San Diego-Chris & Kristi's wedding

They finally did it. This great couple got married Saturday July 24th and Nate and I were lucky enough to be able to make the trip out to San Diego to see it happen. I got to see the ceremony and cried all of my make up off I had just put on. I loved the things that were said about their potential future and knowing that Kristi picked her perfect match and that Chris would make her happy her whole life. It was such a happy experience and so sweet to see the joy in both their faces that day. Congratulations you little soccer buddies, I'm so happy for you two. Luckily, the marriage of a good friend brings lots of friends together so I got to see the friends I've missed so much and Oscar got to meet many of them for the first time. We got to stay with my grandparents and my family was pretty excited to see Oscar. Thank you for everything grandma and grandpa! Sadly, I didn't get a picture with Lezlie or my family but I did get quite a few of Oscar getting passed around all of his new friends and aunts and uncles.



Aunt Tara and aunt Cayleen




Uncle Max


I finally got to see Anna Tanner after about ten years, one of my favorite ladies in the whole world


My lovely pregnant Alison and cute Katie in a dress finally


Sean and Catie


Nate and Graham (That is the SD temple in the background! It was COMPLETELY covered in scaffolding during the wedding with people working on it. A little bit of a downer.)


The cutest picture we've been able to get of Oscar so far. He did so great in his car seat on the road trip over.


We visited Steph and Ben and tried to prop up Oscar and Ben next to each other. I love this picture because it shows Oscar's permanent poop stain on the back of his onesies above his diaper.


And here are Oscar and Ben. Oscar was not happy about this arrangement.


We finally got to meet Julian! He's the CUTEST little boy! Sorry about getting you while you were on the phone Karyn.


And the cute couple

My volleyball champ

There's an annual family festival type thing here called Monsoon Madness that hosts a bunch of muddy events. They have a mud volleyball tournament and Nate got invited to play with the 2 time defending champions. (Nate's gonna be pissed about this, but I like to brag that he was MVP of the volleyball team in High school and was pretty good.) They went undefeated today and won the championship this year-i.e. a cool plaque and a $100 restaurant gift card. They were playing in the mud, which is so hard, and it was so muddy they duct taped their shoes onto their feet. And they played a total of 5 hours in 108 degrees under the Arizona sun. Way to go Nate.

Oscar's baby blessing

In our church when babies are born they are not baptized. They do, however, receive a sweet blessing, usually from their father, that is, in a way, a powerful and special prayer that the baby will do well in life. The father blesses the baby with whatever he feels prompted to say in that moment, so every blessing is unique and individual. In Oscar's blessing Nate blessed him to be strong and healthy in life, that he'll have the guidance of angels to protect him, that he'll always know he is loved and has a mother and father that love him, that he'll have the Holy Spirit with him to be able to know what choices to make in life, and lots of other sweet things but I won't mention every single thing. How it happens is the men of the baby's family (Nate's dad, brothers, uncle, and cousin in this case) go up to the front of the congregation and form a circle with the baby in the middle of them while the dad, Nate, holds the baby to give him the blessing. Usually babies start getting restless and start crying so dads get nervous and sometimes rush through the special moment. But Oscar didn't cry for a second and was totally content and quiet. Nate's dad said Oscar was even smiling and yawning up there. Nate's mom had been sewing and smocking a special outfit for him to wear and it turned out pretty cute. Nate thought it was girly cause he thought it was a dress, but we informed him it was NOT a dress, but a cute little romper. The romper turned out gorgeous and he even had matching shoes. The collar kept coming up in his face and Nate's mom said he looked like the flying nun. All of Nate's family came over to our house afterward and we had a pulled pork sandwich 4th of July feast. It was a great 4th of July. Here are the great pictures Nate's sister Janae took of the day.