Nicholas and Jessica

Nothing is as joyful and hopeful as a temple wedding.

This weekend we turned away from all the tough and divisive things Dad's family has faced lately and just celebrated. On Thursday night, we gathered at Alan Dale's ward for a wedding dinner. The wedding pictures and flowers were already in place for the reception Friday night. The gang was all there, including Grandma and Darrell...

Alan Dale and Dad...

Nancy and Darrell...

Michelle...

Pat and Jason...

and the bride and groom.

Friday morning, Dad attended the wedding at the Salt Lake Temple, while I took a crisis conference call. Dad told his family "he just couldn't say" why I wasn't at the temple. I did get there in time for picture taking, with a few other family members who inexplicably appeared after the ceremony was over!

The festivities continued with a reception at Alan Dale and Lindy's ward.

As Grandpa Spendlove used to say, the Spendloves come from the Scottish McDonald clan, all his children's inlaws are from the rival Campbell clan, "and ye kenna trust those Campbells." Lindy has nurtured her Campbell roots better than the rest of us, and a troop of bagpipers played "Amazing Grace" and other favorites at the reception.

Every chore has its possibilities.

The washer at the cabin went out last weekend, and Mike came to the cabin Saturday afternoon to help Dad install a new one. We treated him afterwards to a prime rib dinner at our favorite Kamas restaurant, the Gateway Grill.

Dessert was fruit crisp with mounds of ice cream and so much fruit sauce piped onto the plate decoratively that Dad joked that he was going to ask the waitress to replace his plate because, "It's dirty. It has all that red and blue stuff on it."

The Sacred and the Profane

"You shouldn't get attached to the things of the world," we heard in Stake Conference this week, at the Assembly Hall on Temple Square.

We did get attached to one Worldly Thing this week--a new Toyota Four-Runner for Dave. It has four-wheel drive for road trips, built-in satellite radio, and even his'n'hers temperature controls in the front seat (Dave sets his at 68; Gretta sets hers at 80). Dave ordered vanity license plates reading "Beluga I."

On Sunday morning, though, we devoted ourselves to the pure beauty of word, monument, community, and nature on Temple Square.

Inside the Assembly Hall, the choir sang and the stake presidency concentrated on the year's theme, the temple.

Outside the Assembly Hall, there was great people-watching. The little boy in this picture asked his mom, "Is this the temple? The real temple?"

The missionaries waited, with cards advertising the languages they spoke.

We paused by such favorite statues as this one of a pioneer couple pulling a handcart. It reminded me of my greatgrandparents, Henry and Mary Eyring, who traveled across the plains together by handcart and then married when they got to Salt Lake City.

And we enjoyed the breathtaking flowers, on this first balmy day after weeks of cold and rain.

There was much of the sacred to treasure this week, as well as that one expensive Worldly Thing.

Stripling Warriors, Azaleas, and The Underground

My trip to Seattle, over the May 7-10 weekend, was packed with adventure. On Friday night, Kyle and Lisa attended the Redmond Stake pageant with their family, the missionaries, and Kirsten's friend Leslie, who has begun attending church. The musical, put on by the teenagers of the ward, was based on the Book of Mormon and was composed by a woman in Lisa's ward.

Michael had a big speaking part, representing Helaman's stripling warriors.

Spencer also had a speaking part, but I couldn't tell which character he was, from my perch at the very back of the hall, and I missed my photo opportunity. This picture at least shows half of Spencer (on the far right).

The program was spectacular and the crowd was huge.

Afterwards we stopped at Cold Stone Creamery for ice cream. The cute clerks were on the Eastside track team with Spencer and Michael.

On Saturday, Kyle and Lisa worked and Michael and Spencer were at Youth Conference. I took everyone else--Grant, Kirsten, Bryce and Alyssa--into downtown Seattle to take the Underground Tour and visit the zoo. Grant helped me take photographs, including the two below.

We visited Pioneer Square, the oldest part of Seattle.

We started our Underground Tour in an old saloon and then we climbed beneath the streets to see the ruins of Seattle from the late 1800s.

We climbed in and out of tunnels in the dodgy part of town. The kids loved it!

The museum had wonderful old typewriters, washing machines, and other antiques.

One colorful part of Seattle's history was toilets that spit sewage out the top of the toilet when the tide came in.

We roamed the colorful neighborhood...

with Seattle's first skyscraper.

For lunch, the kids each picked a candied apple at Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory, and we cut them up and shared them.

We next headed for the zoo and found our favorite "dog of the day"--a huge, very lean Great Dane.

Highlights of the zoo included exploring a penguin cave...

petting a gecko...

and admiring the flamingos...

and the hippos.

Best of all, the kids enjoyed having tropical birds eat birdseed from popsicle sticks which they held.

It was a spectacular day, with the mountains clearly visible around us.

We finished the day with a Mexican dinner at El Grande.

On Sunday, we shared presents and a Mother's Day feast at Lisa's house...

with artichokes as a special treat.

On Sunday afternoon, we walked down Azalea Way at the Washington Arboretum,

"This is the place everyone comes on Mother's Day," the attendant told us, and, indeed, the whole world (and all their dogs) seemed to be there.