Katie's Reception

I'm just going to say that the reception was amazing.  And you will have to take my word for it because I did not take pictures.  I was sadly negligent!  But it was beautiful.  Kera did a fabulous job with the decor and it was all so lovely and the food was delicious and plentiful.  

I took this picture because Liza was so stinking cute, but it is too dark to fully appreciate it. 

And this..... I have no words to describe the serenade and "flower girls" who made a delightful appearance.

I mean, how does one fully express the amazingness that was this?

Oh yes, it was pretty great!

But alas, that's all I got to document the event!

 

Katie's Wedding

The reason we all went to Utah was to see Katie get married. And on August 6, she was!  For some reason, despite having so much family around, I did not take very many photos of anything else, just the wedding.  Well, not even the wedding, because that was inside the Jordan River Temple.  I did take a lot of great pictures after, while we waited for them to appear, and while they getting their pictures taken by the professional photographer..  

Aaron was lucky enough that his mission president let him come over for the wedding!

We were delighted to see him.  Hugs from cousins are okay, right?!!

Callie is so cute.

And Liza was so stinking adorable!!

A rare sighting and picture of Jonathan and Kristy.  It was so great that they were able to come!

This is to show that Katie is wearing Nana's Veil.

Rylee was looking good.

Katie with her new hubby and parents.

Me!  I was there too!

My adorable dad.

The happy couple.  

Selfie with Rylee.

I thought it was so cute to see the photographer taking their picture.

I love this kid!  Delaney was out there rocking it.

Cousins are the best.  Denali loved hanging out with Delaney and Rylee.

 

Rylee did a thing

You may have noticed that Rylee has a lot of hair.  A lot of heavy, textured, unruly hair.  She was struggling with it and we finally decided it was worth the investment to take her to a Curly Girl Hair Studio.  It was significantly cheaper to do that in Utah than in San Diego, so I booked an appointment for her in Salt Lake City while we were there.

This awesome gal is Taislee. She was Auh-Mazing! She trimmed Rylee's hair.  She told her what to do to tame her hair.

She explained what products she would want to use and walked her through every step and made sure Rylee knew what to do and how to do it.

We had a one hour appointment booked, but this sweet girl spent two hours with us (she said we were her last appointment of the day) and she was just so fantastic!

And LOOK!!!!  Just LOOK at this!

This is what good product and know-how can do.  Go back and look at Rylee's pictures from the last year and then comeback and look at this.  Such a phenomenal difference!!

Granted, it does currently take her an hour in the shower to properly wash, moisturize, product and plop her hair, but it is totally worth it. And somehow with this process, she can now get away with only washing it every 3-4 days (which I never would have believed possible!). Was it expensive?  Oooooh yes! Was it worth it?!  Another resounding YES!

 

Some other stuff that happened

 

I forgot to mention that this kid had her learners permit for 30 days and was able to pass her drivers test!  She is a licensed driver!

And yes, some of her practice was on this!

Anyway, while in UT, we did stop by our favorite place as much as possible.  

Half the extended family was staying this vacation rental home and it was fun.  Alex discovered a snack and had to show us.  It was pretty cool!  

I went on a little hike.  My awesome friend who was my BYU roommate picked me up so we could go hike.  IT was NOT a little hike!  She that waterfall behind me?  Yeah, that's what we hiked up.

Here is the instigator herself!  We hiked a ways up before a rockfall made it impassable and then we turned around and climbed down and went somewhere a little easier.  

 

Temple Square!

After dropping off Marian, I cried most of the way to Salt Lake City.  And I spent a few days with my friend Steph, and then I met back up with family!  Katie was getting married, so we were all there to prepare for that.  We spent one of the days touring Temple Square.  The Temple was still being renovated, and stuff was blocked off, and it was drizzling.  I may not have had the best attitude, but it ended up being a really nice outing. 

Miley thought Uncle Andy was pretty awesome.

Miley also enjoyed hanging out with my girls.

So, I guess Miley just likes hanging out with everyone!

Callie at the top of the Conference Center with the Temple behind her.

Walking in the rain, but still having fun!

I love that Callie is holding hands with Liza in the stroller.

This is what the Temple looks like, with all the work being done.

Oh yes..... another picture of Miley and another adoring fan!