Up, Up and Away....to the Wedding!

With a quick overnight turn around (with mounds of laundry done and repacked), Jena and I headed to Dallas Texas on Thursday, October 9--this time by airplane (hence the title chosen) and left Gary and Ben home to handle things at home including a flooded bedroom downstairs from rains while we were gone. We were heading to Dallas to attend the wedding of my nephew, Duncan Giberson to his now wife, Sofia in the Dallas Temple.

At the SLC airport

Our hotel in Grapevine turned out to be in walking distance of a Waffle House where we had a nice dinner breakfast and remembered eating there in Arkansas!

Friday--we got to experience Dallas traffic again driving on the LBJ freeway luckily at the back end of rush hour traffic.  It was a bit stressful at times, but I managed okay. Definitely feeling a bit older at moments like this though.

The Dallas Texas Temple is special to us because it is where Jena was sealed to our family for all eternity.  What a blessing that is as it is with all of our kids.

Similar in style to the Boise Idaho Temple on the outside (but not inside, Rick said that they have done different remodeling inside and they are now different.) They were built in the 1980s.

The kiss outside the west doors of the temple after their sealing ceremony in the morning

We then headed home briefly after the picture taking and then headed to the family afternoon of activities which included a ring ceremony, a lunch, games and family conversations.

They had a sweet display of the three sets of grandparents who weren't there at the ceremony because they have passed on.  That was very sweet.  And Sofia's other grandparents who had driven up from Mexico were delightful.

The ring ceremony where they shared their vows.  I wasn't that prepared and spiritually grounded to think this deeply about marriage and covenants when Gary and I got married.

A quick photo with the Giberson cousins in the room! In addition to Rick and Linda's kids (minus Anna who was pregnant with their first grandchild in Virginia), Todd, Lea and their three youngest children were there as well as Valerie and Austin and three of Linda's sisters.

Tana, Ryan, Duncan, Jena, Thad with Kayley and Tillie seated

Duncan and Sofia with the cake cutting

The afternoon events and then the reception were all held at the Botanical Gardens in Grapevine.  It was a pretty spot and we had time to walk around and enjoy the plants and art work.  It was a popular place for photos.  We saw two family groups, a bridal group and a teenager all having professional pictures taken that afternoon.

We liked the butterflies display.

Jena loves adding new cousins to the family.
Sofia is very sweet.

Todd and Lea with their younger three kids and Jena
on a bench in the park

We got a picture by the butterflies together

It was a beautiful day and fun to interact with her family who is from Mexico.  Her sister married an American as well and they currently live in Oklahoma City where he is going to medical school.  So, she will have some family nearby.  She has already finished college as has Duncan so they will settle in the Flower Mound area where he works for the city of Flower Mound.

It was great to head to bed that night after that filled and fun and also very sweet and tender day.

Saturday we headed back to the Dallas Temple to attend a session there with Todd and Lea and Valerie and Austin.  I thought we took a group shot but can't find one in my gallery.  Oh, well.  It was a good session and two people approached Jena and thanked her for being in the temple that day and how they impacted them..;a fairly common experience when you go to the temple with Jena.

We then spent the afternoon at Rick and Linda's playing some games, eating, and talking before people started leaving to catch planes, etc.  We headed back to the hotel and watched the BYU vs. Arizonia game.  Another win, but a late night again.