Janelle and Bryton's Wedding Reception!!

Janelle and Bryton decided to have their wedding reception the night before their wedding (like Jared and Hallie). They wanted to split up the festivities and since it was the day after Thanksgiving, this gave guests from out of town a day to travel to St. George in order to arrive by the reception that evening (or late afternoon, since the reception started at 4:00). Since it was winter, we decided to start the reception earlier so that it hopefully wouldn't get too cold. 

They had their reception in the backyard of the Blonquist's house -- a family friend of the Gustins. We all met at their house in the morning so that we could set up for the reception. The Gustins and the Blonquists did SO MUCH to help with the wedding reception and luncheon! They arranged the yard, the tables and chairs, the heaters, the string lights, the luncheon, and the ice-cream machine. They also had several friends who lent tableclothes, dishes, platters, and more. 

Bryton's dad made the lovely hexagon backdrop and all of the little hexagon centerpieces. Bryton's grandma did all of the flowers for the bouquets, centerpieces, backdrop, boutineers, and arrangements for the food table, gift table, and sign-in table and they were gorgeous!  

Everything for the reception looked beautiful! It was a little cold, but not too bad. They had firepits and heaters, which really helped. We had a hot chocolate bar and cookies. Julie Yearsley did Janelle's hair and she looked beautiful! We had a good turn out. Of course there were loads of people out of town since it was over the Thanksgiving weekend, but we still had a good amount over all. 

One of my favorite parts of the night was the Daddy Daughter Dance! It was so precious! Rick had written a song just for this occasion and it is touching and beautiful! Janelle wanted to do the mid-dance dance break like Janika did and so that was a fun addition. Rick choreographed the ending where Janelle looks back and forth between her dad (representing her old life) and Bryton (representing her new life). She hesitates and then waves goodbye to her dad and then joins hands with Brytons. It is totally sappy, but still makes me cry, haha! I will include a video as well as an album with more pictures. 

Jared was the DJ (his very first time before officially starting his own DJ business months later). He did a great job -- especially for having never done it before. Lots of people joined the dance floor! Janelle and Bryton did some swing dancing and the crowd joined in with some line dancing. At the end of the reception we sent off the bride and groom with a sparkler send-off!! 

I was in charge of the cookies and the hot chocolate bar and had been preparing for weeks. Josh's floor was covered with boxes and supplies that I had purchased or borrowed. I bought the ice-cream mixes for the ice-cream machine and all of the toppings for the hot chocolate bar and ice-cream. Jenna and I had made several dozen cookies and several friends and family members on both sides made and brought cookies. We ended up with WAY more than we needed though! We were able to serve cookies and ice-cream again as part of the luncheon the next day and still had loads leftover to take home and give away. I had hired my niece, Christine Westra, to make the gluten free cookies and we had cookies left in our freezer for months afterwards. I was okay with that though, they made for great little snacks! Emily Williams designed several of the cute signs for me and then I went and got them printed. I was grateful for everyone's help and support!  

 

Daddy Daughter Dance (Janelle and Bryton's Wedding)

Janelle and I searched and searched for a song for the Daddy Daughter Dance and had a difficult time finding one we liked. So Rick ended up writing one! It is beautiful! Of course this version cuts out the second verse since Janelle wanted to add the fun dance break in the middle. But I have included the full version as well! 

 

Janelle and Bryton Wedding Video

Gavin Thayne (James Thayne's son) did Janelle and Bryton's wedding video for free. I wish it were longer, with more upbeat songs, but he got some pretty shots!

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Tuesday 26: Janika and Brandon came from Pleasant Grove, arriving around 1:00. I didn’t realize that they were coming so early and told them that no one would be home since Rick and I both had interpreting jobs. They said it was fine; they planned to put the boys to bed as soon as they got there. I got home around 3:00 and then played race tracks with Everett. He loved it! He is so dang cute! Janika had said that Everett had seen the Marco Polo of me and Evan putting marbles and cards down our long orange race tracks and told him mom that he wanted to play race tracks with Grandma too.

We have a really old set, that we have had for many years, and most of the connectors are lost. I pretty much had to tape everything together with duct tape when I did it with Evan, and so I decided to order a couple of new sets for the boys. So, me and Everett put them together and build a long track. He had fun and was being silly and kept laughing and laughing.

Janika had offered to make dinner so that I could keep playing with Everett. So, we had a nice spaghetti dinner later that night. Janelle and Bryton arrived later that night and so it was good to see them too.

Wednesday 27: Today we did a bunch of cooking for Thanksgiving. Jenna made the pretzel jello and four step pudding. We also made gluten free stuffing. I had a hair appointment this afternoon and Rick worked with Janelle on the Daddy-Daughter dance for the wedding. Jared and Hallie also arrived today. I stayed up until midnight finishing up the yams so that I wouldn't have to worry about it the next day!   

Thursday 28: We had a really nice Thanksgiving! I started a little earlier this year, so that the turkey would be finished by noon or so. Jared and Hallie went running in the morning. Janelle and Janika went outside to peel the potatoes in the sunshine. We ate around 1:00. Everything was delicious! We went around the table so that everyone could say something they were grateful for and we gave a toast to each one! 

We enjoyed our meal and then Jared and Hallie started washing all of the dishes. Then they went outside to play croquet. Josh was able to call and so we talked to him for a while. They didn't do anything for Thanksgiving, which was too bad. Jaiden tried to hop on the call too, but was on her way to Zone Conference and didn't have a good enough internet connection. We all played JackBox and some of us took naps. 

Rick worked with Janelle on her dance for the Daddy-Daughter dance and it looks so cute (a little cheesy, but also precious!) I was in the kitchen and Christmas music was wafting through the air. I looked out the window to see Janika spinning a smiling Callan around. Behind them Rick and Janelle were dancing. I suddenly felt overcome with gratitude and became emotional as I just soaked it all in! It was just like something from a movie, ha ha! We truly have been blessed! 

Janelle and Bryton left around 5:00 to go spend the rest of the evening with Bryton's family where they were having another Thanksgiving meal. They had fun over there also, playing games and being together. The rest of us ate pie and four step pudding and watched "Family Man," which is one of my favorite movies. I was working on writing out the chalkboard labels for the ice cream and hot chocolate toppings for the wedding while watching it, so I was only halfway paying attention, but I have seen it several times. Then everyone headed to bed so that we would be ready for the reception the next day!! Janelle was pretty late getting home, so I waited for her to come home before heading to bed too. 

These two brothers look so much alike! Here they are two years apart, wearing the same little shirt. So cute! 

The cute newlyweds in their adorable matching pajamas! 

Stars, Styles, and Songs

Tuesday 12: Today I interpreted for Utah Tech. Jan Broberg had free tickets to her play, “Steel Magnolias,” and offered them to us. Rick had to teach a class and so I invited Allison Williams to come with me. We also ran into Mari Purdy and her sister there. The play was good, and they did a great job!

Wednesday 13: It was hard to get up early this morning after being up a little late last night! I worked in Cedar City at SUU and then went straight to Utah Tech to interpret there. Then Rick and I went to the temple for an endowment session that night, which was nice! President Caplin is in the temple presidency and he was there. He is going to be the sealer for Janelle’s wedding in a couple of weeks! I had reached out to him a month or so to ask if he could do it and he said that he would be honored!

Thursday 14: Today was Grandma Jensen’s birthday. I worked at Utah Tech. Rick hosted Jenna’s Lunch Bunch at our house while I was at work. He grilled hamburgers for them and welcomed them to "RickDonalds!"  I am grateful that I am married to someone who can cook!

Tonight I went to the RS Book Club. I have never been before. Our RS does a book club every few months and I typically read the book (or rather listen to the audio version) but I never go to the book club because it seems like I always have something going on. But I decided to go. There were only four people who came, so that’s too bad, but it was still fun.

The book was Pride and Prejudice and so I re-listened to it over the past couple of weeks to refresh my memory. It has been years since I have read it and so I really enjoyed it. For the Book Club we watched the movie (the 2005 Keira Knightley version). I had never seen it (I don’t think anyway), and I really enjoyed it. Keira Knightley, who played Elizabeth Bennet, looks SO much like Drue Allred Ence (Ethan's sister)! 

When I got home Rick was on the phone with Grandma Jensen to wish her a Happy Birthday. So, I joined in their call.

Friday 15: Today I worked in Cedar City and then stopped at the Storage Home Center to pick up 20 bags of Hot Cocoa mix for Janelle’s wedding reception! 

Jenna came over with a whole gang of friends and they made fettucine. I went and picked up some gluten free oatmeal from Michelle Joines that I had ordered from Azure. The kids partially cleaned up, but I ended up staying up and cleaning up the rest of their mess while they watched a movie in the basement.

Saturday 16: Rick had a meeting this morning and then left for California to meet with the deaf branch leadership and visit the deaf school etc. I had an interpreting workshop for four hours over zoom. It was pretty good. It was called, “Don’t Be Mad if I Don’t Watch: Interpreting for Hard of Hearing Clients. The presenter was Hard of Hearing, and the topic was really interesting. I have interpreted for hard of hearing clients in the past and it can be frustrating when they don’t look at me and I feel like I am just interpreting to the air, ha ha! So, it was interesting to hear what it is like from their perspective.

While I was in the workshop Jenna and Ethan started putting up the Christmas decorations. They did the staircase, and the nativity sets and stockings. We still have to do the trees, which will take a while.

Jenna had a double date, which she and Claire had put together a while back. Jenna went with Elias. They went to play pickleball. Jenna said that it was fun. I took a nap and went for a walk. Jenna went to work and I worked on some stuff while watching a movie. Jenna keeps having movies on while she is working on her Sadies hoodies, and it keeps sucking me in, ha ha! I was glad that Jenna came home right after work so that we could go through her song for tomorrow.

Sunday 17: This morning Jenna and I went through her song and then Rebecca Gulbranson came over to run through it with her. She sang “His Image in Your Countenance,” which is a song that I sung when I was her age!! It was written by Janice Kapp Perry and published in 1985! It was so old that I couldn't find a digital copy online anywhere to send to our accompanist and had to scan a copy from the physical songbook that I had on hand. The picture on the cover of the book shows a young woman in a pink dress with puffy sleeves. Funnily enough, dresses similar to that are back in style today, ha ha!  

I don't play the piano anymore, which is sad that I have let that talent go. But I found that I could still play this one -- probably because it is easy and because I used to play it back in high school. Anyway, Jenna had heard it somewhere and wanted to learn it. She did really well, it was pretty! 

After church Jenna went to Bria’s to work on their hoodies, but they didn’t have the stuff to do it and so she ended up coming back home and sewing it. She got black hoodies and sewed a big white star on the back – all by hand and two smaller stars on the front. She has spent lots of hours on it!

Ethan came over later while Jenna worked on her hoodies and they watched a movie. I half watched the movie while working on the Christmas tree – cutting off the old broken lights and trying to get all of the tangled lights off and spreading out the branches. It took the whole movie, ha ha! And this was just the smaller free in the front room! We haven’t even started the big tree!

Ellen has been having contractions, and so we are praying for her and baby Elsie. This week her sister is going over for three days to help with the boys so that Ellen can rest. Janika is going over on Thursday. She is just 31 weeks. They want to make it at least to Saturday so that they can go to the closer hospital instead of the one farther away. The closer one will only take her if she is at least 32 weeks. But we are praying that she can last longer than that!! 

Missing Keys and Answered Prayers, Part 2

Thursday 7: This morning started off extra nice! I have had to wake up early almost every day the past few months to interpret morning classes, but today I didn't have to interpret until mid-morning. So, I was able to sleep in and then stay in my nice warm bed and study the scriptures for about an hour, which is a luxury I rarely have lately. Then Rick and I were able to spend time together before he had to go to work.

I got ready and went to leave for my interpreting job, but soon realized that my keys were missing. I looked around for a few minutes, but they were nowhere to be seen. I texted Jenna and Rick in case they had accidentally taken them or put them somewhere and they both said that they did not have them and hadn't seen them. At this point I was starting to panic. Time was going by, and I was going to be very late if I didn't find them soon and might not be able to show up at all. Thankfully it was an assignment where I had a team and so I texted her and explained the situation and then continued to look for them. I thought, "This hasn't happened to me for years!" I was frantically searching everywhere while praying at the same time. I wondered if this was happening simply so that I would have a personal experience to share at my Relief Society lesson on Sunday! The lesson I am teaching is on Bishop L. Todd Budge's talk called "Seek Him With All Your Heart, " from the October 2024 General Conference. 

His talk explains the important of having quiet time every day to commune with God and be strengthened by Him. He said that President Nelson reminds us that "quiet time is sacred time -- time that will facilitate personal revelation and instill peace." But to hear the still voice of the Lord, he counseled, "you too must be still." So, I had this talk in mind while I was frantically running around and praying to find my keys. I also had a couple of other experiences come to my mind. 

The first experience that was brought to my mind was when Rick and I were session directors for EFY and had been invited by a counselor to come to their company meeting to share some thoughts with their youth. They wanted it to be a special surprise for their youth and Rick and I told her we would love to come. She told us their company spot and we promised to meet them there in the morning. I thought I knew the place she was describing, but when we arrived the next morning, their company wasn't there. I realized that I must have misunderstood the location. This was a huge campus with hundreds of youth in their various group locations all over campus. We had no idea where to go and no way to contact the counselor. 

We hurriedly walked to several different company spots and asked if they knew where this particular counselor and her company were located. Nobody did. I was praying the entire time to know where to go but received no direction. I felt so frustrated knowing that they were expecting us and would be disappointed that we had not shown up. We never found their group and I felt really frustrated and upset about it. Later on, we finally ran into the counselor and apologized profusely and explained that we had looked all over but couldn't find their company location. I then asked for her phone number so that this wouldn't happen again, and she said, "You already have it, I gave it to you on the first day." I checked my phone, and sure enough I had her phone number. I had her number, but she didn't have mine. Had I known (or remembered) that I had her phone number then the whole problem would have been alleviated because I could have just called her to ask for directions. 

Afterwards I felt so frustrated with the whole situation. I told Rick that I had been praying the entire time that we were looking for their group and couldn't understand why the Holy Ghost hadn't simply reminded me that I had her phone number. After all, it was a righteous desire for service that we be where we had been asked to be. Rick said that I had been so frantic and stressed, rushing around like crazy, that it was no wonder I hadn't felt the whisperings of the Holy Ghost in that situation. Even though I was praying in my mind the entire time, I wasn't taking the time to listen for an answer. I have never forgotten that situation. How many times do I pray for something, but am too busy, or frazzled, or stressed to receive the answer? How often is the Holy Ghost trying to tell me something, but I am simply too distracted or busy to receive the prompting? 

So, this morning I decided to kneel down and "be still" in order to ask for help with finding my keys. I really tried to focus and be present and open to revelation. I prayed earnestly asking Heavenly Father if He would let me know where my keys were. I really tried to focus with faith. Then my daughter, Jenna, texted me asking where the "lunch bunch" was that day. She and her friends have a lunch group, and they trade off going to different homes for lunch. I looked up the signup sheet and saw that no one had signed up for today. Then I realized that if she came home I could take her car to work. She didn't want to because she was worried that she wouldn't have a way back to school. So, I continued to search for the keys and felt so frustrated about not showing up to work and leaving the other interpreter to handle the whole class, which would be exhausting to do alone. I was feeling more and more stressed and started to cry, which was really embarrassing when Jenna did end up coming home with her friends.  

Jenna did end up coming home, and so I took her car and headed to work. But right when I arrived, the interpreter, who was already there, said that the student was feeling sick and had decided to go home. So, I wouldn't have had to even come in!! I called Jenna and told her that I was on my way back home with her car. As I was driving home I pondered on the other experience that had come to my mind while I was praying earlier. In the beginning of 2019, I lost my keys. I searched for hours and prayed again and again. Finally, I received a distinct impression to look in the garbage can. You can read that story HERE. Well, with that story in mind, I came home and gave Jenna back her car, and then I went straight to the kitchen garbage can. I took the bag out of the can and started sifting through it. And there near the bottom of the bag were my keys!!! 🤦

Heavenly Father really HAD answered my prayers, just like last time (and the keys were in the garbage both times)! He had also provided me with several tender mercies -- my daughter's car, an interpreting situation where I wasn't needed after all, and then finding my keys!! I am so grateful to Heavenly Father for answering prayers, even though it isn't always in the moment or way that I want. I can be very impatient and want answers immediately. Today, I was late for work, frantic, and wanted an answer right away!! Sometimes we do get an immediate answer. But other times we need to take a few moments to be still and so that we can receive those quiet whisperings of the spirit. So as it turns out, not only do I have my keys back, I also have a story for my Relief Society lesson on Sunday!! 😂 

God is good!!