Labor Day 2007

Natalie celebrated her 25th birthday this year. Here she is opening a few presents from my family. My mom gave her a nifty cast iron pumpkin. We were lucky enough to make a quick visit to see my family in Idaho after we went to Evelyn's blessing.

My dad the pyro started a fire out back so that we could all burn marshmallows (Natalie insists that hers were nicely toasted). This is a picture of Natalie teaching Alyssa how to "nicely toast" one.

One fire wasn't enough so Dad had to light another one; only now we have moved inside the TeePee. Kayson, Carter, Halle, and Liberty loved it.

Kayson and Deidra with their new ugly dog, Jack. He is great with all the kids.
Grammy trying to keep Kate out of the fire.

Brylee had a bit of a wardrobe malfunction.

MISS Liberty and MISS Halle choosing the perfect roasting sticks.

Evelyn's blessing

Amanda and Andy decided to bless and name Evelyn at their house on Sunday the 2nd of September. It was a really neat, special event and I am so glad that we could be there.

Amanda made this dress for Evelyn, with a little bit of help from her mother in law, Debbie. It was so cute and Manda did a great job on it!

It still cracks me up how funny my dad is with Evelyn. He keeps trying to hint that he would like more without trying to put too much pressure on us. Good thing that when Andy was blessing Evelyn, he said she would be a help with her brothers and sisters. It sounds like there might be a few more from Amanda for my dad.

This is Quin's dog, Roxy. Amanda and Andy are kind enough to take care of her and feed her for us.

A few family photos

Notice Manda and I are so vain, we took off our glasses.

Our big adventure

Two weeks ago Quin and I went on our first really vacation since our honeymoon. As most of you know, we traveled a LOT our first year of marriage with all the craziness of Quin's job, but most of it was not fun and definitely not a vacation. Amanda and Andy blessed Evelyn over labor day weekend so on Saturday, Quin and I woke very early (3 in the morning) and drove to Burbank (that is where the film Jeopardy, one of my favorite show) and hopped on an airplane to Utah. We spent Saturday night with my parents and Sunday Evelyn was blessed. After the blessing we drove to Idaho (I don't know why but the stretch of road between Ogden and Idaho Falls feels like forever) and visited with Quin's family. Sadly we left Idaho Falls less than 24 hours after we got there. We drove back to Ogden and spent the night with my parents. The next day was my birthday (yea!!) and my family went to lunch. That night we flew back to California and went to Disneyland for the rest of the week. Quin started coming down with something when we left Anaheim and was down for the count for a few days. We all know how considerate Quin is and he didn't want me to feel left out so he shared it with me and I have been sick for the past few days. Well that is the summary. I am going to be posting pics over the next few days and will fill in the details as I go along.

Evelyn

When I went up for Jessica's wedding, I met my newest niece, Evelyn. At the time she was only three weeks old. I am very smitten with her and could not stop holding her. I took a ton of pictures and now three weeks later I am posting them.

Here I am holding Evelyn. For Jessica's reception, we dressed her in a super cute outfit that Quin's mom and sisters got for her.

Here is a little better photo of the outfit. Also, note the fact that my sister just had a baby and she looks great.

The very proud grandma
The proud grandparents

Check out the blanket, I made that for Evelyn, again, with the help of my ever talented friend, Stacie

Me sewing the blanket
The full blanket
A close up of the blanket
I know that I am tooting my own horn a bit, but I am very pleased with it. I had to sew it twice, the first time I had to unpick all the seams and start over.

My dad makes me laugh. He is Crazy about Evelyn! It really is cute. I was burping her one night and he was so concerned that I was doing it too hard. If he had been doing it, he would have barely touched her.
My dad with his babies
Evelyn is going to think that her name is "Little one." You just can't help yourself. Whenever any of us are holding her, we always say in singsongy voice "hello, Little one."

Evelyn loves bath time. She even has a rubber ducky, you can kind of see it in the mirror.

Jessica's Wedding

One of my oldest friends ever (we have literally known each other since we were babies, we probably knew each other in the pre-existance) got married about three weeks ago and I flew up to Utah to be there. She was married at the Salt Lake Temple on a beautiful day. I am so happy for her. Mike seems to be a great guy and I am sure they will be very happy together!

Here they are coming out after the ceremony. She look gorgeous and they look good together
I took a few pictures of the grounds after the ceremony. I walked around reminiscing. Jessica and I took a tour of the temple grounds the day I met Quin and Quin and I were married there so it was extra special. These are with my camera phone, I am pretty impressed with the quality.



Jessica and Mike dancing their first dance together as husband and wife
The two of us together at the reception. She had a garden reception at her grandparents, it was so nice!

The Super Scouter

I had to post this picture of Quin in his scout uniform. I don't know why, but every time he wears this I have to laugh, he is just so adorable in it! I am sure that I am going to see him a lot in it because we are pretty sure that he is going to be a lifer (meaning he is going to be in scouts for the rest of his moral existence). It is probably hereditary.

Our Friends, THE Changs!!!

Two weeks ago, we were visited by our good friends the Changs. We met them while living in Vegas and miss them a lot. They called us up and asked if we were busy because they had just decided to road trip it to Cali. Of course we dropped all of our public appearances for them.

These are THE Tori and THE Kameron. Tori was one of the girls that went up with Natalie to Girl's Camp 2006. They became friends; Best Friends. Kameron and I had lots of good times being sarcastic in young mens. Here we have young Becca.
Maggie (left) and Katie (right) had a little too much fun road trippin'.
This is Cindi (momma Chang) and Becca. Cindi is one of the greatest people you'll ever meet.