D&D and the Washington Wedding (July 2018)

Hey Family,

We got back yesterday from our long road trip to Washington to see Danielle's brother married in the Columbia River Temple. It was a long trip, with 11 hour drives there and back, but our girls were little troopers and handled all the hotels and drives and everything very well. Jake lives in Yakima Washington where he is the evening news anchor and the news director for their largest TV news station (he's not in radio like mom said). He's the first one on this list here: http://kimatv.com/station/people

His bride is Regan Greenstreet and she lived in Kennewick Washington - so they've been driving an hour and a half to see each other for all the months of dating. The wedding was beautiful. We chose a hotel very near the temple and had the girls' older cousin Rachel watch them at the hotel while we went to the ceremony, and then we raced back and got the kids for wedding photos. Noelle had a hard time having her routine turned upside down, but we are really proud of the girls and how they did! 

We tried to see some of the local things there in Kennewick, Pasco and Richland in our spare time, and the kids loved the "playground of dreams" and the "carousel of dreams" that were right on the Columbia River. We found some time to go as a family over to Richland to drive by the two houses that Mom and Dad and the first four kids lived in in WA. Both houses have changed a lot. The red one has a new, pitched roof, but the brick and front of the house are the same. See the photos attached. The other house has been doubled in size since you rented it. I know, because I had this idea to be "hilarious" and to recreate the photo of Chris standing in the window as a toddler (with me as a grown adult) so I knocked on the door and the owner was happy to let me stand there like a baby against the glass - but the glass was too reflective so the photo didn't turn out. :) The new owner had lived there for 50 years and was very excited that someone was taking an interest in his house. He showed me all around and wanted to tell me about all the additions and improvements he had made. :)

We had a wedding dinner at a really nice place called Anthony's in Richland, and it had an amazing view. We took some pictures there looking over the Columbia River. There was a reception Saturday night at Regan's parents chapel and they did a really great job decorating. Our girls danced the whole time and were hit (there weren't a lot of other kids there so they got a lot of attention). All of Jake's co-workers and employees were there and it was funny to see them try to figure out a Mormon wedding reception. The lemon water wasn't quite as hard as what they were used to, and the music was different was well. It was fun to see the mixing of a few different cultures. :)

Krystal watched Roxy and watered our plants and took great care of our house. It was very clean when we got back. It was SO nice to get home. The girls were so excited to be back in their rooms and to play with their toys and have their routine back. It was cute to see how much they love their home after saying in various hotels over 5 days. 

It was a good, expensive trip, and we are so glad to be home and to catch up on all the sleep we missed! I'll send a separate email about Ani's baptism Saturday. :)

Love, D&D and the Girlies​
Email sent July 2, 2018