Jared begins as a DJ!

Jared had his first DJ gig!! (Aside from Janelle and Bryton's wedding). It was for his friend, John and Aizy's wedding! The reception was held at the Mathis. 

General Conference and Conference Crepes!!

Rick went all out for Conference Crepes this year! They were awesome!! Thanks to the St. George Marathon we had Jared, Hallie, Bryton, and Janelle in town for Conference! 

Favorite quote of the day came from two-year-old Everett. Janika and Brandon were discussing the "peacemaker talk" and Everett said, "And do you think we should be an ice maker? To help Jesus?"

😂😂😂

Little Everett is very observant and smart. When Bradley Wilcox gave his conference talk and said, "From Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia to Thomas, Idaho..." Everett piped up when he heard "Mongolia" and said, "That's where Jaiden is!" 

We did have some worn out kids today though!!! I didn't get any sleeping pictures of Jared and Hallie, although I am sure they slept a lot after the marathon. I did get a couple of Janelle and Bryton though!  

St. George Marathon!!

Jared and Hallie ran the St. George Marathon today, along with Hallie's brother and sister-in-law. Bryton ran the half marathon, along with his brother, sister-in-law, and mom. Rick, Janelle, and I went to cheer them on! Janelle and I made some posters the night before, which I will never do again, because they were just a pain to carry around and it is so crowded on the side-lines, there isn't much room for posters! We have lived in the St. George area for 27 years and this is the FIRST marathon we have attended!! Usually we stay home and avoid all the crowds! But this is the first time that we had family members running in it. The half-marathoners were first, so we cheered them on and got some pictures. 

Then we waited around for the marathon finishers. Jared came through and we cheered him on through the finish line. When he finally made it back to where we were he pretty much collapsed. He said it was AWFUL!! He said it was the worst pain he has every felt in his entire life and he will NEVER do it again! It was also unseasonably hot today which made things a lot worse. When we saw how bad he was I started to worry about Hallie, who was about 30 minutes or so behind him. But after she finished and made it back to us she looked great! She looked like she hadn't even broken a sweat, ha ha. We would have never guessed that she had just run an entire marathon!! Jared started to do a little better once he got some food and protein shakes down him. The rest of the weekend Jared and Hallie were so sore! Hopefully they recovered fully before their belated honeymoon a week later! 

Jared and Hallie's Wedding Video!!!!

 Click HERE to view Jared and Hallie's Wedding Video!! https://vimeo.com/1019590363

Wedding Luncheon: Jared and Hallie

After the sealing and pictures we headed to Shane and Alicia's house for the luncheon, which was catered by Costa Vida. Everything looked very nice and the food was delicious. The only drawback was the heat.  The temperature was perfect for the reception the evening before, but at 1:00 it was pretty hot. They had one tent for the head table, which consisted of Jared and Hallie and parents, and so we were fairly comfortable. But I worried about the others since there was no shade. Jared had brought sound equipment, that he borrowed, and they planned to have some speeches from the parents and a few others. However, after people ate they were starting to leave (part of that may have been because it was hot) and so Jared and Hallie decided to drop the speeches. They were probably anxious to get off on their honeymoon anyway! 

These pictures are from the hope chest items from Grandma Jensen. Every year she makes something for all of the grandchildren and then gives it to them for Christmas. She saves all of these gifts until they get married and then gives them all to them to display at their wedding reception (or in this case, luncheon) and then they have them to start off their new life together. And then of course we also had to represent our missionaries!! 

After the luncheon we had a second "send off," this time with bubbles!! 

I hadn't even noticed the scriptures written on their get-away car until making this post. Leave it to Jared (or his friends) to do something like that, haha! (1 Nephi 11:2 &15; Genesis 2:25)

Happy Honeymooning, Jared and Hallie!!! 

After they left we put all of the extra food and dishes away. The nice thing about Costa Vida is that you can get lots of points on a big purchase like this! So Jared and Hallie were able to get lots free meals from their points. After putting everything away (except for the tables and chairs) Rick and I went to take a nap!! By the time we woke up the tables and chairs were gone (the company had come and picked everything up.) We had to wash all of the table cloths and drop them off to the person Jared rented them from on our way home. We then headed back to St. George!!! It was a busy, wonderful day!!   

Jared and Hallie's Wedding!!

Rick, Jenna, and I slept over at Shane and Alicia's last night. The luncheon after the sealing was going to be held in their backyard, and so Rick and I got up early to put out the table cloths, centerpieces, flowers, hope chest display, and foot tables. Shane and Alicia got up early to help us. They were a huge help!! We finally got everything done and it looked really nice! We got ready and headed over to the Timpanogos Temple. Jenna was babysitting the kids in the temple lobby during the sealing. 

We had gotten permission for Josh to come witness the sealing and that was a huge tender mercy!! In fact, his district was scheduled to be at the Mount Timpanogos temple to do sealings at the exact same time as Jared and Hallie's sealing and so it worked out perfectly! We didn't have to drive to the Provo to pick him up, or bring him back, he simply went with his district on the bus and rode home with them on the bus!

The sealing was at 10:00, but we came an hour early. When we got there I went to the waiting room and Josh was already there. Rick had gone with Jared since Rick was his escort. So I got to visit with Josh for a while in the waiting room and when family members started to arrive they were able to visit with him also. Then we all went into the sealing room. Rick had told everyone to stand up when Jared and Hallie walked in. 

I had planned for around 30-40 minutes for the ceremony, but we were finished in ten minutes. The sealer typically speaks for 10-15 minutes, teaching about the marriage covenant and giving some advice, and then goes into the actual sealing. But this sealer didn't do any of that. He may have said something, but it was only a minute or two. He then said, "Well, the groom wanted me to keep it short, so we will go ahead with the sealing." Or something to that affect, and no, Jared hadn't said anything like that to them. 

He did the sealing, and pronounced the amazing sealing blessings upon them, and then they were married, sealed as husband and wife for time and all eternity!! What a joyous day!! Everyone hugged Jared and Hallie before leaving the room and then we went outside and waited for them to come out! The photographer and videographer took a bunch of pictures and then we got Josh back to his group so that he could ride the bus back to the MTC with them. We then hurried over to Shane and Alicia to make sure that everything was ready to go for the luncheon!!