KC and Jordan's Wedding Day!

We love weddings!! We had two in 2015, Kody and Kailey's and then KC and Jordan's. 

KC and Jordan were getting married in Arizon where Jordan grew up. I had never really been to Arizona before, just driven threw it going back and forth from Utah to California... but that doesn't really count right?! I was pretty excited to go!

The night before the wedding we went to dinner at a BBQ joint. The food was delightful! And then I ended it with a delicious GIANT rootbeer float!! YUM!

Brittany had rented a house for her family and invited us to stay with them. Luckily we don't take up that much room!

This is our second wedding this year, which means two good looking photos of us for our kids! Lucky them!

Kim had baby Landon in October so it was my first time meeting him! I was super excited to hold him! He was so so tiny!!

Kimberlee, Tyler and Landon all dressed up! Don't they look HOT!! They hold together really nicely considering they have a 1 month old.

Brittany's father-in-law, Richard, took these next two photos! They make us look good so thanks Richard!

I LOVED playing Aunt Taya all weekend!

But I got so busy playing Aunt Taya that I completely forgot to take pictures of the bride and groom..... *face palm*. Thank goodness for modern technology and the fact that we all have a phone in our pocket so we have plenty of photos of them! Take a look at KC's shoes! Wowza!

Their reception was at a beautiful home with an orange orchard in the backyard. It smelled so incredible!

My mom is super talented at arranging flowers, she always does a great job right?!

At their reception they had hot chocolate and..... THE WAFFLE LOVE TRUCK!!!! SAY WHAT!?

If you have never had a Waffle Love waffle, stop what you are doing and go to Utah or Arizona right now and try one. So delicious and so worth the $500 plane ticket!!

 I think I have been putting this post off for a long time becuase this is the last time that I saw Judson. I had no idea at the time, of course. There were many times that weekend that I raised my voice at him and wish I could take it back. I've been trying to put my focus on the excitement he had when he saw me, I can still hear him yelling "Taya" and giving me a great big bear hug that almost knocked me over. And how he wanted to ride in our car because he knew we had treats. I'll definitely do another post dedicated to him another time. But I am so glad that I at least got to see him that weekend.

Congratulations to Jordan and KC. Hopefully your marriage is as rocking as your wedding! 

November 2015

Arberitum

One day when we were on our way to the Westfield Shopping Mall in Santa Anita, we passed by the Arberitum. It looked like a gorgeous giant park and knew that we would have to go and visit. 

The day we went was a perfect California day! Super nice weather and the sun was shining.

We entered the park with our map and began exploring!

There was art everywhere, super cool designs and it gave us big dreams to have a huge garden of our own one day!

The far left trea is a Eucalyptus tree, it is definitely my favorite! The colors on it are unreal!

Do you remember how cool it was to count the rings on a tree to find out how old it was? We had so much patience back then! I started counting this one's rings and gave up once I reached 20.

All the plants were labeled so you would know the names since there were a lot of exotic plants. I told Kaleb I wanted to bring my dad here so that I could tell him the name of each and every plant and not fail like I usually do when he asks the name of a plant.

The one below is "White Silk-Floss Tree". It was a very bizzare spikey tree......

This next one is called "Fried Egg Tree". It looks nothing like a fried egg... I thought that it would maybe smell like a fried egg... but it did not, which I am actually very grateful it did not!

 

 

There were lots of ducks, geese, and peacocks! In fact, there is a sign on the road outside the park that says peacocks crossing. They must roam around a lot.

I told Kaleb to walk over in the trees and act like a monkey.... he said no, so then I made him take a picture of me acting like a monkey. Someone had to!

I felt like a panda bear.... and then I felt like I was in Jurassic Park.

I had to behave some of the time as well.

My animal behavior must have wore off on him! Yes!

Since California was in a drought, a couple of little ponds were dried up, but they still surprisingly had some that still had water and were beautiful!

I spy with my little eye..... A T-Rex!!!

Just kidding it's just Kaleb. Can you see him?!

Somewhere in this crazy huge park there was a house and barn! The details were insane! Very beautiful!

Here are the stables

They occassionally film movies here... I didn't recognize any of them though.

Inside of the house, we couldn't actually go in, but they had windows we could peak in that's why there is a glare.

And here is our dream back porch!! The top is from the porch looking out. The bottom picture is from the other side of the pond looking towards the house.

This sat right outside the cottage, apparently it is Queen Anne's Cottage. And a super huge oyster shell!

Awesome stairs that I had to take a picture of!

The views were amazing once we climbed to the top.

We spent most of the day in the park because it was so big and lots to see. We want to go back now that it has rained so everything will be more green. We also have had several people tell us to go to Hunnington Library. We will make it there one day.... I hope!

November 2015

23rd Birthday!!

For my 23rd birthday, we kept it pretty low key, which I was totally fine with. 

I always enjoy cheesecake factory, its usually my birthday choice. We don't go very often because its pricier and Kaleb's not a huge fan of cheesecake.

Kaleb and I have really been working on trying to get fit. We have been super great at it! Yay! He bought me a yoga mat and wii fit to help encourage and try different workouts. For anyone who hasn't tried the wii fit, it can actually be really hard and challenging at times, plus it makes the workout fun!

We finished off the day with a delicious slice of cheesecake! Yum! Birthdays are always so great! 

September 3, 2015

Kody and Kailey's Wedding

Kody (Kaleb's brother) and Kailey got married August 7, 2015. Kaleb and I drove the 9 hours to Utah  for the weekend to be able to celebrate their special day. I don't know why do that drive... we say we are never going to do it again every time we drive it. But we always end up driving it again.

The sky was a little gray, luckily it only rained a little after the ceremony. And most everyone had an umbrella. It cleared up just enough for pictures! Yay!

While everyone was taking pictures, Kaleb and I enjoyed the company of the cute nephews! They cracked us up all day! Aren't their outfits so cute!

We went to lunch with Melanie's parents and brother's family at Texas Roadhouse. I can never get enough of those rolls and honey butter! 

After, we went to the mall with Kevin, Tammy and the Heaps. The boys had tons of fun with the little rides. Unfortunately the marry-go-round was not in service at the time, but I still think they had fun.

We tried to keep the busy boys entertained. They have an endless amount of energy!

We went to take a nice picture, but Kody thought that since it was his wedding day he had to be the center of attention at all times.

And of course we had to take a million pictures to make sure we got everyone looking. I think I have 10 of each photo, I feel like I'm at the eye doctor. "Which one is better, one or two, two or three."

We don't dress up much, so when we do I always have to make sure we get a picture. That way our kids will know we were good looking.

I know Melanie loved this picture.... Kody I'm not so sure....

The boys, and me, loved that they served chocolate milk and cinnamon rolls. I ate way too many. Brittany was so cute cutting up the cinnamon rolls, knowing if they ate too much they would have sugar rush. Easton had to make sure he got every lot drop of frosting.

Kaleb and I tried to entertain the boys while Brittany and Todd said their goodbyes. A camera is always a good thing to help entertain. We told them to act like Hulk, or a monkey. I got a lot of good photos and a lot of blurry ones, but here a couple cute ones of them.

Kaleb and I hadn't eaten since Texas Roadhouse, besides the cinnamon rolls, and were starving. During the reception we made a quick trip to Arby's with David and Beck. It was raining cats and dogs outside! It was insane! But I loved it. Coming from California we don't see much rain so we enjoyed it while it lasted.

We stayed the weekend with Brittany and Scott in their spare room. Her boys Stockton and Paxton are also a hoot. We got the whole family together and roasted marshmallows and Brittany had a ton of candy bars to choose from. She is always prepared. 

Kaleb and I had fun running around the yard with the boys. We played baseball and soccer with Stockton, Paxton and Judson. Later, we played dress up, not the girly kind, they have awesome super hero outfits and dinosaur hats!

Melanie has let us store some of our things in her basement so we took a quick trip over to her house to grab some things and got this great picture!

Our way home was quite the adventure! When we were just about to Vegas, I was driving and a bored came flying off of a semi truck and was just inches away from hitting us straight on! Right before Prim it was stop and go traffic, and right before getting into the LA valley area was stop and go. I believe it took us 13-14 hours to get home. We were so tired!

The trip was well worth it though! The wedding was beautiful and it was so nice getting to see everyone again!

August 7, 2015