Brooklyn - Mormon Prom

Last weekend Brooklyn went to Mormon Prom with one of her friends, Josh from up North. 

A week or so before the dance after Josh has asked her, Brooklyn answered him with this reply.

I helped her make the brownies and Steve made the flag. Then Brooklyn went to Josh's house to deliver it it him. 

What a cute girl with such an awesome reply!

Mamma lacing up the back of Brooklyn's dress.

 Check out how beautiful the back of Brooklyn's dress was. 

 Such a beautiful girl waiting for her date to arrive.

Steve and I were asked to go help at the Mormon Prom by being the photographers. So we got all dressed up for the prom too! 

 I love this picture of Brooklyn pinning the boutaineer on Josh. And I love Josh's expression. 

 A very stunning couple. 

 Love this photo!

Brooklyn and Josh went with a big group of kids. All amazing kids too. They went to Claim Jumper for dinner and then off to the dance.

 Arriving at the dance and waiting in line for their pictures. 

 My prom date doing his thing!

 What a lucky girl I was to get to go to the prom with this guy!

Easter 2014

We love celebrating the holidays together as family.  Even though we had just gotten back from the wedding in Utah and the open house in Colorado and were exhausted we still found time to do our usual traditions. 

 Dying Easter eggs! One can never be to old to dye Easter eggs!

 Brooklyn dying eggs!

 Between the three of us we dyed 3 dozen eggs!

 Oh that Easter bunny is so clever at hiding Brooklyn's basket. We were worried she'd not be able to find it Easter morning. 

It looks like Brooklyn found her basket! Phew!

We missed having Mackenzie around to celebrate Easter with us. The Easter bunny did find Mackenzie and Ian all the way in Colorado though! He left them a basket full of goodies too!

Happy Easter!

Open house in Colorado

The weekend after the wedding in Utah Steve and I jumped on an airplane and headed to Colorado so we could be there for the open house. 

Here is our fun rental car!

 The open house in Colorado was really nice. Ian's family did a great job decorating the church and preparing a beautiful buffet of food.

Ian's sister Aubrey made the wedding cake. She did a great job. 

Our good friends Tim and Laura Bishop who like in Denver came to the open house. It was so fun to see them.

We were so glad that we could go to Colorado for the open house. We got to meet a lot of Ian's relatives and the ward members where Mackenzie and Ian will be living. They were all such nice people. It was so hard to say good bye to Mackenzie. A new chapter has begun in our life now with her being married. 

Our Trip Home from Utah

Sunday morning Mackenzie and Ian came back to our hotel so they could open up the gifts they received in Utah. After they opened their gifts we left for home and Mackenzie and Ian left for Colorado. 

About 4 hours in to our trip we decided to stop in Jerome, Idaho for gas. We didn't really need gas, but we decided to stop and stretch our legs a big. And it's a good thing we did! The water pump went out and radiator fluid spilled out right after we filled up with gas and went across the street for something to eat!  Steve took a look at it with help from O'Reily's autoparts loaned tools and determined that it was not something he could fix. We were blessed to find a mechanic, who was not normally in his shop on Sunday, but had come in with his family to do some things.

 He took a look, learned that it would need parts that would not be in until the next day and then handed us the keys to their second vehicle - a club cab pickup. Amazingly kind people. Here we are stranded in Jerome, Idaho but enjoying the experience!

 Visiting the Twin Falls Idaho Temple

 Shoshone Falls

 The next morning we took a drive out to Balance Rock.

 Here we are after our little hike up to the top of the rock...

 Well, actually, here we are. :)  Such a cool rock!

 At 2:00 p.m. our car was done being fixed so we were back on the road again. At one of our gas stops I pulled out the left over reception food and dug right in to a chocolate eclair. Oh yum!

 Steve enjoying a chocolate eclair. 

We pulled in to our drive way around 1:00 in the morning feeling grateful for all the tender miracles that took place before, during and after the wedding. 

Wedding Reception in Utah - Part Two

There are so many pictures we decided to make two blog entries for the reception. 

 Chicken salad croissant sandwiches! Yum!

 The fruit trays were so colorful and beautiful. 

 Two of my sister in laws, Allie and Kristin helped cut up some of the veggies. 

 The lanterns that we hung were so beautiful. 

 Here is Mackenzie face timing with her cousin Maddie who is in China. You gotta love technology today. Thanks Allie!

 We had a picture collage of Mackenzie and Ian as they were growing up through the years. 

 The sign in table.

 It was so fun to see some of my cousins on the Smith side. Thanks Teemarie for suggesting we have a "cousin" picture!

 We had fun dancing!

 At 9:00 p.m. sharp the newlyweds left the reception!

Check out that decorated car!

It has been so fun to look through the 500 photos that we took and our photographer took that day. I wish we could upload every single picture onto our blog. It was such a fun day. We loved having our reception in Utah. All our family was there and it was fun seeing friends we haven't seen in a long time. It was such a fun celebration and party. 

Congratulations Mackenzie & Ian!