Wedding Dress Shopping

Lorien wastes NO TIME in getting things done.  The literal day after getting engaged, we went wedding dress shopping.  I'm not putting any pictures of the dress she picked out on here, but here's a few of the dresses she tried on & did not pick.

She is beautiful & I was SO happy to have the opportunity to go dress shopping with my little girl.  Man, these weddings are getting real.  My babies are getting married.

You'll all have to be surprised, but on November 7th you'll see the beautiful dress she chose.  She's going to be a beautiful bride.

 

Lorien's Engaged!!!

And just when the end of wedding planning was in sight, Elijah proposed to Lorien & now we have wedding 2.0 going full throttle for November 7th.

We knew they'd be getting engaged soon.  These two have been head over heels for months now, so I'm so happy to be gaining a 2nd Son-In-Law in 2 months.

He was SO adorable. . . Elijah's an artist so he drew, then cut out scenes from some of their favorite dates together on white bags, then put candles in them.  There were scenes of ice skating, blindfold cooking, a masquerade ball, & more.  It was SO SO SO sweet.

He took her to the castle in Provo where he asked her to be his girlfriend & had the lanterns lighting the way. . . the last lantern was of the Draper, UT temple which is where they are going to get married.

She was SO excited & overwhelmed with emotions.

We are SO excited & SO VERY HAPPY for them both.

Hooray!  A fall wedding . . . those are my favorite.

 

August 2025 Happenings

August FLEW by.  We have so much to do to get ready for this wedding that I barely had time for anything this month.  But, we had some fun times too.

Mid August, we held a Germany friend reunion & we had a TON of people show up.  It was great.  We had food, chatted for hours, & just enjoyed catching up.  I miss my "germany family."

Craiger & Taya got out there with all the teens & taught them a cha cha routine.  They all loved it. . . & it gave them both the opportunity to learn through teaching.

Craiger had several leadership opportunities in CAP this month leading meetings, activities, & parts of CAP.

Bella just got cuter & cuter.  That dog has us wrapped around her cute little nose.  Spoiled rotten.

And Canyon had several friends come over throughout the month.  They always did fun things at the house like playing games or building things.

It was a whirlwind of the month, but it was wonderful.  Only a week left until the wedding . . . 

 

First Day of School - Fall 2025

And the new school year begins. . . . 

Craiger is a Freshman this year.  He is starting the year with early morning Seminary (most kids do seminary during the school day, but he wanted to start his day with Seminary. . . BRIGHT & EARLY).  Craiger is the only freshman boy on the Varsity Ballroom team so on the days he doesn't have early morning seminary, he has early morning Ballroom practice.  He's taking mostly core classes this year, but sprinkled in some band (french horn) & some fun (drone technician).  And then of course, he will continue to be awesome in the Civil Air Patrol leading his squadron.

Canyon is a new 7th grader.  He is the only one left in middle school & he is SO EXCITED about it.  He's full of energy, can't wait to see all his friends, & is going to be a rockstar this year.  He's already joined PTSA & is going to run for an officer position this year.  He's going to apply to NJHS.  And then there is a new drama program this year that he's SUPER excited about.  He's got a lot of core classes, but also some fun ones like orchestra, debate, & foods.  He's going to rock it this year.

Bladen is a Junior in High School this year.  He is ready to tackle the new year as the newly elected vice-president of the high school E-Sports Team.  He's been working hard getting everything for the team ready to go for Club Rush week.  He's been organizing schedules for E-Sports team tryouts next week.  He's been busy busy busy.  Bladen has a lot of core classes this year (Physics being his favorite so far), then he's starting advanced percussion & German 1 as new class electives.  It's going to be a great year for him.

And my sweet Taya had her very last "first day of school" this year.  She also has early morning seminary with Craiger & then ballroom practice in the mornings (hence the all black dance clothes on the first day).  She's tackling her senior year with ALL COLLEGE CLASSES.  She goes to the high school for ballroom & orchestra, but she'll be doing 2 English classes, Math Classes, Gov Classes, & 8 digital media classes at the college here.  She will be racking in the college credits this year to give herself a head start.  She's amazing.

Good luck Kiddos!  Go be amazing!