My Best Friend's Wedding

One of the greatest adventures I've had recently has been the excitement and fun of helping my best friend plan and execute her wedding in 24 hours. That's right, it took a little over 24 hours for her to decide the date of her wedding (which would be the next day) and us to execute it flawlessly. Everyone should plan weddings this way!

I'll give you a little background: She has been engaged for 6-7 months now. They were planning on September 21st. Both her and her now husband have come from other marriages and both of them have children. She wanted her children to be a part of her wedding which she had sole custody of. The problem? It was only temporary sole custody. To tell that story is her adventure, not mine. Although, I was extremely emotionally involved, it isn't my story to tell. Monday morning it was decreed in court that the kids go to their dad. She was devastated and worried they wouldn't be allowed to come to her wedding. She had them for the next 48 hours, so it was decided her wedding would take place within 24.

It started with the perfect dress. We went to a little Bridal Center in Lehi to see if there could be something there. When we walked in, it was a little overwhelming! There were wedding dresses everywhere and it was difficult to find a place to start. The lady there was so helpful. She asked a few questions had Zina, (my best friend) look at some pictures so she could figure out what she liked, then she stuck us in a room and told us to "look at these, try some on and decide what you like." Then she held one out and said that she thought this one would be perfect and offered it to us at 50% off. So Zina looked and found the same result. The "perfect" one turned out to be THE PERFECT ONE!!! It fit her like a glove and she sparkled in it!

This is her getting ready in the perfect dress.

She went home, showed her kids, and told her fiance' of her plan. He was all for it! The next part was a made dash for a license, an official, and a wedding cake. Not to mention inviting family. We started making phone calls and sending out texts. I was looking for someone to officiate, but it seemed like everyone was too busy to make it. I finally went online and began a Google search. There were a lot out there, but some were very expensive, some didn't look that wholesome, and some just seemed too snooty. I finally found the perfect one! Her name was Anita Gordon. When I called her on the phone she seemed so nice! She said she was busy meeting with another couple at 6:00, but she was sure her meeting would last only about 45 minutes at the most. She told me that she would be willing to do it at half the price if I accepted her coming late. I quickly agreed, told her a little background info and wrapped things up. That was at 3:00 pm. The wedding was scheduled for 7:00.

 Some last minute prep on my part.

 Her girls gave her away

 Her son in the background with the responsibilities of the best man! He has the rings.

 The great Anita! She saved the day! She wasn't long winded, she incorporated God into the nuptials, and she made the wedding come together perfectly. I loved the way she spoke and I know she was sent to us by God to make Zina's wedding perfect!

 Ladies and Gentlemen: Mr. and Mrs. JJ Trimble!!!

 My child seemed to think it would be fun to climb the wall while pictures were being taken.

Here is one with me and the bride. It also has a wonderful addition of Ara, and we can't forget the little devil in the background! 

The place? Riverton Park. The time? Roughly 7, but we were very flexible with that time. The total number of patrons? About 20, including my kids. The result? One of the most beautiful weddings I had ever seen!

There is a difference between true love and God's love, but when they are combined, you know you have something amazing. In this wedding, there was true love, and there was a love for God so strong that it exuded from this couple like you wouldn't believe. It was an honor for me to be there to help my best friend execute the perfect 24 hour wedding! She was strong, beautiful, full of love and happy that her wonderful children were allowed the chance to be a very integral part of her wedding! 

Congratulations Zina and JJ!!! I love you both with all my heart and I know you will be together for a very long time!! If you can make it through this heartache and love situation, you can make it through anything! Having said that...JJ if you hurt her in anyway I will hunt you down and I will cut you!

The Great Move

It is very embarrassing for me to talk about my financial circumstances. One of the most difficult things about having a lot of children is being able to provide for them. Unfortunately our family ran into some hard times recently. We lost our home of seven years and have seen too many good cabinet companies go under. The hard part was the cabinet companies were those that employed Tim and gave us our income.

This past month we experienced the most crazy adventure that any family can go through... The big move! Our kids have only really known our one home, they weren't sure what a new place would have in store for them. Luckily, the move we made was actually a step up. We went from a three bedroom home, to a seven bedroom home. Which meant the kids all got their own rooms! We live further out into the desert, but that is where our family prefers to be. We are so blessed by God to be able to have a scary, traumatic experience turn into one of the happiest things we've done in a long time.

Our old house was full of memories and good times, but it was also full of junk and an accumulation of unwanted stuff. It felt so good to finally go through all of my storage and kids' toys and clothes and just get rid of everything. If you know me, you know I thrive on being a minimalist. The less stuff the better. It seemed as if we made more trips to the dump with our old stuff then we did moving our wanted stuff to the new house. I am finally able to relax in a clean and comfortable home.

The kids love their new schools. Orion started high school this year at West Lake High. He was really scared at first, but he has found his niche and is doing well. He joined the Jazz band and has really started to flourish on his saxophone. He is taller than me now and his dad realized how useful it is to have another "man" around the house. My baby boy is growing up so quickly now. He is getting out of the awkward stage and making a good transition into the responsible stage. I know I still have the dating years in front of me, but I know I am planting good seeds inside of him.

Vega is going to middle school this year. She recently turned 13 and wants everything in her life to be "teenager". If I want her to do anything I just have to tell her that teenagers do it. She is so funny that way. I do want to be careful not to push her to follow her peers too much, we all know how teenagers can be!

The other kids are still in elementary school and they are all loving their classroom sizes. We moved out to the middle of nowhere and the school doesn't have very many kids. Each grade only has one teacher and the biggest class in the school only has 20 kids. It is a perfect fit for my kids that like to spread their wings.

I know God lead us up to this place. He allowed for us to see hardship and pain, to go through our ups and downs, and to finally lead us to where we need to be. If there is one thing that I have learned about life this past year, is that you need to just let God take care of you. In the Lord's prayer it states "give us this day our daily bread" and there were days I was praying for exactly that. I was never sure if we would have something to eat or if we would be able to keep our heat and gas turned on. But our prayers were always answered through one angel or another.

It is so wonderful to have a home over our heads and our life coming back together slowly, but surely. We still have a long journey to walk, but we choose to walk the next path with happiness. This part of my blog has been a tough one to write. I am usually more upbeat and funny, I've just been in a super grateful mood, there isn't as much room for my sense of humor to shine through. I promise I'll have a super amazing adventure for everyone next time I post, it just feels like I haven't been able to have as many of those that I used to.