Perkins Family Dinner and Reception

After we were finished taking pictures in the temple, we all drove to Panguitch for the family dinner. We had it at the Smokehouse Restaurant that Larsen's parents own. The food was delicious - tri-tip beef, cheesy potatoes, salad, etc. We had a short program  - Lindsey Perkins and Emmalee Dubois (Jill's UVU rodeo friend) sang "If You Asked Me To." Hanna played the ukulele while her and Lucy sang, "I'm Yours."  Carly sang "Never Enough" from the movie The Greatest Showman, only we had changed the words to talk about how Jill and Larsen can never have enough horses and cows. I had the idea and told Carly and one Sunday afternoon she wrote all the words and practiced for weeks and weeks.

NEVER ENOUGH
I'm trying to hold my breath
Let it stay this way, can't let this moment end
You set off a dream for cows
Getting more now, can you hear them mooing?

Now you want a horse or two
Cause that is what you do

All the cows you ever wanted
All the pop is still fizzing
Will never be enough
Never be enough

Cows of gold are still too little
This farm simulator will never be enough
Never be enough for me
Never Never
Never Never
Never for me for me for me

All the shopping for cows online
All the horses eating grass
Will never be enough
Never be enough

Rodeo buddy is awesome
Branding could hold the world but it will never be enough
Never be enough
For me
Never Never
Never Never
Never for me for m

Never enough napping napping
Never enough more napping
Never enough
For me for me for me
For you

Austin and I each shared a few thoughts about Jill and Larsen.
I told about how when Larsen had gone to Silver State rodeo competition his senior year, he was talking to a girl from Alberta, and he said to her, do you know Jill Nunn? She is a Mormon and a cowgirl, you should know her. That was 5 years ago.
And I told about a sacred experience she had when she was driving home to Canada and she felt Leighton's presence and he told her that she needed to get an education, but she didn't need to go to medical school because her husband and kids needed her. (She had just started dating Larsen a couple weeks before that - she said she asked Leighton if Larsen was the one, and she could hear a laugh and then the thought to just enjoy the process - I didn't tell that last part at the luncheon).
I told how much we loved Larsen and how he was such a good match for Jill. I did tell not to let Larsen help you make hotel reservations because you might end up at the Purple Sage Motel in Texas rather than in Panguitch. I also said that we would keep him away from matches because he tried to help me burn some branches I had cut, and he just about singed his eyebrows and off.

Austin talked about...

Ralph and Natalie also spoke.
We showed a slideshow I had made of Jill and Larsen, and also the video that their videographer had made of Jill's bridal photoshoot at Zions National Park.

After the luncheon, part of our families left to head back north. We moved a few things around to get ready for the reception which we had at the same place. There was a perfect, steady line of people that came. They were mostly friends and family of the Perkins, but our friend from Cardston Rachelle Sugden Robinson and her new husband came, and Jill had several rodeo friends come down.

We were so happy with how everything went and all of the love and support received.
Jill was really a great bride to work with. She would research out what she wanted and found her dress, flowers, photographer, videographer, etc. She was frugal and mostly really easy to work with. Weddings are so many details with so many emotions.

We enjoyed a lovely night sleep at the Purple Sage Motel.

Marriage - Its What Brings Us Together Today

The wedding week finally came.
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.

Mother of the Bride

I am the mother of the bride. Jill is getting married in 11 days. The wedding planning has really gone mostly smoothly. She knew she was getting married in May, got engaged in June, and she is getting married in October so we have had lots of time to get things ready. Jill is really good about researching options for wedding dresses, photographers, flowers, etc and then arrangements can be made. I feel like things are coming along.

The last couple days I have worried a bit more if everything is ready. Today I felt more worry and uneasiness if everything would work out. I was trying to work on the slideshow and it wasn't working. I tried to do my hair a different way to practice for the wedding, and it wasn't working. Jill and Larsen were planning to get pre-wedding bridal pictures taken today, and the veil wasn't done and some other glitches with her hair and make-up for today.

Then we were driving to church, and Hanna text me and said she had been puking all night. And we got to church and the opening hymn was, "I Have Work Enough To Do," and I thought, yes I do. I'm not sure it will all come together.

Church was good and I felt a bit better. I made progress on the slideshow this afternoon.

We went to the seminary fireside tonight, and some friends told me that there is a high school football game in Lethbridge the night of our reception here. So then all of the worry came back again, and I wondered what if we put in this work and no one comes. It is also Canadian Thanksgiving weekend.

The fireside was really good. Earlier at church, I thought that I needed a pep talk from Char Olsen. She is a good friend in our ward who had 3 children get married this summer. So I just needed her to tell me that it would all work out.  Jackie Olsen, another friend, and Char's sister-in-law was also there at the fireside, so I told them I needed a pep talk. It was just what I needed.

Char told me that it would all work out. She told me that I needed to tell Satan to get behind me. Jackie told me I should get a priesthood blessing (which I did when I got home), and that I can ask for angels to assist me. Char also told me that when she was sitting in the sealing room waiting for the bride and groom to come in (for both her daughters) she felt some guilt that she hadn't spent more time preparing for that moment and for that ordinance. She had spent more time thinking about the napkins (and other preparations). She said that as you sit in the sealing room and listen to the words of the sealing ordinance watching your own daughter at the altar, all of the other things melt away and don't seem as important. She also said that on the day of the wedding, the bride and groom don't care about the little things either - they are just excited to be married.

Then she told me that she had a tied quilt that she was giving to Jill for her wedding. I realized that people love Jill and we will feel loved even if they can't come to the reception because they live far away or will be at a football game.

Char's third wedding and reception this summer were scheduled to be outside at her house. They had spent so much time and effort getting everything ready. The night before the wedding, it was pouring rain. I drove past and Char was out in the pouring rain in a hoody mowing the grass by the driveway. I was so worried for them that it would rain again on the wedding day. It turned out to be absolutely perfect weather. She said it was because so many people prayed for them.

So I am thankful tonight for the peace of the Saviour and of good friends and good family. So from Char and Jackie, I learned to have faith, that it will all work out even if you have to mow the lawn in the rain, to not spend so much time worrying about the napkins, and that we are loved.

Jill and Larsen went to Zions National Park and were really happy with how everything turned out - the location, hair, dress, photographer, etc.

Hanna is feeling a little better and got to hear Elder Jeffery R. Holland speak to all of the young adults in Logan.

Austin gave me a blessing to have peace, to feel love, to ask for help from my friends, and to get everything accomplished and to prioritize the things that we need to get done.

Lucy went and got her scriptures and read this to me - John 14:18 "I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you."

Jill & Larsen ~ First Look