Sean and McCall's Wedding reception!

I wanted to share these gorgeous photos of one of my favorite couples,

 Sean and McCall Dyhre, (formally McCall Pettey.)

We have been dear friends with the Pettey family for nearly 20 years. 

Both families moved to this area about the same time and

since Mark and Dave are both in the dental field and our kids are about the same age,

we quickly became good friends and have enjoyed many fun activities together.

A couple of our favorite memories with the Pettey family includes the time 

we took all of our little kids out on our boat to Folsom Lake 

and tried to teach the kids how to waterski.

I think that between our two families we had 9 kids under the age of 10!

I'm sure that we looked like quite a sight with all the little ones packed on our boat!

 Another activity that we enjoyed was when Dave and Mark played on a city softball team together.

Every Monday night, all the softball families would gather at Maidu park to watch the game,

while our kids played together on the playground,

and afterwards, we would always stop at Dairy Queen for ice cream. 

 Probably my kid's favorite Family Home Evening summer activity! 

We have watched McCall grow up over the years and most recently,

she and Sean attended our Young Single Adult ward, 

where Mark and I, along with Dave and Mary Pettey work together as their leaders.

I've been so excited to attend this wedding reception, not only to celebrate with Sean and McCall 

but because the Pettey girls are so creative, crafty and classy, that I knew it would be adorable! 

 And it was beyond adorable!  It was absolutely over-the-top darling!!

I knew that my little girls, Ashley and Brooke, would love to see each and every little detail

 so I tried to snap a few photos so they could enjoy!

All I had was my I-phone, but hey, they turned out pretty good!

Congrats, Sean and McCall!  We are so happy for the two of you!

Aboslutely LOVE this LOVE sign!!  Clever!

So lately, it seems like I've been matching everyone like crazy!

Remember this post, where I showed up to Brian and Kelsey's wedding 
and found that my good friend, Janice and I were wearing matching dresses?! 
Luckily, Janice is a good sport and we just got a kick out of it!  Ha! Ha!
So when I arrived at McCall and Sean's wedding reception wearing a navy blue polk-a-dot shirt,
and looked over at Alyssa and Cameron Pettey and they were dressed in navy blue polk-a-dots,
we all got the giggles and had to snap a photo of the three of us twinners triplets!

Obviously, I just wanted to be in the wedding party! And can you blame me??
  I'll go to any length to be part of the Pettey family!  I love them all... just that much!

Giants game and a wedding in the Bay Area!

We have been wanting to go to a Giants game all season so when we were invited to attend a wedding in Oakland, 

we decided to head down the day before and catch a game and cheer our Giants on.

Mark found a deal on GroupOn for the Claremont Hotel, a fancy schmacy hotel,

so we made a weekend out of it and had a great time in the Bay Area!

Since Mark grew up in Sunnyvale in the Bay Area, he has always cheered for the Giants,

 but since I was born in San Francisco, I feel like they are my team,

and then we lived in the city for 4 years while Mark when to dental school,

so now the Giants are our team and we both love to cheer for them! 

We took the ferry from Alameda, crossing the bay and were dropped off right at the ball park.

Our seats were awesome!  

We had a great view of the park!

Our friends, the Hansen's, told us about the caramel popcorn sold at the club level that is "out of this world."

Yep, it is "out of this world" and yep, this was my dinner!

And yep, I had to get my popcorn before the game even started!

The scoreboard at AT&T Park!

Buster Posey, one of our favorite Giants is up to bat!

Tony Bennett was at the game that night!

The view of the ball park at night!  And yes, it gets cold... really cold once the sun goes down.

Notice all the jackets, coats and hoodies!

During the 7th inning stretch, we had to stand up and get a photo!

Mark knows how to win me over, letting me eat caramel corn for dinner

and then ordering me a large cup of hot chocolate with whipped cream on top!

On a cold night in the park, it sure tasted good!  Almost as good as the hot chocolate at Canyons!

Unfortunately, our Giants lost the game but the fireworks were awesome!

It was a gorgeous day at the Oakland Temple!  

For many years, this is the temple that we attended.

While Mark attended dental school at UCSF, we lived in San Francisco, 

and we would cross the Bay Bridge to attend the temple.

Then later when we moved to Sacramento after ortho school in 1989, 

we would drive the 2+ hours to and from Oakland to attend the temple.

We did that for more than 15 years, until they built the Sacramento Temple in 2006.

Since then, we haven't made the trek down to the Oakland Temple 

so it was fun to be able to attend the temple and enjoy the beautiful grounds that day.

My dear friend, Pam and her family, with the bride and groom and the bride's parents, on the temple steps.

The bride's parents came all the way from Korea to attend the wedding festivities.

She wore a traditional formal Korean dress and it was exquisite!

I had to include a few photos from our stay at the Claremont Hotel.

We enjoyed laying out at the pool on Friday and getting a little sun.

 The Claremont Hotel is a historic and famous hotel located at the foot
 of the Claremont Canyon in the Oakland Hills, adjacent to Berkeley.

It is a gorgeous hotel.  The architecture and landscaping are incredible! 

When we were in dental school, we lived right by the Twin Peaks, 

which is the best place for viewing not only the city of San Francisco,

 but on a clear day you can see the Golden Gate Bridge, the Bay Bridge,

 and all the way over to the hills of Oakland and beyond.

 We would often take visitors up to see the view from Twin Peaks.

The two landmarks that stand out, which you can always see across the bay 

are the beautiful Oakland Temple and the Claremont Hotel.

We would always point out the temple and the hotel
 to those that came to see the beautiful view from the lookout.

My parents also lived in San Francisco, while my dad was attending dental school at UCSF.

Twenty-five years later, Mark and I found ourselves in the same city, doing the same thing.

On one of my parents visits to visit us while we lived in the city,

my dad asked if he could borrow our car so he could surprise my mother
 and take her out to lunch at the Claremont Hotel.

She was so excited to tell me all about it when they got home.

She said that when they were poor students, living in government housing with 4 little kids, 
she taught night school and my dad drove a milk truck early in the morning
through the streets of Berkeley and would often drive past the Claremont Hotel.

He thought it was the most beautiful building that he ever saw and

he promised my mother that someday he would take her to lunch at the hotel.

Twenty-five years later, he made good on his promise!

 I'll never forget how happy that made my mother!

Over the years those two buildings, the Claremont Hotel and the Oakland Temple

 have become more and more lovely and endearing

 and both landmarks they have found a very special place in my heart. 

Yes, I left my heart in San Francisco... AND in the Oakland hills!

Wedfest 2013!

 Introducing Mr. and Mrs. Brian Merritt, the most beautiful bride and handsome groom!
Doesn't this picture say it all?!  These two are so in love and excited to get married!

I love the smile on Kelsey's face as I caught her looking out and laughing at the crowd!

Such a good looking couple!

Walking down the aisle as husband and wife!

Allie was so excited to see her dear friend, Heather Bryant!

The beautiful bridesmaids, Lauren Giddings, Heather Johnson and Heather Bryant with their mothers.

My sweet friends, Jenn Files, Sue Jack, MOB Liz Skinner and Karen Duffey!

Sure love these gals!

Mr. and Mrs. Brian Merritt and Mr. and Mrs. Justin Larkin!

Aren't those two couples the cutest?!!

First met each other in Mrs. Severson's 3rd grade class at Oakhills!

Kelsey's mom, Liz and I were the room mothers, planning all the parties for their class!

 We went on to plan Auctions together and quickly became the best party planning partners and friends!

Brian made this darling sign for the wedding! It kind of set the tone for the whole evening!

A panoramic view of the beautiful background!

My good friend, Janice Cook and I showed up in the same dress, 
which made us both laugh, so, of course, we had to take a photo together!

Their first dance on a glass dance floor which was suspended over the pool!  Very cool!

Everyone on the dance floor having a great time!

The Wedfest sign glowing in the night!

What a fun night with Allie and Justin!

The groomsmen went in and changed into shorts at this point in the evening!

Apparently, its a tradition in the Merritt family!  The boys looked hilarious!

 What a fun tradition!  And what a fun family!

Liz and I with our Marks!  Sure do love these guys lots!

Just when we thought the party was over, we walked out the back gate 

and found this waffle truck, red carpet and all waiting in the front driveway

serving hot fresh waffles with stawberries,  nutella, and whip cream topping!

Justin and Allie put in their order and are waiting for their yummy waffles!

Wow!  That looks delicious!

The perfect late night snack!

It was such a fun wedding, especially fun to share the evening with Justin and Allie!

Watching Kelsey and Brian, who are so in love, get married was so special!
And celebrating with so many people that love those two and all the Skinner family was really incredible! 
It reminded all of us of how lucky we are that we live in Granite Bay, 
a place where we have known each other since our kids were just little 
and watched them all grow up together and have loved each others kids
 and mothered all of them like they are our own!! 
They say it takes a village to raise a kid!  And Granite Bay has been an amazing village for the Holt family!
We feel so grateful for all the other Granite Bay moms that have helped raise our kids!
To be able to share this special night together with dear friends is something that I know we will all cherish for years to come!

Wedfest was definitely full of lots of fun and lots of love!

P.S.  I have to give a shout out to my dear friend, Debbie Penrice, who has created all of our family Christmas cards, wedding and shower invitations, signs, posters, labels and tags for countless events and parties that I've thrown.  She is amazingly creative, but the thing I love about her the most is that she will work tirelessly until everything is perfect and exactly what you want!  And, of course, the end product always, always exceeds your expectations!  I knew that Debbie was working with Liz and Kelsey, creating the invitation, program, signs and labels.  Again, she did not disappoint!  It was clever and unique and her creations pulled everything together!  Below are some of her work.

 

 

Sure do love that Deb and seriously, don't know what we would do without her!