Memorial Day Weekend

Memorial Day Weekend was the BIG EVENT - Melanie Johnsen and Sal Moreno got married in the Nauvoo temple!  Elise drove to St Louis Thursday night, after teaching her last day of classes at West Middle School *** and she joined Steve and me on the drive to Nauvoo Friday morning.  We attended the 3:15 temple session and, by the time we were finished, Melanie, Sal and the Southerlands had all arrived at the large VRBO we had rented for the occasion just outside of Nauvoo proper. It was an easy trip for us and the Southerlands - not so for Melanie and Sal. On their way, their car was totaled! 

 Melanie was driving and did not realize that it was just a two-way stop and their car was hit by a large truck (like a 350)! It was a miracle that neither Sal nor Melanie were injured at all!  Thanks to wonderful Bear Creek ward members, they were driven up to Nauvoo in time to get their marriage license. 

For dinner Friday night, we enjoyed Casey's pizza - which is really good - including their gluten-free pizza - and Lucy, Quinn, Larkin, Steve, Elise and I played some dominoes and Kwirkle until it was time to go to bed.  Julina joined us late that night, making the 5.5 hour drive from Indianapolis to be with us!

Below is Lucy with her dominoes creation and Melanie and Sal on the steps of the temple after the ceremony. Emily was hired to be their photographer.

Everything at the temple was finished by 11:00 so we took the next hour to tour parts of Nauvoo that had recently been acquired from the Community of Christ - specifically the Red Brick Store, the Homestead and the Mansion House. The photos below are genuine pieces of furniture owned by the Smith family.  So cool!

 

Soon, we had to say goodbye to Julina who headed back eastward and Elise, Steve and I drove westward towards Columbia for the evening reception. We went via Moberly and did some shopping at the Amish to restock my gluten-free flour supplies and to get fun things at the out-of-code store.

The ring ceremony and and dessert reception was very lovely. The colors were lavender and sage and I found a purple flower print dress for the weekend festivities. Steve and I stayed overnight with Steven (Tamara was in Arizona visiting her parents) and we attended our old Bear Creek ward on Sunday. Between Saturday night and Sunday morning, it was so fun to see so many old and dear friends.  I sat in on Steven's Primary class of five and six year olds and, wow, I thought my Primary class was a handful!!!!! Not sure how long he will continue to teach, though, since he was recently called to a stake communications position.

Steve, Steven and I went to Elizibeth Crippen's for a mid-afternoon dinner and a game of Scrabble and then it was time for Steve and me to return to St. Louis. Elise's car still being in our driveway, we picked her up on our way and headed east into severe weather. Poor Beckie and Sally spent some time in the basement of the house during the tornado watch but, thankfully, no problems in our neighborhood. And, by the time we got into the metro area, it was just rain. 

Elise stayed through Monday afternoon (Memorial Day) and she spent the morning baking me a gluten-free white cake which was a birthday gift that I finally cashed in. I have it in the freezer, just waiting for the right time to frost and eat it.  

*** Good news for Elise for those who don't already know....She has been teaching 6th grade English this past year at West Middle School and it has been a soul-sucking experience for her.  Even though she has an English degree and a teaching certificate, her real passion is being a librarian and that has eluded her ever since she got her Masters in Library Science ten years ago. She subbed in the West Middle media center for three months at the end of the school year 2023 and that got her "in the door" so to speak with this English teaching job but it was killing her and when she learned that the library tech position was opening up, she applied, was accepted, and will take the pay cut to have this hourly pay job.  Hopefully, it will open doors for her to become a salaried media specialist (aka school librarian) in a year or so.