Latter-Day-Saint Wedding

My baby and the little bundle that was born late in my "birthing time" is getting married very soon in the Manti Temple. I understand, because it's her Temple. It is the Temple that some of her great grandparents were married, and great aunts and uncles. She even knew Orpha Tilby Lazenby, "big grandma" (not big...just older) and I think her heart was softened so much when she attended the Temple so many times and her husband-to-be asked her to be married there. It really did became "her" Temple.

Kiely's leaving us to be always with Matt

This is the hardest of all my girls to send off. I still feel like she's my little one and she is over 21. I'm not fretting about her going because she was already gone at college. It's just like I get used to Larin and her family back from Arizona for a while and off they go to a better life in another state. Bree is in Arkansas and that's a ways from here. I just told myself about Kiely is that we were going to have vacations together. There was summer, Christmas, Spring Break and she could come home and entertain us. We have that empty nest and it hasn't hurt, until now. Do we start a new hobby of vacationing in other states?

Steve, Kiely, and I worked her whole life to get her off to college and when she knew that Utah was the place for her, what a pleasant surprise. I knew she was sick of hearing the stories of Cal Poly and so many other colleges had such reputations as "the best party school" and so on...TMI. Her Grandpa Gene went to Cal Poly and she even wore Dad's '40 something, letterman sweater from SLO. I'm very grateful she was raised to know what she wanted and Kiely has made the decision to attend a college to really learn. (with) No BULL!


The choices Kiely decided to make in dating were on the same level including very high expectations and standards. She knew in her mind the kind of man she wanted to date. She wanted someone that was a return missionary that lived every "rule" like her dad and brother. Then instead of just being an RM he was still engaged in good works, reading the scriptures, attending the Temple, and very active in Church. The cowboys weren't it, however a hard-working, college student, farm boy from Payson caught her unexpectedly and became her "true love" forever. And she's happy.



Then, there's me. I'm just going nuts. Steve and I, and Kiely... didn't take out any loans for any schooling, ever. Cash on the dash, literally. Kiely had some money from working part-time, selling steers, and also had some scholarships. But, it didn't cover everything. We had to forget the kitchen floor, new porches, painting the house, and doing our roof. A very hardy expense on top of college is a wedding. Do we have anything left? Nope. Soooo, we'll make it happen all my other wonderful daughters pitching in making things and getting ideas. All of the ideas came from Kiely's dream wedding, but it will be more and they are making it more. We are all making Kiely and Matt's wedding our full-time job.

Our experiences along the way have been fun, funny, and downright crazy. As I look back over the past three months, I have to laugh at the ridiculous. Stress causes all kinds of weird stuff to happen to you. My doctor thought my anxiety level was too hard and too high for me and prescribed me Prozac. Prozac not the "cool-it" drug everyone imagines. It's just is supposed to stop your thoughts from panic to slightly a mild curb to step-over, but in some-kind of weird daze. NOT ME! It gave me worms! I even saw worms in my eyes and I couldn't sleep. I still can't sleep and I haven't taken it in more than a week. I couldn't get anything accomplished because I was so wiggly. I had really bad side-effects and I'm not doing the anti-depressant thing anymore. Yes, I hate that stuff. DONE! Yes, and I gained 5 pounds, and no I'm not ever, ever going to take it again. My cardiologist was happy about me taking the Prozac because my heart rhythm pill causes depression, especially the dose I'm taking. (I have this inherited genetic-thing in my heart) Anyway, I don't get depressed. I swim and do aerobics and if I'm ticked about something. I act my normal self. I go throw heavy, stone, clipped plates at the rocks and then they are not just stone-chipped they are really rock-wrecked. My other alternative is to cry and actually that feels so good. Mom and I cried together two days ago. She gave Kiely a big gift and I was grateful and then we cried because my mom saw Kiely's little hands imprinted in her cement patio and we know she won't be home.

New thought** I'm just going to post all the fun and exciting things we made to make this a cheap, but completely elegant wedding. What I made, what the girls made, what our dear sisters in the ward did to contribute... and I WILL have pictures.

The really bright-side to all of this daughter, like my first daughter, is that both are so into genealogy that I have it's covered. I'm not quitting at all in MY genealogy, but I am going to "fan-the-flame" of genealogy work and teach them as I learn new techniques in our together quest for our ancestors.

We will be attending the Beach House in a few days just before the trip to Utah and this will be so fun and relaxing. It will be a great time for all of us to get to know Matthew. Thankfully, we have someone here to take care of the ranch. My brother is going to be giving surfing lessons to all the grand-kids and maybe nieces and nephews.

This picture doesn't show all the sand
this year, tons of sand and NO ROCKS!

I am going to swim with the sting rays, sharks, and creepy things in the ocean without fear; and I'm going to have fun and use sunscreen, maybe make "monster tracks in the sand" and even still make bread. I will make my husband like sand in the sheets...at the end of our bed, even eat some Grunion and cockle clams, if it isn't red-tide. We might even have Cheviche every day and beach-house bread.
"Ta-da... Incoming message...scanning...receiving upgrade information for database. 'blip' Message received" Yes, my new toy, a Android phone. Love it... makes me feel close to my children, gives me peace-of-mind because Steve KNOWS where I am. He tracks me. It's always charged, with my "apps" it has all the Gospel and no huge Scriptures to carry and that's difficult for me to do with a broken finger. It has my ward and stake information and the Mormon Channel. I have even all the new Church Magazines and new Conference Talks. I can study, cross reference, and even highlight passages that I want to remember. I have a dictation machine built in for a notepad, a recorder for talks and lessons to listen and study later, a calendar, a budget, a shopping list and more. We have "app parties" (Applications) This all hooks to my computer and I have the BEST ipod-type player, ever. It will even blog, but I can't use the small keyboard because my busted-finger bothers the other fingers and I write like I'm typing German. All the words munched together, no spaces.

Updated--Captain's Log: stardate... uhh...June 24th, 2010. T-8, 22.6 until blast-off. "Love's Labors Lost in Space" treekkking onward into unknown territory. "I was not prepared!" "Worlds are conquered, galaxies destroyed...but a woman is always a woman.
-- Kirk in 'Conscience of the King' and 'All Our Yesterdays'