Texas Wedding - Part 2 - The Aftermath

After the wedding and reception, we moved from our hotel rooms over to Dan's house. He and Leslie are super kind and generous hosts! Here's K6 "chilling" out by the pool in the early morning hours...before the temperature reached 100 F, again.

K7 and K8 grew up with Dan's daughter Sarah and son Matt, two great young people.

Kids spent the rest of the weekend in the pool. Sarah gave swimming lessons to the little girls, and the boys did several versions of throwing and catching a football while airborne over the water.

It is only fitting that the "larger than life" Texas hero, General Sam Houston,  have a king-size statue. It's located in Huntsville, along I-45. Just a few minutes after this photo was taken by K8 from his side of the truck, we had a little problem that delayed our trip home...

...we had a flat tire. Not normally a big deal, but this is a Toyota truck - great in every respect except in the design of it's spare tire. It took both K8 and I a full 30 minutes of fighting it to finally get the cheesey 3-piece crank rod to lower the spare. Once we had it out, the cheesy little lug wrench would not loosen the lug nuts, so we could not get the flat tire off! I called USAA roadside. Usually they are great, but not this time. We waited a total of 3 hours on the side of the road, laden with slow moving bumper to bumper traffic right next to us, because they closed one lane for construction right after our flat! Great timing! During that 3 hours, the temperature went from 91 to 101 F. We had water bottles and a slight breeze. We survived. USAA did not send a truck from Huntsville which was only 2 miles behind us. No, they sent a truck from New Caney, which is over 45 miles south! And he was stuck in traffic the whole way. Incredible. The pleasant young guy in the tow truck arrived and gave us ice cold water. He weighed about 300 pounds and had the right tool to get lug nuts off. As he arrived, a lady pulled up behind us with a dying car, and she was in tears asking him for help getting a tow to Dallas! That just goes to show you that no matter how bad things may appear to be, someone else is really having a worse day than you.
I am buying the "right tool" to carry in my truck, and we no longer put the spare tire under the truck. It's in the bed where we can get it out in a minute. All in all, no complaints. It was worth it to make this trip. 

Because we were Blessed to see K5 and Jeremiah sealed for time and eternity in the Temple. 

And, in spite of the occasional bumps along the road of mortal life, everybody lived happily ever after!

Dearly beloved, we are gathered together to have...a Wedding!

Our large family gathered in south Texas the first week of August (107 degrees F!) for the wedding of our daughter - K5. On the day before the wedding, the families of the bride and groom (more about him later) held a fish fry lunch at the home of Danny's Grand Parents, who are mutual friends of both families, and super gracious hosts!

There were food choices for any tastes - Danny's selection of great fried fish on the left, or K3's supposedly healthier plate of grass and lettuce.

Danny's Grandpa is an avid hunter and outdoors man, as well as being a taxidermist.

K2 is wearing an arctic fox hat - super warm - while holding Wiley.

That evening we decorated for tomorrow night's reception. Take one big empty gym, and add...

....nice decorations, table & chair coverings, all done by the Bride, her Mom, the Groom's Mom, brothers and sisters, and their kids.

Finally! A picture of the Bride, K5, on the right, and her sister, K4, and Mom,  creating table center pieces. In the background is the sound man, Danny, who used his iPhone to provide music. 

And to eat? More healthy choices. Lots of them. As you can see, my wife has had a big influence on our daughters. Yea for the healthy team.

But, all is not lost! I must have had some positive influence on our children growing up, at least in the chocolate and dessert area, because K1 baked a million tiny cup cakes for those of us who needed real food.

K1, on the left, was in charge of the kitchen, ably assisted by sister, K4. Mom popped in occasionally when not busy decorating tables.

Friday, 7 August, the Big Day. We gathered at the Houston Temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. All the little ones were parked in the waiting room to be watched by teenagers, while all the adults headed for the Sealing Room.

An hour later, here they are - Mr and Mrs! Jeremiah is an awesome young man of great character and integrity who grew up in the Church in south Texas and served his 2-year Mission in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. They are a perfect couple - kind of remind me of Miss Jane Bennet and Mr Bingley from Jane Austin's "Pride and Prejudice". 

Our beautiful daughters. K3 on far left is due with her 3rd child at Thanksgiving; and K4, next, just had her 6th child last week (her 3rd daughter, Heidi); the lovely Bride, K5, who graduated from Nursing School earlier this summer; and our oldest, K1 who travelled the farthest to be with us for this wonderfully special occassion.

K5 with her four brothers. K6 had to work late last night and had just flown into Houston from Denver and arrived minutes before the photo shoot. K8, the Bride, and K7. K2 was one of the few of us "old school" guys to keep his suit coat on during the 100 degree shoot.

Families are forever, so we have to keep working harder at being more like Christ every day.Thank goodness for the Atonement of Jesus Christ and His Plan of Happiness. 

And as Latter Day Saints, we believe in Temple Marriages which last for eternity, and not just "until death do us part". We will be together forever as family in Heaven. If you want to learn more, just contact the LDS Church or Missionaries in your town, or contact me. Or, if you happen to be in Ghana, west Africa, during the next two years, get a hold of K7, the good looking guy second from the right, kneeling on the front row wearing a bow tie and vest - he'll be teaching the Gospel there until October 2017.