A jam packed weekend

Last week was my last full week off for the summer.  I go back to work on Friday, but, obviously, for just one day.  Starting next week the kids are back in school and I'm back to my regular two-day-a-week work schedule.  In case I didn't mention it already, I'm switching my Thursday/Friday schedule to Tuesday/Thursday.  I'm hopeful that this upcoming weekend is slow and unbusy so we can mentally prepare for the school year.  In stark contrast, this past weekend was jam packed. 

Michael and I were invited to a Mormon wedding reception on Friday evening.  The son of my speech therapy aid, Sandra, got married.  I have never been invited to a Mormon wedding reception before, which is weird because I am friends with many Mormon people, so I did some searching as to why we, as non-Mormons, were not allowed to go to the ceremony.  

I'll let Slate explain it if you are so inclined to know.  Click HERE

We gave the happy couple some cash and a cute picture frame Christmas ornament with their engagement picture inside.

I got ready for the wedding before going to physical therapy and then rushed home to change before we left.

My lovely aid, Sandra.  She looks more like she should be the bride than the mother of the groom.

They had a nacho bar and a dessert bar.

And obviously a secret cake in the back since cake was available before the actual cutting of the cake.  Hmm.

We knew exactly two people at this wedding- Sandra and Sandra's daughter, Madison, who has baby-sat for us. I had never actually met Dallin before this night, although I have met Sandra's two other sons and her husband. 

First dance

Mother-son dance.  

Sandra said she'll come and watch me dance with Spencer at his wedding in 10 years.  I reminded her that he'll be 18 in 10 years and will need a few more years before he's allowed to marry. 

The bride's nieces and nephews did a choreographed dance. 

The little guy on the end was darling.  He tried really hard but didn't notice (for quite some time) that he was dancing backwards. 

Oh hey!  There are lots of people over on this side.

After the reception we headed to a restaurant specifically picked so we could see our friend Blaine perform.  It was conveniently like a 5 minute drive away. 

I like to take pictures with Blaine and text them to my friend Joni (his wife) whenever I see him.  Which is, you know, like twice ever.

After dinner Michael and I went to a 10:00 showing of Independence Day.  It was almost 1:00 am by the time we went to bed.

That made my 5:30 wake up time on Saturday quite painful.  Spencer had to be to his swim meet by 6:30 to warm-up, hence the very early morning. 

One of his coaches wrote his schedule on his arm with a sharpie.  Um, excuse me, was this really necessary?  I'm still trying to get that sharpie off. 

Spencer swam breast stroke first.  He came in 11th out of 28 kids.

The pool had opened at 5:30 that day and even getting there at 6:30 left very little space to find a spot on the deck.  We ended up setting up in this little strip of shade that actually lasted the entire time. 

It was already 100 degrees by about 8:30 am, but the shade helped. 

Freestyle was up next.  

Spencer came in 1st place in his heat and 8th place out of 32 kids overall. 

His last race was the individual medley.  He came in third out of three kids.  The kid who came in second beat him, seriously, by a fraction of a second. 2:22.09 for second place and 2:22.66 for third. 

I was just proud that he even did it.  I mean, only three kids attempted it. 

High- fiving coach Jake.

Spencer insisted that we stick around for the coaches race.  There were four teams competing in this meet so the coaches from all the teams raced each other.  Our coaches won!

And they won because of coach Jake swimming the butterfly.  He was like a speeding bullet in the water.

After the meet we went to Walmart to buy ingredients for our contribution to the swim team party dessert buffet.  There was a competition for most creative. 

After I made the cake I took a shower and then passed out in bed for a few hours.  I seriously cannot even remember the last time I took an actual nap during the day.

The party was at the same pool where the meet had been.  It's not exactly close to our house so it was a delight (sarcasm!) to drive there twice in the same day. 

We took Elliott's four year seven month pictures there.

Official

Some of the competition that we LOST to, since we found out on Monday that we got an honorable mention.  

This one came in second.

I don't know about this one since the winners were listed by name, not picture.

On Sunday we went to IKEA and the mall and then watched Pete's Dragon.  I insisted that the kids see the original before the new one comes out next month.

It's not as wonderful as I remember.  It's actually pretty inappropriate for children. 

And these children weren't all that impressed either. 

I do have pretty high hopes for the new one though.  Mostly because they still kept the dragon as Elliott. It would have been unforgivable if they had changed his name to Dave or something.