Paul and Amanda

We cleaned the cabin last night and were able to get out of here by 7:30 this morning. Winterized and everything. That has never happened before. We drove to Idaho Falls. We were in this cool fog for a bit, but I wasn't able to get a picture of it. Had to delete pictures. Grrrr. These were our roads the rest of the way. MUCH better than yesterday!

Mike dropped me off at the Idaho Falls temple. I got there a little after 9:00. Paul and Amanda were sealed today. At 11:00. We were supposed to be here by 10:30. I was a little early. I decided to do initiatories while I waited. I did two rounds of those. Then I went and sat in the Celestial Room for awhile. I was surprised how small it was. I had been there when Jordyn got her endowments out, but I don't remember it being that small. Anyways, after I left that I wandered around the temple looking for the marriage waiting room. I ran into Paul. He told me I was on the wrong side of the temple. Haha! Jackie was there when I found the waiting room, so I was able to talk to her. Then Brooke came! Yay! Yay! Yay! It was soooo good to see her! Paul and Amanda's sealing was great. Amanda looked so pretty. I didn't get a picture of anyone though. Completely forgot.

Mike took Maysen and Preston to see a movie while I was at the temple. They saw Spies in Disguise. Then they went to DI. It was new and they were pretty excited about that. Mike texted me this picture from the theater. Haha.

We went to Jackie and Mark's house after the sealing. I sat and ate with Brooke, Courtney and Sharon. So fun to catch up with them! Mike brought the kids over when they finished shopping. We left shortly after they arrived. Preston still was feeling awful. He was shivering. So, we said our goodbyes and headed back to Utah.

Preston slept most of the way. I talked Mike into stopping by the trophy shop and picking up Ashley's plaque. The one our ward has been going to for thirty plus years went out of business and I have been looking for a replacement. I decided on this silver one. The picture is etched on the silver. I kind of think maybe I should get a black boarder around the entire thing for the other ones, but I don't know...

We stopped at Chick-Fil-A for dinner and to see Jorja. She was able to come on break and eat with us. Yay! It was great to see her! I took this picture of Rachel's stocking and sent it to Brooke. She is making the same one for Shylee. We are about at the same spot. Ha!

Paul & Amanda

I picked up my dad this morning to head up to Idaho. He got in around midnight last night from one of his tours. We made pretty good time and got to Idaho Falls a few hours early. We stopped at Target so we could get Paul and Amanda a wedding present. Because we are procrastinators. We picked out a griddle from their list and were trying to figure out what to do about the wrapping. As we stood in the wrapping paper isle wondering if we needed to buy scissors and tape, Larkin walked by! Talk about timing. Tammi was with her. They invited us to their house so we could hang out and use their stuff. It was perfect. I wore my dress up to Idaho, but with my flip flops. I had my shoes in my bag. I went to change into them and realized I brought two different shoes. Both for the right foot. Whoops. I ended up wearing flip flops to the wedding.

Dad sleeping, my two different shoes

We sat by John & Renee during the wedding. Amanda's twin girls walked her down the isle. The ceremony was short and sweet. Everything turned out perfect, except my shoes.

There was a luncheon right after the wedding. I hung out behind the table with Brooke and Courtney. It was so great to see them! I loved this kid table Amanda set up.

I stayed after the luncheon until the end of the reception. I told Brooke I would help her, but I ended up just talking to my cousins. It was so nice to be able to have long conversations with several of them. My dad was a trooper. After the wedding we headed to John & Renee's house. It started raining while we were driving there. Then it got worse and worse. It was a giant downpour when we were in the driveway. We sat in the car for awhile waiting for it to lighten up. After about five or ten minutes we decided to make a break for it. I was pretty fast, but my dad got soaked. He dropped the plate of cookies we were taking to John and Renee and tried to pick everything up. It was funny.

We stayed up until midnight talking to them. John and Renee are going on the trip to Israel with us in November. Renee was so excited that my dad brought her homework. I told my dad I was planning on just showing up. John said he had the same plan. I got to sleep in Jordyn's room. I texted her pictures while I was at her house.

 Renee was too busy playing hostess, but I caught John and my dad

Jorja texted me right before I fell asleep. She had a date with Spencer tonight and was pretty sad after the date. I called and talked to her for awhile. She will be fine, she was just disappointed. Wish I could have been there for her.

The Lodge

We were in charge of breakfast this morning along with Matt and Sam's family. Sharen had bought all of the food, which was amazing. Maysen and Preston helped. They had egg wars when they made breakfast. They took two eggs and hit them together to see which one would crack. They had to crack 120 eggs. They looked like they were having a great time doing it. We had pancakes, scrambled eggs, sausage, orange juice and hot chocolate. It was delicious. After breakfast we went on a hike. Maysen was asleep when we left. Preston was annoyed that I caught him before he made it back to the duck cabin. Haha! It was a simple hike and was really nice.

Preston over looking the area where Grandma Parry grew up

 Paisley and Rennie ~ born on the same day

I went on a walk with a lot of my family to the feeding gate. Lots of irrigation pipes sent to different directions. It was a nice walk and I'm glad I didn't have any babies with me. Don't want to fall in the water there! Anyway, when I came back Maysen and Preston were in the paddleboat. Maysen had her laptop and Preston had his clipboard. He was drawing the lake. They were so cute! They were out there forever! Anne and Irie kept trying to get them to come to them. Maysen and Preston kept paddling away. Yikes! It was only later that Maysen told me that anytime they came near Anne and Irie they would try to hit them with sticks and throw mud at them. So....now I get it.

Maysen & Preston

I played a game of Canadian Salad with John, Renee, Jackie, Mark and Paul. I was winning the entire game until the last hand. I came in second to last. Luckily Mark had more points than me. Later, I was playing croquet with Matt, Paul and Devin when Mike and Jorja arrived. I heard Mike singsonging 'Stephanie!' I turned around, jumped and yelled, "Mike's here!" Renee laughed and said, "Now that is a nice reaction." It was nice to have them both up with us. Mike was pretty upset when he told me about finding Nala, the neighbor's dog, in our duck pen again. She was sitting right where Quackletta sat on her nest. He said, "Maybe it's a tender mercy Quackletta died like she did. I would have been furious if the dog killed her."

After dinner we had a program/talent show. Steve had people tell stories of Grandma/Grandpa, Sue, my mom or Kris. It was nice to hear about them. Steve told about my mom making my dad lunch every day when they were first married. She would always ask my dad what kind of sandwich he wanted. He would always say he didn't care. She got annoyed with that. So, one day my dad was at lunch. The other teacher didn't like his sandwich and asked if my dad would switch him. He did. Turns out my mom made my dad a popcorn sandwich that day. Haha. My mom is awesome. I miss her. Jorja got up for the talent show. She did her fake sneeze, her elephant noise and then had Maysen and I come up and sing the ABCs backwards with her. My grandma would always say the ABCs backwards and then end with "And what's so hard about that?" Really nothing, my kids all do it without even thinking about it. Except Preston. Looks like I failed to teach him. Whoops.

Uncle Steve

Stephanie, Jorja, Maysen ~ ABCs backwards

The three remaining kids ~ John, Jackie, Steve

Mike and the kids went back to the duck cabin. I stayed and talked with my family. It was me, Courtney, Steve & Sharon, John & Renee, Kendra & Derek, Heather & Josh, Paul & Amanda. After awhile I said, "So, Josh..." and everyone laughed. Josh is Heather's boyfriend. I asked them lots of questions. Courtney whispered that I needed to ask Amanda questions. Paul and Amanda have been dating for five years or so. Paul is my brother Matt's age. I knew they were really serious. Paul had asked her twin daughters if he could marry her, so I knew that. Anyway, Amanda is really shy, so there was no way I was going to interrogate her. After I couldn't think of any more questions to ask Josh I turned my head and said, "So, Paul..." I started asking him questions. Then I said something like, "So...is there a day that I need to clear my schedule for?" He said he didn't know. I said, "Well, I live in Utah. Is there a day I should make sure I can make it up here." He said, "I don't know... you could always come up July 13th." I asked if there was any reason I should come up that date. He said if I wanted to come up that seemed like as good of a date to do it. Finally I said, "Okay, so what I want to know is, are you getting married that day?" Paul said yes and my Aunt Renee about died. Her jaw just dropped. I raised my hands in victory, then gave Courtney a high five. It was awesome.