Jessica's wedding

It's been two weeks now since we returned home from Utah. I spent the first week trying to unpack and do the laundry and take care of sick kids (I can't say that I've really ever caught up on all of that), but then I spent the second week starting to hash out the plans for our upcoming kitchen remodel (yikes!). I think that the time has come for me to finally put up some pictures of our supercalifragilisticexpialidocious trip, before it gets to be like our Christmas trip to NYC that just may go forever undocumented. And especially now that Adam has informed me that to upload the pictures from our new camera is exactly the same method as on our old camera and that I really can't just blame it on him not doing it for me as the reason I've taken so long, well, there's really just no excuse any longer.

Our main reason for going to Utah was to see my youngest sister Jessica get married. It's crazy that she's old enough to do this now....because that means I'm ... No actually, I am so happy for her. Jessica is one of the sweetest and most generous and big-hearted people I know. We were really lucky to have Jessie live with us all last summer and we loved getting to know her as an aunt, as an adult (since she was only nine when I moved out of the house), and as a friend. Also, we were super spoiled as she was like my third arm and never said "no" to any of my asking her to babysit, paint the playstructure, weed the backyard, do the grocery shopping, take the kids to the pool, paint my bedroom, get the car re-registered at the DMV, etc. In fact, you may wonder what I did all summer if she was doing all of that. More than one friend told me in jealousy that they wished that they had an "Aunt Jessie" living at their house. So the only downside to her getting married is that she isn't coming back again this summer.

Their actual wedding day was really sweet and they are an adorable couple. Here are
a few highlights of the wedding, the reception, and the events getting ready for it:


The immediate Smith clan (sans Justin, still on his mission):

Jayne, getting footage for one of her famous video collages:
Jordan and Rachel (who have now announced that they're expecting #2--congratulations!)

Grandma and Grandpa J:


Getting ready for the reception meant a couple of days of work making candies, getting the floral arrangements put together, and setting up the reception. My mom was an amazing director of the whole operation.


The whole kitchen smelled sooooo good:




The day before the wedding my sister Jayne took my older kids for the night and day for a sleepover. The kids had a really great time and were spoiled by a trip to the Bean museum, bowling at BYU, lunch at the Cougareat, and fun computertime at Jayne's school's computerlab (she's the computer teacher at Wasatch). It was one of the highlights of their trip, and it meant that Adam and I were free for all the wedding reception prep. Thanks so much Jayne! Sometime she'll have to supply me with pictures of the day.

My sister-in-law Karen probably won't love this picture, but it's about the only one I have of her. She was a huge behind the scenes player and, frankly, we couldn't have done this wedding successfully without her. Not only was she the photographer for the entire event (and a really good one at that), but she made these cute little vests for the boys to wear, she put together all of the historical photos that were being used as the centerpieces, and was the general go-to gal for my mom since the rest of the sisters were either out of state or in school and full-time jobs.

Little bookends, Olivia and Melanie:


The four babies: Madison (12mo), Isabel (18 mo), Clara (14 mo), Owen (10mo)
And look whose baby isn't very happy about being posed.

Joce and Brian with Spencer (5) and Clara (1):


Max, Lauren, Spencer and Noah spent the whole evening on "gift duty." Too bad there's not an in-focus picture of this, but they really took the whole thing pretty seriously and were loving it.


Congratulations Jessie and Ryan. We wouldn't have missed it!