Update #1: Spitfire's Wedding

Do you ever have that thing happen where you have a million stories to write about and then you sit down and [  .  .  .  .  blank  .  .  .  .  .]?

Yeah, me neither.

But I miss writing, and I already miss all the stories that are just lost in the ether now because I never put them down. So. Here's hoping I don't get a hand cramp.


Update #1

My sister Spitfire done did got herself hitched. What's even better, she married one of GH's 2nd cousins, for he has several. And by "several" I mean eleventy-dang-million. So now she and I are sisters by blood and cousins by marriage. Our children will be 1st cousins and also 3rd cousins. Which might mean that they should extra not get married to each other.

Here's the happy couple. Isn't it kind of gross how beautiful she is? And I greatly approve of Second Cousin, who needs a real blog name. He invited us all over to his parents' farm earlier this spring to have our very own private Baby Animal Days. So he pretty much had me at "baby lambs." My love is cheap.

Also, I love Spitfire's dress so much. When she tried it on for me in the shop I started crying and blubbering, "Oh, you're a bri-yi-yi-yi-yied," which I think helped her make the final call. None of the other dresses made me cry. And then when she put it on again later for her bridal pictures I cried again.

Note: Feel free to hire me for my wedding-dress-selection services. My rates are quite reasonable. (Like, embarrassingly reasonable. Basically just find a sitter for my kids and throw some half-melted chocolate at me and I'm yours.)

Spitfire's colors were light and dark purple, and it just so happened that her wedding (May 24th) fell right when all the lilac trees were still in bloom, including the ones in my yard (the ones that used to belong to GH and Mr. Spitfire's mutual great-grandmother). We gathered up a ton and put them in mason jars for centerpieces. Everything was so beautiful.

There was, though, an awkward moment in the temple during the wedding ceremony. Because there is no exchange of rings during the formal ceremony, the couple usually exchange them right afterwards. But the sealer (officiant) forgot and was wrapping things up when Spitfire reminded him about the rings.

Sealer: "Oh right! Sorry, I forgot about that. Well, as you know, in Western culture the ring is made by adding heat and pounding to a thin piece of metal to form a circle, symbolic of [yadda yadda] . . ."

And then . . . "Now, as you exchange rings, remember that in your marriage there will be much heat and pounding. . . [really really long pause] . . . "

. . . which was just too much for certain members of my dirty bird family. I tried not to snicker and instead did the Full On Scary Blush, which is where the purple color starts at my neckline and then moves its way up. Jenny was watching me, she can attest. We were all catching each others' eyes with "Where is he going with this?" expressions.

Sealer: " . . . such as trials. But you will get through them together."

And then everyone could release that breath they'd been holding. Probably the groom's family was fine because they are decent people.

Here's our crew outside the temple afterward, including my grandmother who flew up from Louisiana.

GH and I just like to ruin family photos with our faces

Kind of like some other people.
I forgive them though because they agreed to wear
bow ties and kill me with their cuteness.

Handsomest boy in the history of ever, I tell you.

The Spitfires are now in Thailand for 3 weeks like jerks, where I very much hope my sister is heeding my request to please not get trafficked. So far she's sent emails about her bidet misadventures that have us all dying laughing and she's getting to feed bottles to baby tigers, so it seems like a good trip so far.

Dewpoint by Laura Chau, modified with half sleeves

Because my dress was basically sleeveless, I knit this shrug to go with it and barely finished in time. The yarn was the perfect color and I'm happy I was able to wear it to the wedding, but it actually turned out a bit big. I don't plan to redo it though, so baggy it will have to be!