When Pigs Fly

One of my good friends from Georgia, Chris Janes, has recently tied the knot. She and new husband, Mark Williams, threw a motorcycle-themed celebration at a park near where they live and it was a very fun party.

They love to go motorcycle riding together. It's a new thing for Chris and she said she loves it so much. It has become a passion and she even wears the leather chaps and everything.

The weather was the perfect temperature for an outdoor party. The park was nice. Mark and Chris were cordial hosts of the event honoring their wedding nuptials which occurred several weeks earlier.

Chris enjoyed telling us how much Mark got into the decorating mode with lots of great ideas of what to do to carry out the theme--complete with putting down white stripes on the paved path making it look like a road and putting up road signs along the way.

This is the sign-in table.

In the grassy area there were tables surrounding a motorcycle.

This is the table top decorations.

At the end of the road pathway, Mark and Chris were standing together in their wedding attire making a very beautiful couple.

The backdrop was a motorcycle and the American flag.

It was wonderful to see and talk with Chris's parents and Cameron and Danielle. They looked so nice in their purple attire. I should have taken a close-up of the matching purple canvas shoes they were wearing. So cute!

They were in charge of keeping the food stocked. Great idea to have a hot dog cooker and popcorn popper there along with various salads and bottles of pop.

Time for the cutting of the cake.

Mark was very gentle with Chris and did not shove the cake in her mouth. He scored lots of points with me right there.

A live band was playing during the party. After Mark and Chris took their first dance together, they invited everyone to join in dancing.

It was hilarious to see Cameron and Danielle make a beeline to the outermost table when the dancing was announced. Glen soon joined them.

I am so glad we were able to attend the wedding reception. I told Mark I was very anxious to meet the guy who talked my friend, who was so dead set against ever marrying again, into marrying him. Chris laughed about how she had said she would only marry again when pigs fly.

I saw the winged pig sitting on the picnic table and had a good laugh about it.

It was such a lovely afternoon. It was a joy to see my good friend again. I loved meeting her husband. I could tell by his eyes what a good man he is and looking at them both together I can see they are very much in love.

So happy to see Chris happy. I love that girl so much. Always have. Always will.

Came Home Early to a Full House

While Glen and I were off on our very fun work trip to Jackson Hole, the house was filling up fast in our absence. Abe, Klarissa and Newland were in town for Abe's friend's wedding. We were sad to miss Rich and Jessica Millar's big day but were happy Abe and Klarissa got to go.

Ben has been working in Dallas this summer and chose to come home for his one-time summer visit on Memorial Day weekend. If he's here, that means Haley is here as well.

If the sisters get wind any of their brothers are in town then they come over to spend as much time as possible with them.

Sarah was a wonderful help to Abe and Klarissa by watching Newland for them while they went to the temple with Rich and Jessica.

We definitely benefited from Abe and Klarissa's visit because they fixed a delicious Sunday dinner for the whole lot of us. Flank steak, corn on the cob, quinoa salad, strawberries. All of it I could eat. Thanks both of you for catering to my recent dietary restrictions.

It's always a bit wild and crazy and definitely noisy and messy when the little people get together. They seem to enjoy their own special things they like to do at their grandpa and grandma's house. We are sure they are building some great memories of the times they spend here with us and with their aunts, uncles and cousins.

The little boys go straight for the container of cars and trucks. Caroline loves to find her favorite pair of black glasses. The grandkids all beg for popcorn and then love to go to the basement to eat it while watching a kid movie. Glen is always such a good sport to watch the same movies over and over and over again.

This particular Sunday Rebecca had just finished sharing time in which she had used a sock puppet to have the Primary kids decide which things are good for the body and which things should be avoided. When Eli got his hands on the puppet, he thought it was the greatest thing ever.

We had decided to cut our trip short by a day so we could spend at least half a day Sunday with the family. It was a good decision. We love our kids and grandkids and are looking forward to seeing more of them at the end of the month.

Memorial Day Weekend in Jackson Hole

Glen put together an incentive trip for his people at work to earn a trip. All the eligible people qualified to go to Jackson Hole. Great job, everybody!! We stopped at the new Brigham City Temple on our way. What a beautiful day for a drive with blue skies above.

We stayed at The Inn in Teton Village.

When we saw the following words of caution flashing on the sign by the road we took back and forth into town, we perked right up.

Glen thought hitting a cow and two deer with various cars was plenty enough. He definitely didn't want to add moose to his list of animal/car accidents. In case anyone wonders--we never saw one on that road, dead or alive.

While Glen got caught up on work and church stuff, I searched and searched for a good place to eat dinner and came up with Gun Barrel Steak & Game.

Antlers are used for many things in Jackson.

Look at this delicious meal. We loved it a lot. So glad it was an excellent choice.

After dinner we took a stroll through town. Can't go to Jackson Hole without getting a picture of the antler arch.

I thought of my sister Nani when I saw this Italian restaurant. It is very rare when you see her name spelled the way her name is spelled.

 Couldn't help but chuckle and think of my hunting brothers when we walked by this t-shirt shop.

In case it's hard to read, the first one says, "Of course hunting is a real sport. The one who gets the most POINTS wins." The second one says, "If God wanted us to be vegetarians...he would have made broccoli more fun to shoot at."

On Saturday morning we drove into town so we could watch the parade. Here we are standing in the same spot we were standing when we watched the Jackson Hole parade with our kids a few years ago. Fond memories.

We talked up the parade with all of the G&K people we saw and only heard of one couple that actually went and they really liked it. All the kids around us sure seemed to enjoy the parade because they got so much candy thrown at them--probably even more than they get trick-or-treating.

 

Glen was downright sad the ladies from the saloon were not in the parade this year. They made quite an impression the last time we saw them. We ate breakfast in town after the parade.

We moseyed on over to take a look in the Museum. It was free that day and we decided to take advantage of the situation.

 

In search of more free fun, we went to the mountain man rendezvous. This was the first thing we saw. Nice and inviting...

We both agreed my nephew Zane would have loved walking through all the tents and seeing what the Indians had made since he does a lot of Indian bead work. My favorite part was watching the Indian show the boy how to throw a tomahawk and make it stick in the target.

Glen got so tired waiting for our lunch to come that I was sure he would fall asleep eating it like the kids have done when they were small eating their lunch right before nap time.

I felt a little tired, too, but nothing like Glen. Then I had to laugh when I saw this picture of me. I look exhausted as well. Any wonder we decided to go back to our room and rest for a while before our big evening?

During the day there were two big groups of G&K people that went rafting down the river. Glen opted out so he could spend the whole day with me. He had already had that thrill with the kids.

In the evening, the G&K people met together to enjoy dinner and entertainment with the Bar J Wranglers. They serve a very hearty steak/chicken/or ribs meal and then put on a musical show for the audience. It is always a whole lot of fun.

It was very nice for us to stand at the entryway and greet all of the G&K people as they arrived and give them their tickets. Glen is thankful for their hard work and they were all very gracious as they accepted their tickets and voiced their thanks for the fun activities G&K provided and the overall fun and relaxing weekend they were enjoying.

Bear hugs for all on our way out. Thanks G&K and the Bar J Wranglers for providing a nice weekend for us as well!!

Quotes of the Week

"Tough times don't last, but tough people do. Never give up!"
-- Robert Schuller

"Time is an equal opportunity employer. Each human being has exactly the same number of hours and minutes every day. Rich people can't buy more hours. Scientists can't invent new minutes. And you can't save time to spend it on another day.  Even so, time is amazingly fair and forgiving. No matter how much time you've wasted in the past, you still have an entire tomorrow."
-- Denis Waitley

"Words have special powers. The power to create smiles or frowns. The power to generate laughs or tears. The power to lift up or put down. The power to motivate or de-motivate. The power to teach good or evil. The power to express love or hate. The power to give or take. The power to heal or harm. Choose your words carefully."
-- A.D. Williams