Sunday, January 18, 2009

Whirlwind weekend

We just got back from a snowy, treacherous drive from Butler, Pa, where my sister, Joanna was married on Saturday...I'm exhausted and cannot believe that I'm sitting here at this computer typing away on my blog. It's so funny how I miss this evening tradition of recording my thoughts--I felt so out of touch just being away from the blog world for 3 days. I was almost panicky!

My second to youngest sister, Joanna, was married to Stephan Petersen on January 17, 2009.


The two of them met while she was living in Provo, Utah through a mutual friend. They hit it off immediately. They began dating although, logistically, it was difficult as he is from Denmark and that was where he was living at the time. After he returned to Denmark, they were able to continue to communicate through phone calls and e-mails as well as through visits. He came several times to the states and she was able to visit him in Denmark.



They became engaged about a year or so later. Joanna had been previously married for a short time but things did not work out. As it had been a temple marriage, it has taken a long time to get the temple divorce approved. When Joanna and Stephan got engaged, they had considered waiting until the temple divorce had come through to get married, but decided to just go ahead and have a civil marriage and then to be sealed in the temple at a later date. Not the most ideal, but under the circumstances, was the best option.


JoJo looked so pretty in her dress--

this was taken right before the ceremony...Nella, Michelle (a friend) and I were all waiting in the bathroom laughing about how funny it would be if she came out and all you could hear as the door was closing was the toilet flushing. And how it would be even funnier if a piece of toilet paper was stuck to her shoe!




It was a very short little ceremony performed by my mom's bishop, then photos, visiting, violinist playing in the background, and a lovely catered dinner. There were a total of 26 people attending, including kids. Stephan's mother, sister, brother and brother's girlfriend were able to fly out from Denmark to be there for the wedding. Although there was a bit of a challenge with the language barrier, we managed to communicate just fine.




My sister, Katie, took care of all the wedding details...She did a great job coordinating everything. I decorated the cake and helped set up the tables and misc. odds and ends.




Ellie and Uncle Seth

... this is the one that she wanted to marry--but funnily enough, after he passed gas shortly after this picture was taken, she decided not to go through with the wedding plans...Her excuse?--"He's too stinky"

Aunt JoJo with her nieces

(the one in the middle is Josie...unfortunately, this picture does not do her justice...she's a doll)



Just the girls...

(youngest sister, Nella; mom; Joanna; me; younger sister, Katie)


Stephan's sister, Maria, organized a really cute game after we had finished dinner, that was so darn funny. She had all of the women sit in a row of chairs with their skirts hiked up above their knees. Stephan was blindfolded and had to feel everyone's knee and leg and try to figure out which one was Joanna's. To mix it up a bit, my brother, Seth, hiked his pants up and sat down. As Stephen made his way down the row of knees, he grimaced when he got to the hairy one of my brother's. He laughed when we all teased him that the hairy one was his new bride's.

We laughed so hard that my cheeks were aching!


It was such a lovely evening--until...


Back on the homefront--things took a turn for the worse in the middle of the night as Brian started throwing up--! He's not sure if it is some kind of flu or something he ate, but no one else got sick so I have to wonder if it's a stomach flu...Oh! shoot me now--if the kids or I come down with this in the next couple of days--it's going to do me in! To top it off, while Brian was worshipping the porcelain, Ellie was having one of her night terrors (she was in the same room as Brian and I), so we all basically got zero sleep.


But here we are, home sweet home, we made it through the snowy drive.


One final thought...Joanna's favorite football team is the Steelers and they won tonight! What could be better...she's on her honeymoon and her favorite team is going to the Superbowl! Can't get much better than that!

9 comments:

  1. Oh poor Brian! I hope it wasn't the stomach flu because if it was I'm not even going to think about going to the same town you live in. I'm that scared of it.

    You all look so great. I'm so happy for your sister. And when they are sealed in Denmark, I'm sure you and Brian will attend and you know Switzerland is just a hop, skip and a jump away!

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  2. i love the picture of Ellie and Seth. funny stuff. good weekend review, and I'm glad you guys got home ok. :)

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  3. Um, I hope your sister knows that she should NOT have any babies until the first temple marriage is cancelled. Otherwise the kids will be considered born into THAT old covenant and special permission/exception has to be made in order to have their children sealed to the actual real daddy when your sister is sealed to her husband!!!!!! (Don't ask me how I know this.) Most people are not aware of this, it's a small technical issue that can be avoided having to be dealt with altogether if you just wait to have kids until your sealing has taken place.

    Otherwise, totally congratulations to her! She looks really happy. It looks like your family had a lot of fun, throwing up aside! Is she going to live stateside or abroad now? I love the girls striped dresses!

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  4. Awesome post. We are on our honeymoon, but have wireless internet, one of my conditions for staying in a hotel down here, so I could still stay in contact. I can't go without reading everyone's blogs for more than a few days at a time.
    I'm so glad you had a great trip, and that you and your family could come, it made the whole experience even better with you all there. I'm sorry Brian was sick and I hope he is feeling better and doesn't pass the sickness on to your family:-) I'll write a blog at some point. We are having fun down here, but it's supposed to Snow a few inches tomorrow. EEK!!!

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  5. I was totally counting on a good review! You came through.Isn't it too fun to document your life through blogging? What took us so long?!

    Did you know that I am a Petersen--yes, Petersen with "sen"! Of course, our roots are also from Denmark. Good choice, Jojo!

    I'm really sorry to hear Brian was sick. At least he did't get it on the way home. There is nothing worse that being sick in the car. I'm also glad that you made it home through the storm, although I can just imagine the lovely snow covered farms between here and there. We used to live in Pittsburgh and spent several months commuting before we found a home to purchase.

    Welcome home!

    p.s. next, you need a laptop to take with you for blogging on the road!

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  6. whew! i'm finally taking a break after all the excitement-(going to the airport on untreated roads twice in a few days- but the bonus was that my 2 younger girls were able to come home) - along with stephan (my new son-in-law)and then having dinner for 18 people the night before the wedding- (more on that in a separate blog),shannon and family coming to stay here! and the actual wedding and dinner afterwards- wow! it was a full week- thanks for posting the pictures- it was great to see how it looked from another's eyes.you and the girls are the best- and made this occasion wonderful. i'll post my comments soon- i'm not as organized as you- good job!

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  7. I'm glad you guys made it there and back safely and that you had a good time. Poor Brian, being sick is bad enough, but being sick away from home is the worst!

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  8. Thanks Heatherlyn for your comments, I did not know that! (about waiting to have kids until we are sealed together).

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  9. It's wonderful to love your in-laws!

    I know just what you mean about being away and twitchy to get to your blog.

    Poor Brian, that is the worst kind of sick, especially when you're away from home. I sure hope no one else caught it!

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