My Sister's Wedding

The newly married Bride and GroomThe night before: Setting up for the Reception
Troy goes to great lengths to help set up the lights
Uncle Dan and Tyler finish hanging their strand
Can you see the family resemblance? Dad and his brother, Uncle Dan
Mom and the fake candles that are really flickering lights
Brandon and Spencer, second cousins. Spencer looks a little too small for the doll carriage
Timmy in a sea of chairs
Hanging the chinese lanterns to look like polka dots
Aunt Lisa and Tara arranging the floral centerpieces
Mom struggling with a huge cart of chairs
Me and Spencer arranging the chairs around the tables

At the Temple

Spencer fell asleep in the car on the way to the temple. Timmy insisted on pushing him in the stroller to the entrance. It took a long 10 minutes to travel the short distance from parking lot to front door.
Aunt Lori, Mom's sister, greets the boys
The bride and groom arrive at the temple. My mom is carrying her dress, but doesn't it look like she's wearing it?
Grandpa Kirby Joe gives great hugs
Me and my Daddy
Uncle Dan's family: Troy (my cousin, not my hubby), Uncle Dan, Tiffany, Aunt Lisa, Tara, Tyler, and little Brandon in front
Aunt Wendy, Mom's 'lil sis
Troy and Spencer trying not to melt in the heat as we wait for the Bride and Groom to emerge from the temple
Kirby attempts to comfort Spencer, who just wants his Mommy
The future missionaries: Garrett, my bro, and Ryley, my cousin
Timmy is tired of waiting, literally
Some of Brian's kids, Kristoffer, who recently got a mission call to Texas, Mandy, Melissa, Gavin's back, and Rand's profile
Shannon on cloud 9 as she exits the temple
All Shannon's new in-laws
The combined families outside the temple
Just our half
Shannon is wearing Dad's sunglasses; Jake still managed to identify her in spite of the disguise
Shannon and the best man...
... my boy Timmy!
Shannon's childhood friend, Wendy
Some of her high school and college friends: Erica, Nikki, & LoraLynn
Moving in for the smooch
Now I know we're not in Kansas anymore: Yes, there are cacti at the temple!
Ahhh, how sweet
The New Kids on the Bench: Kristoffer, Melissa, Mandy
Cousin Tina and her sweet smile
Grandma and Grandpa: she said, "In his suspenders?!"
Timmy always manages to find a tree to climb
Mother and Son: my dad and my grandma
Jake can make some of the funniest faces
Grandma brought this sit-on walker, and Garrett giving her a lift back to the car: what a gentleman

At the Wedding Luncheon
Ryley playing with Rachel and Rand
Lori and her big bro., Brian
Shannon's dress, just hangin' aroung
Jake found somewhere to stash the veil

At the Reception
Jake's parents, Jake and Shannie, and our parents
All dressed up: Timmy's matching tie didn't last the first 5 minutes, oh, well.
Me and my parents
Grandma and Grandpa, minus the suspenders
With Grandma Darcell
The beautiful bridesmaids
Garrett and Gramps
Look at the face on the bride: you'd think she thought I was going to drop her. I didn't.
We didn't drop Superman, either
Putting our best side forward
My sexy man
Guess whose feet are whose...
Me and my baby sis, all growed up and married...
So Skinny!
Playing "Stomp the Bouquet"
the Daddy-Daughter dance
Their first dance...
Some friends from the ward I grew up in: Staci, Wendy, Amy?, and Michelle. I am so embarrassed that I can't remember everyone's name.
Spencer with his Grandma and Grandpa
Timmy and his Great Aunt Lori
There they go!

After the Reception
J.D, my best friend from 7th to 12th grade, and still my pal, with his girlfriend, Beth
My favorite Primary teachers: Bill and MaryEllen
Garrett taking down the "polka dot" lanterns
Troy on the ladder again
The cleanup crew
Spencer couldn't keep his eyes open a minute longer and I was ready to take off the dress.

We had a wonderful trip, and wish Jake and Shannon the best as they start their eternal journey together.

Nicole and the Amazing Technicolor Wilderness

WARNING: This blog post has an auto-start music player. Adjust your volume accordingly.

We spent the last 2 weeks of July in Southern Utah near Bryce Canyon National Park and Red Canyon. The scenery was gorgeous and as we were riding our motorcycles and the Rhino, we observed some of the beauty that makes me more fully understand the meaning of "God's Green Earth." Although a photo cannot fully capture the awe of the wildlife and nature we saw, I have tried to re-create a portion of it for you. As we rode, I was amazed at all the color there. The words from Joseph's Coat, from the musical Joseph and the Amazing technicolor Dream Coat kept repeating over and over in my head, so I included the lyrics and the audio clip.

I tried to find a flower, bug, tree, or scene of every color listed in the song, let's see how I did:
We got a lot of rain one day

no, it's not out of focus, you are looking for the red and black ants


I wish I knew the names of some of these flowers
We found this little creek on the rainy day. We stopped for lunch and Grandma Melissa (the water magnet) found it and went wading with Timmy.



These wildflowers looked like weeds to me, but after almost 2 weeks, they started to grow on me. (No pun intended.)
We celebrated the 24th of July, a.k.a. Pioneer Day (a Utah holiday) while we were there. We flew this flag at our campsite almost every day.

This is tropic Resoirvoir. We camped less than 5 miles from here

This is the reservoir on a cloudy day. We got stuck in a downpour this day.
Do you see the 3 antelope?
Ignore those crazy people and try to see the gorgeous view in the background.
There were cows ALL OVER. This here is #145. She had a calf with her, who was a little camera shy.
The clouds were magnificent. They were even more enjoyable when they didn't dump rain on us. The colors of the rocks varied so much, even within a 20 mile radius.
This is one photo that doesn't do justice to the weird lava rock type mountain pictured here. It was black and came out of nowhere. This was possibly the most bizarre thing I saw on this vacation.


This is East Fork Creek. (Our vacation is named after this body of water.)
The elevation at camp was about 7,850 ft. This view was breathtaking.
I'll try to post a few more pictures with us in them. I was just amazed by the scenery and wanted to share it with you.


Lyrics | Joseph And The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat - Joseph’s Coat lyrics

Tim's First Tear-free Haircut

From the time we gave Tim his first haircut as a baby, and during every haircut since then, he has screamed bloody murder. He has needed a haircut for almost a month now, and I have been dreading it and putting it off. But it was too shaggy for me to stand any longer, (no pun intended) so on Friday, we went in for a haircut.A friend with 3 young children recommended Cookie Cutters as a wonderful discovery for her kids, who also used to be screamers. So, we went there. The cut was $13.95 (plus a tip), and because of the great experience we had, I think it was well worth it and will likely go again.

We went to their website and looked at the pictures and watched the video to "prep" Timmy for what was coming. I was still worried he would scream the whole time.

But, they let him choose his seat. There was a bicycle, an airplane, a pink girly car, and a red race car. You can see what he chose. He also picked a movie to watch; Curious George won. They also had video games for older kids. The cut took about 20 mins. because I made her touch up a few places. Twice. We also got a balloon, cookie cutter, and sucker for both boys after Tim was finished.

Another thing I loved about this place was that in the waiting area there was a slide, which they both liked, but while Timmy was getting his trim, Spencer was completely entertained.

Timmy was so proud of himself for not crying that it was the first thing he told Daddy when he walked in from work.

Here are the before, during and after shots:
Shaggy Timmy in the waiting area, playing a video gameSpencer trying out the kiddie chairs in the waiting area
In the fancy airplane seat, wearing a superman cape
Partway through the cut. You can see his George movie, and his troubled face in the mirror.
The "After" cut. No smile, but no screams or tears, either.
No hair over the collar, anymore, either. Hooray!

The First "Real" Wall

I vacationed most of the month of July, so I was scarcely home. When I left for the first trip, this is what the house looked like:
When I returned home, Troy and his helpers had completed it to this point:
After returning from our family camping trip last Monday, we knew we needed to get to work, so after a full week of working, this is what our house looks like today:
We are very pleased with the progress. It it finally looking like we have accomplished something. All our other work (which was no easier than the walls we put up this weekend) was underground, so it somehow didn't have the same "Wow" factor.