Trip to Royal City

Just after Ian's birthday we went to Royal for our niece's baptism. I didn't actually take any pictures while we were there, but I took pictures on the drive. I've discovered that its a good way to entertain myself on really long car rides.

You can't really tell in this picture, but the clouds were amazing. They were the craziest shapes and much more colorful.

Even there are no pictures from while we were actually in Royal City, we had a lot of fun. We got to go to one of the twins' little league games, drove around the farm with Chad and his girls, who were very entertaining, I got to see Chad and Marnie's new house 5 or 6 times, and of course there was the baptism. Basically it was a really fun few days with lots of family.

Ian's birthday in Park City.

It was only two months ago. Anyway, I'd never been to Park City, and Ian hadn't been in a while, so we went up. We went to the outlet mall, which was probably much more fun for me than for Ian, though the Nike store made it all worth it. We ended up getting sunglasses. Ian said we had to get them because Dr. Tim (his optometrist brother-in-law) says everyone should have them. Though I'm pretty sure he just needed an excuse to try on every pair of sunglasses in every store we went to. And of course you can't do that without actually buying a pair. So here we are in our sunglasses:

After the outlets, we went downtown, and wandered around a little bit while we decided where to eat. We ended up eating at a French restaurant called Jean Louis. We were quite adventurous and had escargot as an appetizer and veal for the main course, both of which we never had before. I didn't take my camera in, so there are not pictures of the escargot sampling. The escargot was actually much better than I had anticipated, and of course the veal was good. These are the picture of Jean Louis we took driving by.

On the way home, we got caught in construction. We were stopped behind a horse trailer and next to a loverly orange barrel. I entertained myself by taking pictures.

The next day, which was really Ian's birthday, he got to open his presents. Since he loves candy, (but really, who doesn't?) I had to make him this highly cheesy candy card. Don't worry, he got other things too.

 We had pizza for dinner, of course. Then we saw a movie that Ian didn't like (I don't remember which) and came home and had cheescake. I have to brag  a little bit, because the cheesecake turned out perfectly. It wasn't even cracked at all. It was just one of those serendipitous moments that are all too rare when cooking. Check out the size of Ian's piece.

Memorial Day etc

For Memorial Day  we drove the Alpine loop and then stopped in Provo Canyon and roasted bratwurst and marshmallows. Ian and I have come to a picture truce, so I am allowed to take some pictures of him, if he can take pictures of me. Here are the results.

Since there was a handy stick and a pocketknife, of course I had to whittle. It came in handy for the marshmallow roasting.

Our best attempt at a self portrait.

This is our house on May 24. As you can see it snowed. We had about an inch at our house, though it doesn't look nearly that impressive, but that is because the grass is about a foot long. (It has been mowed since then.) At the temple there were probably 3-4 inches.

We were going to do our marshmallow/brat roast last Friday but it looked like it was going to rain. Ian didn't want to wait for smores so we had those for dessert.

The best thing about roasting smores over the stove is you don't have to worry about the marshmallow catching on fire. Also its a lot easier to wash your hand and face when you're done.

Ian and I are both wonderful at taking flattering pictures. Portrait, anyone?

Weddingness

It's only taken six months...

After I got endowed.

Everyone who came to the temple with us. Ian's parents, my parents, and my sisters Emma, Clarissa, Camilla and Eliza.

Oquirrh Mountain Temple the night I was endowed.

This is probably my favorite picture from our wedding.

I love that we both have our noses wrinkled. I don't remember why.

Some of Ian's nieces and nephews. Another one of my favorite pics.

My family. One of my sisters and her family couldn't make it.

Ian's family. They were all there.

Oquirrh Mountain Temple on our wedding day.

Me and my mom.

With all our nieces and nephews (though there are more now). They were all so cute in their matching dresses and suits. It was pretty cold though so they're all covered up.

Ian's watch adds just the right touch.

 So cute.

Ian and his mom.

The photographers had hand warmers for us. They told me to put them on my nose in between pictures so it wouldn't be so red. It didn't always work as you can see.

It must've worked in this one, though I'm surprised the goosebumps don't show up in the picture. By this time we were pretty dang cold.

Outside Tucanos waiting to go in for our wedding dinner.

Ian's family at our reception in Washington.

Only three of my sister's made it to the reception.

Random Things

My sisters Emma and Camilla and Camilla's boyfriend came over for General Conference and Easter. I figured that since its been a long time since we've been home for Easter it would be fun to make them all Easter baskets. But, I was too cheap to get them actual baskets so I put their stuff in Tupperware, which they had to give back.

Since Ian is kind of a picture grouch this is one of the few pictures in which he isn't scowling.

I couldn't get the ironing board to close (I may have broken it) so Ian fixed it for me. Of course I had to document the occasion, but due to the picture grouchiness I had to sneak up on him. He still looks like I betrayed him, but it was too late. He didn't let me take another one though.

For my sister Camilla's birthday Emma and I drove up to Salt Lake and we went hiking in the hills up by the U. It was kind of a bipolar weather day... It started out hot and sunny but ended up cold, windy and rainy. The black things on the bottom are the straps of my backpack. It was the only thing we could put the camera on and get our faces in the picture and not our knees.

Another self portrait attempt. We did have one that was more centered but I looked like I had 4 chins, so since I have all the power I used this one instead. I think Camilla and Emma look better in this one anyway.

Of course we had a snack. In this case it was saltine crackers and cheese, apples and granola bars. That's what my dad always brought when we went hiking with him when we were little, so we were being nostalgic.

Organ Woes

So for the last few months I have been playing the organ in our ward. The first few weeks were pretty bad as I relearned how to play. I took lessons for a year in high school and then I took a class, but since that ended more than a year ago I didn't even touch an organ until I got called to play. So, needless to say, the first few weeks were not so good. So eventually I got the basics figured out all over again and I decided to get a little fancier- like maybe change the registration in between verses and use the pedals a lot more. For the uninitiated, a basic organ has two rows of keys and pedals that work basically like a piano. But, unlike the piano, for each level you can pull different stops, each of which has a different sound. This is registration. To simplify the process you can preset registrations so you can completely change it just by pushing a button instead of by pulling a bunch of new stops. So I went to do all of this as normal, but when you push the buttons it makes a very loud noise for a few seconds (as if I was playing one of the keys), and it doesn't seem to change the stops. So there went that. So then I was just sticking with the basics, however that didn't end up working too well either. Apparently one of the pedals has a short, so if I have any of the pedal stops pulled it sounds constantly. So now I have just been playing the organ as if it were a piano, but it is just incomplete sounding. All I have to say is that that organ is unlike any organ I have ever played or that I have learned about at all. It is a lot cooler though because it is a pipe organ. And I do like playing the organ, but it's way better when I know how to do what I want and when I can play how I want.