The After Party

After the weekend of wedding festivities, we hung around E-town to spend some quality time with my family. We enjoyed hanging out and having fun with Grandma Crystal and Grandpa Joel. Gavin became quite the grandpa's boy. He loved jumping off the ottoman into grandpa's arms and sitting on his lap.

Gavin also enjoyed playing with Macey, but at times he was a little "pushy", literally and his hugs were too much for her too. Good thing he has a little brother to hug as well! We tried to take pictures of all the grandkids together for mom, but well, this is a good as it got. Oh well...

After five days of fun, it was time to get back in the van for the long haul home. Thanks to Sarah earlier in the week, we discovered that Xander already knows how to work the camera. Sarah got her camera out in the van to take a picture of Xander's big pouty face and crocodile tears, but as soon as he saw the camera he started smiling and laughing. So on the way home, I tested this again. Several times when Xander would get upset I would pull out the camera and never fail he would start to smile, laugh, and be distracted from being upset for at least a few minutes. Here's one of those pictures... if you look close you can tell he's been crying. I also took a few of Gavin and I. I spent most of the ride home in the backseat of the van with Gavin trying to keep the two boys entertained. It went pretty well, but boy were we all glad to make it home safe again!

Wedding Bells Were Ringing

After driving 1800 miles across the country to arrive in E-town, Kentucky, we were able to see my brother Tyler married for all-time and eternity to Mary Elizabeth (better known as Beth) in the Louisville, Kentucky temple. Here are the bride and groom just exiting the temple as husband and wife for the first time! Don't they look happy!? They definitely had the glow of newlyweds.


That evening Tyler and Beth had a reception at the church. It was very beautifully decorated... simple yet elegant. That's my preferred style. Pink was the color of the evening. Mom made Karina this cute dress, and then from the scraps she made Gavin and Xander little matching ties...so cute!


And here's my handsome little... at least age-wise ;) brother. Adam's always been the one girls have chased after even in preschool!

All was fun and games until we tried have all the kids sit for pictures with the newlyweds...
At least they are all in this picture and I'm not!



Both of my boys gave them a run for their money. They'll probably think twice about kids for a while! Here's what Gavin really wanted to be doing... Eating!!!

On Saturday, we drove to Indiana and had a BBQ Open House at Grandma Shoaf's for Tyler and Beth. We mostly avoided the rain, enjoyed good food, visited with family and friends, and never quite got the camera out because we kept having to retrieve Gavin from the middle of Grandma's lane. Why is pushing wagons and strollers down rock-filled lanes so interesting to 2 1/2 year old little boys, especially when there are all kinds of vehicles driving on it?! Well, we all survived the weekend and had a great time with all the wedding festivities.

So I've gotten behind... AGAIN

So I seem to go in spells... I blog regularly for a while and then I don't. Easter fell during one of those "don't" times. We had a wonderful Easter. Grandma Crystal sent a fun Easter basket in the mail for the boys and Grandma Ann had a little basket for the whole family to share hidden at her house. Gavin loved dyeing eggs with Grandma Ann especially since they were his favorite color boo! We had a yummy Easter dinner with Ben's family and enjoyed eating way more than we should have. So anyway, now that it's almost June... here's the rest of the Easter pictures promised.