Lazy Summer

I didn't post last week because our lives have been pretty non-eventful.  All of our big summer things are done and we've been just sleeping in and hanging around the house, except for Chuck who still has to work.  Ruth has also been putting 15-10 hours in at her job, Jared has been making YouTube videos and playing the drums, and I've been playing Overwatch on the Xbox.  It's just lazy days for us.

Gaming Con

Last weekend was Gaming Con and my maiden voyage with Pharah.  I've been working on Pharah for over a year now and I was excited to get her out there and seen.    When I started working on Pharah the video game Overwatch had only been out a couple of months, what I didn't know then is that Overwatch would remain the #1 game for the next year, and when I went to gaming con that some voice actors from Overwatch would be the main guests. So not only was the suit a success but the timing was perfect.   I was out in the parkinglot putting on the suit and someone yelled out "Pharah!"  That was only with the legs on, so the Gaming Con crowd recognized and appreciated Pharah.

After a photo shoot with other Overwatch cosplayers they said the Overwatch voice actors wanted to meet us, so we were escorted to their autograph tables.   They were really nice and took pictures with us.  I even got tweeted!

Chuck went with me and helped me all day because I can't really function in the suit.  I can walk really well, but I can't handle things and manage the helmet and rocketlauncher very well.   He was super kind and patient with me all day as I was stopped over and over for pictures.  I couldn't have done it without him.

This was my first time competing at the Masters level.  The competition went pretty well.  I had a few technical difficulties; there were a few kinks I'll have to work out before the next con, but over all it went okay.   I won the Master's division, but not Best in Show.    Still a good win and mostly I was thrilled with how the day went.


Meet Link and Peaches

Link (above with Jared) and Peaches (with Ruth) are sisters and they are around 8 weeks old.  They are a lionhead/lop eared mix.  We adopted them on Friday after Chuck spent a few days earlier in the week painting the hutch and getting everything ready for the new arrivals.

Family Reunion

In spite of being burned out of our first location, my sister was able to find a second location on very short notice and we had a fun family reunion with my siblings and their families. We had a lot of fun evening activities with skits and games (I don't have any pics of those).   Here are some pictures from our outdoor adventures:

We spent one morning at a pioneer museum.

The water was so cold that it numbed our feet. 

This hike up Kannara Creek Canyon was the most fun hike I've ever done. 

Beside the waterfall was this death ladder you had to traverse. 

We saw some dinosaur prints.  It was super hot.

Spending an evening hearing stories from grandma.  I learned a few things I didn't know.

Trek

We had to leave the family reunion a day early so our kids could go on a Pioneer Trek with our church youth group.  They only get one chance to do this every 4 years so we didn't want them to miss out.  They both said it was okay but they didn't love it.

Jared front right.

Ruth on the back 3rd from the left. 

Happy Late Aniversary

Chuck and my 19th anniversary kind of got lost in all the wedding planning. So the day we sent the kids on Trek we took advantage of the alone time and spent the day at a fun center driving go-carts and playing mini golf  (not to brag but I did get the highest score on my laser tag team) :)

We're Going to Disneyland!

Kaitlin and Ben had a great honeymoon at Disneyland and the beach. When they came home on Friday they seemed super happy and said they had a great time in spite of a few mishaps along the way.   As of Saturday, they are living in their new apartment where they will finish up a few more weeks of online classes look for jobs before the fall semester starts.

Here at our house, we spent the week recovering from the wedding, sorting through things, returning things that were borrowed, washing tablecloths, cleaning the wedding dress, and selling things that we didn't want to keep.



Ruth's New Job

I failed to mention a couple weeks ago that Ruth has started a new job. She works for a heating and air contractor that works with Lowes.  In essence, she sits at a table at Lowes and tries to sell heating and air services to passer-bys.  She gets paid a good hourly wage plus commission for sales.  Although Ruth says the actual work is pretty boring, she is glad to be getting practical business experience.  While most of her friends are working fast food she feels like she is getting her foot in the door in a field that interests her.

Ruth at her first day of work

This weekend was our Towne Days and Ruth helped stage the town parade with the youth council then the youth council appeared in the parade. Their group got an award from the city for all their service. 

Kaitlin and Ben's Wedding

On Friday, Kaitlin and Ben were married.  It was a beautiful and perfect day.  The ceremony was lovely and they were both so happy.  All the family was there and we took pictures at the temple.  The Platt family put a nice luncheon for all of us.  Then that evening the reception went really well.  We had around 300 people pass through to give their good wishes.   

We had so many people come and help us.  Kaitlin's bridesmaid, Rachel, showed up at 7:30 am to do her hair.  I had several friends iron tablecloths and help set up the reception.  My sister Donna ran the refreshment table all night, and finally, a lot of Kaitlin's friends, and Donna, and my friend Julia and her daughter Avery, stayed until past 10 pm to clean everything up.  It was a monumental task, but everything went so smoothly because so many people helped. 

Kaitlin and Ben have really been on a long journey to get to this point. They have made a lot of sacrifices to serve in the church.  They put off being together for two years, communicating in only letters.  Thiers is an amazing love story. 

20 years ago I left a really bad marriage, and the main reason I did that was because I wanted Kaitlin to have an example of a loving and respectful relationship;  I wanted her to see how she should be treated by a husband someday.  It was so satisfying to me to see her get married to Ben, who is such a gentle, hard working, friendly guy.  It feels like I succeeded in a great work. 

I'm not sure what details to include so here are some pictures from the event.  I've tried to choose ones that didn't appear in other social media.  I'll also put up pictures from the photographer when we get them.  Most of these pictures were taken by other people. 

Ben did a dance of joy leaving the temple.

They were so happy!

Family pictures.

The groomsmen were all Kaitlin's friends in high school. It was so great to see them all together at the wedding. 

I think we look pretty great. There was minimal crying during the ceremony so our makeup was still intact. 

Ruth and some of the other bridesmaids.

We had over 50 lanterns at the reception. (Thanks Lisa!)

Kaitlin didn't want the parents to stand in a line, so while Kaitlin and Ben greeted guests the rest of us were free to mingle. (You can see Donna there on the right, busy at work on the refreshment table)

Kaitlin's dress turned out lovely! They were a handsome couple. 

Their friend took care of the car decorating. 

Here is a video of the bouquet toss. I won't spoil it for you and tell you who caught it.  (if you get this blog via email, you'll have to visit the blog online to watch the video)

Jared's 100-mile Bike Trip

While we were all doing last minute scrambling for the wedding, Jared was with his scout troop doing a 100-mile bike trip on the White Rim Train in Canyonland's National Park.  His troop has been getting ready for this trip for awhile. They left early on Monday morning and came home late on Thursday night (they came home a day early just so Jared could make it back for the wedding).

Jared said it was a lot of fun but some of it was really hard.  He came home a little sunburned and a lot tired.

finalizing the table decorations

Have I mentioned that Kaitlin's getting married?  No?

Well, she is, and we spent some time this week getting ready for that.  We took a few trips to the seamstress to get the final fitting on her dress, and we shopped for things, and we made plans. Chuck has been building the backdrop in the garage.  It seems I think of something new every day that we have to add to the list.  

We were lucky enough to be invited to a neighbor's wedding reception at the same venue, so we were able to go and see the room in action. It really helped us solidify our plans and how we want movement in the room.

All in all it's coming together.  Most of the planning is done.  It should all come together just fine.

Kaitlin is holding up really well. She has not gone bridezilla at all. I think her overwhelming feeling is that she just wants to be done with it and move on to the next part of her life.

Wedding Plans

Things are starting to come together now for the wedding. We are less than 2 weeks away.  Kaitlin and Ben got their wedding license this week.  They also borrowed a trailer and truck and moved all their belongings to their new apartment in Idaho.   They will be settling there immediately after their honeymoon.  Kaitlin said the new apartment was really cute but hard to move all their stuff up two flights of stairs.


Volunteering

While Kaitlin and Ben were moving, I spent Saturday volunteering for Comic Con and for the Mama Dragons at the Pride festival downtown.  I had a great time giving out posters and t-shirts for Comic Con during the day and even more fun meeting a lot of other moms and new people at the MD booth in the evening.