Utah: Lauren's Wedding

Our beautiful niece, Lauren, is getting married!

She waited for her high school sweetheart, Zac, while

he served a mission in Mexico, and they set the date

for December to be sealed in the Oquirrh Mountain Temple.

We normally DON'T travel for Christmas.

But I REALLY wanted our kids to be there

to see Lauren and Zac walk out of the temple.

They had never been to a temple wedding before.

I felt like it could be a powerful experience for them.

Plus, we wanted to show our support for Tony and Cindy.

And be there with all of our family.

So, we packed up the girls and flew across the country.

We got to walk out on the tarmac in Greensboro.

Those little planes are NOT meant for Andrew-sized people.

It was fun to fly together.

Or maybe I should say it was fun for me.

I was cramping Andrew's flying style.

For example... 

I met these three cute sister missionaries during our

layover in Chicago. Then they ended up sitting

right behind us. I was chatting with them and 

found that we share some mutual friends.

At one point, our seatmate was in the restroom,

so I was kneeling on my seat, visiting with these girls.

Andrew later told me that was a BIG no-no.

I guess I shouldn't fly with him??

When we got into Salt Lake,

Andrew's parents took us to a park in Draper with 

some of the coolest Christmas Lights.  

Isn't this Tree of Life awesome???

Whit and Grandma had their first session of piano singing.

They are the best!

That evening, Brandon took the shuttle up from St. George. 

Hooray!!!

It was SOOOO good to see him!!

Brandon makes us laugh.

He's so fun to hang out with.

These two buddies have missed each other.

They were even twinning from across the country!

Cousins waiting for Lauren and Zac to come out of the temple.

It was cold. Brrrrrr.

It's official!

They're married!

I was so, so happy we could be with Lauren and Zac

 on their big day. It was a beautiful ceremony.

Look at all of this LOVE!

Happy to be with our kids at the temple, too.

Oh, those mountains. So pretty.

At the wedding luncheon,

Tony, Cindy, and the kids sang a parody

of a Justin Bieber song for Lauren.

It was hilarious.

And probably embarrassing for Lauren. Ha!

We snuck a QUICK pic of the entire

Sweat side of the family.

The mountains!

After the wedding, we had a few hours to spare

before the receptions. The girls got to crafting.

They made intricate utensil people.

We had some fun games of ping pong.

More creative cousin play.

Beautiful reception!

It was hilarious that I had to tell my 11-year-old,

"Scoot over a little, Care Bear. I can't see Lauren." :)

Fun dancing.

Cousin bonding

First dance

Tony and Cindy's youngest in the foreground

and oldest in the background. That's a lot of

years of changing diapers!

Kid conga line

All the little girl cousins dancing

Daddy-daughter dance

Whit and I line dancing

Cute pic of Grandma with Whit and B

This was so cute.

These are our three college freshman.

I had Reaggie stand up on a ledge.

And look what happens when she steps down. Ha!

At the end, they had a sparkler send-off,

with the LONGEST sparklers I have ever seen.

So cool!

Pretty!

What a fun way to send off the happy couple.

So grateful we could share this special

day with our family.