Ben and Clarissa's Wedding

On April 30th, Uncle Ben and Aunt Clarissa, got married in the Draper Temple. The night before the wedding, we had a family dinner. It was the first time in 5 years that all of my siblings have been together due to missions. It was so good to see everyone and have some fun together. We attempted to get a picture of all the grandkids. Of course, my child was the one who wasn't cooperating. 

 Well, I guess we know where they get it from. The adults are not better at taking a serious picture. 

 All 8 of us together again. (No one gave me the memo that we were about to take family pictures and I changed out of my nice clothes into my work clothes to start decorating for the reception.)

 Sisters. Sisters. There were never such devoted sisters.

 We were thankful to Aunt Jodi who worked her magic on us and had us girls looking beautiful for the wedding day. 

 Mommy and Tessa loved their hair!!! Gwen did too, I just forgot to take a picture of it. 

Our beautiful family!

 Our handsome Adam was a groomsman. He looked so grown up and was so proud to be one of the big boys for the day. He loves his Uncle Ben!

 The happy couple!

 The kids were so excited to see Ben and Clarissa when they came out of the temple. 

 Both families. Ours looks a tad larger...

Selfie time while we waited for dinner.

Tessa had asked Clarissa if she and Gwen could be flower girls. Aunt Dee made them each a little bouquet to hold. Tessa took her role very seriously and Gwen was very disappointed that she didn't get to throw flower pedals down an aisle. 

 Aunt Alex made the beautiful and delicious cake!

Another attempt. Not much better. 

 Tessa was literally praying to catch the bouquet that Clarissa threw. And she did!! 

 She was beyond thrilled!

 Daddy was on Caleb duty all night. Mommy couldn't have made it through they day without him. Caleb is everywhere!

It was the "Pineapple Wedding". Like Mommy, Daddy, and Aunt Katy, Uncle Ben loves the show Psych. In every episode, there is a pineapple hiding somewhere. So, we thought it only fitting to have a pineapple hiding in Ben's wedding. It made its way into many photos. It's kind of a fun family tradition that started with a flask. 

 These kids were so happy to have their Uncle David around for a few days! Adam got to play basketball with him on Sunday and Tessa loved dancing with him. 

We all had a blast on the dance floor!

 Symphony only wanted to dance with Adam. She adores Adam and will follow him around everywhere. She had several other people come and ask her to dance, but she politely refused and waited for her favorite Adam to come and get her. 

 Adam took his duties as a groomsman very seriously.

More pictures...

 We clean up pretty nice. I miss all these people and wish we could get together more often. 

 

 Nothing is ever serious.....

 Caleb loves to dance and had a ball out on the dance floor!

 Sending them off! It was a long but fun day. 

Congratulations to the happy couple!!

April Memories

Because of our Spring Break trip, April seemed to fly by! And Mommy is way behind with getting everything documented, as usual. Here's a quick look at some of our April memories.

Mommy and Daddy really needed some alone time, so we got brave and left Adam with his first big babysitting job. We went out for a couple of hours and did some shopping and grabbed some dinner. It was so nice to get away and Adam did a great job with the kids. He even called us to make sure we were doing ok. 

 Running errands with Mommy is exhausting for this little guy. But he sure looks cute in a hat!

 These kids are so lucky to have the best Daddy around!

 Caleb decided to wear Mommy's shoes, but had a tough time getting them on. 

 Kathleen asked Mommy to surprise Kelsey for her birthday and make her a barbie cake. Kelsey is always complaining that she never got cool cakes like our kids get. She was very surprised and very happy. 

 Aunt Dee gave Caleb a box of Star Wars bandaids. He thought they were stickers and wore them as such. All over his arms. 

 He found strawberries in the paper! His favorite!

 What a weirdo!

 We had our first beautiful spring weekend in April. After several hours of yard work, we wanted to go hike the Y. But the winds picked up like crazy and we decided to go fly some kites. After a few minutes, it was even too windy for that. But it was fun while it lasted. 

 I love that all of our kids love to read and look at books. He carried this entire basket of books over by the kitchen and plopped himself down on the floor to read them. 

 We had another cool FHE lesson in April. We talked about our words and how they can affect others. We made some rice and put 1 cup in 2 jars and labeled them Love and Hate. For the next week, we spoke to the jars according to its label. We said nice and loving things to the Love jar, and not so nice things to the Hate jar. After about a week, the Hate jar rice was moldy and yucky looking. The Love jar rice had a couple specks of mold, but nothing like the Hate jar. It was a good object lesson to remind us to use our words carefully. 

 We acknowledged/celebrated Earth Day this year with our favorite pancakes and Dirt dessert.

Gwen could not get on board with eating worms and "dirt".

 Caleb found a fly on our kitchen floor and was enamored with it. 

 Adam and Daddy helped Matt and Gillian move into their new house. Adam was freezing, so he put on some of Daddy's clothes from the trunk of the car, and Pa played "catch" with him to keep him warm. Everyone thought he looked like a homeless kid in Daddy's clothes. 

 Tessa and Daddy had a late night chocolate milk date. She loved it!

 T-Rex came to church with us and got fed all of Caleb's snacks. 

 Gwen has been working so hard on writing her name. Her E's and N's have been giving her grief for several weeks now, but she is finally getting better and is so proud of herself!

 Sunday's are for looking at our fun family memories!

 Adam forgot to tell us that he made the Honor Roll the last 2 terms. He didn't think it was a big deal! He said his goal for next term is to make High Honor Roll. 

 Adam also earned his Bear Award at Cub Scouts. 

 She somehow grew up overnight! She is turning into such a beauty!

I recently got 2 very nice texts about Adam. The top one is from my good friend, and the bottom one is from our Primary President. I have also been pulled aside by his Primary teachers the last couple of weeks to be told how amazing Adam is in class. I am so glad to hear such positive things about our boy. I hope he is always this good!!

Mommy's Birthday

On April 23rd, Mommy turned 36!! I am starting to feel really old. Daddy surprised me with a birthday date. We got to spend a wonderful evening together in Salt Lake, having dinner at The Roof! It was amazing! It was so fun to get dressed up and go out somewhere so nice. 

 We had a perfect view of the temple from our table. 

 The next day, the family gathered at Ma and Pa's house so we could celebrate the April birthday's. 

Uncle Matt was good this year and waited for Mommy and Andrew before he blew out all the candles. 

One year older and hopefully a bit more wiser. I am blessed to have such wonderful family and friends who make my life such a happy one. 

Adam's Piano Recital

Adam had his piano recital this month. He has been working hard for weeks on his pieces. He played The Clock and Prehistoric Procession. Mrs. Hansen said she's never had a student as young as Adam play Prehistoric Procession. His hard work paid off and he did an excellent job!!