” LOL

Shay and Rebecca are well matched. What they lack in knowledge about each other they make up for with commitment to the covenant of marriage. They made a beautiful couple as they knelt at the alter and became man and wife.

Rebecca made a gorgeous bride. Shay was . . . Shay, only happier. [smile] Yes, he was muy guapo (Hey, I spelled that right on the first try! LOL) and quite funny.

So, who is this mystery woman, Rebecca? She is from Nicaragua. Her aunt and uncle (siblings of her mother) live in Maryland. Shay served his mission in their area. He was at her uncle Nephi’s house and saw photos of his nieces. Her aunt gave him Rebecca’s address and they started to write each other. She came to the states for a couple of weeks. She and her family ran into Shay at the visitor’s center at the D.C. temple. So, they met in person. Shay said they didn’t say more than probably 3 words to each other in person. He assures us that his heart was locked while he was serving the Lord and that Rebecca’s letters were very appropriate in her encouraging Shay to focus on his missionary work. She bore her testimony frequently.

Once he got home from his mission he spent hours talking to her on the phone. His first purchase after getting a job was a laptop so they could use Skype to talk for free. It was decided she would come to visit. Fast forward 3 weeks after the decision to visit and they are married.

Her mother, Beatriz arrived in California from Nicaragua a week ago. Her uncle, Nephi, aunt, Xiomara, and uncle, Mark arrived from Maryland 4 days ago. And a close family friend, Tia Timi arrived from Texas a couple of days ago. We spent a whirlwind few days preparing for the reception. Shay’s best man, James Simpson went above and beyond the call of duty as his wife served as their wedding planner. I am totally amazed at the professional job she did while working, raising Sariah, and her other obligations to her family. She kept Shay on track (for the most part) with the checklist/timeline. The results were absolutely amazing. I can’t imagine a nicer reception with even 6 months of planning time.

Shanette, Beatriz, Rebecca and I went shopping last Saturday for her dress. I had made some phone calls the day before we set out to give us a plan of where to go as we had very specific wedding dress needs. We went to David’s Bridal in Las Vegas for our 10:00 appointment. We looked around. Other than the dress they described to me over the phone we didn’t really see anything that was the right size, the right price and the right modesty. So, I suggested she try on the dresses (we did find one that was possibly okay if we spent a little more and made some alterations). The first one she tried on fit beautifully and needed very minor alterations. Shanette was able to make the needed alterations which included shortening the dress. She also made the veil. I just have to say that Shanette is amazing (which you probably already knew [smile]). It was a real pleasure to spend the day shopping with our little party. I don’t think we could have done it without Shanette. She really knows her way around bridal shops as we’ve spent a fair amount of time in them shopping for pageant dresses (I guess I do to as attested by the pre-shopping planning [patting myself on the back. LOL])


Here are a few photos of the happy day. They were married in the San Diego temple (Shay’s favorite since the day we took him to the open house when he was 7).
The reception was held in Barstow. Yes, they did smash cake into each other's faces--she got him good! LOL

Memories

Some of my friends have this up on their blogs, so I'll add this to mine as well. This could be fun. Here are the directions:

1. As a comment on my blog, leave one memory that you and I had together. It doesn't matter if you knew me a little or a lot, anything you remember!

2. Next, re-post these instructions on your blog and see how many people leave a memory about you. It's actually pretty funny to see the responses. If you leave a memory about me, I'll assume you're playing the game and I'll come to your blog and leave one about you. If you don't want to play on your blog, or if you don't have a blog, I'll leave my memory of you in my comments. C'mon now, anything funny, strange, cool, embarrassing, or awful you remember about me?? This could be interesting...

The Flashing VCR

Well, here goes my first blog entry. I'm not really sure what I'm doing. I feel a bit like the "older" generation who didn't know how to set the clock on the VCR so it always flashed 12:00. But I am inspired by those who have led the way and I do have some technical savvy.

I love being able to stay connected with those I would otherwise have no idea about what is going on in their lives. I want to do my part in extending this same opportunity. The last couple of years have prepped me for this as I have written weekly letters to Shay and Sheehan while they were serving their missions. I wanted to continue with the weekly updates (which also got sent to my parents), but thought maybe this would be a great way to expand on the practice.

For those of you who have not had the chance to visit, I want to give you a tour of our house. We moved in almost a year ago. We're living on the side of the Calico Mountains. Our house is the highest house on the hill. We have five acres and our nearest neighbor is a half mile away.

Yes, it's in the middle of the desert and that presents some unique opportunities--like rattlesnakes on the porch, scorpions in the bedroom, and scorching temperatures outside. But these things are minor in comparison to the peace and beauty of the desert around us. We love to sit out on the porch in the morning and watch the sun creep across the desert floor before it pops up over the mountains. We love to lie out on the grass (yes we've had grass for about 3 weeks now!!!!) and watch the stars, planes, satellites, and recently the lightning. Our house sits under a major flight corridor and above two busy freeways. At times it seems as though time stands still and the world is going on around me like in a science fiction movie.

Can you tell we love it here? So how far out in the middle of nowhere are we really? Take a look for yourself.








This is the view of our house from the bridge over the freeway about a mile away.










This is the front yard looking to the east.













And this is the back yard looking north.



This blogging thing might turn out to be fun. Stay tuned.