Thursday, April 11, 2024
About three months ago I bought tickets to Dallas so that I could watch the solar eclipse that was going to happen on April 8. Lisa wanted to go, but she didn’t want to miss any more work, so she didn’t buy a ticket.
At some point Brandon & Ally decided that there was no good reason for them to wait to get sealed in June, and if I was coming out for the eclipse then they would just buy mom a ticket and they would get sealed that weekend. They invited the family but the only one who came was Kira’s family.
To make a wonderful experience even better, the father of Ally’s son Cooper gave Brandon & Ally permission to have him sealed to them. I knew that when a child is sealed to a parent, the rest of the family who is temple worthy (or under eight years old) can witness the sealing, but I had no idea that step siblings can also witness the sealing. When Brandon shared a group temple recommend listing all his kids who were eight and older I was surprised, but we were all confused as to why the younger kids couldn’t go. We all let it go at that but of course, mom couldn’t let it go, so she called Salt Lake to ask about it. It is a good thing she did because they directed her to a section in the church handbook that made it clear that any child, step or otherwise, can witness the sealing of a child to a parent no matter what age.
They sealed Brandon & Ally first and mom and I were asked to be witnesses. It was a very spiritual moment when all these kids (except Griffin) were led into the sealing room to witness Cooper being sealed to his mother and Brandon. It was wonderful.
The people in this picture are (left to right), Charlotte, Hayley, Griffin, Grayson, Ally, Brandon, Fin, Mackenzie, Rosalie, and Cooper.
After the sealing, we all headed back to the house to get ready for the open house being held in their backyard that evening.
Justin and I helped Brandon hang some twinkle lights and the yard looked nice. They catered some delicious tacos and a very pretty desert table. At first, I was worried that no one would show up but about a half hour after it was supposed to start, they had a huge crowd show up.
Two of Brandons good friends were there. Jenny, a friend from his freshman year at BYU was at the sealing and Alicia Bird, a childhood friend, and her husband Toby were at the sealing.
As it happened, Alicia’s parents, Alan and Melanie Bird, also good friends of Lisa & I, were in town for the eclipse, so they came to the reception as well.
--------------------trivia--------------------
If you don't count the area of Canada that is water, then the United States is bigger than Canada.
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