Geoff and Alayna's Wedding

We spent last week up in Oklahoma and Nauvoo, Illinois for my brother's wedding.

The kids and I headed up early on Friday to go to the temple with Eric and Alayna. It was the first time for both of them. Eric is headed to Mexico for a mission in July which is so so exciting and crazy.


We hung out for a couple of days in Oklahoma and then went up to Nauvoo on Monday. We all stayed in a big cabin. Kirsten was super excited to sleep in this Covered wagon bed.
We were so excited that Bryce and baby Camryn came. Colton and Bryce were hilarious together. I wish I would've taken a picture of them. They are both crazy boys. There was a loft in the cabin with a bed. Anytime we couldn't find them they were up there. Bryce would push Colton down and then Colton would grab Bryce by his legs and pull him to the ground. Then they would both laugh hysterically. It was so funny even though I'm sure it will do nothing for their nursery issues (they're both the Nursery Bully).


All Kirsten could talk about was when was she going to see baby Camryn, her first girl cousin. She absolutely adored her.


Bryce and Kirsten sitting on the saddle stools.


On Tuesday we all hung out around Nauvoo.


Kirsten and Bryce were so cute together.




That night there was a dinner at the park.




I loved being able to walk around Nauvoo. And I have to admit I was a little jealous that Geoff and Alayna were able to get married in the Nauvoo Temple.
This is were I lived for 3 and a half wonderful months almost 10 years ago! I was heartbroken that the building was gone.


The next day was the big wedding day.
The happy couple.


The weather that day was fine until right after they got married when a huge storm rolled in. I tell Kirsten all the time that we are safe from lightening when we are inside so Kirsten thought we were in big trouble being outside during the storm. She said, "are we going to survive?".


Colton normally punched or head-butted Emily every time she picked him up, but this was one of his sweet moments.


Baby Camryn in her beautiful dress for the wedding.


The wedding was so beautiful. We are so happy to have Alayna in our family now. Kirsten has been excited for months to have a new aunt.
After the wedding we went to Carthage.
Looking out the window where Joseph Smith was killed.




I didn't get to go inside because Colton was being insane which was pretty much the story of our whole trip. But I'm glad Kirsten and everyone else got to go.


After Carthage we walked down Parley street to the Mississsippi river where the saints crossed when they left.



A couple days later was the reception back in Oklahoma.


I didn't get many pictures the whole week because of this crazy boy. He was absolutely insane. People would warn me of the difference between boys and girls, but man I didn't fully understand until a couple months ago when Colton turned into a real boy and a crazy head. He is all over the place and completely exhausting but the cutest, sweetest little 2 year old boy in the world (at least in my unbiased opinion).


I am so grateful for Kirsten's sweet, sweet calm personality. She is my little angel.


It's always so nice to spend time with family. And we are so happy that Geoff and Alayna are finally married after all this time. They've pretty much been "going out" and dating off and on since they were about 10. When my older brother got married it wasn't weird for me but man seeing my little brother married is kind of a weird feeling. But I'm so happy that he is and we love Uncle Geoff and Aunt Alayna very much!

A Hog in the Pen

A couple of weeks ago, Jonathan had this insane idea of getting a great deal from a friend on a Harley Fatboy. So he flew out on a whim after work one night and rode the entire 19 hours back from Orange County, CA. After he got home, he said he never wanted to ride again. Now he is going to sell it. However, we have a new fan in the house, whenever we can't find Colton we go out into the garage and there he is, sitting on the motorcycle.

Happy Birthday Sweetheart!

For the last 2 days we have been celebrating my little girl's 5th birthday! I can't believe I have a 5 year old! Anyway, we started our celebration on Friday with a princess party.

Her friends came in their beautiful princess dresses and they decorated crowns


Then they got their nails done


My friend, Jaime, came to help with their make-up


We did a photo shoot of all the pretty princesses


After the girls were all ready for the ball we had a little dance party


They ate


And had some castle cake. Kirsten picked this cake out on youtube and I was so excited because it looked so easy...it was actually harder to make than the truck cake. Oh well she was happy.


After all her other friends left Kirsten got to do something super exciting. Her best friend, Brighton's, parents went out of the night and we watched the kids. So Kirsten got to have a slumber party with her for her birthday. She had been excited for weeks. They watched the Princess and the Frog and played with all of Kirsten's new toys and finally fell asleep in the living room.


The next day was our family celebration. We went out to lunch and had Kirsten's favorite thing for dinner, Macaroni and Cheese (not from scratch she made sure I knew that) and mandarin oranges. Then we ate some cake and watched a movie.


I hope she had a wonderful 2 days. I can't believe she's been alive for 5 years. She is such a sweet girl. I feel so lucky to have her. She gets in these modes sometimes when she is in her own little world like the Backyardigans, sometimes it's hard to get her out of it. She has a great imagination.
She loves to do crafts. At least once a week she'll ask if she can do a craft which usually involves painting and gluing and cutting...
She is a talker. She can talk your ear off and frequently does. She's also very shy. When we ask her why she didn't talk to someone she says, "because I'm too shy." I hope she grows out of that and realizes that she doesn't need to be shy.
She is my sweetheart, she loves to cuddle. She loves to wrestle and play with daddy.
She loves to climb and run around. She doesn't like to be alone. I have her go in her room for some quiet time every afternoon and often times she'll say she wants some company because she doesn't want to be alone.
I love the age she is right now, she says the funniest things. Sometimes I wish she could stay this age forever.

Happy Birthday Sweet Bubbs!

So today is my baby boy's birthday. He turned big 2 today! I can't believe he's been around for 2 whole years.

He started out the day with some of his favorites, bananas, pancakes, and milk.


Grandma and Papa got him an awesome tool bench. Daddy set it up for him last night so it was all ready for him this morning. He and Kirsten played with it for about and hour this morning.


He was pretty much up all night just talking in his crib so he took about a 4 1/2 hour nap. While he was sleeping I made my first cake in the shape of something other than a circle or square. It didn't turn out too bad.


We took him out to Chick-fil-A for dinner so he could play. As soon as we got there he kept saying "day, day" (that's Colton for play)
Colton is obsessed with trucks so I thought he would love this cake. He did but only because it was cake I don't even think he noticed it was a truck.




Opening presents from grammy.


He loved this computer she gave him. Kirsten loved it too.




So since this is Colton's birthday I figure I can brag on him a little bit. Colton is my little boy and I absolutely adore him. He is crazy and wild and even though it's exhausting I love that about him. Going to the park or the library or anywhere with him is absolutely the most tiring thing I do. If I turn my back for one minute at the park he's run into the bathrooms or way over to the sandbox or the slide. The library is even worse with the elevators and stairs I have lost him a couple times. He has no fear of losing me at all even though he is a total mama's boy. My favorite time of day is when I go in to check on the kids after they're in bed. When he's laying in his bed he'll hold his little arms up to me and of course I have to pick him up. He'll snuggle his little head into my shoulder and just lay there with his arms around my neck. It is the highlight of my day.
He has the biggest chubbiest feet ever. He wears a 9! Kirsten wears an 11. My friend calls him hobbit feet. I love that he got his daddy's dimples. I love his little laugh. He's started talking more. My favorite is how he says, "mouth", "teeth", "nose", "ears"...and the way he says animal sounds. I really need to record that so I never forget. He is my baby boy and I absolutely adore him.

Disneyland!

So we got back last week from a really great trip to California.
On the way we stopped at my Aunt Kim and Uncle Dan's house. It was so fun to see them. Uncle Dan took us on this really neat trail to see the desert. I never appreciated the beauty of the desert until we moved to West Texas.


We were having a great walk when I decided to let Colton get out of his stroller to walk around. Of course he took off as soon as I let him out and ran off the trail over some jumping cactus in his flip flops which stuck right in his foot. It was a big piece of cactus. It was nearly impossible to get out of his foot because it hurt so bad to touch it. Uncle Dan came to the rescue risking some crazy pain to pull it out of Colton's foot. I felt so bad one of the needles stuck in my foot and it seriously hurt so I can't imagine how Colton must have felt. Thankfully, about 5 minutes later he was laughing and totally over it. We are so happy Dan and Kim live on the way. It's always so great to see family!

We spent a lot of time in the car. The kids got a little bored.

She said she was getting ready to eat.



Next stop was California. We got to our friend's Spencer and Alyson's house and we thought we were in HEAVEN! They have the most awesome view. You can see the ocean while jumping on the trampoline, while riding bikes, watching t.v., eating...amazing. Man I wanted to stay forever!
Spencer and Jonathan grilling.


When we ask Kirsten what her favorite part of the trip was she says playing with Grace, not Disneyland, the beach, or the amazing zoo. I don't blame her Grace is a pretty fun girl.


The first thing we did was the San Diego zoo.


I wanted to go because I've never seen a panda before and so that was the highlight.


Kirsten liked all of the play areas the best.








Colton's favorite thing was the goats. Although he head butted 2 kids who got in his way. We discovered that he's a bit of a bully on this trip. We went to restaurants with play areas while driving so the kids could play. Colton frequently would head butt of push down kids of all sizes, including a very big, at least, 8 year old. At one of the restaurants this little 3 year old pushed Colton back and started pushing his face into the ground. I hate to say Colton deserved it, but he kind of did. I was hoping this would teach Colton a valuable lesson about messing with people, but it didn't. I hope he grows out of this little stage of his.


Riding the little sky taxi.

That zoo was definitely the most amazing one I've ever been to. I love the zoo so it was pretty awesome.

Then we went by my favorite temple that I had never seen. Even with the scaffolding it's amazing.


And that's when the camera battery died. We didn't even bring the charger! So disappointing.
So we don't have pictures of Disneyland, California Adventure, or anything.

Some other highlights were definitely Disneyland. It was spring break for a bunch of states and so it was super crowded but it was tons of fun. California adventure was even more fun because it wasn't crowded. Kirsten loved the bugs life rides. I think we've lived without hills for too long because Colton didn't even like going down the hills in the stroller let alone the rides with hills.

Jonathan and I went with Spencer and Alyson to a hockey game which was tons of fun. We also went to this really awesome go cart racing place. They were super fast and even though I lost every single race I was the only girl and by the end I wasn't too horrible.

It was great hanging out with Spencer and Alyson and we can't wait to go see them again soon!

On the way home we stayed with my Aunt and Uncle again it was great because my cousin Kristen and her 2 kids were there. Kirsten loved playing with Kate.

What a wonderful trip one that I did not one to come home from.