family pre-wedding dinner

The night before weddings, the Reeders hold a dinner at the Joseph Smith Memorial Building. It was a lot of fun seeing Aimee's family again; we hadn't seen them since we moved from Alaska - it was two of our worlds happily crashing together. 

This is the big bunch of parents, siblings, grandparents and sponsor parents (the Panns are honorary parents for Mark and Michael from the Air Force Academy):

Here is Mark with his Grandpa Benson, his namesake. In the background is Grandpa Benson's dad, President Benson. I still think it's so fun having a family tie to him: 

We all turned the microphone usage into a game; for every time you got up to it and told a story / piece of advice / or anything at all, you got to put your name in the jar to win another jar of a yummy mix of jelly bellies. It made it a lot more fun and we had a lot of laughs and some sappy tears. Mark and his brothers said I got the firecracker award for my 'bit of advice.' The evening was perfect, and even Aimee's dad won the draw, lucky guy:

dress up

(Emmy in a borrowed bow from Aimee, post - bridal shower; turned Emmy into a little lady from the 40's... she felt so beautiful while eating her grapes! I wish I had a video of her preening like a little peacock. Having a daughter now I find myself saying "the cutest thing" far too much!! I just love her..to pieces!)

celebrating a grand mother

The day before Mother's Day, my Aunt and Uncle usually hold a lunch to honor my Grandmother Barrett, who is standing below in her royal blue with long stranded pearls. What a woman.. today she told us the story about how she won a school fist fight cause her dad taught her how to punch. It just wasn't quite what we were expecting, but we were all smiling. 

Speaking of smiles... I do believe this is the first one of Mont EVER smiling on 'command' - and it looks like it. I love it so much! I think this is another fridge photo.. I love that he's so happy to be playing trucks with my Uncle Brett (my mom's brother). Lucas is his new best bud, too. 

In order from left to right, top row then bottom: 

Aunt Ruth, Tessa, Grandpa J, Grandma Cleia, Karsten, Emmy, Jayci, Devin, Keri, Collin 

Uncle Brett, Mont, Lucas

Then Aunt Ruth swapped with Mark, but by then Mont had lost his smile and had hijacked both trucks. 

I realized as we were in the back yard after the majority had left, that this is the only place that Mont can play where I had played as a little girl.. made me really miss the Mustang St. house even more than normal. (the mustang house is where I was a baby - 14 yrs) 

Seeing these two playing in my shadow was just so perfect for this Mother's Day weekend.. 

made me so happy. This is the weekend of nostalgia for me!! 

Too bad this is off-focus.. this little girl loves all things grown-up. Even if it's just her that thinks it's grown up. Little girls are such funny little things, aren't they?? 

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niemory lane

I'd been wanting to go to Provo for a while now to take a stroll around campus just for nostalgia's, and last night was my chance. After the kids went to bed, I drove to the little city to have a bite to eat with my roommate from when we were there at BYU.

She told me Horne Hall (I know..) was next up to be torn down to make way for the newest and nicest dorms in the state of Utah... they were beautiful! .. not these... the new ones. Just take my word for it. 

Here's Horne Hall in all it's sunset glory:

Our old dorm room... 54. Right there in that doorway was where I opened the door to Jordan and met her for the very first time! That vent in the bottom right hand corner is where we would scare people walking past with screams and monster noises.. we were the typical weird freshmen that are everywhere else in collegeland: 

Annnnnd.... can anyone guess who's house this is??? 

Holy shmokies I saw it in person! I felt like the paparazzi.. 

but I was just too excited!

pool party

Yesterday was a pool party of the best sort, with two happy kiddos splashing away. 

But just as a special treat, I got two really special photos of Emmy, showcased at the very end.. enjoy.. 

I'm sure when she's a teenager she'll wish she could burn them. 

Emmy was dancing to the beat of Mont's splashes: 

Then she saw a plane.. she loves motorized anything nearly as much as Mont:

Then things started to get whacky:

Feeling a little funny:

What sound do you think is coming out of her sweet little mouth?

Here's the cream of the crop:

FABULOUS fridge material ... for years to come, I'm sure!!

big dinosaurs

Today we had some time to take the kids to see the Thanksgiving Point's Museum of Ancient Life, 

or Big Dinosaurs! as Mont will call it from today onward. 

Here are more than a few quick pictures: 

I always love the displays that museums have.. 

I think maybe someday I may have to have it as a job:

One of the coolest things about raising kids is re-learning these incredible things as an adult. 

In this huge room, there was the "supersaurus" (which Mont is about to get friendly with), and the bronchiasaurus which is behind and above me. Please don't google the spelling, 

I'm sure I'm getting these wrong:

Another view of this massive room: 

I think Mont loved it as much as we did, if not more, and I really loved it:

So did Emmy! She was clambering to get out of her stroller nearly the whole time. 

This is her at the beginning, still peacefully pointing and smiling at everything: 

The Tyrannosaurus Rex is of course, one of Mont's favorites, so he just kept staring and pointing:

I have to admit, it is pretty intimidating and amazing! The displays this museum had were pristine. Such interesting stuff! So interesting, in fact, that I had to keep a death grip on Mont's arm for him to be in this picture:

"Pirate caves!!"

This was a crazy display of how the hunters try to bring down the wholly mammoths. The hind legs are crushing one skeleton person and the other (near the white arrow) is about to be hit by a huge rock being thrown by another skeleton man on the rock hill to the right. See the white arrow? 

That's where Mont went heels over head backwards right off this railing, 

a millisecond after I snapped this:

Huge.

Huge!

HUGE!!! Mont loved this megladon shark! On the left of this picture, it is a great white shark molded after a white had gorged itself on something. I wonder what exactly, and I had no idea that was even possible for their stomach to stretch like that. Makes me feel sore just looking at it. Anyway, they have it there just for size reference:

All day Mont has been saying, "big dinosaurs!! A scaries?? SCARY DINOsaurs!!" He sure loves naming them off with Mark. He knows 'tyrannosaurus rex', 'bronchiosaurus', 'allosaurus', 'triceratops', and a couple of others. Every time he says one, I'm just so proud! ; )

not young enough

I'm not young enough to know everything. 

~ J.M. Barrie

J. M. Barrie was born on this day in 1860. 

Happy birthday to a man who inspired so many imaginations.

little dairy queen

She sure loves milkshakes!

a grand visit

Whenever we're in Salt Lake City, Mark and I take an afternoon to go visit my Barrett Grandparents. Visits with them are always a good time. They tell stories, ask questions, listen to us tell our silly stories, and we usually end up leaving with all sorts of towels, blankets, and candies. 

Here's what the visit 'arrangement' was this time around. 

My dad was lucky enough to escape the camera's reach:

Mont is talking to my dad.. probably something about pirates or caves or tigers:

When everyone was visiting, I snuck my camera out to take some pictures of my mother's art they have around. Then I got caught up in all the other art and took pictures of work done by my uncle and grandparents (both) as well. This one is possibly my favorite, done by my mother:

A lot of these are very, very small, but I was still able to increase the size fine. 

Mom! Imagine what Mark's camera could do!

No signature on this one, so I'm not sure who was the artist. If I had to guess, I'd say Mom..?

Another very small one:

This was probably an inch and a half by three? Puny!

Another teeny tiny one:

This one might be my second favorite one of my mom's. 

The delicate little stem with leaves just gives it a touch I love:

This was done by my Grandmother! There are only two around their condo that I could see, done by her. She is far more talented than I ever even knew:

In their condo, these hang very high on their wall, so these pictures are at a slant, then cropped. 

I can't even make out the signature, but I believe these are done by my mother's brother, 

my Uncle Brett. 

Second of the pair:

Tiny:

This is small as well but enlarged alright:

I am SO sad this came out blurry.. it was in too dark of a hallway for my shaky hand to take a clear picture... maybe I should have brought up the tripod. This is one of my top three favorites: