Weddings Galore

This Saturday my cousin, Chris, was married in the Portland temple. The festivities began Friday. Aunt J reserved hotel rooms for all of us at the Fairfield Marriott by the temple. It was so nice of her to do that, it really made it much easier. I took the kids up at 1pm so we could go swimming in the afternoon. E and B had a good time swimming. We are definitely going to have to start up lessons again. They are very brave, but forget their technique quickly. L just sat on the step the whole time and did not care for it when I dragged him into the pool. Since no one was around I let the kids get in the hot tub too. That was the best part. Before we left E and B started a game of jumping back and forth between the cold pool and the hot tub. They were excited to do it since I told them I loved to do that when I was younger. I was actually surprised they were willing to continue doing it after they tried it the first time. I thought the shock of the cold pool would be too much.

In the evening we headed to the mall since it was 5 minutes away (ordinarily it is a 45 minute drive). Jacob had to buy a tie since I forgot to pack one. I also bought some clothes for the kids at Penneys, including some super cute dresses for P. I called her my little poof ball at church yesterday.

When we got back it was time for the wedding dinner. Aunt J brought along a few babysitters so the kids played in the rooms upstairs while we had dinner in the conference room. Aunt J made all the food so it was delicious. I'm trying to keep my portions down though. I've decided that is the only way I can lose weight. I can't completely cut out sweets, but I think I'm capable of controlling how much I eat. J's favorite comment of the weekend happened that night. Grandpa S told Chris he would will him his golf clubs so he could have them in 7-8 years. Uncle R said he hopes he is around much longer than that. Grandpa S followed that with "I don't!". J really appreciates the idea of not hanging on forever.

Saturday morning we woke up nice and early to head over to the temple for the sealing. P was babysat for the first time ever. The sealing ceremony was beautiful and Chris made us all laugh when he wiped his cheek after Stephanie kissed him across the alter :) He claimed he was just wiping the chapstick. While waiting around during pictures a temple patron came up and asked if the kids would like to watch a video. I nearly died laughing though when I saw what video she put in. We assumed it would be some type of carton, but it was a very dry documentary on temples. Naturally the kids were bored out of their minds (particularly the 3 year olds).

After the wedding I loaded up E and B to head down to Corvallis for the reception. J took L and P home so they could get their naps. I hooked up the DVD player so E and B wouldn't be bored. The USA Spec Ipod interface worked great for piping the sound through the car. It is so much better than the crappy FM transmitters we've used in the past. On the way down we stopped off at the Woodburn outlets. B was wearing these ridiculously short pants. He's been growing out of his clothes, but I hadn't weeded these ones out yet. I love the Osh Kosh outlet. He was pretty relieved to get on the new pants. He and E are both wearing size 6 now. E is definitely going to be a shrimp.

We had Prime Rib for the main course at the reception. I managed to get E and B to try it, but they didn't care for it. It was quite good, but a little heavy on the garlic. The only thing they ended up eating there was the cookies. Such picky eaters.

I really wanted to take a nap when I got back home, but J convinced me to wait till bedtime. We had one more event to go to, the Open house at Aunt J's. We didn't stay too long. I could tell everyone was pretty wiped out. The kiddos were exhausted and slept in longer than usual the next day.

Tonight we are heading the Oregon Zoolights. I'll post pics later if I get some good ones.