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.

Hello, Cupcake!

I've been meaning to post since Easter, but that weekend I started feeling crummy, and then by the time I got to feeling better, I had plenty of housework to catch up on even though Ben helped as much as he could.

SO to start... For Christmas, I received the book Hello, Cupcake! along with some cake decorating supplies. I've been wanting to try it out ever since then, but with two little boys, I haven't gotten the chance until Easter weekend. I decorated Easter cupcakes while everyone else kept an eye on the boys for me.

I created cupcakes that look like grass and the backside of bunnies (like they're running down into their holes.) You were only supposed to make 4 bunnies, but I ended up making half of them bunnies. You get a better affect with only 4 bunnies, but they were too cute and more than 4 people wanted to eat a bunny cupcake. I also adapted things to go with what I already had around, but I still think they turned out awfully cute.

Here's some pictures:

The Adventure of Becoming a Two Car Family

Last Wednesday we went to test drive a Honda Odyssey. We took the kids with us, but they ended up sitting the car the whole time because it started hailing. It was insane. Ben and I each took a turn test driving it, and really liked it. It was also in our price range, so we made an offer and put down some earnest money.

On Saturday, we went to finish the transaction. We had just about finished when I decided to have Ben move Gavin's car seat into the van, so he could ride home with me. Ben buckled Gavin in. I set the keys down in the van and checked for something in glove box. I got out and shut the door, wanting to ask one more question before we left. That's when Ben heard the doors lock. Come to find out... if one of the doors on the van is locked, the others automatically lock when all the doors are shut. And somehow I must have bumped the driver's door lock.

We laughed at first because we couldn't believe I had just locked Gavin into our brand new van that we had owned for maybe 5 minutes. It stopped being funny fast. We had to wait for the police to come and unlock the van. Luckily, if there is a child involved they don't charge you. But it took 15 or 20 minutes for him to show up and by that time Gavin was just sobbing. Needless to say... I felt absolutely awful. From now on I'm going to be so careful.

But even though we had a bumpy start, we are really grateful to have found a van in good condition within our budget. I feel like I have options now. I don't have be stuck at home if I don't want to. And we are also planning on putting our new van to good use in July when we drive out to Kentucky for my brother's wedding. Let the adventures continue... but hopefully only good ones!!

Just Because...

So this past weekend, Ben left to go practice organ. (He's our ward's organist.) When he returned he had a beautiful bouquet of spring flowers for me! It was such a nice surprise...
I love my husband!!