Nothing but Fun!

Wow! We have been so busy this last week but it was a fun busy. Last Thursday/early morning Friday we got packed and got the house ready so we could leave for my brother Jeremy's wedding and our CA vacation! It was kind of difficult having to pack for two different places and two different occasions (wedding/beach) but we survived or I should say "I" because Steven didn't pack anything. Anyway, Friday we headed down to Benson and went straight to the wedding rehearsal. Everyone left after the rehearsal but Steven because he was staying while Jeremy and Kayleen did their pictures to video tape them. He did ALL the video for their wedding and is going to edit it. He did it for my cousin's wedding just to experiment with making videos and he did AWESOME...so, he's doing Jeremy and Kayleen's as well. I'm excited for him. Anyway, Saturday we just hung out, swam, and relaxed. For having a wedding that evening, we were all pretty lazy. At 3:00 we had our family pictures but because it was so dang windy, we had to do them inside at the house where the wedding was being held. Finally the wind calmed down a bit and during the actual ceremony, it was great! It was so fun to see my brother up there getting married. We're so happy for him and absolutely love Kayleen. Anyway, we spent the night dancing, eating DELICIOUS food and of course, video taping!
Sunday we got up and opened presents with Jeremy and Kayleen and then Amy, my mom and Steven and I got ready for CA. Here are a few pictures from the wedding. I was so busy talking to people and making sure Steven was getting the video done that I didn't take ANY pictures. Lame, I know.

The beautiful bride (tylerburkett.blogspot.com--photographer)

She had pink cowboy boots on under her dress--love it

my mom and dad attempting to get a picture with the grandkids. Not too sure if they ever got one :)

Steven, Mom, Amy, and I shared a hotel room in Newport. Monday was spent at Newport Beach. We thought we were going to have bad weather but by about noon the clouds cleared out and everything was great!!

I had to put this picture in because Steven and I ate here on our 2nd/3rd date. It was crap but still romantic :)

Steven boogie-boarding

On Tuesday, our long-time family friend Donelle and her husband Fred met up with us to go to the beach. Donelle and her kids would always come with us when we were young to the beach so it was fun to have them around again! They showed us this awesome little place called Crystal Cove. Crystal Cove is actually a state park so it's not so little but there's this place called Crystal Cove Cottages that is a historic little group of cottages/beach bungalows. A lot of movies have been filmed there (the only one i knew of was Beaches). Anyway, it's so neat. Everything is set to look like the 1950's era and it's totally fun. You have to book 6 months in advance...if we're lucky, we'll get in next year!

Here are some pictures from lunch. This restaurant was literally 10 feet from where we were camped on the beach. Food was great and the company as well!

Donelle and my mom

Fred and Donelle

On our way back up to the parking lot there's a tunnel you walk through that goes under the highway. It's painted with a lot of "earthy" stuff ("keep our beaches/planet clean", that kind of stuff) but it's actually pretty neat. I thought this painting was fun.

Tuesday night we went out to eat at "The Crab Cooker." I've only recently attempted sea food and even then I'll only do shrimp. Fortunately I was able to find some on the menu here. Once again, a cool place (and delicious) to eat. It's small but fun.

Steven got soft-shelled crabs for his appetizer

Wednesday morning we drove by the Newport temple. So pretty! When I lived in Laguna with my cousin Dresden we were able to go to the open house.

Wednesday morning-ish we met up with Josh and Trish and the kids who were down at Laguna where we as kids always went when we were growing up. It was fun to go back and brought back LOTS of memories.

We had such a good time with the wedding and also going to CA but are happy to be back home and not living out of a suitcase.