Institute Dedication and Flowers

The months leading up to the new institute building open house and dedication were brutal for Andy.

So many issues with the planning and miscommunications and changes.

It was Salt Lake that was calling all the shots but they were confusing and expensive and problematic.

We knew a member of the Twelve Apostles would be coming to dedicate and Andy was told about 6 weeks before that it would be President Holland.  He held off telling anyone that didn't need to know (including me) in case it changed.  While watching the choir practice for their dedication performance, approx. 10 days before the event, an official visiting asked Andy if the choir knew who they would be singing for...Andy said no and the official said to go ahead and tell them.  So Andy announced it to the choir and then, of course, the cat was out of the bag.  I believe it was within 24 hours that Salt Lake contacted Andy and said it would no longer be President Holland!

(A picture from the news articles about the new building)

Originally they had told Andy they would take care of some silk arrangements for the dedication but apparently, when the guest of honor changed, the budget changed too and they said they would no longer be providing flowers.

 Andy told me that night (Monday...6 days before the dedication) that they told him if the Institute had their own budget to do the flowers they were welcome to.

I asked him if we DID have enough in our budget and he said he thought so and should we ask Laura to do them?

Ha!  I said, "No!  Ask Me!

Immediately I started thinking of color schemes and looked at Red Mountain's website to see what they had in stock.  I was way too excited!

The next morning I went and got all the measurements for the podiums and talked to the secretary over the budget to get a spending limit.  Then I went to Laura's to order the flowers.  I told her about my opportunity and what I wanted.  Unfortunately, somehow her opinions changed my color scheme a little and I ended up ordering a lot more pink than I wanted :(

Oh well...I still had many beautiful flowers with which to work...they just weren't what I had in mind.

They came in Wednesday and I went and unboxed them all and put them in her cooler.

Friday I picked them up and unloaded them all at the Institute kitchen door.

Then I spent 6 hours that day working on the arrangements.

It was also the open house so we had people coming in and out of the kitchen occasionally...friends and strangers.  Also, Mindy, the food service lady was in the kitchen most of the time.  We got to know each other as we talked and chatted.

I also worked on them for 10 hours on Saturday.  The kids were very helpful with Ben while Andy and I were both gone.  Abby and cousin Joey came up from Provo separately.  I asked Joey to stop by Trader Joe's for me and had him send me pictures of their flowers because I was looking for more of a specific color.  He was able to help me out and brought some mini carns for me.  Bless him!

Bri Wright wanted to come in and help and also Brigham Rupp said his wife would love to come and help so Lisa came in for a few hours as well.  I was able to make all the arrangements for the podiums on my own but I had a lot of extra flowers!  Laura had estimated amounts for me...I did change up the plan a little as I tried things out and saw what would look better so...somehow I ended up with $100-200 worth of flowers left over after the podium flowers were complete.

(I don't love this picture of me but Bri took it and it is pretty much the only one of me with any of the flowers so I thought I had better include it)

Just some shots of trying things out and making sure the flowers fit and won't fall off the podium when it is being moved up and down:)

All the center podium arrangements squished together in the kitchen...

The two side arrangements

(I ended up getting magnolia leaves from the grocery store since I ran out of the other greenery)

These are some of the other arrangements that Bri, Lisa and I made with all the extra flowers.

They had me talk them through as I added pieces to my foam they copied in their own.

They caught on quickly and did a great job!

We found a mechanical room that was cooler than the kitchen to keep all the flowers in overnight...

The next day was the big day and wow were emotions and stress running high in the Bryan home.

Andy hardly slept at all and was not feeling okay mentally.  I asked  him if he wanted the boys to give him a blessing.  He agreed that was a good idea and it was a beautiful moment.  I couldn't make it through the choir's musical number in sacrament meeting.  I sobbed the whole way through and people afterward were worried about me.  Ha!  I didn't know how to tell them I was okay...just emotionally high strung.

When Andy and I went to the Institute and Josh went to practice with the choir, Matt stayed with Ben until my parents came and Mom took Matt and Abby to the Institute while Dad stayed with Ben.

The whole ticket issue and who was able to be invited and who had to be told no had been one of the miscommunications/changes with Salt Lake that caused problems and hurt feelings.  However, we were able to get Mom in which I was very grateful for since she had such a strong connection to the Institute and also because it was her birthday :)

The AAs prepared food for the reception for our guests.  I'm not sure why I was included in this picture but they had me join them.

Bri helped me place all the arrangements...

And we were all ready for our special guests to arrive!

We had quite a lineup of students outside

Elder Causse, our newly called apostle (after President Nelson had passed), was assigned in place of Elder Holland.  He and his wife arrived and Andy and Aly Woodbury (our institute student council president) led a tour through the building.

I kind of hung out in the back but tried to get some pictures.

Here they are looking out from the second floor to the south entrance and seeing all the students lined up and waving to them.

Then they turned their attention to the view of "The A" outside.

We all gathered for a picture in the stake entrance area.

Sister and Michael Lambert (he had been over the building project), Me and Andy, Pres. and Sister Mortensen (New USU President), Sister and Elder Gilbert, Elder and Sister Causse, Aly Woodbury and Sister and Brother Webb

Then we had a small reception with the student council during which Elder Taylor and his wife arrived.

                

It was time to go in for the dedication and for some reason Andy had me lead the way.  

I kept my head down and walked right up to my seat only to turn around and see no one was behind me.  Elder Causse had stopped to greet students just inside the door and Andy had noticed and waited for him.  Consequently, I stood like a fool on the stand as the rest of them slowly worked their way up.  I know it wasn't a big deal to anyone else but I sure felt silly!

(Matt was happy to have made an appearance in the news in this pic)

These pictures of the actual dedication were all either taken by my mother or the news photographers.

Andy was conducting and did a great job.

Abby told us later that we both looked so sad on the stand.

In our defense, it had been quite a day and we were stressed and emotionally drained.

Also, the choir number,  'And Can It Be' was amazing (as usual...they always make me cry) so that got the tears flowing again.  I believe the picture below was taken during the song.

I'm glad these guys got a happy selfie :)

Aly W. and Bryson Newswander both shared their testimonies.

They were, and are, currently dating and I expect to hear about an engagement at any time :)

Fun connection...Bryson's dad was in my dad's student ward when he was a bishop in the early 90's.

I remember the Newswander brothers as they were pillars in the ward.

Chad Webb spoke

Elder Taylor spoke

And then Elder Gilbert

The house was packed!

Elder Causse was of course our final speaker.

I watched much more closely as we walked off the stand and didn't get too far ahead of the rest of the crew.

I had purposefully made the flower arrangements mostly in small boxes so I could clump them together and make them look bigger but then be able to have enough to give to each of the women visiting plus the secretaries and my mom as a little birthday gift.

It was a bit of a scramble afterward to try and catch them all before they left but I think we only missed Sister Bowman (Coy's wife) so we texted and apologized.

I love this picture of the birthday girl and my boys!

I also love these pictures that Mom got of a young man checking the flowers out afterward :)

I was so glad Abby had been able to come up for the ocassion!

When we returned from seeing the guests back down to their cars, we found the kids talking to our neighbors, the Malans who had been on the stand since he is one of the YSA stake presidents.

After most people had left and clean up was taken care of, Andy and I gave Abby a quick tour of the building since it was her first time there.  We caught glimpses of Aly and Bryson taking her parents around the building as well.  Her dad is on the Institute faculty at the Ogden Institute.

We stepped outside into the misty night to look at the fun lights inside the building.  (I think of them as Harry Potter lights for some reason).

I think Andy was grateful to take a moment and breathe a sigh of relief.

Abby took a couple of pictures of us out in the courtyard.

I wish we would have thought to get a picture of us together closer up, somewhere inside.

It was over and it was a huge relief for Andy!

It's a beautiful building and such a blessing to have it finished and ready for the students to enjoy now.