hailey's wedding.. a few weeks ago!

HOW CUTE??!?!!?!^^^^^^^

I loooove Anna!! Even though she's in Arkansas for the WHOLE SUMMER! I'm mostly just jealous she's not taking classes! haha

The Blackwelder side is too stinking fun sometimes! This was a few weekends ago for our cousin Hailey's wedding! She and Kaden got married in the Provo City Center temple ad then we rushed back (and by rushed I mean took a bunch of babies to 7-11 to get slurpees and hot fries) to Amanda's so we could help with whatever was left and watch Beth work her magic on the wedding cake!

This weekend was so fun because Jake's mom Tracey was in town! We spent a lot of the time over at the Mauldins with her and the littles. We saw Sundance, played Mexican Trains, and ate a lot of good food! It's so fun when all of the cousins are in town because there's always so many people to interact with... you NEVER get bored!

When we were all in the kitchen, Tracey's phone was on a big speaker playing music and each song she'd have Peyton go check if it was appropriate for kids' ears or not. SO FUNNY. Hahaha. They were GETTING DOWN to this music.. especially to Apple Bottom Jeans... Hilarious.

The reception hall was beautiful and perfectly decorated for Hailey's taste! They also had such good food (we ate SO much salad and mashed potatoes!!!) and then we danced a bunch. AKA slow danced and did the cha cha slide. Hahaha. At the end of the night, the weather took a BAD turn for their sendoff.. It was literally freezing outside, so incredibly windy, and SNOWY. Snow!?!?!?!?!? We had to do the sparklers so fast and then just RUN back inside... I was still in a short sleeve dress and heels!!! It was crazy, but fun! Then we went back up and took extra fruit home and we each got a bouquet from the table centerpieces. It was such a fun night!

weekend happenings

this weekend was really fun! we had Jenny's wedding Saturday morning at the Salt Lake Temple! I had done baptisms there before but never had I been to a sealing so I was really excited... that temple is so beautiful inside.. although.. i must say that I'm glad  we didn't get married there because there were 45 OTHER WEDDINGS THAT SAME DAY! and they said they usually have about 80 or so a day, especially in the summer. that's crazy to me. when we got married in Columbus, I think there was only one other wedding that day!

the wedding was beautiful! we sat next to Hailey and Emily and it was so fun to see them because we had no idea they were going to be there! if Hailey lived closer to us, I'm pretty sure we'd be best friends. I love her!

after the sealing, we took pictures at the temple and then we took all the babies to chick fil a with Amanda, Sarah, Beth, Anna, Grandma, and Grandpa. It was a fun car ride JAMMING to Moana! After Chick fil a we went to the Bastidas' house and we started getting things ready to take over to the reception hall. Luckily there wasn't much to take over!

When we got to the reception hall two hours early, we started putting food in the fridge for later, setting up the cake (well, beth was. i wouldn't trust myself with that job ever), cleaning plates, setting out muffins, and trying to help out wherever we could. i was sitting down on the floor cleaning plates because my heels were going to KILL if i stayed in them all day.

during the reception, we stayed for about an hour and ate paella and drank italian sodas. it was fun to see Jake's family and hang out with everyone, but then Kyle was taking some babies to his friend Jonathan's house and they live on a little mini-farm and so of course we went!

it was probably a 45 minute to an hour drive and we had Peyton, Walker, and Maddy with us. When we got there, we changed out of our church clothes and into regular clothes that Kyle had brought us .... hahahah well he brought me some leggings but I didn't have tennis shoes, only sandals, and then the only other option he brought me was this Athleta dress of Amanda's. so cute, but I was wearing the WRONG GARMENTS! hahahahahaha. and it was so windy and the dress wasn't covering anything! Kyle was like, "You're welcome, Jake." hahahaha. Buttheads.

We went outside and saw their chicken set up... and it's AMAZING. I WANT IT. basically they built an older looking shed/barn into a nursery with different rooms for each mama and her chicks. you can see the outside in one of the pictures below. basically it's big enough for the mom to be comfortable to hatch her babies and then hang out with them until she's ready to introduce them to the flock. there was like 8 or so moms and they all had 8-10 babies just running around. there was one mom who was so protective and kept her wings up every time we were looking through the door. that's gonna be me. hahaha.

we sent it to Tracey and now Jake wants to build her one.... I'm all for it. :) :) :)

and the last picture of Grandma is for good measure hahahahaha. I think it's from Friday night. Earlier that day, she and everyone else had gone swimming at the rec center and after they showered there and Sarah had given her something she thought was shampoo but IT WASN'T. it was probably hair styling gel or something. anyway, it made her hair completely flat and extremely greasy. she had showered several hours before and it looked like she had just gotten out. so she said since she wasn't able to turn on the shower upstairs, she was just going to wash her hair in the sink. Courtney and I were DYING LAUGHING.. seriously dying while trying to silently laugh. i said, "Are you going to condition too?" And she said, "Yes, I don't want to look half beautiful." Hahaha I love that woman!

ZION NATIONAL PARK. . . PART 2

yeah, I know, I can't believe we went back to this place either . . . at least without going to Moab or something in the middle! my friend Jackie and her boyfriend Cameron were supposed to go during the break with one of their friends, but their friends bailed on them last minute. . . on the same day as Jackie's birthday, and Jackie asked if we wanted to go . . . probably knowing that Jake loves camping and I'd have to say yes. I asked him about it and he got excited IMMEDIATELY. like. so. much. excitement.

It was Thursday night and we'd have to leave early the next morning to (hopefully) find a camping spot. I told the group we should leave at 4 am since it's only a 3 hour drive but they said no . . . this will play into the story later ;). so anyway, we had SO much to prepare for. we were going to go to BWW that night but instead we went to the Mauldins and packed up all the camping stuff we always borrow . . . camping chairs, pots and pans and utensils, mats to go under our sleeping bags, a cooler for water, etc.

we prepared food for the weekend including tuna for sandwiches, snacks for hikes, organizing beef and chicken wings, organizing all the condiments, etc. . . we figured out who was going to be driving, who was going to pick up the ice, what the plan was... and then tyler texted us asking if we needed anything for camping since he was taking care of the chickens and i said yes, a COOLER! and he had one! he also let us borrow his dutch oven (which is terrible to clean by the way. thanks, Jake and Amanda hahaha).

IT WAS FINALLY THE MORNING! our first alarm went off at like 5:15 because we had to pack up the truck and still do a ton of stuff in the morning. jake wanted to take a shower, and usually we're pretty lazy in the mornings so.. we have to set our alarms early! when we finally got everything together, it was SNOWING IN PROVO, and we were headed south about 8:30 am... SO LATE. if you want to go to zions and get a camping spot, you need to get there AT 7 AM!!! no later. seriously. 

it was a fun car ride. we listened to the rest of the first harry potter book and fortunately Cameron loves that so Jackie and I got to sleep while we knew the boys were awake.  

Jake and I went on a bike ride when we first got to Zion... and it was basically all uphill. my bike was being dumb and I also didn't know how to shift correctly I'm guessing, so we turned around a couple miles in and we didn't even have to pedal because the hill made us go so fast. it was super fun. i was grumpy and then got un-grumpy because of the downhill ride. hahaha.

AFTER the bike ride... we went to angels landing. and jackie and i were freaking out. and i was probably freaking out the most because i don't do heights.. roller coasters.. rock climbing.. nada. so we started up and the first part isn't that bad. and then you get to the switchbacks. and I was all I NEED A BREAK and Jake was like YOU'RE DOING GREAT, KEEP GOING. and I was all NO WE NEED TO STOP I THINK I'M DYING. and then eventually you make it through the switchbacks somehow and you get to scout's point or lookout or something. and it's a cool view. and you think you've made it to the top. and then you see that there's half a mile left to the top, and that's where the chains are they everyone's been talking about.

i told Jake, "umm. I don't think I can do this." hahaha. and he said that was fine and we didn't have to. and I said, "no we're doing it." and then we did. and it wasn't that bad, if you don't look on either side of you..... when we got to the top we found cameron and jackie who BOOKED it up there. we told them IT'S ABOUT THE JOURNEY NOT ABOUT THE DESTINATION and then we ate snacks and made our way back down. the way back down on the chains is probably worse but it's fine.

now we can say we did it and WE NEVER HAVE TO DO IT AGAIN! YAY YAY YAY.

after that, we were all worn out and we went to La Verkin Overlook to camp out. we got one of the lower spots hoping it wouldn't be too windy and it wasn't too bad. we set up camp, ate wings, tilapia, grilled sweet peppers with barbecue sauce, and HOT DOGS!! it was a feast. and then Jackie and I made peach cobbler in the dutch oven for dessert and it was heaaaavennnlyyyyyy. seriously, so good.

the next morning it was slow going. we made a bunch of eggs and then played like 7 games of mexican trains! and then packed up and started the drive home. we stopped at another part of Zions though a little further south where there's a nice scenic drive and did a short mile hike. it was a pretty cool one, actually, and a lot of cool families were up there. it was a nice little ending to the trip.

when we got home, we got in the shower and we smelled SO BAD. oh my gosh it was almost unbearable honestly. hahahaha. we were scrubbing our bodies with soap so fast because we. smelled. so. so. so. bad. and then i conditioned my hair about 4-5 times because i hadn't brushed or showered in days...

well worth it. we're glad Jackie and Cameron invited us!