On the Road Again!Part #1 - Brady and Linsey's Wedding
We left for Utah on a Thursday morning that was bright and clear. The road from our house to Mom and Dad's is almost exactly 800 miles. We were completely outfitted with the requsite supplies, crackers, a cooler of sandwiches and Capri-Sun drink pouches, cold veggies, and of course, red licorice. Water is meted out sparingly, for obvious reasons.
Having made this journey through I-80 nearly two dozen times, the family has become quite adept at longterm car travel. The children pack an array of books, pencils, crayons, and notebooks to occupy themselves as we travel. Becky always brings with her an assortment of dramatized history tapes to help the time go by. We have also made it a practice of reading great literature as a family on the road. Together, we have braved the battles of the White Witch with the Pevensies, settled the wild prairie with the Ingalls family, and soared with Harry Potter on his Firebolt as he fought for the House Cup.
We make two stops per trip, each after three hundred or so miles. Each stop is the same. With a coordinated precision enviable of any NASCAR pit crew, we keep our gas/potty time to 15 minutes or less. First, I pull up to the pumps and then Becky and the girls head into the station for the restroom as I fill the tank, clean the windshield. After completing the fuel, I'll pull the car to the door of the station and the boys and I head in to answer nature's call. Most often, the ladies are just leaving and Matthew gets his diaper changed. Within minutes, we are back on the road.
This year, we added another tool to our travel, the portable, dual-screen DVD player. Highly recommended by friends and family alike, we have resisted this move as long as we felt was possible. However, as children are wont to do, they are getting larger and the relative space between passengers is shrinking. Following the laws of physics, increased pressure is manifested as "particles" are increasingly agitated against the other and the temperatures predictably rise. But now, when we are about to reach our boiling point, I don't have to ask them to "show a little patience." We have patience on a little disc. Simply insert and like magic, patience is restored.
We arrived at Mom and Dad's around dinner time Thursday night and rested before a Friday full of activities. We had a chance to meet Linsey, Brady's (at the time) fiance, as well as Kati's fiance Josh.
Friday morning, we made the short drive from Riverton to South Jordan to visit the Oquirrh Mountain Temple open house. This gave us a great opportunity to share with the kids the temple, show them the ordinance rooms, baptistry, and especially the Celestial Room. The open house tour begins with a short film about temples, the history of the Church in South Jordan, and particulars about this temple. Then, the group of around a hundred line through the temple. The floors were protected by plastic walkways or temporary carpeting. The children were especially impressed by the baptismal font on 12 oxen, the ordinance rooms, and the Celestial Room. Though there was a steady stream of people at every step, the crowd was particularly reverent. I was apprehensive that Matthew, our lovable, but reverence-challenged little boy might become a distraction. To my utter suprise and delight, he reacted well to the reverent nature of the tour and was an absolute treat. He seemed as transfixed on the interior beauty of the temple as we were.
Friday evening, Mom and Dad hosted a wedding dinner for both families. We spent the afternoon preparing food and accommodations for what turned out to be a very large, and friendly gathering of friends, family and future in-laws.
Friday night was reserved for the bachelor and bachelorette parties. Each was kid-friendly as the men and boys went bowling and the ladies headed off for ice cream. I exhibited my utter lack of skill at bowling, though I did show improvement as the night wore on. Topher and Jared, assisted by the bumpers, scored quite well.
Saturday morning, I slept in as much as I could. The boys, rooming with their cousins Eli and Jacob, spent the entire night playing video games. For my boys, who own no video game console, it must have been heaven on earth. The night before, I was about to put the kybosh on the late night activities, split them up and force some sleep upon them. Then, from out of nowhere, a relatively foreign idea come to mind. "Hey, I was young once and would have loved to play video games until the wee hours of the night." So, we turned a blind eye to them and while they were certainly tired the next day, they had the morning to recover and were right as rain for the wedding.
Brady and Linsey were married at the church attended by my folks to a great crowd. Daina was called into service at the last moment as the flower girl and she performed admirably. This girl, who loves to play princess like none I have ever seen, relished the role and I believe she made a very lovely flower girl.
After the wedding, Roger and Leslie, who were in Utah for a work conference, came to visit us in Riverton. We spent the evening at the park near my folks' home with family from both sides eating sandwiches, fresh cherries from Emmitt, Idaho, and enjoying an unusually comfortable and cool Utah summer evening.
Ethan and Matthew, Boys on Wheels
Girl Talk, No Boys Allowed!I think one impression I left with after this this trip was the great group of people our families are. We are especially excited with the inclusion of Linsey in our family and look forward to many wonderful memories with her and Brady as a lovely married couple. Likewise, we are so very excited to welcome more new people into the family with the next three weddings.
But especially, I am reminded of the principles taught in the Church's Proclamation to the World on The Family:
... Husband and wife have a solemn responsibility to love and care for each other and for their children. "Children are an heritage of the Lord" (Psalms 127:3). Parents have a sacred duty to rear their children in love and righteousness, to provide for their physical and spiritual needs, to teach them to love and serve one another, to observe the commandments of God and to be law-abiding citizens wherever they live. Husbands and wives—mothers and fathers—will be held accountable before God for the discharge of these obligations.
The family is ordained of God. Marriage between man and woman is essential to His eternal plan. Children are entitled to birth within the bonds of matrimony, and to be reared by a father and a mother who honor marital vows with complete fidelity. Happiness in family life is most likely to be achieved when founded upon the teachings of the Lord Jesus Christ. Successful marriages and families are established and maintained on principles of faith, prayer, repentance, forgiveness, respect, love, compassion, work, and wholesome recreational activities...
Stay Tuned for future installments of the epic: Summer of Road Trips...!
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