More Weddings!

I am not kidding when I say this was the year of weddings! Thursday, July 15th and Saturday, July 17th marked the dates of two more cousins getting married.

Thursday evening was spent celebrating the marriage of Erin and Ryan. Erin is Jason's cousin and they have grown up being very close and great friends. They had a BEAUTIFUL wedding ceremony and reception at the Homestead in Midway. Everything was gorgeous! The dress, the scenery, even the food! I must say, it was absolutely the best food I have ever had at a reception! It was buffet style with multiple main courses: chicken, salmon, pasta, soup...you name it, it was there, and it was top notch!

 Gino, Zion, Kirsten, Sierra, Nancy, George, Jim, Amy, Emily, April, Max, and Jason

 The girls with the bride

 Waiting for the walk down the aisle...

Wish I had gotten a picture of the food...but the family and the cake will have to do. Some other highlights of the evening include the awesome dance party and Uncle Lloyd's shining grill.

On to wedding #2 -

Now to be completely honest, Brooke and Nate officially got married two weeks before on a beach in Florida, but their reception that we could all attend was July 17th. As mentioned in my June posting, Brooke is one of my close cousins, so we drove to Idaho that weekend to be there.

Brooke was stunning (as expected)! They had the reception in the Hilliam's recently finished yard and it was beautiful! Aunt Arnae did an amazing job (as she always does).

Pictures from the actual wedding in Florida:

Pictures from the reception:

 

 

 

 

Amenae, Briana, me, Brooke, and Kendra

So pretty!

And more cousin weddings to come before the year is done...

July 4th Weekend

The great thing about having the 4th of July fall on a Sunday is....you pretty much get to celebrate it Friday, Saturday, and Monday...right?

So, Friday night was spent with the Grubers up at Sundance where we enjoyed a special Patriotic Concert by the Utah Symphony! So good and so fun! It was especially fun because I remember going to this same concert with his family when Jason and I were dating (at that time we were accompanied by his grandparents, aunt, uncle, and cousins).

 

George, Nancy, me, Jason, and Karl

Saturday evening was spent with my family for an Arbon BBQ. We were welcomed by Bryan's Parking Company:

It was too cute to pass up a picture!

(This is a typical procedure whenever there is a family event.)

Monday through Wednesday was also spent with my family on our annual camping trip. Each year we go camping at the Spruces (beautiful campground). Last year, Jason and I were only able to show our faces for dinner one of the nights...and so this year we wanted to make sure we were actually able to camp with the family.

Typical camping activities for my family include hours of leisure reading, walking along/through the streams and rivers, card games, tin foil banana boats (YUM!), roasting marshmallows, delicious breakfasts of bacon and eggs, bike riding, scooter riding, and hiking to Doughnut Falls.

This year, we participated in most of these activities, but also added a few new activities that I'm sure will turn into "traditions": Grandma and Grandpa Arbon and the Apelu family came and visited us the first night and joined us for dinner and marshmallows; we played a game of baseball (and of course my team won...which will be a continuing tradition); and last but not least, we played HOURS of air-soft war!

Our air-soft wars could be described as a mix between paint-balling and capture the flag. We formed two teams and had the mission of stealing the other team's flag without getting hit by any air-soft gun bullets. If you got hit by a bullet, you had to wait there for so many seconds before returning to your base and trying again. Lucky for us, the campsites above and below us were vacant...so we were free to roam over a wide area.

We absolutely had a ball! We played round after round after round....after round....you get the idea. I'm pretty sure my parents weren't loving it..given the violent nature of the game and the fact that it took away from our typical card-playing, but it was definitely something that made the camping trip memorable and fun! Thanks Bryan for the brilliant idea!

Visit from Grandma and Grandpa Arbon and the Apelu family

 Making banana boats

 

Jason stoking the fire...pretty good for a non-Eagle scout... :)

 The beloved reading time

The special operation team!

...and the GLORIFIED version...

Gidget Photography

My friend, Amy Stallings, is starting her own photography business called Gidget Photography. Lucky for us, she wanted to use us for a practice shoot! Jason and I are kind of awkward models, but she made the best with what she was given. :)

Here are a few of the photos from that shoot:

 

Amy did such an awesome job! I'm so pleased with these pictures! Thanks again for choosing us as a practice shoot. If you ever need to "practice" again...let us know!