Another one bites the dust......

No..... I'm not talking about my toenails, I almost don't have any more to lose.

INSTEAD - I am talking about another one of my pseudo-sons.

Having three boys all fairly close in age, my house was the GO-TO-HOUSE.  Especially since I worked full time and they could get in to all kinds of mischief without anyone really knowing.  Imagine the things we have uncovered while converting the home videos.  Silly boys didn't think about the consequences of actually VIDEOTAPING their escapades!  But really, what a cool thing that there has been a core group of boys who have stayed besties their entire lives.  And that the same core involves all three of my sons.  Imma lucky Mama!

Over the past year or two, they have slowly been getting married and moving on with their lives.  Last night was my second to last one  (not counting my own boys).

Chris and Luke have been friends since elementary school.  As they grew older, the friendship stayed intact and only grew stronger.  Through girls, high school, sports, missions, it was always there.  Funny story - we used to buy a lot of food on a regular basis.  I used to call all the boys who came over "the locusts" because it was like they would all swarm and hover over my house and do nothing but EAT!   Chef Boyardee ravioli was something that was a frequent hit since the cans would always be gone, almost as quickly as I put them in the panty.  Then Luke left on his mission and Chris was not around quite as much.  He still hung out with Tuffy, but just not as often.  When Chris went on his mission, the entire ravioli stash remained untouched.  It wasn't until then that we realized Chris was the lover of the Chef Boyardee ravioli!  Come to find out, that kid would open it up and eat cold straight from the can!  What is WRONG with him?!?    I keep a couple of cans in the pantry now, simply for sentimental reasons.

Yesterday was Chris's big day.
It started off early at the Salt Lake Temple.  Love that temple!  Love the beauty of the grounds, and the kindness of the workers.  So fun to take pictures and enjoy seeing how beautiful he and his bride Erin are!

Griff  and Luke on the back row; Kristin (Griff's wife), Chris and Erin (his bride) on the front.  The other three girls are friends of Erin's

Scooter and Splenda

Deb's and me

I'm not sure what they were told to pose, but it was funny

Later, it was a wedding luncheon at Tucano's.  I was making sure to take notes for the luncheon we will be hosting in a couple of weeks.  It was fabulous.  The food was wonderful and the chatting with our besties was great as always!

The evening brought the reception and REAL party.  Luke was at the reception center early for pictures, so Splenda and I picked up Tuffy and headed over shortly after it began.

My boys (sans one)

 Holy Hannah!  A line to wait in right off the bat!  A very popular couple!  We greeted Chris parent's (and our good friends),

Aren't they both beautiful people?

and then found a table to sit, chat with people coming and going, and to watch our boys have fun.  Luke, Tuffy and the gang got to work on decorating the car.   Knowing them and the group's sense of humor, we quizzed them on the appropriateness level of the decor.  Convo went like this:

Splenda, Debs and Scooter:  "You kept it tasteful right?"
Luke: "Define tasteful"
Me: "Okay, so here's mom's tolerance level (right hand raised high) and here's dad's (left hand down low) - where does it fit in the spectrum?
Luke:  Head back, gut laughing - "Mom's"

and then he got up and hurried away.  Picture me wiping a proud tear from my eye.  That's my boy!

did you know that if you stick a small banana in the tail pipe and then cover the tail pipe with a condom that after about 500 yards of driving, the condom inflates and blows with the banana?  Yeah - me neither......

The wedding cake, the dancing, and then the guests headed out to the car to light sparklers to send off the happy couple!

Luke waiting to catch the garter.  He HATES this part of weddings.  HATES!  But that just goes to show you what a good friend he is for playing along.  AND, he was the one to snag it so.............

I loved the sparklers idea - much better than bubbles and it was timed just right so that they were lit when the kids came out and got in the car

Whit, Kristin, Luke, Griff and Tuffy - these kids have literally grown up together

and don't forget Jessie there next to Tuffy!

Congrats my little Christopher!  Mama C is so happy for you!! 

Next up?  Tuffy's wedding in just over 2 weeks.   Oy Vay!  It's coming up fast!

 I hope to be able to get ALL the kids in one shot.  ALL of them - the ones that I see in my heart everytime I walk through my house!