Wedding week

It's wedding week! Kyle's brother Cody and Brielle are tying the not this week. leading up to all the fun festivities we decided to throw in a little "cousin reunion." this is the first time all the cousins are going to be together, ever so. So Kaye arranged for us all to meet and atay a couple nights in Las Vegas a the Tahiti Village. Its a family friendly resort with an awesome outdoot pool ares for the kids to play in. 

I was so proud of myself becasue I made the drive up from Phoenix to Vegas with all three kids in tote by myself. I know that doesnt sound all that impressive, but every now and then I still get confused and feel like i need to be driving on the other side of the road like back in japan. I was so nervous about making the road trip by myslef without Kyle checking in with me to make sure I was driving correctly by the rules and laws of this country. As soon as we got to Vegas we met up with nate and Brooke who also drove up from Phoenix and tried to find the location of our hotel. When we finall found it (After a couple wrong tuens, hahaha) we immediately met up with everyone else and went straight to the pool. Our rooms were not quite ready yet so we thought we would just swim and make the most of our time togehter. The next thing we realized it was 6:00 pm and decided we needed to get to our rooms to eat, and get the kids ready for bed. WHen we went to grab our room keys the hotel STILL said our rooms were not ready. What?! Its 6:00 at night, how are the rooms not ready yet? After som complaining and some ulling of strings we finall made it into our rooms by 7:00 and we quickly gave the kids some food and threw them into bed. WE were excited to be there all togehter, but we were starting off our little "cousin reunion" on the wrong foot as we were all a little irritated and grumpy due to the late room check in. Oh well, tomorrow would be a new day and hopefully a fresh begining. 

Of course my kids were awake bright and early like always wondering where everyone else was...asleep, they are all asleep like I wish my kids would do. We quietly snuck into grandma's room ato eat and went down to the pool to scout out some chairs and a sitting area for all of us. We were some of the first [eople down to the pool so we got a great locaton right by the little kid area. 

We had a wonderful day playing, swimming, eating, sleeping, swimming some more, and trying our best not to get sunburned. It was the perfect get away before the wedding madness to all relax, catch up, and enjoy watching all the cousins play together.

Perhaps my favorite story that happen was while I was putting Brayden down for a nap, Abby and Connor decided to stay t the pool under the watchful eyes of Grandma and other aunts and uncles. Connor wanted to go on the lazy river with Grandma but ended up falling asleep going around and around and around. We all got a kick out of watching him sleep while trying to stay on the tube and don't get me started about those hilarious goggles he insists on wearing.

Continuing on our journey we all packed up and headed to St. George where we had a couple more days before heading up north to Draper for the wedding. Grandma pulls out all the stops for the grandkids and all our days were filled with fun activities of going to the Children's museum, the Dinosaur park, swimming in the pool, and munching on yummy treats. It was so fun to have all the cousins together for the first time.

Wedding time! we all caravanned up north 4 hours for the big wedding of Cody and Brielle. We drove up Friday morning, and Kyle flew in late that night to meet us. There was a huge family dinner for both sides of the wedding party, and then we did our best to get a good nights worth of sleep for the big day. Ready or not it came, despite our sleepless night with Brayden who had a fever which resulted in a 3:00 am Walmart run to pick up medicine. Trying to get three kids ready for a wedding, (four if you include Kyle who is basically my other kid), as well as myself, in a house that is filled with family that are all trying to get ready for the wedding as well, all while being sleep deprived=chaos! I decided it would be best if we get ready first so as not to be rushed or slow everyone else down. So we woke up at 5:30 and begin trimming and primping. If you are doing the math correctly you are figuring out that a 3:00 am Walmart run and waking up at 5:30 to get ready means I got zero sleep.

It all worked out and everyone looked their best, especially the bride and groom. Cody and Brielle are such a cute couple and the day was absolutely beautiful. The temple sealing was extra special because most of Kyle's siblings and their spouses were there and to be all together in the temple was certainly a special moment. ,They had an outdoor reception which was fun for the kids to run around and burn off some extra energy. We even got some family pictures taken after much drama that always seems to tag along when trying to coordinate big family pictures making sure everyone is present. Now Kyle is flying back home to get to work the next day while I get to make the dreaded long trek back to Arizona by myself and the kiddos. Such is life. We did decide to make the most of it and stopped in St. George one more time to attend the musical Cinderella at Tuacahn, so I guess you could say we are making the most of our circumstance and are going to party all the way home.