Updates and Stuff...

Hi Guys!

I have finally made my way back to the world of blogging (for a day, at least). I've put two other posts below this one (the first of my sister's wedding, the other of funny conversations with my nephew) so don't forget to scroll down and check them out!

Life has been a ton of fun lately. We've been so busy but still try and squeeze in a little fun. Saturday night we went with four other couples from our branch up to Silver Lake to roast up some hotdogs, eat some grub and take a leisurely stroll around the lake. It was so fun! Ryan took some pictures of the group on his camera but unfortunately I don't have them with me...sorry! :(

The adventure was a lot of fun for us. On July 3rd it will be two years ago that Ryan and I went there on our first "date". I say "date" because we weren't technically dating then...it was the first time we hung out. We decided to try and get up there every year on the anniversary of our first "date", but we won't be able to this year since we are going to be out of town. So when the invitation came to go up last Saturday, we could not pass it up. We absolutely love it up there!

In fact, here is a picture of it that I took two years ago:



And in other news...we'll be going on our second vacation as a married couple this coming weekend. We are going with my family (24 out of 33 of us) on a road trip to Independence, Missouri and Nauvoo, Illinois. We are all really looking forward to it. We'll be gone about 10 days, and in the car for four of those days so we're hoping we don't kill each other in the process. But hopefully when we get back, I'll have some more fabulous posts for you!

I apologize that my blog is still the same old design I've had for the past two years. I tried to update it this morning but the new blogger really drives me crazy. So until I find time to fiddle with it without it completely screwing up what I already have, you're stuck with this. :)

Who's Your Daddy?

See this little character? Oh my gosh, he is the funniest kid I know! There is never a dull moment around when he's talking. He's two going on 15 and talks like he's 30. I've been part of a couple funny conversations with him lately that I just had to write down. I know that stories aren't nearly as funny written down because you can't really document the facial expressions or tone of voice but for this first conversation, just go ahead and picture his face like it is in this picture...

~~~
Conversation #1:

Me: "Where is your daddy?"
Nephew: {Looks around the room and points to his dad}
Me: "Where is my daddy?"
Nephew: {Looks at Ryan and points} "Is HE your daddy?"

*Ryan and I burst out laughing but don't feel the urge to explain why to a two year old*

Me: {Through my laughter} "Nope, he is not my daddy. Do you know who my daddy is?"
Nephew: {Gives me a confused look} "Who?"
Me: "My daddy is your grandpa."
Nephew: "Grandpa?"
Me: {Pointing at my dad} "Yeah, see grandpa right there? He is my daddy."
Nephew: {Same confused look} "Grandpa is your daddy?"
Me: Yes. Do you know who else has grandpa as a daddy?"
Nephew: "Who?"
Me: Your mommy! Grandpa is your mommy's daddy"
Nephew: {With the look he has in the above picture} "GRANDPA is my mommy's DADDY?!?!?!"

*Entire room bursts out laughing*

Me: Yep! And he is also Aunt Tricia's daddy, and Uncle Derek's daddy..."
Nephew: {Pointing to his Uncle Derek} "Who's that?"
Me: "That is Uncle Derek"
Nephew: "Uncle Derek?"
Me: Yes. It's kind of confusing though huh because he {pointing to Tricia's husband} is also Uncle Derek. You have two Uncle Dereks"
Nephew: {pointing at one then the other} "He's Uncle Derek and he's Uncle Derek too!"
Me: That's right"
Nephew: "Same name, same shirt!" {They were both wearing white button down shirts}
Me: "That's right. Same name, same shirt."
Nephew: {Looking a little more closely at them both} "And same hair...And same FACE!!!"

*Entire room bursts out laughing again*

Two guys with the same name, same shirt, same hair and same face? No wonder the kid is confused!

~~~
Conversation #2

This conversation was more with my dad than me. In fact, it goes with this picture:



As you can see, he is sitting on the top of a giant box and my dad (sitting behind him) kept trying to pick him up and take him off. Finally he turned to my dad and said this to him:

Nephew: "Don't take me off grandpa! Don't you do it! You may want to, but don't you do it!!"
Grandpa: "Or what?"
Nephew: "I will put you in time out!"
Grandpa: "Do you even know what time-out is?"
Nephew: "Yes!"
Grandpa: "Have you ever been in time-out?"
Nephew: "Maybe... {then holding up two fingers}...this many times"

Tricia's Wedding

On June 9th my little sister got married! She married an amazing guy and the day was absolutely perfect!

The day started out at 10am at the Qquirrh Mountain LDS Temple where they were sealed for time and all eternity! It was a beautiful sealing and brought tears to my eyes. Afterwards we went outside for pictures. It was a beautiful summer day!





Our entire family was able to be there for her wedding, unlike mine (the perks of getting married in the summer instead of during the school year) so we took a moment to document the ginormous family we are!



After pictures we headed over to The Gathering Place at Gardner Village for a luncheon.

You gotta love the geek in my sister!

Then after the luncheon we headed to my older sister's where we had an outdoor reception. After having my own wedding and then helping to set everything up for Tricia's, I have definitely decided that it is much easier to be the bride on a wedding day instead of the "help". It was a very long day with set up and tear down, but I would do it again in a heartbeat to make her day perfect!

Unfortunately the wind picked up in the afternoon/evening hours so set up was rather difficult (we had to pin the runners and overlays to all the tablecloths and hold the pictures down with rocks) but nobody would really have noticed. Of course that might have been because nobody really sat at the tables other than family. It was so cold outside that most of the guests stood in line to greet the bride and groom, then stood in line to get some Cold Stone ice cream before heading to their cars to eat it where it was warm! :)







All in all it really was the perfect day and I am now so excited to have another brother-in-law!