Califorrrrrrrrrniaaaaaa.....here we come!

Before we had time to put all of our Christmas decor away we packed up and headed to LA for Naomi and Barry's Wedding. We drove down with Mike, Melody and Ashton and stayed in Vegas the first night to give us all a break.

Ev and Summy had to compromise while playing together. Ev wanted to be a Jedi and Summy wanted to be Mary. LOL They made it work. Summer has no problem letting her brothers know who is in charge. She climbs all over them, kicks them in her sleep and just plain makes herself comfy in the car, not caring in whose way she is getting. 

Our first day in LA was Father's Day so Mike woke up to a gifts and a homemade meal. Okay, so it was Continental Breakfast. One gift he received which he was NOT happy about was a new alternator!!!!! We had driven to the store the night before to stock up of groceries and his car began showing the tells of a dying alternator. Booooooo! Because it was a weekend and Mike has a foreign car we had to wait a couple days to get a new one. 

We spent the day before the wedding with no car and ended up walking several miles. We had saved all of our gift cards from Christmas so we walked to Target, Toys R Us, the Mall.......it was great exercise and would have been wonderful had it not been RAINING and our kids weren't so grumpy. Trace got blisters and kept saying, "We are just like the Pioneers!" Hahaha! I love that boy's drama. We had quite the adventure! I only wish we could have helped out more with the wedding. Sorry Nums!!!

The day of the ceremony was beautiful. I mean, look at those palm trees and the beautiful ocean! It was breathtaking scenery for a wedding. Everett followed Brad around all day. Those two are peas in a pod. I hope they always stay buddies. Summer had the chance to be a flower girl and enjoyed THROWING the flowers down the aisle.

Gorgeous bride, handsome groom, beautiful backdrop.......it was incredible!

It took a while to get our whole family looking at the camera so this is the best we got. I still love it. The ocean and my family are two of my favorite things so I wanted them in a pic together.

The reception was a total party! There was dancing, and food, and cakes, and music and family and friends and fun fun fun!

I feel I must explain the first of these pictures. Naomi need a song to dance to so we all got out our smart phones and searched the web. I thought it made a for a funny picture. I also probably should not have taken a picture of Riley and Summy during the prayer, but come on!! They are so stinking cute!

The next day we hit LA and Hollywood to be tourists. I love feeling like I have a second set of in-laws with Mike and Melody's family. We had a great time in the city and had strangers take pictures of us WITH THEIR cameras. It was bazaar. The boys wanted a pic with Bumble Bee but Vader must have felt left out because he jumped in too. lol

We spent out last day at the beach. It was too cold to swim but we still enjoyed ourselves. I had been sick for about two weeks so I look miserable in most of the trip pictures.

After the beach we found an awesome playground. I won't say what Ev was drawing in the sand, but he had a great time with his Uncle Mike. Summer was buddy buddy with Liz and Trace was just showing off to whomever would watch.
We had a wonderful trip and are so thankful for the Hagen family's love and acceptance. As for Barry and Naomi, WE LOVE YOU and wish the best for you always. XOXO

"Dum-dum-da-dum......."

Well the day finally came and Christopher and Tiffany are now officially married! They are both wonderful, fun and talented people and I couldn't be happier for them. If you are wondering why Bubba is wearing a kilt it is because his family is part Scottish. Not that he wouldn't have worn one anyway. :)
They were married at the Draper Temple which was BEAUTIFUL as well as very WINDY! All of us girls were struggling to keep our dresses down (as was Bubba in his kilt).
Tiffany was a gorgeous bride and I love that she fits so well into our quirky family. This is my favorite picture. I see many fun times ahead for the Bollinger girls.
Our cousin, Jolynn. snapped this photo on a whim and it turned out so cute! She is a pro. I love how dapper my little men look. Summy was miserable all day but such a trooper. We found out later she had roseola. Needless to say she slept through most of the festivities.
My Mother-in-Law has THE most incredible yard! This picture doesn't capture all the beautiful greenery, the perfect yard and the beautiful flowers. She spent countless hours preparing it for the wedding so of course it rained!!! The reception was still fantastic.
It has become a family/friendly tradition to put a tacky license plate cover on the getaway car. It all began at our wedding with,
"WE LOST OUR VIRGINITY JANUARY 3, 2001".
Thanks for starting this tradition Gert.
Congratulations Bubba and Tiffany! MWWWWWWWAH!

Wedding Dinner

The night before Bubba and Tiffany's wedding we celebrated with them at a dinner up at the Mill Hollow Country Club. Dinner was delicious, the view of the valley was amazing and I loved chatting with family and friends. One of my favorite memories is Mike's toast to Bubba. He kept it pretty tasteful, but it is Mike so of course there had to be a sexual pun. He (Mike) shared with the group how he had asked Bubba what he wanted to get out of marriage. Bubba's reply was that he wanted to be a model husband, a model father, a model citizen and a model lover. Mike explained that he looked up "Model" in the dictionary where it read, "a small scale version of the original". So, in reference to being a model lover he was basically saying Bubbs was minimally endowed. It was pretty funny.

Bubba is notorious for taking bad pictures and this one was no exception.

Hopefully the wedding pictures turn out better. :)

The happy couple. We love you guys!!!

Tiff's Bachelorette Party!

I have been incredibly lucky because I absolutely love and adore ALL four of my sisters-in-law. Tiffany is the newest addition and from day one I knew we would get along great. A couple of days before the wedding Tiff, her sister Melanie and Bubba's sister Mindy came over for a little Bachelorette party at my house.
We started the night off with two of the cutest male dancers EVER!!!!

Race car driver Trace and Construction Worker Ev were so excited to dance for Tiff and other than Trace falling and hitting his tooth it was a great performance.
Next we played a little play-do pictionary with words related to the wedding and wedding night. Woooooooo! Play-do has never been so naughty. :) Thanks for the game idea Kriste. You are truly the game queen.
Next I tapped into my Jr. High mind frame and gave Tiff a candy bar poster that I had made. This is what it read:
Tiff,
It is CRUNCH time before your big day so let's TAKE 5 and share a pampering SPREE. Your BIG HUNK is anxious to see your MOUNDS and your WHATCHAMACALLIT. I'm sure you are also ready for his JUNIOR MINTS and his MILKY WAY. Don't be NERDS while YORK getting ready for the wedding. You little HOT TAMALES are in store for some wonderful memories and a lot of fun. One day when you are making 100 GRAND and playing with your little BABY RUTH you will look back at the ROCKY ROAD you have traveled and be grateful you are still SWEETTARTS.
Leave it to me combine cheesy and perverted.
We ate oreos, watched "He's Just Not That Into You" and chatted late into the night. I simply must share with you the new oreo trick I learned that night. If you insert a fork into the cream of the cookie and dip the fork into the milk- YOUR HANDS STAY CLEAN!!!!! I am really excited about it.
I love you Tiff and I am incredibly elated you are in our family!!!