Sarah's big day!!

 There's never a time limit for posting about a wedding.  That makes this week, the "love" week a perfect time to share some photos from Sarah and Josh's wedding.

These two are so cute together!  Because of work and school, they had been separated by distance, making the wait that much harder.  Their patience paid off on December 15 in a packed room of the Mount Timpanogos Temple, surrounded by family and friends.

Before the big day we had part of her bachelorette party at the Cirque Asylum in Sandy, Utah.

 We had so much fun trying something new.  Let me tell ya, it was way more difficult than it looks!  It puts quite a bit of pressure on your wrists and hands, not to mention your core.

Sarah nailed it!

 There was plenty of laughter and goofing.

I was determined to try everything the young girls did.  To my surprise, 

I did it!

So fun!!

There had been blizzards leading up to the wedding, so we all came with coats and sweaters, but thankfully it was a beautiful day.

It was a blessing to witness Sarah and Josh lovingly make covenants with each other and God.  The sacred nature of the temple and the work done there, doesn't allow for photography.  

But the experience is a wonderful memory that won't be forgotten.

Thankfully, they will be able to go to the temple often to do work for other families

and remind themselves of the start and progression of their own eternal family.

So joyful!!

 Everyone!

Woohoo!! 

This picture is deceiving.  Although it looks like we are wooping it up, there wasn't any sound coming out of our mouths. We didn't want to become a distraction to the serenity of those inside the temple.  But the expressions of happiness on our faces is all real.

Our family...

 Us...

 My treasures!

 So happy for our girl!!

Josh's family...

 immediate family...

 siblings...

more happy parents!!

 Awe!

Oops?

Such a beautiful couple ready for a beautiful life.

So happy for the both of them and the family they are building on the foundation of faith.

This is just the beginning!

To see why temples are important to families, click here.

Photos inside a temple, click here.

There's more to share about the receptions so I'll post that tomorrow.

Hope you had a happy Sunday!

Bekah's mission call and temple day

Time sure does fly!!

It's been two months since Bekah opened her mission call!

 I've finally got my digital ducks in a row and a few moments to spare to make this post happen.

We've been reeeaaally busy!

Bekah has been really patient through it all.

I can remember the night last Spring that she decided to go on a mission.  I was working on my computer when she came into my office.  I could tell by the tone in her voice that this was an important conversation, so I stopped everything and listened as she poured out her tender experience with the Lord.  From that day on, there was no looking back.

As it turned out, she and Rachel turned in their mission papers at the same time.  We fully expected Rachel to leave before Bekah since she was older and ready to go.  Bekah couldn't leave until her 19th birthday in December.  So it was a surprise to us that Rachel's call to Mongolia had her leaving in January!  That was a long time to wait!  Of course we figured that had to do with passports and visas and such, but now we see that it was time enough for Andrew to come into the picture and sweep her off her feet.

We thought that the girls would get their mission calls in the mail the same week too, since they turned them in at the same time.  But Bekah had to wait another week to get hers.  It actually turned out to be a good thing so that each them had their own 'opening' time.  We continued to tally guesses and put pins on our map.  Yellow are Rachel and blue are Bekah.

(Nobody guessed right)

We invited our friends to come back and we set up Skype for all the family 

who couldn't come (that was an ordeal all its own).

Drum roll . . . . .

I think Dad knew before Bekah

OHIO, CLEVELAND MISSION!!!

January 6!!  Same as Rachel!!

I love this picture of my girls excited to go where the Lord wants them to go.
Of course Rachel is unaware that her mission will be changing from missionary to wife.

Thank you Lindsey and Kim for taking pictures for us!!

After that, everything got really busy!!

We took Rachel and Bekah up to Brigham Young University, Idaho (BYUI), I started homeschooling Esther; a week later I flew back to Utah for the funeral of my uncle; then a week after that Joseph and I flew back to Utah to take Bekah through the temple for the her first time.

She chose the Logan, UT temple which is one of the older temples in Utah.

The temple is not only a refuge from the world, it is a place of learning, service, and inspiration.  It's here that we make sacred covenants with God that will bring us great blessings. 

Those who have been called on a mission are encouraged to go to the temple

before their mission as much as possible so they can build their faith and 

strengthen their relationship with God.

It was great to have Uncle Rob and Aunt Heidi with us as well.

She'll be a great missionary!!
Such a sweetie!!

What you don't see is that Andrew drove Bekah and Rachel down from Idaho to the Logan Temple. It was a our chance to meet him.  Although he didn't come to the temple with us, he spent time with us as we attended General Conference of the Church and went thrift shopping in a cool vintage store.  

It didn't take long for him to get our stamp of approval.

I'm so very proud of my girls and the choices they've made!

Jacob and Lisa's wedding

What a glorious weekend!!

Usually a Whitaker wedding has a great "panic moment" story to tell but this time it was only a stalled car and a scramble to reshuffle people to fit.  No biggie!!  At least nothing was forgotten like a marriage license, or a tux and nobody got sick.

The sealing of Jacob and Lisa was beautiful with a room of only family and a few friends.  It was a very intimate, sacred start to a life time of memories and an eternity of love.  Everyone in the room was beaming, especially the happy couple.  After the ceremony, we all went outside to wait for them to come out together.  Saturday is a busy day at the temple for marriages.  If you stand around long enough you can see couple after couple coming out with big smiles.  We had to wait for the previous wedding party to move out of the way before Jacob and Lisa could come out.  They emerged from the temple to a noisy crowd of waiting family and friends (I had a friend inside that said she could hear us!).  It threatened to rain on us but only sprinkled and was a little windy. Once our family pictures were taken, we had to move out of the way for the next bride and groom to come out.  Our photographer took us to the side of the building to finish taking her shots. 

 The following pictures are either taken with my iPhone, Nikon, Joseph's (Joey) camera or my Dad's. Several are from others just picking up our cameras and taking pictures. I was happy to let them take the majority of the pics.  I just wanted to enjoy everything but often found myself wanting to capture the moment myself.  I just couldn't help myself!!  I can't wait to see what the professionals did!!

The most important job of the day.

by Joseph

by Joseph:  These two shots just go to show that Abby's age is blurred.  She was in the 20-something world and loving it!!

Lisa's sweet family

The many faces of Jacob.

When the music started,  the Whitakers kind of took over the dance floor and stayed even after everyone else went outside in the cool air.  After talking with their guests, Jacob and Lisa came inside then Jacob led the dance line. Before he and Lisa left, we surrounded them and sang Journey's "Don't Stop Believin" and The Sound of Music's "So Long, Farewell" at the top of our lungs.

Can't let them leave without making them work for it!!
The kids did a great job filling and wrapping their car.
They passed the test by being such good sports!

Jacob and Lisa are off to BYU Hawaii where the both of them will go to school for a semester.  Lisa will graduate in November then they will go to BYU Provo, UT.  But before all of that, they get to hang out in Hawaii while they wait for classes to begin.  Not too shabby, huh?

Aren't weddings wonderful?  We experienced family, friends, presents, food, music, joy, dancing, laughter, and smiles but most of all  we got to witness the beginning of something great, 

a family.