Wedding Receptions

Have you noticed the WHOLE new dimension kids add to surviving a reception?

Last night we went to one for a guy Stephen grew up with, they were roommates when we were dating and got married, and both their parents still live in the town they grew up in. It was an absolutely gorgeous location!

We arrived 10 minutes early for the ring ceremony so Stephen took the boys exploring a little hogan thing nearby and the surrounding desert. I always love to look at all four boys off in the distance...Daddy, 2 little Mini-Mes aaaaand Lincoln. As it was time to take seats they came tromping back in true little noisy boy fashion. Lincoln looked up at the DJ and asked, "You going to sing?!?" The guy laughed and assured him he was not. Everyone got settled, then Lincoln "can't see Mommy" so up on my lap he went. He was fidgety but decent for most of it. Toward the end he started trying to wander off and got noisy when I pulled him back. The ceremony was being video taped so I whisked him away quickly. As I was heading down the path toward the desert he starts yelling, "Mommy you're hurting me! You're hurting me Mommy! Don't throw me in a cactus!!"

Fortunately there was a little grassy area we could turn them loose in till the food was set out. I'm not sure what they were playing but it involved rolling, summer salts (sp?), and walking like a primate. Lynneah got in on the action too. She's our first baby that has preferred to stay on the grass over cement upon introduction to it. I'm not sure what people thought of the parents that stood there allowing and watching this go on, but I can assure you I was WAY to hot to care.

Dinner was served, Garrett sat down next to me, looked around and said, "Everything is so beautiful! Thanks for making this my treat Mommy." He'd been really fixated on us giving him a treat all day; I guess he decided that was good enough. Stephen was sitting between Lynneah and Lincoln, a few bites into dinner he said, "I don't know how I feel about this arrangement." It's the exact arrangement I sit between at home for EVERY meal...NO sympathy from me. They put huge scoops of food on Gabriel's plate. He declared, "I'm gonna get buff!" A few minutes later he looked at me so pleased and said, "That was a manly burp." Yeah let's keep your manly burps to yourself. Stephen went with Lynneah to visit with the groom and Lincoln kept disappearing....literally into thin air. I'd get up to go hunting for him and find him back at the table. Finally I noticed the sheet with the slide show was moving...a lot. He was running up and slapping and pulling at it. I was not a happy Mommy. The bride's mom pointed out the rocks holding the sheet up; that would be a very quick lesson learned, but a reception is probably not the best place to learn it. We put Lincoln's sparkling lemonade in his sippy cup for the toasts. He'd wait till the clapping and up went the sippy cup.

Then they had the dollar dance. Garrett wanted to do it. We didn't bring our wallets in so we sent him to Grandma. Next thing I see is Garrett holding a treasured dollar with the biggest goofy smile on his face heading to the line. So funny.

As we headed out shortly before 10 the big boys said, "I'm exhausted!" They were visibly tired and had finally settled down into some cuddly little lap-fulls. I told them that means is was a good party. Gabriel said, "It was a good party."

We were just as exhausted, if not more, than the kids. It was good to see a cute couple so happy and beginning their journey together. It made me miss the good ol' days when we were a couple of yuppies just starting out and so uninterruptedly *happy. Ahhhh, that was the life. This morning as I was fighting with kids to get dressed, eat, stop blowing bubbles in their milk, stop yelling, stop hitting, and to not say stupid any more, I thought of the couple...just the two of them on a quiet Sabbath morning...I was jealous.
*We're still happy, not anything even closely related to yuppies any more, and life is definitely more complicated and waaaay harder to navigate now, but we're happy and still love each other. What more could we want?