Uncle BJ and Aunt Kirsten Came to Town! (and Logan)

First stop - The Aquarium

Branson and Logan were adorable and always wanted to be holding hands.

They all went on this suspended rope bridge which was so brave, and Nolan went multiple times! We had to pry him away (not the easiest).

 

Then of course we had to hit our other favorite spot, the Provo Rec Center!

 Toddlers are so unpredictable. We went to the PRC 3 weeks ago and Nolan went down the big slides upwards of 15 times! But this week he wanted nothing to do with them and said they were too "twisty" 😕 Branson, on the other hand, didn't go last time, but LOVED the slides this time! Look at that smile! Nolan did however go on the indoor slide all by himself! Justin even went first and waited for him at the bottom so there wasn't even anyone at the top to coax him down. So proud!

Uncle BJ and I took the boys to this fun lego store where they just have bins of legos to play with. BJ even bought the boys their own lego guy they built.

They came to Nolan's soccer game and then we all (Gm and Gp Bailey were there too) went to Freddies for dinner.

Thursday night we had the Mathews family over for a BBQ. It poured rain earlier in the day, but it seemed to have cleared up about an hour before they came. But...the good weather was not to be, it started absolutely pouring the minute we got the food outside! We had to move it all inside in a rush, but it worked out just fine I think.

Even my parents were in town to drop Mallory off for a coding class.

Everything went well that is...until Justin and I happened to go into our guest room and open the blinds to find about 2 feet of water had pooled in our window well and was seeping inside! In that moment I was slightly embarrassed, but SO grateful to have an army of family ready and willing to help! Here's Justin and Mandy mopping up the floor.

And BJ, Paul, Tyler, and Ty had a bucket brigade going on outside to get all the water out of the window well!

Then Mark took me to Home Depot to get a spout extender thing. It looked like water from like half of the house was pooling into this one window well because the down spout was located on a downhill pointing down into the window well. So we got something to hopefully redirect the water in the future.

Watching Star Wars in the basement with Uncle BJ. 

These boys were so sad to say goodbye to each other :(.

GG, Great Gp Hunt and Uncle Andy came to stay

GG had some doctor appointments up in Salt Lake two separate times this summer so we got to have them stay with us! They were the inaugural guest in our new guest room and they said it was comfy (hopefully they're not lying haha).

They helped us figure out what some of the plants are in our backyard and Uncle Andy, Branson and I made a Home Depot run to get some tools we didn't have yet.

Milk and snuggles - two of my boys favorite things.

Uncle Andy is the best! I don't know how we got so lucky with him in our family, but he is so good with the boys, playing with them, and watching movies with them. I'm not sure how he has the energy he does!

They even came to Nolan's soccer game! I hope someday my boys understand and appreciate how lucky they are to have such a wide net of family members who love them unconditionally and are cheering them on in life (and at soccer 😊).

Dinner with Gm and Gp Bailey at Archibald's at Gardner Village. I thought GG would love the atmosphere of Archibalds (since it's in a historic building) and all of the cute little shops at Gardner Village.

GG is so good at this grandma/great-grandma thing. Seriously. I love how she just loves on these little ones with everything she has and takes such an interest in them. She read them a night night book with way more excitement than I can usually manage haha, and she listens (and pays attention!) to Nolan read books about things I'm sure she has no interest in, pushes them on swings, takes them on walks, etc. She's awesome! Once a couple of years ago I told her she didn't need to worry about buying the boys Christmas gifts (she has SO many great-grandkids!) but she said, "Oh we love it! And besides, life would be pretty dull if we didn't have these sweet little ones to love on!"

Brady 💗 Brianna

Last weekend Aunt Brianna tied the knot! We are SO excited to have Brady as an official part of our family and couldn't be more happy that these two found each other!

They were sealed for time and eternity in the Payson Temple. It's always such a wonderful feeling to be in the temple with your eternal family.

Aunt Brianna asked the boys to be ring bearers for their ring ceremony and Nolan definitely had...opinions...regarding her choice of tie (type and especially color 😆). She wanted them to wear pink bow ties and the first thing Nolan said when we told him was, "Pink?! That's a girl color!" haha.

A few weeks before the wedding I tried on a few things that we already had to see how everything worked and what I still needed to buy. It was before church so we were kind of in a hurry and I just wanted a quick picture so I told Nolan to just put his shoes on without socks really fast. He got a sour look on his face and said, "Ugh! This wedding is all about Brianna's world! First we have to wear girl ties and now shoes without socks!" "I am NOT following these rules!" Despite his protests, he still looked pretty stinkin' handsome.

Branson didn't complain too much (just when he was copying Nolan), but he did give me a lot of silly faces.

This is my favorite one. The best part? Their cute interlocking fingers (they did that on their own!) 💙

I guess I didn't get very many pictures, but Justin's cousin Kara and her husband and 3 kids came from Nebraska and stayed with us for the wedding weekend and it was so fun to have them!

I'm hoping the photographer got some pictures of the boys as ring bearers because they did so incredibly well! They held the boxes with one hand and each others hands with the other and walked right down the aisle like they were supposed to (although I think they did need to get directed once). When the got to the front they gave Brady the boxes and even gave him the sweetest hugs 🧡 They each added a bit of flare to their moment of fame though haha. Branson, after giving Brady the box and giving him a hug, then asked for "his" box back which got some chuckles. Then Nolan finished his duties and decided it would be a good time to go explore the trees behind the wedding party haha. It took some coaxing to get him to come back. One of the bridesmaids even went after him haha! Overall though they did so so well. I'm really proud of them.

Justin gave a wonderful toast. It's pretty strange to him that his baby sister is married! But he's super happy for her and proud of her for her choice.

Branson even got to dance with the bride 💜 (Nolan might have too, but I didn't get a picture 😕)

I just loved this one 💗

Everything about the wedding was beautiful. Congrats Brianna and Brady!