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?

Keeping Busy Having Fun!

Despite my lack of blog posts, we have been keeping ourselves busy around here.

APRIL

In April, we were invited to watch the Sunday afternoon session of General Conference (and have a yummy dinner!) with the Birrell family. They are so much fun! We didn't get pictures of everyone but these ones are cute.

I was kept very busy in April putting together Kara and Alex's wedding, my first official wedding out here in Kansas City. I created this new door backdrop and made the wedding a Scrabble theme, which I thought was really cute. You can check out more pictures here.

On April 26th, I helped decorate for a fundraiser for the Young Women. They did a vintage fashion show. We hung flowers and pictures of dress patterns on one backdrop. We also used the doors as the stage entrance where the girls walked out onto the red carpet. And of course, we pulled out the chair covers to really spruce the place up. :)

At the end of the month I came down with strep throat that infected my ears and fully clogged them, leaving me partially deaf for over a month. It was miserable. I tried EVERYTHING to clear it up but nothing helped. This is me trying a hot pack on my ear.

MAY

On May 4th we had the awesome opportunity to see the Piano Guys concert. They are some of our very favorite performers and we couldn't pass up this amazing chance to see them up close. We had fantastic seats and the crowd was one of the most considerate and nicest I'd ever seen. The music was so beautiful, that I have to confess that I started crying when they started playing. The emotion was too much for me to handle, I guess I'm getting old.

In the lobby

Excited for the concert to begin!

They showed all their music videos behind them on the screen as they played, which was a pretty good idea. Pianists and cellists can't really dance when they are performing so it's a good way to include a visual aspect to the show. 

Outside the theater after the concert.

On May 11th, I went to an info session for the MBA program at UMKC. It was at that time that I decided to try and pass the GMAT so that I could get into the program. The men conducting the session were so friendly and the program seemed like a perfect fit, so I felt really comfortable signing up for the GMAT and committing myself to it. I have to be honest though, it was a seriously gutsy move on my part. Ever since graduating for UVU, I have told myself I couldn't pass an exam to get into grad school, so the fact that I chose one of the hardest programs and exams was pretty daring. 

On Memorial Day, we got invited to TWO BBQs! I was pretty excited. We had lunch with the Hansen family and then we had dinner at the Bennions. It is so nice to have such wonderful friends!

On May 30th, I took this awesome picture of these clouds!

JUNE

On June 3rd we were able to go to the opening night of Broadway production, Spam-a-lot at the Starlight Outdoor Theatre. We got super cheap tickets and then one of our ward members who works there found us even better seats. The weather was perfect and we enjoyed fresh lemonade and kettle corn popcorn. The show was less impressive, but we had fun anyway. We were thrilled to be celebrating the 8th anniversary of when we first met/first date, which happened on June 4, 2005.

On June 27th, we hit the road early in the morning and headed out to Utah (again). We made the drive in record time, 16 1/2 hrs. We left at 6:00am and arrived in Utah at 9:30pm. It was perfect! The rest of that story is found in the next blog post. :)

Sisterly Spring Break

The last week of March, I made a trip out to Utah to bring back some of the large wedding decorations and backdrops. I spent a week visiting family and working hard to clean and organize the wedding shed and decide what needed to come back with us. I also lucked out and was able to attend Girl's Night with my best gal pals. We went to dinner and talked for hours.

Melissa, Annie, Lisa, Anna, Leia, Becky and Tanessa

My dad helped me score an awesome deal to buy an older, but still good, Chevy Blazer that would allow me to haul everything. With careful packing, I loaded up the truck and made just enough room for Denise and Melanie to squeeze in as well.

After Mom stuffed us full of pancakes and eggs, the three of us headed out on the road on March 30, for what ended up being a very long road-trip back to Missouri. Apparently we have a hard time being quick when we just want to play at all the rest stops. ;)

Ready to go!

Entering Colorado:

Playing at our favorite rest stop in Colorado:

Finally, we made it to Kansas!

Look Mom! The drinking fountain works with no hands!

It was a long drive.....

We made it home Sunday morning at 6:00am, just in time for a quick nap before church. After listening to the ward false prophet we came home to make Easter lunch.

For dessert we made Bunny Rolls!

Afterwards we visited the temple.

The rest of the few days that Melanie and Denise visited us were spent having adventures. We went to Loose Park and had a history lesson on the Battle of Westport. We also played on the little toadstools and chased geese (well, Denise chased geese..).

We visited Crown Center and enjoyed the candy store and played in the Crayola store:

We also discovered a little town!

 This really was the weather that day; sunny in Missouri and raining in Utah.

This hat was over $120 at Halls Department Store!

Here are some of our other adventures:

Going to Build a Bear and getting a teddy for Melanie.

 Visiting the US Toy Firetruck:

Making funny faces in the mirror:

Eating the best BBQ in town!

Overlooking Kansas City at the WWI Memorial:

Playing with Godiva (the pup doesn't look too thrilled though...)

Buying matching t-shirts at UMKC while Alexander was in class:

We had so much fun I almost cried when it came time for my sisters to leave. However, they had lives to get back to and they got to go on their very first plane ride. I was a very nervous mother hen at the airport, making sure they got through without any problems. I was so glad to hear that they made it back to Utah safely. 

Enjoying the plane ride:

I love having people come visit me. I always get to do so many fun things! Thanks for coming ladies!! :)