Tautphaus Park Zoo

So we have this zoo that is less than 3 miles from our house.  no joke.
Our subdivision is on the same street as this park/zoo.
We have lived in our house for 2 years and we just went to the zoo for the first time last week.
Crazy I know!

But we finally got there this past week thanks to my friend Natalie and her two boys.

Adalyn is a great age for the zoo and really loved seeing all the animals from her books in real life.  Although I must be honest every one of the kids favorite "animal" was the lion drinking fountain.  We "visited" it 3 times.  Classic.

But right behind the fake lion were the monkeys.  They were very active and kept coming right up to the glass to say hi.  Even Jensen got excited when they would swing around.  Adalyn has been talking all about monkeys since then.

Adalyn enjoyed other fake animals too.  Hands on seems to be her thing.  Even a Lion eating a lion popsicle could not steer her away from the playground. 

Along with the monkey's I really enjoyed watching these birds.  They caught a fish while we were watching which is always fun to see and I was amazed at how flexible the bottom of their beaks are. 

Thanks Natalie for the fun afternoon!  I didn't even know we had such a fun place to go SO close to home.  We will have to go more often next summer. 

Bear Lake- Pace Family Style

We have missed seeing McKay's family ALL summer, especially his brothers families.  It seems like everyone has been busy doing their own thing and we haven't gotten together since Lindsey's graduation in May.  So Natalie and Diana threw together a family party at Bear Lake on August 24th (maybe it was the 25th I can't remember which one was the Saturday).

The weather was a little bit rainy, but I loved it because that meant it wasn't overly hot.  We didn't do boats or wave runners, just a family barbeque on the beach and some swimming.

As always Adalyn loved the water and Jensen did great for the most part in his pack and play.  Although he did get fussy when it was time to nap.

Yes that is Jensen in his pack and play sleeping with a crib sheet over it.  Little trick I learned from Pinterest to keep him out of the sun.  Worked like a charm.

These no bake energy bites were a hit as a snack and we all ended up eating WAY too much food.  McKay's dad brought his good hamburgers and I am pretty sure I ate 1 and half of McKay's when normally I barely finish 1.  SO good...

Loved chatting with everyone and seeing how big all the kids are getting.  Hopefully we don't wait forever again to see each other.  If only we all lived closer together, because as fun as it was a 6 hour round trip isn't going to be able to happen every week.  Too bad...

The men folk, talking or watching the kids?  you be the judge :)

Thanks for the fun time Pace Fam!

Rusty and Larissa's Wedding- August 30, 2013

They did it folks, they went and got married.  And it was beautiful!

Larissa and Rusty met at BYU in their singles ward.  They dated for a few months and then both graduated from Engineering on the same day (go here for that post).  They got engaged earlier this summer right before Larissa took off for Connecticut where she started her first "real" job at Pratt and Whitney.  Getting engaged consisted of a ruined "fake" double date with Rusty's roommate, a walk to a waterfall, his nieces bringing roses and the ring down the trail, and ended with a private plane ride over Provo.

The majority of their engagment was spent apart except for one quick trip for each of them.  Larissa came back to Utah once a couple weeks before the wedding and took some bridals/formals with Aunt Heather.  Here is a sneak peek of the pictures that Heather took of them.  

Also my sisters and I her a bridal shower too.  I am terrible and didn't take any pictures of the event!  so sorry!  Corinne did a great job with the decorations, Mykelti did the invitations and I did the food.  For the main dish we made these ham and cheese sliders and they were a crowd pleaser along with this White chocolate Reese's fudge.  

Wedding Day 8-31-13

The day started off at the Salt Lake Temple where they were sealed as husband and wife.  Corinne and Mykelti were so kind to watch my kids plus all of his nieces and nephews.  I loved being in the sealing room, always a great experience to celebrate a new couple, plus reflect on our own wedding day. 

 Bonus to the wedding day was seeing Melanie and John from Kansas

 Grandma and Libby

Adalyn loves going to church.  And so she got excited when we put her dress on that morning because she thought we were going to go to a church, but we explained that a temple was even better than church.  So when we finally got there I had to take her picture with the temple because she was so excited to be there! 

Mr. and Mrs. Cannon!

It was a crowded day at the temple so pictures were quick on the stairs and then we moved over to the side.

After pictures we hung out at City Creek until the luncheon. And some of us napped...

And some of us did not nap...

The Luncheon was held at The Joseph Smith Memorial Building.  It was my first time eating there and it was yummy.  Rusty's sisters and mom decorated nicely and had cute little facts about both of them out on the tables.  Aunt Heather was a big help on entertaining the kids.  She always has fun things for them.  In this case it was the ipad...

  

 The bride and groom with their parents.  All with the last name Cannon... hehe

I just have to say that I loved having the wedding and luncheon right next to each other.  Totally took a ton of the wedding craziness out of the day. 

That evening they had their reception in the same cultural hall as McKay and I did.  They hired a different decorator so that mixed things up.  Here are some of the details from the night...

Her colors were Eggplant (deep purple), mustard yellow, and gray

Wedding Cake by Larissa's best friends dad-

For the food they served Ham and Cheese Crackers with Éclairs and lemon squares.  Larissa loves cheese and crackers. 

We took a few pictures before the reception started, but it was nothing like the amount that we took before our wedding!  Which was good because our kids barely lasted for even the few that we did take that night.  Of course I don't have the main pictures that their photographer got, but here are a few of us dressed up in our cute clothes. 

Even though it is bad lighting I still love this picture.  So happy to be married to such a handsome guy...

Dancing...

Adalyn posing.  She loved her dress!  She looked so cute, and she knew it too!

And one last shot of the bride in her dress before they headed off on their honeymoon.  Larissa looked beautiful that day! 

Everything and I mean everything went off beautifully.  Congrats to the married couple! 

P.S. Happy to have technology so that even though we can't be there we still get to "see" you and your apartment through video chat... 

Love my family even if we all live in 5 different places and 3 different states

PPS Welcome to the family Rusty!  And the story behind the last names is... Yes they are both Cannon.  They figured out the genealogy and it ends up that they are both descendants of George Q. Cannon, but they come through different wives.  So their relationship is half 3rd cousins once removed.  So they are close, but not too closely related. :)  It just means that their kids will REALLY look like Cannons.