zac and mckayla: the bridal shower

kelli and i threw mckayla a bridal shower over the weekend! it was fantastic! the guest list was mainly family. aunts, a few cousins and mckayla's bosses came. it went exactly how i had planned, and i am so glad its over, haha. we had a tea party brunch and it was so much fun. i had all kinds of surprises for mckayla and we really enjoyed the afternoon! i had created place cards for all of the guests, which was a little bit of a hassle to get RSVP's and last minute additions and cancellations, but about 10 minutes into the shower, i looked around and every seat was filled and i was so happy. the food was all amazing, the decorations came out just as i had planned, and i think everyone really enjoyed themselves! i surprised kayla by editing some video footage i had taken while devin took their engagement photos, and the video turned out really sweet. i'm so glad she liked it! devin and i had also secretly interviewed zac a few weeks ago. we asked him a lot of questions about himself, mckayla, their relationship and the wedding. mckayla was so surprised and she got almost all of the answers right! i think it also helped everyone get to know zac better. i am so glad it went well! my friends did the same thing for me, and i was so surprised that they had interviewed devin, and i cherish that video, and i know kayla will, too. i'm so sad i didn't get any pictures of my sisters and i, or even just kayla! she wore the prettiest lace dress to the shower, she was absolutely gorgeous. it was a great afternoon!

< i'm usually not a fan of daisies, but these peachy pink ones were too cute to pass up
> place settings for all the guests. turned out so cute!


i absolutely loved assembling all these vases with fresh flowers. i think i'll be a florist some day.


all the decorations i made hung above the table and looked great!


< more of the table. my aunt kristin was so nice to let us take over her house for the shower!
> part of the food table - so many delicious things to eat!


< macarons and muffins - they turned out so, so great!
> i did a few repeat foods from devin's birthday party, including these bacon-wrapped lil' smokies. such a hit, but the whole house smelled like bacon and maple syrup.


the food table. i loved being able to incorporate the crates devin has been building lately, and kelli hung the backdrop which turned out just perfect!

i just about cried tears of joy when all four batches of macarons came out this perfectly. i squealed for a few minutes and kept making devin look at them.

a sad story from the weekend: on friday, my poor sweet mom shattered her elbow! she is getting surgery on wednesday (they have to replace the bone that shattered), but it happened the day before the shower, so she was unable to help, and was in too much pain to come :( i spent friday night at my parent's, and my older sister came down and spent the night, too, and we took care of her and got everything done for the shower, and still managed to get in a lot of cheech time (i love spending time with my sisters). her surgery is a same day surgery and the doctor is confident she will be out of a cast in time for the wedding, but dang it! it was a pretty long weekend to say the least! i'm just praying she can make it to wednesday, when the surgery is, without too much pain and discomfort. she is just in a splint with a few painkillers until then! is there anything worse than seeing someone you love in so much pain, and feeling so helpless? it is truly the worst feeling ever. i was glad to be able to spend the weekend at home with my family and do what i could to help out!

sleepover

we promised our nieces and nephew months ago that we would have them over for a sleepover. the summer went by way too fast, and we realized we needed to follow through before school started! we picked them up last night and had such a great time with them! we watched all kinds of movies, they played in the backyard and entertained cooper for hours. this morning, devin took the oldest, kayla, rock climbing (it was our birthday present to her. 2 birds with 1 stone, right?!) and while they were climbing, i took the younger ones on a little drive to see the "Up" house! it was so cool and they loved it! after a quick lunch, they were back home, but it was so much fun to spend some time with them! i love these kids so much. i'm so glad i'm their aunt! 

grey's river 2013

another annual trip to grey's has come and gone! we had such a good week in wyoming with our families, and can't believe how fast it went by. we spent our first two days with devin's family, and the last two days with mine.

we took cooper to murphy lake and let him swim | we played nerts with devin's parents | we ate delicious food | we slept like babies in our tent, and watched movies every night on the laptop | we sat around the campfire for hours | we rode 4-wheelers | we drank water from a natural spring | devin got to run the river in a raft with zac and kyle | we went on a hike with my dad | we drove home with 4 people 

and a dog in one car (squishy)

   

< this was a few nights before we left for wyoming. my dad had all these photo albums from past trips and a map of the area out. he spends months planning for this trip ever year!

> instead of driving up the way we usually go, through wyoming, devin and i decided to try going through idaho instead - the drive wasn't as pretty, and it didn't save us any time, so i doubt we'll do that again!

 

< 6 hour car rides... yay...

> coop was so comfy in the back seat with all the pillows and blankets. he didn't mind the ride up one bit!

 

the altima pretty much changed colors by the end of the trip, it was so dirty!

cows. everywhere. always.


murphy lake - devin and i both have a lot of childhood memories here!


our kelty tent is such a champ!


took a 4-wheeler ride up to ray's spring to fill up our water bottles


the 4-wheeler devin and i were riding may or may not have broken down on the way back to camp...


devin, my little brother, and my almost brother-in-law rafted down the river!


there she is! grey's river herself.


a hike with my dad to the warming hut


  
devin caught me a little frog!


the most beautiful place! i love grey's.

katie, lately

Life has been such a circus lately! There has been so much going on that I just don't have the time to sit down long enough to write up an entire blog posts! That being said -- am I mis-using this Sunday afternoon while Devin plays video games? I'm gonna say no for now. Here's what I've been up to lately...

 

kade loves dogs. he just doesn't know it yet.

  

the whole family waiting for the show to start at the new pavilion by the senior center in orem

 

so devin's grandpa is in a band. he plays the trumpet and they are really incredible!

 

cooper sat with devin like this for at least 15 minutes

 

addi's signature pose - showing me her cute shoes

 

the most perfect batch of macarons i've made to date! these were for my cousin's fiance's bridal shower!

 

my sister and her husband are in a band called The Zero Summers - and they are becoming a pretty big deal! when they played a show at university mall in orem, we knew we had to make it! they did so great, and i thought they were even better than the headliner!

 

< sometimes when i'm having a bad day, i go home on my lunch break and snuggle with cooper. and then i'm alright.

> we went to our favorite, Gourmandise, for dinner last week with our dear friend Skyler and I couldn't pass up their macarons, of course. this place is an authentic french bakery, so their macarons are basically perfect! i ordered a pistachio and chocolate macaron and the server brought me a lemon one to try for free! the pistachio is my favorite so far!

 

< car rides with this dog 

> i just can't. he's the cutest thing.

< we went to the bee's game with sean and chloe one night! they were celebrating the 20th anniversary of the movie "The Sandlot" - so the cast was there! Ham looks exactly the same. It was pretty awesome!

> yesterday morning, Devin grabbed the mail on his way home from work. He walked in carrying a package and I asked him what it was. He looked at me confused and said it was for me, asking if I had ordered anything. I hadn't. When I opened the package, I found this amazing french macaron cookbook and a note from my sweet friend Amy, saying she works for a company that just published this book and when she saw it, she knew I'd love it! I'm still not over how sweet it was of her! I am so excited to try making some more! thanks a million, Ames!