LA Trip Day 1

I was able to join Brian on a work trip to Los Angeles in February. Brian's mom's spent 3 days with the kids, and they went to friends' houses the last 2 days. It was a fabulous, amazing getaway and I loved every minute of it!

Day 1 was crazy finishing everything up and making sure all the loose ends were tied up. But once I was on that plane... ahhhhhh. Heaven!

Brian and I were on different flights and met up at LAX about an hour and a half apart. I was in the midst of reading the Harry Potter series for the first time, and the Goblet of Fire accompanied me during my quiet time.

After a horrific time at the rental car place (thank goodness the Olympics were on to somewhat keep us occupied - ugh!), we enjoyed some In N Out-

It was so nice to spent the late evening at the outdoor pool/hot tub at our beautiful hotel.

October 2013 recap

In October...

Mason was stung not once, not twice, but THREE times by bees/yellowjackets. Poor guy!

The weather started to turn cool and out came the hats!

I attended my first Time Out for Women, which was so much fun! I went with a great group of friends, and we spent the night downtown Denver between the sessions. We did a favorite things exchange, had dinner at Corner Bakery, laughed and stayed up way too late, and were uplifted by amazing speakers and musicians. 

Isabel and I saw the BYU Ballroom Dancers; what a spectacular performance! She talked about it for days-

Enjoyed some of the most amazing fall colors - perhaps a result of the floods?

Once again enjoyed watching the enormous flocks of blackbirds fill the cornfield behind us, the trees, and the sky-

Connor painted this amazing bird of prey in art class-

And of course we got ready for Halloween!

Aunt Meg/Washington, DC

My brave and amazing Aunt Meg passed away on Sept. 11 of this year, after battling leukemia. She left my grieving uncle and 2-year-old cousin, Luke. I was very grateful to be able to attend her funeral in Washington, DC.

My brothers and I flew from Denver to St. Louis, where my parents had been visiting my sister Kristina; my mom flew to DC immediately upon Meg's passing, and my brothers and I helped my dad drive their car from St. Louis to DC.

It was crazy leaving home in the midst of some record flooding; the kids were out of school an entire week, including the whole time I was gone, and were without running water for a day and without potable water for several days. Brian did a terrific job of holding things together during this crazy time.

My brothers, dad and me were able to spent a couple of days at Kristina's house in St. Louis, where we took in a Cardinals game, saw the Arch, and enjoyed some quiet time at home and walking around Kristina's beautiful new neighhorhood- I am so frustrated that I cannot get phone pics to stay upright even after saving them that way!

My dad, brothers and me left around 10 p.m. and drove straight from St. Louis to DC, through Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, West Virginia, Virginia and Maryland. It was so pretty to see the Shenandoah and Blue Ridge Mountains, if only from the car. It's been years since I've done that gorgeous drive-

In DC, my parents, brothers and I spent an evening doing the monuments, which are always so amazing and spectacular. It was a perfect evening, and we also enjoyed seeing the moonlit Potomac- we walked and walked and walked and had a really fantastic time together-

My parents stayed at my uncle Mike's house, which is in an amazing neighborhood; US Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts lives across the street and a few doors down. Mike's sweet elderly neighbor lady, who was very close with Meg, offered to let my brothers and me stay at her house, and we all had our own room; it was nice to be rest next door to everyone.

Mike's house; the library was a recent addition and is seriously the most amazing thing ever. Two stories, all cherry wood, huge fireplace, secret moving bookshelf, I could live in it!

Chief Justice Roberts' house-

The funeral was beautiful and heartbreaking and so many things.There were many people from all facets of Mike and Meg's life; I sat directly in front of Justice Clarence Thomas. I can't believe Meg is gone. She was nothing short of remarkable. I enjoyed spending some time with my parents, brothers, cousins, aunts, uncles and grandma, despite the sad reason for us to be together.

Isabel's baptism

Isabel was able to be baptized by her dad on Oct. 12, the day after her 8th birthday. Brian's parents, his sister Kelley and her husband Leo and their kids Cameron, Parker and Cesaleigh, as well as my brothers Nate and JJ, and Nate's wife Alli and son Aidan joined us for the special day, as well as a number of our friends.

My mom made Isabel's dress; she had also made her blessing gown. My photographer friend Kristie got a couple of shots of Isabel in her dress after we had family pictures done, but we ran out of light and time and weren't able to get some additional pics I wanted, so my sweet friend Lindsey, also a photographer, offered to do a photo session of Isabel in her dress with some fun ideas incorporated, like hanging her blessing gown in the background; I love the idea of the three white dresses and hope we will continue this when Isabel gets married.

Isabel chose purple as her accent color, which turned out so well. Loved how everything came together.

Kristie's pics:

Lindsey's pics:

Special day! I had seen this idea for a cupcake dress months ago, and couldn't wait to make one for her. So easy, but so cute-

Isabel and Brian-

Family-

We are so proud of this little lady and her decision to be baptized.