It was time for Ryker and Anna to get married and they decided to get married in Utah at the Jordan River Temple on June 14th. Unfortunately Stephanie was getting married in Hawaii on June 19th and already had bought tickets for Mom to go out there for her wedding and she was leaving the morning of the 14th which was the day Ryker and Anna were getting married. So Mom and Stephanie were out. Heather and Jackson had something come up and they couldn't come. Ashleigh I talked into coming because I really needed the help and support and I was grateful she made the effort to come. Erin also came in from California while Andrew was able to come for the rehearsal dinner but missed the wedding because he was flying to Hawaii. Emily and Joshua were also able to be with us which was great. I wish everyone could have come but I didn't pick the dates and I am appreciative of the ones who were able to make it. Kefford and I stayed with Joshua at his house and we had fun being with his family. Leona really likes Kefford and it was cute to see them together.
We were outside with the kids who had their swimming suits on and were playing with water. I told them they should put the hose on the slide and make it a water slide and they had a lot of fun doing that. The hose was a bit wild and it was funny to watch them get sprayed by an uncontrollable hose.
My job for the wedding was to put together and host the family dinner. Anna had a lot of family that were going to be coming and we had a low number of Lutes but the Petersons were coming and they have a lot of kids so it was about 80ish people we were planning for. Kefford and I talked at length about what to serve and it shouldn't have but the planning of the dinner really stressed me out just because of expectations I had. We decided on getting sub sandwiches from Jimmy Johns and I bought chips, waters, clementines, and made a load of pasta salad. I also ordered cupcakes from Sam's Club for dessert and to use as part of the table centerpieces. Erin, and Ashleigh were super helpful with all of the set up, Emily came but wasn't able to do much because she had just had surgery, she was good to help with ideas and she let us use her lace curtains as a backdrop to try to hide the ugly church wall.Kefford, Rylee, Kenedy, Ty, Andrew, Maren, Matt and Isabelle were also filtering in and out to help with set up. It took a long time and a lot of different ideas but we were able to get it looking pretty close to how I imagined and I think everyone enjoyed themselves. We had a lot of leftover food which is just fine because I would rather that then not enough food.
I had Kefford welcome everyone and we had a prayer and then ate dinner and visited. I at some point went to sit with Anna's parents who were talking with Bob and Alison to visit with them and we had good conversations. I wish we had thought I advance to have some ice breakers or ways to interact more but I did my best. Ryker and Anna did go around each table and telling names and how they were related so we did that. I thought it was a good night and I was so happy when my part was done.
Elizabeth, Erin, Ashleigh and Emily
We thought out funny when Andrew showed up wearing the same shirt as Ryker
Rylee and Leona
