Trip to Texas (Tova and Ben); Camping and Climbing; Moment Mellows this Morning

 I am working on the computer and Penelope is coloring in a book across from me.  The rest of the house is strangely silent and I'm trying not to fear that the other little ones might be wreaking havoc.  Hmmm...

Occasionally, Penelope will say, "Mama?"

I will sweetly reply, "What, Penelope?"

She will mumble.

"Mom?"

"Yes, Penelope?"

"Blah, blah, mumble, dah dum." 

Smile.

I love tender little sweet two year old conversations.

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We just got back from a trip to Texas visiting Tova and Ben.  It was so lovely to be with them!  I love how family feels so right together.

Tova time!

This is the crack that Liesl and Penelope climbed through first.

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Right now, I can hear Havala strumming and singing in the other room.  Maia is getting dramatic and awesome with her Duolingo Spanish.  Xai just spent about an hour perusing old Singing Bees posts all about him and laughing again and again at the funny ones.  Quinn is madly doing work so he can be ready for his trip next week.  I am trying to stay calm and centered, knowing that this life is not about rushing madly through a list of items on a checklist but to be tested to see if my sincere desire is to trust God and be glorified of Him.  That delicious mandate is so wonderfully non-specific, but it does eliminate certain things: fear, doubt, distress, denial, refusal. I am grateful.

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The kids just came up. They were looking for Easter supplies in the store room. While I can only imagine what the store room looks like at this point, it was a productive, intentional process.  So fun!

Tova's Wedding in Texas!

 My cousin shared how she likes to write things in individual journals for each of her kids and then give them to the child as they turn 18.  For a split second I thought, "Awwww...I wish I did that!" and then I thought, "I'll just tag the child in each blog post and voila!!! They know where to find it :D."

I really like the idea of having a hand held copy but...reality!!  They can print them up if they want after seeking them out through the posts, right???

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So, BIGGEST NEWS!!!

My beautiful daughter Tova is married!!!

What a weekend.  I really don't know where to start...

--the low-key prep that Tova wanted and, really, succeeded in having.  It took like 15 minutes to drape and prep the room with the stuff that she wanted.  It took a little longer to put together the flower baskets with rose and daisy petals beforehand, but we just did that at my cousin's house and Drew headed up that team.  Everyone pitched in. Piper and Hava put the baskets together.  Drew, Hyrum, Maia and Xai did most of the flowers with Piper also pitching in there.

--there was a little stress in making sure I had roses there for rose petals for the flower kiddos to throw.  That was the only part that Tova really requested--red and white with roses and daisy petals thrown by a multitude of adorable flower boys and girls (which almost outnumbered the rest of the guests...)  Since Texas had been hit by a winter storm of historic magnitude the week before, we weren't sure if the roses I had "ordered" through Kroger's would be there.  I say "ordered" with quotations because, with Kroger's, apparently ordering online is not truly ordering at all.  It just means that at the appointed hour I specified, if there happens to be roses on the shelf right then, I will get them.  They will not order them ahead of time. They will reserve nothing....I mean, are you in the year 2021 or the year 1985???  Sigh. We got three dozen that they happened to have on their shelf when we came in and it worked.  10 dozen worth of rose petals would have been epic but Tova was happy.  Which leads me to my favorite part!!!

--Tova is so happy!  She and Ben were really focusing on what mattered most: the fact that they loved each other and were getting married! I kept reminding Ben's family that that was what the day was about and they did a fairly good job at not being stressed and not micromanaging.  They did so enough that Tova and Ben got the night they wanted...as follows-

1) wedding dress tailored by Oma (she ended up hand doing it between 3:45 when she showed up from the airport, along the way to the wedding venue, and finished up by 6:15 pm....go Oma!

2) pictures of both sides of the family before 7 pm

3) twelve of the most adorable little flower people...six of which were mine so I may be a little partial

4) Tova walking down the aisle on her daddy's arm

5) beautiful ceremony under a rose-studded arch where she beamed at her beau through the whole thing....all in a lovely white dress standing in a mini-ocean of rose petals

6) dance with her daddy to "Cinderella" (tears!)

7) Ben's dance with his mom to an amazingly appropriate song from a video game

8) a final dance with Tova and Ben

9) smashing of cupcakes into each other's faces

10) the couple sneaks away while everyone else is enjoying the ice cream bar they set up

--I purchased a GIANT bag and filled it with fun "wedding weekend" stuff and left it in their car

--I also purchased a pan set similar to the one my mom gave us for our wedding.  Apparently, his mom had a similar idea and voila!!! They have two identical pan sets, lol.  I told them to tell his mom how perfect that gift was and that I would return mine and come up with something else...a gift card to Amazon to prevent it from happening again. (I am hoping they buy some book shelves.)

The younger kids had a great time picking up rose petals and throwing them up again and again--during the dances, during the ceremony, during clean-up.  Then they rounded out the experience by gorging on cupcakes and ice cream.  'Twas quite the night :D.

Drew was the music man.

Hyrum was the ice cream man.

Lily was the bridesmaid and came down the weekend before to do wedding stuff with her.

Piper led the flower children down the aisle.  Hava brought up the rear.  The littles were cute.  Penelope screamed any time anyone clapped or cheered.

Perfect :D.

...now I'm just wishing I had pictures :(....