Bethany & Blake's Wedding in Arizona

At the end of May, we had a fantastic trip out to Arizona for Buff and Blake to get married. The pictures are a little out of order because I had to steal a bunch, but I'll try to explain.

Here's the whole entire Smith family! What a crowd!

Our little family. These were taken with Papa's cell phone, that's why we're looking at something else.

All the grandkids together (except baby Crew, who was being held.)

Ruby caught the bouquet! She was so excited and said, "Now I get to get married!!!"

Creepy brothers.

All the sisters.

Ok, here's the start of the trip. We left town a few days before school ended for Ella, so she had her last day/birthday celebration on the day we left. We brought in cupcakes for her class and I snapped some pictures of her friends and teachers. This is her with Mrs. Davies and Mrs. Gump.

Ella's 5th birthday was on a Saturday and Richard had to work that day, so we didn't tell her it was her birthday. Is that bad?! We told her it was on Tuesday, since that was the day we were flying to AZ and having a big cousin/friend party at Grandma's house. She was none the wiser! She told the flight attendant when we got on the plane that it was her birthday, so toward the end of the flight, that lady had the entire plane sing to Ella. It was so sweet! Then when we were getting off, she said Ella could go in the cockpit and check it out. The pilot was so nice and showed her what some of the many buttons do. She felt so special! Gotta love Southwest!

Once we got to AZ, we ran around getting last minute stuff for Ella's party. We had lots of family and friends come to celebrate and hang out. Ella got spoiled rotten and was so happy!

Ruby and Merrick. Can you tell these two are cousins?!

Ella and Kendyll. Ella is convinced that they are cousins.

Uncle Brock and Grandma Debby. She was very loved that night!!!!

Ruby. In her own world.

A little bundle of Annie Mae.

One night we went out to dinner with EmmaLee and Ray to the Roaring Fork in Scottsdale. So good!

The happily married couple. Blake and Bethany. Love her dress. She made it.

Ready to catch the bouquet.

The day after the wedding, I had the awesome chance (thanks to Kristi's sneaky husband) to fly up to Utah to surprise Kristi at her *surprise* 30th birthday party. I flew up in the morning by myself -which was heavenly- and had a few hours to kill before the party, so I hit up the Gateway Mall in SLC and had a fantastic time shopping with no kids. I could actually try stuff on! Then I headed over to Sandy to a retirement home for the party. Yes, Jared threw her 30th birthday party at an old folks home! Nice! She was very surprised and it was so fun to see her and her cute family. I also got to catch up with her family and friends who I haven't seen forever.

Kristi and Jared. I love that he made her wear an "Old Fart" hat.

After the party, some of us headed over to the Real Salt Lake soccer game. It was the first soccer game I've ever been to. I quickly learned that it is pronounced "Reeee-AL" not "Reel", like I had been saying in my mind. I'm such an amateur.

I just can't say how much I love this girl! We realized that we've been best friends for 15 years...half our lives! Not only does that make me feel old, but for someone who has moved around a ton in my life, I feel very thankful to have a friend that has seen me through thick and thin for all this time. I truly don't know what I'd do without her. I really wish we lived near each other, but there's no way we'd ever move to Utah.

Right after I got back to AZ (about 24 hours after I had left), we went straight to church at Richard's parent's ward. All of the grand kids did a musical number of Follow the Prophet. It was so cute and they all did a great job.

Later that afternoon, we dropped the kids off at my Mom's house for a slumber party. They were so excited to be there, but poor Ruby ended up getting sick. She caught whatever Annie had a couple days before and was throwing up all night. My poor mom! But it was just a little bug that didn't last long. They still had a fun time hanging with Grandma and all their Uncles.

Meanwhile, Richard and I had an early anniversary trip to Scottsdale for the night. We stayed at a really nice hotel and laid out by the pool. Heavenly! We ate dinner at Culinary Dropout and it was sooooo good! I still think about the soft pretzels and cheese dip. They had a band playing and lots of fun people watching to keep us thoroughly entertained. We also went and saw the new Pirates movie.

For breakfast, we went to Olive & Ivy. It was a Monday morning, so they didn't have their delicious brunch going, but the little cafe in the front had yummy breakfast to order. I love eating leisurely meals. Don't get me wrong, I love my kids, but sometimes it's nice to eat a meal not having to worry about anyone else.

When we pulled up, the parking lot was full of Lamborghini's and Ferrari's. Guess we forgot to drive ours that day. We took the old PT Cruiser instead! Ha ha! Gotta love Scottsdale.

We headed out to Phoenix to meet up with Melinda and Aunt Amy at the cemetery where Jake is buried. It was Memorial Day, so they were having a little program to honor all the veterans. It was so nice to be able to go to that, since we didn't get to come to his funeral. We love Jake and are thankful to him every day!

We had lots of cousin time! The kids swam and played together a lot. Here's Ruby, Canaya, Ella, and Landon.

Ruby, being Ruby. Love this girl.

Ella holding Crew. She goes on and on about how cute he is. I agree!

One of my favorite days was when my Mom and I went to the temple. I was thinking about it and realized that we hadn't done a session together since my wedding. It's been a long time! It was a sweet experience to be there together and I wish I could do it more. It was also nice to be there with my Aunt Sandra and also to see my cousin Heather while we were there. It's a great feeling to just run into family members. We definitely miss out on that, living so far away.

After all the Arizona fun, Richard headed back to NC and the girls and I packed up the rental car for our long drive to Utah! The drive was actually gorgeous. The mountains and forests of Northern Arizona, the Grand Canyon, the red rocks of Southern Utah, and then the giant mountains.