California Wedding

Congratulations Michael and Carly!

Scott's younger brother married his sweetheart in Southern CA earlier this month. It was a beautiful ceremony in a gorgeous church the bride's grandfather helped build. It was so neat to see so much of the Larson family gathered together, and we had so much fun catching up! We sure missed our East coast and missionary family members who weren't present!

Joseph and I witnessed most of the wedding from outside the chapel doors -- about 5 minutes into the ceremony Joseph threw up all over both of us. Ian happily covered his legs and the pew with sparkly stickers (thanks for stepping in when we dashed out, Krystal!), and Scott stood up front as a groomsman with his brothers.

Here is Ian presenting the newlyweds with their first gift -- a pinecone. We didn't know what he was up to and I did not expect him to march right up to them like he did! I loved her dress. Carly made a very classy and beautiful bride.

Ian insisted on wearing his suspenders like this. He ran all over the church property to make up for sitting still for the ceremony.

My guys looked so handsome!

We really enjoyed the outdoor reception -- especially the girls hired to keep kids from falling into the pool. It was a lovely day to be outside, too!

It was great to play on the grass and not worry about Texas bugs!

If you haven't ever heard Joseph's laugh, you haven't really lived. The wedding and festivities were a lot of fun. Thanks to the happy couple for giving us a reason to leave the humidity behind for a few days and for a great excuse to visit my home state! Carly, you have married into a great family!

Rub-a-dub-dub and other stuff

I love that our boys bathe together now. It is especially fun when Ian talks his daddy into getting in as well!

The other day, something was happening downstairs that the boys couldn't be a part of (probably mopping the kitchen or something exciting like that.) They had been happily playing upstairs and hadn't wanted to be downstairs until they couldn't be, but now being forced to stay upstairs was the most awful thing ever. Here they are waiting impatiently to be released.

Also, aren't these little boys getting so big? And so adorable? I sure think so.

This little daredevil began climbing the slide when he was about 7 months old. He can now get to the top this way, and by climbing the stairs! Ian enjoys pushing Joseph off, and sliding down into him while Joseph is climbing up. Often, Joseph thinks this is great fun.

Bulgogi

Yesterday we had a dinner group over to our house and decided to be a little adventurous. We had Korean food including Bulgogi (Korean barbecued beef) and Kim Chee. It actually turned out pretty good.

Independance Day in Galveston!

We intended to spend July 4th in Blanding, UT with the Larson family, but when that didn't happen we were delighted to make some very last minute plans with some good friends. We rented a condo on the beach in Galveston and it was the perfect spur-of-the-moment, long weekend get-away.

Our view was incredible,

the company was lovely,

the weather was perfect,

. . . and even the sand was delicious.

We ate a lot of good food, spent a lot of time working on our sunburns, and did a lot of this:

It has been less than a year since the third most costly hurricane hit the island, so we weren't really sure what to expect. Here and there we found signs of Hurricane Ike that lingered (including one vacation rental owner who burst into tears when I called about her rental home only to discover it had washed away in the storm surge) But most of the island was up and running in a beautiful fashion.

In fact, most things seemed to be much like when we visited before the storm a year and a half ago, including our babies sleeping in closets and other tight quarters.

It was great to spend time away as a family and we hope to go back soon!

Hope you had a great Independence Day too!