Love This Girl!/Small World

There's this amazing girl named Al Fox.  She's known as the "Tattooed Mormon" and has a blog and YouTube channel where she shares her experiences.  My "internet friend", Seth Adam Smith recently interviewed her about her conversion to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  Her words and experiences brought tears to my eyes.  She radiates such joy, peace, and hope, it's hard to not see it.  I love that about the Gospel and teachings of Jesus Christ.



Oh, and the "small world" part?  I knew her fiancé when he was a toddler.  His parents were good friends who influenced my life greatly when I lived in Germany two decades ago.

The Wedding!

I have a new daughter and she is BEAUTIFUL--inside and out!

My oldest son married his sweetheart yesterday in the Salt Lake LDS Temple for time and all eternity.  Words just can't describe my feelings and emotions as I watched them kneel across the altar to be sealed as an eternal family unit.  Their sealer (officiator) gave them wonderful words of advice before he married them.

I took hundreds of photos so it's hard to choose just a handful to share...

 We had to wait a while for them to change into their wedding finery and come out of the temple.  The professional photographer was snapping photos all over the place.   As I hugged Alex, she snapped a photo and then asked him where his mom was....

"I'm Mom."

"GET OUT!!!  NO WAY!!!"  Her reaction was hilarious!  All morning long and even later, at the reception, she would randomly say "I can't believe you're Alex's mom!"  She took a lot of photos of me too...  I'm curious to see how they turned out.

 I love this photo of the three of us.  I'm wearing a silver temple sticker that identifies me as the mother of the groom.  I actually made it my FB profile photo.

 They were just beaming.  The love they have for each other was palpable.  I'm actually a bit envious of them, BUT I'm just thrilled that they found each other.

 My silly boys.

 I love this photo too, me and my boys.  It's my FB cover photo.  The husband of Mariah's sister took it while the pro, Wendy, I believe, was snapping "real photos".  I can't wait to see hers.

Outside the temple doors.  

Wendy was taking photos of them from over their shoulders when I snapped this series.  I just love the look on Mariah's face here.  The way they look at each other...  I can only remember one time in my life when someone looked at me like that.

 They had a ring ceremony right before their reception in Logan.  Mariah's bishop spoke a few minutes about the two of them and about the purpose of temple marriage.   That's the Logan temple behind them in the photo, where they received their endowments three weeks ago.

They had originally planned only having the two of them in the receiving line.  His dad decided otherwise and her parents followed.  I was the last to line up and was actually first in line because I did NOT want to be near you-know-who.   Since I wasn't planning on being a part of it, I went to town on my shoes--5 inch heels.  They looked awesome!  But after standing for two hours, I was in agony.

Having lived in Cache Valley for eight years, I figured her parents and I would have some mutual friends.  It was really fun when those mutual friends would come through the line and realize who Mariah was marrying--and who I was.  I also got a lot of shocked looks when I introduced myself as the mother of the groom.  One lady actually said that she just had to stare at me because she couldn't believe it.  I was pretty sick of hearing how young I am and look by the time they were finished with the line.

 They took dance lessons for weeks in preparation of their first dance.  It was so sweet!

 Cutting the cake.  Check out the photo of Thing 1 and Thing 2 over his shoulder.  They were 30 months and 17 months at the time.

Getting the garter.

 He was NOT happy when he discovered his friends--and brothers--were decorating his car.  "I do NOT have any more friends!" he was heard to exclaim as he stormed down the driveway to his car.

I kind of liked the idea myself.  *smile*

 "Chocolate, whipped cream, and saran wrap?  Really?"

 Their friends chasing them down the street as they head off on their new adventure.  They're honeymooning in Lincoln City, Oregon, after spending their wedding night at the Anniversary Inn.

It was a beautiful day filled with a variety of emotions.  It's hard to believe the little baby that was smaller than my Snoopy is now a grown man and a husband.  I'm so proud of him and the choices he's made.  He is happy with his choice and I suspect now understands what Mom meant when I told him that the right girl was out there for him and he'd find her when it was the right time.  All he ever wanted was to find "the one" and he certainly did.  She's definitely different than the girls that were in his life previously.  I've known that for a year. I knew that this is where they would end up and have honestly not had a single worry about it. His friend told me last night about his opinion of their relationship--it's one of the healthiest and strongest relationships he's ever seen.  They respect and honor each other.  They listen to each other.  They've spent a great deal of time preparing themselves for marriage to each other.  They're committed to and absolutely adore each other. 

You can see it on their faces.  They are thrilled to be together forever. 

But they can wait to give me grandchildren.  ツ

Alex and Mariah

Forever started on 10 May 2013

An Update on My Lil MP

We're down to about two months left to go with my lil MP's deployment--that includes the couple weeks of demobilization after she leaves Afghanistan.  She's been a busy lil one lately.  She got promoted to PFC last month and received an Army Achievement Medal this evening.  She was also selected as Soldier of the Month.

She's anxious to come home but she's doing very well while on deployment.  There's been a bit of excitement this week near where she is but she missed it, thankfully.



I'll be happy when she's home but I'm oh so very proud of her.

MOST Favorite Facebook Memes

I love Facebook memes. I have to admit to filling up my timeline with ones that truly speak to me. Here are some of my VERY favorite ones (to be separated from the ones who are "just" favorites.

They are all from Facebook and I do not claim any of them.  I share them under the "Fair Use" law.

So THAT explains it!!!!  :)

An eternal principle.

Something I need to keep in mind.

This is so true.  It's really helped me on the road to acceptance

And each Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday, AND Saturday

*tee hee hee*

Oh wait, she's blocked me so she can't see it anyway.... *rolling eyes*  BUT who am I referring to?

Now I can read IN bed with my Kindle reader.  *wink*

I'm not sure anyone on this earth does, really,

Sure can feel that way, though.

Yeah it is.  :)

Nope.

They certainly don't deserve the energy.

Yeah, really.

At least it feels that way.

And it hurts when we realize they aren't willing.

Ah, the true cause of my bad knees. *wry chuckle*

......

 

What Might Have Been...

More REALLY Favorite Facebook Memes

Again, I lay no claim to any of these memes. I just love them. (Fair Use)