Michael and Kristin's Wedding

I love my family.

I used to think that there was no other family as cool as my own.

Then I got to know Dallas's family.

 I feel so unbelievably blessed to get along with my in-laws so well, not only the Perkins side, but the Whitt side as well.  Unfortunately we do not get to see them very often since most of them live on the East Coast.  In fact, our last gathering for the Whitts was a couple years ago at our Whitt Family Reunion.  So we were very excited that our cousin Michael and his fiancee, Kristin, chose the Oakland temple as their wedding destination.  Not only would we get to witness and help celebrate their decision to get married at their temple sealing in our home temple, but we would get to see several members of the Whitt side of the family as well.

Dallas loves his grandma Eva.

She is such a fun, ball of energy, humorous, and loving person.

The first thing she did when we saw her was grab little Daxton out of my arms.  She couldn't wait to hold her precious great grandson.  Dallas's mom, Elizabeth, is their oldest daughter and passed away about 6 years ago.  He was so excited to introduce little Daxton to his mom's side of the family.  I'm still convinced that she helped send little Dax down to us.  He was born on the exact day of the anniversary of her passing.

The beautiful grandma Eva 

Our cousins, Abby and Ryan, offered to watch Daxton for us so we could attend the temple sealing of Michael and Kristin.  I have to admit I was pretty nervous to leave my little guy, not because I didn't trust them (I swear they are the most responsible teenagers I have ever met) but because I had never left him with anyone before.  He did get a bit fussy while we were in the temple, because it was right in the middle of his nap time, but he recovered when he got into my arms again...little stinker!  He gave quite the stink eye for several minutes after...punishment for leaving him.

  

Waiting with family outside the temple after the sealing.

Top left picture: cousins Ryan, Abby, Angela, and Dallas

Top right picture: Aunt Karen and Daxton

Bottom left picture: Aunt Karen, cousin Erin, Aunt Karen, Grandma Eva, Daxton, and myself

Bottom right picture:  Aunt Karen and Uncle Scott with Daxton

The gorgeous happy couple!

I swear they could both be models!

They looked gorgeous and so happy.  It made me think back to when Dallas and I were married.  In some ways it feels like forever ago, but in a lot of ways it feels like only yesterday.  I sure do love, Dallas, and couldn't feel luckier that we chose to get married four and a half years ago!

We loved being able to attend the sealing.

What an incredible feeling being surrounded by family in the sealing room.  So much love.

Top left picture: Grandpa Ken, Uncle Steve, Uncle Sam, Uncle Scott

Top right picture: Michael and his little sister, Megan, hugging after exiting the temple

Bottom left picture: Grandma Eva, cousin Megan, cousin Abby

Bottom right picture: Uncle Scott and Aunt Karen

The gorgeous fountain on the Oakland Temple grounds.

After the wedding in Oakland, everyone drove down to Monterey for the reception.  The reception was held on the private country club that Kristin's family are members of.  Needless to say, it was remarkable!  It felt a little weird bringing a baby to such a nice event, but we didn't have much of a choice since he's still breast feeding (refusing to take a bottle) and we were all the way in Monterey, but the bride and groom had given their approval (or at least our aunt did.)  We were just happy to be able to attend!

I couldn't get over how gorgeous everything was, not only the venue (which was breath taking) but the decorations, the notice of all the small details, etc.  I tried to capture as many images of the experience that I could, but none of them do justice to the absolute beauty of their reception...

I loved the detail work on their cake...gorgeous!

Each room was decorated beautifully.

An hour before the dinner began, the guests were able to arrive for cocktail hour...there were a lot of Shirley Temples served at this reception, I imagine!

 They were so creative with all of the details.

I loved that they had grandparents' wedding day pictures framed as part of their decorations along the different tables and I LOVED the older type writer that you could type them a message instead of the generic signing book...so creative!

The breathtaking dining hall.

Each table was gorgeously decorated.  I fell in love with the floral arrangements as well. 

Yes we even had our individual name cards placed on our reserved seating.  Luckily when we arrived, Daxton was still asleep.  He did not wake until they started to announce the wedding party.  All we needed to do was place him on daddy's lap and he did wonderfully for the first little while.  He was perfectly quiet during the speeches and toasts, which is what we were nervous about.  Only when the food was served and everyone was noisily talking did he started to get fussy with hunger.

Daxton was a little overstimulated as the evening went on.

You can tell that meeting his cousin Emily was a bit too much at the time...

I missed most of dinner since I was feeding him elsewhere, but when we returned he snuggled quickly with everyone for a few quick pictures.  Once the music started for dancing, though, he was not a happy little guy.  I'm pretty sure it was either too loud, it had been a really long day, and/or it was too many people for him to handle.  We ended up spending the remaining of the reception outside walking along the private golf course.

Top right: Daxton snuggling with cousin Erin

Bottom right: Daxton snuggling with Aunt Karen

  

Bottom Left picture: Uncle Sam and Aunt Tracy's kids now (LtoR) Ryan, Daniel, Kristin, Michael, Megan, and Abby

Top right and Bottom left pictures: Daxton snuggling with cousin Megan

Bottom middle picture: cousin Daniel, Dallas, and cousin Ryan enjoying the open bar and several Shirley Temples

Bottom right picture: Aunt Tracy (I totally have a "mom crush" on her!  I seriously hope I can raise Daxton to some degree of how she's raised her five children.

Trying desperately to get a stubborn 5 month old to fall asleep with YMCA playing in the background...it took a long time before he would settle down long enough to fall asleep...poor little guy.  He was so exhausted from the crazy day.  At least the golf course was an amazing view!

Dancing and cake-cutting

We could not be happier for Michael and Kristin!

We are so happy and excited to welcome Kristin into the family.

We love them both so much and are so happy for their decision to be married for eternity in the temple.

Thank you for the amazing weekend!

We loved being able to help celebrate your special day.

Congratulations again!