Pre-Wedding

I went to California to "help" with Kim's wedding preparations last Tuesday and had so so so much fun. Sadly, Ben couldn't come until late Thursday night, but it was fun to have some time with Kim before she got married.

I arrived Tuesday at the San Diego airport and was dropped off at the San Diego Temple where Kim was going to receive her endowments....three hours later. So I had three hours to walk around with my GINORMOUS suitcase and soak in the beautiful CA weather on the peaceful temple grounds. Finally, it came time for the session, and we all had a wonderful experience. I absolutely love the San Diego Temple; it was the temple I went to from 12-16 to do baptisms. It was my temple, and until my family moved from CA, I always thought I would get married there. 

The temple always feels like home. A little piece of our heavenly home on earth.

The next day I got to spend time with Kim and Steve running errands, and it was so fun watching them interact. We are so glad Steve has joined our family!

  

Kim is five years younger than me, and growing up that always seemed like a big age difference, but as we get older the gap narrows; it's a fun transition. I loved spending time with her last week. I got to meet up with some co-workers (some, I had never actually met) for lunch because I was in town (the company I work for is based out of CA). I even made it to the company party that night! It was nice to feel part of an organization, which I sometimes forget because I work from my computer at home rarely speaking to anyone else...anyone but Jennifer that is.  

This is my boss Jennifer--she is the only one I speak to, pretty much, and she is the best boss ever! We IM each other all the time for work and sometimes will have little side conversations about having curly hair, liking doughnuts, or whatever else comes up. She is what humanizes my job so that I know I do really work with people, and it was fun to spend time with her in person!

Our work party dinner

And why yes, yes we did sing the twelve days of Christmas on 12-12-12, all 12 verses...

We came home and dad and Kim practiced their father daughter dance--adorable! 

I got to hang out with Starla, Steve's little sister, for a couple of hours, and she proved to us that she gives the best back massages. Oh such fun!

I loved the Christmas tree at the house. This is the view from the kitchen, and it just looked so cozy and warm glowing through the window panes.

Kim's best friends from Utah flew in, and it was fun watching them have some fun girl time!

The night before the wedding Steve's family had us over to their home for an AMAZING celebratory feast. No one celebrates like the Smiths--one of the many reasons we love them :) Steve made most of the dinner, and I am so glad that we will have a literal chef in the family. 

They even had a cute practice wedding cake for them.

We had a fun family gathering with loving words spoken and beautiful, meaningful songs. After so many years of being so close to the Smiths, it seemed unreal that we were all about to become "really" related.

Steve and Kim even practiced their wedding-cake-cutting skills.

And Ben and I reminisced about our wedding day!

Time flew by before the wedding, and before we knew it, it was finally here! A Connors would become a Smith!