August Rush

Literally, August was a whirlwind. We kicked off the month of August with Cameron's 9th birthday. (I made him a soccer ball birthday cake)That morning we spent in Park City for one of his tournament games-the championship game was later that afternoon so I left him with his coach and packed up the rest of the crew to get down to Alpine for Alisa's and Meagan's combined bridal shower. It was fun- I had Ryan and Scott come and made them play my version of the "Newly-wed game". We fed everyone homemade potato chowder, rolls, a plethura of sweet fruits and yummy cookies. Overall, a success and Alisa and Meagan got some great gifts to start off their new lives with. I then got the kids and drove back to Park City-Cameron's team won. We then got in the suburban again and met Wes back home and then took off again to pick up some Chinese food and eat at the drive in theater while we waited for dusk to fall so the kids could watch their movie. We laid them in the back of the burb when their movie was over and then Wes and I watched my chick flick(The proposal) Needless to say, it was a long day. Wes went with Zac to Webelos camp that next week and had fun with the boys. Saturday I picked up Ryan and met mom, dad, Crystal, Alisa, Scott, and his mom at the Salt Lake Temple for Alisa's endowments. It was a great session as usual(I love being in the Salt Lake temple) We met two of Scott's other brothers at the Olive Garden afterwards and enjoyed good food and great company. The next week Hailey celebrated her 5th Birthday. She got to have a party this year so we had a fun party with friends over. She wanted a butterfly pinata and a Tinkerbell birthday cake- we played games and the kids had fun playing with water balloons and running in the sprinklers. We left the next day to Idaho to help get ready Alisa's big wedding day. Mom and I roasted red peppers, cooked and cut 15 pounds of chicken that night. The next day we cooked and frosted 150 cupcakes and I started on the wedding cake. I did a four layer cake with fondant(first time making and covering cake with fondant-not too bad of an experience) Alisa wanted a lemon cake, and so I baked that with a lemon curd layered inbetween.MMMMMMmmmmmmm!

The next morning we all pitched in and cooked 18 loaves of foccacia bread, thinly sliced cucumbers, decorated outside at the Reeders home.(GOURGEOUS! didn't even need decorations) I was a little nervous though, as we were decorating the wind kept blowing down the floral centerpieces, but that evening everything was perfect. Alisa looked beautiful and happy, Scott was handsome, and all the family enjoyed the beautiful Idaho outdoors with all the green grass a plethura of kids could hope to run around on and enough water features and trees to explore. I unfortunately did not take any pictures but when my sister posts her pictures I'll steal a few and post them on a later blog. The next morning we all caravaned down to the Salt Lake Temple. The sealing was wonderful- I love going to sealings, I learn something new every time and the spirit is always so overwhelming. After family pictures we walked over the the Joseph Smith Memorial building for a dinner reception. There was about 140 people that came. Not only friends and family were there but there were neighbors there from when I was a small child in West Jordan of whom I have some of my earliest memories of. We had delicious food, great entertainment, dancing, kids entertained by blowing bubbles and just fun fun fun being and talking with everyone. Well, just half of the month is over. I'll be back to talk about the 2nd half a little later.