The fun weeks before the wedding

With November starting then I was able to focus on the BIG EVENT Tosha and Austen's wedding and two smaller events for the Utah Down Syndrome Foundation--A strategic planning meeting in Lehi on November 8th and a New parent breakfast in Salt Lake on November 16th.  Cleaning the house became quite optional and I think cooking dinner was a rare event as well.  The good news is we all survived and had some fun in the meantime.

Tosha had found several (hundred) darling things on the internet and Pinterest to do for wedding receptions.  She choice some darling ones and figured out how to make them herself.  One was a darling little airplane made with a stick of gum for the wings, tootsie rolls for the body and white life savers for the wheels.  They were so cute.  I thought I took pictures but didn't find it on my camera.
Another idea was her sign-in book.  She wanted tree limbs with notes that people who sign and give advice and then clip onto the tree.  Here is me showing her a vase to see if she liked it (and she did choose this one.  Look for it in the wedding pictures later. People loved it.)



These white sticks, rocks, and tin vase became a beautiful
tree which got filled with great advice from
family and friends on the day of their wedding.

We had lunch with Austen's grandmother Judy who lived down the street from Austen in Mountain Green.  We met Austen's mom as she was the one who was designing and making the cake for the wedding from several pictures Tosha sent her.  The cake turned out amazing and was like Tosha envisioned it.  It was so "Tosha" and I think Austen loved it too.

A week before the wedding we had three busy days in a row with a Sisters' dinner at IHOP in Riverdale, because Jessica, Elessia, and Chantel all had to work on the day of her wedding shower.

After dinner, they stood in the cold for a picture
since I forgot to take one indoors.

 The next day, I was headed down to Thanksgiving Point, Lehi, UT, for a meeting with people interested in the UDSF.  It turned out to be a very exciting meeting as we discussed the needs of the individuals with DS in our state and their families.  It was a great group of people as well, all very passionate about the topic.  Here is a white board full of ideas.  More meetings to follow.

Jena and Tosha
I must have taken pictures mostly with
Tosha's camera because I can't find
what I thought I took.

Saturday was the shower.  I guess I used Tosha's camera to get a shot of the decorations out front with balloons and streamers.

It was a fun time to share with our family and Austen's family, our friends, and Tosha's friends as they came and went during the Open House style shower.

When Tosha got home, she then proceeded to FaceTime with Austen and show him the gifts they got.  He was properly impressed. (I actually don't know how Gary and I survived during our engagement apart for three months with limited phone calls--too expensive and only a couple of visits and LOTS of letters.  Tosha and Austen had FaceTime which was on constantly it seemed when he was not at work.  I appreciated the conversations I had with Austen as well on FaceTime.  After all he was taking my sweet Tosha to Oklahoma City.  Luckily Austen is a friendly person and also smart and knew talking with me would pay off in the long run.

After the party Jena helped clean up.
Jena does not like popping balloons but her
cousin, Krystal, had popped some by sitting on them
so she had to try as well.  She broke three of them that way
but then went back to the regular way.

Every once in a while we would hear an excited voice (Tosha's) saying "I am getting married." sometimes several times an hour.  It was true.  She was getting married and the time was almost here (well, you know what I mean...as part of the story telling of this blog.  It is Dec. 15th now and she already got married, but I am trying to catch up.  Moving on.....)