Max & Morgan's Wedding

I am so happy to welcome a new member into the Johnson family! Morgan is the first new in-law since Aaron joined the family 8 years ago. Max and Morgan are a great pair.

We had a great prep crew that worked hard to set up for the ring ceremony/reception that took place on Friday.

Kim Johnson in her element

Max wanted a soda bar with all the weird flavors like spruce and ginger beer. I think they are gross. We dropped this one while carrying it inside and it started jetting out. Brynlee tried to drink it so it wouldn't go to waste but ended up gagging all over the place because it is actually GROSS SODA 

We had garland and pine cones galore

Max and Morgan asked Elliot and Annie to be the ring bearer and flower girl. I was pretty skeptical about how it would go, but we were willing to give it a try. We watched several youtube videos about ring ceremonies and also watched the wedding episode of Arthur which was great training. Annie was pretty interested in the idea of "making the floor look pretty by putting flowers on it."

During the rehearsal, Annie took two steps into the room, dumped half her basket, then just stood there and generally ignored everyone who was trying to coax her forward. Eventually we figured out a system where Elliot walked right next to her instead of in front of her. He would point every few feet, and Annie would obediently drop a handful of flowers wherever he pointed. It was adorable. 

Fast forward to the real ceremony. The wedding party gathered in the back. I was trying to get Annie to hold her flower basket when the procession started. The master of ceremonies (none other than Max's roommate Jason Richards who got to be a certified minister online so that he could officiate the wedding) walked down the short isle followed by 4 couples. Then Annie and Elliot were supposed to go, followed by the bride. The hitch in the plan was that Annie noticed a bottle of soda on the table as the first couple left. She started screaming for soda. I tried to calm her down and tell her she could have soda afterwards, but she was having none of it. I tried to give her a quick sip of soda but for some reason this freaked her out, and she started screaming even louder. She was flailing all over the place and wouldn't take her basket, and now it was the bloodlings turn to do their part. I tried to tell Elliot to go by himself, but he panicked and hid under a table. Of course the doors are wide open so everyone can hear this whole commotion going down. Jason ended up announcing the bride to carry on without us. 

I left Elliot under the table and ran with the still screaming Annie to the bathroom. The caterers were the Wise family from the stake with some daughters around my age that I knew, so I asked if they could hang out with Annie in the bathroom so that I could watch the wedding. I am super grateful to them for stepping in to help me out like that. Annie was happily hanging out with them when I went to get her afterwards. I snuck into the back of the room just in time to see one of the groomsmen run back to retrieve the rings from Elliot under the table. The rest of the ceremony was super sweet. Max and Morgan exchanged vows that had me tearing up. 

All of the Johnson Clan

The Morgan "wide" stance

Max's sodas including ginger beer and spruce beer. Blegh. 

Annie looks like a weird gremlin in this picture but it is the only one we have of her adorable flower crown

The next day was the temple sealing. The Washington DC temple is closed for renovations, so everyone drove up to the Philadelphia temple 3 hours away. It is about halfway between DC and Boston, so Morgan's family continued on home after the sealing. The most memorable part of the sealing was that the sealer shared a slightly off-color anecdote at the end of the ceremony that caused Max, Breezy, and Mom to about choke from trying not to bust out laughing.

Sealed for time and all eternity

Max is just a little proud of himself :)