Can there be such a thing as wonderful insanity? Because I can't think of a better way to describe this weekend.
Jon's little brother Stephen married his new bride, Claudia, this past Saturday in the Washington D.C. Temple. Claudia grew up in Peru and moved with her family to Spain a few years ago, where she met Stephen. She is absolutely the sweetest girl and is very forgiving of my lacking Spanish.
Since we live just over an hour from the temple, the entire Blood clan descended on our house this weekend. And I mean the entire clan. Including Claudia's mom, Zonia, and their friend Nidia, we had 19 adults/teenagers and 5 little ones running around our house. Obviously we couldn't fit everyone here for sleeping, but we did manage to have a couple of meals together. Good thing we all like each other so much.
There was definitely some stress. Like when I thought all of us (bride and groom included) were going to be late for the sealing or miss it entirely. Thank heaven for the miracle of no traffic we experienced that morning. And meal planning for that many people? Crazy. Luckily scavenging is a Blood family tradition and no one went hungry. There is also no food left in our house.
But you know what? It was all completely worth it. Being in the temple with your family, watching two people be sealed together for time & all eternity? There's just nothing like it. The ceremony was so beautiful. I managed to pick up almost everything that was said, despite the fact that it was entirely in Spanish. Stephen & Claudia both looked so happy.
Amazingly, we all survived pictures after the wedding despite the 90 degree temperature. That's right--90 degrees at the end of September. The next day was 70 degrees and we'll be lucky to see the 80s again this year. Just our luck! I can't wait to see the gorgeous pictures that Krystal took!
After the wedding, bride & groom and half the wedding party headed to D.C. for some touristing. Those of us with kids headed home for naps. Later that night we all got back together for the official cake cutting. (Yes, I made it, but I had Krystal take pictures since my camera just doesn't work well for cake pictures. I'll post pictures once she gets them to me--but give her a break: she's got a 4 week old baby at home! I still feel guilty about asking her to take the pictures in the first place...)
Here's a little glimpse of what it looks like with 22 people in one townhome:
Seth was in absolute heaven--cousins to play with ALL THE TIME. I swear I only saw him when he was hungry or needed a diaper change. Here's Megan teaching him how to climb out of the pack and play (he's a professional now).
Stephen & Claudia--thank you for letting us share your day with you. We wish you all the happiness in the world! (I wanted to write that in Spanish, but I don't want to embarrass myself).
