10-11-12....Not!

That is the date that my nephew and his girl decided would be a great day to be married...10-11-12.  It is pretty cool.  But it didn't work out that way in the end....10-12-12.....close enough I guess.  Thank goodness they waited another day....we would have had to pull kids from school since Fall break didn't start until after school on the 12th (actually only for M...she missed the last day)

Anyway, Stewart and Amanda were sealed for time and all eternity in the Mesa Temple by my father....isn't that the coolest....to have a grandfather for a sealer.  My sister has 8 children with 5 now being married in the temple by their grandfather....most awesome!  I missed the other 4 sealings and so I was bound and determined to make it to this one to be in the temple with my family.

It was a beautiful day and not very hot....ok, only in the low 90's and possibly only the 80's in the shade.  It really wasn't too hot and I was grateful for that since we would be outside most of the day and evening.  Anyway, it was a nice ceremony.  My sister had all her children home for this occassion except her missionary daughter.  It was nice to be seated in the sealing room with 3 nephews, 2 niece in laws, one niece, my sister and brother in law, my mom and dad and the happy couple....from our side of the family.  My girls and their twin cousins were outside babysitting all the little ones.....6 of them.

It was a great morning and the couple looked so pretty.  We love Mandy and so excited that she has joined our family.  We got to meet her in July at the family reunion and she was lots of fun.  They will live in AZ so that makes my sister happy to have them near by like her other son and his family.

Haley...."my dress is just like yours Mandy!"

"I'm going to the temple someday!"

"Smell this flower"

Putting on the matching ties....

Sophie is so tired....

All the girls...

The West boys!

Now.....on to the luncheon.....  Let's eat!

 

Since the luncheon will be in a separate post, I wanted to post the reception with this one.  It was a perfect night for an outdoor reception....after all, we are in Arizona.  It was in a friend's backyard and I understand that everything for the reception was found on Pinterest....gotta love it.

 

It was very pretty, except for the one very bright flood light that they decided they needed for the bride and groom to stand near so they could be seen...it really needed to be over by the food as I had no idea what I was getting.  And there were not enough tables since our family alone took up at least 2 of them.....but it was all really very nice.

 

I loved the popcorn machine......

It has different shakers full of flavors you could sprinkle in the bag and also had nuts and M&M's to add to it as well. 

 

I loved the picture frame idea.....

 

They had everyone take something to add to their picture and make it how they wanted it.  Then it was captured on an IPad and we were able to write on it to personalize it.  It really was fun to have at a reception.

 

Cupcakes instead of cake......

 

And when you walked in you were suppose to flip through a big dictionary they had there and find a word, sign your name, and write why you picked that word.....very cute.  You also had to take a card and draw a picture of the happy couple, tell them how many kids they were going to have, when and what their names would be.  Then you had to draw a picture of you and tell things about the couple.  It really was a very fun and creative idea....something they will look back on and laugh!

 

It was a great day...but we were all exhausted, especially since we had a long night getting to AZ.  We are ready for bed.  CONGRATS to the happy couple!  Now you get out of here too!



Fall Break

I love Fall Break!  Two weeks of sleeping in and playing with my kids.  It always seems to go by fast but we also tend to pack a lot into those 2 weeks.  This year we were lucky enough to go away for a week...not with hubby unfortunately.  We have not been to my sister's in Arizona for years and so when her last son chose to get married at the start of the break, we jumped at the chance to go.  At first it was just going to be me flying down, but then realized that the girls wanted and needed a vacation too, so I was going to drive them down...something I didn't want to do without my man since it is a 13 hour drive.  So when a fabulous sale started at Southwest Airlines, I thought I would just check it out...not expecting anything good.  But was pleasantly surprised to find cheap tickets for all of us.  I couldn't pass it up and the girls were super excited when I told them we were flying.  K was the most thrilled as she has never been on an airplane before...yes she is very deprived, but being the last child, it has always been too expensive to fly 6 of us anywhere.  J has only been on a plane twice...at 6 months and again at a year.  The other 2 kids have been several times cuz it was cheap when they were little.  So I was happy knowing that it would be faster and cheaper to fly than to drive....believe it or not. The only bad part was that the cheap tickets were for late night so K wouldn't be able to see out at the scenery.  But that didn't stop the enthusiasm.

We had plenty of time for drawing before getting on the plane

K was so excited until the plane actually took off and then the tears began to flow as she got scared.  But it all changed once she got in the air and realized it was pretty fun.

We were an hour late leaving Denver and with the time change in AZ, that put us in after midnight. Jeff and Sarah were late too and got in the same time....what luck.  By the time we got to my sister's and situated it was well past 1:30 (2:30 Denver time) and most of us had been up since at least 6am the day before....we were bushed, especially since we needed to be up and gone by 9 the next morning.  But we were just so excited to be there and to see all the cousins and family.....the house was overflowing with people but not one had to sleep on the hard floor....15 people, with a set of grandparents at a nearby hotel.

We are set for a fun filled week with family!

So Excited

When we were visiting my parents in Utah this past summer, K noticed that Grandma had a big scarf that she brought with her when we went out to dinner.  She would throw it over her shoulders as she gets cold in restaurants.  K absolutely fell in love with it and asked her where she got it.....from Aunt Susan, she said.  She said she wanted one too.

She never really said anything more about it.  We saw Aunt Susan and Uncle Mark a week or so later at the reunion, but I guess she asked Aunt Susan if she could buy her a scarf just like Grandma's.  I didn't even know that she had said anything to them......until we get a package in the mail before Fall Break addressed to K from Aunt Susan.  In it was this beautiful pink scarf and a note saying that they were in Wisconsin a bit ago and saw this in a shop and knew that K had to have it.  How sweet is that.....no reason, just wanted her to have it.  I have the best brother and sister-in-law in the world to think of my children like that....thanks guys!  She loves it and wouldn't take it off for days.  It took all I had to get her not wear it to bed. 

October Sky

My kids grew up watching October Sky...have you seen it?  It is a great movie and one of T's all time favorites.  We love Homer Hickum and the Rocket Boys. So when K's 5th Grade was shooting off homemade rockets, I automatically thought of this movie and knew that I had to be there to support her in her efforts (unlike Homer's dad who was too busy all the time to come watch)

Anyway, all of the classes were in groups of 4 or 5 and made rockets out of soda bottles.  They decorated them how they wanted and the object was to see whose flew the furthest.

She was so excited to launch it....and other grades came out to watch them too.  It was quite the show. 

Mr Brown even made one to launch...his went so far. They even shot it off twice.

K's went up really far and landed with a thud.  And there was fun had by all.  (Have no idea whose went the highest as that was the last day of school before Fall Break.

Way to go Homer....I mean K!

Put the Bats and Gloves Away...It's Over! :(

Softball is over and M couldn't be happier......NOT!  She loves the sport and wants to play it year round.  All I can say is it would get pretty chilly when your game is at 6pm on a cold, snowy January evening.  But she loves it...she craves it.  Even after the season they had.

This year was a rebuilding year....only 4 returning players and those that were on JV last year were not ready for Varsity ball.  But there was no choice but to bring them up and it showed.  Too bad the coaches couldn't have used this year to work on better skills instead of just running and catching fly balls.  Actually I don't know exactly what they worked on, but it wasn't pitching that is for sure.  It was the worst it has ever been and that is why they lost almost every single game.  Besides the many errors that were made in not catching the ball, or over throwing it, or not throwing it to the right person......you name it.  But M loved it anyway.  Even though she came home frustrated at times, she still managed to keep a smile on her face during the game and say encouraging words...even when it was 3-20.  It was hard to watch at times, but so happy that I could be there to support M.  It was harder this year as J had her VB games on the exact same day and time as the SB games.  I was running all over.

Anyway, she had a great time overall.  She even got to swing down and play some JV games when they didn't fall on the same day as Varsity.  But I think their last Varsity game was the most fun for them.  It was at Discovery Canyon and they lost pretty bad....I don't even keep track of the scores this year cuz they were "mercy ruled" so many times.  But the DC girls were awesome...very nice and afterwards, their team shared pizzas and bottled water with our team...including the parents.  The girls really let loose afterwards and it was fun to see them having such a good time.

**The 4 returning players from last year**

 

We now wait for the banquet after fall break and then it is on to the next sport....maybe?  She is thinking about a break this year, so we will see what she decides about basketball.

You did awesome this year....whether it was catcher or 1st base (2nd base should be left to someone else M), you improved over the last year.  YOU ARE FABULOUS.....you did great!

NOTE:  She had me take pictures of her freaky tan lines.  You can tell which hand she wears her glove on....

And she hates the V tan at her neck...makes it awkward to wear a scoop neck shirt.....

You should see her tan lines at her feet......you can see them in her homecoming pictures.  She hates em.  But man are those arms tan.  I am jealous!