Bridal Shower

On Saturday we threw Hannah a Bridal Shower. Call me lame, but I love showers. I love playing the cheesy games and eating good food. And I love celebrating exciting things coming up in each others lives. This Bridal Shower was exactly that. It was full of games, yummy fruit, breakfast casseroles, and orange rolls, gifts, family, and friends. We are so excited for you, Hannah Banana! 

^^ the traditional quilt my mom gives her girls at the Bridal Shower. She is awesome. I have mine on our bed right now :)

^^ her gift from all her seesters

^^ who's got the groom? We taped these under all the chairs and whoever got the groom got a prize. 

^^we wrote advice on pieces of Jenga. 

^^ Aria having fun with her celebrity crushes. :)

Temple Night

Last Thursday we had the opportunity to go to the temple with my sister, Hannah, and her sweet fiancé, Tyler. It's always a neat experience to go with someone whi is going for the first time. I like it for two, well three, reasons.

1. I like watching them and seeing their reactions. Lets be honest, it's a little weird and confusing the first time. It's definitely a lot to take in and I just like watching them, knowing it's the first time they're experiencing it. 

2. It brings me back to the time 3 1/2 years ago that I got my endowments out. Like I already said, it's definitely a lot to take in, but it's one of the best experiences out there and there's not a time that I have felt the spirit stronger.
And 3. I guess Clark and I don't go often enough because I am still super intimidated and confused about a lot of it. But remembering me when I first took out my endowments and looking at me now, I guess I have come quite a ways. 

I am so so proud of Hannah and Tyler for choosing the temple, and I can't wait to watch them be sealed together in a couple days. ❤

^^ Sibling love. 

^^ with my eternal sweetheart

A wedding, and cupcakes

Last weekend Clark's cousin, Ashlyn, got married. They were sweet enough to ask me to make their wedding (cup)cakes.

It was my first time making that many cupcakes and it was fun! I definitely learned a lot. Like don't plan on slipping them into their wrappers at the last minute, because they won't fit :/ also, use better frosting because it didn't hold up in the heat. The poor cake on top fell apart before they could even cut it. 

We were invited to their sealing in the Draper Temple. It was beautiful. They are such a beautiful couple, and the sealer did such a great job. I love sealings and I love weddings. At first it makes me a little jealous because it is such an exciting time for the couple and I miss it and want it :) but then it always makes me remember and think back to the day me and Clark were sealed. it was such a great day. The best day of my life! 

I'm sad I didn't get any pictures of the happy couple. I didn't take many pictures of anything that day :( But they were gorgeous, and they're wedding was gorgeous. Happy wedding you two!

I hope you have a wonderful life together! 

^^ a few pictures of the cupcakes! Clark and my dad worked hard and made the stand. I love it! 

^^ the only other pictures I took of the day :/ it was such a long, hot day. But Owen did great. 

4th of July

This holiday was a fun one. We started the day out by going to my family's for breakfast. We do that a lot on holidays, don't we? Us Menlove's love breakfast :) Clark and I went on a little bike ride around springlake with a bike my dad just bought in KSL. It had been a loooong time since I'd been on a bike, it was nice!  

Then we headed up Payson Canyon to Maple Lake. We brought the canoes and the boys did some fishing. Clark was excited to try out his new fishing gear from Father's Day. Owen had so much fun! And got so dirty! That boy needs to walk so his little hands and knees can stay a little cleaner. 

We finished off our 4th of July with a BBQ of ribs, potato salad, fruit, and homemade ice cream at my Grandma's. then it was off to bed for Owen pants and a movie for us. No fireworks this year. We thought about waking Owen up and driving to Provo to watch the stadium of fire fireworks but decided not to, I think he would have loved them. We'll just have to wait for the onion days fireworks in a couple months. 

I feel like the topic of freedom has a different meaning now that I have my little Owen, as with most topics I think. Your thought process really changes when you become responsible for someone besides yourself. Especially when you love that someone more than anything. I feel so blessed to live in the time that we do. To have the freedom to do what we want. To raise our children how we want. To be able to go the church that we want and show what we believe. I feel eternally grateful to anyone and everyone who helped make that possible. I hope everyone had as good a holiday as we did! 

^^ he loves grandpa. And I love how they're doing the same thing with their hands in this one. 

^^like I said, Owen got sooo dirty crawling around. 

^^ dad and Bren 

^^ starting him young. 

^^ I wish I was as pretty as my sisters. 

^^ lookin so happy to be there ;)

^^ the only way we could get him to be happy on the canoe was bribing him with treats. 

Time for an update

The other day I was talking with my friend, Jeni, who just had a baby and I realized there are a lot of things that I have already forgotten. Like when we put Owen in his own room, or when he rolled over for the first time (yikes!) 

It made me really sad because I want to remember all those little details! So here is what Owen is up to these days, so when I forget I can look at this and remember :)

Owen at 15 months:

-still not walking... But he loves to stand up. He only stands up for a few seconds at a time because he thinks it is soo funny when he falls down. 

-I feel like he is saying new words every day! It is crazy to me how he catches on to things we say. I think his first official word was kitty. It was, and still is, more of just a spitting sound but you can tell he knows its for kitty.  He says "nana" (banana) "momma" "dada" "eyes" "side" (outside) "uh-oh" "uh-uh"(no) 

He knows the sounds for dog ("wu-wu-wu") duck, chicken, and my favorite ghost and witch. We are working on cow and goat but he gets a little confused. And he loves to make car and motorcycle noises. 

-he sleeps from around 8-7:30 every night and naps from around 12-3. He is so good to be put in his crib and go to sleep on his own. He hardly ever falls asleep in the car, no matter how tired he is. 

-he likes playing with his toy cars but mostly he just loves playing outside. We have a bin of water in our backyard that he LOVES to splash in. 

-he's a really picky eater. Pretty much all he eats is almost any kind of fruit, toast, pancakes, and hotdogs. We try to sneak in vegetables but he is a smarty. He loves the little pouches of baby food so we try to get the ones with lots of veggies. 

-he knows how to blow kisses, but he doesn't do it very often. He likes to point at my eyes. He loves to wave at everyone he sees. 

-he has turned into such a daddy's boy. He cries and cries every time daddy leaves the house :( 

He is just so much fun, this is definitely my favorite age so far! He is so happy and playful and curious about everything.