Catching Up to the Present

August and up until now was pretty much a blur of the fun of wedding planning, showers, addressing hundreds of envelopes and getting our house ready for the big event!  The actual wedding and wedding dinner is on October 9th and the wedding reception is at our house on the 10th. After living in our new house for six years, there are quite a few things that need to be repaired and prepared in order to pull off an event with 350 people!

Charity’s dear friends from High School pulled off a stellar shower with spectacular food, gifts and decorations in a back yard straight out of The Garden of Eden. It was so fun for me to pull a “Mom Bomb” and see all those cute friends again, most of whom are now married with babies!

Handmade cookies to die for!

A fun game included previously asking Ian answers to questions about their relationship and Charity was supposed to match his answer. Even though she got most of them right, she had to poke a marshmallow in her mouth for every one she got wrong. There were just enough wrong answers to make her look like a chipmunk preparing for winter! Note her darling friend Andrea, just about to deliver her fourth boy!

 

These two were born on the same day and their mothers just happened to be dear friends! 

What an outstanding group of girls!

 

On our second stop looking for wedding dresses, she managed to find the perfect “vintage” dress which looks fabulous on her! With the final alternations being finished on her next visit to Utah, we are glad to have that most important event “in our pocket”.  She found the perfect shoes and headpiece and only has the veil to go!

She ordered this cute bunting from England to welcome the guests on the front porch:

…and found vases which have been spray-painted in “her colors”

Our wonderful friend and caretaker Eric took his life in his hands and installed 400 bistro lights along the roofline to prepare for the big event. That along with climbing up the to the bark grass on the ceiling to make some repairs and replace chandelier lights, we’re glad he’s still alive!

He is also overseeing the painting of the exterior of the house since it has turned a big pink/purple with the help of the sun over the years.

We’re pulling out picture frames for displaying pictures….

 

In between events we have managed to slip in a few “extracurricular” activities outside of the wedding along the way….which included a horse ride with our great friends the Wolffs to Paris Peak on a beautiful August day:

One day included driving on the freeway with a sight to behold!  All that rain we’ve been having has its perks!

A trip to the Philadelphia Cricket Club so Rick could play in a National Grass Court Tennis Tournament was lots of fun! 

 

He won his first match in a 3rd set tie breaker!

And our cute sons surprised us the next day by renting a car and driving down from NYC on a busy work day to see their dad play in the tournament.  SO FUN!  Tal called Eli the night before and said, “How many times has dad been there for our ball games? Let’s go for it!”  What great guys. Their dad was so happy to see them. Luckily he lost because we couldn’t stay another day.

 

Because we had ticket to the US Open:

Pretty fun!  I wasn’t feeling too well and finally diagnosed myself with shingles. Darn stuff! But it was a pretty light case and I’m okay!

We visited the 9/11 Memorial which was sobering but also inspiring. This quote is fashioned from steel from the original buildings:

And if this enormous retaining wall on the left that holds back the Hudson River under the buildings had burst, the disaster would have been so much worse!

The amazing reflecting pools that pour down into the footprints of the original building are incredible!

We found our new book on the shelves of an enormous Barnes and Noble in the city:

After seeing our adorable Granddaughter Zara, her parents and other grandparents who just happened to be visiting, waiting for their 3rd mission call as senior missionaries to Brazil, we headed back to the Tennis and then straight to the airport. We had stayed with Talmadge who was kind enough to lend us his bed while he slept on a blow-up mattress since his wife and daughter were in Switzerland. It was so fun to spend some quality time with he and Eli and Julie who “own” NYC!

Back to the wedding!  Another lovely Bridal Shower at City Creek which was a little English Tea Party with about 35 women and girls, half from each side of the family. What fun we had getting to know Ian’s side of the family as each person offered a little advice for Charity as they gave their gift. Ian and Rick joined us at the end and it was a memorable afternoon, partly because the elevator didn’t work and it was crazy trying to get grandmas and a young woman on crutches to the room safely.

 

 

As I saw Charity and Ian sitting there together under the letters that Charity had on her bedroom wall for many years and as they told their fun engagement story, I realized that the writing on her wall had finally come true!

We also visited the beautiful setting for their wedding dinner…..

 

And Saren and Eliza and Ian’s mom, two sisters, brother and sister-in-law joined us for dinner and to help address 1200 envelopes. As it turned out we couldn’t stuff them, stamp them and seal them because the printer had left the 4 off of our address which is 4545, the the return address printed in foil on the back said 545. The poor printer had to hand feed all those invitations through the printer one at a time to correct the mistake!  Weddings! 

Speaking of weddings, my wonderful sister’s youngest son Tony got married on Monday and we had fun with the Carvers at their splendid celebration!

So sorry I didn’t get the spectacular bride!  But we love those Carvers!

The next night we had a dinner party for 24 with my Book Club at our house. It was so fun to see everyone. The husbands only come once a year. It was a great way to have a deadline to get a lot of things done on the house for the wedding.  Only half the house got painted but we got so many other little details out of the way for the wedding.

I took pictures of the set-up and the flowers and then forgot to take pictures of the people!  Too busy cooking!

 

So upward and onward!  In less than a month this terrific wedding will all be just a wonderful memory!