Lisa and Paris' Wedding Day

First of all, Macie was talking about the wedding for at least a month preceding the actual day. She was SO EXCITED to go to the temple and see Lisa and Paris. I was in charge of picking up the bridal bouquet and Macie was dying to hold it. Isn't it gorgeous?

They did it! Lisa looked completely gorgeous and Paris looked hot, literally. Wearing a black tux at this time of year is torture!

Macie and Bella waited patiently in the sweltering heat. They are the best of friends.

We took a quick family shot while waiting for the bride and groom.

Pre-Wedding Dinner

The night before Lisa's wedding we had a family dinner at Gordon Biersch. The food was great and the company was excellent.

Lisa and Paris gave a little speech before things started.

Since the tables were set up in a U-shape, the little girls provided the entertainment. Hayley, on the far right, was just starting "the robot." She's only 4 folks; it was hilarious!

Macie and Papi's funny faces.

Miss Bachelorette

We had a girls night out party for my sister Lisa last month before she got married. It was so fun to go out with just the sisters and our sister-in-law. We went to eat at Dick's Last Resort at the Excalibur.

Trisha, Me, Lisa, Melanie, Miranda waiting to be seated for dinner.

We surprised Lisa with her all-time favorite blast-from-the-past dessert, cheesecake from Carl's Jr. Her intense love for cheesecake started at a very young age (probably under 5 yrs old), completely due to my Dad bringing home a piece one day after work. From then on anytime he or my mom would leave the house the last words she would say were, "Buy me cheesecake!" You'd have to know Lisa to know the whole story. She is very intense to say the least. We had a great time!

Beat the Heat

One of the worst things about living in Vegas is dealing with the summer heat. It is completely miserable. The only thing to do in the daytime heat is go swimming. Lucky for us, we have a pool and we like to swim! Macie is such a little fish in the water. She gets her life jacket on and swims all over the place. She even requested to go down the slide with me. Hm, a pregnant lady going down the slide...is that a good idea?


My sister snapped this just as we started going down. If you look closely you can see that Macie has her nose plugged.


We had to get Macie her own pair of goggles because she always requests to wear Josh's. She doesn't really go under the water, so they must be purely for fashion's sake.

Yes, she is skinny dipping here.

What a Day

The day before Father's Day the stomach flu decided to make a stop at our house. It was really fun, as you can imagine. 24 hours later we were feeling better, but didn't go to church or do much of anything else. In the evening we packed up our Gatorade and headed over to Josh's parents' home for a BBQ. Unfortunately we couldn't really eat anything, but the steaks looked great!

A lovely picture of all of the sickies. Macie didn't get the flu, but had an infection in both of her ears.

She didn't let it stop her from having some fun in the backyard.

Macie loves the trampoline, but it scares me to death that she might bounce off the edge. Enter Josh.

Our great daddy ended up with a homemade card and no present because I was so busy that I planned on doing my shopping the day before, but we were too sick. Happy Father's Day! Of course our easy-going Josh was content with a relaxing day of recuperation. We are grateful for a special day honoring him and his efforts as a worthy priesthood holder, great example, hard worker, and loving father and husband. What a catch!

*On a side note, the stomach flu seems to pass by on holidays. In the past year it's been Father's Day, Halloween, and the 4th of July. WHY?!?

To the Nice People

I've been pleasantly surprised lately by the niceness of random strangers. I don't live in a city full of friendly people, but apparently there still are some out there. Two days ago I was at Costco loading the trunk after doing some shopping. A greasy mechanic guy came over and lifted the large watermelon and gallons of milk into the car. Wow, I really didn't expect that. If I still lived in Utah I would, but not here. Today I was steering a large cart full of groceries out to the car and realized someone was walking right behind me. Once again a rough, grimy looking man told me he wanted to put the bags in my car for me. I was shocked again. Both times the guys that helped me did not look like friendly people, but I guess that's exactly why we aren't told to judge. My faith in humanity is being restored! Now the question is, are these people really that nice or do I look that large and uncomfortable that people can't help but feel bad for me?

Oh Happy Day

I am so excited to announce that after 2 1/2 months I finally broke down and bought a new camera! Our last camera took it's final pictures at Macie's birthday party (late March) while we were outside hitting the pinata. Sadly it met the pavement with the lens open in a moment of excitement and, well, that was the end of that. Needless to say, our video camera has gotten more use over these last few months than it ever has before, but there are still fun things I wish I could have caught in still pictures.

We prolonged buying a new camera because I wanted a major upgrade: the Canon Rebel XTi. After searching and searching for good deals, I just couldn't bring myself to spend such a large chunk of change. So I settled for a Nikon Coolpix P80, and have been very satisfied since I bought it yesterday. I feel like I got a good bridge between the SLR and a regular point-and-shoot digital camera. A big plus for me is the size; it's not small enough where I'll drop it (hopefully!), yet not too big to carry around everywhere. The quality and features are SO much better than what I've had before too. I'm looking forward to learning about cameras and sharpening my photography skills. All I remember from photography class senior year of high school was showing up late and Anna spending lots of time in the dark room. Go figure, right? I know some of you remember those days!

Of course I had to experiment with the 18x zoom, and my napping husband was the perfect subject.

Growing Up!

I realize I haven't posted any pictures of Macie in a long time. She is finally looking more her age now that we can do different hairstyles. It's long enough for little ponytails and is super curly too. I think she is such a little beauty! I am her mom after all.

We see my parents off and on pretty sporadically. My mom was last here after traveling to Utah for her doctors' appointments earlier in the month. We're expecting to see them again this coming weekend. We usually don't know too far in advance when they're coming so it's always a nice surprise! Macie loves having more people around to play dress up and give her attention, as you can see. We have no shortage of princess accessories at our house.

What cute cousins! Macie and Sadie girl are quite the pair. Even though they are almost a year and a half apart in age they act like sisters. We are going to miss her when they move next month.

Check out those curly piggytails. I love it! We're still working on growing bangs, but at least short bangs are easy to work with.

We get to see my dad even more than my mom because he comes to Vegas for short business trips every now and then. We usually don't know until the week before, and he's usually only here for a day or two. Nonetheless it's still fun! He always gets a rental car when he comes and this last trip he drove up in a minivan. We were laughing about it until we put Macie's carseat in and had room for us all to fit comfortably. Macie was upset when we got to the restaurant because she thought he was taking us to his house. She was kicking and whining saying, "I want to go to Genoa!" Poor girl, she has no concept of distance.

I should have gotten a shot of the back of her head because a little water, gel and hairspray does wonders for Macie's curls in back. She definitely doesn't get the curly hair from me.

I love my silly Macie. I can't imagine life without my little goofy girl.

Getting There

I've definitely noted by now that I am not a consistent blogger. I have had good intentions to update my blog lately, but it just doesn't happen. I'm so tired! And as usual, things are very busy with all the commotion at our house. My sister is finally hitting crunch time for her wedding (June 28th) and we couldn't be happier to start the countdown ourselves! I love Lisa, but wedding planning isn't the funnest thing in the world. Things just haven't been pretty lately trying to get invitations out, details taken care of, etc. I have a feeling this will drag out to the very end. Let's just say my sister is very young and is still learning how to be an adult.

We threw a fun bridal shower brunch for my sister earlier in the month and everything turned out great. I have gotten so bored with the traditional shower games, so we decided to spruce things up a bit and do something new. It included blindfolding the bride and having her put on a bag of clothing and accessories in a certain time frame. You can see some of the result of that in the picture below of me with my Mom and sisters Lisa and Mel. What you may not be able to notice is her reddened face. We also blindfolded people at the shower and had them apply make-up to her face. Not only was it hilarious, but the final result was even a bit scary. I don't have pictures on my computer, but you can imagine I'm sure. Needless to say, we weren't bored with those games! Too bad she cleaned it off before the picture.

My mom showed off her artistic abilites and made a great fruit tray complete with a carved watermelon. Too bad I wasn't blessed with any artistic genes. I couldn't even get the crepe paper to look nice so she had to do the decorations too. I have no creative vision. All in all things went well and we had a great time.

Funny Talk

My daughter is hilarious. She had several funny comments today that I hadn't heard before and I have to get them written before I forget.

#1 - Macie and I were walking downstairs this morning. I ask her this question every day and usually get the same response...but not today!
Me: How did you sleep sweetie?
Macie: I sleep so hard Mommy.

#2 - My neighbor wanted me to run over to her house for a few minutes. I couldn't get Macie to come to the door to leave.
Me: Come on Macie, let's go.
Macie: Wait Mom, I need my purse. (She gets her purse on then stops and puts her hands up in a new realization.) I need my mate-up on!
She always takes her purse everywhere, but she's never mentioned getting her make-up on before she leaves. I wonder where she got that one?

#3 - We were just sitting around playing with toys.
Macie: Mom, I show you my magits. (magic)
Me: (Totally surprised) Ok Macie, what's the magic?
Macie: Tum over here Mom. (Pointing at the vanity set) Its my magit mirror.

#4 - We were outside at the mailbox and a neighbor started talking to Macie.
Neighbor: Macie, are you having a little brother?
Macie: (In thought) No, I not have little brother. Mommy have little brother in hers tummy.