So much to blog

Well, life has been crazy busy since Rebecca's wedding. I came home and spent a few days just catching up, then I had all these things I had to do and every day I think of something I want to blog, but don't have time to blog everything I need to blog from the past. Sooooo I am just going to catch up and try to blog more often so it's not so overwhelming for me and those that read it!!!

The visit to California for the wedding was wonderful!!! We had all of our kids there. Most of the spouses were unable to come, but it was actually kind of fun to just have the kids by themselves for a change. It was fun to watch Jacob in particular. He was sleeping in the exercise room all buy himself and he was having the time of his life going from the sauna to the pool to the steam shower and etc. He was able to sleep in and that almost never happens when you have small kids.

I spent the first 3 days finishing Rebecca's dress and making cupcakes for the refreshments after the wedding. The dress took longer than I thought it would, shock! I was basically happy with it, part of it didn't turn out like I wanted , but Rebecca was thrilled and that is what matters. I didn't get a pic of the whole dress, or very many pics period, but I will add them later when I get some from Lizzie, and let you know so you can scroll down and see them. For now I will post the pics I took on that wonderful day!! Back to the cupcakes, we did about 100 cupcakesThis is the pic I took at the wedding, I'm hoping Lizzie got a better one, I don't like mine, it looks crooked and no matter how hard I tried I couldn't straighten it!Everyone helped decorate them or we never would have gotten them done. The next day several people did about 200 strawberries. Before the wedding we had a party, at Lizzies, it was fun we had good food, some people swam and Jake played the guitar while people danced. It was fun! Such classic Jake and RebeccaSteve #1 and Steve#2 as Jacob named themBeautiufl Aliese and Elle

Beautiful Kate!

The swimmers

Doesn't this make you want to know what they are talking about! Time to eat!

Anna's b-day after dinner, what do you think that beautiful face is wishing?After dinner and Presents, Jake started playing his guitar and everyone started dancing.Last but not least, the future bride and groomA couple of days later we had the wedding. The bishop did a really good job. He talked to the girls as well as Steve and Rebecca. When the Bishop pronounced them man and wife, Rebecca was all but jumping up and down, and Steve had tears running down his face. It was a wonderful ceremony and day! I again am hoping Lizzie got more and better ones that I will add later, but here's some: Lizzie and Shad

I loved this one!

I thought this was so sweet!Isn't she beautiful! Just like her mommy!Can you be more beautiful than this? I don't think so!The random people there were Steve #2's best friends back to high school, they couldn't have been sweeter or have said nicer things about Steve. They were so helpful also. Jacob wrote a song for Rebecca and Steve, it was very Jacob, funny as well as very touching. He wrote a copy for them to read while he sang it. It was fun to watch bachelor with all the girls. I never watch it unless I am with one of the girls houses and they are watching it. It was great to be with the grandkids that were there. After the wedding I was free to play, so we swam and I attacked them all on the floaty thing and dumped them over, they all loved that-even Aliese.

We made cookies with my new sprinkles also, a little overwhelming with so many kids at once, but still fun. That night when I went to bed I couldn't sleep thinking about how to make cookie making easier, espceially with so many grandkids at once. I came up with a new plan for doing cookies in the future. I am going to give each kid a sheet of parchment paper about half or the whole size of a baking pan. Then I will roll out or have them help me roll out the dough, give them some cookie cutters and let them cut out their cookies. They can then take the extra dough away from the cookies and set in a pile, I will then lift their parchment paper onto the cookie sheet and bake it. No impatient little kids waiting for their turn to cut out cookies and no broken cookies while transfering them onto the tray! I will also give them all a little bowl of frosting and a plastic knife, (I have observed they are easier for little people to handle) to decorate their cookies with. I basically let them do all their own sprinkle work anyway so this way they can just do what they want. I think it will be a lot less stressful and way more fun for the kids. I'm excited to try it!!! Will let you know if it works. I wish I had pics of the whole expereinces but I was very busy at the time and noone eles thought to take pics of us I guess. I should have asked someone to grab my camera and take pics. Next time!!

This was so sweet and I can't believe I got it on camera!!!

All in all it was a great week! I was exhausted, but a good kind! love you all!!