Our wild week-end in Vegas - kind of

Life in Phoenix has been good. Claire and Noel love to play in the water. Unfortunately, school started like the first week of August here so all the pools closed - WEIRD... But there are still splash pads around that they can play in and I don't have to worry about water safety as much.

Noel easily makes friends.

We took a trip to St. George for Aunt Jenny's wedding. We were going to pick up Aunt Emallie and Uncle Mike at the Las Vegas airport on the way up, but they missed their flight. But we still had fun seeing some sights and making some stops along the way even though we missed them. They ended up getting to St. George with my other sister, Kristin later. Here Claire snacks on PB&J.

We had to stop for road construction a few times and they trip ended up taking us about 11 hours total. But this was kind of cool to watch - we could see them working on this mountain to build more road on the way to Hoover Dam.

This digger was hanging off the side of the mountain digging and stirring up all the dust. He looked like he could fall at any moment. How would you like to be the guys up there? Yikes.

We made it to Aunt Jenny's and Uncle John's wedding in the St. George Temple. It was so very special. They met while in Boston - she was there for an internship and he is there for the Coast Guard. We are so happy for them.

Claire is one of the first to congratulate them and welcome Uncle John into the family.

Here are the girls (Claire, my sisters: Kristin, Em, and Jen, me, and Diana - Jen's best buddy since high school and maybe since elementary school) all dressed in their pretty dresses. Pictures are always so much fun - especially with a toddler and preschooler in tow.

This is me and Jayson, my cousin Rachel's baby. He is so cute. Almost makes me ready to have another one. Almost... but not quite.

But speaking of babies, while in Cedar City towards the end of our trip we ran in to old friends - the Romerils - who were in our East Lansing, Michigan Ward. They have been married for many years and have tried without success for a long time to have children. I was so happy to see her very PREGNANT! They are living in Cedar City now, Tyler works for the County's attorney's office and Casey is due with a little boy in November!

Here's a cute pic of Noel with his Dad at the reception.


My sister Jen, brother Mike, sis Kristin, sis Em, Me, and cousin Laura at the reception.

We had a really nice time. We saw my mom's family who we hadn't seen since Aaron and I left Salt Lake to get married 5 years ago. Also, Aaron's brother, Grant, and his family and Aaron's Aunt came down to visit with us too since it had been about three years since we had seen of them.

We were able to meet Grant and Rebekah's two little girls, Adria and Kiah. They are adorable and Claire and Adria had fun testing the wedding cake and dancing.

After the reception we said good-bye to my family and went back with Grant and Rebekah to Cedar City and spent the evening with them before packing up and driving back to Phoenix the next morning. We wish we would have gotten pictures. Grant is in graduate school as Southern Utah and they live west of Cedar City on Rebekah's grandparent's land. They have such a nice set up out there. We can't wait to go back for another visit.

Now we are back in Phoenix and I am missing my family and Aaron's family and trying to find work (babysitting) and trying to figure out who to bug for recommendation letters for graduate school. Back to work we go. We miss our family big time!