Saturday morning, the day of the Big Event, dawned dark and early and pouring rain. Craig couldn't sleep, and was tossing and turning so much that he woke me up at 4am. Perfect. The good news was that I got a hot shower that way. It turned out that Craig had ideas percolating in his brain, and he finally found Cameron's laptop and got to work on a very long letter welcoming Adam to what has been called The Bentley Boys Club. More on that in a different post!
We got everyone breakfast and everyone who wanted one got a shower. We also packed lunches (egg salad sandwiches-- thank you, Easter!) and snacks and everything else we thought we might need.
In a surprise move, Craig had decided the night before that we needed to spend Saturday night on Bainbridge Island. I'd figured we'd sleep at Natalie's place again because a) that was a faster trip to the airport for our 10am flight and b) all our stuff (and sleeping bags) was already there and all set up. But Craig pointed out that that would mean missing out on the end of the evening when most of my family would stand around the kitchen discussing the events of the day. It would be too sad to miss that time together. Plus, the drive back to Natalie's after such a long day was going to be killer. So much so that Natalie herself was planning on staying on the island, and was sort of mystified as to whether or not us staying at her house would force her (as a good host) to change her plans as well. And finally, that would also mean no one would be around to say good-bye to us, which seemed rather pathetic. So with all that, we finally agreed to spend our last night on Bainbridge. This had the domino-effect of having to change around EVERYONE'S sleeping arrangements (more people had arrived to try and squeeze into both houses), but Rachael and Ian were very kind about helping us make that work.
So we were also packing up all our stuff. Again. It was a busy morning.
But I still found time to text Tracy this awesome picture and suggest that she do her hair the same as Camille's:
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| Crazy Hair Camille |
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| I like how Samuel is sharing his blanket with her here |
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| Despite a mouthful of crackers, Nolan is still looking very dapper in his tuxedo |
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| Getting all ready! |
We didn't need to leave until 9:30am. Bless Tracy and Adam for choosing an 11 o'clock time instead of something earlier! We needed every minute of that morning! As we drove to the temple, it was still dark and cloudy. But there was a short break in the rain, at least!
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| The Seattle temple is still pretty, even on a grey day! |
There were SO MANY kids in the waiting area during the sealing. Thank heavens for Tracy who-- along with planning everything else-- had also managed to organize all the babysitting and made nametags for the kids so everyone watching them could keep them straight! It was a herculean effort, to be sure! Me, I got so excited to see Tracy that I begged a temple worker to let me up to the bride's room so I could say Hi. They weren't really sure they could make it work, but were kind enough to let me go upstairs just in case I could find her. And luck was on my side-- as the elevator doors opened, she was standing there waiting to get on! So I got to give her a quick hug and tell her she looked beautiful and then hurry back down to the waiting room.
When they finally had everyone seated, Craig did a quick count and there were 70 people there in the sealing room, the most I have EVER seen. Tracy and Adam are so loved!!! The sealing was beautiful and Tracy and Adam just seemed to be glowing they were so happy. At one point they were kissing and the sealer (who is also the Temple President, and is in my parents' ward) laughed and said, "I seem to have lost control of the situation!" It was hilarious and happy.
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| A whole mess of cousins and my Aunt Ann! |
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| Ryder makes himself comfortable |
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| As does Colton |
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| Kendra looks very pretty in her flower crown |
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| Here are my kids all waiting for the happy couple to emerge from the temple |
Here's the crowd of people waiting for them to come outside. (I felt a little bad for regular people who just wanted to get into the temple-- they sort of had to fight their way through all of us!)
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| Cherise and Regan, Tracy's friends from high school |
When I'd gone upstairs for the sealing, I could see through the windows that the sun was actually shining outside. I started to get my hopes up, but alas, by the time Tracy and Adam had come outside, it was back to pouring rain again. It didn't seem to dampen anyone's spirits, though!
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| I guess they look kind of happy... |
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| Everyone wanted a picture with the bride |
The rain made it hard to take pictures. We pretty much had to take all of them under the covered area, so that was kind of lame and I felt really bad for the photographer (who handled so many crowds of people like a champ!). Even if the sun had come out, though, it still would have been too muddy and wet to take many pictures around the temple grounds, so maybe it was for the best that it wasn't even an option...?
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| Here's the Bentley clan with Adam. So, I have to explain here-- Tracy told us to wear either navy blue or teal. How did I end up being the only one to wear teal???? |
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| The Sister's Club |
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| It was still pretty, even with the rain |
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| Nolan among the tulips |
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| With all of Tracy's nieces and nephews |
Once we were done with pictures, we threw jackets back on and loaded up our car and drove to the ferry. We ended up getting in line right behind Ian and Rachael, with my parents just a few cars over and a bunch of my cousins on our boat, too! Also, the photographer from our Easter Sunday shoot had just emailed me all the pictures from that, so we were frantically scrolling through all her work and swapping stories and kids and husbands were dashing over to Kid Valley to get milkshakes while we waited. Fun times!
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| There I am holding Harrison in the rain |
We went to my parents house for about an hour-- I got all our beds set up for the night, and Natalie and Rachael were busy feeding babies. Before long it was time to head over to Wing Point for the ring ceremony and reception.
The ring ceremony was held in a tent outside, but the wind was blowing REALLY hard and making everyone nervous. Fortunately my Uncle Bob, who was officiating, is a news reporter and he assured everyone that in his line of work, the tent blowing away would make for a GREAT story, so there was no need to worry! It got everyone laughing and things proceeded beautifully.
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| Richards family |
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| Smiths |
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| Aveytuas (with Hansen family and our neighbors the Nakatas in the back) |
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| Adam's niece and Natalie's two boys provided the music for the ceremony |
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| Here comes the groom? |
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| Adam with my Uncle Bob |
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| I'm not crying, YOU'RE crying! |
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| Still looking pretty happy about the whole thing |
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| They had written vows, but at one point Adam flubbed his lines and promised to always put himself before Tracy. Oops! He looked properly horrified by the gaff and assured everyone that that was NOT what he meant! |
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| I guess we can have a kissing picture in here... |
The reception was immediately afterwards, in the Wing Point clubhouse. There were close to 200 people there, with a sit-down dinner and ice cream from Mora and dancing and everything. It was lovely, although my kids made it pretty hard for me to actually chat with my cousins and ward members and various people that I was excited to see.
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| Leah and Eliot |
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| I love this picture of Tracy and my Mom |
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| Tracy's best friend Julie toasting the bride |
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| Daddy-daughter dance! |
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| Very sleepy little boys |
Craig got to read part of his letter welcoming Adam into the Bentley Boy's Club, which got a lot of laughs and a few tears from some of my sisters. Once it got late enough, I sent Craig home to put the kids to bed and I stayed and helped get flowers put away in my parents' car. Tracy wanted to stay until the end, so I was one of the few people still there to get to say goodbye and wish her well.
Once we were finally home, I put on my jammies and the grownups enjoyed standing around in the kitchen until about one in the morning talking about what a wonderful day it had been.
And it had been. Absolutely wonderful.
