What can I say?? Utahns like weddings!

*Play the song, Sail Away (probably only one of my most favoritist songs ever!) with this post

Surprise, surprise.... in Utah, weddings are BIG! 

Followed closely of course, by having babies ;)

But we do love weddings so much, that we're even willing to celebrate them more than once... in other states. But in this case, we're glad they did!

You see, Steve's younger brother Jeff got married recently, you may have seen me mention in it in few other (dozen or so) posts ;) He and his lovely bride Crystal got married on June 25th 2011... but in Seattle! And sadly, we were among the only ones from the immediate family who didn't make it :( Being that it was too close to Em's most recent surgery and we didn't feel comfortable taking her that far away from our beloved Primary, in case there were (heaven forbid) a problem!

So, we were very happy when they decided they would have a reception here as well, which happened on Saturday the 9th of July. Being that everyone in the family is beginning to spread out over the country now, and everyone was going to be here at the same time, it was thought to be a good idea to get some family pictures done.... it had been awhile (click here to see the last Peters' family photo shoot from 2009). Sadly, this had to be the hottest day of the year so far! Hit over 100, and definitely was not pleasant for picture taking :P But we melted through, and thanks to my friend Gabi, we should have some pictures pretty soon :) 

But, here's some candids that Steve captured with our camera in-between posing. Also in the captions are who everyone is (with their relation in the family), because I kinda like to know that when I look at other blogs... so that is why

 Isabel (Steve's sister Kristal's daughter)

Amber (Steve's sister)

The newlyweds (Jeff and Crystal)

 Mike (Steve's brother)... and yeah, we were laughing a lot

Kevin (Steve's sister Amber's husband)

 Cory (Steve's brother)

 No explanation needed here ;)

Ulises (Steve's sister Kristal's husband) and their newest daughter Ariana

 Brian (Steve's brother), who did not care for the heat!

No explanation here either... Steve was just goofing around and we were all hot during this, so laying in the shade was a must. But I hadn't wanted him to take any pictures of me, because I felt so gross, but permitted him this one (I even smiled a little), and was actually surprised with how it turned out, probably one of my most favorite pictures of me ever... and I probably won't be saying that again!

The Reception

Ariana and Rachelle (Steve's youngest sister) asleep... did I mention it was hot that day?

The groom, Jeff (Steve's brother)

The bride, Crystal

So happy together

Mike playing with his nieces (he does this well!)

The three granddaughters in the dresses grandma Peters made for them

Steve's sister Kristal with her beautiful girls (and yes, we now have 2 Kristal/Crystals in the family)

Too funny for words, and no it wasn't on purpose!

Steve and Em

Alisha and Em

Ariana laying in the grass (who everyone at the reception kept mistaking for a doll :)

The 2 cousins only 4 days apart

Isabel being her silly self

Sorry for the picture overload... but it kinda goes with weddings :) So that will be it for now, because the next few posts will be dedicated to our trip to the annual Chromosome 18 Conference, held in Indianapolis this year! I plan on doing a few posts about it, seeing as we'll be stopping a few different places: first Nebraska (only because it's halfway), then St. Louis for a few days to visit Steve's former mission spot and to meet up with another Ch18 family, the Zyducks. Then it will be onto Indy for the actual conference! So, we've got a lot of driving ahead of us! We leave bright and early on Saturday morning around 5 *yuck!* Everyone keep your fingers crossed that I get everything done on time!! Between getting all Em's medications filled and taken care of, packing, showing the house a lot this week, and Steve working late every night this week, I'm going to need a miracle!! ;)

Yet another party!

* Play Harry Potter Theme Song for this post

It seems as though Steve and I have been quite the hosts this year! In fact, we've probably had more parties at our house in the last couple of months than the whole time we've lived here combined!

The latest ones were when my long lost brother was in town with his family

Then, Steve's family (in the last post)

And this last one was a Harry Potter party (and yes, I am that geek). Mainly it was to watch the last Deathly Hallows movie (part 1) since the next part (part 2) is coming out this Friday!! But, why not have a little fun with it?? 

So I decorated (just a little, I swear!), and made and had people bring treats that complimented the movie :)

I made Butterbeer. You probably only know what this is if you are a fan! But, it is the drink that the kids at Hogwarts get when they go to visit the local village (Hogsmead) near their school. I found a few recipes online, but they all sounded incredibly sweet (with butter, butterscotch syrup, sweetened condensed milk and cream soda being some of the key ingredients)! So I played around with it, and traded/lessened a few ingredients... and the end result was still a bit sweet, but nice in small amounts. 

Here's the recipe if you want to try it:

Microwave 1/4 C of sweetened condensed milk, 1/4 C of butterscotch syrup and 1 T whipped butter for about 1 minute in a glass dish. Stir and add 3/4 C of club soda (but you can use cream soda if you so dare!), stir again and enjoy! Makes enough for about 1, so you can multiply this to get more :)

I also made my always crowd pleasing Pumpkin Swirl Cheesecake (recipe here)

Here's a few pictures from the party:

Everyone enjoying the Butterbeer and Pumpkin Cheesecake

L to R: Tyler, Lacey *peanut, Dakota, Bret, Bama, and McCord

Bret, Bama, McCord, Gabi and Xander

Em, not cooperating for a picture... what she does lately *sigh

 The adorable licorice wands Lacey made

 The darling "Pumpkin Pasties" (treat from the Hogwarts Express) decorated with HP memorabilia, made by Marci (who unfortunately I forgot to get a picture of! was going to do it with her and me) :(

Pretty much the only decorations... and no, that picture's not mine! I actually got it for my step-dad Mitch for Father's Day (it's to go in his theater room), and then asked to borrow it for this

So, yes, I fully admit to being a full on Harry Potter nerd!! But, I'm proud of it!!

Our explosive 4th of July weekend!

* Play song, It's America with this post

This summer has been so busy, but SOo fun!! And 4th of July was NO exception!! Friends coming from far away (who we consider family because of the special connections we share in the realm of our wonderful kids!), family weddings, family moving :( And we celebrated it all!

First, Steve's sister Amber and her husband Kevin are moving to West Virginia for him to go to medical school. We are sad to see them go, but are so proud of Kevin (he's going to be a cardiologist, wahoo! One more specialist we can have look at Em once and awhile ;) 

So we had a "little" get together at our house on Saturday with Steve's family. Not only for Kevin and Amber, but to celebrate the recent union of Jeff and Crystal. Jeff is Steve's little brother, and they got married on June 25th in Seattle, and luckily we had the party the day they got back into Utah from their honeymoon ;)

So cute! Crystal holding Isabel and Jeff holding Crystal.


And some more from the party

 Looking at pictures from Kevin and Amber's recent cruise

 Em just chillin

 The Flynns (minus Ariana)

Oh there she is, with grandma Peters of course! 


Playing the Wii

Rachelle, Jeff and Crystal

Jeff, Crystal and Cory


We will miss you Amber and Kevin! And we're so glad to have Crystal in the family :)

Next was when the Hammonds came to town from San Antonio :) We first met them at the San Antonio Ch18 conference back in 2008

That's their daughter Emily (4 years) next to Emarie (who was 6 months at the time). We are so glad we got to meet Emily here, because not too long after she went to be with our Heavenly Father again. 


We have kept in contact with the Hammonds and were delighted when they said they'd be coming here for the 4th because Camille's dad was being honored in the Freedom Festival (he's helping run a tv station in Afghanistan. Quite amazing what he's doing, and to read more about him and the Hammonds, click here)

So our family and the Howe's met up with them on Sunday where they were staying at the Solitude resort

Camille and Robby with Emarie

 The beautiful and happy Howe family!

And the Peters, thanks Camille for taking this picture!

 The girls (Abby and Lily) loved looking at the fish jumping out of the pond (Robby is behind them)

 The girls on the chair lift (too hard to get a perfect picture!), looks like Em and Lily are having a staring contest!

Emarie playing with Lance (the newest addition to the Hammonds, he just turned 1 and is a doll!)

 Our attempts at getting a good pic of all the kids

Deakon, Abby, Lance, Lilly and Emarie

 Haha, 5 very tired kids!

And all the moms, Alisha, Jenny and Camille (so glad we know each other, thanks to our kids!)

Actual 4th of July

First a trip to the Wilde's that afternoon for some yummy pie!

 Grandma Wilde, my little brother Connor, Tank and Grandpa Wilde

 Noah, Grandma Jen and Emarie playing with Noah's old Blue's Clue's toy... Em loved it!


Fireworks

Em showing off our whopping display of $25 worth of fireworks... impressive eh?? ; P

Em was much more intrigued and a lot less scared this year! Too bad it still isn't dark by 9, but we didn't want to keep her up any later than that

Anybody else remember those cool flowers lasting a whole lot longer than about 5 seconds?? Really thinking fireworks are not worth the money!

 They were out of sparklers, so the guy talked me into these... and I'm sure glad I saw not to give it to Em since the sparks were burning holes in the blanket she was sitting on

 Some of the neighbor kids joining us when theirs were finished (that's Rachel, Lovely, and Abby)

The only one I would let Em hold was unlit ;)

Hope everyone else had a great Independence Day weekend!