Gabe and Shannon sent over all the official wedding photos. Here they are! It’s funny how we have all the different perspectives of the same moments:) A lot of my pictures and my sister in laws are variations of all these, lol:
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The next day, we got to spend some time with my brother and family. It is rare to have time with them since we live so far, so we were excited to squeeze in a day!
We headed to Boulder and did a bit of shopping. (We had a good chuckle at Rob who impulsively shopped, letting go of some stress which was fine with me because we were in high altitudes and I’m not so crazy about the combo of stress and altitudes:))
We then went on a nice hike – these boys thought it smart to pick up cacti:
And perfected our jumping pictures.
We headed back to the hotel where Gabe and Shannon joined us for lunch.
It was fun to just chill with the cousins…
And we did a big Easter egg hunt….
Afterwards, we headed back to Shannon’s parent’s home where they had headed over to to say our good byes.
So hard to watch. Between all these boys mission times, if they all decide to go, it can be many years before everyone is together. Very emotional time and I wish it had been less rushed because I didn’t get the pics I wanted. These ones are pretty special though (and yes, I’ll put a ton in as they are all I got…):
That night we headed into Denver to explore a bit and had dinner before we said our goodbyes. Love these guys so much!! And so grateful for them especially for coming all the way to the wedding and then for helping us so much get Zach ready (my sis in law is like Zach’s personal shopper, lol).
There’s always a bit of this going on in the hotel room too:
The next day at the airport, we saw this sign… pretty coincidental:)
And that’s a wrap for our trip:)
Holy cow. We have another young adult (although still technically a teen – correct?!?!)
This beautiful girl turns 18 today.
I remember the cutie 6 year old hiding under my table on New Years Eve wanting her Dad to come under with her (craving a little attention I think in a room filled with kids and this “new woman” (aka me ) that perhaps she felt at the time was stealing her Dad)
On our wedding day:
Luckily, once we got over the “under the table incident” and I was able to reassure her that NO one would ever replace her daughter role with her Dad, we never had that competition that you often hear about (at least not from my perspective, haha).
We also never had the whole wicked stepmom/wicked stepdaughter syndrome that you often hear about. We used to laugh over the years about how people would ask her: “do you like your stepmom?” Thanks a lot Disney for the stereotypes….
Anyhow, I have been privileged to love and grow with this girl and to learn from her in so many ways.
Let me share with you 18 ways I love her:
She has the biggest heart ever
She has a beautiful singing voice and she knows all the words to every song!
She has mad makeup and hair skills. I feel like such an incompetent amateur around her!
She loves her doggie and cuddles and talks to him. She’s so good with animals (and little kids too, lol)
She is a talented artist – drawing, painting, anything crafty and artsy!
She is an amazing dancer
She is a great listener and conversationalist – we can talk and talk for hours!
She is intelligent and puts effort in to learn new things
She has a great smile and laugh (I mean look how cute she is in the background!!)
She is patient and tolerant. She puts up with all her brothers!
She is a connector. She loves to connect with people and brings people together
She has great fashion sense and knows how to pull it all together
She is super brave – she will face challenges and fears
She is humble. She is always willing to acknowledge when she is wrong and accept apologies when she is wronged.
She is teachable. She is willing to learn and look at things from different perspectives
She is a fantastic hugger. Her love language is physical touch and you never mind getting and giving hugs from her.
She is reflective and insightful
She has a beautiful Spirit that is growing each day.
She is heading off to BYU Hawaii at the end of August. We will miss her desperately around here.
I love how she comes and hangs out with me in the kitchen, always offering to help, but will just sit and talk if there’s nothing to do. I love our bathroom chats (in a home with one main bathroom, you get used to sharing bathroom space while you get ready!) I love going on walks with her, watching movies or shows, or rolling our eyes across the room from each other when one of the boys does something silly. I also love how we laugh at Rob together about how goofy he can be. I love when she puts music on (just not when we are talking because I can’t do both, lol ) and dances around. I love when she makes banana muffins for us, or shares a donut with me or craves veggies on a drive home from Montreal (after a good poutine and Gigi’s pizza!). I love all the girls weekends we have had, dinners out, movies or special times.
You see why we will miss her? But I look forward to visiting her in Hawaii, to hearing all about her adventures, to seeing her develop her passions, independence and confidence. To facetiming and texting (VERY VERY FREQUENTLY). She has the whole world at her fingertips and I can’t wait to see what lies ahead for her.
For now, Happy 18th Birthday Sweet Pea. Never forget how much you are loved. From heaven and from here.
xoxox
After the ring ceremony, we headed in for the reception.
I won’t say a lot about it, as I’ll let the pictures do the talking! (Some are a little blurry but they are all I got, so they are getting included!)
The wedding party was introduced. The best looking wedding party ever, I have to say (without bias, of course!)
Then the bride and groom!
The head table:
Love this one of Gabe:
There were a few speeches. Zach gave his best man speech and then Rob and I tag teamed a speech.
Zandra caught the bouquet!
A few random ones, but don’t want to forget these moments (love how pictures can carry so many stories!)
The only pic of Gabe and his Dad (ugh.. remember how I said, note to future self for future kids’ weddings – a list of pics to make sure to get no matter what!!):
The Bride and Groom had their cake:
Their first dance:
Our kids and their cousins had a ton of fun dancing:
Yes, we had to pretty much capture the whole Macarena, lol:
My boys can get a little silly – but certainly know how to make a party fun!
I had a dance with Gabe.
We danced to “I Hope You Dance” by Leeann Womack…about 1 min into it the music stopped. My confused, shocked face, lol.
Out of the way, Gabe:
Then on came “Oh Yeah” and our family all came on the dance floor and performed the dance we had prepared as a surprise. Gabe was a little suspicious I think because during our dance I was a bit distracted (and had to give the nod to the DJ) so Gabe asked me “who are you looking at” and then I had to push him away, lol.
Then getting everyone up to join us!
It’s a shame that we preformed this direction because my sis in law had my phone to record (I just told her to record it but she had no clue what was going to happen) so only got our backs. But, she got the expression on Gabe’s face which was great. Too bad Shannon was on the other side too…
The dancing continued and then the kids headed out to decorate the bride and grooms car. And you know what happens when teenage boys and cousins decorate their oldest brother’s car….
We sent them on their way with some make shift sparklers:
And just so you know, there’s always a little crazy happening behind the scenes in our family:
Couldn’t love this family more!
My song got cut off when dancing with Gabe, but I thought I’d put the words here, because they really expressed the wishes Rob and I have for him:
I hope you never lose your sense of wonder
You get your fill to eat but always keep that hunger
May you never take one single breath for granted
God forbid love ever leave you empty handed
I hope you still feel small when you stand beside the ocean
Whenever one door closes I hope one more opens
Promise me that you’ll give faith a fighting chance
And when you get the choice to sit it out or dance
You get your fill to eat but always keep that hunger
May you never take one single breath for granted
God forbid love ever leave you empty handed
I hope you still feel small when you stand beside the ocean
Whenever one door closes I hope one more opens
Promise me that you’ll give faith a fighting chance
And when you get the choice to sit it out or dance
I hope you dance
I hope you dance
I hope you dance
I hope you never fear those mountains in the distance
Never settle for the path of least resistance
Livin’ might mean takin’ chances, but they’re worth takin’
Lovin’ might be a mistake, but it’s worth makin’
Don’t let some Hellbent heart leave you bitter
When you come close to sellin’ out, reconsider
Give the heavens above more than just a passing glance
And when you get the choice to sit it out or dance
Never settle for the path of least resistance
Livin’ might mean takin’ chances, but they’re worth takin’
Lovin’ might be a mistake, but it’s worth makin’
Don’t let some Hellbent heart leave you bitter
When you come close to sellin’ out, reconsider
Give the heavens above more than just a passing glance
And when you get the choice to sit it out or dance
I hope you dance
I hope you dance
With lots of love,
Leah and Dad
A great day overall and lots of love to Gabe and Shannon! Welcome to the family; I can guarantee it will be a fun adventure!
After a quick stop at the hotel to freshen up we headed to the church where a ring ceremony was planned, followed by a reception of dinner and dancing.
We arrived a bit before everyone.
The sun was shining:
The ceremony:
They exchanged very sweet vows and rings
Then on to the party….
I think I’ll have to divide wedding day up into multiple posts because there were multiple events that day – and because there are so many pictures (and trust me, I’m being choosy and only posting a sampling, lol).
We were all up super early, and these boys were so cute getting ready:
We had an early start to head to Fort Collins, but managed to leave on time. No small feat considering we were all in one hotel room!
Zandra and I had to grab a photo (with the gorgeous hotel background) with our shawls. We had spent some time in Morocco trying to find shawls that would complement our dresses, each other’s dresses and were a nice material. When we found them we bargained for them, but couldn’t bargain too hard because we knew there were no others like them as we had been searching the markets! We were excited to wear them and loved how they looked and felt:)
And, if you are thinking my make up looks extra good, it’s due to Zandra’s mad make up skills! She’s got talent! (Obvs this is not a good pic to judge my makeup!!)
Back to the wedding…
We had a nice drive to the temple:
And then arrived. Loved catching these boys heading in:
They then decided to wait for everyone else too:
No pictures are allowed in the temple, but we got a ton outside! We took a lot of everyone before the bride and groom exited the temple. It was so fun to catch up with my family and I’m so grateful for my sister in law, Judy, who was our family photographer! (Of course Rob and I were going crazy with our phone pics too – so we have a lot of candid shots!)
I’m glad I caught this guy in time and got him to take his coat off before all the pics have the black coat in them, lol!
Love having my bro in a shot with my boys:
Alexandra, and Shannon’s beautiful little sister – she fit right in with our unruly crew! They had so much fun together!
One of the only pics of Rob and I (below). Note to self for future weddings: have a list of pics you want to get and make sure you get them! There were so many photos afterwards that I realized I missed. My heart took them, but it was running out of space!
Love these cuties:
I adore this little sweetie niece of mine:
Some selfies, of course:
And I absolutely adore my sis in law who is a constant support in our lives. So blessed to have her at every step along the way; she’s filled with wisdom and kindness!
Little photobombers:
Waiting…
But nice to catch up with everyone!
Then the happy couple came out!
All the hugs:
We were excited to see our good friend Roland, who came from Texas and brought his cutie son, Kade:
Love this guy so much and how much he means to our family:
Then there were all the formal pics. There was a professional photographer, but we were trying to sneak in as many as we could standing from behind (thanks to Judy for getting so many). I know there are a lot of duplicates – but all different angles, lol.
We went to the front of the temple and got a few shots because it was just so beautiful!
Right after the pictures, we were all so hungry, so what better place to go then a burger joint called Freddy’s! Best dressed crew there!
Off to the next event….
Rob and I flew to Denver a few days early to spend some time with Gabe; in particular to go to the temple with him for the first time.
We arrived early on the Tuesday morning and went for lunch with Gabe and Shannon. We then headed to the temple in the afternoon.
It was beautiful to be there with Gabe.
While in the temple, my heart and mind were overwhelmed. Flooded with history, memories, sadness, joy, anxiety, excitement, love, abundance.
It’s a big year for our family, and I don’t miss the significance of each individual event and moment. I wanted to savour the moment, and my heart took many pictures this week.
We headed for dinner with Shannon’s family. Gabe rode with us in the car and it was so nice to have this time with him as he understood the significance of it all too – especially given the history and what our story is.
While I think people understand divorce on the surface, I don’t think they understand how it affects every morsel of your being: your days, your thoughts, your words, your actions. And when you have kids, it runs even deeper and even affects your ability to breathe. May sound dramatic – and I’m guessing other things in life that create other people’s story affects them too…. but things like a wedding bring every tiny emotion, thought, and feeling to the top.
Needless to say, there were a lot of emotions and feelings, and while great to be in Denver, it was hard not being surrounded by home and the friends and family that know our family and we love so much. We know they were with us in Spirit -and we felt the love with all the messages we received:)
The next day the remaining kids arrived and we were so happy to be all together. We went to Shannon’s parents home for a BBQ and a fun game. It was so nice to see all the kids relax and have a great time.
On Thursday, Rob and the kids went with Shannon’s family to play pickle ball while I stayed to help Shannon’s mom with wedding things. We then grabbed a quick lunch while the girls went back to Shannon’s parent’s house to do manis and pedis.
We then had to head to the church to do some decorating following which we planned to go out for dinner with everyone on Gabe’ side – this way he would not have to decide who to spend his last night with. This was the first time really that our family would be in such close contact with Gabe’s Mom and her family. The significance of this did not go unnoticed for us either, and I know it was initially hard for both us and his Mom. However, I think we made great strides and started mending relations (and by the end of the wedding, I think we can say that there’s a lot of water under the bridge, but we have managed to build a bridge together, get to the other side, had a good time doing it, and we have a bright future to look forward to!)
Here’s some of the prep pictures:
We had dinner at a place where you bought one pasta and got another one to go for the next day! Only in the USA!!
Both sides of Gabe’s family:
Proudly showing our “to go” pastas, lol:
We finished dinner and then popped in on my brother and sister in law and family who had just arrived. So excited to see them!
We then headed back to our hotel and had a little family time, giving Gabe some last minute “marital advice” before heading off to sleep before the big day!
“We are always in the middle” Dieter F. Uchtdorf
THIS IS SO GOOD.
“There is a sublime truth behind the idea that we are always in the middle” .
You can read the full thing here.
There was a before and there will be an after. We don’t have to stress about getting it right NOW, or not being good enough NOW, or thinking all is lost NOW. We are always in the middle. There is always more to come… more chapters, more experiences, more relationships, more love, more adventure.
This to me means there is always hope, growth, and opportunity still ahead of me.
I love the middle.
“Just pray”
I saw this on Instagram, and I will simply steal the caption that went with it: 
Credit goes to @theadventurouslearners.
This rang so true to my heart, especially as my kids are getting older and setting out on their own adventures.
There are so many choices they need to make, decisions of which road to take – exciting times but lots of heartache ahead (remember the 50% rule).
Instead of worrying (remember worry pretends to be necessary), I think it’s much better to pray….
Even if you don’t believe in prayer, you can choose between talking in your head about everything that can go wrong (worry) or talking in your head about what you hope for….
I personally believe in the prayer where my Heavenly Father is listening, with the power to provide me peace, direction and comfort.
So prayer will beat worry any day of the week.
So, just pray.
Exciting days over here!
So much going on!
Back in February, Zach found out he was accepted into BYU and we were thrilled for him. Zandra then found out a couple of weeks ago that she was accepted into BYU Hawaii. We were all very excited for them both getting into the schools they wanted. They both worked super hard and we are very proud of all their hard work and efforts!
Zach decided that he wanted to defer his acceptance and instead serve a two year mission for our church. He completed all his paperwork and submitted everything on March 27th.
The waiting game began.
There is a new system this year where your call assignments are sent to you via internet – as opposed to snail mail. We knew that it was a quick turn around, but heard that things might be slowed down due to there being a worldwide semi annual conference for our church on the first weekend in April.
We were all pins and needles.
I said to Zach, it was like waiting for him to be born. So much talk: is it a boy or a girl? What would we name him/her? When would he/she be born? What would it be like.
And then he was born. We were excited, but there was a certainty about things: he was a boy, he was born on this day, and this is how he was born.
Waiting for a mission call was just like that: stateside or foreign? Language or no language? When? What training centre? You can be sent literally anywhere in the world, so there is really a lot of speculation. Everyone we knew – whether they are members of our church or not – was engaged in the guessing and the excitement/anxiety.
On Tuesday morning, April 9th, I received a text from Zach:
Finally here.
I couldn’t concentrate much. I ended up going home and baking cookies and brownies. I managed to make dinner too, lol.
We invited people over for 7:30 but everyone arrived earlier.
Everyone gathered around the map to make their choices. I chose Tahiti (as did his Gran), Rob chose Zimbabwe, Zandra chose the Philippines, Josh chose Winnipeg, Sam chose The Congo, Gabe chose Papua New Guinea, Shannon chose Germany. There were choices in Europe, Central America, South America, Africa and even a few in North America!
Love Josh’s laugh:
8:15 was the pre-determined time (all his friends had finished work by then).
The crowd watching:
He pulled up the computer and nervously began reading.
He commented when he opened the email, “Oh, it’s there”, which had us laughing:
Oh the things that go through your mind!
Elder Fiore…. you are assigned to labour in the ….
He looked up and paused, then continued:
We were dying!
The TAHITI PAPEETE MISSION!!!
I totally screamed and jumped up and down before hugging him tight!
Mama always knows best! My guess won:) (along with my my Mom!)
I love the reaction of his friends – especially Ian in the blue hoodie! This is obviously so foreign for them but they have been supportive and excited every step of the way! He has the best friends!
And I love how he put his hands on his head in disbelief:
My father served in that exact mission back in the 50’s – he was one of 12 missionaries and was involved in opening up many areas. In my heart I desperately wanted Zach to serve in Tahiti as I felt that would make it a bit easier to bear him being gone knowing that my Dad as watching over him closely and Zach walked in his exact footsteps 60 years later.
I was a little freaked out when he continued reading and saw the date he goes, given we knew Zandra has to head off August 24/25 for Hawaii. My face said it all when he said the date:
Zach should be prepared to arrive at the MTC (Missionary Training Centre) in Provo, Utah on August 21, 2019, and should be prepared to learn and then teach the Gospel in the French language. Everyone has also told us that he will learn Tahitian (like my Dad did).
It was so incredible to see the reactions and support from our family, friends and neighbours – who were there and on FaceTime. So much excitement. Lots of tears of joy. It was crazy. We were all on a high. Lots of hugs:
Big brother Gabe FaceTiming him:
Love this one of him and Zandra hugging! My Pacific island family twins we can now call them!
I’m sad that I missed out on taking some more formal shots with all his friends and with his siblings. But, it was an exciting night and I don’t think any of us were thinking straight!
It was only the next day that we got a little real and teary about how hard it’s going to be to say farewell for 2 years.
And how much stuff there is to get done between now and then!
But, my heart is at peace. This is what I know he wants to do, and needs to do. This is where I know he is meant to serve. I know he will have incredible experiences that will change his life forever and I am so excited for him.
I just may be a bit of a mess come August and September with having said good bye to my family twins.
The next morning these two had a school event requiring the wearing suits:
Zach grabbed a little Book Of Mormon to hold!
I made them pose for some pictures. My babies are pretty much grown, but forever my babies!
Lots of adventures to look forward to!