The Wedding

 Dec 20, 2014 the big day is finally here. Everything was ready to go. We met Megan's grandmother's best friend in the Temple and she was the one assigned to get us all to the sealing room together that morning. The sealing was performed by an amazing sealer. I think he was in the Temple Presidency. He was so insightful that I wish I could have written everything down because of course now I can't remember so much of what he told them. The numbers all worked out and we only had a few men standing. It's funny how that stuff seems to work itself out in the end. There was only one disaster. Who forgets to bring their cameras to their kids wedding? Apparently we do. So cell phones was it for us for the day!

They looked very happy

 

Our selfie as we headed over to the steps for pictures

You have to find Jeff's awesome pose in this picture!

Us Coopers-What a great lookin bunch!

Add in the spouses and child and it just gets better

Meg & the guys

Megan and "the girls"

Hayden and pals

The happy couple and grandparents

Leavitts & Coopers

 

Just a few pictures from around the Temple. Way to many gorgeous pictures to choose any favorites! It was a beautiful day followed by lunch at Buffalo Wild Wings for our family. Before the dinner we had time to get the cake ready for the flowers and help where we could.

Bridal Shower for Megan

 Welcome to the Family! 

That was our message to Megan for this party. We had all planned and planned this fall to make this a special day for Megan and her family and to welcome her into the Cooper Clan. Ashley spent about every waking minute on her silloutte getting things cut and assembled and ready to go for months!

The theme ended up being "He put a ring on it"

Rachel made the popcorn drizzled in pink and mint for the favors. The toppers said "He put a ring on it" and they were so adorable not to mention yummy!!

Our come in door decoration

Even the walkway got decorated for the big night.

 

I made a shower game of he said, she said on a video for us to play. There was also a background video playing with a bunch of their pictures on it. I didn't put any bridals on there so we could save all those for their wedding video.

 

 

The game prizes were a huge assortment of rings

The food always has to be top notch so Rachel Nettles helped us make these pistachio parfaits. She was a great help that day decorating and getting everything put together.

The buffet is ready to go! There were dips and soup and salad and cupcakes and cookies and just way to much to choose from!

 

Instead of pin the tail on the donkey there was put a ring on the groom!

 After lots of planning and prep it was time for the fun to begin!

We played a fun game that Christina put together of Romantic movie quotes. Only problem was we didn't have the key!!

Here we are "cheating" by looking up the answers as fast as we could when we realized the problem. Of course we got busted but that's ok.

 Opening presents took awhile but is always a favorite.

Thanks to all my girls for doing this for Megan. It was a wonderful night and I know it got stressful at times. It was the night before the wedding and we were ready for the big day tomorrow.

The Cake

 I have kinda gotten into a tradition these days. Years ago I used to made wedding cakes by the score it seemed. I retired from that stress because it seemed like weddings were always on holidays and I didn't want to be always tied up with cakes. So it's been about 15 years since I really was doing it. Ashley asked me to do her wedding cake 10 years ago and then Jeff just 3 years ago so I offered to do Hayden's. How can you do some of your kids but not all right? It was kinda my thing, my contribution and I thought it made the cake a special thing. So Megan had a dream cake in mind and I have to admit I was pretty excited. Pretty simple!! Well the pictures always look simple but really this one was:

The inspiration

My first ever boo boo :( 

 

 Luckily it was my last layer and luckily all I had to do to fix it was make a new layer. It just went flying right out of my hand. I have to brag here that I didn't even say a bad word or cry! Notice the blush color of the cake. My little surprise for Megan for when they cut the cake.

 So the frosted layers are ready for their trip to Santa Clara. I loaded up the cake and made the drive the back way over the mountain at 6am so I had less traffic to deal with which equals less braking and a better chance of getting there in one piece or in this case two pieces lol.

The worst part is the drive followed by the carrying in of the cake and setting it up!

 

 

 I think it turned out pretty good. I really love the style even though I didn't think I ever would. Add flower and it is instant beauty and no nasty string work etc!

A little girl enjoyed the frosting in the back haha.

 

 Time for the cutting. Those two are the smash it into your face types and they enjoyed doing that I think.

I told them they couldn't serve it because it wasn't going to be soft and fresh by that night so this was all that was eaten.

So after the reception we packed it all up and took it home to await the ceremonial cake shooting tradition that was to come! Yup we shoot the cake with real guns and have a blast together. That is also a wedding cake tradition in our family because what else are you going to do with the darn thing. (Separate post coming)

I'm so glad the tradition lives on and the Leavitt's were okay with me making the cake for them. they were so kind and offered many times to relieve me of the pressure but it all turned out great.

Wedding Prep

It was time to get it going for the wedding! The fall went by so fast. 

I spent most of the fall working on their quilts:

I can't believe I wasn't bright enough to take more pictures of them than this. Three months of work and I don't take pictures?? Well Hayden's was a nice tshirt quilt that turned out pretty good too. This pic is the semi-finished version of their big nice one. I spent the fall looking for a dress for the wedding and then looking for a cami that would match and also shoes. Never did get the shoes but too late now!

Dragging the dress around for color matching

It was time to get the stuff to make Megan's cream cake.

We had decorations to do for the shower (thanks Alisha)

The night Megan went through the Temple we all ate at Chuck A Rama where we could all fit and that's where we gave them their wedding present.
They needed it early since it was tickets and gift cards for them to pack for their honeymoon.

The next step was to get Jeff & Rachel here from Washington DC!

Everyone is here and ready to get the show on the road. Next step the Bridal Shower!

Thanksgiving

It was a quiet year at the Cooper's house this year for Thanksgiving. We had Christina here and Ashley's family came for dinner. Everyone else was gone so we even fit around the table in the house. Kinda weird.

As you can tell we didn't suffer any in the feasting dept. I can tell by the sweet potato casserole that Charlie & Alisha were there with us!!

 We didn't go do any Black Friday shopping. But we did deck the halls. Christina and I put up our new Christmas tree with our new lights and everything! Pretty exciting.

Hayden and Megan also came down on Saturday night for the Alumni basketball game. We enjoy going to those and it was great to have them here. Next time they stay at our house they will be married!

Halloween

This year's Halloween was kinda different. For the first time ever I didn't take anyone trick or treating. I gotta say it was happy/sad. I did miss running all over with kids but it was nice to just chill too. We actually had a few kids come to the door this year so that was nice. Mendis was out of town for the actual day but a few days before OPD had a trick or treat day for the employees kids. Ashley and I took the kids down for their ginormous candy haul.