What A Week - 1st Calder Family Wedding...34 to go!

It was a fast a furious week! I don't think we have our wedding legs yet with this being our first Calder wedding. It was great though! We had a really fun bridal shower on Wednesday morning for James. We worked hard to make it special. I included some of the pictures with the big balloons in our pool. We had a great time celebrating Erin and James. We had about 45 people come - lots of family and close friends. It was HOT! Erin comes from a great family. She's from North Carolina. Her Dad's a convert as of recently. There are varying levels of activity in her family, which makes getting married in the temple tricky when family members can't be there. It's also a little awkward when the people sealing your daughter is the groom's father (yes, Clark was the sealer and it was AWESOME!) and the bride's father isn't able to come BUT James, Erin, Christine and Clark handled everything so beautifully and Christ-like. The spirit was so strong at every event and I really hope we can be as wonderful as Christine and Clark when we have weddings. I think when it was all said and done, Erin's family just felt like part of the family! Wednesday night we had the chance to go to the Bountiful Temple with John to take out his endowment. It was wonderful to be in the temple together. I sat by Erin and she was giddy. It was the first time she and James had been in the temple together (she's a return missionary from Peru). John was a stud. He did a great job. He was a little "deer in the headlights" after everything, but he just rolled with it. I think John has a lot of learning coming at him really quickly. I think everything will go well but he still seems so young! His start date was moved up to Monday, September 13th. He will spend 10 days at home MTC and then I think 7 days at the Provo MTC. We are so excited for him and his family. We let Henry go on an overnighter with his friends up to midway to boat. It was iffy. He's so young and we are working on trusting him. We've had some difficulties lately with Henry but we are working together on communication and listening to each other. I think things were ok. He wasn't with our favorite friends. It was Carson's family, so the trip was deluxe (#rich). He didn't sleep much but he was happy he had the opportunity. He made it home just before the rehearsal dinner, which was really fun. Clark conducted. The dinner was held at the Joseph Smith Building across the street from the SLC temple. It was a beautiful setting and the spirit was so strong. Erin and James had some sweet friends share tributes and we had the best table to sit at! All of my siblings and spouses came except Marcelle. Ryan didn't make it to the full dinner but caught the last few minutes. I just love my family so much. It was wonderful to have so much time together. Cool side note....Carston came with Mark and Shannon and toured BYU Idaho on Thursday. I really hope he makes the decision to go there in the fall. It would be SO good for him and he really needs something like that in his life. He's kind of stuck in neutral. Saturday morning we went to the sealing. Such an honor to be in the temple. Who would have ever thought that there would be a time in my lifetime with no opportunity to be inside the temple. It just feels like such a privilege to be there every time I get to go! I missed you. I always miss you when I'm in the temple. Tons of pictures after the temple...and you know how Horsleys love pictures! Henry, Gwen and Jane were champs and came early to wait outside the temple and help with the kids (Judy, Sally, Stuart and Simon). McKay raced early on Saturday morning (he left the house at 5am!) We were SOOOO bummed not to be at his race because he WON the entire race! With a sprint to the finish. We were all so thrilled! A win like this was a long time in coming! He's had so many times that he's raced but not finished due to mechanical issues. I'm hoping that Dad and I aren't bad luck for him. We've been at every race except the one he won! Did I tell you that McKay has me on a 6 week trainer road program? I've completed two weeks (one week of practice and ramp tests, one real one) and let me just say that my bum is killing me! It has been a new challenge and I'm enjoying it. I'm all set up on the rollers downstairs. Anyway, after the endless pictures outside the temple, we took all the Calder family to our house to swim and hang out. We had a great time. It was a race to get back to the ring ceremony at 6pm downtown, but totally worth it. Because so many from Erin's family were not able to be inside the temple, there was a ring ceremony. It was very similar to weddings you see on TV with walking down the aisle, a flower girl (Claire), and the father giving the bride away. It was beautiful but it did not compare to what happens inside the temple! The wedding reception was directly after and it was super fun. There were many members of the 12 and general authorities, which is always fun. The night went on and on and on and we only lost Jane once. I was super stressed out. I truly looked everywhere. I was about to throw up when I got a text from Sharon that she had Jane in the basement....strange? But I was so glad to find her! I only threw up a little in my mouth. I hate those moments! Anyway, it was a thrilling week/weekend. We were spent. Jane was in full meltdown mode at the end of the reception. There was a lot of PDA and kissing from James and Erin but they were so happy! Henry has had all he can handle of the PDA for a lifetime. McKay, Henry and Gwen had a great time rocking out on the dance floor. We just have another 34 weddings to go on the Calder side! So....we just hung up from you. It was better than wonderful to catch up. Such a highlight of my week! I love EVERYTHING you shared about your introspection and I hope and pray that Henry was listening. That completely explained his thinking so well in a way that I've never been able to verbalize. If he could listen and learn from you and what you are learning and doing, he would be SO MUCH better off!! Thank you for sharing. I think it makes Heavenly Father so happy when we have those aha moments and make connections that will draw us closer to our savior. Have a wonderful week. I love and miss you. Keep up the amazing work! You are making me so proud. You're doing great things and making such great progress in becoming who the Lord wants you to be. Oh yeah, and Jane sent you a short message. She was so sad she couldn't say hi. Maybe you can send Jane a message back? Love you tons! MOM :)

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