Tia Ria Gets Married!

Joseph's sister Maria (a.k.a. Tia Ria to her nieces and nephews) married a boy from Finland named Teppo Jottenus in the Jordan River LDS Temple.

We think Teppo rocks the Jean Luc Picard look. He's probably smart enough that he could fly the Enterprise if he had to as well. He's currently studying particle physics at MIT. I think he brought the collective IQ of the family way up when he joined it.

Most of all, he is a really great guy and we are thrilled for him and Maria to have found each other. I think they like each other just a little bit. ;)

Teppo's parents are on the left. You won't meet two kinder and better people than these two. Teppo's father was announced in the last General Conference as a new area authority for the Church over Finland and surrounding countries. It was a pleasure to be able to get to know them and their other children at the wedding.

Maria is the 8th of the 10 kids to get married which is why we make such a big group with "just" the parents, kids, and spouses (and Grandpa Jensen). I am blessed to have been able to marry into such a great family and truly love these people.

I think Joseph had just been rubbing The Bowling Ball for luck.

The Jensen family with the exception of Erik who is currently serving a mission in Independence Missouri, ASL speaking.

Joseph and I love this picture of all the grandkids (except Jensen, Siesa, Elsie, James, Jacob, and Bennett). You have every range of emotion possible, from complete boredom to absolute terror...and then there's our girls. Granted, they were in a good mood still at this point in the reception, but their smiles were helped along a bit by a little something called a fruit snack bribe. It worked!

The whole fam damily.

Maria's siblings (she's right in the middle, birth order-wise)

The obligatory tough guy picture with the groom, his two brothers, and his 8 brothers-in-law.

Will liked the dancing part of the evening best.

Joseph's mom, Bob, transformed the church gym into such a beautiful place for the reception. She made these chandeliers herself, just came up with the whole idea on her own. If I could have an ounce of her creativity it would be lovely.

Teppo and Maria really wanted to incorporate a lot of Finnish traditions into the reception like a formal waltz by the married couple as well as a Finnish wedding cake. So his mother made these delicious desserts that my children had a hard time keeping their fingers out of before it was cut. Those raspberries were so tempting. It tasted as good as it looked.