A funny thing happened on the way to my dad's wedding

(Never really imagined myself typing that as a title to a blog post....)

It's a done deal. My father has a new wife. My brother was thinking (hoping?) someone might not go through with it, but they did. I hadn't planned on going, and then my siblings called, and somehow I ended up on a plane to Utah less than 48 hours later. (***Let me just clear this up: (because, as you can imagine, we've had to clear this up on more than one occasion) I don't really have issues with the fact that my dad would remarry someday. Sure, it would always be kind of hard, and a little weird and awkward, but figured it would be inevitable someday. Without going into details, my issues I have with my dad remarrying have to do with other circumstances, and weirdness. I don't think I need to put here the comments that some people tell me, or my siblings, but just know the issues aren't what you think they are. Cleared?***)

But, anyway. We definitely had some laughs while my siblings and I were together. Like one of the guests at their wedding said to us, "At least you're still smiling and laughing. But, maybe you have to do that to keep from crying." There is probably a bit of truth in that statement he made.

Anyway, here are some funny things that made that trip memorable:

- We got lost going to a "meet the other family night" the night before the wedding. The GPS was a little confused, it kept telling us, "You have arrived at your destination..." We were pretty sure that the empty field in front of us was not our destination. Usually, our father is pretty OCD about making sure people know where they are going, have directions, and double checking that we know how to get somewhere. Not the case this time, but, we figured he was a little preoccupied with other things. There was a discussion in the car at that point to maybe just stay lost all night, but we decided against it. Still, it was tempting.

- Before entering the "meet the family night", someone (and it wasn't me) had a teary moment about not wanting to go inside the building, so we sat in the car and just looked at the building until we were all ready to go in. During that time, my dad came outside of the building, and stood there with his hands on his hips looking from side to side, and we all dove in the floor so that he couldn't see us. We could not stop laughing!!!! Grown adults hiding from their father. Seriously, we were laughing so hard, and so loud. My brother was like, "SHHHHH!!! He's going to hear us." Great fun!

- There were a few weird things said during meet the family night that we all laughed about, and still laugh about. Apparently, my brother had more girlfriends before he got married than we knew about, or that he even knew about...

- My siblings and I did some family work in the Temple the morning before my dad got married, and we worked with a great temple worker that made us laugh a lot. When he walked into the room, he made a comment on why we weren't holding hands, and that temples were a place to bring families together. I figured he thought some of us were married to each other, and then he looked at his paper, and started laughing, "Oh, I think I know why you aren't holding hands." "Yeah, we are all siblings." That experience in the temple that morning with my siblings made the rest of the day do-able for us. Working with that particular temple worker that morning was perfect for us. We saw him again that afternoon, and he said a few things to us, and we told him that our mom would have really liked him. She would have, he was great.

- That same morning, when leaving one of the rooms together with all of my siblings, we said to each other, "When is the next time we will be able to be in the temple all together?" I answered, "Maybe when Laurajane gets married (my 15 year old niece), my brother said, "Maybe when one of us remarries." And Marianne said, "Maybe the next time dad remarries." We all laughed (quietly) going down the stairs.

- After they were married, my sister was taking pictures, and stopped for a moment and produced a clown nose for my dad to wear. I think her family was like, "What???" for a second, but then I explained that my dad has often referred to wearing a tux as a clown suit. We just thought it fitting to complete his wardrobe.

- The fact that we had to enter our dad's reception at all was pretty funny. One of her sons even said, "I never thought I would be doing this for my mother's wedding." Our sentiments exactly. But, the fact that my dad even had a reception after offering to pay all of his children to elope, or bypass having a reception. Maybe, if we had offered to pay him enough money, he would have eloped. We didn't even think of that...

- They had my brother, Jeremy, say the opening prayer at the reception, and so he came to us, and was like, "What am I supposed to say?" We gave him no pointers other than to keep it short (which he didn't really...). He ended up blessing the food to be "tasty." (though it really was) I think we were all laughing at him before the prayer was even close to being over.

- My brother Jeryl trying to buy my brother Jeremy's suit from him.

- Watching my dad attempt to do the Chicken Dance.

- Watching my dad try to do the Macarena. (My dad has never been much of a dancer... new love at 60 years of age seems to make a man do funny things...)

- Watching my brother try and do the Macarena...

- There may or may not have been some funny looks...

(My sentiments exactly, Melissa.)

- My sister gave our father really weird gifts...

- Friends of the family, and a few of my sister's friends were there and made the evening more enjoyable.

- The fact that my slip was always showing surely must have entertained other people. I gave up caring about it. They don't make maternity slips, my dress stuck to my tights, so I made do with what I had... Still funny, however. I'm the one in red, with the white slip showing. Oh, and pregnant.

- I learned a new trick with popping rose petals.

Everyone practicing the trick.

- Dancing with my family. Always entertaining.

- Traveling was pretty funny. Not really. I broke (and lost) a piece off of my NEW camera on the airplane. I sat in Atlanta on the plane for 2.5 hours. I literally traveled ALL day the day I came back, and one of my planes was late getting in, and I literally had to run (just picture a large pregnant woman running through an airport pulling her carry on behind her that occasionally tumbles over if she takes a turn too sharp...) to a different concourse to make it to my plane. Luckily, I made it. Breathless, but boarded.

-Lots of other funny things happened, but they're kind of inside jokes. But I will just add a few words so that I'll always remember them, even though I'm sure I wouldn't forget: "an affair..." "...bag and a bottle of rum" "a few rules to arranging..." "comedy..." "up here and out there"

(Isn't it funny how different we all look? Isn't it funny that my slip is showing?)

The highlight of the trip was being with my siblings that morning. We're all a little quirky, but we love each other and have fun laughing at and with each other. I was also able to squeeze in a short visit with my friend, Becky to see her new beautiful house, a short visit to Cafe Rio, and a short visit to the makeup counter for some new makeup that I've needed for months now. It was at least nice to also have a kids free weekend after my week of single parenthood. Unfortunately, the trip was too short to visit all of my favorite restaurants and friends in Utah. So sad. But, don't you worry, I'll make up for it on my trip to Utah this summer...