Wait, no you don't.
So, random side note: this was my uncle Dale's second marriage. His first wife, Janice, died a few months before my mom did. Even though Dale is my mom's older brother, he actually got married quite a bit later than my mom. I was around 7 or 8 at the time, so I actually remember some of his wedding. I remember the reception and getting a new red dress for the occasion.
But what I remember most is baby Kevin (probably 18 months or 2 years old at the time) locking himself in the bathroom at the hotel.
This was way back in the day when The Hotel Utah was still around in Salt Lake City. (It's now the Joseph Smith Memorial Building, in case you're wondering.) My grandparents had gotten a suite for grandma to rest in between wedding activities. Good ol' Kevin somehow locked himself into the bathroom and wouldn't open the door. I vividly remember him flushing the potty a million times, while my frantically tried to get him away from the potty because she was worried he'd fall in and drown. "Kevin! Don't play with the potty! DON'T TOUCH THAT POTTY!!" This happened while my dad called and called down to the main desk to get someone to come up and unlock the door. No one ever came, so he finally picked the lock, where they found Kevin perfectly fine and happy and not drowned, sitting in a rather large pile of toilet paper that he had unwound.
Many family members told me that this was one of the things they remembered most from the wedding. Good one, Kev.
We thought about reenacting that magical story in our own hotel room, but decided to just take a few pictures instead.
Don't touch that potty, Kevin!!!
Doesn't he look like a sneaky toddler?
Kyle didn't care if Kevin locked himself into the bathroom this time.
Another random side note: we were staying in a pretty nice hotel, but I really had to fight Kevin to wear shoes when we went down to another over-priced breakfast that we, of course, charged to Dad. (Thanks, Dad!) Seriously, Kevin. Mom would've rolled over in her grave if you hadn't worn shoes. Wearing shoes meant he couldn't wear his capri-length pajama pants (otherwise known as "normal" length on those of us who are not so vertically enhanced.) I was the mean sister, but oh well. I was all dressed up for the wedding and didn't want to look like I was eating with a hobo.
So, back to the wedding. Yes. Even though it was only just over 20 miles away it took us a good hour to get there. L.A. traffic be crazy. I kinda liked driving around, mainly because I wasn't the one driving. (Thanks for being my chauffeur, Doug!)
We got to the temple and wandered a bit since we were a little early. I had forgotten just how BIG that temple is. Seriously, it's up on a hill and is huge and white and really stands out. I loved it. I loved it so much that I didn't take a picture of it. But I stole this nice one from the interwebs.
The sealing was seriously one of the best I had ever been to. The temple president (who had been Dale's Stake President) spoke and performed the sealing. He spoke a lot about the blessings we receive from temple ordinances and how they relate to the gift of the Holy Ghost. Having all of my immediate family there and feeling the spirit so strongly made me feel so happy! I was so glad to be able to be a part of it. (To my non-LDS friends: you've probably heard about LDS temples before and wonder about what goes on inside them. What we do is not secret - just very sacred. Which is why I can't go into detail. But trust me, it's nothing weird or uncomfortable. On the contrary - I LOVE going to the temple! Curious to learn more? Check out this site.)
After the wedding we waited and waited and waited outside for the bride and groom to make their appearance. (There were a lot of weddings that day!) While we waited we took a few pictures.
Here's the Roper faction of the Burgoyne Family. So how do we relate to the Burgoynes? My mom was the older Burgoyne daughter. Dad was the first Burgoyne in-law. (Or, as we lovingly call them, the out-laws. :) Susie is now somehow related to the clan through marriage... maybe a step-daughter-in-law... is that a thing? Well, we love Susie, so now it's a thing. Kyle, Kevin, and I are the oldest Burgoyne grandchildren. As of now I'm the only Burgoyne grandchild that has married and had kids. Get to work on that, Kyle and Kevin! Chop chop!
The Roper kids. Yes, those are my two "little" brothers.
We kinda all have the same smile, don't we?
Everyone got pretty corsages or boutonnieres. I really liked those little grape-berry thingies!
Here's Kevin and I. Since Lance couldn't come and Kyle had Sarah Beth with him, I called Kevin my "Plus One". He's a pretty good date, even if he doesn't like wearing shoes.
It's hard for Kevin and I to behave when we're together. Especially at churchy things. My mom used to have to separate us at church - even when we were adults. You don't want to know.
Here are the Burgoyne girl cousins. (Well, almost all - Megan is on a mission in NY and Sarah was on some school trip in Orlando.) (Lucky Sarah, right?)
So, from left to right: Ali Chipman (youngest of Lisa and Dave), Jillian Weitzel (youngest of Heidi and Doug), me (oldest of Wendy and ElRay), Natalie Burgoyne (3rd of Gary and Leslie), and Elsie (youngest of Neil and Leslie.) Aren't my cousins so very cute?!
Finally the happy couple came out! Isn't Susan's bouquet so cool? I've never seen one like that, but I really liked it!
And isn't she so pretty?! I only got to talk to Susan a little the whole time we were there, but I really like her. She seems pretty great - and of course she would be for Dale to marry her! I'm excited to have her in the family now!
Here's one with all of the immediate family. (Bride's on the left, groom's on the right.) So the Burgoyne family has some rather unique interesting relations. You're probably not so interested in them, but I want to record them so my kids know what was going on. Okay, they probably won't care too much, either, but too bad.
The man in the wheel chair is my maternal grandfather, John Burgoyne. (Side note: Grandpa has early-staged Parkinson's disease. Plus, he had a bad fall a few months ago. We were all so happy that Susie and Kevin were willing to help him and Nancy make it to the wedding!) Grandpa was/is married to Regina Heaton, my maternal grandmother. Regina died when I was around 10, so around 25 years ago. Grandpa John remarried to Nancy, who is in the picture above. (I can't remember Nancy's other last name - she's just always been Grandma Nancy to me!)
So, John and Regina had six children: Dale, Wendy (my mom), Neil, Heidi, Gary, and Lisa. As I mentioned before, Dale was/is married to Janice (and now Susuan). Dale and Janice adopted Chris and Ben, who are the two handsome and very happy teenage boys in the picture. (I only mentioned the adoption thing in case you were wondering where Ben got his good looks from. ;)
Wendy married ElRay and had three of the most wonderful kids in the world. *ahem* After my mom died my dad married my wonderfully un-wicked step-mother, Susie.
Heidi married Doug Weitzel, and they had David, Peter, and Jillian. Nothing so out-of-the-ordinary with them, other than that both of their boys served/are serving missions in Germany. Then again, with a last name like Weitzel that is probably not so weird.
Neil was a bachelor for quite a while. We'll get back to him.
Gary married Leslie. They had three children: Sarah, Zach, and Natalie. Gary died several months before my mother did. (We had three funerals within 6 months - it was a rough time for the Burgoyne family!) A few years later Leslie and my uncle Neil got married. This might seem strange at first glance, but it really isn't. I think it's worked out really well for everyone! Neil and Leslie had Elsie, who is FULL of energy! (I really had fun talking to her - she mentioned several times how she was going to go to Disney Land. Lucky girl!)
Finally Lisa married Dave Chipman and they had Megan, Stephen, and Alison. They also don't have anything too strange about their family - as far as I know. :)
Here are my three aunts: Leslie, Lisa, and Heidi.
After close to 10 million pictures - because that's what you do at weddings, you take pictures - we finally headed back to Pasadena for the wedding lunch. This was being held at a nice Italian restaurant called Villa Sorriso. Once again, no pictures except those that I stole from the internet. Oh, and in my internet searches I discovered that this is the place that hosted Michael Jackson's Burial Reception. You know, in case you're interested in that sort of thing.
The wedding lunch was packed with family and friends - probably 200 of us in total. This meant it took quite a while for everyone to order and get their food, but that's okay because it gave us all plenty of time to visit. Poor Kevin had to leave before he got his meal because he had to fly home with Grandpa John and Grandma Nancy. His meal came literally three minutes after he left - uncle Doug graciously took care of that for him.
We finally finished with the wedding lunch. I had planned on going to the Griffith Observatory with Heidi and Doug, but ended up going shopping and out to dinner with Dad, Susie, Kyle and Sarah Beth. (That's okay - I was really pretty tired and don't know if I would've appreciated the observatory as much.)
So dinner was interesting because we went to Little Thailand in Hollywood. The place we went to was called Ruen Pair. (See 360 degree tour here.) It was in this non-descript little strip mall with about 8 other Thai places. The food was EXCELLENT. (One of the few things I do miss about California - the excellent ethnic food.) Even better? The bill for 5 adults was only around $42 - can you believe that?! Amazing.
After dinner, Dad, Susie and I headed back to L.A. to our hotel. Once again I was on the couch, but once again I didn't mind in the least.
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