Platt weekend

We had a fun weekend in Evasnston with the Platt family. Shawn and I drove up to Evasnston on Friday after work and spent a fun night chatting with Eugene and Dorren (who have 4 days left until they get married). Then Saturday morning we got up early and headed down to the Ogden Temple with Necha, Josh, and Becky. We got to the temple and met up with Brandon and Mandi, Ben, Eugene, and Doreen and Joseph. Shawn's youngest brother was taking his endownments out right before Eugene and Doreen's wedding and before his mission. It was such a neat experience being in the Temple with most of Shawns family...we were sad to be missing a few people. After the Temple we went to have lunch and then decided to all head back up to Evasnton to go tubing down the Bear River.

Here is everyone that came to the Temple: Ben, Becky, Brandon, Mandi, Me, Shawn, Joseph, Doreen, Eugene, Necha, and Josh. Here are the Platt siblings (minus Garret and Amanda and Aaron) Ben, Brandon, Necha, Shawn, and Joseph.
After we got back to Evasnton we changed and headed out to tube down the Bear River, it was so fun. Here is Shawn and I with our tubes

We set up right on a little bank so all of the little kids can play in the shallow water (they loved throwing rocks into the water) then while some of the audults stayed to watch the kids the others got to walk up the river and float back, which was so fun!
Here is Becky and Ben and cute little Cael Platt just getting out of the water after a tube ride down the river. Cael was so brave and he floated down himself on a little tube.

Lamb Days in Fountain Green

Saturday morning I dragged Shawn with me to spend a day with my Grandma and Grandpa Nelson, my Aunt Kriss and Uncle Keith, my parents, and Balke and Savannah for a hot day at Fountain Green, Utahs Lamb Day. So, I guess my Grandpa Nelson grew up down in Central Utah and use to come to Lamb Days and thats were we met up with his sister and some of my dads cousins (dont worry Blake and I didnt know any of them) then we watched the hoppin Lamb Day parade and then went to the Manti Utah cemetary to look at my great grandparents graves and then to the house my grandpa grew up in. We also checked out the turkey farms my grandpa use to have, the store my dad use to buy penny candy at, ect, ect....so we were able to expereince some memories for my grandpa and my aunt Kris and my dad (who use to visit often). My dad loved it...so we tried to too. We all put on happy faces and although we were hungry and hot we took a peak down memory lane in Manti Utah.
Here is a pic of Shawn and I at the Fountain Green Park. My grandpa thought they would be serving their famouse lamb burgers then...but they were not going to be busting those out for another 2 hours...I was not sad to be missing out on eating baby lamb sandwiches. And here we are (minus my mom and uncle Keith who are taking the pictures) at the Manti, Utah cemetary in front of my great grandparents grave. My great grandpa Nelson was called to settle Manti Utah....its definatly not where I would have chose to settle.
And Blake and Savannah looking at the old grave stones.
Fun days in central Utah, we did have fun talking and laughing and getting to know Savannah better on our drive there and back!

Wedding weekend

We had a very busy wedding weekend. First all of the girl cousins, and aunts, and my mom and grandma all got together at the park behind my house and we had a Bridal Shower for, Savannah, my soon to be sister-in-law. Here is a picture of her in a cute game we played where she had to answer the same questions that Blake was asked earlier. She actually did really good. She is an amazing match for Blake and we are all so excited for them to get married...soon.
Then Firday night we all got together at Megan and Eric Woodleys house for a big family dinner to celebrate my cousin John Woodley who was marrying Kylie the next day. It was fun having a dinner together with all our cousins, and aunts and uncles, and siblings, and grandparents. I think everyone was there on my dad's side of the family except for the two missionaries in Mexico and Pennsylvania. John and Kylie are such a fun couple, and since they both live here in Provo we get to see them alot.

Here are some pictures I took at the Family dinner. My cute little cousin Maxwell and Shawn with his goatee (i am ready for him to get rid of it) Fifi and Chloe who are playing with Jared's Bingo toy (spinning the bingo balls is one of his favotire things to do)
And crazy boy Carter, who is not wanting to pose for me to take his picture. I just love having everyone around, it is so great getting together with extended family and i love seeing all our cute little cousins.

Saturday was the "wedding Day" so we all got the the Timpanogas Temple in time for a beautiful sealing by my Grandpa Nelson and then we all waited outside for the Bride and Groom to come out. There were alot of us outside waiting for Kylie to get changed into her wedding dress, and alot of other people too. While we waited outside we probably saw 3-4 other weddings going on at the same time. Here is cute baby Kate with her mommy, I dont think she was enjoying the heat of the day. Then there is Brighton, Shawn, Me, my mom with her eyes closed, and Brax all waiting in the shade for John and Kylie to come out of the Temple.

And here we have Brandalyn, Hally, O' Brain, Diane, and Maddie waiting in the hot sun, for pictures to be over so we could all go out to lunch at our favorite...Cafe Rio. And here is Brax, Chris, Brighton, and Kyle (my mom forgot to bring his church clothes from my house to the Temple...so he was rolling a little bit more casual then the rest!)
And this is the only picture I got of John and Kylie, there were so many people and photographers, and family around I just opted into taking a photo from afar and called it good. So, here they are the bride and groom, she looked beautiful and he is a handsome boy with his big dimples.
I did not get any photos on my camera of the reception that night at Kylies house, but it was absolutley beautiful. And it was so fun hanging out with all of my family for the weekend, and what made it better was they all came here to us, instead of us driving to where everyone else is.

2 weeks left and we will have Blakey's wedding next...cant wait!

Organizing Day

This past weekend, Shawn and I decided to tackle our very unorganized shed in the back yard. I try to be a very organized and clean person, but ever since Shawn built this amazing shed in our backyard we just keep stacking and adding more and more stuff to it. Well, it was finally time to take a few hours out of our Saturday morning and build some shelves and organize. So, this is a "before" picture of our cramped and messy shed.... We first took everything out of the shed and went through it to see what stuff we truly needed to keep and hold on to. Then Shawn built a few shelves, we put all of our necessities back into the shed and....

look at that, beautiful organized perfection! This is the "after" picture and I have to say that I am quite pleased with how good it looks now. I was so motivated after we finished the shed that I watered all the grass in the yeard and then moved on to organize our guest room and my own closet.

*Now don't you worry mom I was still able to find a place for my 72 hour kit!

Oregon Trip

This is one of my very favorite veiws for two reasons, #1 it means I have just completed a very long 11 hour drive, and #2 it means I am home and ready to spend a very relaxing and fun time with my favorite people in the world. Shawn and I got to take a bit of time off and drive up to Oregon for a week, and we loved it. We picked up Kyle and Brighton Saturday morning from EFY and headed home, we had a wonderful week at the beach, wakeboarding at the river, swimming, eating yummy food, going to the Rodeo, hiking Silver Creek Falls, having a BBQ and firework show, spending time with lots of family, and all in all loving life. So, we were a little sad to head back to Utah to our normal not-so-fun lives...And again so everyone understands...we love going home to OREGON! One of our first stops while in Oregon was to go out to the beach and visit my grandma and grandpa Ellingson. I love being at the beach, even though the Oregon Coast is usually cold, foggy, and overcast...I love it. It is the beach I grew up with and it really is so beautiful. Here is Kyle, Shawn, Me, and Brighton all trying to not let our feet touch the freezing cold water. It is amazing to think that as a child I would swim and play out in that cold water.
Shawn and I enjoying the beauties of the great Northwest
Kyle and my mom
We decided we were cold enough after a couple of hours on the beach, but the best part about leaving the beach is you always get to go and eat clam chowder, halibut fish and chips, and my favorite homemade salt water taffy, and of course we love going and spending time with our Grandma and grandpa too. After the beach we spent our family home evening on the Willamette River with the Youds, Nelsons, and Grandma and Grandpa Nelson. The Youd's have a boat and we have ours, so that meant lots of turns in the water. Shawn had never wake boarded before so we got him out in the water to learn how. Of, course his picked it up quickly and was amazing at it.

By the end of the night Shawn was working on getting up and over the wake, with a little more time he will be a wake boarding champ!
Four little water girls. Allie, Chloe, MaryJane, and Sadie.

And I even went out and got some river action, I went of the triple tube with Allie, Chloe, and MaryJane, it was a wild ride.

Oregon #2

Next thing on our Oregon list was to go out and hike through Silver Creek Falls, which is a beautiful spot to hike where you pass by 8 huge waterfalls and tons of little ones. Shawn and I set out to take out hike through the falls, it is a 15+ mile hike, so we decided that we were satisfied with a 5 mile hike and 4 waterwalls.
All of the falls had their own names, but I have forgotten them all by now.
thought I would add a picture to show just a glimps of how beautiful Oregon is, it really is this green and amazing. I suggest everyone go and visit, and if you do go and visit make sure to go through Silver Creek Falls.

And my lovely husband who is always so concerend with giving back to nature and the great out doors. He decided to stop and water the grass and shrubs. (I think he would mad if he knew I added this picture, especially since he didnt even know I took it!) Then thursday (Rodeo Day) came and I must say that I love going to the St Paul Rodeo. Most of the Nelson cousins and Aunt and Uncles get togehter and we all go to the Rodeo the night before the Fourth and I love it! My parents stay home and hung with Jared for the night. But here we have Kyle, Shawn, Me, Allie, and my high school freind Kelley. We arrive a few hours early to eat delisiously greasy fair food and we walk around the fair until the Rodeo starts and ends with a great Fireworks show.

My favorite part of the Rodeo is the wild horse chase and of course my husband loves the bull riding. I also love the elephant ears and cotton candy.
Lisa, Todd, Max, and baby Charlie (who is the newest of the Nelson cousins and so cute and chubby) he is making his Rodeo debute a little ealry in his life.
Then we have O'Brian, Diane, and Lance
Amy and Brax

The Rodeo is definalty one of our families favorite traditions.

Oregon trip continued

The fourth of July turned out perfect, just like every year. The 4th is honestly one of my favorite holidays, I look forward to it year year. Jared was there of course representing his counrty with an American flag (that he was very entertained by). Then we had some swimming, shot gun shooting (for the men), lots of yummy food, great company, and of course the main event is the fireworks show. We dont mess around when it comes to fireworks at the Nelson's, especially this year. My uncle even went out and got a permit to shoot off the huge illegal fireworks to light off on the farm. Shawn felt very priveleged and gitty (actually) to be one of three men who were in charge of the firework show this year. So, after hours of planning, set up, and $2,500 later we had an amazing firework show. Here is a picture of my happy husband planning out the firework show.
Blake and I tried many many times to get a great shot of a firework going off, and this is the best we could get.

Then Saturday morning came and we all had to say good bye to Amy, Jared, and Blake. We loved spending time with them for a few days, so it was sad to see them go, especially for my parents becasue they had Jared and Amy with them at the house for the last month...and of course loved every minuet of it! Here is Shawn and Jared doing one of their typical activities when they are together...armwrestling. Jared loves to do arm wrestling and thumb wars with people, even though he has lost most of his muslce he is still very very strong.

Saying good bye to Jared Paul.
Jared in his new van ready for a long ride back to Utah. Jared just got a fancy new van with a pull down TV so he can watch movies on his long trips.

And they are gone, Shawn and I left the next morning. We wanted to take advantage of all the days off we could get. We had such a great trip. We love going home. Thank you mom and dad and Kyle for having us come and stay with you for a week, it was perfect. We love you!!!!