Nick and Amanda's Wedding

So August 7th marked another wedding for us to attend. The third of the summer and the third in four weeks. All very important people for Ammon and ones we could never miss. Nick Gilbert has been Ammon's friend since 2nd grade. He and his twin sister, Heidi, were the number one reason that Ammon started going to church and why he got baptized. Big Nick and Patti have been some of our biggest supporters and since we were in their ward when we first got married, we got to see them at least once a week at church and for dinner afterward. We love the Gilberts. It was great news when we heard that Nick was getting married and because he wanted Ammon to be one of his groomsmen. But, you also know what that means. Another trip in the wee hours of the morning, just like the week before. At least we knew what to expect this time. Up 40 out of 48 hours! YAY for weddings!

Brooklyn thought she was going.

Deja vu? Oh wait. We have done this before!

There was one problem this week though. Jeff's wedding was at 2:00. Nick's? 10:00. So, no shower and no "getting ready." At least not really. We stopped by the Gilberts' while they were at the temple (cool story: David Christensen gave Nick his instruction. Patti has always loved him and so it was a sweet tender mercy for her when she realized that Nick got to talk to him) and we got to check another temple off. OQUIRRH MOUNTAIN. Gorgeous temple, but an even prettier neighborhood and great views. If I were to live in Utah, I think I'd want to live by the Oquirrh Moutain temple. It is so beautiful there and we heard that when the temple was built there, the home prices tripled!

Their sealing was just like Nick's. So nice. It was neat that Patti's deaf mom was able to be in the sealing and was able to get an interpreter for her so that Patti could hear for herself. Heidi wasn't in the temple with us, but we know she'll be next getting married!

Mr. and Mrs. Nick Gilbert!

Beautiful neighborhood.

Wedding party. Missing Jenny and Heidi!

Ammon got to see some people that he hasn't seen since high school. Mike and Shaun were some of the other groomsmen.

Ammon was best friends with Heidi for so many years. And I have grown to love her and Nick! Heidi worked for Disney for a year and is one of the best artists you'll ever meet! She graduated from Cal-Arts and did her own movie and everything.

Can you believe that Nick and Heidi are twins?!

After the sealing was the amazing luncheon put on by Mo, one of Patti's closest friends. She helped raise Nick and Heidi and saw Ammon constantly when he was growing up. She told me that she considers him one of her own and that she loves him so much. Do you know why Ammon loves her? She's Hawaiian. And proud of it. He LOVES it. He couldn't wait to go to the luncheon and eat her amazing cooking of pulled pork and all the trimmings. She's a fabulous cook and had some great entertainment arranged. Of course, Ammon was a part of it and he was hilarious to watch as he tried to dance like a true Hawaiian!

Mo.

Nick and Amanda dancing.

The reception was that night at the Olsen's house. Can I say what a great house it was?! Spencer and Mary Ann were also in our ward when we lived in Utah and they came all the way to Vegas for our sealing. We got pretty close to them in 2007. they had completely redone their whole house and it was the most perfect place for the reception. Inside was tremendous and there was so much detail put into it that it really made me wonder if Ammon and I will ever be able to buy, let alone build, our own home! There are so many possibilities and Spencer and Mary Ann have such great taste! It was so WONDERFUL to see them.

I think one of the best highlights of the whole trip was getting to see Steve and Jamie McCleary. Steve was another HUGE reason for Ammon getting active and baptized. He was his scout master, then his bishop when he went on his mission, went to Iraq, when we got married, and when we were in their ward afterward. He is now the first counselor in the stake presidency and Jamie just got put in as the Stake Relief Society President! They have four kids and we used to teach one of them when we were teachers in primary. IT WAS SOOOO GOOD TO SEE THEM and Ammon couldn't stop talking about it after we left.

Other people it was great seeing after all these years:
President and Sister Kunz (my fellow Yankees fan)
Kara Aina (we always looked at their family on an example on how to raise ours)
Andrew Mismash
Tashina (Mary Ann's daughter who joined the Navy. We love her!)
The Fairbanks
The Crapos
The Broadheads

Ammon loved getting to see everyone and I got to see him in a new light around so many people he grew up with. It was so good to see him happy and so relaxed around people he knew instead of people that know me.

At the reception, they had a great ice cream sundae bar, which was so good. Their cake tasted great! I loved their decorations and we actually didn't mind helping put up and take down. We knew that Nick would do that for us in an instant.

Congratulations Nick and Amanda. We love you guys and we are so glad we got to go and got to experience your day with you. We got asked where Matthew was two dozen times, and we had to unfortunately leave him AGAIN, but we're glad we got to go none the less. 24 hours in the car with Ammon in eight days' time. Not too shabby!