Cyle and Athena's wedding (Part 1)

We finally pulled into the Allred's house at 2:30 in the morning and we were beat! Unfortunately the kids weren't and they were so excited to see their friends Lynlee and Reid that they stayed up the rest of the night. No kidding! They were crazy! I was so tired that after a couple times telling them to be quiet and go to bed, I gave up.

On Friday we got to hang out with Rochelle and the kids. While Ken was off on his mission to get the van in driving condition, we met with Codi and Coby, Gerry and Beverly, and my parents at Cabela's. It was fun to be all together and the kids enjoyed seeing all the cool things at Cabela's.
After looking around, we headed back to Rochelle's house where she was nice enough to help me with my hair. I had decided to try curling it, but after 30 minutes I was still only halfway through. I asked if we could do some "dueling curling irons" and with both of us curling away it still took another 15 minutes. (I doubt I will be doing my hair like that again anytime soon.) Ken and I were especially grateful that Rochelle was willing to watch our kiddos as we attended the rehearsal dinner. Good thing too. Our kids were EXHAUSTED! Morgan fell asleep before we even left and she stayed asleep until the next morning!

We met on Temple Square to try to get a family picture before the dinner. We didn't get the shot that I wanted, but we got some that will do...




On Friday night there was a Rehearsal Dinner at the Joseph Smith Memorial Building. It was a beautiful setting over looking Temple Square! I loved seeing so many members of our extended family and dear friends (that I love like family). My cheeks hurt from smiling. :) Ken played beautiful background music while we visited and then had a delicious dinner. I was honored that Cyle and Athena asked me to sing as part of the program; so I channeled my best Etta James, and sang "At Last". The bridesmaids presented a cute "Athena Survival Kit" to Cyle and then Cyle's groomsmen showed a PowerPoint presentation complete with goofy videos and pictures of Cyle. I was laughing so hard my sides hurt! Athena's sister, Jessica sang a beautiful arrangement of "When You Say Nothing at All".






It was a lovely evening! Of course that wasn't enough partying for us and we headed back to the Skouson's hotel room for more fun and conversation. It was so fun being all together!

Middle of nowhere...

On Thursday afternoon we left for Cyle and Athena's wedding in Utah right after watching the first BYU game of the Mountain West Conference. We began our drive up and through Wyoming. The drive was uneventful until we got to the middle of nowhere. With a semi next to us in one lane, out of the darkness something black appeared in the middle of our lane. It all happened so quickly and there was no time to do anything but hit it straight on. We thought it might be an snow chunk that had fallen off a semi-truck. Sadly, no.

We hit it with an amazing crash and such a loud noise! We looked behind us to see sparks from what we thought was the thing we hit dragging along the asphalt. Ken pulled over as quickly as possible and we got out to survey the damage. Of course it was super dark and the wind was blowing fiercely as we got out the flashlight and laid down of the side of the highway to see what in the world had happened.

Whatever it was that we hit had completely ripped off the entire exhaust system under our van. It was literally hanging on by one pin. The pipe looked like it had just exploded! We removed the pin and it clunked to the pavement. We worked it out from underneath the van and we left with about 10 feet of pipe, muffler, and resonator. Fortunately we did not see any leaking fluids or any suspicious warning lights so we decided to put our exhaust system and take it with us and we would keep going toward Utah. It was super loud, but we made it!

As we were loading the exhaust system into the van (it barely fit!) Peyton said such a sweet comment. "Mom," she said, "I am so glad we said a prayer before we left. That could have been even worse!" I second that thought. As Ken was taking the van in to multiple shops on Friday trying to get things fixed enough that we could get home, hopefully without incident, he was told how lucky we were. There were multiple gouges in the fuel tank, but no leak. There was also several sensors that were just barely missed. Had those been knocked out our travels would have been even more difficult.

So thankful for the angels that were with us!

LUCKY

In 2004 we began a tradition that is seeming to stand the test of time. A few friends and I went to Cinzetti's for a fabulous girls night out of delicious food and wonderful conversation. It wasn't until we were there, all dressed in green that we realized that it was St. Patrick's Day.

Thus began our annual St. Patrick's Day girls night out at Cinzetti's. The group always seems to change a bit -- some years it is small and intimate and other years it has been so big you didn't even get much of a chance to talk to the person at the other end of the table -- but the company is always wonderful. I certainly feel LUCKY that I can spend an Irish holiday, eating Italian food, surrounded by incredible friends!

Here is a sneak peek from our first Cinzetti's girls night out...

Peyton is FIVE!

It is amazing how quickly 5 years can pass by! It is hard to believe that Peyton is now 5 years old. To celebrate this year she chose to have a "Pinkalicious" birthday party with her friends dressed in pink. It was great fun. We read Pinkalicious, decorated pink tiaras, painted fingernail with pink glitter polish, played games, danced to princess songs, and decorated pink cupcakes. Peyton had so much fun and it was a treat to have her fun friends over for the afternoon.

Listening to Pinkalicious.

Everyone has beautiful, pink fingernails...

Playing games...

Here are some interesting facts about Peyton at 5 years-old:
1) She will talk to anyone. All it takes is for someone at a store, for example, to ask her a question or say how cute Cooper is and she will tell them her life story. She is quite a prolific conversationalist.
2) Peyton has so much fun at preschool and loves her classmates and her teacher, Ms. Wendy.
3) She continues to enjoy her ballet/tap dance class.
4) She prefers dresses and skirts to pants.

"Informance"

I wish I had thought of this, but I think it is a GREAT idea! At the kids' school, Mrs. Keller, had the grades perform an "Informance" which informs the parents of all the things the students have been learning in music class. Perhaps as a former public school teacher, I was more interested than your average parent, but I found it fascinating and loved seeing what they were being taught (including solfege!)

Both Morgan and Trevor love Mrs. Keller. She is great and we are so glad she is their music teacher!

Unexpected

There are times I go to upload the pictures from my camera memory card to the computer and find myself wondering when I took the pictures. Shots of the computer, tv, the floor, and other strange objects appear before my eyes. It is never too long though before the camera stealer makes themselves known.

I give you exhibit A...

He loves to "read"!

I love that Cooper loves books. Several times a day he brings me books to read to him. Sometimes he grabs some books, climbs up in the massage chair (its just his size) and looks at books. So cute! I hope he will have a lifetime love of reading!

Religious Freedom

Here is a link for the speech Elder Oaks did recently at Chapman University School of Law. Some very interesting food for thought and I appreciate his insights. Truly is worth the 47 minutes.

Check it out.

Jimmer-mania!

At our house we are pretty big Cougar fans. We really enjoy watching, and when we can, attending BYU basketball and football games. Sadly with the conferences changing the Cougs won't be coming to Colorado as often. Dang!

We have been loving watching Jimmer and the guys having such a great season. We took the family up to Ft. Collins to cheer them on as they defeated the CSU Rams. We had a huge group there and the game was a blast! Then last week Ken and I, with our friends the Adamsons, ventured up to the freezing tundra of Laramie, Wyoming to watch them play the Cowboys. It is killing me that I am not able to go tomorrow night down to Colorado Springs and cheer them on to victory over Air Force.

Jimmer really is incredible to watch! I can't believe how he can pull up from almost anywhere on the floor and make the shot. It is also very impressive watching him split defenders and drive to the hoop. I hope he gets player of the year. We look forward to watching where he goes from here.

Undefeated!

I'll admit, I was pretty excited that Morgan wanted to try basketball this season. She joined a team through the rec. center that was coached by her former soccer coach, Coach Jen. Most of the girls had played together in a competitive league during the fall and it was great to see Morgan find a place on the team. She was one of the few beginners on the team and I think it really helped her to learn from her teammates. She LOVED it! She showed great hustle and effort throughout the season. Morgan was especially good at stealing the ball and usually had a couple most games. Her team, the Warriors, went 8-0 in an undefeated season.

We all loved cheering Morgan on at her games. Trevor wants to play too, so we will use the off season to work on some fundamentals. We are already looking forward to next season!

Way to go Warriors!

On a fast break after a steal.

Morgan's biggest fan!

Sledding with the Siders

As I look out into my backyard at the snow gently falling, I am reminded of the sledding adventure that we had with the cousins on New Year's Day. It was so fun to have them up for sledding, pizza, and playing the wii. We are so lucky that they live nearby and we always have a blast together (even if we did lose the canasta game to them that night)!

Photography credits to Ken.

Engagement Photos

One of the perks of having Cyle and Athena visit over Christmas was the opportunity to take their Engagement pictures. It was a blast! We went shopping and then took the pictures up at Centerra. We had some great light and the models were top notch! I told them I would wait to post any pictures until they had mailed out their invitations. So, I finally get to post some of my favorites...










This experience was so great for me and I am thankful that Cyle and Athena were willing to take a chance on my amateur self. I think this was the catalyst for my photography goals for this year. I had ideas that I couldn't quite do because I need to have a better understanding of how to use my tools. I look forward to becoming more educated about photography so that I put what I see in my head in the actual result.