California Wedding

August has been a very travel-full month and we finished it with a big trip to California for my cousin Anne's wedding. This is a very photo heavy post for Grandma Huber since she was not able to be there. We missed you Grandma!

DAY 1 - TRAVEL

It was just the kids and I that went, but thankfully we didn't have to travel by ourselves, we traveled with my folks. I like that Keegan is old enough to understand that he was on a plane and he was very impressed by it. He also really liked the TV in the seat in front of him .

Cady and Grandpa dozing, while Keegan watched his TV.

It is supposedly the coldest summer in San Fran that they have had in awhile, and it was cold, we were under-dressed. I never got a good picture of the Golden Gate Bridge because there was always fog. Also, Keegan has intentionally stopped looking at the camera when I take a picture ... frustrating.

DAY 2 - REDWOODS AND WEDDING DINNER

We got up and took our time getting ready for our day, then visited with some family over lunch, and then after nap time we went to Armstrong State Park to see some Redwood trees. They were so thick and tall that they almost blocked out the sun!

Keegan and cousin Peter. They got along famously.

Mom & DadMe & My Kiddos!

Cady & Grandpa!

This is the only picture that I took of the dinner, and I think it is really funny! Keegan was very overwhelmed by the amount of people and the noise in the room so he wanted to spend most of his time outside. There was a "hippyish" street fair going on outside and he got a kick out of that too.

DAY 3 - WEDDING DAY

We started off with super yummy breakfast in bed.

Keegan went with Grandma & Grandpa to do some more sightseeing while I went to the wedding site to help out with whatever I could. Here are some of the gorgeous flowers. My Aunt Mary did all of the flowers, the cake and Anne's wedding dress! She is amazing!!

Cady & Cousin Tess.

My Dad and his brothers.

My handsome boy (not looking at the camera).

The beautiful bride.

It was a beautiful 1/2 Jewish 1/2 Catholic ceremony. They got married under this amazing chutzpah ("hoopah") that was handmade by the brides Aunt. It had several generations of family members embroidered on it.

Mom & Dad at the wedding!

Cady and the Bride, Cousin Anne.

Cady & the Groom, Aaron.

Keegan "hanging out" with the kids on the dance floor. Actually, he was very happy sweeping the dirt with a stick. Such a boy!

Sweeping!

DAY 4 - BRUNCH AND SAN FRANCISCO

There was a family brunch (that I neglected to take pictures of), and right after brunch we left to do some more sightseeing, specifically San Francisco. My one request was to let Keegan ride a cable car. Unfortunately the wait was 45 minutes and it was getting close to dinner time, so we passed on the ride but got to see it up close anyways.

We visited this pier that was a museum of boats in the water. Keegan saw this one and thought it looked like a Pirate ship. He really wanted to go on it, but you were supposed to pay to tour the boats. He convinced me to let him walk up the ramp "just to touch the ship."

But then he just wanted to sit on the stairs.

Then he just wanted to climb up the stairs and see what was on top. Thankfully we didn't get in trouble, but that is as far as I let him go. He was not happy with me when I carried him off the boat. He was also pretty bummed that he didn't get to see any real pirates.

Cadence's first time on the beach. You can't tell by her face, but she loved it!

Not a big fan of things with more than 4 legs ...

Fishermans Warf.

DAY 5 - BIG SUR AND HOME

On our last day we drove down PCH and did some sightseeing around Monterey, Carmel and Big Sur. These areas are beautiful! We got to go to another beach and spend a little more time, and again Cadence loved it. She wasn't even trying to eat the sand, just dig in it.

This is one of my new favorite pictures.

We had a fabulous time. Traveling with two kids, even with the help of my parents, was exhausting and even now, 4 days later, I am still recovering from the trip. Congratulations Anne & Aaron!

Porter Family Reunion in SLC

(I am a week behind in posting pictures)
Last weekend we took a family trip to SLC for many reasons, but the biggest being cousin Camilla being sealed to her family in the SLC Temple.
We took off after work on Tuesday and stayed in a hotel 1/2 way to Salt Lake, so that we were not driving all night. Keegan found the best place to ride while loading and unloading the car.

While we were waiting to Lance & Paige and family to meet up with us, I took advantage of this sweet photo opportunity...

... then Keegan dropped his sister in the flowers. The pictures are backwards in the collage, but he lets her fall then runs away as fast as he can. Of course, I had to snap a picture before I picked her up. :)

Aunt Paige and Cousin Dallin meeting Cadence for the first time.

Cousin Marikah.

Matt with his "boys."

SO cute! Keegan and Camilla looking out a window with a waterfall on the outside.

Best buds!

Keegan got to do his favorite thing with Grandpa, throw pennies in the fountains!

I love this picture of Cadence and her Grandpa.

On Friday, sweet Camilla was sealed to her family for time and all eternity. She was so happy to be there!

Beautiful eternal family!

We had some time afterward to play around while they were taking family pictures.

Big Lance and Little Lance.

Saturday we took a walk to a park and had a picnic lunch, and everybody else went for a hike while we went back to the apartment for naps.

The trip went by too fast, but we had a great time!

Grandma's 90th Weekend

A few weekends ago we celebrated Great Grandma Porter's 90th birthday with a surprise party. The weekend started for us, with a "surprise" visit from Matt's folks home for a quick visit from their mission in UT. All of their kids knew they were coming, but Great Grandma and the Pierce side of the family did not know.
We spent as much time with them as we possibly could. We had a family BBQ at Holly's house, and we had them over to our place to check out the new library and have lunch, and the ladies (and Dad) got to spend an afternoon shopping. I wasn't very good at taking pictures, but here we are getting ready for a walk to our new library that is right around the corner.

Grandma's surprise party was on Sunday. We all gathered at the party room at her condo, and when Aunt Sydney brought her into the room (she thought they were going out to lunch) she got a look at everyone and she started crying. Both Bill & Sydney said they have never seen their mom cry. Awww! It was a very successful party.
Amazing Cousin Pam (the one who did our family pictures last year) took some group shots.
Great Grandma with almost all (minus 5) of her Great Grandchildren.

And this is everybody who showed up to celebrate with her. Friends of hers from Colorado Springs even came up for the occasion!

Pam took some family shots of us too.

"Tickle time!"

She snuck in some pictures of Keegan, a surprise to me!

Thanks again Pam for sharing your amazing talent! (http://photo.etherdox.com)

Cuteness

This Cadence's first trick. It's not a great video because I shot it with my cell phone, but it still makes me laugh every time I watch it.

Keegan likes to eat Cadence's leftovers. I believe it's not because he loves baby food but it's just because he has to have everything she has. I guess I can't complain too much if he is getting an extra serving of vegetables from his sister!