Karen's Big Day :)

Yay!!!!

Karen, my dear sweet roommate from college, was sealed to her cool hubby on Friday, September 30th in the Logan, UT temple.  It was wonderful news to hear that she would be sealed to her husband and cute little baby and I was super duper happy that I was invited to come and see it.  I love being a part of sealings!

This is Karen, Masen and baby Hooper coming out of the temple after the sealing:

They had a photographer there to take pictures so while they were doing family shots, I took some photos of the temple and such - it was really so pretty.  I had never been to the Logan temple before, only seen it from afar.  

Me and the Hubs:

Amanda and Spencer:

Ash! I can't believe I didn't get a picture of you!! Sorry hunny!

But I do have this lovely photo of me taken by Paul....lovely angle, I know:

 Ashley took some goofy photos for Paul and I:  here I am rescuing the damsel in distress....all in a days work for me!

And then the damsel in distress wouldn't come with the handsome, I mean beauteeeful, rescuer and so she had to beg...and plead...and cry....and throw a fit:

The four of us - we missed you Lou!! Next time plan that baby better will ya???

Me, Karen, Ashley, Amanda:

Afterwards, everyone was treated to pizza and pasta at Firehouse Pizza.  I thought it was way nummy but even better was the several hours we were able to sit and chat and have fun with each other.  It was such a great night!  I loved it!

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!!

Candy Centerpieces

So my college friend, Debbie is getting married at the end of this month - Yay for weddings!! My other friend, Amber, threw her a cute little shower at this super yummy place called La Caile Noodle House. Check it out for realz. Anyway - I helped by bringing some decoration to make it a little more shower-esqe and I decided to make these candy centerpieces. Cute and Edible!

Just some cleaned up canning jars tied with ribbon. I got most the candy at Sweet Afton's in Gardner Village. I had long-stemmed suckers, laffy taffy rope, bubble gum and licorice ropes (instead of licorice I wanted pixie sticks...but could I find any pixie sticks??? Noooooo) and in the bottom some grapefuit gummies!

Check out these super cute cookies Amber made for Debbie! She is oodles and oodles smart with the baking and makes super awesome cakes. In fact, she'll be making Debbie's cake for the reception. You can see her stuff here:

And these were our little take home favors, made by Amber:

Super duper cute!!!

The Reception

I have to say that the nicest thing about this wedding was the fact that we didn't have to do anything!! It's a buttload of work to do your own weddings...it's downright exhausting! I was more tired after my sister's wedding last year than I was after my own! My parents married off three girls...at least once ;)...and their oldest son eloped. So it was quite a relief to not have to do anything for this wedding! Of course, we all arrived early to help before the pictures arrived, but it was so stress free - it was great!!! I hope I have more sons than daughters, ha ha! Either that or I hope we can hire a wedding planner!

Amanda and I:

Amber and I:

Aiden enjoying strawberries and whipped cream:

Me and Benny...who is like another brother...he calls my mom his mom and I'm his sister:

Cody and I, another friend of Gaven's close friends that we think of as family:

My mom and her mom:

Me and my super hot cousins on my dad's side...sorry about the grainy picture...my camera was being moody all night:

Nicole and I trying to get a line dance going to Shania Twain! We are awesome, I know:

They have a trampoline in which we all had fun jumping on. I was doing front flips, Xanni and Gav got on and the photographer got a sweet pic of three groomies flipping at the same time.

This is Aiden jumping around and while the d.j. had some music going before the reception started, I caught Aiden dancing to it. It made me laugh:

I didn't get my camera in time for the bouquet toss but a sweet girl named Kylie caught it. Gaven was getting ready to dig for the garter when the brides father came over to 'make sure' Gaven behaved himself! In the professional photo shots, while Gaven is getting the garter, Xanni's face is priceless! I love how embarassed she gets!

Gaven and all his friends before the toss. I think he is the first of all his friends to get married:

More dancing afterward:

Me and my hot sis:

Decorating the car was quite a story. I realized the night before at the wedding bbq that none of Gav's friends were going to decorate the car. After the temple, I forgot to go and get supplies. So after our family pictures were taken at the reception, Amanda, Bronsynn, Katie (Bronsynn's best friend), Paul and I hopped in my car and made a Wal-Mart run. We loaded up with streamers, balloons, confetti, window paint, oreos and a 12-pack of Mountain Dew (Gav's favorite) for the car. The Mountain Dew, of course, was to hang off the back of the car. But could we just dump out all the nasty tasting, unhealthy pop?? Noooooooooo. Bronsynn and Katie wouldn't hear of it. So a 12-pack gets downed by five people in five minutes. Katie took on almost four herself, Bronsynn did a few, Amanda and Paul did a couple. I couldn't even finish one. I don't drink pop. Just thinking about all that gives me the shudders! Someone made Katie laugh mid-slurp and she, being in the back seat in the middle, spit it all out...on me! I was driving so it went down my arm and all over my car! It was very hilarious though.

We got back to the reception and went to party for awhile. When it was time to decorate we went out front only to find that their car was gone. Like, no where to be found. It had been there before and now....poof!!...vanished. We looked everywhere. Morgan, Amber, and Amanda went to find answers. We knew Xanni's brother had something to do with it, but he wasn't talking. Neither was his wife. Neither was Xanni's dad. SO. RETARDED. We were all getting super pissed. After twenty minutes, some were saying it was no use. But I didn't just buy all that crap for nothing! Finally, blessedly, Xanni made her brother give up the location. In an attempt to save Xanni's brand new car from the awful things his own friends did to his car at his wedding, he had driven it several blocks away and parked it behind a church. He knew we went to go get decorations and they moved it and hid it from us. We were sooooo mad. Amanda was PISSED. Unfortunately, it caused a teeny weency bit of drama and discussion but was quickly put to rest.

Anyway, we got the car back and decorated it really cute and tasteful. We don't like to destroy the car when we decorate like they thought we were going to do.

We left them a few fun items in the car....chocolate syrup, whipped cream, tic tacs and some wisps. :) hee hee hee.

One of Gaven's groomsmen works at a place where they do vinyl and he had this made up for the back:

Super cute!!! After they got ready to leave we lined up and they walked under the bridge and were off! Thankfully, unlike the day before, the rain stayed away, the wind was minimal and it was just a great night for a wedding :)


If any family wants to view their wedding photos, which are very well done and gorgeous I might add, visit Faces Photography, click on 'Proofing' and scroll down to the bottom to find the Gaven and Xanni Madsen Wedding. There are so many great photos from the whole day.