I Just Love Weddings!

Congratulations to the happy couple:  Alex and Kelli Mortensen :)
We are so happy for our friends, the Mortensens.  They have gained an adorable, sweet, new daughter named Kelli.  We just think Alex and Kelli are so cute together!  And they couldn't have chosen a better venue to hold the blessed event... the beautiful Riter Mansion in Logan, Utah.  That is the same place that Jesse and I had ours!

Some of the handsome guests:  Jared and Rob, highschool BFF's

Avril's words: Papa, baby, Mama

One of my favorite peeps, and the groom's sister:  Amy Rapp

more of my favorite people

Our little cutie pie

The newlyweds

And here are some of my favorite shots from the night, of Avril and Laurel.  Laurel kept on grabbing Avril's hair, which was really cute, until she tugged a little too hard and made Avril cry.  Well, it was still cute, but Avril wasn't so happy about it.

Avril's New Kitchen/Closet

We had a wonderful surprise waiting for us after we returned home from Montana.  For Mother's Day, my wonderful mother went garage sale hopping and found all kinds of fun things to put together a kitchen for Avril.  We don't really have space for a playroom in our house so my parents cleaned out the closet underneath our stairway to give Avril her own little space with her own little kitchen.  The result was a VERY excited little girl.  Avril absolutely loves her new toys.  Thank you grandma and grandpa.  We love you :)

Mother's Day in Beautiful Montana

This year for Mother's Day we took our first trip up to see Jesse's mom's new home.  She moved up to Bonner, Montana, which is quite a drive so we haven't been able to make it up to see her until now.  The good news was that Jesse's football team happened to have a football game about an hour away from where Mom lives.  The bad news was that this was a VERY good team, and this was the Stampede's first loss in two years!!  Oh well, it was still fun to visit this beautiful place and to get to spend Mother's Day with Mom/Grandma.

Avril expecially LOVED playing with the dogs at Grandma's house.  She would point her finger at them and shout, "woo woo!"... which means, "woof woof!"  It was so cute!!  Grandma Carme spoiled Avril by getting her lots of cute new clothes and hairbands.  She also made delicious food that Avril loved to eat.  We had such a great time getting to see Mom's beautiful Montana home.  The area she lives in has some breathtaking scenery.

I can't believe that I didn't get a shot with Grandma Carme and her granddaughter for mothers day.  Shame on me.  Here is a pic of Mom/Grandma that I stole from her facebook :)

Thank you Grandma Carme for welcoming us in to your beautiful home and for doing such an amazing job raising those boys of yours... especially the one I married :)  You must've done something right, cuz he's just a fantastic, sweet, thoughtful, hard working husband and father.  Also, you are a wonderful cook and we loved all the delicious food you made for us while we were visiting.  Thanks for everything.  We love you!  Happy Mother's Day!!!

Here is a picture of Avril wearing one of her new outfits from Grandma Carme.  I love the little goldfish on it :)

Here is Avril chasing after one of the dogs.  She truly has no fear.

Happy Girl!

Squealing with delight!

Now brace yourselves... you are about to see something soooooo beautiful.  It is one of the most incredible sights I've ever seen.  We were on our way to Jesse's football game and we looked out the window, and what did we see?.....

This:

There are 2 rainbows going across the big Montana sky.  But the really cool thing is...

...that they went COMPLETELY across the sky!  We pulled over to take a pic, it was just breathtaking.

now if only we could find that pot o' gold at the end!

Analysis of a Fantastic Wife

A study recently was published that estimated the average monitary value for a homemaker in the United States.  The estimate came out to an astounding $117,000 per year.  I think Alicia is worth twice that with all the different jobs she completes.  The following are just some of the jobs she has absorbed to get our family through each day. 

Nanny- Ali is a top notch nanny with over a year's experience now.  She is helping raise a child who is wild by all accounts.  Alicia is always playing games with Avril as well as going for walks, going to the park, taking care of the basic necessities (eating, bathing, ect.) and making projects for Avril to enjoy.

Master Chef-  If you're reading this and haven't had the pleasure of trying Alicia's cooking, she is holding out on you and you need to invite yourself over asap!  She is incredible!  Just ask Avril and me.  It doesn't matter if she is making a simple meal for the three of us or if she is going all out for a major event, everything she makes leaves your taste buds craving more.

Maid- Even with the forementioned jobs, Alicia finds time to maintain the cleanliness of the house we are so blessed to have.  Avril does her best to mess up the house and take out every toy, movie and kitchen utensil and leave them scattered throughout the house.  Alicia has none of it.  Sometimes she lets Avril think she is winning, but then she zaps things into their place with her magical cleaning skills.

Accountant- Alicia manages the budget.  I only know that I have to spend less than I make.  Alicia knows the ins and outs of managing money.  She is able to balance the checkbook and estimate the allowances we have for future purchases.  She also knows what to do with excess money, which leads me to her next job.

Financial Advisor-  Alicia uses her accounting skills to accurately determine what should be done with our money.  She is so in tune with the financial world that she has accurately predicted the rise of a couple stocks and "plays" in the stock market (safely of course, not day to day trading).  She has incredible intelligence and dedication to research makes her a fantastic financial advisor.

Chauffeur- Everyone knows what a chauffeur (pronounced show-fur) is and Alicia has a great driving record.  She gets Avril from point A to point B safe and sound!  She is also a fun person to ride with.  What else can I say???

Travel Agent- All of our travel plans go through Alicia.  If I were to plan these things we would end up in gross places with horrible smells and 100 miles in the direction opposite of our final destination.  Alicia always makes cost-efficient plans that create easy and fun traveling for all of us.  This skill came in especially handy during this football season because we (the stampede) have not had a home game in about a month. Alicia has made all our travel reservations and even talked the owner of a hotel into giving us a non-smoking room when they were all occupied supposedly. 

Interrior Designer- Prime example: Our nursery.  I don't know anything about color coordination and decoration but I do know Alicia spend a ton of time in that room prepairing it for our precious child.  I've never seen any women walk into that room without heavily complimenting Alicia's hard work.

Dress Coordinator- I'm just going to say it.  Avril is always dressed to impress.  Alicia is also rarely caught in public without looking like she belongs on the cover of People Magazine.  Avril is lucky to have a mommy with such great taste.

Wife- Ok so being a wife isn't a paid occupation, but it does require a ton of work to make a marriage happy and successful.  She is always doing the little things that make our marriage strong despite completing aspects of the nine occupations listed above.  The words amazing and incredible are grossly overused in the English language today, but there are few other words that capture the magnitude of Alicia's value as a wife and mother in our family.  I am so glad Alicia and I found each other.  I look forward to enlarging our family and creating children who have some of the same qualities as my wife.