Prom.....

As Jena reminded us many times this was her LAST prom since she was a senior.  She was excited to go with her friend, Hyatt, who is on her Special Olympics team.  They have been friends for a number of years and they had a great time being together.  They joined in with a group that she went with last year which included the party bus and dinner at a Brazilian grill plus a day date to Dartside, a nerf war zone.  They had an awesome time.

Asking:

Hyatt attends Davis High School so we had to fill out special paperwork for him to take Jena to CHS Prom.

 Trying on dresses--She liked this one.....

 But loved this one!

 Day date--always fun to do something with a friend.

 Getting ready for the big dance

 Here she is

 And she agreed to wear her hair down.

 The corsage or as Jena calls it the girls flower.

 Very Cute Couple

 Outside pictures!

 Pictures from the Clearfield C:

The boys' selfie

The girls



The group

This is Jena and Hyatt with Brandon Dickson (one of our neighbors and
friends of Jena from pre-school)
and his date, Brianne.

They had a great time.   One of the couples dropped them off at our house afterwards and then we took Hyatt home.  When they walked into our house, they both said at the same time, We danced so much.  They chatted all of the way to Hyatt's house about the things they did and how they are going to serve missions.  I told Hyatt's mom that I wished I had known what a sweet conversation it was going to be and I would have taped it for her.  Her last Prom at CHS!

The 2nd Annual UDSF Easter Egg Hunt

Life doesn't pause much when you go on vacation so I had to hop right back into school work and preparations for the UDSF Easter Egg Hunt.

It was held two weeks before Easter on Saturday, March 28 so that it would not conflict with General Conference for the Church.  It turned out great and we had around 300 people there.

Spending the day picking up 3500 Easter eggs in Salt Lake county

Dropping them off at the Marriorr

 Started off with the Easter Egg Hunt itself:

Family helping Paisley out

 Then we did some activities:               Duck Races in Rain Gutters

 Parachute play

 This is Cathi Gridley who is a neighbor of mine. She did balloon animals for the kids.

 Family Dance

Jena likes to dance.

Jena and her friend Kaitlyn at the end of their race

 Face Painting-- She was amazing and so fast.

Sam Gridley

 Pictures with the Easter Bunny--

 Airplane Toss provided by a Lehi Scout troop

 A small craft

 

And we are packed and ready to go home!

We had great volunteers, a beautiful location and weather, and lots of fun people

to make it a very successful event.  I couldn't have done it without Gary and Jena to help.

"and a beautiful wedding"

Despite the overcast weather, it was a beautiful day for a wedding at the Houston Temple.  Everything had that just cleaned look that rainy weather can bring. This was my first time to this temple.  It is very pretty.

from the parking lot



the doorway

Spring flowers

 

Waiting for the bride and groom to appear,

We are greeting our nieces and nephews who

we hadn't seen yet.

Niles helping Zech with his bow tie

The brothers (my nephews):  L-R
Ryan, Niles, David and Zech



Adding in my brother, Todd, and Niles' two sons, Otto and Luca

Sisters to the bride and a friend: Back- L-R:
Lora, Kaylee, friend, and Sierra
front: Tillie and Gwennivier (Sierra's daughter)
 

the front



From the side

Gwennivier checking out the water foundation

Finally Daniel and Jordan Hearn!

Jordan with her brother David

The whole family including Niles' wife, Rachel

The brothers and sisters in birth order  R-L

Jordan with her niece and two nephews on the temple steps.
 

We then headed back to Austin for the reception which was being held in Kyle, Texas, at the Old Texas Fort (I think that is what it is called.)  It was the same place where Niles and Rachel had their reception as well although in a different building at that location.

They had a ring ceremony outside (with rain drops from time to time).

Daniel's two siblings and Jordan's eight siblings
and a couple of friends.

Todd and Jordan

The reception was very nice.  I mostly talked with my sister, Valerie and Lance (Mesa, AZ), my brother Scott (Austin) and my brother Rick and his family (Grapevine).  It is always good to have a reason to gather and a wedding is one of the best!  Glad we have lots more to still get married in the future.

The only picture I took at the reception.
I totally forgot.  This is my brother, Scott
dancing with his granddaughter Ari and Tillie.

 I spent Friday and Saturday nights with my brother, Scott, in Austen.  My sister-in-law Sandy had left this on the bed for me complete with toothbrush and chocolates.

 We spent Saturday--playing games---a big surprise, I know.  We were sad to see Rick and Linda leave for home but had fun with a variety of different games.  We headed back to Todd's later that night--for more game playing!  I head back to Scott's that night and Valerie and Lance headed to their hotel as they had to leave early in the morning to drive back to Houston to catch their flight.

I slept in and had a quiet morning as Sandy and Scott both had things to do. I had a nice conversation with my nephew Scottie before  I headed to Kyle to go to Church with Todd and his family.

Look at those clouds and the beautiful huge blue sky.  I love Texas.

Sunday night I stay with Todd's family and we played more games together.  It was nice to have a small group and to get to know Tillie, Kaylee and Ryan a bit better.  We don't get to see each other very often, but I love them so much as their aunt.  I am so looking forward to our Giberson Reunion in New Mexico this summer.

I love Texas but it was nice to get back to Utah, the mountains and mostly of all my family.  The weather had been very cold and stormy that day but has been fairly mild since then.

Home sweet home.