The girls!

     Greg and I enjoyed some yummy barbecue this weekend. It was also a great excuse to go for a motorcycle ride.

Hands down the BEST cornbread!!

     I also spent a little time getting photos printed and ready for display for Kayli's wedding reception.

Lots of cute photos and only some mild drama from Kayli.

       We're ending our week celebrating this cute girls 4th birthday. Friday she got to go on a little shopping spree.

She's only mildly spoiled!

Happy birthday balloons.

And a big thank you to G & G Baker for the card and cash. She was thrilled!!

We'll enjoy this cake tonight before fireworks.

     They even had a parade in Charlie's honor.

     So that's our week! Behind the scenes there was a lot of yard work done by me and I've had Greg working on a project or two. Wedding preparations are still going relatively smoothly. There was a little hiccup with the donuts I planned to order but I think I solved it and we should have plenty of yummy donuts for the guests at the reception. Tuesday can't come soon enough!

Kind of a lot of photos

    I put Greg to work on this amazing gate! I love it when he agrees to my ideas. I love anything on a diagonal!

Repurposed gates and fence wood!

They turned out better then I expected.

      While Greg was hard at work on the gate project I was getting a few things ready for Kayli's bridal photos.

Such a beautiful bouquet and this was thrown together by our local florist at the last minute. I'll be coming back to them for the rest of our flower needs.

     I took a few photos but cousin Rebecca did this couple real justice. Here are just a few she and I captured.

    I also managed to take the four youngest on a couple adventures this week. Here's photo evidence of our trip to Trafalgar. I didn't get any from Seven Peaks but we did a couple hours at the water park this week too.

It wasn't very crowded so this girl got the airplane ride all to herself.

Brock

Carter

McClane

     These three really do get along so well. This was an impromptu coloring project.

We traded Isaac for this big girl for the week and she hasn't had any problem making herself at home. 

     Isaac had the privilege of going on vacation to California with our neighbors, who's son is the same age, and from the photos I've been sent it looks like he's having a 'miserable' time.

Swimming, sunsets and outdoor movies.

A trip to the San Diego Temple to do baptisms, lucky!

    And the highlight of the week was attending the Brigham City Temple with Kayli and Tanner as they went through for their endowments. It was a great day and I'm so excited for this next phase of life for them.

    We had our own mini-photo shoot before our session.

When there's a drinking fountain on the temple grounds you get a drink.

Such a great day and a HUGE thank you to the family that came to support the happy couple.

      Only 10 more sleeps until these two are in wedded bliss!

Trek, car detailing & more

      Mark, Isaac and Carter arrived home from our ward pioneer trek Saturday evening and they seemed happy. A neighbor shared a few photos from trek. Mark was a Pa and had a family of about 8 kids. From what I've heard he was very good and helpful.

This is Mark and his 'family'.

And here's another one of Mark and his 'family'.

Isaac is the boy in blue and this is his trek family.

Here's Carter arriving home.

Isaac arriving home.

Mark arriving home.

     I love to see the bonding of the youth after a trek experience and I'm glad three of my boys got to be a part of it this summer.

      Greg spent the better part of Saturday digging post holes in preparation of hanging up a double gate on the west side of the house. Charlie was a perfect 'measuring tool'.
      I don't have photos of the gate hanging yet because I'm waiting for the whole thing to be done but he did get the double gate hung and now needs to add a little metal and put up fencing on either side of the gate to finish it off. It's going to be awesome and hopefully done this weekend or early next week.

     Don't judge, but Greg couldn't resist snapping a photo of all the youth in the ward up on the stand Sunday singing a song together to honor their pioneer trekking experience. The performance may not have been perfect but the large group made it impressive.

     Monday was pioneer day and I had the privilege of getting my car detailed by Jonathan, Tanner's mom's husband. He did an amazing job and spent about 7 hours waxing, buffing and power washing it. Roiann, Tanner's mom, took these before and after photos. He really did an incredible job and buffed out a lot of the scratches on the exterior that have been bothering me for a long time.

These are before photos. Note the filthy engine.

Look how shiny the engine looks after the power wash!

Ignore the torn seat and focus on the beautifully shampooed carpet.

      And while I was getting my car detailed Greg was busy at home adding corrugated metal to the top of the fence and I love it. Over time it should rust and be even more rustic but I actually kind of like the shiny look.

The sky is pretty spectacular too!

     In wedding planning 'news' I ordered a few things including plates and napkins and this is what arrived. You may be thinking the plates are way too tiny, but they're actually the perfect size for the donuts we're planning on serving it's the napkins that are ridiculously too big. The napkins are 8X8 inches folded and the plates are 6 inches, so clearly not the best match.

I bought these today and they're a much better match! If this is my only major mistake I'll count myself lucky!

      Tomorrow Kayli will be taking her bridal photos so we've spent a little time working on hair ideas and Roiann's been spending lots of time getting Kayli's dress just perfect. As of yesterday, the dress looked great and just needed the bustle hooks attached and a little of the Tulle trimmed so I'm sure it will be all ready for photos tomorrow. Things are really getting REAL! I mailed invitations today and will be hand delivering the rest Monday! I gave Tanner and Kayli one last chance to back out last night before the majority of the invitations went out but they both stayed quiet so I guess they're still IN LOVE! So that's all for now!

Bridal shower and a little more.

     Kayli's soon-to-be-mother-in-law, Roiann, hosted a very nice bridal shower for Kayli on Saturday. Kayli got lots of great stuff and despite being a 'little' uncomfortable being the center of attention, she felt loved.

Charlie was being very helpful.

I'm glad my best friend and walking buddy, Cammy, could be there since none of my sisters or mom could be there from my side.

     Saturday night we enjoyed the fireworks that ended Steel Days. This year we watched from a little further away but they were still spectacular.

     Also this week Greg was able to pick several hot peppers from his garden and when he stuffs them with cream cheese and wraps them in bacon, there's nothing BETTER!!

If this was all we got from the garden I'd be satisfied.

     And Thursday our three boys, Mark, Isaac and Carter left on a two night, three day trek with the youth from the ward so its just been the three youngest at home and it's been pretty awesome. They rarely fight and they play great together.

This 'cards & gifts' sign has been sitting here all week and not one card or gift was left! What a rip off!

      So those are the weekly highlights. The three 'trekking' boys will be home this evening and I hope they've had a good experience. Carter was the only one who really wanted to go so we'll see how they all feel when they get home.
      Wedding plans are still going well. I've got all the invitations ready to mail or hand deliver, which will probably happen in a little over a week. The happy couple is still happy and mostly I'm just looking forward to having Kayli married off and out of the house so I can start rearranging bedrooms!