This Easter break my little brother Ben got MARRIED! I have a new gorgeous sister-in-law, Laura Carter (Tengelsen). ...not to be confused with my twin sister Laura (Tengelsen) Crist! I flew to the USA for 4 days to participate in wedding festivities and Stan spent the ENTIRE Easter Weekend with the kids in Australia. Way to go Stan!! I flew out Thursday morning and was back Tuesday morning. 14 hours on a plane with no kids was pretty easy. In Australia, Good Friday & Easter Monday are public holidays. In addition, Tuesday was Anzac day (another public holiday) which totaled a 5 day weekend!
Stan was pretty proud of himself because when I got off the plane he informed me that he kept the house clean the whole 5 days and had dinner on the table every night, and only went out to eat once. I (of course) patted him on the back but was smirking to myself inside once he told me what they did each day.
First--They left the house ALL DAY LONG and were out partying the whole time--(hence the clean house) in addition, I had spent the previous week potty training Thomas and Stan immediately threw a diaper on him while I was gone.....Grrrrrrrrrrr! Here is a short list of what they did:
(1) Royal Easter Show: biggest carnival in Sydney held at the Olympic park, rides, face painting, petting zoo, show bags etc... All day event!
(2) Cinnimas: Hop-only easter movie out during the holidays
(3) Church Easter Egg Hunt: owe Stan for this one as he helped put it on while I was out since I am the Primary President. Just a massive easter party (cookie decorating, easter egg hunt, church lesson, games and prizes etc....)
(4) Easter Sunday: Instead of sitting on the stand he got the pleasure of sitting alone with three kids (couldn't have planned it better!)
And that was it! Stan's 4 days alone with the kids!
Thursday Stan was at work and since I had to catch a plane I asked my Visiting Teaching companion to babysit. She is a few years younger than me, married but has no kids. She saved me by coming to babysit at 7:30 am and Stan didn't come home until 7:30 pm...but upon her leaving she informed us that she charges $20.00/ hour. Hahahahah- $200.00 later Stan took over--I felt only slightly ripped off since I used to babysit a family of 8 KIDS in Great Falls, Virginia (highest income per capita in the USA) and I would get $200 for a day AND a night. My babysitter would have walked away from the Gerards house with over $480.00 (plus whatever she charges for the extra 5 kids...Seriously, where are my negotiating skills?)
So that's water under the bridge, in the mean time I was in the USA hanging out with my family.
It was great to see everyone. And it felt odd having no kids with me--not having to take someone to the bathroom or help someone eat during dinner. In addition, since I had strep throat no one really wanted me to help their kids :-) so I was really off the hook.`
The wedding was perfect. Very classy and at the pictures were perfect with the San Diego Temple in the background (gorgeous). My new sister in law is from Del Mar. Her dad is a brain surgeon and they recently moved to California from Boston where her dad taught classes on the side at Harvard. There are 5 kids in their family (3 girls 2 boys) and I think what I liked so much about the wedding was the classy east coast Boston feel mixed with palm trees (seriously where do you get that?!) The reception was held at an a cozy little inn in Rancho Santa Fe. Ben could not have married into a better family and his in laws adored him! Our family adores her so it really is a perfect match!
Here are some pictures!
Carter side of the Family
Tengelsens Side of the family
My little brothers and the bride
Laura's side is from England, each cracker had a See's candy, a crown and a fun fact about Laura & Ben's dating/ engagement.
Overall it was a fantastic weekend on both sides of the world. My kids were super stars (they wrote a letter to the Easter bunny to come Tuesday morning) So once I got off the plane (6:00am) I came home to the Easter Bunny's gifts and excited little voices! Olivia is 7 so I was really hoping to not miss out on the last few years of complete innocence! I really do love my family.
4 comments:
Alisha, your dress is AMAZING!! Where did you get that? I love it! Never mind, don't tell me, probably somewhere in Australia, and I'll never be able to find it. ;)
Yes, it was a glorious week end all the way around. It just went by too quickly. We, also, are happy to have Laura Carter join our family, and she is sweet and so very suited for Ben and he for her. Our family is growing in such lovely ways. It was really a joy seeing you too Alisha!
How fun eish! i loved the update and I loved seeing you even more! You actually did help out a ton with my kids, so thank you! I love you!
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