4th of July Wedding & Camping

We were so excited to see our wonderful neighbors, M and D again at their son's wedding. This wedding was beautiful! I knew we were in for something special when I saw the seating chart on the way to where the ceremony took place surrounded by towering trees in front of a Victorian home. The words were so moving. I loved the way the bride included a blessing in Cantonese given by her cousin. The mothers also wrapped the bride and groom's hands together with ribbon. You could feel the happiness in the crowd. The sit down dinner and dancing afterward were a blast. I overheard other women saying what I was thinking: "I want to wedding just like this one!" Of course, my sealing did not include the words, "'til death do us part." I am so grateful I sealed for time and all eternity in the House of the Lord. Doesn't feel like that was almost 13 years ago. I guess Husband is just too easy to be married to! Still one of the happiest memories of my life. I feel that T and O will be a very happily married couple as well, which makes me even more delighted. And I must say, seeing fireworks your entire drive home is pretty special.

Before all the wedding bliss our family went camping for 3 nights at Glacier Basin inside Rocky Mountain National Park. Oh my word, the time it takes to prepare for that when all that will be available to you is a bathroom and a fire pit. I was seriously wondering, after having the worst day in MONTHS, if I would be sane when it was all over. What I really wanted to do was curl up in a ball on the sofa and watch movies all by myself. Instead, the 6 of us crammed together, allowing me no time to process, grieve, or heal. It wasn't pretty, but I did my best to carry on and make sure the kids got to camp in their favorite place this summer. Traditions included taking the shuttle to Bear Lake, but this time we got the booklet that tells you all sorts of stuff about the hike and we learned so much! New things included a Ranger led hike that included lots of fun learning activities at the Discovery Center or attending the interdenominational worship service at the outdoor theater. (Short and sweet, I'll give it that.) D, M, and N earned their RMNP Junior Ranger pins again. K was way too old for that stuff. She's growing up so fast -- much faster than I expected! I just hope that one day my children will have fond memories of camping with their mom and dad when they look back on their upbringing. There just seems to be something good about being able to say that.