Princess Festival 2012

We've begun making it an annual trip to the Princess Festival now held at Thanksgiving Point every June. It is a charity fundraiser and we really enjoyed it last year (with the exception of being the hottest day ever.) They have all the princesses to meet, storytimes, shows and of course all the usual vendors - food, crafts, face paint, etc. and all the little girls come dressed in their best princess attire. They made some changes this year that I thought were both good and bad. They made it easier to get to all the princesses this year, but then that made the princess part very short. They added a show by the Osmond girls, as well as some radio station which made it feel more modern and less princessy to me, but the girls still had a great time. It didn't even seem as hot this year.

My princesses with Rapunzel.  (You will notice these are traditional, NOT Disney-style.)

 My princesses AS Rapunzel.

 Belle

 Cinderella

 Sleeping Beauty

 Ariel

Snow White

 Sheherizade - NOT Jasmine!

Cinderella's Evil sisters

 Watching the show.  The look on Stacey's face is my fave. "Do you expect me to believe that?"

In the carriage!

We met all the princesses, saw the 12 Dancing Princesses and Rumplestiltzkin Shows, listened to a story time, had lunch (and mini-donuts, delish!) cooled off with otter pops, made crafts and spent some time playing in the water to cool down.  We were really glad that our cousin Stacey got to come this year right before she moved away from us. We're always totally bushed after a day at the Festival!

Pre-Anniversary Anniversary trip

I think this is almost the last of my June updates.  I had soooo many things going on in June, that not only has it taken me this many posts to get them all up, but there was absolutely 0 time to blog (or breathe) the whole month.

Our little (big) bundle is due shortly after our anniversary, and pair that with 2 early babies before, we decided we had to take advantage of some free babysitting while we had it and get out of town!  It's our 5th anniversary, and we wanted to have a really fun/novel trip, but ya just can't do that 8.7 months pregnant!  So, we decided to go up to one of our old standbys, our condo at Wolf Creek.  Jeff even had to go to class the second day, and we checked out in the morning for me to go straight to work, but we really wanted to make it happen!

We grabbed Pizza Hut and drove up on Monday and arrived a little early, but luckily our place was ready.  We ended up watching many episodes of Lost and Alias and playing games (I know - doesn't sound like an awesome anniversary activity to you, but we really like playing games and never get the chance.) We ate at Carlos and Harley's that night, stuffed to the max, and I totally out-spicied Jeff.  The next day, we had cinnamon rolls, and while Jeff was at class, I finished my book.  We went to lunch at the Mad Moose and had delicious sandwiches and ice cream.  I should mention here, that I dropped a knife into my foot that was really giving me a hard time and I was hobbling (on top of the pregnant waddling) this whole time.  It prevented us from doing any of the hiking/walking I wanted to.  We also played pool and sort of raquetball.  After a few rounds, I had to sit and Jeff went at it for awhile.  That evening we ate at Gray Cliff Lodge - it's sort of a mix of really nice.... and really 70's.  Our meal was great, though, and they brought us dessert with trick candles in them for our anniversary.  That night, we had a "Why I love you" session that I believe may be a new anniversary tradition.
Next morning, we had the sloooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooowest breakfast at the Oaks and then headed off to drop me at work (very late, I may add.)  We didn't exchange gifts yet, and I am sure we will still have a nice expensive dinner around the day, but I was very glad to get to have a kidless few days just enjoying my amazing husband!

Youth Conference!

I am the 1st counselor for the Young Women in my ward, and this year, we had ward-level Youth Conference. (This is a whole new idea to me - in fact, the way the usually do it in general here in Utah is new to this Floridian.) But, we started planning and decided to rent some cabins by Jordanelle Reservoir and keeping the festivities around there and Midway. I was pumped about going the whole 4 days, but we ended up having an important wedding on day 3, so we were just there for half (Jeff got to come too!) I love love love working with the Youth and really enjoyed being up there with everyone, especially the leaders!

Our sweet facilities.

Jeff keeping the boys in line (our MM activity of improv skits.)

Playin in the Party Cabin.  No really, that's it's actual name.

Meal time!!

Rec room - frequent free time hang out for the youth.

A little s'more time before our star-gazing night.

Swimming in the volcanic crater.  It was literally like 90 degrees in the water, and I think 90 ft to the bottom.

And leave it to Kathy to have her camera going at so-early-we-haven't-had-breakfast-yet hours.  These are the gems you'll get.

Each morning and evening, a pair of kids did a devotional, and for the most part, the kids cooked all our meals.  We did a decision-based hike at Cascade Springs, improv/games, scavenger hunt (made by the Teachers... so...) fire and marshmallows, stargazing fireside led by our Stake President, swimming, and then on the days I was not there, they did service for the camp, a ROPES course (so sad I missed it - that's totally my territory!) had pizza out, and made stars for each person. Though we ended up with a little more free time than was necessary in my opinion, it was a great week. The weather was amazing, plus we had a great view of the dam, mountain, saw deer and there was a creek that ran right by our areas.

I truly love my calling and all the people it allows me to associate with on a regular basis (not to mention stretching me to be better everyday.)

A lot more and a whole lot less

I'm already at 31 weeks pregnant!  It is just flying by - well time in general is flying by right now, but that makes these pregnancy symptoms more bearable.  Here's the 31 wk belly - it is so very large!  (Stay tuned for a size-comparison post.) Noticeably larger than last belly pic. (again I couldn't decide.)

In other news, you may have noticed I totally chopped off... oh, over a foot of hair.  I love it.  I don't care if you do, it's doing me well in this summer heat.  Happy Friday!

Mal Weddin! - The Ceremony/Reception

On June 11, Mal had a lovely outdoor ceremony (much less irreverant than the rehearsal... although the Bishop did announce them as Mallory and Travis Radcliffe instead of Mortenson, haha!) followed by pics and then a reception with dancing, cupcakes and catered by Goodwood BBQ (yummo!)  The girls performed their parts perfectly and Mal was gorgeous.

Mal Weddin! - The Rehearsal, Lunch, Pedicures, Breakfast

A few days before the ceremony, we had a rehearsal that was a little... irreverent.  Got all the little details and order and kiddos and everything worked out.  We just laughed while we did it - poor wedding planner.  We had all brothers and sisters as bridesmaids and groomsmen, with Stacey as a Junior bm, 2 nephews for ring bearers and 4 cuties (incl Amie and Lisie) for flower girls.  They were delighted and played their part well.  Afterward, we went for lunch and after much debate and some interfamily drama (you know weddings,) we decided on Olive Garden.  I was glad Jeff got to snag some To-Go before he jetted off to work. It was a large group and as always, delicious, and then the ladies headed for pedicures!
It was quite a busy day at the salon, so we kinda took our turns getting helped.  I got my toes done in wedding blue, and was wanting to do my fingers for the first time ever, but I had to run some people around on deadlines.  I wanted Amie and Lisie to both get their fingers and toes done, but they ended up only getting one too.  I felt really really bad because we started Amelie on fingers, then didn't have time for toes and she was the only one who didn't get a turn in the special chair. :(  Alisa was totally terrified and screamed through her very minimalistic pedicure.  Thankfully, Aunt Melissa helped out with that, as mom was trapped.  We'll have to go back when it's a very special day.

On my birthday a few years ago, we started doing sister breakfasts, and Mal wanted to have one the morning of her wedding.  We ended up all just meeting at mom's for crepes (yum!) and a little hang out time, with a few more than just the sisters to join us.  I had Lisie with me, but had to jet in time to pick up Amelie from her first day of preschool.  I really love those informal hagout times with the fam - I have a fun one!