Sacramento Temple Picture

I took this picture last night after the RS General Meeting. I like it but think it is to dark. I think I need to go back when it is just getting dark. What do you think?

Also to those who live around here,  I want to do Family Photos at the Temple soon. If you are interested in having a family photo done for the holidays call me! 

September Utah Trip

For the past few years Aaron's company has sent him to Utah for a week of training. I see it as a good excuse to get out of town for a while and stay in a hotel. (all paid for by the ISO of course) And it is also a great time to see Aaron's family, his Mom and sister Melissa with her kids live there. We love that our boys know their Grandma Jolene and that they are building a relationship with her. I wish we lived closer to other family. Shane was his normal 2 year old self and said nothing but 'no' to Grandma for whole trip until she was helping him into the car when we were going to leave . He finally said 'yes' to her. That was her goal to make him say yes. I thought that was so cute. Somehow we didn't get a picture with Grandma this year. But we got some of Melissa and the cousins. 

Jessica was 4 or 5 when I first met her, she has grownup into a beautiful young woman.  

Melissa and J.J. (J.J. is an extraordinary young man, we pray that he will achieve everything we know him capable of. ) 

Bryan and Aaron. Aaron is being goofy in this picture. Bryan has greatness in him we hope someday he will be able to see it. 

 This trip was great because I was also able to meet up with a very old friend of mine from 15 years ago. Carrie Smith who is now Carrie Keele. Hanging out with her and her family was so great it was like the 15 year absence never happened. Aaron and Carrie's husband Taylor got along great once they got over the BYU / U of U rivalry. (Just kidding it was just shirts. Funny story ask us about it sometime if you are really interested.) We went out to dinner and everyone hit it off really well. Earlier in the day we went to Discovery Gateway. (next post) And after dinner we played a fun card game called Hand and Foot. They even came to Aaron's Mom's house for breakfast Saturday before we left.  I was amazed at how our lives experiences  have helped us to grow but we were able to still have things in common especially with regards to the Gospel. It's rare to find good friends and hard to keep them, I am glad that Carrie found me again. Thanks to the internet. 

Family Picture name updates

A Huge Thank You to Aunt Debbie who corrected names of those I missed in the earlier blog post. Now  all the names are correct. Go and read it again. :o)

Hot Air Balloons

The Great Reno Balloon Race was one of the most amazing thing that I have ever done. We found out about the race just a week or two before we were to be in Utah for Aaron's training. We usually like to drive at night so the boys sleep, but decided to stay in Reno for the night and get up super early to go and see the balloons. They had this thing that started at 5:00 am with the balloons glowing before the sun came up. But due to a Travelocity snafu we did not get into our hotel until late so we didn't get up in time for that. Next Year for Sure!  We made it in time for the flag raising in the Eagle balloon.


Once the National Anthem was played and the flag raised all the other balloons started to rise. We were standing in the middle of the field and balloons were going up all around us.

I took a picture of this one because we stayed at Circus Circus Friday night. We will stay there again when we go next year. It was very nice and you didn't have to go into the casino part if you did not want to. It also had a midway where they did trapeze acts all during the day. We will have to catch some of those next year too. 

   

I just loved how bright each balloon was. The boys loved the character balloons there were bees, and Smokey the Bear and the Energizer Bunny and a balloon called Wally that must have been Nemo's cousin.