Megan's Wedding

Though our trip to Salt Lake for Megan's wedding didn't start too well, it ended up being great because Megan's wedding was beautiful. Unfortunately, we tend to have flight problems lately, and we had yet another fiasco. First our flight was delayed because of airplane computer problems. We sat on the plane in Houston for 45 minutes before they told us to deplane and reboard another one. I'm grateful they were being safe, but 45 minutes just sitting on a hot plane not going anywhere wasn't fun stuff for a 16 month old. We finally got out of Houston and made our way to Salt Lake, but we couldn't land. I asked Josh why we kept passing the same landmarks, and it turns out we were circling the Salt Lake valley waiting for thunderstorms to dissipate. When they didn't and our plane threatened to run out of fuel, they announced that they had to refuel at the next closest airport, which was up in Boise. I'll tell you that being a few minutes from landing and then having to fly 45 minutes up to Boise and then back to Salt Lake again after refueling was not an enjoyable experience. But we made it safely and sanely enough even with a toddler on board.

My cousin Bryan and his wife, Noel, were kind enough to let us stay in their home. We feel bad that we didn't get to spend more time with them. Time seemed to be short everywhere. We enjoyed visiting some friends--Olivia, Juliana, and Tricia--though we didn't get to visit as long as we would have liked. We forgot our camera when we went to Tricia's home, so we don't have a picture of Lincoln with Eli, but she took one, which we hope to get soon. Even my dad didn't get very much time with us, but I'm glad he came and could at least spend some time with Eli while we were in the temple.

As I said, the wedding was beautiful. Megan and Matt had their reception on Friday night, and then they were sealed in the Salt Lake temple on Saturday morning. We only took a couple of pictures outside the temple with our camera, so we don't have any of the reception, but it was very elegant. It was held in an old meeting house that has been remodeled. Their colors were brown and red, and their cake had two flavors for the different layers. One was carrot, and the other was chocolate marble. They had a chocolate fountain with fruit and cream puffs, and there was dancing at the end. The temple sealing the next day was very spiritual, and the luncheon afterwards was held in the Joseph Smith Memorial Building. That was the shortened version, of course, but it all turned out very nicely. We're very happy for Matt and Megan and hope they enjoyed their honeymoon in Hawaii.

Now we have my brother Nephi's wedding to go to in September!

Thirty One

Over the weekend we celebrated Josh's 31st birthday! Since his birthday was on Sunday, he got two days of celebration. On Saturday, we took him to Hermann Park to ride the pedal boats, and this time I got to ride since there wasn't enough room when Josh's parents were here back in May. Eli really enjoyed it. He tried to steer the boat, and we had to laugh that he was standing up near the front like a captain of a ship. We liked watching the ducks with mohawks (I'm serious), and we ran into baby Jaws (okay, maybe just a really, really large catfish).

On Saturday night we took Josh to a Houston Dynamo's game. They are Houston's professional soccer team, and Josh has been wanting to go to a game for a while. We met up with our friends, Mike and Marci, and we had a really good time. Though Eli didn't pay much attention to the game, he did like the crowd. I think he liked that he could scream and be as loud as he wanted just like all the other fans. By the time the second half came around, he was pretty tired, and when he gets too tired, he's pretty fidgety. We owe a special thanks to Marci, who kept him occupied for most of the second half. Unfortunately, the Dynamos lost by one, but it was still fun and entertaining to watch. Thanks, Mike and Marci, for joining us!

On Sunday Josh opened his gifts, and we had birthday cake. I made him a chocolate cake, but since I don't eat chocolate, I made a carrot cake too so that I could join in on the fun. Don't worry, I cut both recipes in half so that we really only had one cake. We're not trying to gain too many pounds! ;-).

Overall, we had lots of fun celebrating, and I'm so grateful I have such great guys to celebrate with! Josh, I love you, and I know Eli loves you too. We hope you enjoyed your birthday.

First Haircut

Before

After

I finally did it! I cut off Eli's curly locks. Basically, it's the hair that Eli was born with in the back. It was getting too long. Josh was suggesting I put it in a ponytail, and the 2nd counselor in the bishopric accused us of trying to make our son look like a hippie. I knew it wasn't going to be easy because he can rarely hold still for anything, but I managed to cut off the most curly part. Obviously, if he grows it out, he has hair like his mommy. Now he just needs to get more hair on top.

Visiting Family

Now that we're back home and in the swing of things again, I thought I'd share how our trip to my family went. Eli and I left Josh for a week so that Grandpa and Grandma Grant could spend a little more time with their grandson since Josh couldn't take too much time off from school. We surprised Grandpa for an early Father's Day. Grandma and Monica came to pick us up from the airport in Las Vegas. We were going to surprise Grandpa at the door, but he spoiled the surprise somewhat because he came out to meet us while we were still in the car. He was still surprised, though. His jaw dropped when he saw Eli, and it was obvious my Mom did a better job at keeping it a surprise than Josh thought she would. :-)

Eli seemed to bond with Grandpa. He especially enjoyed their walks together. There are three horses in a field behind my parents' home, and Eli went with Grandpa (and sometimes Mom and Grandma) to feed them. Unfortunately, his walks are not quite the same here in Houston--definitely not as peaceful, and there are no horses nearby--so I think Eli misses them.

Eli also got in some swimming time in St. George and hopefully got over his fear of the water or cold (whatever the reason is/was for not liking it). Before we left, he cried if we tried to put him in our pool here, but Josh said that Eli was wanting to get in the pool today when they went for a walk, so maybe he got used to the water while we were there. After all, he went about four times.

After a week at my parents' home, Josh joined up with us. We were so glad to see him, and I think he was even glad to see us, though I'm sure he enjoyed the peace and quiet. :-) The Hinton Family (my mom's family) reunion happened while we were there, so that was a nice bonus. The last time I went to one was when Josh and I were dating, about five years ago. We enjoyed talking, eating, playing games, getting beat up in basketball..... ;-).

We actually ended our trip by getting to see Josh's side of the family. Tana and Chris took a little anniversary trip to Las Vegas the day before we flew back home, so they graciously let us crash their little party for a while. We spent Sunday night and Monday morning with them before going to the airport.

We even got some good news from Josh's sister Megan while we were there. She's getting married in Salt Lake on August 8th. Congratulations sister! It looks like we will finally be headed back to Salt Lake after four years away. We were beginning to wonder if we'd ever make it back there again.

Here are some pictures from the trip. Enjoy!