More Wedding favorites

The beautiful bride, Melissa. Ryan & Melissa's reception was held at a picturesque barn in Mapleton, UT.

All of us from out of town got to come together to stay in a 3-story townhouse in Provo. Lots of little boys between Sydni's 2, my 2, Aaron & Krystal's 2 when they visited from their Provo apt, and Lisa's 3 (not so little). Pictured are Jeremiah, back left; Luke, Sydni's youngest, front left; Lincoln, Aaron's oldest, front right; Zac, Sydni's oldest, back right.

Syd, Jake & Luke on the front lawn of the condo.

Ryan & Melissa's Tuesday morning ceremony at the Mt. Timpanogos Temple.

Audrey & Aneya, Lisa' s youngest

Aunt Esther & Audrey

Lovely lighting before the barn reception that night. I adore these pics of my boys.

The kids had a blast at this reception with the upstairs balcony in the barn and the pasture behind it. They really would have been content to run around the countryside and fish with a net in the pond, fancy reception clothes and all.

We did have a little time with Rob's family while in Provo. This is at his sister, Kate's. That's Kate's adorable daughter, Emily between Audrey and Bennett. They were working on a cotton candy street-side business, but ended up eating most of the would-be product.

Kelly squeezed in a graduation from BYU's Construction Management dept the day before getting married. He started at the U of U a couple weeks ago for a Masters in Architecture... Go Kelly! We're so proud of you!

Here we are at Kelly and Esther's ceremony, Saturday morning at the Oquirrh Mountain Temple. Our final day of the trip after a full week.

Audrey & Spencer, Lisa's 3rd

Weddings

The week went by too quickly- creating memories, trying to stick to the schedule, wear the right clothes, and yes, welcome our newest family members, Melissa and Esther!

Ryan and Melissa were sealed in the Mount Timpanogos Temple April 20th. Haven't even downloaded my photos yet, but it's on my to do list. They looked amazing and so right for each other. Who would have dreamed that day would come so soon after seeing Ryan off in San Diego at Christmas. So many prayers were answered by his decision to return to dry land. We had a fantastic thai dinner the night before (below). We sat with Lisa & Jared and Kelly & Esther so we could all get to know her better, I like her so much already! I'll post pics from their wedding (April 24th) in the next week... or so.

We attempted to squeeze in some fun activities for the kids that didn't involve wearing "Sunday clothes". I'd never been to the Bean Museum on BYU campus even though I walked by it on a daily basis while at school to get to work. It was super cool! You can see that even Jeremiah was intrigued with the animals (all non-hunted donations)!

Hiking in Rock Canyon, a must while Provo. I remembered neither tennis shoes or a baby carrier for the trip, so we didn't get very far, but enjoyed the beautiful Utah scenery.

The big kid cousins who hiked up to the caves: Jordan, Audrey, Bennett, Spencer & Zac in the front was an excellent little hiker!

Ryan and Melissa's reception at a barn south of Provo. Love this picture of my Mom and Aunt Debby.

Every good party needs an oversized green dinosaur pinata. This is my cousin Bryan and his wife Becca.

Melissa was the one to visiously take down the beast.

We'd have to be much better at pacing ourselves if we were to ever get one of those 3 or 4 day park-hopper passes. Two days in the parks just about did us in - although so many memories were made and fun times were had in the meantime.

We caught the spectacular fireworks show at the end of our first day - spent mainly at California Adventure, with the last few hours in Disneyland for the street dance parade, dinner, the Finding Nemo sub ride and probably the best fireworks I've ever seen!

Toon Town soaked up much of the afternoon on day 2. So many fun places for the kids to climb and make believe! Bennett had his first cotton candy (or so he says) in the fine evening weather and it was less crowded than other destinations... why would we leave?

Teacups was one of the rides the kids were fortunate enough to ride twice with Disney's great baby swap card.

I tried to tell them about the REAL Matterhorn, but they're pretty sure this one's better.

Made me very concerned for 10 & 12 years down the road to see these two behind the wheel.

We waited "patiently" in line for an hour for a precious photo with Audrey's favorite princesses. Isn't Ariel perfect?

Meanwhile, Rob took Bennett for some boy time at the Jedi Training Camp. He got to fight Darth Vader himself and came away with Jedi certification!

Taking a break in the shade while Rob held our place in line for "It's a Small World". This had to be Jeremiah's favorite as we floated through room after room of happy singing characters - so much to look at!

More waiting... this pic is so similar to one we took of these two 3 years ago when we came... they're a little bigger now.

Bennett is catching onto the perks that come with big-brotherhood, such as being worshiped and teaching his little shadow all the life lessons he's already experienced. Bennett thanked Heavenly Father tonight for his brother and asked that he would be able to take good care of him. Jeremiah is even permitted in Bennett's room now, whereas before no drooling babies were allowed.