Karlissa Forever!!

Off to our second Hansen wedding of the summer!!  It was funny so many parts of the wedding were dejavu-- except it was like 30 degrees hotter haha.

The kids did great in the car, thankfully.

We went to the Farm to see Dad first thing. 



The day before the wedding was spent setting up at the church, then SWIMMING (which I didn't get any pictures of but we had so much fun swimming at my parents' neighbors' house twice!  The kids especially liked the "everyone do a cannonball at the exact same time" game) and then we had a pizza party at the church!(and spent a while washing and separating grapes-- apparently this went on for like 4 hours late that night as well!)



Then Melissa read the kids a sweet story "My Wedding Day" that made us all cry.  She was doing it!  She made it to the goal we all reach and struggle for!



Then we got to do our Family Sing for Melissa.  It was really cool, we had just started (we were on a tight schedule because Melissa was going to the temple with Karl and their parents in a little while) and I was concerned that Dad wasn't there yet. I was thinking "how sad that he's missing this!!" But then a couple of lines into the first song, he came hurrying in and we were all like "it's Dad!!" It was so joyful.  I sat on the floor by Jenae so I could look at everyone. Whitney told me later that she felt the Spirit 2 times that day- when Melissa read the story and when we sang. That's right girl!

Sadly Katelyn was in a bad mood and sat in the corner.  So Eric sat over there and kept scooting closer until he was by her. :)

Group hug of Melissa before she left-- the next time I would see her would be in the temple the next day!  Notice katelyn got over her bad mood enough to be right there in the middle hugging Melissa. My kids adore her. :)

Then it was wedding day!!  We got ready at the hotel and went to join everyone at the temple!

We had time to try and take a couple of pictures, and it was fun to greet all the aunts and uncles and friends who had come for the wedding!

Then we went in and it was so wonderful.  I loved watching Melissa and Karl experience the beauty and simplicity of the sealing ordinance.  But probably my favorite part was watching Karl's mom.  She is deaf, and so they had an ASL interpreter there for her, which was SO cool.  But also she was just GLOWING with happiness to be in the temple (she had worked hard this summer to get her temple recommend so she could be there!) with her amazing son who she adores.  She is SUCH a sweet, loving lady who has been through a lot of hard times.  Watching her watch Karl and Melissa was so touching.  Also it was cute to see Derek and Raycelan witnessing a sealing besides their own, they are too cute.  And Melissa and Karl... I love that they were both so ready for this.  Everything in their lives had led them to this point.  They are different from each other in many ways, but they are SO united in their love for the Lord and desire to be obedient and righteous...I can see why they were attracted to each other, because they are both so GOOD and their goodness radiates from them.  I am so happy for Melissa and Karl!

After they were sealed, Mom asked us to wait by the recommend desk, because Jenae wanted to come in and see Melissa and hug her before she came out, since she was the only one who couldn't come in for the wedding, poor girl.  So we siblings stayed and got to talk for a minute, it was SO cool and a little weird to be without any of our spouses or kids!  I really do have the coolest brothers and sisters on earth. :)  Then Jenae came in with her limited use recommend and we stood by the baptistry doors (as far in as she could come!) and soon Melissa and Mom and Dad came out to us and suddenly we were in a family huddle, all crying, just looking around at each other's faces, and Mom said "no empty seats" and we all nodded, this was heaven, this is what we all want!  To all be together, worthy and purified by fire and glowing with the power of our forever family, it was a sacred moment that we didn't want to end.  It is amazing that we all grew up together kneeling for family prayer and fighting and eating around the dinner table and laughing and working and struggling.  It is amazing what we have become.  It was so precious to have that minute together, I'm so glad Mom had us stay.  And I'm so grateful we are all worthy to be there.  Not perfect, but on the path!!  It was the best part of the whole trip for me.

While we siblings were still inside, the spouses went out to get the kids and Eric got some cute pictures of them hanging out together on the temple steps.

Maris and Ryder!

  

My Katie!

Lydia.  This girl is so good at taking pictures!!  If she sees a camera she automatically smiles!

Then Seth and the mighty Whitney-Caleb duo joined them...

And Natalie, Owen and Jenna, 

And Eric almost got a picture of Evelyn and Owen.

Maris being clingy.  Sometimes it is pretty dang cute!

And they came out!  Mr. and Mrs. Horlacher. Yay!

Melissa greeted all the nieces and nephews, Kate is so tall!

And then we moved over to the side to take some pictures. The kids obviously started climbing things,

and Lydia smiled for my camera!

So after Derek's wedding I kicked myself for not getting a picture of all the kids with BOTH sets of their great-grandparents. A priceless opportunity lost!  Luckily I got another chance, thanks Melissa. :)  I knew I wanted to do it sometime, so while we were waiting for a minute I seized the opportunity and enlisted everyone's help to make it happen.  Whitney only wanted to do it if she could sit by "Mae", she has felt such a connection to my Grandma who shares her middle name.  It's so sweet.

So here they are, Great Grandmom and Grandad Mickey and Janice Wallwork and Great Grandma and Grandpa Fred and Dorsmae Hansen with the great-grandchildren they share. Of course there has to be a couple of kids crying, right??

Then my Mom and Dad decided to get their picture right then too.  So here you have Whitney, Ryder, Owen, Katelyn holding Maris, Caleb and Jenna in the back, Dad holding Hazel, Mom holding Claire, Lydia in front of Natalie, and Evelyn.  Oh and poor Seth crying in front!  Next picture they put him in the back so he couldn't escape.

Hilarious, Eric noticed Melissa standing right behind him, so he had to take a sneaky celebrity selfie with the bride. lol.

Getting kissed by the bride, so cute.

Owen and Ryder playing this funny game, silly boys. Oh if only Owen had a brother, this is what it would be like!

Owen is always trying to help Maris :)

Me and my big girl Kate.

The core fam!

Love these guys!  Even with the weird lighting and me being the SHORT sister!

:) :) :) 

The whole family, all 29 Hansens!!

Melissa with all of her nieces!! so adorable. They look like angels.

another candid cute one.

Family pic, thanks for the classy wedding colors Melissa!  They turned out so beautiful.

Me and my golden baby.

We finished pictures and left, whew!  Time for the next part.  

First we had a little birthday party for Evelyn, who would turn 2 a few days later. She is SO cute!

And go Christine, pulling it off with a 5-week-old baby!

Then after some prep work we had the wedding luncheon.  It was tasty and fun, I love hearing stories about the bride and groom!

During the stories I caught this on camera. BFFs.

The afternoon was kind of long and hot- I stayed and tried to help while Eric took Owen back to the hotel for a nap.  I got to chat with Karl's family a little, I wish I would have talked to Grandma and Grandpa more, and it was fun that whole day to get to know Melissa's bridesmaids Mallorie and Jaylene.  The best part of my afternoon though was when me and Jenae got to go pick up flowers, and then Mom had forgot to bring sandwich stuff for dinner so me and Jenae hurried to the house to pick it up.  It was fun because we got to talk the whole time about her boyfriend Joseph and starting college and it was really great!  I love that girl.

The reception was super fun, it all turned out gorgeous and we had a great time dancing and eating delicious grapes and cookies.  

matchy-matchy

See what I mean?  It was magical.  Way to go Melissa on the design.

Donny and his adorable new baby girl Claire!  She has the most amazing hair ever!

Maris loves Uncle Jonathan!

cake cutting

and a super blurry picture of them running to their car while we threw rice at them as Melissa wanted!  I was sad I didn't take a picture with Melissa the whole day!  Or Melissa and Karl, I have like no pictures of him!  Oh well, she was gorgeous and radiant and I love her!

The next day we went to church long enough to see Donny bless Claire and take the Sacrament, and then we left, sad!  But we had to get home for the first day of school the next day. :)  Also Karl and Melissa went to Harry Potter World in Florida for their Honeymoon... Karl is awesome!!

The end.