In Utah, the boys got in a game of croquet in my grandparents backyard, and thought it was pretty cool to wear their grand grandpa's sweaters.
Michael got in a jog....
We hiked the "Y" at BYU. It was a bit tougher than I remembered. Some snow on the trail, but a nice warm day. The kids did awesome! I was especially impressed with Alyssa, not even asking to be carried. I held her hand a lot. Our family of 6 plus Michael's dad joined us.
Happy family pic below:)
emptying the dirt out of plastic shoes.
Look at that handsome man with a sleeping baby strapped to his back...
We watched the BYU march madness game with a bunch of people. I actually was shooting Julie's bridals for most of it, but we came in at the most important part, when the hit overtime. Julie's (now husband) is the grandson of BYU royalty (so my brother in law says), Lavell Edwards. He coached the BYU football team for 20 years and one year they won it all (1980-something). They named the stadium after him when he retired. Anyway, we watched in his basement, as Dylan was living there.
Tyler is obsessed with March Madness, it was fun to see my boy all grown up.
I even brought my little bro along.
My brother Kirk and his wife Rachel kindly let us crash at their aparment for 2 nights in Provo. This is our arrangment in their front room. Stuff strewn everywhere. I slept on the couch on the right. Michael on the air mattress alone.They watched our kids and their cousins (10 total) one night while we all went to the groom's dinner. Love them. They are giving me another neice this summer:)
Cali, so helpful.
The kids loved playing with Kirk and Rachel's dog, Simba. It was funny because Rachel is expecting and they told us they planned to name their baby girl, Sidney. Well, the kids got a little confused and called the dog Sidney for a bit. They got it eventually. I hesitate to say, but it was cute to watch them with the dog. Take it out to play or wrestle with him.
2 nights before Julie got married, we hung out at local Provo shops, this was a shake shop that had real pie crumbled inside the shakes.
This is the morning of Julie's wedding. We had 22 people staying in an 8 bedroom house just a few miles away from the Oquirrh Mountain Temple in Riverton. I found it online just about a week before and got a great deal that all the families split. The kids ran around the backyard and the men watched March Madness (Tyler, too) and the ladies hung out, too. Very nice.
It had a huge backyard with mounds for dirt bikes. The kids got really dirty.
Alyssa and Abigail stayed in the Tinkerbell Suite
The girls had an outing for ice cream--Karen is a pro at making her Maverick (gas station) cup filled to the max! We got a good laugh (Julie on left, Jen in middle, Karen on right).
Julie is the bride and Michael's youngest sister, Jen is Michael's brothers wife and Karen is Michael's sister.
Here is our group shot. Myself and Kriste (Michael's brothers wife) added to the pic. We went out for "girl talk." You know....all us married women offering our advice to Julie on the night before she weds:) It was fun. I love these girls. (Michael's sisters in Grey and red, sis in laws in tan and green).
Getting ready for the big day! (Look at Julie so relaxed on the left).
Cousins play Fuseball at the rental house.
Aunt Jen curled Alyssa'a hair all fancy. We had never done that before, we will be doing so now.
My pretty girl
The only girl Cousins...so far.
Julie getting ready
Cali and I in front of the mirror having fun:)
My awesome friend Kelsy came to watch my kids while we were in the temple. She even matched out attire (on accident). I just love her, and especially that she loves my kids:)
At the temple
Michael's older brother David and his family (they live in Ft. Worth)
Michael's younger brother Steve and his fam (they live in Virginia)
Micheal's younger sister, Karen, and her husband Brigham (they got married in December)
Matthew and Alyssa posing for me outside the temple
Alyssa dancing for me:)
In between the temple and reception, I ran to get some images printed. My BYU roommate was in town from Iowa and we planned to meet up, but timing was bad. We did get squeeze in a quick hug and 2 minute conversation in the parking lot of the university mall. I wished it were longer, but still fun to see her.
Julie found herself quite ill and almost didn't make it to her reception. She did, just a little late. It was a beautiful venue and was fun.
To see more Julie and Dylan pics, CLICK HERE.
The cousins had to bid farewell....
Saturday was a long, crazy day. After the reception, we began our drive at 9pm from Provo and drove 3 hours south to Moab. In the morning, we went to church there, and I must say, it is always so cool to go to church in strange places and find it is exactly the same as it is at home. Same spirit, same structure. Since we were in Moab, I told Michael we HAD to stop at Arches National Park, if only for 1 hour. So we did, for just one hour. It gave me a taste and I want to go back.
I love their cute little hooded jacket heads:)
Tyler was very excited about Chimney Rock. He studied it in school. I took this through the window as we drove by.
On the drive home, the boys sat on either side to Cali and fed her, entertained her, and just kept her company. I loved it SO much! They traded off sharing licks of their ice cream cones with her.
She was a HUGE mess when we rolled into town, but I think it says how we all felt....and happy to be ho me!
