Wednesday, November 19, 2014

The Palo Alto Reception and New Digs!

Moving from Charity’s home reception in Park City one weekend to Ian’s home reception in Dallas, Texas, the next weekend, we moved on to their collective home reception in Palo Alto the following weekend. Ian has been living there for about 5 years while working on his PHD at Stanford and Charity for 2 1/2 years as she first loved living in San Francisco and then got a good job in Palo Alto where they met.

It was like having a grand reunion every weekend!

The Peery Famly (who are in their ward/congregation) kindly offered their beautiful yard for the reception and we had a third weekend of glorious weather for outdoor receptions!

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Charity had a ball at the flower Market in San Francisco that morning, buying and arranging flowers, hanging those fun bottles from the trees. With the help and expert eye of her dear friend Melinda, they created a magical setting! Melinda had all their engagement pictures copied on sepia paper and clipped amongst the flowers on each table. 

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We are total fans of the volunteer caterer…Michael Christiansen!  The son of our friends Clay and Christine who is getting his PHD in management at Stanford, showed off not only his management abilities as he directed an army of helpers in the kitchen, but also his quite incredible culinary skills!  He single-handedly turned out stunning tables laden with delicious appetizers, delectable cheese and crackers and a cake table to die for! Of the fourteen gorgeous cakes or so, he had made half of them himself! He claimed that everything he knew about food, he learned from his mother! What a Mom!

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Some of Charity’s star students came…

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And Rick’s brother and wife who live in Fremnont and Jeff’s parents who live in Piedmont came for a visit!

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And even friends who used to be neighbors of Noah and Tal in NYC who had moved to CA surprised us with a visit.

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So many colleagues and students from Ian’s work at Stanford came to wish them well! It was such a joy to meet so many people who adore Ian and Charity in their present world.

Again twinkling lights, beautiful flowers and scrumptious food made it another night to remember.

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The next day we spent some time at their lovely, tiny new apartment! What fun to see the digs where they will spend the first few months of their lives together. There aren’t many places to sit, but we loved every inch (even though dad/rick may not look like it)! Look at the gorgeous quilt that Lynette did for them! 

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About the only place to put the left-over flowers was a 12 inch space by the stove.

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I had taken most of those beauties to Chris and Hedy’s house where we were staying….

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The next day we went to church with Ian and Charity and the Wrights and were delighted to see their Primary Program. Approximately 100 children under the age of 12 poured their little hearts out in word and song. It was a delight!

Charity prepared a lovely Apple Curry Soup and a salad and we moved the kitchen table to the patio outside their kitchen where there was enough room for all six of us. The weather was gorgeous and both sets of parents enjoyed our first meal with Charity and Ian as a married couple. So fun!

After that we made the car trek to beautiful Half Moon Bay. It was a delightful drive and a gorgeous spot on earth! It was very windy and pretty cold but totally worth it! (Sorry about my hair in the wind Lynette!)

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Every time we turned around on our beach walk though this is what we saw….

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So you think they’re in love or what?  We are so happy for this dynamic duo!

1 comment:

Shawni said...

Love reading all this and catching up with the festivities. Love you sooooo much Mother Dear.