Partying Up the Summer!

A few weeks ago, Alexander and I were able to drive out to Utah to attend the sealing of some of our very best friends. We have waited several years with them for the magical day to arrive and we are so proud of how far they have come to be able to receive the wonderful blessings of being sealed as a family in the temple on June 29, 2013. I'm not too ashamed to say that I lost it in the sealing room and bawled like a baby seeing two of my favorite people and their precious little girls become a forever family. After my water-works ended we spent the day enjoying the company of good friends and eating great food. Somehow I managed to not get a single picture this day.

June 30th was Grandma Dorothy's 85th birthday. We had a special shindig at my parent's house and Dad cooked up a wonderful meal of roast beef and potatoes. When Grandma first came to live with Mom and Dad, she could barely eat anything solid. However, on her birthday, she proved how much better she was by eating dinner with us and cleaning her plate. It was a good day for everyone.

Four Generations!

The rest of the next week flew by in a blur of working, studying and visiting friends. On the 4th of July we had a BBQ lunch with my family and then went to a BBQ dinner at Melissa and Zuke's house. We finished the night by driving up to Provo to find a good spot to watch the Stadium of Fire fireworks. We didn't intend to walk all the way to the stadium, but we did and ended up sitting across the street from the southwest corner of the stadium. We soon found that it was THE BEST place to be. Kelly Clarkson was the night's big performer and as the fireworks started she drove by in her limo and waved out the window at us! I just missed getting her in the pic. To make it even better, the fireworks were being fired right in front of us, giving us an incredible view of the action right over our heads!

On July 5th, I had my big 80's Birthday Bash! It was so much fun! We decorated with black and neon colors. We had spotlights around the walls of the room, neon ballons on the floor, slinkys hanging in the doorway, 3 original NES emulators hooked up (two were projected on the wall) for people to play, and a karaoke machine. We also had an accessories table for people to dress themselves up a little more. It included slit sunglasses, slap bracelets, glow-stick bracelets, mini rubix cubes, 80's themed coin purses, slinkys, and 80's themed pins featuring cassettes, boomboxes and space invaders. For dinner we had a baked potato and salad bar. My dad also made a lovely cake. :)

Check out all the awesomeness!

 Accessories Table

 Dad, Mom, Natalie and Carter

 Nathan, Zuke, Melissa, Becky, Brett, Lisa, Clover and Clara

McKay and Skyler. McKay wasn't thrilled to blow up that boombox, it takes like 15 min!

 Candy and Cake Buffet!

These balloons are so entertaining for Kim, Melanie and Denise!

 Becky and Brett

 Clover and Clara

 Denise, Melanie and Kim

Zac, Jen, Hallie and Brinnley (I love Halie's face in the hardcore pic!)

Zuke and Melissa

Natalie and Carter

Alexander and Annalee

Becky, Melissa, Lisa and Anna

Trying to look cool

With the awesome cake Dad made

We forgot to buy candles, so I'm pretending to blow out my pretend candles...

Proving to the world that you just can't have too many parties, on the 6th we went over to Jen and Zac's for a fun get-together of dinner and fireworks. I was the lucky one who got to hold baby Brinnley all night. I may have made some sisters jealous ;). I did let Alexander briefly hold her though.

Sunday was a much needed day of rest before we headed out bright and early Monday morning. I hate saying goodbyes! Luckily, Denise got to come with us on the journey. We made the drive in a breezy 17 hours, despite the Subway guy taking FOREVER to make our sandwiches (We were seriously there for a half hour. He made up for it by twirling, I think he was doing it for Denise).


So how many parties can you fit in 10 days? We managed to attend 6! Not to shabby, eh?