A Visit to Utah!

I haven't seen my sister for 7 months! That is ridiculousness! I was so EXCITED to see her and Jake in Utah! We all gathered together for our friend Rachel's wedding! It was a great excuse to get together. These are the pictures that I took of the trip...Lora, of course took the amazing pictures and as soon as they are edited I will make a slideshow and post them too. Friday we spent the morning and early afternoon re-exploring Temple Square and the new (GORGEOUS) mall! It was a beautiful day and I would say one of the most PERFECT days that I have had in a long time...it makes me teary eyed remembering the feeling we had to be with our family and being in SLC! We miss the Olesens deeply, but it was GRAND to spend time with them all by ourselves! We missed you Oscar and Livy! Tori and Brooke were excited to see Jake and Lora (Brooke says Lola) and we took in all the beauty at the Temple Visitor Center. Tori LOVED the Jesus statue (aka Christus) and we took a bunch of pictures of the beautiful flowers! The girls were both smitten with Uncle Jake...so he got a lot of cuddling. Tori was walking down the Christus ramp and said, "I want to hold your hand Auntie!" TENDER!

We stayed in Hooper with Grandma and Grandpa Dinger. It was such a beautiful weekend. The girls took a few rounds in the backyard on the mower (to the girls "tractor") in their pajamas. They LOVED it!  Especially the doughnuts around the fire pit!

Our 8 month old bunny!

I know...you are thinking where are the pictures from the wedding?! I left that up to my sister...so they will be forthcoming! Sunday we invited Lora, Jake and Debra up to "The Hoop" for a BBQ and party for a certain little 4 year old! Tori specifically asked for a pink and yellow sprinkle party...and Grandma made her a beautiful pink and yeallow sprinkle cake! We had all of Tori's favorites: hot dogs, Cheetos, strawberries and lemonade (pink and yellow)! It was a blazing hot afternoon, so we all scrunched in the shade. Why does Jake have an umbrella?! Well, we were all sitiing and having a grand ol' time talking when a bird decided to do his business on Jake's arm and shirt! Ha ha ha! We had a giggle. Jake went inside to wash up and brought back out an umbrella! (Can you tell that Tori LOVES her Uncle Jake?!) It was fabulous to be with all of my BESTIES. We all laughed and enjoyed good company the whole afternoon....it was a shame when we finally had to drag ourselves away at close to 7PM! (The ride home was a LOT of crying and sleepiness...oh well, we arrived home at midnight, and I would do it again just to see my sister!)

Let's not forget the party! We all ate the delicious cake, which I thought was better than the wedding cake...kudos Gwen! Tori got some amazing girlie gifts: a vintage Sleeping Beauty Barbie, Strawberry Shortcake puzzle, Barbie movie & Barbie backpack (from the padres and her sisters), Barbie bike accessories and a bike (from both sets of grandparents...where is the bike you say? Wal-mart was sold out, we are still searching for a bike!), a Mulan doll (from Auntie Lora and Uncle Jake), Hello Kitty purse, sunglasses and chapstick (from Auntie Debra), HUGE suckers (from Auntie Joy) and a whole Mermaid package with a puzzle, Barbie Mermaid Tale 2...the movie, and necklace (from Auntie Marie)! Do you sense that she is into Barbie and pink...yeah, it is my life...how did I spawn this?!

The next day we played with all of her new toys the whole day and she was spiked with sugar from the HUGE suckers! We miss and LOVE you all and cannot wait to see you all again!

I just included this for fun...Tori took all of these pictures (except for the one with her and her puzzle) with one of my cameras. I thought they would make you smile!