Kelly Times Two

Today I had the pleasure of being in the San Antonio temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints with Sarah, one of my former Laurel class members when I was a Young Women's advisor a few years ago. What a special day it was to see how Sarah has grown and progressed in the past four years, and to be going through the temple, preparing for her upcoming wedding on Saturday. She was truly one of the most amazing young women when she moved to Austin from West Virginia the summer before starting her senior year of high school, very easy to love, and I wished that there were a dozen more, just like her. She has always been the kind of person that I hoped my daughter would be like some day, whom I really looked up to and appreciated for her talent of including everyone, frequently organizing fun youth get togethers. This morning, I got to meet her darling fiancé, Dustin. They seem like the perfect pair, and I could not be more happy for the two of them. What made it more spe...

Congratulations to Delaney and Corey, who were married Saturday in the San Antonio temple. Here they are at a reception held at her parents' home later that evening. I wish I'd gotten a picture of the beautiful backyard. Fantastic wedding cakes. Refreshing water and punch. Pretty food table. Allie and Olivia across from me in the food line. Such cute girls.

Remember the lavish, gorgeous wedding that Kelly and I attended in Nashville two years ago for Rebekah Gee and Allan Moore? Click here to see pictures that I posted then. I got this piece of mail today inviting me to " A Celebration of the Life of Dr. Allan Frederick Moore ," and immediately thought of his father, also a doctor. I thought, "I don't recall Allan's dad having the same first name," then googled it. His dad's name is Michael, by the way. I found out that Allan, 31, died about six weeks ago when he and Rebekah were riding a Vespa (motorcycle) and a 21-year-old woman driving a Range Rover or Land Rover, collided with them. I'm numb and saddened by this awful news. I hope to attend the memorial service for Allan that will be held on October 7 in Boston. That will have been Rebekah and Allan's second anniversary. Rebekah's dad was the main guy (Chancellor, I believe) at Vanderbilt University when Kelly and I were there in Nashvil...

On Saturday, I went to see Jon and his new bride, Sarah. He's the first in the family to marry, and I'm his mother's visiting teacher. They got married eight days previously, then went on a cruise for their honeymoon, then came to Austin for an open house at his parents' home. Jon and Sarah make a charming couple and I wish them the best. They will move to Baltimore where Jon will start a new job with Lockheed Martin in two weeks. Plus he just graduated. That's a lot of to celebrate in one month, but there were still more big events for the family. Besides Jon, his younger brother, Christian, also graduated from college, and his sister, Lauren, did, from high school. By the way, Dee Dee did an incredible job on the food for the open house. Not only was the presentation lovely, it was just as mouthwateringly scrumptious to enjoy. Take a look at how she pierced each little mini tortilla, then tied it with a chive stem. I love details like this. The skewered tomatoes...

I designed this program late last night, a last-minute program for a church friend who runs a little drama class that was in crisis mode, overwhelmed with too many tasks to complete before her event. She asked Kelly to play the piano for her performance today, and the kids and I went too. Christopher took two friends with him, Kimberly from his class at school, and Jordan, from his Primary class, and they had a blast and got along well together. Aaron and Jamie's backyard wedding reception was our third event to attend today. He's 6'9" tall. She's about 5'4" tall. The got married in the Denver temple two weeks ago. He and his day used to be our home teachers and they live in our neighborhood. Aaron looked so happy and so handsome. Jamie is very sweet. I actually ran into them at a local sandwich shop, Rudino's, a few days ago. They attend BYU Idaho. Aaron has plenty of school ahead of him. He wants to be an optometrist. Jen and Lindsey came from the...

Following the wedding in downtown Nashville at Christ Church Cathedral, guests either drove or were transported by shuttle to Cheekwood Museum of Art & Botanical Gardens for a picture perfect night that could not have been any more spectacular. The wedding dinner menu was spiced butternut squash soup with tamarind cream and toasted sunflower seeds which was absolutely incredible. The salad consisted of arugula with grilled fennel, roasted red pepper, red onion, capers, and Parmesan curls with lemon vinaigrette. My entrée choice was roasted breast of chicken while Kelly picked the sea bass, with root vegetables and Yukon potato puree, and last but not least, wedding cake. Kelly & Kelly Here comes the cutting of the cake moment!

I took many pictures while in Nashville and have been squeezing in and adding posts and photos here and there during this busy, crazy week, and hope to wrap up the final ones today. Ambiance prior to the dinner at a table outside with a spectacular view of the botanical gardens. Place cards for the dinner following the reception.

Kelly & Kelly in front of the visitor's center at the Hermitage mansion, the home of former United States president, Andrew Jackson. We took our Toyota Camry rental car with GPS around to a few memorable places while we had some free time before the afternoon wedding. First, we made quick drive-by of the Grand Ole Opry House, then we drove down south of Nashville to the LDS Temple in Franklin, and finally to the home of Andrew Jackson. The "klein maar fijn" Nashville temple was situated right next to a chapel that shared the property. It reminds me of the Oklahoma City temple. The grounds for the chapel were spacious, full of big trees and shrubs, and very well groomed. We enjoyed the pleasant, mildly cool autumn weather.