Jill and Larsen
Perkins
St. George, Utah
Eternal marriage
We planned to leave on our journey south on Tuesday, October 1, right after school.
The weekend before we had a major winter blizzard. Church was cancelled on Sunday. School was cancelled on Monday. We didn't leave our house from Saturday at 9 pm until Monday at 5 pm because we could not get out. We were literally snowed in until Mel Weston came to plow our driveway. There were 2 to 4 foot drifts all the way down our driveway. Crazy.
But Tuesday the sun was out and the roads were clear. When Austin got up, he realized that our furnace wasn't working. What? Why today? Then a few minutes later, he got a text from his mom that his dad's horse, Montana, wasn't doing good and that Grandpa was not going to come to the wedding. Montana had gotten a puncture wound when Grandpa was gathering cows at the community pasture the week before, and now it seemed infected and his stomach was all swollen. The adversary didn't want us to go to this temple marriage.
Before school/work, I had to go to Rod and Jackie Olsen's house to pick up some wooden boards that Taneal had painted for Jill's wedding reception. Jackie asked if we were ready for the wedding, and I almost teared up telling her about our morning. She told us that Grandpa could bring his horse to their barn and that Rod would care for it so Grandpa could go. So Rod called Grandpa and offered to help. Grandpa took the horse to the vet, and he said he thought he would be okay and gave some anti-biotics for the horse. It was a tender mercy and not a coincidence that I talked to the Olsens that morning. Grandpa agreed to let Rod take care of the horse. Grandpa and Grandma left two hours later than they planned, but at least they both came.
I found a plumber/heating guy that could come that morning to look at our furnace, Rylan Schaffer. We didn't want our pipes to freeze while we were gone. He came and checked it and said one of the circuit boards was fried. He ordered the part which came that afternoon. Rylan came back and to put it in. When he took off the circuit board to put on a new one, there were two bats fried to the back of the circuit board. The bats are the reason the circuit board fried. Dang bats. We did have bats this summer that we think came down our chimney. We were just thankful that Rylan got our furnace fixed and that it didn't go out while we were snowed in.
After school, we gathered everyone up, and we were on our way. Jill's friend, Bailey (Cahoon) Olsen, came with us on our road trip. Bailey got married a month ago. Jill and Bailey almost made a pact to not go to each other's weddings, but then they changed their mind. Jill and Larsen drove all the way to Cardston, came to the wedding, and drove all the way back to Panguitch. I admire Bailey for coming on a six-day road trip with our family so she could be there for Jill's wedding. She does have a sister-in-law in St. George that she stayed with for a few days (Shayna Olsen Milne).
We had a pleasant drive to Idaho Falls and stayed with my parents. On Wednesday, we dropped Austin off to stay and drive down with Hanna after she was done with class. We continued on to Panguitch so we could help decorate for the reception. We got there before Jill, so we had some frozen yogurt and a short tour of Panguitch.
When we walked in to the Smokehouse, the backdrop looked great, but then there were tables scattered everywhere covered in craft supplies. I have no artistic/crafty abilities. We put up the pictures on the wall, and then we started arranging and setting the tables. I was actually really glad Bailey was there. She took charge and she has a great decorating sense. Although, she did suggest that someone should iron the table cloths, but we all vetoed that suggestion. After a couple hours, the room looked amazing and was ready for the family dinner and the reception. Larsen's parents, Ralph and Natalie, have put a ton of work into getting everything ready, and they were really easy to work with.
We headed to St. George with Jill and found our Air BNB house. It was a basement of a nice house that totally reminded me of my Grandpa Reeve's house. Austin and Hanna got there shortly after we did. We stayed up talking and laughing until 1 am.
Jill had arranged for a friend to come do her hair, and our friend from Cardston, Shayna, to come and do her make-up. She looked beautiful.
It was such a beautiful day in St. George - 80 degrees, sunny, no wind, green grass, flowers and palm trees, plus the temple is beautiful and classic.
Jill told Larsen a time 20 minutes before they were actually supposed to be there so he wouldn't be late. They beat us to the temple. We were supposed to be there an hour before the sealing, and the guests are supposed to come 30 minutes before, but guess who arrived an hour early - my Mom and Dad.
The sealing room that Larsen and Jill chose is connected to the Celestial Room in the temple, so all of the guests changed into their temple whites to come to the sealing. Rachel Seely lives in our Leavitt Ward, and her dad is a sealer in St. George, and so we requested to have him. He did an excellent job.
It's hard to put into words watching your daughter and her fiance get married and sealed. During the ceremony, each person is supposed to say "Yes," and Larsen said yes really early before it was time. We all laughed about that.
The Spirit was strong, and I was so thankful to be in a beautiful temple with my daughter who is making good choices. After the ceremony, we went to the brides room to help Jill put on her wedding dress. The back of her dress is a corset that you have to criss cross the lace a lot of times. Luckily Natalie had already done it a couple times for Jill for her bridal pictures so she knew what to do.
We went outside to greet all of the family and to take pictures and also she had a videographer come to record the event. Jill and Larsen got married on a Thursday - mostly to plan around the college rodeo. There were moments leading up to the wedding that I didn't think a weekday was such a good idea. Every person has to take off work or school. Three of the four cousins her age didn't come. All of my siblings and all of Austin's siblings came, which we were so grateful for. Anyway, she was the only bride that day, so there was no rush inside the temple and no crowds outside the temple. The temple workers told her that on Saturday they had 28 brides. The St. George Temple closed on November 4 for a renovation that will take 3-4 years, so they were able to go just weeks before it closed.
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