The day Alan got married

Yesterday, my younger brother got married to a wonderful girl, Dessire, in the Salt Lake Temple. It was a great day with lots of family and lots of laughter! These two are so gosh darn cute and photogenic that they could be models for Abercrombie and Fitch or the Gap :) They are so cute with one another and it has been fun watching him take care of the girl he's in love with and see how she loves all the little funny quirks about him that make him so endearing and fun to be with.

My four sisters all had new clothes and looked really cute!

Their reception was on the 9th floor of the Joseph Smith Memorial Building on the South side so we had great views of the temple and the valley. Dinner was really good, too. Since Dessire is from Mexico, we had lots of fun dancing going on complete with fun things to wear and shake (beads, hats, scarves, masks, etc). Most people were dancing and having a great time. I bypassed being in the "catch the bouquet" line that weaved in and around the chairs Alan and Des were on (I've caught way too many in my time) but it was fun to watch my 12 year old cousin catch it. My 9 year old brother caught the garter after the guys weaved and danced around the room through the tables. It was so fun!! The cake was cheesecake-- yum!!

On a more personal note: I brought a good friend of mine to the reception to help me feel better about the fact that I'm soooo the old maid on both sides of my family and I figured that having a good guy friend would make me seem less "spinsterly"! It went really well because the two of us always have a good time together and also because my family is so fan-freaking-tastic! They all greeted him by saying "Oh, it's so good to see you again" and when we said good bye they said "Hope we see you again soon" and told me they were impressed he wasn't scared by all of our craziness :) I like having someone who will come to family stuff with me and fit right in and who is cool with questions like "So, are you guys serious or just friends or are you lying when you say "just friends'".

The moral of the story is: My family is so welcoming of new people who join the family circle, no matter how serious (or non-serious) that the new people just fit right in and feel like part of the fam :)