Sarah's special day...and 2 weeks from tomorrow!

Two weeks from tomorrow and Allison will be getting married in the Salt Lake Temple! Unbelievable!

Alan had to go get fitted for his tux...I think that is what really brought home how close this really all is!

14 more days and we will be at the Mt. Tempanogas Temple with Allison taking out her endowments and then 15 days we will be in the Salt Lake City Temple for the Sealing and the all the other celebrations that will go along with that event!

Today, my niece Sarah is being sealed in Twin Falls Temple to her fiance...in fact by now he is her husband and the reception is tonight. Thank heavens I have 3 children in Utah (Anne Marie, Allison & John) that can go and represent us. We have been to every niece and nephews wedding until today....it is killing Alan and I, but it could not be helped! I'm just grateful my children are there to represent us. But my heart hurts to miss Sarah on this special day!

I hope someone takes pictures so I can see how beautiful she is etc.... I love this sweet girl, I remember when she was just a little thing, telling Grandma that baby Aileen needed something or other! She always wanted to help take care of Aileen...even though Aileen was older...too cute!
My love and prayers are with her and Terry on their special day!

20 more days....

only 20 more days to the wedding....and less than that before we leave to be in Utah for the Wedding. I can't believe it is really this close now!!!! Crazy!

I wish I could put up pictures of Allison's bridals and other neat things....but it has to wait until the official day and for John to have seen her dress too!

But I will tell you the Bridals are gorgeous and its not just because I am her mother!

Tomorrow is John's birthday....I told him, his b-day present will be late because...."I'm paying for a wedding!" That is probably getting old for everyone to hear....but that is my life right now....paying for a wedding!

Can't wait for it to get here! And really can't wait to put pictures up of things that I cannot now!

Went to lunch and a movie with my Mother and sister on Saturday!!! It was very cool and went to a movie on Friday night with one of my dear friends and VT ladies...so yes, we combined the two! So it was a nice time for me to do something that had absolutely nothing to do with THE WEDDING! I think I really needed that!

New Hair......

So, Lois has a new hairdo...whoohoo! I was very excited but also very scared to try a new modern hairstyle. I am one of those people that when she finds something she likes she sticks with it.....even if it was from the era before. As far as hair goes, I'm usually one decade behind......I finally get brave enough to try something that everyone has already been doing about the time that a new style comes out and everyone is doing something different.

My sister and Allison are fed up with me getting a perm and wearing my hair in a bob.....oh, you say, I didn't know it was a bob, well that would be because I needed to get it cut 2 months ago....I've been a little busy financially and mentally....but that is for another discussion. So I was getting ready to go get a perm so that it wouldn't be brand new for the wedding, but still good enough to be able to fix my hair the way I wanted to..... but my sister says, I would like for you to try my hair dresser, my treat! Wow, what a gift!!!!! The thing I didn't realize and now I am very happy about, is that whoever is paying gets to decide how the hair is cut and styled. So I was told NO PERM!!!!!

Well, as you can see, I got the royal treatment. I got my hair cleansed (I think that is what she called it), then cut, then colored, then shown how to fix it......then I had to fix it myself, so that they knew that I would be able to do it....

This really was out of my comfort zone....I felt so stupid for just a minute when I struggled to fix my own hair by blow drying it and then they actually expected me to touch it and play with it and then have it look good....ha! And believe it or not....it did!


The hair stylist, Stephanie, that taught me how...and look how good I did! lol!

My sister also made sure I had all the hair supplies to be able to keep fixing it this way.....I think I did in deed get the Royal treatment and now I look like an in style mother of the bride and not the grandma!!!!!

The funnest thing that happened is when I came home Alan loved it and said...."Wow you have a Meg Ryan thing going on here" and I have always loved her hair when it was short and messy...so to me there was no better compliment!


Yes, me and Meg Ryan! Honey I love you!

Thank you sis, and I probably need to thank Allison too for confiding in my sister that I needed a new updated look for the wedding.....because I know she knows I would have never spent money on me right now, when there are so many other wedding things to worry about!!!!!


The two master minds who plotted this all out!!!!!

I am blessed with a very thoughtful sister!

Ohhhh, what a night!!!!!

Tuesday night was the time set with the photographer to have Allison's bridals taken. Because John's family is having their reception at Thanksgiving Point, they can go to this beautiful area of waterfalls, bridges and great landscaping to take photo's without having to pay a fee, so that is where they went.

The photo settings were perfect in every way and of course Allison looked perfect in every way (so her Aunt and sister tell me, I can't wait to see) but two very crazy things happened that night.

They lost the car keys in the pond/lake.....and had to use a butterfly net to try and get them fished out....

And someone took Allison's clothes by mistake out of the changing room. So when Allison was done she had nothing to change into....and she didn't want to wear her dress any longer than needed....so she wore her slip and wrapped a sack around her sitting in the car as they waited for more brides to come back to the changing room to ask if they accidentally took the wrong sack of clothes.....

My worry was that if someone accidentally took them and they had already gone home, they would not come back, especially that same night after getting all the way home...... and we would probably never see the clothes and shoes again....

The relief is....they did get her clothes back and below is the picture of her happiness at getting her clothes .....so she isn't half naked, although she is still in her wedding dress slip! Funny!

Love for our fellow man in Primary!

I teach the 9 yr old Valiant Class in Primary. This is an extremely wonderful age in that they still love to answer questions and listen to stories.....but it is also an age where they are starting to learn sarcasm and maybe making fun of someone. So I always try very hard to teach that Primary is our "safe place" where we all love each other and help each other and no one needs to be fearful of someone making fun of another. We almost always have success with this, however every once and a while someone will make a comment that could be thought of as unkind to which I always say something like, "I think you meant to say....." and then turn it into a kind statement or I say something very positive about the person etc... anyway the point of this story and I am getting to it I promise, is that the past few months I have seen great love in my class for each other as class mates. We have one young person that cannot read. I'm not sure how this has happened, and I have always tried to be by them and help them when this person has been called upon to read something in sharing time, or in our class so that they would not be embarrassed. And when it was our classes presentation for sharing time I had this person tell a story in their own words so that they didn't have to read a quote etc.... And at one time I overheard a older boy from a much older class make fun of this person saying "They are 9 yrs old and can't even read" to which I was horrified that he would say that out loud and that it might be overheard. But the miracle of this situation is that every student who sits by this person be it boy or girl, when this student is called upon to read a scripture etc....they lean over and watch and help them when they stumble on a word......I do not even have to worry any more that this person might become embarrassed. Today it was Eva, several weeks ago it was Adam, and before that it was Tanner etc..... Today when it happened I felt such joy that our primary class is a safe place for these children, and that they know they are loved by me and by each other! I'm so grateful for this opportunity that I get to see such strength and leadership by some that others might consider too young!

She's gone......

The last supper......

My parents wanted to take Allison out for her last supper as a single gal in Texas!!!!! They let her pick the place and of course as any true Texas girl would do, she chose Cousin's BBQ! And lucky us, the rest of us got to go along....yay! It was a special night in that we talked about the Temple, her marrying such an outstanding young man, how amazing she is and how proud she has always made us! Good times!

Special Grandparents!

Next time she is in Texas she will be Allison Rex!

It's all too real......

Allison has been packing up her room and all of her stuff! This is making her getting married and leaving in 1 day all too real! As a mother I am very conflicted! I couldn't be happier for her and I could not be sadder at the same time! The most ironic thing about all this is I have for 10 years been wishing and dreaming of the day that one of my daughters would get married.....little did I know how lost I might feel in the process.....this might go back to the old saying of "be careful what you wish for"! And yet, I am totally so excited for this new family unit that she and John are creating as they get married, and can hardly wait to see what they will do and accomplish together because they are both such amazing people that I know it is going to be something to see!!!!!!

A day at the Temple....

Two Saturday's ago, Allison, Aileen, Grandma, my sister and I drove up to the Dallas Temple to go the the distribution center and pick out Allison's Temple Dress etc..... I have to say Aileen was very happy to be one of the girls and excited to be at the Temple watching Allison try on and pick out her Temple Dress! After we all went to Macaroni Grill for lunch to celebrate. My sister who has been a big a part of this wedding and has helped to make this whole time so special for Allison (and has been a huge blessing and help to me, I don't know what I would do without her help and support) had won a competition at work and had a gift certificate and treated us all for lunch that day! I must say Aileen really did like being one of the grown up girls......and loved being with Allison at the Temple! It was a special day!

for intimate friends only.......

So only Allison's closest friends came to this last shower for her here in Texas! Her dear friend 'N' decided that she needed to have a Lingerie shower........so of course I was not invited!!!! But Allison came home saying that they had so much fun and had the cutest games and laughed and laughed all night! I still have not seen the gifts (probably never will, l0l) but I am sure that John will appreciate her friends insisting that she needed to have this kind of a shower even if only a few were invited! Allison did say that they didn't do/buy anything too crazy....that her friends did know her and know her personality.... the benefit of having close friends I would say!!!!! Allison really has had dear dear friends and family both at Church and from school that have helped her enjoy and get excited about her engagement, while being apart from the one she loves!!!!!

A Bridal Shower for Allison

I am behind a little so I am taking this opportunity to catch up! Several weeks ago my sister (Allison's Aunt) and her maid of honor gave Allison a bridal shower for her theatre/choir and school friends. It was no surprise that her theatre/choir friends that she did EVERYTHING with in High school were the ones to come......but to me the neatest thing of the shower is that 2 of her teachers came, 1 - theatre and 1 - choir, and as you know this was Allison's life in High School so it meant everything to me that they would make the time to come! Her voice teacher would have been there too, but she ended up in the hospital, which we were all very sad to hear, but she was so cute in that even though she was in the hospital, she made sure that the maid of honor got her present to make sure she was represented at the shower! So I know that she would have been there if she could have! Allison loves these teachers and her friends so much it was awesome to realize that these same friends and teachers loved her as well! And that even though they are all in different colleges and pursuing different paths, they have stayed in contact with each other! Another very cool thing about this shower is that everyone stayed for hours and talked even when it was technically over.....everyone stayed and visited and got all caught up! It was too fun! The Shower had a theatre theme.....hence the Concession Stand refreshments!

Allison's Aunt and Maid of Honor who put this whole thing together for her!

The teachers who came!!!!!

The Choir and Theatre friends who came.

Another Aunt and Grandma came.

Opening presents!!!! This is how she smiled the whole time!!!!

And the best part.......everyone just sitting around talking for a LONG time after it was over! (Aileen got to come in and remembered these same teachers from High School. It was so sweet for them to acknowledge Aileen and humbling to see that they remembered her name and wanted to talk to her. Of course Aileen was in heaven because she got to come to the bridal shower and be with other girls her own age!!!)

No, I'm not dead, but yes I haven't blogged in a while....

I have had several people comment that they have missed my blogging! You don't know how nice that was to hear....I have missed it as well and catching up with everyone elses blog....but I have been very busy and a little overwhelmed with all the wedding stuff! I'm sure you all guessed that. Allison has been gone to San Antonio for another session of EFY and it has taken me all week to get to the point where I felt I could and had time to blog!

Not that Allison adds stress, but when she is here because time is limited we always have a big agenda of things to get done.

I need to buy sparklers for the wedding reception.....any ideas....I haven't even seen a fireworks display of items for sale....crazy!

The biggest accomplishment this week and the one thing that finally makes the wedding real is..... we have mailed out the invitations! And I love hearing how everyone loves it. We think it turned out amazing....and thanks to my friend MA's brother we got a whopper of a deal and they look fabulous! Of course we had a fabulous photographer too....or the pictures wouldn't be so great!

Everything is planned now........all I have to do is finish paying for it and it should all come together just like we dreamed!

The only downer is.....that Allison comes home from EFY tomorrow, then she leaves for Utah to be with John and I won't see her again until just before the wedding....and then she will be married! wow! Then she won't be our little girl who needs us anymore! Although I have to be honest all summer we have felt this a little bit anyway. She really only needs John and that is very appropriate....but hard for a mother to take a new role.

But we are very excited for her and think she is marrying the perfect person for her!