How to Plan a Wedding By Text

My phone holds a long series of text messages between Alisa and me. They go back to the first of April.  Reading through some of them, you can almost see wedding plans evolving between the lines.. I will leave it to the imagination to determine who is saying what and why.

37 bucks on etsy.
Could you wear it lower?
That's a good deal.

I like the trim.
No trim.
Trim isn't flowy.


My stomach is killing me.
I guess I need to get Obama cares.

Maybe you are constipated.
Maybe I should fast.
Erwann keeps saying fasting cures cancer.

Which red?
Send me a picture of Audrey holding them up to her face. One at a time.


Figured out the wedding processional!
Make sure I have enough time to get down the aisle in my long flowing dress.

Should the invitations say something about food?
Drinks and appetizers?

Say light dinner.

Erwann says light dinner sounds like we are putting people on a diet.

What happened to cold meat?

Should we put burgers on the invitation?

We can even throw in a few vegan burgers for your weird friends.

I don't have any vegan friends Oh, wait...


I'm starting to think I might not want a veil.
Just some flowers or something?

A floppy hat!

Erwann is 100% vetoing this picture.

I think it's cute.

Yeah, but he threw a fit.

UGH I just called the airlines to see if I can have my wedding dress as a carry on and its fine, if there is room. otherwise I have to check it. And there is "no possible way to plan ahead"

There will be room. I can feel it.

I DO NOT TRUST THE AIRLINE TO CHECK IT. NO WAY.
 Or I can purchase an extra seat.

You could mail it.

THAT'S EVEN SCARIER.

Anyway, I have a plan. I am going to get up early the day of the wedding and go raid my neighbors
flower gardens.


How about a jar of rocks that people sign?
I don't want a jar of rocks in my house.

Got my makeup done at ulta today.

Your eyes look gorgeous.

That's what we were going for.

What all of this nonsense boils down to is this-

The dress is ready.

 She has yet to decided on a veil

 She went to the makeup counter and got a tutorial on how to do her own makeup, which I think is brilliant, Teach a man to fish and all that.

 We are debating on how creative to be with the guest book. She wants a traditional book that guests sign. I am telling her that the book will get  shoved in a box somewhere and never looked at again. I am voting for a globe that everybody can sign near where they came from. Erwann apparently wants a map.

She has no faith in airlines or the postal service.

There was endless debate on the food. We finally settled on a barbecue. We are in the mountains after all, and there is a large barbecue smack dab in the middle of the patio where the wedding will be. Seems kinda obvious, doesn't it? Still, it was a long and winding road to get to the conclusion of the food question.

 I am considering stealing from my neighbors as a viable way to procure flowers for the wedding. Well, not exactly from my neighbors. Just from people I don't know that have lovely flower gardens and live relatively close to me.

There are loads of cute pictures of the bride and groom in their younger years. There is no consensus on what is cute and what is not.

Getting just the right shade of burgundy is a challenge.

Mother of the bride dresses are all ugly.

Lingering questions-

Is it tacky to ask some of our local yokels to show up to the wedding with a pasta or potato salad in hand?  I really want some kind of starchy American salad to go along with our barbecue.. I just don't want to have to make it. And store bought stuff like that is disgusting.

Who is going to barbecue all those hamburgers?

How do you start a wedding ceremony?

Lemonade or water?

To boutonniere or not to boutonniere?

How do you spell boutonniere?

Isn't that a French word?

Anyone?

Two Weeks in June in 17 Pictures

Reality check time: Six months from today is Christmas Day, which makes me really appreciate the 98 degree temperatures, the long summer nights, and the flowers we are currently surrounded by. We do love our summers around here.  Four months from today is the half marathon I signed up to run. I don't know WHAT I was thinking. It makes my knees hurt just to think about it. Yet, I continue to soldier on. Five miles down, my first six mile run coming up on Saturday. And finally, 45 days from today is the wedding. THE WEDDING. So much to do. So much to think about. So much to spend.

Still, all we really have is today, and that is where we are, enjoying the last days of June.  It was an eventful month for us.

Audrey passed her written test, and now officially has her learners permit.

Olivia and I spent some quality time sitting under the trees and sucking down snow cones.

We had Father's Day, and the kids made breakfast for their dad.

Audrey drove us safely home from church one Sunday

We had Boston Cream Pie for breakfast when we ran out of cereal.

Olivia performed in her fourth grade program. That's her, somewhere in the middle of that picture.

Shes' the one in the sunglasses.:)

See that green thing that looks like it has a face, just above the Olympic rings? That is Olivia's prop. Those are her arms holding it up.

And here is the county float she made all by herself. San Pete county, thank you very much.

The three fourth grade amigos, who suddenly look like fifth graders- Sophie Ella Olivia

And finally, Olivia, thrilled to be taking yet another picture with her county float.

We also spent two perfect Tuesdays, swimming at Aunt Carole's, and two lovely Sunday's barbecuing with my Mom and Dad,  Will has survived his first solo drive to Logan. The tomatoes are planted, the zinnias are blooming, the sunflowers are a foot tall.  A very good start to summer.

61 Days

Yesterday was Olivia's first day back on track at school. Today, her class went on a field trip to the dump. Doesn't that sound thrilling? Have I mentioned before how much I hate year round school? She should be home, sleeping in, watching too many cartoons and spending her afternoons eating popsicles and running through the sprinklers. Instead, she is riding around the dump on a school bus. Her teacher promised that they would be doing all kinds of fun things in June. Boy they sure started off with a bang, eh?  Guess there is nowhere to go but up at this point.

Two months to the wedding. Sixty one days, thanks to July having 31 days. Thank you July, for those extra 24 hours. We are going to need them. The wedding has now overtaken my living room.  Up until this week, the accumulation of supplies was contained to the laundry room. But I got sick of tripping over decorations and candles and paper goods every time I had to get to my dryer. So now, all of our goods are on display in the living room, for all to see as soon as they walk in the front door. No secrets here. It makes me feel a little bit better when I see things piling up, like our plans are really hatching. If only we could get to the wedding without having the summer go so fast. Once the wedding is over, summer will be on it's way out and that is just sad.  We better soak it up while it's here.

Off and Running

A two hour breakfast with a friend.

Just enough housework to not feel like a bum.

Kids pulled weeds and cleaned rooms.

Planted flowers.

Swimming and snowcones with Liv and friends.

Audrey' last day of junior high.

An EXCELLENT movie.

Late dinner on the patio at In-n-Out.

Three mile run in the dark with the dog.

I don't know if we have ever had such a perfect start to summer.

I have spent nearly every school morning of the past two years shuffling these three goofballs to junior high. Some days I was counting the days until it ended. Some days I resented all the driving. Most days, I was happy to have the time with them to laugh and hear all about Honors English, weird dreams, school lunch, and who the best and worst teachers were.

We went to a screening of this movie last night.  Go see it, ASAP. Just get your tickets for opening day right now. You do not want to miss this one. 

And when in Centerville, you stop at In-n-Out for dinner. It is a Metcalf clan requirement. We ate outside until the mosquitoes drove us back in. There was a cute little mouse on the patio too, who was happy to share our crumbs. I'm not so sure how I feel about a mouse living in the bushes of In-n-Out. But better out than in I suppose.

After we took our selfie, I set the phone down on the table and there was this silly view of the under side of the umbrella and Olivia's head. Her hair is still wet from swimming earlier.

It should be a pretty low key summer around here, what with the wedding and all. So our Summer Bucket List 2015 is pretty simple-

-try every flavor of snow cone at the The Little Blue Shack

-hike Timpanogos- the cave trail, not the mountain

-go see Shrek the Musical in Cottonwood Heights

-swim a lot

Oh, and plan a wedding/barbeque for 100+ people and host/ entertain 20 visiting French people for the weekend.  Yeah, we got this.

We Mayed

So May came. And it rained. And rained. And rained some more. We had a birthday. And a couple of school performances. And a visit from Alisa and Erwann. And then one day we woke up and the sun came out and it was June. A solid month of rain was fantastic and unique, and very needed but I feel slightly cheated. May in Utah is generally a gentle, lovely, breezy introduction to summer. I missed those blue May days.

Anyhow, you get what you get and you don't throw a fit, right?

On Memorial Day, one of the few days it did not rain,  since Alisa and Erwann were here, we drove up Big Cottonwood Canyon to check out their wedding venue.  Took a million pictures, mostly for my own use but feel free to take a peek. There is still a LOT of snow up there- it's getting patchy, but in some spots there are still several feet- but the caretaker said this is the least amount of snow he has ever seen at this time of year.  So it's kind of hard to catch the vision with all the snow, but trust me, this wedding is going to be a blast.  The place was just SO MUCH BETTER than I had pictured.  I almost don't care if it rains on us that day because the inside of the lodge is so charming and cozy- the perfect place to spend a rainy day.  Hopefully though, the sun will shine and they can get married in the pine trees.

 

 

 



It's not too often you get to have a snowball fight on Memorial Day.

 

 

 

I thnik it was the Saturday before that we drove up to Snow Basin just to kill some time. Of course it rained a little bit on us, but it sure was pretty up there.

And the Saturday before that, there was a birthday in which my baby attained double digits in age.  I am now a whole decade post partem.  Since her birthday was on a Sunday, we celebrated on Saturday with a trip to Build a Bear, where she made a bunny named Eve, because she was "born" on the eve of Olivia's birthday. I can't believe I don't have a picture of the two of them together yet!

After Build a Bear, we grabbed our buddy Ella and went out for a birthday lunch.

with Audrey too of course.

And after lunch, all Olivia wanted to do was have a really long play date with Ella, so it was back to our house for the afternoon.

Then on Sunday May 17, she was awoken with breakfast in bed, as requested, with Cookie Crunch cereal for her breakfast. This would be come a later point of contention in our family, as Olivia went to spend a few days with Grandma and Grandpa, and when she got back, some thoughtless sibling (or three) had eaten all of the Birthday cereal.  She only got one bowl and she is still mad about that. I'm pretty sure it will become one of those traumatic childhood memories that turns into a lifelong grudge.

And after church we had pizza and bithday cake. Another birthday well celebrated.

And the Thursday before that, was Audrey's Broadway Musical Review- the big finale to her year in Musical Theater.  And she had a solo. And she has a lovely voice and should definitely sing more.  And these pictures are extremely blurry, for which I am very sorry, but it's the best we've got. Jackson's mother was sitting next to us with this amazing camera, snapping away, and she promised to send me pictures but she has not.

Audrey and her musical amigos. Amigas?

I must also mention that the night before this, Audrey went to the award's assembly at her school and picked up some awards for scholastic achievement, and a President's award I do believe. We have been blessed with a talented and intelligent daughter.

Will also had his last ever orchestra concert on May 20. He is not taking orchestra next year, despite my begging, bribing and groveling. It's a shame, because he has gotten very good at the violin lately, and I know once he drops orchestra he will never really play again.  Life goes on though. Digital media and yoga classes are calling to him this year, more so than music, and who am I to dissuade him? I have no pictures of the orchestra concert. Dan has pictures of the orchestra concert, if he cares to contribute.

And finally, a few more pictures of  our Big Cottonwood excursion. We stopped off at Silver Lake and strolled around the boardwalk. Met a cute squirrel that chewed us out. Enjoyed some long lost sunshine even though it was cold and windy and we were all starving.

And to round off the very merry month of May, my triumphant retail find of the month was this gorgeous little columbine. We found him at Walmart on clearance for $1.66, along with some yarrow that was on clearance as well. It was only a few days earlier Alisa was pining for some columbine and yarrow in her wedding bouquet come August. And now with a little luck, we will have some growing in the yard! And, the columbine just happens to be the perfect colors for her wedding. Yes, serendipity rocks!

And now, on to a hopefully productive June, full of wedding plans, gardens, swimming, and sun.