A Few Wedding Pics

We got to check out a new temple (Columbus, OH) last month while attending Anna and Johnathan's wedding. The kids were pretty sad that they couldn't go inside for the sealing. They were definitely looking forward to the "party" that night though.

The weather was perfect. Sunny blue skies, in the 70s. Darin and I were like, why couldn't we get this weather for our wedding?

Here we are waiting for the newlyweds to come out of the temple.

 Wouldn't be wedding day if a few tears weren't shed. Am I right?

They came out and we took some group pictures. It was so nice to see Anna so happy. She looked absolutely beautiful. So happy for this baby sister of mine.

It was really fun hanging out with Ammon and his girlfriend Brooke. We feel pretty lucky that we've gotten to see him so much this summer.

 

After pictures were done we went to Chik-fil-A for some lunch and then went back to the church and got to work. Darin went back to the hotel to have the kids take naps since they would be up late and I tried to bring out my inner florist, arranging sunflowers and baby's breath in mason jars. Side note: I do not have an inner florist. But we made it work. 

  That reception prep. It's a beast. It definitely made me ask myself the question, "Did I give appropriate, like, REAL, heartfelt, meaningful thank yous to all the people who helped with my receptions?" Oh gosh, I sure hope so and if not, you know who you are and THANK YOU. It's kind of amazing what a bunch of people who love two people can come together and do. Family and friends are a pretty great thing.

 This lady is amazing. She made our wedding cake too and I just love her so much. She puts her heart in to these cakes and it shows. I thought this cake was just so beautiful. 

 Johnathan's family took care of the food for the OH reception. It was so colorful and delicious! 

 Those hoola hoops. There were 8 of them, I think, maybe 10. So much time was spent hot gluing those flowers on there, thankfully only a few fingers were burned in the process. Shout out to our cousin Briana and her boyfriend for all their hard work on those babies. 

 The reception turned out great. A friend in Johnathan's ward put up lights which made the gym feel so much nicer. 

 No tears picture. Woo hoo! 

 These guys are so sad that Uncle Philip moved away to go to school in Idaho. He will be missed!

 Superheroes. In case it was hard to tell what's going on in this picture...

Shae's message in their wedding album:

 And his quilt square:

Dancing was easily the kids favorite part.

 Shae didn't wait long to bust out his break dance moves.

 

 Doing the Cotton-Eye Joe was a highlight for the kids. They stood there in awe as a huge group of people did the same moves over and over again at both receptions (the below pics are from the PA reception). It didn't take them long to jump in and try it out. They still talk about it so much, a month later. They also request the song be played quite often here at home.

 It was a quick turn around getting from Ohio to PA and then setting up another reception. Darin did a great job manning the food table, making sure nothing ran out. I was a little stressed about there not being enough food, and there was. Hallelujah. We had quite a few old family friends come in for the reception which was just so nice. So many great memories with these people.

Congrats Anna and Johnathan! 

Kids Say the Darndest Things

While listening to the Greatest Showman CD:

CD: "...to the world I close my eyes to see. I close my eyes to see..."

B (very contemplative): Why she close her eyes to see? She no close her eyes to see. You eyes need to be open to see."

Convo between Mom and Shae:

M: What do you want to be when you grow up.

S: Mom, you know, a ninja!

M: Are ninjas really real?

S: Of course they are.

M: Well, how does a ninja make money, like to eat food and pay rent?

S: He doesn't make money.

M: Then where will you live?

S: In a cave.

M: How will you eat?

S: I will hunt my own food.

M: Well, what if you have a girlfriend who wants to go see a movie, how will you pay for the movie.

S: Maaaa-om, SHE will pay for it.

Clearly.

Convo between Dad and Belén:

B: Where were you daddy?

D: I had a meeting with my boss.

B: What? What Boss? But you the boss...the boss of timeouts!!

During scripture study, reading 1 Nephi 3:3

M: "...Laban hath the record of the Jews and also a genealogy of my forefathers..."

S: Wait, WHAT!? Nephi had FOUR fathers!?


While reading a body book, digestion page, following the process of an apple eaten by a little boy.

B: I need an apple! (runs to the kitchen and then straight to the bathroom). I need to eat the apple, and then watch it come out here! (pointing at the toilet).

Shae walks up to me with his pointer fingers in his arm pits and says:

S: Mom, guess which one of my arm pits is deeper.

M: The left.

S: Nope. Now you try.


During quiet time I hear Shae run to the bathroom and yell:

S: I need to go potty!!

M: (yell back through my bedroom door while editing) Okay!

S: I wasn't talking to you mom! I was talking to my body!


Convo with Belen on our last train ride in Boston:

D: Belén, this is our last ride on the train.

B (sweet and innocent): We going to die?

They'll be here all week.

August Little Things

During August we...

...swam at Treman State Park. The kids and I went last summer, but Darin had never gone. It is so beautiful and a really cool experience, but the water is just SO DANG COLD. So we waited for a super hot day and went. The water was still pretty freezing, but we had a fun time playing and jumping off the diving board nonetheless.

 Darin waiting in line.

 I missed the actual jump...

 But he made a nice splash!

 One of my parenting/family things (official term) is finding little ways to celebrate each other and make sure that life always has a little bit of magic of in it. An easy way for us to celebrate each other in little ways is on half birthdays. And let me just tell you, half birthdays are a big deal for these kids. Shae has been counting down the months (like, literally telling people that he is 5 and 5/12, etc.) until his half birthday. We don't do anything crazy, just waffles with a candle and then we sing "Happy half-birthday". This year we also decided to give them the number of dollars they are in years just for fun, so Shae got 5 dollars to spend however he wanted which he thought was the coolest thing. He went and bought himself the pack of Pokemon cards he has been eyeing at Target for some time now.

  Sunday stroll to the little pond across the street.

 Playing in the "rocket ship."

 After quiet time one day, "Look mom, I did oragami!"

 We went to a youth circus performance at the library and the kids got to use some of the circus toys after the performance. 

 After an especially trying morning for me with Belén, Shae "sent" me a bunch of love letters through the "mailbox" into my room after I told them I needed a little alone time.

 The alone time didn't last long.

 The kids got free meal coupons to Texas Roadhouse through their summer reading program. We finally went and used them for my birthday dinner.

 I made the kids sit on the saddle while the employees sang to me.

 We went camping with a few friends at Green Lake State Park. It was so beautiful. The water was incredibly clear, so  different from the brownish finger lake water.

Shae jumped off the platform into the deep water of the lake for the first time! It was nice for his first time that there wasn't a big diving board like at Treman and that he was just able to go right off the platform--better for my heart anyway :). Not gonna lie, even though I totally knew he could do it, those mama bear instincts just kick in and want to say, "No! Don't! What if you get sucked under the water and don't come back up!" A little extreme, just being honest.

When we went over to the platform the lifeguard hollered down, "Do you know how to swim?" Shae had totally pumped himself up by this point and after the lifeguard said that he crumbled and whispered, "Uuuh, I think so." He backed off for a minute after that and watched the big kids do their jumps before finding his courage again and going up to the edge and saying, "I do know how to swim!" and then jumping right in. He spent the rest of our time at the lake jumping off that platform with the big kids. So proud of him.

 A little back-lit, but it's the only one we took as a family of our hike around the lakes.

Some days 5 p.m. is just too late to still be awake.

 Darin made me this Peanut Butter Chocolate Cheesecake for my birthday this year. I love that trying out a new cheesecake recipe on my bday has become my little birthday tradition. 

 It was super yummy. I'm glad we decided not to do the ganache on top because with that big fudge layer on the bottom, it was a lot of chocolate. I need to really taste that peanut butter :). The crust was delicious too, made out of homemade chocolate cookies!

 It's always so fun listening to the kids dictate their drawings to me. I love getting a glimpse inside their little imaginative minds. 

 I was so stoked to get this game from Darin. It's the perfect two player game that we can enjoy together.

 Exploring the woods one afternoon and the new paths they are building around our house, Shae found this grasshopper and they became best friends. It was really sweet to see him take him to the playground with us and show little Dodger (the shortened version of his name, I can't remember the whole thing) all the play equipment.