Temple open house

We barely made it to the Oquirrh Temple open house. Ryan has a short day on Tuesday so we had the afternoon free. We had originally decided to go to a session at the Salt Lake Temple, but when we tried to find parking 15min before the session started and couldn't find anything, we figured it was not in the cards. I'd been wanting to attend the open house and since Ryan couldn't make it to the Draper Temple open house, we wanted to make it to this one. It was very beautiful and such a joy to see. Next time though, we won't leave it until the last few days of the open house. It is summer so everyone is on summer break and I'm sure that is why so many people were there, which is great. Ryan and I are just not huge fans of large groups, but this really wasn't bad since everyone was in such a great mindset. I did learn one thing that I will teach my future children though...wait your turn. The Grandpa with his grand kids behind us were driving us crazy. He literally would push us out of the way to look into a room, which is why I think his grandson had no problem with squeezing between Ryan and I (we were probably holding hands at the moment) to get around us to see what was next. The little boy ran into Ryan five times because he was in such a hurry to move along, which is annoying, but not half as bad as the Grandpa who kept practically grabbing my butt because he kept inching forward to see down the hall. Really, the overall experience was great, just like the song says 'I love to see the Temple,' I just apparently need to work on patience with other people that also want to see the temple.
It was also really windy that day, or it could just be because South Jordan is always windy.

The best UT holiday

We love the 24th of July. It's right after Ryan's birthday, so he always gets a holiday in honor of his birth, plus their are always fireworks! I love fireworks. It's my favorite part of July, two sets of fireworks. For the 4th, we watched fireworks from a distance on our neighbors porch. You could kind of see them over the trees. For the 24th we have the best seat in the house. Since we live so close to Liberty Park we are right under them when they go off. It was a super fun evening with a cool surprise. It turned out that half my cousins were in town so they brought all their kids and we spread out some blankets in the back yard and watched the show. We went up to Layton the next night to hang out with them too. I really like my extended family, so I'm super happy that we got to hang out with them. The only thing missing was Cort and her two awesome boys. Also, I'm excusing myself from trying to take firework pictures since I obviously don't have a camera that works...and it was my on week so I was thoroughly exhausted.

Ryan's Birthday Dinner

Ryan got to choose where he wanted to eat for his birthday. You don't hear me complaining.

Happy Birthday to my Man

He works so hard and always looks good doing it. Hope we get to eat lots of cake today. I love you so so so so so so so so so much! HAPPY BIRTHDAY

Temple Day

I've been contemplating what I want to say about going through the Temple for days now. I wish I was a writer so I could express all my warm fuzzy feelings in an eloquent, precise manner.........but alas a simple 'it was AWESOME' is all I got!

It was such an amazing experience. Everyone tried to tell us how much they loved going to the temple and how wonderful it is. I was excited, but it's one of those things that you don't really know until you've experienced it. I've never felt so peaceful in all my life. I've always loved Ryan, but now I'm even more excited since we are a family forever. I highly recommend attending.

Also, we have such amazing friends and family. So many people came to support us. I had family travel in from Arizona! Plus some spectacular cousins that made it even though they had a family crisis to attend to. We really appreciate everyone making the time for us. We have so many wonderful friends (Rachael I was thrilled to see you on Friday night). Even those that couldn't make it still made the effort to show their support and love. How lucky we are!

Happy Anniversary to us!

Five years ago today, on a day just as hot as today, we got married. I love being married and I l-o-v-e love my Ryan. In celebration of our big 0-5 I thought we should do something super fun. It's kind of turned into a week long celebration. On Monday night (at the tail end of my 70 hours of working) we went to see Death Cab for Cutie at Red Butte. Since we got married at Red Butte, it was an extra special concert. Before the show started we walked around in the garden and found the area where we were married. We had such a spectacular time. The music was great, everything sounded wonderful, the weather couldn't have been better and we got to spend the evening together. For our actual anniversary today, we are going to go out to dinner. Then on Saturday I really want to take a hike, I'm calling it an anniversary hike. So a nice long celebration for our five years of marriage. For ten years we're going to have to celebrate for a month!

This is the spot where we were married. They have added some plants, we had a lot more grass area for the guest seating.

Here we are standing in the exact spot (I think) we were married.

The super awesome concert. Red Butte amphitheatre is a spectacular venue. You can pack in food with you, so you get to have a picnic while listening to great music. We, of course, had our favorite...burritos.

The first fruits of my labor

It's not really a fruit, but it is the first edible thing from our garden. I haven't eaten anything that I've grown in years. It did taste extra yummy. I sauteed it, put a little salt, pepper and Parmesan cheese on top. Delicious.

Jonathan's Birthday!

We love that you are so happy on your birthday. Looks like it's going to be a great day.

Happy Birthday Mama Sinner

Hope you have a great day!

Happy 4th!

I really thought I had a fireworks setting on my camera. Maybe that's just because everyone else does? Last night we got to hang out with Brett and Betsy and Ethan. Betsy made us her wonderful salad again (yum) and then we watched fireworks. I really love fireworks and Ethan was pretty excited considering he's only three-ish months old.

The boys of course loved lighting things on fire.

Summer is (probably) here

I think the weather is finally starting to cooperate, and it might finally be summer. We've had a busy couple of weeks, but they have been so much fun. Chloe was still in town after my work week so we tried to see her as much as is humanly possible. We ran through sprinklers, went swimming at the Murray pool, had a BBQ with fireworks and just hung out and had fun. I love it when all the girls get together (moms and daughters), we always have so much fun. It is so great to have such awesome sisters. The last two days of the trip were just about the best for me since Chloe was all about her Aunt Megan. Did she want Mom? No. Did she want Dad? No. It was all about Meggy! Now I just have to keep that brain washed devotion going until we get to see her again. I'm so sad that the Timms are back in St. Louis though. It feels like their trip just barely started. We have to wait months before we see Chloe again! Ryan and I are trying to get tickets out for fall break. Hopefully we can find a good deal. It turns out it costs a lot of money to go to school. That was the only sad part about this visit from the Timms, Ryan had to spend most of the time with his nose buried in a book. I'm really proud of him for being such a good student. He is working so hard and doing such a good job, I just wish he could play more. Only a few more years.

We also got to see a few friends. Becca and Brent ended up having their baby girl 7 weeks early, which was pretty scary, but seems to be working out. We went to visit them and see how it was going. They seemed to be doing just about as good as you can in that situation. Little Cozet should be on her way home now, which is much faster than predicted, but since she came out screaming they figured she was pretty tough.

During my work week Brett and Betsy made us dinner one night and I have been craving it ever since. "It" is a delicious salad, based on the salads from Chipotle, but even better. Kudos to Betsy for making the salad of the Gods. I love it when people make me food, especially when I'm so tired from working all day. They also re-introduced us to Nacho Libre. The first time Ryan and I saw this movie we were not impressed. Then the Kocherhans talked us into watching it again. I was literally almost crying during a few scenes I was laughing so hard. Even Ethan loved it, he really has great taste in movies.

Happy Birthday to All!

Happy Birthday to Dad (Sinner) and Jan. We love that you have the same birthday, it's one less day to have to remember. Hope it was spectacular.