*Annie and Brent*

For Time and All Eternity

June 12, 2010

Hooray for weddings! And a DOUBLE hooray for temple weddings!! I must admit that I was a little extra excited for this wedding because they chose the Manti temple....and I've never been in that temple before. It was a great excuse to make the drive! The weather the day before had been really crappy, and it was supposed to continue through the weekend. So we were all pleasantly surprised to see how gorgeous everything looked as we were driving up to the temple. We lucked out completely and the rain held back until we were done doing pictures. As you can see, I got a ton of excellent shots....I can't wait to see what the professional was able to get!

The newlyweds! Matt was pretty dang proud of his baby sister. She looked so beautiful and so happy! It was a great day in so many ways. I actually got to go up to the Bride's Room with Holly to help lace up her dress. It's a good thing the two of us were there to do it, because it took forever! That style of dress is so beautiful, though. And I actually felt very priviledged and honored to do it. I made her bouquet as well! What can I say? I'm a fan of weddings. :)

The proud Mom and Dad. :)

The pregnant lady and the proud papa! Haha! I was 24/almost 25 weeks pregnant at the time.

There were so many great places to take pictures! I was stunned, honestly. I mean, it's practically built on the side of a cliff! It was fun to tag along and see all the places that the pros know about to get all kinds of great pictures.

They're adorable. :) And oh so photogenic!

The temple itself is so beautiful, I couldn't resist taking pictures of it. It's almost as great as the Logan temple. ;)

It began to sprinkle, and luckily the photogs were prepared with some great, big umbrellas. That made for some really cute pictures as well. Whoda thunk?

Cute picture of a bride and her dad. :) Can you think of many places that would be better for a family picture!??! I think they need to go back to this spot throughout their marriage to have their family pictures taken. Wouldn't that be cool? To have a picture from your wedding and a current picture of your family on the exact same spot?! I love the idea. I think I'll try and do the same up in Logan.

It was a crazy and busy weekend, but absolutely glorious. We were so happy to be there for every minute of it! It's obvious that they make each other happy and that they want what is best for each other. That's half the battle, so I think they're well on their way to a long and happy life together. We are so proud of you two!!!

*A Great Gift*

On Matt's birthday (June 8th) we went to the Ogden Temple with Annie and Brent because they were both receiving their endowment! It really is an incredible feeling to go with a sibling to do this, and for several days leading up to this day Matt kept saying how it was the greatest birthday gift ever. He really couldn't have been more proud of his little sister. I couldn't either. Since I'm a picture junkie, I was bound and determined to get at least a few pictures outside after it was all said and done. Luckily my in-laws are used to this by now, and they humored me. But, I think they're all pretty glad now that I had thought to bring a camera. Because really, it's a day worth remembering!

*Ogden Temple*

A while back Matt and I went to the temple in the morning, and I decided to take my camera along since I didn't know how much longer the Ogden Temple would look like this. Plus, the spring flowers were too beautiful to pass up. I can't imagine this temple looking any other way...that is going to be quite the construction project! It blows my mind to think of it all.

It was kind of a gloomy and cold day, and once we got to our car it began to dump buckets of rain, and when we got home hail was added to the mix. It was a sight to behold, seeing that much moisture come from the sky, especially in Utah! So I got my pictures done in the nick of time. :)

I looked out the window and what did I see? Popcorn popping on the apricot tree! :)

Seriously, would you just look at those tulips and daffodils?!! They are simply amazing! There's something about daffodils that I just love and they make me happy. Can flowers be happy? If so, then these are. I think it was only a couple weeks later that these were gone and new flowers had been planted in their place. Seriously, almost every time I come here there are new flowers! That gardener sure is a busy bee!

I love this man. I'm so grateful to be married to him, and that he encourages me to be better. We have a relationship that most don't even dream of. I know I didn't. I never thought in a million years that being married would be so much fun! I had what I thought were realistic expectations of how difficult marriage could be when I went into it....I just didn't realize that I was marrying someone who would make it easy, and so much dang fun! I would say that he's the man of my dreams, but that wouldn't be true because I didn't dare to dream up someone like him. That would have set the bar too high in my opinion, and wouldn't have been achieveable. He is wonderful, and he's mine. For eternity. Everyone should be so lucky. And now I'm going to get to see him be a dad. I truly can't wait for that! He is going to be so incredible at it, and I'm grateful every day that he is the one that I get to have as my partner on this wonderful journey of parenthood that we are about to embark on. Could I be any luckier??! I think not. :)

In Sacrament Meeting yesterday, one of the speakers said this: "This is the gospel of Happily Ever After."

I couldn't agree more.

*Weenies*

These pictures are from forever ago, but when I looked through them I just couldn't resist posting them! My family LOVES spending time together, and one of our favorite things to do once the weather even BEGINS to be a little bit warmer is to have a weenie roast! If you have been to my parent's house you will understand why this is so much fun. It's so great to be right by the creek with a fire and a roastin stick in hand.

Haha, my mom is freakin adorable! And she is the master at roasting perfect marshmallows!

"Do it Alex, just shove the whole thing in!!"......and he did.....hilarity ensued.

I think I'm a bit of a pyro....I can't help but get a stick and start pokin around in the coals. I could really do it for hours.

I love my family!! We have so many great memories, and I'm so grateful for that. You all rock!

Really.....have you ever seen a more hilarious picture?! These two....get them together and you will laugh! Then add Adam to the mix and you're bound to pee your pants! hahaha! I just love this picture so dang much!! Almost as much as I love these two. ;)

Three cheers for warmer weather that's made for camping and weenie roasts!!