The Moses Lake reception!

The final event in Kristy’s wedding activities was the Moses Lake reception. We decided to have the reception at our home. When Kacey got married it was just too overwhelming to have the reception in our home. I was worried about the weather and if it turned back would we fit inside, etc. etc. There were just too many things to stress about if it were at our house and with that being my first one, we decided to do it elsewhere. Since then, we have had quite a few receptions in our home so I was getting a little better at handling the details. So we decided to go for it.

And what better to do when you are planning a reception than to do a little redecorating! Our entry way had needed some sprucing up for years but it was a huge project and I just didn’t know where to start because one change led to another. I had a few ideas but I wasn’t quite sure if they would work. I had consulted with a couple of professionals and they had their own ideas about changes and they were all very expensive. I didn’t really want to spend $30,000 on my entry way!

So my niece, Nena, is very creative and talented and when I told her a few of my ideas and described my vision she said, “I could totally do that!” So we let her!! She got right to work and the plan was to have it done by Thanksgiving (which I pretty much knew was wishful thinking but it was worth a try, right!) The wedding was in Utah on Dec. 30th, the reception was scheduled in ML for January 2nd and we were leaving for Utah on Dec. 26th. I was hoping to have all of the improvements finished and the decorations up the beginning of December so that we could all enjoy the holidays and not have to stress about the wedding. It was a good plan people! It just didn’t turn out quite that way.

This was how the house looked just before Thanksgiving:

The redecorating wasn't actually finished until the day before Christmas and we spent Christmas Eve putting up decorations. The kids thought I was kidding when I announced we needed to start decorating after we opened our pajamas. It was, in the kids’ opinion, officially the worst Christmas ever! There really weren’t any presents to speak of. (Weddings are expensive! And our kids have just about everything they need – maybe not everything they want, but everything they need.) Jon, Kacey, Scarlet and Rhode weren’t there because they were coming after Christmas for the reception so we didn’t even have little kids to enjoy the holiday with. I do have to agree, it pretty much sucked to spend Christmas Eve putting up decorations that would have to be taken down a week later. The kids were pretty good sports, though, and while it may be our worst Christmas to date - it certainly was a memorable one. And my memories are of great kids who chipped in and got the job done. We all complained but we laughed a lot too!

The house turned out great! Nena is a genius!! It was definitely worth the wait. I wish I had better pictures to show how the whole thing looked but I was too busy to take any and hadn’t arranged for a photographer since we already had the wedding pictures done in Utah. Luckily, my good friend and neighbor and professional photographer, Julie Waites, came over and took some pictures on very short notice so we were able to capture some of it. Thank you Julie! You are a true friend!! The house looked just beautiful inside and out (thanks to lots of people helping - Thank you Lori B. and Janet and Heather and Gail and Lori E!) and we had a wonderful time. It was cold and snowy and, as usual for that time of year, there were lots of people out of town that we missed but it was a wonderful evening.

Before:

After:

Before:

After:

Before:

After:

David finally got these trees to light up on both sides of our walk the day of the reception. They kept tripping the breakers but he finally got it figured out - which is a huge feat for David. He is not electrically or mechanically inclined (to say the least) but he did it!

Nena did this gorgeous array above my doorway. She definitely has a gift!






Kristy and her sisters and Scarlet:



A proud mom:



Kristy makes everything fun!





The Lacey's:
(I know she's actually my daughter but did Trevor marry his mother or what!)


The Earls (minus Jon, Scarlet and Rhode):


The Earls and the Laceys:

Cutting the cake:

Adorable Scarlet:
Scarlet and Rhode:



The wedding waltz:



We rocked the reception... again! We kinda forgot to practice between the two receptions and since our first performance was sketchy at best, we could have used some serious rehearsal time - but it was fun!! Thanks to Angie who (unlike many of our other relatives) had all her moves down and even handled some new ones that were thrown at her with style and funk. And thanks to the groom and all of the groomsmen who were such good sports to do this!



It's a wrap!



What a great couple they are! We adore our new son-in-law and his family is the best. We love having Kristy and Trevor only 2-1/2 hours from us and we get to see them fairly often.