Jessie's Wedding

Mark and I attended the beautiful wedding of Jessie Garton and BJ Szymanski in June and it was one of the highlights of our summer! I love weddings, especially when they include some of our dearest friends, an absolutely gorgeous setting, delicious food, and two wonderful people that are so incredible and perfectly matched for each other, that are truly in love and belong together! It was a wonderful day!

Micheal, walking Jessie down the aisle.

BJ and Jessie

The "First Kiss!"

Mr. and Mrs. BJ Szymanski!

My good friends, Laura Tyrrell and Paige Stauss!

Posing with the gorgeous bride!

Waterskiing at Folsom Lake

It was over 100 degrees today in Sacramento and even this Arizonan thinks that is HOT! So what do you do on a hot summer night in Granite Bay?
...head to the lake and waterski!
So that's exactly what we did with Brooke and her friends.

There is nothing better than eating pizza on the lake, and wakeboarding and tubing until dusk on a hot summer night.

Brooke, the flag girl!

The kids are all smiles before they started tubing behind the boat!
The ride started out pretty calm and everyone seems to be having fun!
But then things quickly changed when dad turned up the speed! The kids seem to be enjoying the ride. Particularly Brooke...look at her face!
The innocent looking boat driver!
Brooke is concentrating on jumping the wake!

Brooke clearing the wake for the first time!

Brooke is excited to clear the wake because she knows that means that she gets a treat at AM/PM!

Brooke clearing the wake again!

Annie got right up on the wakeboard!

Sean was amazing and got right up too!

Dad makes boat driving look so easy!

Annie and Brooke

Brooke, doing a great job of holding the flag!

Ashley at YASE!

Singing and dancing is what Ashley loves to do and she got to do a lot of that when she attended the Young Ambassors Singing Entertainer workshop for 2 weeks! She looks forward every summer to her time at the camp, even though it's a lot of hard work. Basically, they spend the entire week getting ready to put on an incredible show on Friday night. Since this will be her last year to attend YASE, she tried to savor every moment and make the most of the experience! Her solo sounded beautiful and her dancing was amazing! So many of her friends and family came to watch her at both performancs. She is lucky to have such an gorgeous voice and we all love to hear her sing!

Ashley singing her solo, "Shine the Light."

Dad flew in to see Ashley perform the second week. He didn't want to miss the party!

Molly and Megan came with their mom to watch Ashley's performance!

Cousin Tara and Ashley

Ashley singing and dancing in "Super-cala-frag-i-listic-expi-ali-docious!"

Allie and Tyler with Ashley.

Aunt Susan and her family came the first week to see Ashley perfom.

Thanks to everyone for being so supportive!

A Birthday in Park City

Turning another year older at my age is never fun! But Mark and the kids made it a lot less painful by planning a fun day doing some of my favorite things that I love to do in Park City!

We started the day by taking the gondola at The Canyons up to Red Pine lodge and ate lunch at the outdoor cafe. Eating at Red Pine lodge is one of my favorite things to do on a cold ski day. They have the best chili and fries on the hill. Eating outdoors during the summer is fun with the gorgeous views and the scent of the mountain air.

Mark and Deb

The kids posing for a picture.

Then we took a chairlift up the hill and enjoyed a nice little hike (the key word here is little!) It was gorgeous in the mountains and the views of the valley were spectacular!
Dad and Tyler enjoying the view on the chairlift.

Allie and Brooke

Ashley and Mom

Tyler and Brooke leading the way as we walk through a grove of aspens.
Allie and her walking stick. I'm not sure she could have done the hike without it!

Now that Allie has her walking stick, she and Ashley quickly catch up to Tyler and Brooke.

Brooke and Tyler stop for a photo in the meadow.

Some of the beautiful wildflowers that we passed on the way.

Back at Red Pine Lodge and ready to take the gondola back down the mountain.
After attending 4 Family Reunions and a wedding in last 7 days, the kids decided that for my birthday they would give me a "Family Reunion Recovery" gift, which included all of my favorite things, such as, See's chocolates, diet pepsi, bubble bath, peanut M&Ms, Dots, Goldfish, magazines, and suntan lotion. So after our little hike, we headed to the pool to relax, soak up some sun and use the cute inner tube that all the goodies that came with my "Recovery" gift.

That night we celebrated by taking the kids to Grappa's, which is my absolute favorite restaurant in Park City. Mark and I always take our friends from California to Grappa's when they come out here to ski. Because it's kind of pricey, we have never taken the kids there but always talk about how incredible it is. The kids will kind of give us a hard time, just joking, but will say, "We wouldn't know how good that place is because we have never been there." So when Dad asked what I wanted for my birthday, I said all I wanted was to use a gift certificate that a friend gave to Mark (thank you, Ann Marie!) and take the kids to Grappa's for dinner. The kids were excited and they all agreed that Grappa's was incredibly delicious and it was now their favorite restaurant too! It was a wonderful way to spend the day celebrating with Mark and the kids.

My favorite Grape Salad!

Dad and Mom

Tyler and Dad

My favorite dish, the Horseradish Encrusted Salmon..YUM!

We ate outside on the patio. It was gorgeous!

Brooke, Allie and Ashley all agreed that Grappa's was "the BEST!"

The dessert. That's right...we can't forget dessert!

Posing outside of Grappa's at the end of a wonderful day!