Boi and Gyrl Get Hitched December 17, 2011

I was shocked to see that I have not blogged a ding-dang-darn thing since the birthdays of my two youngest in October!!!! Can you spell s-l-a-c-k-e-r? My excuse is that I was preparing for Zac and Katie to be married! Big events like that are all-consuming for me. Since the date was set for the week before Christmas, with both receptions happening on the same day as the sealing, well, there were some serious preparations to be made!

Sarah flew out from Texas to Utah and helped KB pick out her dress. The dress she choose was the first dress she tried on. Sarah made her try on others just to be sure--besides it was fun to see KB all girlie and stuff! Thank you Sarah!

Zac's Mom took all of the photos for their announcement and there were so many it was hard to choose. Zac, Katie and Jackie designed it all. Thank you Jackie!

On the wedding day, Zac wanted to drive Katie to the temple in Seattle. To do this, he had to get up and drive at 4:30 in the morning to be here by 5:30 to catch the appropriate boat to get to the temple for pictures and preparations there. Katie, Mom, Heather and Sarah were all up at the same hour, helping with Katie's hair and make-up. We had practiced a day or two before so we knew what we were shooting for. It was all pretty hilarious, 4 women all squeezed in front of the mirror unrolling hair, pinning, taking photos and Katie admiring her new push-up bra and what it did for her....girlies.

Zac arrived on time and ate a muffin and some fruit and collected his bride for the trip to the ferry and the temple. Heather took a couple of shots, but I don't have them yet. Katie looked great...the rest of us...well we looked like we had just rolled out of bed. Welcome to the family Zac!

We were able to fit everyone into our house (except Marc and Jes were at their own apartment) and we did a pretty good job getting showered and dressed and fed and prepared for the trip over to watch the last of the Tim Bullock children be married in the temple!

Heather, Ethan, Eliza, Liam, and Afton traveled in the van; Tim Jr, Sarah and our Betty, traveled in their rental car; Grandpa Bullock and Uncle David came with Tim and I in our car and Marc and Jes met us in the ferry line on Bainbridge.

It turned out that our old Stake President--Pitcher-- was the sealer that day and all of the friends that Katie invited were there for her. What a wonderful experience it was to be in that sacred place with all of my own children and their spouses ... the friends present were a nice bonus and we appreciate their sacrifice to be there!

Here are a few of the pictures from the temple. My sweet Heather was such a trooper, following the photographer and capturing photos that we could print and use at the reception. She even got car sick trying to view and edit them while driving to Puyallup for the first reception. I love these photos!

Katie's friends at Nancy's Green Garden in Kingston made the bridal flowers. Shannon did such a nice job! I love how the color pops in these pictures.

Out front of the temple, it was a nice day for December; clear and sunny.

Believe it or not; until this day I had never even seen Katie kiss a guy--although I knew she had! ---stinker---

We were so grateful that we had all of our clan there to celebrate with Katie! It was a sacrifice that I know she appreciated...and frankly...expected....:)

Next stop was to the reception in Puyallup. (If any of you have some photos, PLEASE share them! I didn't take a single picture with my camera all day! I am so sad about that, but I just enjoyed the day and hoped others would share!) The Morrell's were so thoughtful and fed us all some delicious enchiladas for lunch then we enjoyed a beautiful ice cream sundae bar reception and got to meet the friends and family of the Morrell clan. Uncle Brad, Grandpa and Grandma Gardner drove up from California and met us there! Liam caught the garter and thought that it made a nice headband. We had a very pleasant afternoon visit with everyone in Puyallup and then we piled into the cars and drove to Poulsbo for the evening reception!

So many people to thank for helping with yummy foods, decorating, cleaning up. It turned out pretty nice!

Lots of helpers with desserts and look at that fabulous cake! It was the best tasting wedding cake I have had in a long time! Anna did a great job--it was her first wedding cake ever!

Worthy of a closer look! Katie and Zac were "playful" when it came to cutting the cake and I think one of the Chandler girls caught her bouquet. It was a lovely marathon of a day and although we thought Zac and Katie were a little crazy to try and do so much in one day... it was nice to have it all done and be able to enjoy the Bratt family for Christmas! But that will be another post!

My Dad's birthday is on the 20th of December and we had planned to celebrate it that day with him, but my mom was getting antsy to go home so we celebrated Dad's 89th birthday on the 19th with his favorite--lemon pie!

Thank you every one for helping to make Katie's special day so memorable! I owe you and will gratefully pay up when the time comes!