They Got Married In The Evening...

This last weekend was a great family experience...although it took the planning of all of us to come up with the best way to make it all happen.

When Nissa and Todd visited over New Year's weekend, they were trying to plot the possibility of a January wedding. Claude and I wanted to be in attendance and we could not attend from the 21st of January through the 31st. Paul has some health issues that require some serious surgery and that was set for this Thursday the 19th of January. Nissa and Todd both work at the same place and have a difficult time taking the same weekend off. What to do, what to do, what to do???

They realized they could both be off on Saturday, January 14th. They were having a small wedding with just immediate family and the Bishop performing the ceremony. They contacted Bishop Wilson and he could perform the ceremony at 6:30pm on Saturday the 14th of January. That was in place and now we needed to coordinate the rest of us getting there.

Claude and I knew we could adjust our commitments to attend. I had to find a substitute for my Sunday School class for three Sunday's in a row. I had the one for their wedding set up when I knew it was a possibility and was able to finalize the other two Sunday's as we drove to Michigan.

Jake was helping with a furniture move at work but would be able to cut loose on Friday evening. The plan was for Claude and I to leave Kentucky, drive to Cabela's to replenish the seasoning rubs for Claude's grilling and smoking this coming year and restock my hashbrowns in food storage, then make it to Jake's about 5:15 or 5:30 to get him and then head to Muskegon. He would stay at Nissa's home and Claude and I would stay at the Comfort Inn.

Andie and family had just taken a week long cruise with Michael's family over Thanksgiving. Hayden had already missed a lot of school for that and two days of sickness. He didn't need to miss anymore. Plus Michael didn't have vacation days left. Andie wanted to go but it would require some major child care arrangements. Bless her heart she set to work and found someone to care for Bailey on Friday morning and someone else to care for Bailey Friday afternoon. Hayden would be in school. She had a friend to get Hayden from the bus stop. Then she had another friend coming to pick him up and keep him for the afternoon. Michael would go after work and pick up each of the kids and care for them the rest of the weekend. All was in place, eMail's with all the phone numbers and time of childcare were sent. Then the person watching Bailey in the morning on Friday had a child come down with 103 degrees of fever. Andie set to work rearranging things. She got another friend to help out. It's a good thing Andie has lots of friends willing to help.

Claude then suggested that we change our hotel to stay in Chelsea on Friday night as there was now a forecast for major snow in Michigan over Friday and Saturday. Goodness!!! I shortened the stay in Muskegon by one night and added a Friday night stay in Chelsea for Claude, Andie and me.

Then Andie talked with a dear friend from Kentucky who moved to Plymouth, Michigan. That is about 30 minutes from Jake. Maybe she could visit her friend that Friday night. So Claude and I decided to drive to LaGrange, Kentucky (where Andie lives) and spend the night on Thursday evening. This gave us time to play with the Mini's. Then Friday we would drop Andie off at Jamison's for a sleepover. Then we would pick her up on Saturday morning and head to Muskegon.

Here are a few pictures of our fun.

Hayden, Claude & Bailey Bouncing Balloons

Bailey Shooting Pompon Into Sandi's Hand

Bailey Sitting On Claude

Bailey Playing Wii and Andie Editing Pictures

Claude & Hayden in Light Saber Duel in Basement

Friday morning came, Michael headed to work, Hayden headed to school, Andie dropped Bailey off with her friend, and Claude, Andie and I pointed the red Buick toward I-71 and Cincinnati to begin our journey. As we got in the car Andie said, "Dad, can you take me to see my friend?" We all got a chuckle. I eMail my friend Laura to tell her about this funny. She responded with "Is she asking, Are we there yet?" Such silliness.

The snow was falling a bit, the wind was blowing a bit but Claude kept on going. We made our first pit stop in Piqua, Ohio where we had lunch. Then back up on I-75 headed toward Michigan.

We got caught in our first traffic jam not too far up I-75. Michael had loaned us his GPS and it was diligently trying to help us avoid this backup. However, we didn't notice this until it was way to late to change lanes and take the exit. Fortunately it was not a long backup and we were out of it by the next exit. A trailer had blown over in all the wind and they were righting it and putting it on a tow truck to remove it.  We would see one more rolled over trailer when we got into Michigan.

Our next stop was Cabela's.

Then we found Jamison's and left Andie for her visit. Jamison was able to provide us with warm water to defrost the holes where the windshield wiper fluid is supposed to come out.

We stopped at Jake's work because he was not answering his phone and it was near 6pm. The snow was coming down harder now. Jake was helping with the rearranging of the cubicle walls for their office. We left him at his work and headed to check in at the hotel. He would meet us there later. We enjoyed dinner at Coney Island. Then a bit of a chat at the hotel until time for bed and a good rest before Saturday's journey.

Saturday morning we picked up Jake. Jamison and family told us about a deli called Zingerman's that we had never tried. It is located in Ann Arbor. They brought Andie to Zingerman's and we met them there for a quick breakfast before heading to Muskegon. I would highly recommend this deli to anyone. They also have a road house that serves meals. We plan on trying that some evening when we are visiting Jake.

As we drove toward Muskegon, I received an eMail with a photo attachment from Michael. He took Hayden and Bailey to Waffle House for breakfast. They LOVE Waffle House which is a gene they get from their daddy.

Bailey & Hayden at Waffle House

We made it to Muskegon in great time. We checked into the hotel and got another room for Andie and Jake to share. Then we went to visit Katelyn at her work. She works just across the street from the hotel. We made a few purchases to make her day better. Now we were off to Nissa's home to see the rest of the family and see if we could help in any way in preparing for the wedding in the evening.

Nissa had it all 'under control'. This was her favorite saying as a teenager and we always worried when she said that. Now it is a running joke in the family. She did have it all under control. Food was prepared. All her ducks were in a row.

When Katelyn got home she scooped up Paul and Aubrey and we loaded our car to go to The Pita Place for a nice lunch. Yum...I was getting my falafel and cinnamon pita bites!!! We had a nice lunch which gave Nissa time to rest and get ready.

We went back to our hotel to rest a bit and get ready ourselves. Then we went back to Nissa's to follow them to the Church.

Everyone pitched in to set up the Relief Society room and the kitchen. We were able to take some family pictures before the ceremony.

Nissa Thompson (the Bride) and Todd Tyler (the Groom)

The Blended Family
Derrick Tyler, Katelyn Squires, Paul Thompson,
Nissa Soon-to-be-Tyler, Todd Tyler,
Aubrey Thompson, Mitchell Tyler

The Original Cast
Sandi, Andie, Jake, Nissa and Claude

Bishop Wilson and his wife arrived and papers were put in order so the ceremony could begin.

Sis & Bishop Wilson

I don't know when I have ever seen Nissa with a more huge grin on her face. It was a sweet ceremony and they both said "I do" and they did!!

Nissa Becoming Mrs. Todd Tyler

After the ceremony we enjoyed ham sandwiches prepared by Nissa and Todd. This was a nice time to get to know Pam, Todd's sister. This was our first time to meet her.

We all enjoyed a nice piece of the wedding cake.

The cute thing about this was the blue icing. We realized it was turning all our teeth blue. What a handsome group we were with our blue teeth and lips!! Now that is going to be a cute memory for years to come.

We all helped clean up. We went back to Nissa and Todd's home to open presents.

The snow was coming down heavily now. We determined we should head for our hotel for the night and get good rest for the long drive back to Kentucky on Sunday.

Sunday morning Claude went out to clean off the car. He said there was an additional 6 to 8 inches of snow on top of the car. I took this picture of the courtyard at the hotel from our window.

We drove back to Chelsea and had lunch with Jake before dropping him off at his apartment. Our next stop would be for gasoline outside of Dayton. Then on to Florence, Kentucky for dinner at Chipotle's. Ending up at the Marx home in LaGrange, Kentucky at about 7:30pm.

During our drive we received another eMail from Michael with pictures of the kids at the Yum Center in Louisville. He took them to see the Harlem Globetrotters. Brave, brave Michael!! He actually went with a co-worker and their family. The kids had a great time and told us some of the funny things the basketball players did.

Bailey on the left end and Hayden in stripped shirt leaning forward.

Michael had Hayden and Bailey ready for bed when we got there. Bailey jumped into her mom's arms and let out a squeal I heard from the driveway.

Monday morning Claude and I headed back to Sadieville.

It was a great family weekend. Thank you Michael for watching the Mini's and filling their time making wonderful memories. Thank you Nissa and Todd for choosing a time when we could come and witness this wonderful wedding. Thank you Andie and Jake for working with all our schedules so we could all have a good time in the car ride and the visit. I have a wonderful family and it was grand to see the cooperation and joy we have when together.

Congratulations Nissa & Todd!!!