Tucson Temple Open House
Last Saturday my family, Zach and I made our way to the good ol' Dirty T to tour the Tucson temple. Before the open house we had a two essential things we had to do in Tucson. 1: Go to the world's greatest Marshalls in Oro Valley to get my Dad his birthday and Father's Day gifts. (Note: This is the world's greatest Marshalls because of the wide range of UA products they sell... but unfortunately this Marshalls is being removed from the number 1 slot because of how disappointing and existent the selection was this go around). We didn't walk out empty handed fortunately, and we got my Dad a UA grill cover, so it wasn't a total bust. 2: This was going to be EJ's last time in Tucson for quite awhile since he had just landed his internship at Reuters in Brazil for the summer before he moves to DC for his final year of Grad School. And the only request he had was that we ate lunch at El Guero Canelo, a Dirty T staple for Mexican food.
Once we were able to check both those activities off our list we went to the Temple for the open house, and the queen Steph Shaw met up with us to hang out for a little bit. I am in love with the outside of the Tucson temple, that dome gives me life. It is a whole lot smaller than what the outside makes it seem like, but it is just as beautiful on the inside. I was surrounded by some critics (namely my Father), but I loved it completely, especially the chandeliers! I can't wait to go through once it has been dedicated!
My Dad was so proud of this photo bomb, he was giddy about it
After the open house we said our goodbyes to Steph Shaw, made a pit stop at QT and then started on what turned out to be a not so fun trip home. A little ways into the trip back home on the I-10 the AC in the car stopped working... and all the gages went out... and the clocked stopped working. But my dad knew that if we pulled over to the side of the road, we would for sure be stuck, so we just kept driving in the awful awful Arizona heat... in a packed suburban... with a 6 year old who kept asking why it was so hot. By some miracle we made it all the way to the 587 Exit.... where the dreaded stop sign destroyed us. We were able to ever so slowly turn onto the 587 and make our way down the road a little bit, and then the sub finally gave out and we were stuck. Luckily my parents have AAA and Derrick lived like 10 minutes away from where we were at. So Derrick came and picked most of us up and took us home, while my Dad waited for AAA in the heat so the sub could get towed off to the mechanic. It was quite the adventure, but it definitely could have been way worse than it was. I am grateful we made it as far as we did and that Derrick lived close by to take us all home.
Cactuses are pokey
One of the reasons why the above situation could have been a lot worse was because I had a graduation shoot with my old friend from high school at the Desert Botanical Gardens that evening, and if we were stuck in Tucson... well we would be stuck in Tucson and I wouldn't have made it. But we did! And thank goodness because these are probably my favorite photos that I have taken to this day.... but I feel like I say that with every shoot haha. But this was for real so awesome. I had never been to the Desert Botanical Garden before, so it was a new adventure. Sybil was in my seminary class my freshman year and she is now getting her Nursing Degree from the UA! She's awesome. Her mom came along for the shoot which was amazing because she only helped looked Sybil look even more natural and even better than she already did naturally!
There was only small part of the session that was not ideal haha... and it really could have ruined the rest of the shoot if Sybil wasn't such a trouper. So you see at the Gardens there was this little tiny flowery area that was closed off by some tiny gates. It was just so gorgeous, and I couldn't pass up the photo op so we had Sybil climb over the tiny gate and sit amongst the flowers. It was gorgeous.
Well when Sybil got out of the little area a not so nice cactus couldn't resist Sybils skin and a chance to claw into them:
Sybil's mom was so funny and wanted me to keep taking pictures even though I am sure Sybil was more than happy to not have pictures taken haha. With the help of her mom, Zach and a couple rocks we were able to get the cactus out, and Sybil was a great sport and wanted to keep going with the shoot... bruised arm and all.
But hey those pictures turned out great haha.
Here are some of my favorite shots from the shoot:
Family Wards
On Sunday both my parents were speaking in Sacrament meeting in their ward, so EJ, Kenzie, Zach and I decided to go to their ward to show our support. It's always kind of weird for me to go back to my family ward... I don't really know why... maybe it's all the people who act really excited to see me... but I just don't believe them? Haha I don't know. But my parents talks were excellent. Avery and I had a bet going to see if my mom and Dad would cry during their talks. My mom did, so Avery won haha. We also went to Sunday School since my Dad was teaching. Zach loved his lesson, and I liked that I was able to pay attention for some of it ;) haha just kidding Dad.
FHE Queen
On Monday it was my turn to be in charge of FHE once again for Meridian ward. I took an easy route by choosing to do a pool party at Bishops house. I was told multiple times that night that I come up with the best FHEs and that I work so hard... but in reality I just come up with FHEs that require minimal work and allow people to socialize. I do put a lot of work into making sure people are fed... but that's about it haha. Zach and I opted out of swimming... yes, even though I planned it. Instead we went on the food runs and watched the NBA finals and ate some delicious burgers and hot dogs while everyone else was having the time of their lives.
I am starting to run low on FHE ideas though... luckily my next one isn't until August because my July one is too close to 4th of July to actually have an FHE ;)
Welcome Home Cob
On Wednesday the Fam brought back another member from the dead (aka a mission)!!!!! Sadly Zach and I were the only able to make it to the airport for the fam reunion, but it was so wonderful anyway. He had so many people at the airport there to support him. His family was very eager (and one of them quite antsy) to see Cob after his two year mission in the Dominican Republic. I was also very excited, but no where near the Wagher family's excitement, they were all just beaming with happiness. Cob came home to a new nephew (who is so so cute) and a new brother in law, and a pregnant sister with a future nephew! He also came home to an entirely new house, since his family moved a couple miles away while he was gone.
Here are some of the photos I got of his homecoming at the airport:
LOL WHERE IS ZACH'S HEAD?????
And because y'all know I am a huge sucker for those then and now photos, here is a pic of me and Cob the night he was set apart as a missionary:
And Zach, Cob and I at the airport two years later!!! Doesn't Cob look so dang good people??? He's all grown up now.
Happy Birthday Dad
It was my Dad's 50th birthday yesterday (how insane is that?)! All he ever wants for his birthday is to be left alone and a new UA flag to hang out in our front yard on game days. Luckily I worked for most of the day on his birthday, so check mark on leaving him alone. And I did chip in for a flag, and picked out the UA grill cover and got him so cheap cola because that is his fave. Zach and I wanted to get him his nostalgic Frostie Root Beer, but by some catastrophe World Market wasn't selling them!!!! We were super bummed, so that's why we went with the cheap cola. But by some miracle when Zach and I were at Safeway buying drinks for dinner we saw Frostie Root Beer there!!! So Zach bought a bottle for my Dad.
Usually when it is someone's birthday we all go out to dinner and the birthday person gets to choose where to go. Well my Dad didn't want to go out. In fact all he wanted was a couple Baconators from Wendys. So that was his birthday dinner. Can't say I was complaining because those Son of a Baconators are a weakness for me.
Fam Party
On Friday night the Fam that lives in the valley (so not Trev since he is not living in Tucson!!!) got together for a nice little fam reunion. The party started out with just Zach, Cob and I hanging out. We introduced Cob to a few of the new mountain dews that have been released over the past two years. Cobs opinion: he liked DewSA, loved Black Label, but was not a fan of White Label.
Eventually Sadie and Parker joined the party, and Cob showed us his major fidget spinner skills (I am serious no one has skills quite like this kid), we went to Target to hopefully find some cheap fidget spinners (unsuccessful and sad because Trev was not there), and then we introduced Cob to the Fam favorite board game: Suspicion! Usually this game can be confusing for people at first... but holy crap Cob was too good and ended up beating all of us! He's too good. But it won't be long before I need a rematch.
Wedding Shoe Update
I was on the phone with Lauren this week and she was asking for a wedding shoe update... and I figured maybe some of you folks were invested in the hunt as well, so I thought I would give you all an updated. EJ ended up purchasing two different shoes from Nordstrom for me to try on. One of them was an off white colors with some major bling bling, and other was a blue shoe (but definitely not the right blue because I am the only person in the universe that can see my specific blue) with a smaller heel and a little less bling bling. I definitely loved the off white ones more, but they were a little big, so we are going to exchange them for a half size smaller and hopefully those shoes will be perfect. But thank goodness for Nordstrom's wonderful return policy!
Other wedding updates: We have booked a videographer annnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnd.... WE GOT OUR INVITATIONS!!!!!!!!!!!! WE ARE SO PSYCHED! They are so perfect and so beautiful, we can't wait to send them out to all of you!
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