And Now, Back to Me

So besides all the gobs of fun we had with all things wedding related, we also had a day at the beach. The longer I live away from the beach, the more it's become my favorite thing ever. We went down to CA a day early so we could go. Dana had the great idea of taking the kids (and car)across the ferry to Balboa Island.
The kids spotted some seals...or possibly sea otters. Oh, also this is all after we stopped at a thrift store on the way in Newport Beach. Because lo and behold, after I thought I'd done such a great job packing all the kids, we found we had left Eli's perfectly packed bag at home in his room. After a few moments of Dana and I staring at each other with panicked faces and me visualizing us rushing around Target buying Eli church clothes, toothbrush, etc, Emma said "Why don't we just have Amy bring it with them?" She is a brilliant child at times.
So here's Eli with his new/used trunks. (BTW I highly recommend stopping at a thrift store in a rich, beach town sometime. I could've shopped there for hours.) And we picked up his bag from Amy that night. Saved by my sister again :)
But once the kids got to the beach, they began beach-work right away.
With some frolicking mixed-in.
Sadie's not a big fan of the waves so she camped herself near Dana and I and had fun in the sand.


Then we walked down the pier to eat at "Rubys". After about 10 mins we realized we should've waited for an inside table. The meal was tasty but pretty much consisted of us stuffing our faces and shoving fries down the kids throats to try and get out of the frigid wind. See Sadie? I don't think I've ever met someone that hates cold as much as she does. But the kids loved watching the fisherman and spotting seals here and there so it was all fun in the end.
Then we left to check-in to our BW hotel in San Diego.
We talked about how much fun it is there and the things we missed. And then after we had convinced ourselves that we had to return to California one day to live, we got a good reminder that life's not just a beach there- even at 2pm on a Thursday. Happily, we were on the welcome side of the reminder.

Eternal Happiness/Felicidades Eterno

I should probably start out by saying that there are just way too many pictures on this post. But my little sister got married this weekend. I have been praying for this day for some time. AND she asked me to be assistant photographer. Or was it assistant to the photographer? I can't remember. It was mainly, I think, back-up in case the photographer didn't get any good shots or somehow erased all the pictures by mistake. But whatever it was, it was fun. I truly enjoyed it, and felt privileged trying to capture a few of her special moments. Are her flowers the most beautiful you've ever seen? I loved the colors they chose.
When they came out of the temple, and especially during the sealing, they were both just glowing. I think this day was extra sweet for them because they've had to wait awhile to find each other.
The darling couple- married at last!
The beautiful bride.
They happen to be doing a little construction on the temple right now due to all the rain they've had (they've had some leaking) but that would be quite easy to photoshop out of there (sounds like a job for the other photographer).
The flower girls in their pettiskirts. I didn't get very many pictures of them because they were having so much fun running around.

Amy and Campbell.
The proud mothers.
I think this is my favorite.
The very awesome reception venue at Balboa Park.
Sal, just so you know, the real photographer's helper saw me taking pictures of the tables and then starting taking some of her own. So mine are the originals. FYI
Cutting the cake.
"Gram" twirling Holly.
Delicioso.
I don't know too much about photography but enough to know that it's trickier with less light. If you turn on your flash, the pictures lose all their coolness. I took 3 of these and then went to get a chair so I could be as still as possible (so it wouldn't be blurry) but then the happy couple was off somewhere else. I remember my reception very well and know that, that's just how receptions go, but I was just sad I couldn't try to get a better one. C'est la vie! Hopefully the actual photographer got a better one.
Also hard to capture without blurriness.Me and mi hermanita muy bonita.
Of course, throughout the day, I couldn't stop thinking about this guy and our special day almost 13 years ago now and how blessed I am to have him. He took on most of the kid watching so I could take pictures without a complaint.
First dance.The super happy honeymooners!
And the will-be-married-sometime-sooners :)
On their way out.
Sadie was pretty tired and grumpy the whole day and finally gave up at the end.
Welcome to our family Eter! Not only a handsome groom but an amazing person!
What a wonderful, blessed day!

Marking Milestones

I asked Jill to do some pictures with 2 goals in mind. 1) Baptism picture of Eli. 2) Sadie's 3 year old pictures. And then, of course, she went ahead and surpassed my expectations with all kinds of extra cuteness.

I figured while we were going through all the headache of getting 2 ready, we might as well go the distance and get them all. Besides, Emma did just have a birthday too.
BIG 3 year old.


Holly- 5 and almost a half.
Emma- 10 years old and starting to scare me by how fast time is going. Does she look grown up or what?? Slow down Miss.
My babies.
So many great pictures, so few walls.
Jill- Thank you, you're awesome. as always :)

Family Time

Spring had a couple false alarms this year, but this time it really is here to stay. Hooray! It was such a treat to have family come out for the baptism. I didn't get any with my mom and the kids (besides at the baptism of course) cause her trip was very quick 24 hrs. This happened to fall on the weekend after Jeff and Carrie's open house in CA and before Sally's wedding in 2 weeks and not to mention a gob of things happening at school that she is in charge of (she teaches high school English). Thanks to everyone for making the effort :)
Grandpa spent probably half an hour just walking and talking with Sadie at the park.

while Eli and Holly played in the left-over rain...
...in the form of a giant murky puddle.



And Emma had a great time with her cousin Savannah who we don't see often enough.
and doing other "Emma" things like climbing trees :)
We feel so blessed to have such a wonderful family.
Now we are thoroughly enjoying Spring Break.