Alyssa and Matt

Moms cry at weddings, once in awhile dads do, too, and brides sometimes shed tears of joy, but how often do you see a groom cry? Matt did, proving to me just how tender his heart really was.

My middle daughter, Alyssa, dated Matt on and off all through high school. They weren't exactly steady sweethearts, but she always came back to Matt. It was kind of a forgone conclusion that she would be there when he came home from his two year mission to Brazil, until the week after he left. Those two years were an up and down mixture of falling in love, changing her mind, finding someone new, leaving him behind, getting engaged, struggling to make it work, and eventually realizing that no matter how hard she worked at it, it just wasn't the right thing to do. By the end of Matt's mission, Alyssa had gained a great deal of wisdom and experience, and she knew that Matt really was the guy she wanted to spend eternity with.

He came home a week before Christmas, in 2004. On December 23^rd he talked to Moe and I and asked permission to marry Alyssa. The next day, Christmas Eve, was our annual Christmas Smorgasbord. Alyssa had to work, but Matt came. I was really impressed that he would want to be part of our noisy, happy party, especially since he didn't even know most of the extended family. He really made points with me when he agreed to play a wise man in our little Christmas Nativity, he was such good sport. Later that night he officially asked Alyssa to marry him, and we couldn't have been happier.

I've always been an advocate of short engagements. Long courtships are important, but once a couple has decided they want to get married, I figure, just do it! Alyssa and Matt followed my advice, perhaps a little too strictly. They decided to get married the first of February. We scrambled and pulled together a lovely reception in just over a month, and everything worked out well.

Alyssa found a beautiful wedding dress that she loved. We rented a reception hall where all we had to do was provide centerpieces for the tables and the food. I pre-ordered fourteen dozen roses to go on the tables and baked tons of crescents and lemon bars, and everything turned out perfect, (except for the fact that florists double the price of roses the week before Valentines Day.)

The only other complication we ran into was a field trip Krissi's second grade class had planned for the same day as the wedding. She really, really wanted to go on the field trip, but finally chose to go to her big sister's wedding instead. I was proud of her, but she's never forgotten the sacrifice she had to make for her Alyssa.

Dad performed the wedding and sealing for Alyssa and Matt in the Mesa, Arizona Temple of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. There, couples can be sealed for time and all eternity, not just until death do you part. Dad did such a beautiful job, and we were all so happy, but the best moment was when, looking past Matt's head into Alyssa's beautiful face, I realized tears were also sliding down his cheek. Such a happy ending (and beginning) to such a wonderful love story! Today, one daughter and three sons later, they are still living happily ever after, and I am so proud of them.