Chapter 3- THE WEDDING!!!!

THE SALT LAKE TEMPLE- Gorgeous!




The happy couple! So cute!

My baby brother, Nathan, got married on July 29th. He and his wife, Mandy were sealed in the Salt Lake Temple and it was a beautiful ceremony. All of my sisters were able to be there as well as all of their husbands, except one because he was working. It was such an amazing feeling to be in the temple with my whole family. It must have been so incredible for my parents to be there with all of their children. I cannot wait until I can be in the temple with all of my (soon to be) five children. I was very emotional thinking of my baby brother being married and just the incredible feeling of being there with my whole family. It was the highlight of our trip.


My kids with some of their cousins


What darling kids!







We had the wedding luncheon at the Wight House in Bountiful. It was very good and such a pretty place to have it. It was super fancy with goblets for everyone to drink out of it. I was afraid we may have an accident, but all of the glasses stayed in tact. Yea! The kids were all so good and well behaved. They had the desert, a yummy chocolate cake sitting at the table when we first sat down. Shaylee downed that cake long before we got our meal. I mean really, how is a girl to resist a chocolate cake just sitting there in front of her? YUM!




This is my cute niece Jilly!


Shaylee and Annika


Jaron and Jilly (he is thrilled, she not so much)


Brandon and Kenyon


The head table






Seriously! Who doesn't LOVE two cute little girls!


The reception was in the back garden of the Lion House and it was so gorgeous. I didn't even know they had such a secluded and beautiful garden. Mandy looked beautiful and Nate was so handsome. They are such a cute couple and they are so happy together.









We got there pretty early for pictures and while the kids were waiting for the reception to start they played Red Light Green Light and Brandon got grass stains on his pants even before we had our pictures taken! I was so annoyed, but we just had him kneel so we couldn't see his knee. BOYS! We were at the reception from 5:00 until around 9:00 with no dinner, so the kids went to town on the refreshments. They had Italian ice there and Brandon had about six of them. He had to try every flavor and then have two of his favorites! Jaron ate a brownie, two ices and the wedding cake. Great dinners, poor kids! It was a fun night and we are so glad to have Mandy in our family! Yea, another sister!






This is my family!
Cindy, Amy, Me, Dad, Nate, Mom, Gina, and Debbie


All the girls including the new addition! The Bride!


(almost) All the boys! Nate C., Pete, Nathan, Jeb and Karl
missing Kirk




The cake was made to look like her dress!
Isn't that the cutest idea? So pretty!




Almost as beautiful as the bride!

Pete's mom is so supportive of any family events we have. She came all the way to Salt Lake with David, in the big specially equipped van to attend the wedding. The van is hard to park in the city, so we said a lot of silent prayers and she was able to find a great parking spot on the street right in front of the Lion House. What a lot of time and effort just to come to Nathan's wedding. All her efforts were so appreciated by my family. Love you, Kathy!


Shay and Jaron with Robert, Uncle David and Grandma


Two more cute girls! Shaylee and Lauren


Evan and Kenyon - bestest buds!


The kiddos with Grandma!

Chapter 2 - BYU

On Monday, July 26th we decided to take the kids to BYU. They have never been and I knew that they would enjoy going and seeing where mom and dad went to college. When we got to campus we went to the BYU bindery, where I worked for two years, and I was able to introduce my family to my boss and where I worked. Pete wondered how I could stand the smell, but you get used to that and all the loud noise.

We then headed to the Wilkinson Center and we all enjoyed a fun game of skee ball, even Grandma P. enjoyed playing. We shopped at the Bookstore and each got a t-shirt and souvenir. Then we ate lunch at the Cougareat and headed to the Creamery for an ice cream for dessert. (I didn't take any pictures)!

After all that fun we met Inger and her kids at the Bean Museum and the kids had a great time looking at all the animals there. Jaron was scared of the animals (surprise, surprise) and so of course Pete had a fun time teasing him about sitting in the crocodile's mouth and other such fun things. It was pretty funny to watch his reactions.









We had a great day. But, boy was I exhausted when we headed back to Pete's moms. That night we had most of Pete's siblings come over for dinner and dessert. It was chaotic, but fun to see everyone. (again no pictures!)

Our Utah vacation- chapter 1

We headed out to Utah on July 23rd, a little earlier than originally planned since my brother was getting marred. We caravanned with my sister and her family since her hubby was working and couldn't make it to the wedding. It was a good, trip and I was even feeling fairly decent that day.

On July 24th, my sisters, Gina, Cindy, Debbie, my mom and my future sister-in-law Mandy spent the day together. We went to lunch at Cafe Rio (yummy) and then we went shopping. Gina and I both found dresses for the wedding and Mandy found a necklace to with her dress at the wedding luncheon. It was fun to get to know Mandy. She is a nice girl and my brother is very happy. That night we had a BBQ to celebrate the 24th and then we did sparklers.









On July 25th we headed to Pete's moms house and we enjoyed a yummy pizza dinner and then we did fireworks with Pete's brother, Paul's family and his niece, Kristy's family. It was a fun time and the kids loved watching the fireworks on the tramp.












This is how Jaron enjoyed the fireworks!

The Fourth of July

For the fourth this year, we stayed home. We invited some friends over for dinner and then we did some fireworks we had bought. After we were done with our fireworks we headed over to some friends for some bigger fireworks. The one good thing about the fourth here is that you can sit in your yard and see fireworks going off in all different directions. There are no illegal fireworks, so people set off their own really big ones and they go crazy with them. Some people spend hundreds of dollars every year on their fireworks. It is crazy! But, makes for a great show in the neighborhood.

Such Great Friends!

The last few days have been very interesting in our family. On Monday morning, August 2nd, I dropped my husband off at the Salt Lake airport. We came to Utah on July 23rd to visit family and attend my brothers wedding. He had a headache and an ache in his leg, but other than that seemed fine. On the airplane he started feeling nauseated, so when he got to PDX he decided to head home. After he got home and his head was hurting so bad he couldn't even sleep he decided to go to the doctor to get a some stronger pain pills. The doctor took some blood and it came back with his white blood cell count WAY high! So, he was sent to the ER to see if he had meningitis. He called me about six on Monday night to tell me what he was doing and I was in absolute shock! He was fine just hours ago when I dropped him off. After a VERY long and painful night, Pete was cleared of having Meningitis, but they still didn't know what was wrong. Finally last night he got a doctor to see him that was an expert in infectious diseases. After many questions and examinations he decided that Pete has a strep infection that turned into cellulitis. It is on his right leg and is very painful. He is still in the hospital, but we are hoping he will get to go home tomorrow. He is starting to feel better now.

During all of this, I have still been in Utah, so I have not been able to be there to help him and be there for him in the hospital. It has been very frustrating and upsetting to me that I am not there for him. But, luckily we have wonderful friends who have been so great to Pete. He has had many visitors and phone calls, and we have had many people praying for us. I am so grateful to everyone who has helped my husband and been there for him when I could not. We have been blessed with many fabulous friends. I told Pete if we can't be in Utah close to our family than we are in the best place we could be with the best friends ever!

Thanks again to everyone!