Another Wedding

Another one of my old roommates (who I have lived with off-and-on for the last 4-5 years) got married earlier today.  I am so excited for Brenda!  She definitely deserves it and Jeremy is perfect for her.  Not that it matters much but I totally approve of him!

Brenda and Jeremy got married in the Manti Temple.  It was only my second time in Manti and both times have been with Quinn.  The first time I was driving through with Quinn, and his dad, Norm on our way back from St. George.  The second time, Quinn came with me so we could spend some time together during the drive as we really have not seen each other lately.  I felt kind of bad for him as he just hung out in his car during the wedding and pictures and then only knew me at the reception/luncheon.  I felt bad for him but the time we got to spend together was worth it!  A bonus to an already good day. :)

Jeremy and Brenda Griffith

 

Brenda and I.                                             Lauren (another long-term roommate) and I.

Me, Aliesa (one of Brenda's long-time friends from WA), Brenda, Rachel (another prior long-term roommate, and Lauren.

In Where I Am A Bridesmaid

One of my best friends, Katie Fullmer got married this last week.   Her two sweet little daughters, Adey and Paisley, and I made up the bridal party.  It was fun helping Katie prepare for her wedding and going to a dress fitting but I am sure she is glad to have it all done so she can get back to regular life.  I was able to leave work a little early to head to the Mt. Timpanogos Temple to help Katie get ready and to act as her escort.

Katie and Nate Mihu

Katie and Nate got married on a Wednesday evening and then Thursday morning, there was a whole wedding party hike up to Timpanogos Cave.  It was my first time hiking up to the caves ever and I have been in Utah for 6 years now.  The views going up were gorgeous and it was pretty cool inside the caves.  Nate's family is mainly comprised of men with deep voices and this led to the men in the group I was in to start singing one of the dwarf songs from "The Lord of the Rings."  It sounded pretty cool deep in the caves with the acoustics.

 





Views on the way up.


 Katie and I just outside one of the tunnels.

Me, obviously.

                

 

Inside the caves.

The weather cooperated for a very nice outdoor reception on Saturday evening.  Lots of pictures were taken and even more food was eaten.  I loved the chance that I got to see Katie's parents again as well.  It has been a while since I have seen them and even better, I got to see one of my best friends get married in the temple not just for time but also for eternity.  :)

Susan's Wedding

  Towards the beginning of April, I had the opportunity to go to my mission trainer's wedding in California.  She lives (or used to, now she lives near Las Vegas) in Sacramento and got married in the Oakland Temple.  I flew to the San Francisco airport (it was a lot cheaper than the Sacramento airport) on a Wednesday night and spent the night at a hostel in San Francisco and then drove out to Sacramento Thursday morning.  Susan's family was very gracious and left Laura Sheridan (Susan's MTC and mission companion) and I both stay with them.  I was very grateful that they allowed me to stay with them.  Plus I appreciated the opportunity to get to know them better.  I had met most of her family last May when I was in California but I was only there for an evening versus the 3 days or so that I was there this time.

  On Thursday, we ran around getting stuff ready for the wedding and reception.  The three (Susan, Laura, and I) all did facials Thursday night too.  We did the whole process: scrubbing, steaming(complete with lemons/limes), mask, cleaner, and toner.  Friday morning was the wedding and then in the evening, we set up for the reception.  We set up enough chairs and tables for 400 guests!  That is a lot of chairs.  I am not too sure how appreciative the young men who were helping to set up were of Laura and I making them hunt down more chairs repeatedly.  Saturday morning rolled around and with it came at least 20 Hmong men and women to help cook the food for the reception that evening.  Within 4-5 hours all the food was ready to go (keep in mind that they were making enough food for 400+ people)!  Both Laura and I concurred that if it was white people in charge of the reception, it would have taken them at least 2-3 days to make all the food and not that many people would have shown up to help make it.  At the reception, we definitely filled all the seats that we had seat up and could have used even more.

  In the Hmong culture, you have a program and a sit-down dinner, not the stand-up line and finger foods that are more common these days.  According to Penny Lo, Susan's program was a shorter one running about 30 minutes or so.  Penny said that some programs go as long as 1-2 hours!  Another nice thing that happened is that everyone helps to clean up.  The men take the chairs, table, etc. . . and the women take the kitchen.  The women  dominated the kitchen!  They had all the dishes and food packed up and cleaned up in no time at all.

  It was all so much fun and I am really glad that I had the opportunity to be able to attend Susan and VaYee's wedding.  However, I definitely felt like all I did was eat, eat, and then eat some more.  But, I probably would eat it all again because I love Hmong food!

 

Chicken popsicle, anyone?                                    

    

 The three of us with the masks on (Me, Susan, Laura).  

                   

The Oakland Temple.                               Susan and VaYee. 

  The picture depicts the making and end result of one of my favorite Hmong dishes: papaya salad.  You can see it in the lower right part of the picture.  Papaya salad is soo good!

    This picture represents a portion of all the food that was made.

 Susan and I.