Joni and Aaron Hawks Reception

Remember when I said I love weddings?  You know what I love even more than weddings?  Wedding receptions!  What's not to like?  Good food (of course I said food first).  Visiting and reminiscing with family and friends.  Dancing.  Funny picture taking.  Toasts celebrating a union of love.  Jokes.  Laughter.  It's awesomeness smothered with sentimental sauce!  The Jacobs-Hawks wedding reception was all the above!

Below are some pictures and stories to prove my point (not that it needs proving).

  

Joni and her Aunts, Tamara and Jenny.  They were checking out the dress

Ross and his oldest granddaughter Tandra.  I can't believe that Tandra is 16.  I will forever and always see her as a three-year-old singing at my wedding reception 

Baby Zayah in her own little world playing with the flower petals

Ade and her girls, Cassi and Tandra.  I love these three women so very very much.

Jim and his nieces

Our little family

Tandra and Cassi performing during the family dinner.  They have such pretty voices, and Cassi played the piano like an all-star and she's only been playing for a year now!  Seriously, amazing!

The beautiful bride singing to her man.  If you've never heard Joni sing, you're missing out.  She has a blow-your-pants-off-your-butt-because-she's-so-amazing kind of voice.  

During the dinner Brody came and showed me his super-duper loose tooth.  It came out during the reception.

Tralee and myself making crazy faces. . . I don't want to brag, but we're really amazing at it.

So, at one point during the reception Joni and Ross were doing their father-daughter dance.  I looked over in the far corner to see Jim and Tralee having their own little moment.  I snapped some pics, because, come on!  It was adorable!

I love how she's looking up at him

They love each other so much!

Tralee has this man wrapped around her finger

Jim also stole a dance with Tandra. . . 

. . . and Cassi

He dipped her!

After dancing for a bit, we took the kids outside to do some exploring.  The wedding and reception all took place in an awesome building called The Machine Shop.  It's by, or part of, an old train yard.  So, there are a few abandon trains and train tracks all around the building.  It was an awesome place for restless kids to do some exploring and climbing.  

Zayah on a train

Brynli doing a little train exploring

Hunter can't go anywhere without finding some "treasures."  In his hands you can see some of the treasures he hoarded during out walk by the abandon trains.  One man's junk. . .  

My kids. . . like I said, I can' t get my girl to just smile.  She's always gotta be posing in some sort of way while making various facial expressions.  I kind of love it.  But sometimes,  a nice, normal, cheesy smile would be okay.  

I managed to capture this cute pic. . .

. . . this one too.  Also, do you like Tralee's dress?  I made it!  I KNOW!  I'm all like, a seamstress now.  

Chase and Zayah walking back to The Machine Shop after Zayah's wardrobe change

Cute Lexi!

At one point during the reception Tralee and Lexi got up on a table outside and started dancing.  Zayah joined them.  I got a hilarious video of the three of them showing off their moves.  Later on Brynli joined the fun.  

Tralee and Lexi on the table

Brynli

Later on, we went back inside to have a little wedding cake.

Joni and Aaron cutting the cake.  Aaron's mom made it, and it was so yummy!!

So guys, Uncle John (Jim's brother) started telling the kids all about the haunted building behind The Machine Shop.  I guess it's haunted by Chinese workers who died while working on the railroad.  You can sometimes see their ghosts at night, sticking their faces out the broken glass saying, "Ni Hao" (they might be saying "hello" because that's the only Chinese word any of us knew--thanks Kilan).  Anyway, at one point during the reception Uncle John gathered up the kids, and told them they were all going to knock on the door of the building to see what would happen.  Tralee was gung-ho at first, but about half-way there she FREAKED right out, and ran away crying.  Lexi followed her.  The only kids left with us were the youngest ones!  Go figure!  Guess who was the only one brave enough to knock?  ZAYAH!!  Her reaction was priceless.  Check out the picture below.      

When everyone first started walking to the haunted building

Zayah at the door, right before she knocked

Right after Zayah knocked, she turned around and ran away screaming.  I don't think she really knew what was going on, just that it was exciting.  The adults, being the mature people that we are, all laughed.

Uncle John even tried knocking.  This was his reaction running away!

Later at night we danced our fannies off.  I mean, several of us had some AMAZING new moves. . . that involved jelly beans!!  Check it out below:

Here I am dancing with two of my favorite people:  Cassi and Nikki.  Lexi and Tralee were our back-up dancers (also two of my favorite peeps).  We were doing our latest made-up dance move. . . it involved jelly beans.  We were being super silly and enjoying every second of it.  Guys, I laughed so hard I couldn't breath during this dance-off.  I laughed so hard that my stomach hurt the next day.  I love my sisters-in-law.  I was totally meant to be in this family! 

We're awesome!

For reals, dancing with the family--inside and out of The Machine Shop--was one of the highlights of the evening.  Even some of the parents got up and grooved with us.  We were rockin' to some Backstreet Boys and Michael Jackson like nobody's business!  Good times!  

Towards the end of the reception we had all about had it!  Too much sparkling apple cider for us religious folks. . . as well as another bubbling beverage for the others!   

Chase, Nikki, Jim, and Channing after the party

Over all, the entire wedding day was filled with so much love and laughter, it will be a day to look back upon with much fondness.

To wrap it all up, here's a video of Cammi and Ross performing "I Won't Give Up" to Joni and Aaron during the family dinner.  At the very end, Ross sang some lyrics he and Cammi wrote for this event.  Joni didn't know it was coming, and I don't think there was a dry eye in the house!  Also, Cammi has an amazing voice. . . and how cool is my father-in-law?  He was in a band, ya'll!  For reals! 

Joni and Aaron's Ceremony

I love weddings.  I mean, who doesn't?  Family and friends coming together to celebrate a union of love; it's perfect.  This last weekend's wedding festivities were no exception to the blissful rule!  Jim's little sister Joni married her man Aaron.  Jim officiated the wedding, which made it extra special.  My kids got to see their favorite cousins, I got to see some of my favorite family members, and fun was had by all.  The entire weekend was one happy event after the other, but for now, here are a few pictures I took before and during the wedding ceremony.

Enjoy!

Lexi and Tralee, best cousins

Jim and I made some frames for Bones and Aaron to display their pictures in.  Like them?

Cousins!  Tralee, Brynli, Lexi, and Brody. . . Hunter wasn't cooperating.

Ross and his sisters Sherrie and Venice

Grandma Judy and the little girls. . . Tralee always has to "pose" for pictures.  She never just stands and smiles, instead she does random facial expressions and poses.  Haha!  I love it!

Chast and Celeste waiting for the ceremony to start

Aaron high-fiving down the aisle.  They set up the chairs in a circle so the wedding party could walk in front of every person seated.  It was pretty cool.

Bridesmaids and groomsmen. . . 

Cammi (bride's little sister) was the maid of honor and Paul (groom's younger brother) as the best man

Cammi and Paul dancing down the aisle

I just about died when I saw the handsome little ring bearer.  Too adorable!

Zayah the flower girl

She really is just too cute!  Everyone falls in love with her immediately.  I mean, look at her!

Ross and Joni walking down the aisle. . . beautiful!  Look how happy she is! 

This is my favorite picture of them!!

My husband, the minister, marrying the bride and groom.  Jim got a little choked up at one point.  He loves his little sis a lot.  He said the emotions took over, but he regrouped and they were married without a hitch!!

Saying her vows. . . so happy!

Introducing Joni and Aaron Hawks!!!  HOORAY!

Ross and Judy; father and step-mother of the bride

Groom's parents

Tricia and Jeff; mother and step-father of the bride

Jim hugging Joni after the ceremony

LOVE!

The ceremony was lovely. . . reception shenanigans soon to follow!

Back to School Printables

Who loves school supply shopping?  I DO! I DO! I DO! (said while frantically waving my arm around.)  I've loved it since I was a little girl, and now that I have a little girl to go school supply shopping with, I love it still.  There's something about brand new markers, crayons, glue sticks, and a pencil case to store it all in that makes me happy.  My mom never let me use my new supplies, or wear my back-to-school clothes until school actually started.  The anticipation of using and wearing my new gear was almost too much to take.  Now I watch Tralee with the same anticipation and it makes me giggle.  Getting ready for school is kind of exciting, and since we're all sorts of excited over here, I made a few "Back to School" themed printables today.  Since I'm nice, I thought I'd share them on the blog with whoever would like to print them.  They're jpeg images, so all you'll have to do is drag and drop the image for Mac users OR right click and save the image for PC users.  Then print it/them out, trim to size, and pop them in a frame for some instant cute back-to-school decor.  It might help take the edge off while you wait to rip into that new 64-pack of Crayola crayons. . . oops, haha, I mean, wait for your child to rip into them.

All of the sizes are labeled below the picture, they're mostly 8x10s, but I also did a few 5x7s.  If there's a size you would like that's not shown, shoot me a comment and I'll add it to this post.

Have fun with all your back-to-school preparations! 

8x10

The READ, WRITE, IMAGINE printables would look cute on their own, or in a grouping.  See below:

8x10

8x10

8x10

5x7

5x7

5x7

Enjoy!

Would you like to see some more FREE pintables?  Just hit the button that says "Free Printables" on my side bar and it will take you to a list of free printables I've created. 

Back from the Wedding

Hello!  We're back from Jim's little sister's wedding in Wyoming.  It was a weekend filled with family and fun.  I'll be sure to post more about it later, but for now enjoy these pictures.  The first one is Tralee checking out the bride.  The next one is of all the Jacobs siblings minus one with the bride and groom.  

Stay tuned for a full wedding report.

Temple Square

On our drive back from Las Vegas, we spent the night in Salt Lake City.  Our hotel was, literally, right night door to Temple Square.  So, the next morning after breakfast, we walked around Temple Square for a bit.  When Hunter first saw the temple he said, "Whoa!  Look a castle!"  I told him it was even BETTER than a castle.  I told him that's where Mommy and Daddy got married.  He thought it was even cooler after that.

Here are a few pictures from our morning.

While inside the tabernacle I realized that my children will never watch a conference and see the old pipe organ in the background.  That probably makes me really old, doesn't it?

The kids wanted to climb to the very top of the tabernacle.  Then Hunter proceeded to wave and say, "Hi!" to everyone he saw.  Because the acoustics are so good inside this building, everyone heard him.  Even when I told him he had to be as quiet as a church mouse.

Oh, hi there!

I wonder what she was thinking.

For some reason, my kids decided to be really sweet to each other while we were on the temple grounds.  I wasn't complaining!  It melted my heart.

Little sweet hearts

Family shot

I'm always amazed at the amount of detail there is on this building.  It's really quite amazing.

I told Jim to take a picture of me acting like a bride.  I may or may not have forced him to take several shots of me posing here.  He did it, all while rolling his eyes and calling me a cheese-ball.  I know he secretly loved it.  :)

After about an hour walking around Temple Square, we decided to get back in the car, and finish our drive home.  The rest of the trip was pretty uneventful.  It was nice to come back home.