monkeymom's Diaryland Diary
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In which angels want to wear my red shoes, but they pinched my toes.
So the wedding is done, and the population of my house is going down slowly from what it was last Thursday, when every bed in the house and both couches were in use. The last of the guests will be leaving tomorrow, and then it will be just Rich and I, with assorted badly-behaved animals.
Diana got here Thursday afternoon, and went right to work, hemming the pants of Ash's tux and his temple pants. We hung out at the apartment in Rockford with Rachel and Ash, and went shopping at the mercado, the spanish-speaking grocery store, where we bought voodoo candles and Mexican treats! Rachel made white chili in the crockpot, which blew a fuse in the kitchen, so that was exciting, and we watched a movie, too.
While we were in Rockford, Rich was driving to Chicago to pick up Scott, Carolyn and Kim, who were arriving from Provo, and they were supposed to meet us at the apartment, but it was getting too late by the time their flight arrived.
Rachel and Ash were going to sleep at our house that night, so we packed up the car and left their place, arriving back at our house about the same time that Rich arrived with the other kids.
Friday morning Diana and I went out to breakfast, and then Diana went to work on Rachel's wedding dress. She sewed a button at the back waist and made a clever loop to pull the train up out of the way. It was brilliant, and let me just tell you that Diana did her job, that is, taking care of me, beautifully all weekend.
Rachel wanted to get a little sun before she had to appear in a bathing suit on her honeymoon in Cancun, so she's been sunning this week in our neighbor Judy's backyard, which is gorgeous, and has a tall wooden privacy fence around two sides, the third side is open to our yard. Diana and I took our knitting and kept her company. We sat in the shade!
After lunch we loaded the harp and all of our bags, and left in three cars to drive to Fort Madison, Iowa, where we were going to stay overnight. It was probably almost a four-hour drive. Rich, Diana, Kim and I were in the van with the harp and we listened to a recording of Bridget Jones Diary as we drove.
Rachel and Ash went straight to Nauvoo to meet up with his family there, and Rachel stayed to have dinner with them. The rest of us went to our hotel and schlepped (the word of the day) our bags into our rooms and then relaxed and watched cartoons until Sarah and Chris arrived with Jenna. They had all flown into St. Louis and drove up from there.
Inger was already in Nauvoo, having arrived the night before with her family to do some sightseeing. Rich's parents were staying in Galesburg overnight, after flying into Moline. We didn't see any of them until Saturday.
The ten of us, Sarah and Chris, Scott and Carolyn, Kim, Rich, Diana, Jenna, and I went out for dinner to a restaurant we'd seen as we drove into town. It was called Amigos, and since the parking lot was full, we figured it must be the best place to eat in Ft. Madison. Guess again. The food was nothing worth mentioning (and certainly did not taste Mexican), and in fact, the guacamole that Sarah ordered tasted so terrible, I think it might need to be investigated by the FDA. The only ingredient we could identify was onion powder, and although it was green, we don't believe there was any avocado in it. Scott thinks it was made with Koala Poop, and he may be right. Also, they don't take credit cards, and I didn't have any cash, but they took my out of town check! Go fig.
I left my phone in the car charger while we went in to eat, and when we got back to the car, there were 8 voice messages from Rachel, who had gotten to the hotel and didn't have a key to our room, so she finally convinced the desk clerk to have pity on her since she was the bride and he let her in to our room! Poor Rachel!
(This is going to be long and boring if I go into everything and Diana won't even be able to read it without her eyes glazing over. I need to condense!)
I gave Rachel and Jenna some Tylenol PM so they could sleep, and when they went to their room, Rich and Kim went to sleep and Diana and I watched a show about eating bugs and dirt on the Food Network. I wonder if they know about Koala Poo?
When we got up in the morning, I went the girls room where Sarah was doing Rachel's hair and Jenna did her makeup. I just knitted and watched. We went to breakfast at a very good restaurant across the street. I didn't even notice it the night before, but if I am ever in Ft. Madison again, God forbid, I will go there for dinner!
We all went over to Nauvoo, where we met Ash's family, and the wedding was lovely, and afterward we gathered outside the temple for pictures. There were many pictures. We got pictures like the day is long. It was also hotter than Hell or Arizona, and still there was the taking of pictures, and then finally the bride and groom rode away in a white carriage, holding a pink and green umbrella over their heads to protect them from the burning sun. It was hot, did I tell you?
Chris and Sarah drove up and waved to us from their rental car and I gratefully climbed into the airconditioning and cracked open the blessedly cold Diet Pepsi they had brought, and Chris, who always saves my life on these occasions by bringing me a cold soda, commented that even a crack addict knows to bring their own supply, but I was busy being overwhelmed by people and events and I could not even recognize my own need for the life-giving elixer!
Luckily I had gotten an email from a friend about a week before the wedding, asking if there would be Diet Pepsi or if we'd need to bring our own, which was a joke that referred to some other weddings we've attended, but it made me think (!) and I told the caterer that we were going to need Pepsi, Diet and Regular! So there was soda on ice at the reception, and also a beautiful silver water fountain.
It was so hot, and everyone arriving looked flushed and overheated, so I was serving them ice water and sodas, because I felt so apologetic for making them come out in the hotness! Rich and Scott set up the harp, and Carolyn played, with Scott sitting next to her, passing her drinks of water! She was in the shade, but the heat and humidity were brutal!
The reception went well, I think. Kim sat at the table with Ash's friends from college, who all had their Gameboys, and she had one, too, so she played Mario Kart with them. That was amusing.
Diana saved my life - well, my feet, anyway - when she came up to me and said I had been wearing my beautiful new red shoes long enough, and she took them off of my feet and gave me some flipflops to wear! Oh, the happiness!
Have I mentioned the red shoes? Rachel and Ash wore their red Converse Chucks, and wanted their attendants to wear them, too, and then it became the shoe theme, and we told everyone in the family to wear red shoes and they mostly did. Rachel and Ash made a CD to hand out to the guests as a wedding memento, and one of the songs they included was "Angels Want To Wear My Red Shoes."
And then it was over and people were leaving, and finally it was just our family. Rich and Scott packed up the harp, we loaded the gifts into the car, and said goodbye to the bride and groom, who were staying overnight at the B&B where we had the reception.
And we drove off into the sunset, in the air-conditoned car...
11:45 p.m. - 2007-08-13
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