Visiting Loved Ones Gone

This is something I have been mean to do much sooner.  The last time I was here was when Paul's grandfather passed away.  For the past several years I keep saying to myself:  "I'm going to go visit and take care of the graves!"  Things kept coming up....and I kept forgetting.  Frown.   

This year I wanted to go on June 30th, because that's the day my grandfather on my Dad's side passed away.  My super cool cousin married a super cool chic that day so we did wedding stuff all day.  It is now October and I am finally, finally getting around to visiting.

We went this past Sunday, between conferences.  My mom came along with us.  First stop was my Great-grandparents Hardman, my mom's mom's parents.  Asher got his first little intro to geneology work ;)

Next we visited Paul's Grandpa Budd, his dad's dad (war veteran): 

Then we looped around to the other side of the cemetery to see my previously mentioned Grandpa Madsen, my dad's dad (also a war veteran): 

And lastly, but not leastly, just a literal skip away from Grandpa is Melissa, my dad's oldest sibling's first born daughter, who sadly passed away before she was a month old.  I can't imagine the hurt and heartbreak of burying a child at any age, and baby's are so precious and small...I admire my Uncle and Aunt's strength. 

We cleaned up the dead grass clippings and cut away overgrown grass.  It's something I want to make a tradition, preferably in the summer, but anytime will do.  It was a great day to be out with family, remembering family.  :)

Tez's Funeral

Paul's great grandmother, Montez Hunter, passed away three weeks ago.  She lived to 95 years old.

She requested a very small service, with a family-only viewing at the mortuary and then a short graveside service.  It was very nice and it's nice to know she no longer has to deal with the aches and pains that came along with her frail little body.  The poor lady couldn't see anything passed her nose, could barely hear, didn't move much. 

After the service, some wonderful women put together a luncheon and family was able to gather and eat some delicious food.  

It was a hot day.  Asher was sweating like crazy and so I put his hair in this funky little do.  He looked like a mad scientist :)

With his Uncle Matt:

'You talkin' to me?': 

Many Holes in One

My title sounds like an Indian name.  But could very well be true for a lot of us, most especially Gaven.    

After the zoo (and a much needed nap for Asher) we headed to Mulligan's to meet my family for some miniature golf.  Unfortunately on the way there we were rear-ended.  Fortunately, it was bad.  It shocked the crud out of me on impact, then immediately Asher was screaming in the back and before Paul had even stopped the car completely when trying to pull over, I was out the door and climbing in the back to see if he was okay.  I'm so glad we were in the truck - I shudder to think what a rear-ending from another big truck would do to the back of my 4-runner with Asher closer to the big window.  Anyway, he was fine after a few minutes and then I took him out of the car seat and got out.   The cops were there even as we were on the phone with them because two cars ahead of us (and partly to blame for our own little accident) was another rear-ending!!!  So the cops soon made sense out of everything, got the paperwork finished in pretty good time and we were soon off to our destination.

Always business, that man:

Hole in one on this hole for both of them: 

Awww, what a great dad: 

Good form is crucial: 

My Certified Hunk: 

My Hole In One! (Chet and Morgan also had some): 

Mini Pro at work: 

Yay!!!! I'm sooo big!! 

After golfing (and a dead car battery on my mom's truck, wrong car chargers,and a stop to Checkers) we went over to my parents house to finish the night of with S'mores!   

Chet (Bronsynn's boyfriend), Bronsynn, and Mom: 

A great night!!  Sam (our Physical Therapist Assistant in training) even worked on my neck to try and help the stiffness building up from the wreck.   I had such a great day!  Love my life, my family and our blessings!

We Did Not Bought

But we did GO to the Zoo!!

Memorial Day was a fun-filled day filled with many firsts for our babe. Our first stop - the Zoo!! (obviously)

Chunky Monkey!!  Love those chubs!

Asher with his Grammie and Grandpa Budd: 

Rawrrrrrrr!!!: 

We are #1!!!: 

Again with the monkey business.  Asher was very inquisitive about his surroundings aboard the gorilla: 

Yeah....I'm Awesome: 

It was a perfect day for the zoo!  We even were able to catch glimpses of the Polar Bear and seals (or otter, not sure which) from afar.  We missed the opening of Rocky Shores by a couple days but that's okay.  Although there was much for Asher to look at, his napping was all off so he got pretty ornery towards the end.  His grandparents bought him a cute Zoo shirt before we left.  As fun as the animals can be to see, I found zoos oppressive and depressing.  Does that make me a fun sucker??  Oh bloody well if it does.

Laborly Weekend

Yet another year that Paul and I spend laboring about on Labor Day. One day we are going to HAVE to get out and go do something!! But it felt really nice to get stuff done around the house and have things looking like normal again.

My dad was home for the weekend and so to ensure everyone's attendance, we got together on Sunday for a sweet little BBQ. Unfortunately, it's still Labor Day weekend and so Kenny and Bronsynn were camping with Kenny's family and poor Sam is working 16 hour shifts every Saturday and Sunday while she is going to school to finish her degree so I have no idea when we will ever see her again.

My dad had come home the week of my due date and we all had big hopes that Asher would make his debut then...but we all know that he didn't and so at three weeks old this is the first time my dad was able to see his third grandson.

I love being able to eat and laugh out on the patio. It's my favorite. These dogs drive us all crazy running around knocking people down so we have to forbid them from coming onto the patio while we are there.

After dinner, we headed to the new baseball park and we had a little friendly game of softball. I love playing softball! The only thing I could do was stand out in the field with a mitt and hope the ball came toward me. And when I was up to bat I had to have a runner. My dad used to play softball in a league and he's still got it! That's dirt all over his clothes because he'd run for the ball and always end up on the ground. One time he tried to stop the ball from crossing the line by throwing his mitt at it on the ground. It was a 'had-to-be-there' moment:

My sister is a big jokester and made us laugh really hard on the short ride home. This is her...on the outside of the car:

And when we got back for Banana Splits, we slapped a bunch of candles on the gallon of ice cream and sang to my lovely mother who recently had a birthday :)

I love that Gaven provides his own kind of trick candle at the end.

Married!!!....Finally!

Warning: I have a buttload of pics in this post!!

YES!!! FINALLY!!

Paul's brother was married to his girlfriend of 8 years on August 27th up at the Legacy Lodge in Park City. It was a fantastic wedding...one that we've all been waiting for for a really long time!! Hilary and I started dating these handsome brothers the same year around the same exact time. Our friend, Judd, used to refer to me as 'Becky's friend with the Eternal Boyfriend' because Paul and I dated 4 years before marrying. Well, these two have us beat!! But they are now official.

They were married on the mountain at the top of the Ski Lift. The wedding was delayed shortly because of some thunder storms but when it was all safe, we all met as rehearsed and prepared for a truly great wedding!

B.J. with his brothers, Paul and Matt:

Add their little sister, Zoyie, into the mix:

My handsome man and I, only two weeks after our own 4 year wedding anniversary (and two weeks after our son was born!):

The entire wedding party and all guests attending the ceremony rode up by Ski Lift. We who were walking waited at the top and here is Paul GQ'in it up - such a stud:

It is EXTREMELY hot up on the mountain at this time of day. We melted the night before at the rehearsal and it was doubly bad this day. Waiting for the bride to arrive seemed to take forever with the heat but eventually we spotted her!

The bride, her parents, and brother:

She made a gorgeous bride. I loved her hair, her veil, the dress, the flowers and all the coordinating colors. It was magnificent!!

We walked down the aisle in pairs to traditional wedding music. B.J. was, of course, eagerly awaiting!:

They included their grandparents that have passed - there are four candles on top of the wood tower - one for Grandpa Budd and three for Hilary's grandparents who all passed in the last couple years:

And she made it down the aisle with her dad:

Giving Hilary away to her man:

The ceremony was very sweet and filled with laughs. It was totally great!:

And when it was over they walked away to the song "Say Hey (I Love You)". So cute!!

While all their guests made their way down to the Lodge, we had pictures done and I snapped away!

Hilary:

Zoyie with Antonio and Angelia (children of Paul's cousin):

The Budd family:

Hilary with her flower girls (so adorable!):

BJ and Hilary with their Best Men and Matron of Honor:

When pictures were done we headed down for Cocktail Hour while the Bride and Groom had their own pictures done. And how did everyone get down the mountain? Why the Alpine Slides of course!!! That lady up at the front on the right is Hilary's last grandparent and she rode down. She's seriously awesome. She's always walking around in her stylish outfits and heels!:

And yes, the bride and groom came down the same way. I don't have a picture because they were too far away to capture, but all of us on the deck of the Lodge had a view of them heading down the mountain and cheered them in!! Hilary's best friend bedazzled this garbage bag so that Hilary's dress would stay nice and contained!

Cocktail Hour was cut a little short because we were off schedule due to the rain. Everyone took their drinks inside to find their seating. It was so gorgeous! It was all set up so nice:

Then when we were all seated, B.J. and Hilary were announced and made their Grand Entrance as the new Mr. and Mrs. Budd!

We were served dinner and then toasts were made by both sets of parents, the Best Man (Paul), the Matron of Honor, Hilary's brother, and lastly Matt...which he was so scared to do a toast and politely declined giving one...and then the wedding coordinator misunderstood and gave Matt's name to the announcer and all of us (the family seating with each other) started laughing and turned to see Matt's face turn white! He did give a toast though and he did a good job!

The Groom's parents:

Paul as Best Man:

The Cake was cut soon after that!

Right after that they had their dance...which they took actual ballroom lessons for. They waltzed to At Last :

And then!!! The party began!! There was dancing and a whole lot of it the rest of the night! It was so much fun. I love this picture - B.J. has to dance WITH his drink:

Paul and I partyin' it up:

B.J. surprising us all with his dance moves...we had no idea he could dance!

And then the bouquet and garter was tossed, it was too dark in the building though for the videos that I shot. Soon after we lined up outside and lit sparkles and they ran down the sparklers into their horse-carriage and made their get-away (which was just to go around the parking lot and circle back around to their suite ha ha)!

It was about 11:30 by the time Paul and I left Park City to go and pick up Asher. My mom tended him for us for both nights. We were so exhausted and knew that we would need to take power naps at my mom's before we headed home. We woke up at 2 a.m. and went home. Paul gave Asher the rest of his bottle but he was zonked out - aren't they handsome??:

Yay for weddings!!! Such a fun night!!