Melina's Wedding

On Thursday afternoon, I had the sweet privilige of attending the wedding
 of our dear friend, Melina Itinose to her sweetheart, Jared in the Salt Lake Temple. 
 Melina's father, Elder Itinose, was Tyler's mission president from Brazil, 
whom we have come to love and adore. 
 Actually, we have come to love and adore the entire Itinose family 
as we spent time with them in Brazil and 
while they have stayed with us in Park City on a number of occasions.  
We have loved getting to know Melina and her sister, Mariana
 and spend time with them while they have been attending BYU. 
 I am amazed at the courage and faith of this family 
as they have encouraged these two girls to leave their home and family,
 learn a new language and live in a foreign country just to have the unique opportunity to attend BYU.  
The entire family came for two weeks to enjoy general conference and the wedding. 
 It was wonderful to see this sweet family together again at this happy occasion.

Jared and his brand new bride, Melina coming out of the temple.

The entire sealing was in Portuguese.

I didn't understand a word but it didn't really matter.

I still cried as the sealer recited the beautiful promises and blessings in Portuguese.

The handsome couple!

Melina and her brother, Paulo.

Melina, the gorgeous bride poses in the Joseph Smith Memorial Building.

At the reception with the newlyweds.

Melina and Mariana, sweet sisters with their sweethearts.

Elder and Sister Itinose

Enjoying a few moments with Elder and Sister Itinose.

Elder Itinose has taught himself how to speak English since he was called to be a general authority. 

It is wonderful to communicate and converse with him even though at times he might struggle to remember a word,

you can feel his kindness and love.

Paulo posing with the wedding cake that his family made.
Melina wanted a traditional Brazilian wedding cake 
but none of the local bakeries could make one to her liking 
so the Itinose's took things into their own hands.
The entire family baked the cake in our kitchen at Vintage.
Everyone took part in the activity, which took all day and night
 (actually Paulo said the were up until 3 am to finish the cake.)
It turned out beautiful and tasted amazing too!

Once the dinner was over, they brought in this red suitcase full of crazy dress up gear, 

such as neon necklaces, glowstick bracelets, colorful boas, heartshaped sunglasses
 and headbands with antennas.  It was awesome!

Mariana and her boyfriend, walked from table to table distributing the items

to the guests 
and within minutes we all looked like we were going to Carnival (mormon syle!)

I guess it's a Brazilian wedding tradition.

It was so festive and fun!

Just look how fun and festive we are!

Now that we have our party accessories on, we are ready to party with Mariana.

Paulo was the man of the night.  Seriously so grown up!

Allie partying it up with the Itinose siblings, Mariana, Paulo and Annalisa.

With our party gear on we are ready for some fun.

So glad that my boa matches my outfit:)!

The red suitcase was passed from table to table with all the guests
rummaging through the pile of party items and accessories.

As the guests choose their individual party accessories, 
you could feel the excitement in the room.

Brazilians take this dress up stuff seriously!

Now that the dinner is over, and the party gear are on,

it's time for the dancing to begin.

First up on the schedule is the Daddy/daugther dance.

Melina and her father hit the dance floor and kicked up their heels

to traditional Brazilian music.

President spun and twirled Melina around the dance floor.

It was definitely the most touching moment of the evening, 

watching them sway to the music.

You could feel the deep love that they had for each other as they danced

to a beautifully choreographed traditional Brazilian dance 

which was a combination of a polka/swing/folk dance all in one.

All three of us cried because it was so tender and cute!

Then Elder and Sister Itinose took to the floor together and danced.

Then Paulo, who has been taking dance lessons and is quite the dancer, took Allie by the hand 

and told her that he would teach her how to dance like that for her wedding!

Paulo told Allie that she is a good little dance

 but probably needs to work on her facial expressions.

This is definitely my favorite picture of the two of them dancing...I love it!  

Don't worry, Paulo is dancing with Allie, he is just hiding behind her.

Then it was Ashley's turn.

Paulo and Ashley made quite the dancing couple.

Of course, I wanted a dance lesson from Paulo too.

I think I got the twirl down...

but then I stepped on Paulo's toes...oops!

That Paulo is such a good sport!

I love this picture of Melina and her adorable boyfriend.

We think they make a darling couple.

It was a wonderful day, spending time with wonderful friends.

I'm so glad that we were able to share this special day with them.

Mother Daughter Date

I'm back in Utah for a wedding (more on that later.)

Last night, Ashley and her roommate, Sydney arranged 
for a Mother Daughter Dinner Date so that their moms could meet each other.

We have spent a lot of time with Sydney and absolutely adore her

and Ashley thinks she is "the best roommate ever" so it was so fun to finally meet her mother, Kelly.

Kimber was in town doing a little spring skiing so she joined us too, which was such a treat!

 Kelly and I have a mutual friend, Ruth Todd, so we invited Ruth and her daughter Jen, 
who is a good friend of Kimber's, to come join us for dessert.

We squished all 7 of us in a small booth at PF Changs and talked all night.

I loved meeting Kelly and knew I would love her because we all love Syd so much.

And as always, it was so good to visit with Ruth.  

It's so fun that our girls are all friends 
and now we are all friends and enjoy each other so much!

It was more than just an OK visit in Oklahoma!

Since Dad has begun lecturing for Invisalign and Oklahoma was the second stop on his lecture tour,

 I decided to tag along for the weekend. 

We had a wonderful time visiting our old stomping grounds and spending time with Tyler and Sonya.

Our favorite Texans and fellow residents, Bill and Mary Ann Osborn drove up from Amarillo

 to attend the lecture and spend the weekend together.

 We enjoyed a fabulous reunion when we all got together 

with another fellow OU resident, Mike and Ann Kierl.

 Dad looks so professional...and isn't he good looking?:)

 Tyler and some of the OU Ortho residents 
(including our good friend and former patient, Adam Hoybjerg) 
came to hear him lecture about Invisalign.

 They served eggs, sausage and biscuits and gravy for breakfast...YUM!

 Tyler and Bill enjoying lunch outside on the beautiful balcony at Nonna's.

Don't worry, Dad's 3 hour lecture didn't put Bill to sleep
...the camera just caught him blinking his eyes...really!

 Mary Ann ordered the Oklahoma Cobb salad and it looked and tasted delicious!
It certainly was "a classic with a Okie twist!" just as the menu said.

Mary Ann and I had to pose with the Pineapple lady at Nonna's.

The first of many pictures together this weekend.

Friday night, the Kierl's met up with us at Red Rock Canyon Grill, 

which is located on Hefner Lake and is the perfect setting for a fun evening. 

The restaurant has received great raves and reviews 

 and we were not disappointed.

The atmosphere was a lot of fun, with the sun setting over the lake 

and the fire burning in a large firepit all night long.

And the food was absolutely delicious!

I highly recommend the short smoked north coast salmon.  Yum!

Every evening, just as the sun sets over the lake 
they ring a cowbell and everyone in the restaurant cheers.
We decided to go outside on the deck to enjoy the view.

 Tyler and Sonya, with the sun setting over the lake. 

 Mom and Dad

 Mary Ann and Ann posing with the yummy bread pudding.

 Sure do love these two cute Oklahomans!

The girls.

Another picture together in front of the fire pit.
(Don't worry...we took a picture of the entire group out by the lake
 but I don't have a copy yet.  It will be included later.)

* * * * * * *

On Saturday, we spent the morning at the Oklahoma City National Memorial.

We were so impressed with the Memorial, especially the Museum.
We spent 2 1/2 hours roaming through the Museum, reading about the bombing, 
listening to the heart wrenching and inspiring stories of the victims and rescuers,
 and watching videos of those rebuilding and providing hope.
At times, it was a little overwhelming as I thought of the innocent victims 
and their families, especially the children.
But the Memorial also provided great hope,
 and showed the strength and resiliency of the people of Oklahoma City.

It was truly touching.

Tyler and Dad in front of the reflecting pool.

This is "The Fence" that was originally installed to protect the site of the Murrah Building.

Almost immediately, people began to leave tokens of love and hope on the Fence,
 which now totals more than 60,000 items. 

Today, more than 200 feet of the original Fence still stands and 

gives people the opportunity to leave tokens of remembrance and hope.

One of the "Gates of Time", which marks the formal entrance to the Memorial

 and the moment things changed forever.

The "Reflecting Pool" occupies what was once N.W. Fifth Street.

Walking around the Reflecting Pool towards the Museum.

"The Field of Chairs" represents the 168 lives taken on April 19, 1995.
Each chair bears the name of one of the victims.

Nineteen smaller chairs represent the children who lost their lives that day.

The Children's Area in front of the Museum, included a wall of tiles 
painted by children expressing love and encouragement.

..

Standing in front of the "Wall of Tiles."

The childrens' handpainted tiles are so tender 

that I had to include some of my favorite below: 

The view from the Museum overlooking the Rescuers' Orchard and the Field of Empty Chairs.

Across the street from the Memorial is a beautiful statue of Jesus...

with the words, "And Jesus Wept" engraved at the bottom.

We enjoyed IronStarr BBQ so much with Tyler that we just had to go again. 
So we took Mary Ann and Bill there after we finished at the Memorial.

The boys do love their BBQ!

It won't ever replace Gary Dale's BBQ (pronounced gear-dells)

but they both agreed that it was some of the best they had tasted!

Bill and Mary Ann and their BBQ!

It's been quite a few years since Dad has had the opportunity to attend

the priesthood session of General Conference with Tyler.

I don't know who was most excited, Dad, Tyler or me

 because I got to take a cute photo of my favorite boys dressed up in their Sunday best.

Don't they look handsome?!!

We grabbed dinner at PF Changs, dropped the boys off at church and

 Sonya and I had just enough time to visit Pinkitzel, 

a cute cupcake and candy store located near Bricktown.

We didn't have nearly enough time to thoroughly enjoy our time there...

in other words, I didn't get any pictures of this cute shop...

but we did find a few cute things and we vowed to come back when we had more time to relax, 

take some pictures and sit down and eat a cupcake or two.

* * * * * *

We enjoyed a yummy breakfast of waffles, scrambled eggs and sausage 

at Tyler and Sonya's cute apartment on Sunday morning.

We watched the first session of conference and then headed for the airport.

It was a wonderful weekend spent with some of our favorite Oklahomans.

 I stopped short of saying "all of our favorite Oklahomans" since Allie wasn't there. 

(or should I say Allison...that's what we called her during her early days on the Oklahoma plains.)

 But we thought of Allison a lot this weekend 

 and decided that we need to bring her back to her "homeland" to visit with Tyler and Sonya soon!

Eating BBQ with The Boy

Spending the weekend in Oklahoma with Tyler and Sonya.

Can't get enough of that BBQ!