Stizzy ties the knot part 2: Elko edition

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The night after the Salt Lake reception, we got up early and piled in the cars for the drive to Elko for the reception there that night. For some silly reason, I decided I should drive. And then it got snowy. Real snowy.

We were seriously going between 20-25 mph. At times, all I could make out were the tailights of the moving van in front of us. And the silly windshield wipers kept getting ice chunks frozen on them. Chuck rolled down the passenger window, reached out, and 'flicked' the windshield wiper free of ice. He then instructed me to do the same on the driver's side. I have never 'flicked' a windshield wiper before, and I seriously doubt I'll ever do it again. On my first try I missed the wiper altogether, so when on my second try I got a hold of it, my excitement got the best of me and instead of flicking it, I just held on. And on. I know, right? Of course it snapped off, leaving Chuck and myself in a state of shock. We drove the next thirty miles with me awkwardly/unsafely leaned over so I could see out Chuck's half of the window. I kept nervously giggling and telling Chuck how funny the whole situation was, to which he responded, "It will be funny when we get out of this alive."

Which we did! We stopped in Wendover and Chuck replaced the wipers and then took over driving, thank goodness!

We also regrouped with the rest of the caravan (showing off in their four wheel drive rides). Luckily the weather cleared up and the rest of the drive was drama-free.

Clyde and Will and myself enjoyed fabulous naps in the afternoon while Chuck helped set up at the church, and then it was time to go!

The Elko reception happened to fall on our sister-in-law Aleesha's 22nd birthday, which meant that the whole family was together and able to celebrate! So we had a little surprise birthday party (complete with cake!) for her right before the reception. Love ya Leesh!

(Grandma Thomas chatting with Steve's sister Lisa, Steve's mom Kathryn, and Steve's sister-in-law Julie)

The reception was so fun! Everyone was so relaxed and we had lots of time to spend talking and enjoying the yummy hot chocolate - complete with every topping or mix-in you can imagine! Chuck and I sat at a table with Steve's parents, sister, and sister-in-law and had a great time getting to know them a little better. My seven-year-old niece Courtney and I also spent a good portion of the reception pretending we were distant cousins of the bride who made the trip over from England and using really dreadful British accents :).

Chuck's Uncle Bill and Aunt Gina and three of their kids came all the way from Pennsylvania, and it was really fun to meet them and hang out a bit. Here they are at the reception with my cute niece Mallory.

Courtney posing with the cake.

The happy, happy couple eating some cake. It was goooooood. I know, I ate some the next day for lunch.

Will systematically attached himself to each member of the Thomas family, but it was especially fun to see how much he connected with Uncle Bill since they happen to be named after the same person, Chuck's late Grandpa Thomas (Bill's dad). So here's our picture of the two Williams!

Stizzy ties the knot!

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A few days before Christmas, we were delighted to be able to attend the Salt Lake City wedding of Chuck's absolutely darling sister Amanda and the equally awesome Steve:

. (photo courtesy of Wings of Blue photography)

.Aren't they beautiful? But first we had to get to Utah, which meant leaving Idaho SUPER early on Saturday, the day after my graduation. I may have grumbled the tiniest bit about how early we all piled in the car but luckily Chuck agreed to drive so I could snuggle up with a blanket and pillow in the front seat and sleep peacefully. Until THIS woke me up:
. Oh yeah, we blew a tire! It worked out so well, though, because A) Chuck was driving, and calmly pulled off onto the shoulder (whereas I would have probably panicked and caused an accident) and B) we were rockin' a caravan with Chuck's parents, so together Chuck and Pops made quick work of changing the tire and C) thanks to leaving so early, we had enough wiggle room in the schedule that the stop in Jerome for a new tire didn't stress us all out!

Les Schwab was so great; we were in and out in about twenty minutes, just enough time for the boys to run around a bit. Then it was back into the car, where I slept a bit more, the boys watched movies, and we had way too much fun talking to Chuck's parents back and forth with two-way radios :).

We arrived in Salt Lake safe and sound and got all checked into our excellent hotel (more on how five days of hotel living spoiled us for regular life in a future post).

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That evening Amanda went through the Bountiful LDS temple, and Chuck and I felt so blessed to be there and be a part of it. Mucho gracias to Sam and Terri, who not only watched Clyde and Will that evening but also took them overnight. Chuck and I drove to Orem to retrieve them the next day and spent some time hanging out and eating yummy food. We also managed to find a sacrament meeting in Orem to crash, although since our timing was a bit off we couldn't stay for the whole thing - who starts church at 11:30 instead of 11 o'clock anyways?

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Sunday night all of Chuck's family gathered at Aunt Sue's house for dinner, except for Uncle Bill and Aunt Gina's family, as they were snowed in at an airport somewhere (Detroit?).

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Visiting in the kitchen . . .
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little bit o' Guitar Hero downstairs . . .
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and storytime upstairs!
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The next day was the big day! Amanda stayed in our room Sunday night, so Chuck showered and dressed early and then headed down to watch ESPN in the lobby to give Amanda some space. He also left this on our door:
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He's such a cute, overprotective big brother!
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The beautiful bride was actually up and getting gorgeous, but the note did help let these two boys sleep in a bit longer:
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Okay, it might be because Will is wearing Clyde's sweatshirt, but if I glance quickly at this picture I can't tell who's who.
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Amanda had to be at the temple early, so I waited until after she left to start getting ready. And that's when my fabulous personal hair and make-up guru Heidi showed up and did her magic:
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Heidi, me, and Desirie (Heidi's BFF who is now, by extension, my BFF also).

Not only did they come to get me all dolled up, they also took care of Clyde and Will while Chuck and I were at the sealing (wedding) ceremony. It took so much stress off of me to know that the boys were happy and safely accompanied over to meet us at the temple, thanks again girlies!
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We had a little downtime before Steve and Amanda came out of the temple, so I let the little boys run around. The Salt Lake temple is so pretty - and I loved the cool trees.
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Stephen and Amanda Lindsay, yay! Steve is now officially the last 'joiner' in the Izatt family and we couldn't be happier :)
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It was FREEZING outside; the little boys (plus cousin George) ran around and around to stay warm. Luckily we were only needed for the first couple 'big group' pictures, so then we warmed up at the hotel before the luncheon and took wonderfully long, much needed naps before the reception that night.
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Their decor was perfect; I wish I'd taken more pictures.
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Beautiful quilts! I don't know the story with all of them, but Steve made the blue one in the middle a few years ago (Steve's mom is an a-mazing quilter) with the intention of someday giving it to his future wife! Isn't that so sweet?

Sam and Terri were able to come to the reception, so here's our effort at a nice picture. As always, note my tight grasp on Will to stop him from wiggling out of my arms. Also, isn't Terri so cute pregnant?.
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Pretty soon the reception was over and it was time to (quickly) pack everything up in preparation for the Elko reception the next night.
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As always, I volunteered my husband to help on my behalf while I chased Will around and took pictures :)
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The cutest thing was how intent Clyde was on helping - luckily Chuck found a job that Clyde could do. He kept excitedly telling me how 'Daddy carries the big trees, and I carry the little ones!'

. And that was our Salt Lake City adventure; more to come on the exciting Elko reception adventure, including a birthday party and a very blizzard-y drive during which I snapped off the driver's side windshield wiper. Stay tuned!

Godspeed, Elder Smith!

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* Disclaimer: my normally boring/I-often-don't-leave-my-house-for-days-at-a-time life has been very exciting lately, so much so that I'm a bit behind on blogging about all of the fun. AND there are more adventures happening soon, so my goal is to get a bit caught up this week, even if it means letting the dishes and laundry pile up. I know, I'm dedicated. So I'll start with our recent trip to see Smiths and then jump way back to the beautiful Izatt-Lindsay wedding from before Christmas.

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So, we took a road trip to Utah this past weekend - 'we' being my lovely mom, my two little darling boys, and myself. I had to leave Chuck home at work, because someone has to finance my jet-setting lifestyle. Our good friend Nate Smith is getting ready to serve a full-time LDS mission (Arkansas Little Rock, Spanish-speaking) and we were excited to share in the experience as he went through the Bountiful temple on Saturday and spoke in church the next day.

After the temple, Reed treated everyone to a wonderful lunch at Marie Callenders, where Courtney and I established our superiority over big Will ('You wouldn't understand, you're like a sub-human'), Heidi used clothing sizes to identify my children's ages and let them jump on furniture ('Hmm, where IS your mom?'), and Clyde proved a much better negotiator than me, since he got dessert despite not eating ANY of his lunch.

Saturday night (after some de-licious Godfather Pizza made by Heidi herself) we had some girl time and played Who What Where, with hilarious results such as "Okay, guys, I think you all can get this one, you just need to FOCUS" and "Hmm, the Exorcist playing volleyball in a forest!" and "See, this is obviously a slavemaster overseeing his slaves picking cotton" and "Oh, this is good. This is VERY good!"
Heidi and I wore matching shirts. What will YOU invent?

Gloria and Courtney!

Heidi and Desirie! This may have been when Heidi didn't recognize Moses.

Will took every opportunity while we were there to demonstrate his dancing skills, especially on top of tables. I swear, I have NO IDEA where he learned this :).

The next day was Sunday, and after a morning full of Open House preparations (I mostly tried to keep my children out of the way) we set off for church. Before leaving the house, Clyde sought out two hands to hold so that his walk would be a bit more fun - thanks Grandma Pam and big Will for obliging!

The soon-to-be Elder on the walk to church. He spoke about charity and it was such a nice talk. This whole weekend I really felt like I was watching another little (oops, younger) brother take these important steps. I'm so impressed with Nate's maturity and willingness to serve the Lord.

Unlike Clyde, Will didn't feel the need to hold anyone's hand, despite Heidi's best efforts.

Then he started heading for big piles of snow, so I stopped taking no for an answer :).

Courtney and Ben were the last to depart for church, and the first to leave afterwards. Some people. I mean, granted, Clyde climbed under the bench and fake snored through the last few minutes of the meeting, but at least he stayed to the end.



Then it was time to walk home! Will laid the charm on pretty thick to get Heidi to carry him and Dez to entertain him the whole way..

Gloria and Pam! We are all SO glad that they kept their friendship intact despite living in different states so that our families can all be so close now!

Open House for Nate after church with lots of family and friends..

We took the opportunity to take some pictures (shocking, right?). Here's Dez, me, Heidi and Courtney. We're very good looking.

Courtney and Heidi are the best..

All four Smith kids!

It just so happened that the Packers-Cardinals game was on during the Open House, so Ben and Will strategically set up the layout of tables and chairs in the downstairs as to not block the TV. It worked. They also left a (narrow) spot open between Will and Nate - I believe as a nod to the absent Chuck, who was undoubtedly watching the game three hundred miles away..

At this point the Open House traffic was a little slow as extended family began to leave and the after-church crowd had yet to arrive, so we got a little creative in the picture posing. Don't mind Clyde there; he was feeling really photogenic all day and kept weaseling into all the pictures.
Awesome, right? Courtney and I can now say we've participated in one of these awesome 'circle of heads' pictures, and my mom now knows what we're talking about.

Speaking of my mom, here she is with Nate! We were so glad that we could make it down for such an important weekend and bummed we couldn't stay longer.

Baby Will and big Will sneaked in one last snuggle,

Heidi and I sneaked in one last picture, and then baby Will sneaked in one last opportunity to drool on Nate's suit. And tie.

Thanks so much for having us, Smiths! We'll see you in April for sure - until then, look at the glass door to your right - Will left you a little something:

Love you all!