Cousins

Here are the kids with their grandparents on our last day in Alaska. I was thinking about my dad because we saw his brothers yesterday at my cousin's wedding reception.


Brittany looked lovely in her bridal gown, and her new husband Brad wore a smart-looking kilt. It was a small affair with close family and friends. She looked very happy. We enjoyed catching up with my cousins that we don't see very often. Carrie, Connie, and Michel were there and had we were glad to see our uncles.

Afterward we dropped by Clair's house, and then we went to Michel's so the kids could play with their cousins.

James and Brooke's Wedding Brunch

Here are some fun snapshots of family and friends at the wedding luncheon, and a few pictures and the temple afterward. We had so much fun seeing family, and it was wonderful seeing Brooke and James; they looked so happy together. It was a very joyous occasion.

I'm post dating this so they are in chronological order. I've been a real blogger slacker lately, but I'm going to try to catch up.

Michel and Analyse catch up with Marie.

Dad and his brother Ray enjoyed swapping stories.

Makenna looked lovely in her floral sundress.

Miles is glad to have so much family together.

It was great fun to have Joy around, and she is looking very fashionable, as always.

Mom and Stacie look great in their gerber daisy colors, and Mom is happy to be holding lovely baby Hope.

Snack time for Zach and Ben. Darius and Ruth are enjoying being parents of two very cute little boys;

Me with my very handsome, conscientious, considerate, and fun boys. I couldn't ask for anything else better.
Family weddings can take a lot of work, but I love them. I can't wait for the next one.

James and Brooke

Congratulations to James and Brooke who were married on Saturday!


They look very happy together.


Jame's siblings and inlaws.


Lots of nieces and nephews.


Brooke's family.

I hear bells...

James gave me a call this evening. It went something like this:

"How's it going?"
"Good, how are you?"
"Are you doing anything this weekend?"
"Just watching conference."
"It was fun seeing you and your friend, Brooke, a couple weeks ago? Are you dating?"
"We'll actually, thats why I called; we're engaged!"

Yeah!!! It's so fun to have siblings get married! Brooke seems really nice; a real catch. Congratulations, lil' bro!

Couple of the hour

Yesterday we had had a wedding and a baby shower for Ruth and Darius. The rest of our family was finally able to meet Darius, and they weren't disappointed. We're so glad that Ruth found such a fine gentleman that takes good care of her. They are such a kind and loving pair. I absolutely can't wait for their baby; he or she is going to be über cute. I mean just look the parents!

Mom and Connie got this fabulous wedding cake that was very elegant (and tasty, too.) Darius cooked up some jambalaya and their was plenty of cornbread.

Clair made a great MC for the night. We did a quick round of Mafia and we were totally bamboozled by the chosen mafia; we had no clue. Speaking of cute babies, Makenna was completely adorable laughing loudly every time we did. Everyone is anxiously awaiting for this years rendition of the "Thanksgiving Song."

Mom hosted the ever-popular Newlywed Game where we found out that Clair has lots of holey socks, Bobby is the only guy Carrie ever gave her real phone number to, Darius likes to ride horses, and I have a diaper in the glove compartment.


My lovely wife Melinda had a good time (probably laughing at me for taking so many pictures.) I used her mom's cool new digital camera and her dad's big flash attachment. Only problem is it makes me want to get a new camera.

Michel brought 3 of her girls and Joy brought Olive, her dog. Olive is my little canine friend. My little hairy, loose-skinned, drooling buddy. We all talked about how we met our significant other. Michel didn't let me forget about the time she made Brent a chessecake to impress him and I pulled the instant mix box out of the trash. Whoa, I was such rude little punk then!


Carrie and Bobby were very gracious to host the party at their house. They have these super high-tech light switches which people kept leaning into and turning out all the lights. I would hazard a guess that their was some smooching going on during those dark episodes.

I got to meet Bobby's mom and dad; Bob and DJ (I don't know if I spelled that right?) Their first "meeting" was pretty funny - Bob and his friends drove up to DJ and her friends and honked at them and drove away. Then DJ met him later and said, "Hey that was you!"

We had a great time. It was cool to have everyone together (though we did miss James who is in China.) Ruth is going to make a great mom and we're so happy to have Darius as a part of our family. Because so many of us are far apart now, it's extra special when we do get together.