Briana and Jonathan's Wedding

One of the Saturdays that I was in Phoenix I had the opportunity to see Briana get married. I was so glad that I was able to be there to celebrate with them. I only had my little camera with me, but I decided to grab as many shots as I could. As a warning, there are tons of pictures to follow, I am having such a hard time narrowing them down! Oh yeah, I didn't even take pictures at the reception but their backyard was amazing! I got to help with some of the food preparation and setting up which really meant tasting the wonderful treats...did I mention how much weight I've gained? No? Then let's just look at those photos.
Here's the happy couple just outside of the Temple. I sure took a lot of pictures of the back of Melissa's dress because she was the real photographer and I didn't want to be getting in her way.

Here's Briana's side of the family, I didn't have a good one of his side, they were all blinking their eyes!!

And proof that Danielle was there! She looked really cute in her dress, and it was sooo fun and not the least bit awkward to visit Krispy Kreme immediately afterwards in our wedding attire.

I guess from taking pictures with Stephen I've discovered that if I'm not the main photographer, I like taking pictures of the photographer taking their picture. This is one of my favorites minus the random shadow in the front. And I've realized that getting married in Phoenix in December is MUCH smarter than getting married in Phoenix in August. Who knew the weather would be much nicer?

And then when I'm not taking pictures of the photographer taking the picture, I have to be off to one side so they're never looking directly at me.

Even though it was December the sun was soo bright!

I love that Briana had daisies for her flowers, they're her favorite.

I just couldn't win with the next two, alternate people are blinking their eyes, maybe I'll photoshop them together!

Here's the gorgeous bride.

And a backlit version.

And one in Black and White.

Here are the bridesmaids.

Of course the shoe picture.

Proof that I was there too! It was funny because my dress sort of went along with the bridesmaid's dresses unintentionally. I even had the cream stripe along the middle. This has happened now at three of the weddings I've been to lately. I wasn't in the bridal parties, but I managed to wear at least similar colors, I just thought that was interesting to note. Apparently I have good luck with the wedding color gods.
Congrats Briana and Jonathan! I'm so happy for you guys!!

Jared and Kellee's Wedding (Really our weekend getaway)

Last weekend Stephen and I traveled to Utah for another Zank wedding. It was neat to go back to the Salt Lake Temple and it was sooo good to be near family again. Here's the cute couple just outside of the Temple.



Stephen has more pictures of them and the rest of the gang on his website which you can visit

here.

We always have to make our trips more exciting any way we can and what would be better than losing your luggage?!? Yep. Our plane didn't arrive until about 11:30 Friday night, luckily grandma's bag arrived just fine but ours encountered some problems. That's the second time that I've lost this exact same bag going to Utah. I just think the Salt Lake airport doesn't like my luggage. I was upset because the wedding was Saturday morning and I had nothing to wear. Stephen had worn his work clothes on the plane which would work just fine but I couldn't go the the sealing in my jeans and flip-flops. So around midnight Stephen's mom picked us up and dropped Stephen off at the bachelor party and we had called my sister-in-law to see if I could borrow any of her clothes. (Side note: this is where it would be handy to have codenames already worked out. I don't know who wants their names and stories told on the internet especially when anyone can view my blog. Sorry if this leads to tons of confusion!)

While we were on the phone we discovered that Stephen's cousins had just gotten into an accident right around the corner from where we were. I was still pretty upset about losing EVERYTHING, but once we heard about this I realized that maybe my problems weren't so bad after all.

Long story short(er) I was able to borrow some clothes (only had to buy shoes) and everyone in the accident was ok. Thank heavens. The sealing was wonderful and it was fun taking pictures with everyone. It wasn't too hot although I managed to get a sun-burn. We then had to hurry to the family houses to prepare for the luncheon and reception. It was fun to actually get to help with a reception and to see the little details come together.

I had tons of people come up to me and say random comments like, "We heard about your good news!" or "Congratulations!" to which at first I was thoroughly confused. I'm sure they didn't appreciate my quizical look or my pause before answering, but even though I'm pregnant that doesn't mean it's real! Come on now. It's weird enough for me to say it but for others to know was weird. Not that anyone isn't supposed to know, I'm just not used for so many people to talk about it. Plus it was Jared and Kellee's day, and my mind really was focused on them and how happy I am for them.

That night we had a sleepover at D & C's house (don't think about pregnancy, it's their initials) and breakfast with the family in the morning. I love doing things with a big family. I think it's what I miss the most.

After our plane ride back (they didn't lose our luggage!!) we still had to drive the two hours back home. We were both exhausted and so we decided to pull over and sleep a bit. Hours later when we woke up Stephen realized we had gone the wrong way and had added an extra hour to our journey! He drove for a little and then I finished driving bringing us back home at around 5 Monday morning. No fun. But very happy for Jared and Kellee, yay another Zank wife!!

P.S. Sorry if this was hard to read, I tried to separate the paragraphs out and put in indentations but nothing worked! If you have any advice I would LOVE to know about it!

Manti Temple

The week that we left to drive to Texas, some friends of ours were getting married. We were planning on atttending their open house in Gilbert the next week but once Stephen got his job we knew that was out of the question. We realized we could instead drive to Manti Utah and attend their sealing! I was super excited about this! At first we didn't understand why they would choose to get married in Utah when he is from Arizona and she is from Idaho, we joked that it was in the middle and therefore the ultimate compromise. Having now been there, I am stunned by the beauty of the temple. It was as gorgeous on the inside as the outside leads you to believe. Stephen snapped this picture after the ceremony, while waiting for the newlyweds to come out.
It was such the perfect day for a wedding, I had always wanted it to be stormy on my wedding day but unfortunately that didn't happen.

I love the picture below of the happy couple. It was interesting to hear both sides of their family talking to each other before the ceremony. I definitely learned new things about both the bride and groom.
And of course there has to be a kissing picture!! I love her dress, it is GORGEOUS!!
We had to leave early to get back and finish packing so we could leave for Texas, we ended up leaving at just the right time because it started hailing while they were trying to take more pictures!! Stephen and I are both very glad that we were able to go up for their sealing, it was such a special event.