Summer Wedding Utah Trip

In July we hit the road and headed to Utah for Jeff's niece Courtney's wedding and to make our annual tradition of enjoying Utah for the 4th of July!

The long drive.....

So we stopped in Vegas and it was 120 degrees!! Never felt heat like that before.  So we got to St. George for a cool down to 117 degrees and Jeff and Jamisen got out and explored a slot canyon in St. George.  I stayed in the car with the Jackson with the air conditioner cranked up.  Crazy boys!

The beautiful couple...Chase and Courtney Banks!

Jeff and his bros working it

My sister-in-law Angela and I were twins, just flipped! I can't believe how much cream, peach and lace I saw at Temple Square that day.  It's definitely the "it" wedding color! 

The Beautiful Bride

GQ

 So a couple weeks before...Courtney's siblings organized all of us family of the bride and groom to do a flashmob to perform at the reception... turned out awesome.  It was so fun to do. Check out video above

They had this flip photo booth at the reception with costumes...  Only fitting Jamo would wear this one

                                                    

Rob and Missy

The reception was gorgeous! It was held at Thanksgiving Point Gardens

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We also got to hang out with our good friends in Utah that we miss so much. A big thanks to Cassi and Luke for letting us stay a couple nights at their house...we always have a blast with them and stay up late laughing.

 It was so hot and the kids were melting so we decided to explore the MOA on BYU Campus...check out this huge dress at the museum made out of bubble wrap

 

Our old Freshman dorm room Carrol Hall!! We were in the apartment on the bottom left, you can see the window sticking out.

The new Cosmo statue on Campus. I foresee many years of family photos at this spot as we return to campus with our kids over the years! :)

Eating at smashburger.  We love this hamburger place! We discovered it in Houston when there was one down the street from our apartment and we ate there often.  Provo got one a few years ago and now we are crossing our fingers that Fresno will get one sometime! I should do a whole post just on food in Utah.  Whenever we visit I have a huge list of places I want to eat at....smashburger, cafe rio, wallaby's, the deli at sundance, brick oven, the Pie, krispy kreme, shaved ice, and much more! 

We tried a new BBQ place we heard about from Foot Network.  It's called Pat's BBQ and it's in South Salt Lake.  It was seriously delicious! I ordered the smoked meatloaf (which is super random because I would normally never order meatloaf but it is their specialty) and it was soooo good. We had this huge lunch of meatloaf, ribs, mashed potatoes, corn and cornbread.  Needless to say it was super hearty and we were stuffed for the rest of the day! This would be the perfect place to go on a cold, snowy Utah night. Comfort food at it's finest! 

 Superdad!  We decided to go hike Timpanogos Cave while we were in Utah.  It is a tough hike and I was impressed that Jeff was able to carry both kids! He got some major props from all of our fellow hikers that passed us.

While I was impressed that Jeff carried the kids on the hike, I was impressed with myself for actually DOING the hike!!  The hike is 2 miles straight up.  I am not much of a hiker so I didn't know if I could do it.   It was a great feeling of accomplishment when we reached the top! I told Jeff I can now mark it off my "Utah bucket list". 

 Annual Freshman roommate reunion!! We are missing Adele and Krystal. It's so fun to get together each year and take this picture and see how we have grown in numbers. Love you guys!

 4th of July - Downtown Provo.  Always the best! 

Uncle Steve and cousin Campbelle

 Way to go Cosmo! 

This is another food stop...we went to Magelby's for all you can eat French Toast after the parade.  They have the greatest white maple syrup.  

 In the afternoon on the 4th we went with the family up to Payson Lakes.  Jamisen and Jeff caught a bunch of fish and Jamo was sooo proud!!

Loved having brunch with Ben and Vanessa and their cute kids!!

                                              

No Utah trip would be complete without multiple shaved ice stops!!  Until next year!!!

May and June 2013

May started off with our 7th wedding anniversary on the 12th.  It's crazy to think it has been 7 whole years!  We decided to celebrate by taking a long weekend road trip to Orange County and San Diego.  We decided to leave Jamisen with Nana and Papa and took the baby since he was nursing.

                                                           Laguna Beach and Dana Point

 We stayed at a hotel in the Gaslamp District in San Diego.  We went to go see a movie one night...little did I realize it is the party part of San Diego and when we got out of the movie it was packed with people.  Was a little awkward as we walked our baby back to the hotel.

 Absolutely loved Balboa Park in San Diego.  Never had been there and Jeff and I loved walking through and seeing the pretty buildings and park

This is comical..we tried so hard to get Jackson to look at the camera but he flat out refused. He was mesmerized with staring at the flowers.  We even changed positions to distract him but to no avail. I think he knew what he was doing! 

 Went and did the Mormon Battalion tour at the Visitors Center in Old Town San Diego.  In the last few years they remodeled the building and the tour and it was really impressive.  Super hands on for kids.  I want to bring Jamisen back here soon!

 One thing Jeff and I like to do is look up all the good restaurants in town.  We are big time foodies...  This burger place was rated as one of the best in America... Hodad's Burgers on Point Loma Beach

 I've always wanted to try the Melting Pot so our Anniversary seemed like the perfect time to try it... Fondue was heavenly!

 View of San Diego from Hotel

Phil's BBQ.  Didn't think we could get good BBQ since leaving Texas.  Phil's in San Diego has done it.  This is what is left of our ribs. 

Had to go get a cupcake...went to a cute Cupcake shop in La Jolla called "Cups" 

Stopped by Manhattan Beach in LA on the way home.  I had never been to this beach and my cousin Cara told me about it.  It was perfect.

For Memorial Day we went up to Sacramento, and took a boat ride down the river with some friends from our ward.

 My cute little boys in their church outfits

Jamisen running through the sprinklers in our backyard-Officially kicking off summer! 

 We went to a fish hatchery on a Saturday afternoon.  Jamo loved seeing all the fish

 Happy Father's Day!  Daddy and his boys! I couldn't resist the urge to make them all match! I'm so grateful for Jeff and the wonderful dad he is to our children.  They adore him!

Went and visited Jeff's parents in Monterey and saw the famous "purple carpet" that blooms in May and June. 

Dressed to impress for Grandma and Grandpa Schill's ward. It doesn't get much cuter than these two!

 We saw a rock pile in our living room one day...and Jamisen had found a dead spider so he went outside and grabbed rocks and made a grave for it.  We don't know where he comes up with this stuff.

 At the end of June we had my Dad's family reunion the "Jolley/Stone" family reunion that we have every 3 years up at Dinkey Creek.

Daddy teaching Jamisen how to fish in the creek near camp.  Jamisen was so excited to get his very own fishing pole just his size!

 This just sums up Dinkey Creek in a kids mind...lots of trips to the store at the top of the hill for treats and ice cream.  One day my dad told a few kids he would buy them a treat at the store so they started walking up the hill and as they did so more and more of the kids from camp came until he had a big group following him. Over the years my dad, AKA papa or Uncle Bryant, has gained a reputation for buying ice cream for everyone at the store. I love it!

These three cousins are the best of friends and have so much fun together. Jamisen and Cole are obsessed with one another and Kaitlyn is the little mother that takes care of both of them!