The End of Summer

It has been way too long since I've updated my blog, so this will probably be a bit long-winded! Sorry!! A lot happened the few weeks of summer, and these are some of the highlights!

My good friend Samantha stopped for a quick ice cream stop on their way through town so I could see her! I hadn't seen her in about 4 years, and had never met my future daughter-in-law, her cutie little girl- Michaela. Hayden and Michaela had lots of fun getting to know each other while Samantha and I caught up on things. Samantha and I knew each other in high school, but got really close when we were roomates for a few months in Arizona, just before she got married, and while Dirk was in Basic Training for the Army.

The end of July-beginning of August, we took a quick trip down to Utah. While we were there we were able to visit our old friend Emily Brown, along with her daughter Claire, and her little guy, Jax. Emily was an amazing friend to us the first couple years we lived in San Antonio. I used to nanny Claire, and we would have so much fun together. We were so sad when the Army moved them to Germany (and a little jealous!). It was really fun to get to see them again, and to get to meet their newest addition to the family, Jackson. He looks just how I remember little Claire-bear when I first met her! Hayden had loads of fun with Claire, while Dirk and I got to visit with Emily. I'm so glad we caught them while they were in the states!!

On our second trip to Utah, we took a nice little break in Idaho Falls. The point was to get food and have Hayden run around in circles until he exhausted himself out. We ended up having a nice and relaxing morning stroll through the park with beautiful views of the Idaho Falls temple. This is the temple Dirk and I were married in, 5 years ago. I'm wondering why we didn't come over to this side of the falls for some wedding shots, because it sure is beautiful!

We stayed in Utah for about 10 days. I was able to get some Mary Kay work done, and we had lots of fun visiting with family and friends. It was pretty chaotic the whole time, as we were in my sister Erin's apartment with her husband (and Dirk's best friend) Lars, my sister Megan and her boys, Ender and Po'okela, upstairs, and a few nights of having my brother Brinton and his soon-to-be wife, Josephine there with us. It was quite the party!

Hayden had lots of fun playing with our friend, Julie (my best friend and old college roomate).

My little brother Brinton married Josephine in the Salt Lake LDS temple. I'm so happy I was able to be there! Brinton and I were pretty close while growing up, so it was so fun to get to be there for his special day! Isn't Josephine beautiful?! She's super talented too! Brinton did good :)

Not quite all of my siblings were able to be there for the wedding. Here I am with Brinton and Josephine and 3 of my 4 sisters: Erin, Carol, and Megan. Carol is the shorter one on the right. She's a natural blonde, but recently decided to go brunette. I'm not normally a fan of super big changes in hair color, but I think Carol was meant to be born a brunette! I'm loving it much more than her natural blonde! Guess she was born with the wrong hair color! Are my sisters gorgeous?!

I think this is my favorite picture of the month! 4 of the 5 sisters with our little brother- Brinton. Just wish my sister Sarah could have been there- then it would have been perfect!!!

Hayden absolutely ADORES Josie. When they came out of the temple to greet all their guests, Hayden had to run up and give her a big hug before anyone else could!

Hayden just had to be in all the pictures with Josie. Just before this kiss he pushed some cute little girls out of his way, because HE wanted to be with Josie!

We had fun visiting the temple grounds with Hayden for the first time. He really liked seeing all the neat things. Here he is being a cutie in front of the Salt Lake LDS temple.

Me and my little guy!

Our family waiting for the bride and groom to come out for pictures!

Me trying to show off my belly bump, but I think I just ended up covering most of it up!

Hayden with his Grandma and Grandad, and two of his cousins, Po'okela and Ender.

Me and my nephew Po'okela at our pre-wedding brunch!

The morning after the wedding, just before a few of us were leaving town, my sisters and I went up to our mom's grave in Provo to bring her some flowers. We gave her a few of our flowers from the wedding party from the night before. We know she was there at her son's wedding in spirit, but we thought we'd share some of the pretty flowers with her too!

Here is a full shot of the headstone for my sister who hasn't been able to visit her in quite some time. -Sorry, not the best shot!

The weekend after the wedding Brinton and Josephine had an ice cream social open house. The party was in a beautiful yard/garden of our close friends. The place was amazing. I'd love to just sit there in the yard every day with a book and some ice water. So relaxing!

Here I am serving up some ice cream. I look a little dazed and tired and I have terrible posture! It must have been taken after I'd been standing there for quite some time!

I don't quite know how to end this post... so I'll share with you this cute little house. This was in the gorgeous yard of one of Josephine's friends. She and Brinton had a little party with their college and mission friends. The yard was gorgeous, but my favorite part was the play house! It was amazing! 3 stories, room to sleep 4, a kitchen, fire place, real stained-glass windows, and so tiny and petite! I couldn't stand up all the way in it, because it was so small and cute! Every little girl's dream!