I haven't edited it at all in the past month, so maybe it's not well-written and maybe there are holes in it, but we all know that no matter how long we procrastinate, we usually end up never getting around to it if it's not at the top of the priority list. And since we're moving in a few weeks and I want to spend time with friends and play with Carmen, blogging is one of those things that is just not going to get done, or it's one of those, "Just spit everything out and get it over with" sorts of things. So I'm sorry this isn't going to be very eloquent or entertaining ... just my initial thoughts on life's fun events. :)
My sister-in-law wrote another post about the wedding here:
http://potatogirl-in-michigan.blogspot.com/2011/05/james-shauri-wedding-movie-night.html
Here's what I wrote last month. Maybe I'll add a few of the pictures we managed to take.
Remember how I said my brother-in-law was getting married in Boston this year? I've been really impressed by all the work my now-sister-in-law put into everything. She wanted to get married in Newport, Rhode Island (it's where her family took a lot of summer vacations ... her grandfather grew up there or something.) and NOBODY LIVES THERE so we were all a little nervous about everything working out.
But it was absolutely lovely.
On Friday night, they rented out this little theatre and had a night full of entertainment and silly videos. There were different categories of videos with four or five videos in each category and we got to vote for our favorites.
A few highlights from the night:
-Some of James' friends read "James' journal" which was supposedly part of WikiLeaks. (Clever.) They had James down to a T ... the sensitive guitar guy who had trouble finding the right girl. ;) Some day I'll try to get the full text, but there were several times where they read, "I played my guitar for a bunch of people. All the girls fell in love with me, and all the guys were jealous." and, "There's not enough stress in my mother's life, so I'm going to go to Syria!!" and, "There's not enough stress in my mother's life, so I'm going to stamp passports in Matamoros, where there are drug lords and gang firefights!" James and his wife are shipping out to Baghdad, Iraq this fall. Yep. He's an exciting guy. It was hilarious.
-Nate, James' older brother, did a karaoke performance with himself. In his video, Nate said he has a fond memory of singing Les Mis karaoke with James back in the day. He wanted to reenact it. Then it showed a close-up of his face and he started singing the Valjean/Javier confrontation: "Valjean, at last, we see each other plain ..." THEN the REAL Nate came out on stage with a microphone and started singing Valjean's part! IT WAS SO COOL WATCHING NATE SING WITH HIMSELF. Everyone was screaming and cheering and it was AWESOME.
-Mark and our nephews, Eli and Adam, sang "We Are the Pirates Who Don't Do Anything." Eli and Adam did typical little boy stuff (like dropping the music, fighting over some of the props, etc.) and it was just delightful.
-There was a video called "How Shauri met James" and showed an elementary school-age girl stealing a baby out of a stroller. Shauri is about 7 years older than James. ;) Ben and Karen are 8 years apart (I think?) and they make our 5 years' difference look small. Nate could marry any girl over 20 and I don't think any of us would blink. LOL.
-There were a bunch of things involving Baghdad. They did some kind of "Cat in the Hat in Baghdad", speculated on how well Shauri could pull off a burka, had Shauri hire someone to marry James in her place in Iraq and he ended up marrying Osama bin Laden (so outdated! it's like they made this movie BEFORE last week!)
-Another category was mockumentaries. There was an, "I'm sorry we couldn't make it to your wedding" video from these people who live in Australia. It said, "Sydney is kind of far from Boston" and showed this globe map and drew this long dotted line from Sydney to Boston, Indiana Jones-style. My favorite mockumentary was "Come to Boise! from the Boise Chamber of Commerce" and this couple had their young daughter talk about all the wonderful things there are to do in Boise, now that all of the cool places have left. "Boise is the city of trees! Look at all the trees! One, two, three, four ... FOUR TREES!" "Boise is rich in history. This Little Caesar's has been here SINCE THE NINETIES!" and then she's in the backyard and she goes, "I'm sure this rock has been here for a VERY LONG TIME!"
-"Really, this is just a popularity contest, but vote anyway!" they said. "Whoever wins gets the satisfaction of knowing they're awesome!"
There was a tie for best mockumentary, so the next day at the wedding reception each group had a minute to convince us that their video was best. The Boise people did some kind of funky dance around the room and we all clapped and cheered and screamed. I can't remember what the other guys said, but they trashed Boise a lot (it's too easy!) ... but the problem is, HALF OF US ARE FROM BOISE AND/OR LOVE BOISE ... so the Boiseans won. "Boise sucks!" the losers retorted.
I think I love Shauri's friends and family.
Okay, so here's the drama part. Everything took place in Newport except for the wedding itself, because the nearest temple is in Boston. We all drove to Boston for the sealing and most people had a hard time tracking down the temple because the address is weird. I couldn't find it on Mom's GPS and Dad couldn't find it on his phone's GPS, so we called the temple and they gave us a second address to try. It worked.
So we all got to the temple and waited for the bride to arrive. And waited. And waited. Apparently, her limo driver got lost and James spent a lot of time outside on the phone trying to get her to the temple. We didn't mind the wait ... it was fun chatting in the waiting room. We had SO much fun we kept getting noisy and the temple workers had to come in and remind us to use our quiet temple voices. ;)
After the bride arrived, we discovered the wedding license had been left behind in Newport. An hour and a half away. Several phone calls were made and they managed to fax a copy of the license to the temple.
Two hours later, James and Shauri were able to be sealed. The ceremony was beautiful and simple, and the sealer (who I think was the temple president or something?) told some wonderful stories and shared his great humor with us. "Who can I trust to hold on to the marriage license? ... I keep telling them in Salt Lake that they need to get rid of the Murphy's licenses." Lots of people love James and Shauri - half of the people in the sealing room were standing, and there were more people sitting down than there were chairs. It was a really, really sweet experience.
Shauri's not my daughter and James isn't even my brother, but I bawled through the whole ceremony.
Finally!
Luckily, they had access to a large Boston Red Sox umbrella!! I mean, obviously. ;)
Part of the "theme" of the wedding was, "Sometimes love takes an unnaturally long time." Everything was pulled off so well, that of COURSE everything not under your control (like the temple address and limo drivers getting lost) will go wrong. Murphy's Law. I don't think anybody really minded, and we can all laugh at this sweet story. So what if everything else during the day got delayed and shortened and wasn't exactly how Shauri had planned it? Not her fault. And really, it makes for a great story.
I love you.
Welcome to our crazy family. ;)
More pictures and stories to follow ... about the things we did around James and Shauri's fun activities! (From here on out, they are to be called by their celebrity nickname, "Shames.")
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