October Birthdays, New Grandbaby, and Wedding

Warning: this is a pretty long blog, but we had a lot going on in October!
The month started off with Spencer's birthday on October 2nd. These are photos from last year.

Wyatt loved the candles burning and helped to blow them out.

Happy 35th Birthday to Spencer!!!

This is how Bruce and I first met Denis Fedotov, Sarah's fiance, back in August. I snapped a picture of him with Sarah and his best friend, Magonif (sp) in the background while they skyped with us from Ukraine. Denis sang "Be Good To Your Daughters". We were very impressed by this young man. Soon afterwards, Denis e-mailed to Bruce asking if he could ask Sarah to marry him. Bruce answered, "yes", of course.

We were lucky enough to get Raidon with us for a few weekends this month. One Saturday we helped Jared and Candace move some dirt around their back yard so they could plant some new trees and grass. Raidon is waiting for his turn to help with his own shovel.

Now he is helping! What fun he had!

As soon as we could get invitations ordered, I set to work with the lists, addressing, etc. Sarah and I did our planning by skype, e-mails, and phone.

Our newest grandbaby, Norah Jane Howard, was born on October 13th. Mother and baby are doing great! We are excited to go meet her in person on November 10th.

When the day arrived for Sarah and Denis to fly to Utah, October 24th, Diane,

Jared and Candace,

Andy, Raidon, and Bruce, and I were anxiously waiting at the airport. They were very tired from the long trip but happy to be here!

The week that followed was a whirlwind of activities! Andrea Jardine, Sarah's best friend, threw her a bridal shower on October 26th.

We had fun visiting and eating lots of yummy things. At the same time, Bruce and Jared took Denis out on a fun night at the go carts and Pat's Barbeque.

Diane's 23rd birthday was on October 27th, so we all went to Red Robin restaurant in Layton for dinner. Sophie joined us also. Happy Birthday to Diane!!!

Denis has tried a lot of new food experiences this week, but his favorite thing is peanut butter.

Here's the group that went to Red Robin. Andy has to work a lot at Dominoes Pizza and couldn't come.

At my regular Tabernacle Choir rehearsal on Thursday night, the 28th, I got permission for Denis to be a guest to rehearse with us. We had to dress for some filming before he came up. Sarah sat in the audience and both were introduced to everyone. It was fun to see him there and he liked it too.

Afterwards we hung out at home for the last night before the wedding.

The next morning, Sarah's friend came over early to help her with hair and makeup.

Lee's family flew in from Washington to be with us and here is Emily in her very pretty dress.2 1/2 month old Joshua looks very handsome too! The sealing cermony was beautiful at the Salt Lake Temple and I was happy to help my daughter get dressed in her wedding dress we picked out just four days before. Look at those big smiles as they come out of the temple to greet everyone!

Lora Knight, my pretty niece, was our photographer for the day and she took over 1200 pictures! She is editing them back in California and will share them with us soon. She did a great job. After our group pictures, the bride and groom went off for their own photos while the rest of the wedding party waited.Here are a couple of friends from Ukraine, Surgeh (sp) and Natalia, who are going to school here.

My wonderful brother, Ron, flew in from California with Tran, his wife, and Lora, the photograper, his daughter,and Jayda (in his lap), daughter of Lora. Rick, the son going to BYU, came also.

My awesome sister, Linda, and her darling daughters, Deana and Beth (and 2 young daughters) drove all the way from Washington State to be with us.

The kids got tired of waiting, but lunch was planned for the Lion House a couple hours away. This is Emily, Whitney, and Zachary Howard. It wasn't long before Sarah and Denis came back and joined us for lunch.Denis was very nice to all and was easy to get to know. Emily was brave and spoke into our "open mike" how she loved Denis and "her Sarah".
A beautiful picture caught on the stairs.

Lunch was over and now... on to the rest of the day.

Good bye to Temple Square for now.

That evening, granddaughter, Whitney, sat at our guest book table and greeted the guests to the Aspen Landing Reception Center.

Sarah chose fall colors with purple and yellow as the accents. Candace, Jared and I put together all the live flower arrangements. It all turned out so pretty!

I enlarged pictures of Denis and Sarah at different ages in their lives including a few together to display on this table.

Wasn't Denis a very cute baby!

All dressed up in his Ukrainian costume.

Here he is as a missionary where he and Sarah met.

Denis is a very talented musician and he favored us with a songs at the luncheon and at the reception. I love listening to him sing, play the guitar, and play piano.

I think this is my favorite picture of them! So in love!

Cute Emily was a little overwhelmed by the choice of desserts to choose from.

Candace put together these bouquets. Sarah threw one and kept one that I am drying for a keepsake. The other lady is my good friend, Amy Johnson, from Honeyville that came.

Amy's daughter, Becky Johnson Fuller, is the floutist in the Briarwood Musicians that I got to play for the evening. They were excellent. It all turned out so well. We even had a little dancing starting out with Denis and Sarah, then Bruce and Sarah, and Denis and I. Jared was our master of ceremonies.

The next day Bruce and I went with Ron's family to visit our Aunt Marjorie who had a stroke not long ago. She is in an assisted living center in Ogden for now and says she will be going home soon. I can see an improvement from the last time I visited her a couple of weeks ago.

That evening was Halloween and Candace showed us her costume a couple nights before when she had a party. I had to show you how great she looked!

Well, Denis and Sarah are in California now on a fun honeymoon and then they will be flying off back to Ukraine to live there about a year before returning to America so Sarah can finish her degree at the University of Utah. I know they'll be very happy and we welcome Denis to our family!