Goin' to the chapel and we're gonna get married

While it was nice to go to Sea World the real reason we were there was for the wedding of the decade. Jesse and Alyson were sealed in the San Diego Temple on Friday so we were at least able to make a small vacation out of it. The sealing and wedding were beautiful and came off without a hitch. Warning picture overload ahead!!
What is taking them so long to come out? Micaela and her two favorite (only) nieces!! Here they come.

I didn't catch it in time, but the photographer had the girls cover their eyes when they kissed. Just adorable!!
Our growing family. I love it!! Too bad it's already outdated.

The Reception
The fruit table, compliments of my mother-in-law.
The yummy cake, despite that you couldn't cut it.

Dancing
The happy couple's first dance. Don't they look happy?!

Dancing with her dad and loving every minute of it. Since we've been home, the girls have been dancing together ever since (they did this even before the wedding). But I heard Kelsey say, "Katelyn do you want to dance? Dad showed us the right to dance!!"

The Car

Her chariot awaits. Off they drive into the sunset to live happily ever after!!

My cute girls

I thought of doing a post dedicated to me and just how many pictures I was in that my tummy was being blocked, but no need, every picture is posted here. Go back and look, it's seriously hilarious. I know black is slimming, but you really can't see it at all. Better luck next time, maybe!!

Sea World

Our trip to San Diego was perfect. Perfect weather, perfect children, perfect crowds. Just perfect. It seems we only go to Sea World when I'm pregnant but that's probably got to do with the selfish reason that I can't go on any rides and don't wanna miss out. But with Katelyn having never been we packed our bags a left a day early for the wedding to hit the park. We got there at lunch time and had the perfect amount of time to see everything. First it was off to see the Shamu show. When I told Katelyn we were going to see the whales and dolphins, I'm sure she was thinking about the Secret Garden where we went a few months ago. Which would explain why she was jumping everytime Shamu jumped out of the water.

Just waiting for the show to start. Their faces seem to say, "I don't see what the big deal is, we've already seen the dolphins." But once it started she went to this.Katelyn's favorite part of the show was when Shamu jumped up and splashed all the people in front, for which she was grateful to be sitting just out reach of his splash.Next up, the dolphin show. Katelyn still loved it, but was not nearly as impressed because they just didn't make as big of a splash. For those of you wanting a picture of the tummy, I find it hilarious because while I am not in many, every picture I am in, subconsciously there is something or someone blocking it!!
Then we were off to feed the sea lions. Feeding the dolphins was closed, but the girls were so excited to "get their hands dirty" to feed a few of them. It was extremely crowded so we couldn't get back far enough to see the sea lions that gathered around as soon as the girls got near the edge with their fish but they had a blast. If you look closely, Katelyn is about to drop the fish into a welcoming mouth.And Kelsey, always willing to smile for the camera.

How quickly we went from this...
...to this!! You can't really see her face, but she was screaming as soon as Dave got it spinning crazy fast and since I wasn't on it to monitor the spinning he felt it was fair game. For the rest of the ride, she was tucked in next to him. When they got off, the first thing she said was, "That was fun." Yeah, I don't believe her for one second.
Since again, I couldn't go on any rides, Katelyn was up first on the flying fish ride and Kelsey had to sit out and wait her turn.
Hi Mom!!
Next it was Kelsey's turn.
This last and final ride was this one. It was like the big ship that goes back and forth but with an added twist, it went in a circle too. It really looked rather calm, but I'm not fan of the buccaneer ride either so I opted to sit it out. Katelyn again smiling before the ride started.
That is her screaming, and if words could come out of her mouth besides shear terror, she'd be screaming to be let off.

This is supposed to be fun? And look at Kelsey's face, loving every minute of it.
This is her, I'm really not enjoying this, smile!! But she was good sport!!

I knew Dave's answer to this before the girls even asked, so I went up instead. Where's Katelyn might you be asking? She's already so far ahead climbing to the top.
So proud that she made it all the way without any help at all. Dave had to race to catch her.

The last event of the day, the polar bear caves. Kelsey went on the ride with Dave while Katelyn and I walked through it.
And still all smiles at the end of the day. Not a fit to be had!!

All tuckered out from a full day at Sea World. Next stop, the long awaited wedding!!

Pine Valley

For Memorial Day weekend, we headed up to Pine Valley for a much needed break and although it was a quick trip up and back, we all had such a great time. Nothing like a little R & R from the daily grind of life and work. We may have been a little crazy to attempt a camping trip only a few days before leaving for California for the wedding, but it all started with Dave having to go on the Father's and Sons campout, without any sons since the bishopric was cooking breakfast.

The girls were in tears as he was driving away because it was just camping for the boys and they wanted to know why girls weren't allowed to go. So with promises of a camping trip with dad in the near future we decided with a free weekend and not having to sleep in a tent being 6 months pregnant, now was as good a time as any. It has almost been a year since we were there last and Katelyn doesn't even remember going at all, but Kelsey was so excited to go to great grandpa's house.

The girls got to bed so late that night, but we still woke them up bright and early to go fishing. They were so excited and ready to catch some fish. It was slow at first, about 10 minutes of just waiting and Kelsey asked why it was taking so long. When we finally got all the poles in the water, they started biting like crazy and within 3 hours we had our limit and were heading back to the cabin to clean them all. I think the girls brought in just as many if not more than we did and were so proud of their catch!!Katelyn caught the biggest one of all but while she was waiting for Dave to make it over to hers (he was finishing with one Kelsey just caught), the fish snapped the line and got away. Well, you can only imagine how upset she was so we threw out another line, while Dave rigged up her pole again and about 2 minutes later, she had another one she reeled in and was successful at keeping.

They each had to touch their fish and wanted to help with it...until they flipped when they bent down to touch them. That ended that, but they still had to check that they were all there and didn't swim away once they were put on the stringer.

Anyone want some worms?

At first they wanted nothing to do with the worms, but Dave made them each hand him one to bait up their hooks and then there was a fight at who got to give it to him next. Katelyn's face really doesn't look it, but she really wasn't repulsed by this.

The girls went rock climbing.

Katelyn asked me to take a picture of just her on the rock they found.

Always wanting to help.

A successful fishing trip if you ask me.

Dad with his two girls.

They each learned how to clean a fish and even got to help cut off a few of their heads. I love that our girls aren't afraid to work or get their hands dirty.

Kelsey's Preschool Graduation

A couple of weeks ago Kelsey graduated from preschool. Her teacher, Miss Kris, had a short program at her house in the evening for all the parents and Kelsey was so excited and proud to show us all that she has learned this year.

Don't mind the cheesy smiles, they both were about to head into the bounce house and I pulled them out to take their picture before their hair got messed up.

I don't think she once looked across at her teacher, every picture we have she's looking right at us!!
Katelyn during the program. How can you not love that face?!

Each of the kids had a speaking part and Kelsey and Ellie were chosen to say theirs together.

Kelsey's afternoon preschool class. Not sure why the long face, but she wasn't happy about something.

A proud Miss Kris and an even prouder Kelsey with her diploma.

She has mixed feelings about moving on to kindergarten. She is sad because Miss Kris will not be her teacher anymore and she won't see any of her friends that she had preschool with, but she is excited to be moving on and going to school to meet new friends.

At least she's lucky enough to still see her at church. We are so fortunate to call their family our friends.