Congratulations Natalee & Toby

Aunt Natalee and Toby tied the knot on Wednesday, August 9th in San Diego. Since the boys were in school, and it was a tough time for me to take work off, we jetted to San Diego on Tuesday after the boys got out of school and headed home Wednesday evening before the festivities were even over. We got to be there for all of the important parts....family pictures at the temple and the ring ceremony at the Prado that evening, that all the nieces and nephews were a part of.

This will be picture overload but I think they capture the day better than I could in words. The venue was beautiful, the couple seemed very happy and the boys thought it was worth missing a day of school so it all turned out to be a good thing that we went. We are very happy for Toby and Natalee and hope the best and happiness for them in the future.

On the flight to San Diego, before take off, the pilots let Logan go in the cockpit with them. They let him push buttons and he even got to say "hi, mom!" over the intercom for us all to hear. He was super excited because his new thing is that he wants to be a pilot. He thought he was pretty special, and he is!

The flight was only about 45-50 minutes so the boys were easily entertained by their iPads and made the trip just fine. They love getting to pick and drink and have the snack...even though we brought our own snacks. The tiny pretzels from the airlines seem to more appealing. 

 Since brother got to go in before the flight, the pilot let them both go in after the flight. He was such a nice guy. He showed them what all the buttons do, he added hydraulics so when they tried to steer it actually felt real, he let them do flight status simulations where the computer told them things like, pull up - terrain ahead, like they had seen in the Sully movie. He made the fire alarm sound so they could hear what sounded like for the pilots. He really went above and beyond to teach them and they loved every second of it. I think he spent about ten or more minutes with them before I pulled them out to leave. Such a kind thing for Southwest to do and such wonderful memories for the boys. 

Logan was showing the pilot his Southwest plane that he brought with him specifically because we were flying on Southwest. 

 Cousin Nolan and Logan really hit it off, as they did on our Aspen Grove trip a couple years ago. Nolan came to our hotel room for a bit on Wednesday morning to play with the boys before we had to go to the temple. 

 At the temple, Ricky holding baby Maren, Lincoln, Logan and Nolan all holding hands. 

 I always say that Logan looks the most like his cousin Ashlee. They are also both a ton of fun and a bit silly. 

 This pose was 100% their doing. I just had to capture it. 

 Brothers are best friends. 

 Logan (7), Lincoln (9), Nolan (6), Nathan (9)

 All the Phillips cousins minus some of the older kids.

 Logan was trying to entertain Blake to keep him happy.

 I wasn't sure what the girls were so interested in but I had to capture the huddle.

 Mary took a turn entertaining Blake.

These two were buddies the entire day.

 Family picture...yes, we all have cool sunglasses.

 Tutu and Lincoln

 Lincoln was being so sweet, and he's always so handsome, I had to get a selfie with him.

 Toby and Natalee

 Too cool for school

 Grandma Tutu with the boys at the temple.

 The Diet Coke with a nice touch.

 Phillips siblings plus Toby.

 Uncle Spencer helping to get some of the boys energy out by wrestling with them on the grass. 

Since were were so close, between the temple and the evening festivities, we ate lunch at Phil's Bbq with JJ and Jennifer and their kids. 

The cake looked beautiful but unfortunately we had to leave before they cut it so I don't know how it tasted. 

 Esme (7), Sadie (7), Logan (7), Leah (7), Erica (9)

 Lincoln and Logan were bell ringers. They got to walk in ringing bells and stand at the front with the other groomsmen. 

 Toby and Natalee at the head table.

Turns out we were all still so stuffed from lunch that none of us could actually eat our dinner.

Fab 5 Staycation

The Fab 5 staycation has been an annual event for about four years now but unfortunately, the first couple years I couldn't go because we were always in Idaho. Last year I was able to go but Kristy wasn't able to join us. This year, for the first year ever, all five of us were able to attend both nights of the staycation. We moved it to the first weekend in August so all five of us could be there. We started the weekend off by picking up Kareth in Mesa from her flight in from Canada. We followed that up with dinner and some games back at the hotel. We were surprised by Kristy Friday night at the room when we showed up with her suitcase in hand because she initially told us she wasn't joining us until Saturday. It made for a very late and very fun night.

Saturday was a long but productive day. We started the morning off with tennis followed by breakfast at Mike's Big breakfast. We headed back to the hotel for a few hours of swimming and games poolside. We cleaned up and got fancied up for a nice dinner at the Salt Cellar in Tempe. It was such an unusual place. It's underground and just looks like a little shack from up top. The food was amazing and it was a good chance to talk and visit. We headed back to the hotel, with very full tummies, got into our pj's and played some more games.

Sunday morning we packed up our hotel room and headed to brunch at Scramble. It was also very yummy. I think we did it right with the food on this trip. I missed my boys a lot but it was really nice to unwind and have some good girl time. It was pretty drama free, with LOTS of laughs and great memories. So blessed to have wonderful friends.

These are the signs we made for Kareth that we held up in the airport. She got a kick out of it...and so did all of the other passengers coming off the plane.

Kristy trying to read the game card....needed to get out her glasses and the flashlight. 

Bam and I shared a bed. None of us ever get good sleep when we are with each other. Some snore, some hog the bed, some like it really cold, others like it much warmer....but some how we manage to make it through.

Tennis was a bit of a disaster. Two forgotten rackets, broken strings, a couple of injuries, loaned rackets...after 90 minutes on the court we called it quits. 

We are silly.

Cute toes

Pool shenanigans

The entrance to Salt Cellar

The staircase down into the restaurant

Game night in our room

Breakfast at Scramble