May 23, 2010

The Big Sister Abbie Never Had!!!

Sara Langlois is more like a sister to both Abbie and I than a friend. We love her so much! When we lived in San Jose, she was one of my Young Women that I taught at church. She and her family would come over often to just hang out....I have to admit, it was really hard moving away from them when we came here to Arizona. It's been really fun to keep in contact and do things together still even though we live miles apart. Sara and Steve decided to get married and asked Abbie to be her Flower Girl. Abbie was SOOO excited to do that!
 
Abbie was really nervous to fly in an airplane. She had flown a while ago, but must have forgotten....so she kind of worked herself up. She was afraid the airplane would tickle her tummy like a rollercoaster....and worried about it so much, that she ended up throwing up TWICE in the little white bags that are in the pocket behind the seat! I couldn't believe it!
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Sara picked out Abbie's dress to match hers. How fun that they look so alike and are dressed alike too! I thought it was really sweet of Sara to go out of her way to make Abbie feel so special!
 
Abbie was constantly watching Sara. It was so cute. What a great role model for her to have! I love everything about Sara. She is so confident, smart, creative, and many many more things.....I would love Abbie to be like Sara when she grows up!
 
Here are all of Sara's Bridesmaids. Such a fun group of girls! Abbie loved them all. It was cute, Abbie fit right in and acted like they were her friends too!
 
LOVE, LOVE, LOVE this picture! SO sweet! Sara has no sisters, and Abbie doesn't either. So, why not adopt each other, right? I'm sure Sara will be apart of our lives forever!
 
Eating up all the love and attention for sure!
 
Steve and Abbie had a pretty instant connection too! They first met last summer when we were invited to go to a beach house with the whole Langlois family.... He is such a great guy! She actually looks like she belongs to Sara and Steve instead of us!
 
Here we are standing in front of the Oakland, California LDS Temple. Gorgeous, isn't it?
Ginger and I didn't plan it, but we ended up wearing almost the same thing. So we decided we would be our own kind of bridesmaid and have a picture taken together! I love Ginger. She is more of a sister than a sister-in-law. I love all of them actually. I feel really fortunate to be in such a great family!
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Here we are at the luncheon in between the wedding and the reception. IT was YUMMY Mexican food! One of Steve's friends made a nice video with music of pictures from when Sara and Steve were both children up until when they met, their dating, engagement and all that fun sappy stuff.
 
Like I mentioned before, Sara is VERY creative. She thought up things that just made the day that much more perfect! Since Sara and Steve Fisher have the same initial, they made up T-Shirts for the whole wedding party that said "I Love SF 5-1-10"..... Some think it's "I love San Francisco", my brother Rodd says it means "I love Stinky Feet" but for that day, it meant I love Sara and Steve Fisher!
 
What a great looking group! I love the colors Sara picked! I love this candid shot of them all laughing....sometimes those kinds of pictures are my favorite.
 
When we were driving trying to find the reception, I kind of got lost. I was worried about getting there to fix Sara's hair before they had more pictures. Abbie said I was ruining her flower girl day by not getting her there fast enough! She was really taking this job seriously, wasn't she? I guess I should have been thinking about the flower girl instead of the bride? NOT!!!
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This is Abbie's favorite guy ever! She has been connected to Jake for as long as I can remember! Since we have moved away, she's a little shy (I know, hard to believe) when we first get to San Jose. But for some reason, when she sees Jake, she runs to him and jumps up in his arms and acts like they haven't ever been apart! Their little relationship is so cute! She adores him...and I think the feeling is mutual the other way too! Look at these pictures! They are just precious! It's funny to see them standing next to each other cuz Jake is 6'8" and Abbie isn't even 4 feet....

 
They just seemed to be connected alot through the night! She had the time of her life!
 
The reception was just gorgeous! I wish my camera would do justice to the way it looked! Sara and her mom Sheri put the whole thing together! They are quite the wedding planners! They are so talented at decorating and flowers, and, and, and, and, and.........
 
Abbie's job was to hand out little goldfish crackers to people to thank them for coming....."FISHER"....get it? :)
 
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I think this is the most fun I have ever had at a reception. The dance was SOOOO great! Sara and her friends made up a few different dances and performed them in front of all of us. Greg (bro in law) was the best DJ ever! There was a dance and so many people were out there just having a good ole time. Abbie really got into it! She was dancing with everybody and lots of times was going down into the splits! I don't know where she got that move from. I've never seen her do that during a dance, but she had the time of her life!

That was such a great day! I am so proud of Sara for being worthy to be married in the temple to such a great man that honors his Priesthood. Here's to many years of Happiness Sara and Steve Fisher! We love you!!!!

May 20, 2010

Slip Slidin' Away!!!

It's very obvious that summer is around the corner. We are all looking for those fun activities to keep cool and get wet! I guess in Arizona....it comes a little earlier than other places. I hear Utah was getting snow just a week ago...that is CRAZY! THis is actually back in APril, I was just so busy living in April that I didn't get time to blog about it....so I"ll be catching up for a little while, but had to get started with the water fun!
 
David is always such a fun dad. Very involved and loves to play with the kids. So glad he's in our family! It was his idea to run and get the DAWN dishsoap. I don't think Tara (in charge) was too happy....she was kind of worried about the soap getting in kid's eyes.....keep scrolling down, you'll see what I mean.....
 
Everyone is waiting in line so patiently for their turn to go down the slip n slide. It was only like 80 degrees. In AZ...that is cold for swimming....we need it to be 100 to love it...or even hotter!
 
Just look at Eli's form! Looks like too much fun!
 
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Head first! Yee haw!!!
 

Abbie is grimmacing a little. Notice, she doesn't like that cold water directly on her! I'm telling you, we must have some thin skin and blood, cuz we were cold! But, still having fun, as you could see!
 
  We love being in this ward. This was actually a ward activity. It's funny because we have been in 3 different wards since we have moved here. We are still in the same house, but they keep realigning our boundaries. We have made such great friends and LOVE it here!  
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Look at them all just having a ball!
 
Ta Da!!! Look at me Mom!!!
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Mason pulls such funny faces!
 

Mason and Hunter braving the slide together!

May 14, 2010

Iron Chef

 
Tiffany Watkins is one amazing woman. She is the one that got us all out for the AMazing Race Competition...and now challenged us to an Iron Chef competition! We were so excited to be included in such a fun night! HOw fun is that to have a friend that is so talented, fun and creative!?!
 
Here we all are before diving in to a bunch of DELICIOUS food! Anthony Perry (Natalie is the photographer, so you don't see her pictured here....) Tyler and Tiffany Watkins, Heather and David Crawford (US...) Lori and Ben Mecham, Shawn and Katie Cullimore, and Greg and Tara Allen.
 
There was such a great variety! We were given the choice of chocolate, cheese or chicken. I of course thought chocolate....but I made something I had never made before and have to admit, I don't think they turned out that great. But, I sure loved eating so many yummy things! Is it just me or does it seem like when you make something at home for just because or just the family...your stuff is delicious.....then when you have to make something for someone or have company over or enter something into a competition, you totally flop! Maybe it was subconscious! If you look at this picture, you will notice that we were invited to a party that has a bunch of gym rats! I'm glad they invited, but c'mon....they all LOOK like "IRON chefs!" and after that night, I see they cook like them too! Oh well, I still had fun. Wouldn't you know? Shawn and Katie won in almost every category. That's funny, cuz they are the ones that won the AMAZING RACE too! What a winning couple they are! :) I love them!
 
Let's Grub! Isn't your mouth watering just watching us eat all this stuff? I will admit, I have a big sweet tooth. Infact, I would say it's more like a fang. But we had so many desserts, I actually felt a little sick! I enjoyed the savory stuff more. I never thought I'd say that!
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Natalie's home is so fun and relaxing! The guys had to "TRY OUT" the big screen television. Wouldn't you know? A basketball game! Actually, it was the end of the Jazz, Lakers game. A disappointing finish, but that's another story.
 
We all went downstairs for a friendly game of "Around the World Ping Pong". It was funny to watch each other try to run around the table trying to hit the ball on their turn. You can bet that I didn't last long in that game, but it was still fun! I can't wait to see what Tiffany will drum up next. She mentioned maybe a "body contest" or something....uh......uh.....uh......c'mon.......this has got to be a joke! You're all a bunch of hard bodies! Triathalon, marathon, gym goin' and teachin' people! You're killin' me! Let's do something like.....uh....I don't know....but I'm sure you'll come up with something REALLY good! hint, hint. :)
 
We just had fun all being together. We played the fun "signs" game. We just laughed and had so much fun. It reminded me of when we were younger and single and had big shin digs. I hope we do more of these fun group things. That is what makes life fun and exciting! It takes us away from the daily grind. I know the grind stuff is important, but when I can get away for a minute or an evening....it makes it easier to "keep on keepin' on" (like my dad says.) Speaking of that, it's funny how I always thought the stuff my parents said was weird and old fashioned and now I hear myself and my siblings saying funny things like our parents! I guess we gotta keep traditions alive, huh?

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