Welcome to the Family Meagan

The main reason that Nate and I went to Utah this time of year was for 2 different weddings the first was Rocky's. He married Meagan Ririe. I am so happy that she is now a part of our family she fits right in. I got to meet her when she come up to Idaho for our ward camp out. We had such a great time. I was so lucky to do the engagement pictures and just as lucky to get to do pictures on their wedding day. I love you guys. This is one of my favorite pictures. I am going to give them a really nice picture for their wall. It is between this one and the one below it.


Isn't he so manly

and handsome
Her flowers were gorgeous and so is her ring
This one almost turned out how I wanted it to.

With her bridesmaids
I thought that this pictures captured the bouquet just perfect
The gave us boxes with seeds in it to throw at Meagan and Rocky. No one actually told us that we had to open the boxes to throw them. Joy and I got about 5 people to pelt Rock with the unopened boxes.
It is kinda a tradition to get our family members risque stuff for their wedding night. How do you like it?

Rock did.

Random pictures from my trip to Utah

I had such a great time in Utah. Both of the weddings went really well and I had sooo much fun taking pictures at them. I just wanted to post some snapshots that I took while I was there. The whole time we were there we were so busy that it hardly felt like I was on vacation. But it was great. Ty got himself and Lew dressed and when he was done he just had to have a picture with her and I had to go along with it
We spent Wednesday with my friend Mindi and I learned alot about canning and can't wait to start to can myself. Ella is loving on Asher
This isn't the greatest picture. It is kinda grainy. But it is the only one I have of Mindi so I thought that I should add it.
Tyler won this money from Grandma Banks playing Skipbo. He was so proud of those 2 cents

Me and my little (notice I didn't say shorter) bro the day before he got married. This was about the only time that I got to see him. I hope he had a great honeymoon!!!

Happy 11th Birthday Natalie and Nichole

Every year it sneaks up on me, My big girls birthday. I know it's coming I am just in denial. How can they be that old already. They have made some big leaps and bounds this year. They have graduated Elementary school and started Middle school. They have started to babysit for Nate and I and have even started babysitting other people's kids. Natalie-- is just the nicest young lady. She enjoys school and likes talking on the phone. She loves, loves, loves little kids. She can make anyone laugh. Nichole is just the most thoughtful young lady. She is the peacemaker in the house and tries to make everyone happy. She too loves, loves, loves little kids. She enjoys school and socializing with her friends. I am so proud of the young ladies that my girls are turning into. I love you Nattie and Chole.

We actually made the girls open their presents the day before their birthday so that we wouldn't have to take them to Utah with us. Guess what we did anyway. But at least I didn't have to worry about the wrapping paper.

We went to lunch with Joy and Grandma right after we got to Utah.
The goofy girls at the restaurant
Thier birthday cake they decorated themselves. They really enjoy doing that kind of stuff
Nattie was the only one who wanted a Treasure hunt so Grandpa made one for her but Nichole got the reward too.

My dad thinks he is so funny

Again really dad come on

My new favorite place for pix in Mountain Home

I wanted to show the cute new pix I took of Ella. I wanted to try out this park and I have this really cute red dress that I wanted to take pictures of Ella in so I thought that this was a great chance to do both.

I love this blue building

Utah

This is the first time since we have been in Utah that I have had a chance to sit down and type a little. I just wanted to share a few details with you (really I do this for myself so that I don't forget the details). We got here Thursday afternoon which happened to be my girls birthday (will post pictures later) and just hung out with my family. It was a great non stressful day. I hope that the girls had a great birthday.

Friday was a great day too. I got a new baby sister because my little brother Rock got married to Meagan. We started to day by meeting at the park for a luncheon for the families and close friends. And boy was the food great. Then we all got to work setting up for the wedding I had to run home really fast to change so that I could be back at 2:00 to take pictures of Rock and Meagan getting ready. Around 3:00 we went over to the park and took some wedding pictures. The ceremony started at 5:00 in which I got to walk down the aisle. I was told that we were not going to have to do this at all. I found out about it right before Nate found out that he was going to be a groomsman. Meagan looked beautiful. I was very excited for the both of them. It was a long day and by the end of it my feet hurt so bad I thought that I was going to cry. One down one more wedding to go.

Saturday I thought that I would be able to relax a little more. But it was a fun filled day too. I just hung out with Joy the first part of the day. At 2:00 I had a bridal shower for Haley (Nate's little sis who is getting married this Thursday) She got some really great stuff. I wish they would have a shower for you every 10 years so that you can just get all new stuff. Wouldn't that be nice. And at 5:00 Joy had a party at her house and we played games and ate green chilli burritos. Yummy one of my fav's. Peter brought his kids over too so it was alot of fun.

Sunday was my nephew Ryan's birthday. Happy birthday Ry Guy!! So we had a little party for him at my parents house. Tyler went bowling with Pete and his boys while Nate took the girls over to Grandma Swenson's house for dinner and I went to SLC to do Bridal shots of Haley. They turned out so beautiful. The spot she picked was gorgeous and she looked stunning. I had so much fun taking the pictures. I have never taken bridals before. We got back to Spanish Fork at 9:15 and didn't make it back to Joy's for bed until 10:30. It was a long day.

Yesterday was relatively tame compared to others. I just went to lunch with Joy. Ran over to Pam's for a little bit and then The best part... Nate and I went out on a date. Yay I love dates with the hubby. So we are halfway through our Utah visit and I still have a ton of stuff to do. Sorry this was so boring but I had to write it down so that I wouldn't forget.

Hide and Seek

Today Tyler and Ella were playing hide and go seek. The other 4 of us would tell either Tyler or Ella where to hide. We found some really good spots for the both of them. This one takes the cake though. It was Tyler's turn to hide and I told he that he should go into the bathroom and when Ella left his room (which is where they were counting at) then he should sneak into his room and hide from her. Ella wandered around for a bit and asked for a hint when she realized that she couldn't find Ty. Eventually she made it into Ty's room. But she still had a hard time finding him. Nichole went in to help her find him and just started busting a gut. I had to go and look to see where he was so I brought my camera with me....

Would you of been able to find him. Of course he was on the top bunk so he wasn't directly in Ella's view. When she asked for another hint and he gave it to her she still couldn't find him. Then he said I am in the bag. Nope couldn't find him. She even looked on the top bunk. I had to go over and point to him before she could find him. The funniest part is that until I showed Tyler the picture of himself he actually thought that he was all of the way inside of the bag.

Me and My girls just goofin off

Friday Nights are sleepover nights at our house. The kids can stay up late and sleep in whatever room they want with the exception of my room. So last night at around 10:00 I wanted to spend some alone time with my my big girls. As always pictures ended up being taken and we goofed off for about a hour until I went to bed. Where was Tyler you ask. Well, that kid loves to sleep and crashed about 9:00. poor little guy misses out on a lot because he can't keep himself awake.

Hasn't every kid either done this to a younger sibling or had this happen to you.

My favorite new purchases lately

I purchased these items yesterday and I just thought that they were so cute I had to show everyone. My new wallet.
so cute right
Ella's new shoes. I wish they were for me though.

Natalie is getting so big

Yesterday I got to babysit my friend Heather's little boys while she went to the temple. Tanner had a hard time with his parents leaving. But it only took about 3 minutes to settle him down. After he was all calm I had to leave the room so I set him on the couch by his brother. He didn't like that I left him in the room so he started to fuss a little about it. Natalie walked right over and picked him up, got him all calmed down and started to play with him. When I came back into the room I went over to take him back and he wanted nothing to do with me. For the rest of the evening he was joined with Natalie. It is so weird that point when your kids start to grow up. I see her and realize what a great babysitter she is going to be. I watched her feed Tanner and herself at the same time. And juggle holding him up and getting a napkin with one hand. next year she will be babysitting all of the time and this was a great chance for her to practice with me around. Yummy that is great food. Jessica is the best cook ever- Those are Tanner's words not mine.
This is where Tanner was most of the evening.
Tanner listening to Natalie's MP3 player.

Nichole is just as good with babies and kids. She was helping with Ella and Carson. She took the kids for a walk and helped Carson feed the fish. I just didn't get any pictures of her.