The Wedding of the Century...

...or at least that is what I was calling it. Jon and Rebecca got married on August 23rd in the Salt Lake City Temple. It was a jam packed week long of events. First off Rebecca's sister Kristin, me, and my cutest craftiest cousin Jessica through Rebecca a shower at Gardner Village. It was really fun to do. I absolulty LOVE planning and throwing parties. I would love to be a wedding and party planner. Jessica made the towel cake and the place cards, both of which turned out BEAUTIFUL. It was a fun time.
The wedding was wonderful. Jon and Rebecca were so happy and it was wonderful to be in the sealing room to witness this special event. Of course I was bawling like a baby as I saw my little brother get married. As he sat there all I could see in my minds eye was this little mischievous kid running around with skinny legs. "Rachael, watch me run so fast", he used to say. I am so proud of him and the good choices he has made in his life to get him to this point. We are so happy for them!

Decocrations at Rebecca's Shower

The cute place cards Jessica made...thanks again Jess!

Ummm...is this not the cutest, craftiest, most beautiful thing you have ever seen??!!
Jessica is the cutest girl I know.

Mr. and Mrs. Monson!

Ahhhh....

Taggy and Caden

It was a hot day, and the boys were getting tuckered out!

Me waiting after pictures to go to the O.G. (Olive Garden)

The Cutiest Boodiest!

The happy couple

Loved her dress!

The cutest little boys on the block!

Thatcher

The whole Monson Clan...
my we have grown in just a few short years...

Cutting the cake

Cute!

To be a young bride again...ahhhh
The boys loved playing at "the park" at the reception.

Bishop Bonanza!

While we were in Utah for Jon and Rebecca's Wedding, we stopped by for an afternoon to visit with the 'other' Bishops! Todd's three brothers all live in Utah now, and his sisters were up in Utah for a little while. We went to Chuck E. Cheeses' and had fun visiting. Thanks to the 'Bishop Blessing', as I like to call it, we have four little boys and no girls yet on this side of the family. Kaylor, Dallas, Thatcher and Taggy had a fun time running around and playing. It was nice to see everyone.

The Whole Lot of Us!
Audrey and Dallas, Mark, Todd, Tagg, Me, Thatcher, Brindie, Kaylor, Julianne, Eddie.

Uncle Mark and Taggy

Do they sell home versions of this? :)

Nothing like Chuck E. Cheeses Pizza! Yum!

Aunt Julianne playing Air Hockey with Thatcher and Todd

Stair Step Boys, all nine months apart.

Thatcher and Kaylor

Do these boys look alike or what?

The four cousins.

Nothing says Summer like BBQ's and Pirates...

We are reaching that point where it is almost time to say good-bye to summer! I frankly cannot believe it, this summer has flown by. Probably because we have been out doing so much and having a lot of fun, and not stuck inside a house with the AC blasting trying to escape the hottest heat of Tucson.

On Friday we went to an LFM closing BBQ. It was really great, and fun to see everyone that Todd has been going to class with for the last few months. It is nice to have a small break with Todd, and have him relatively stress free. We are really proud of him for all the hard work and the good job he has done this last semester. I have always admired Todd for his diligence and dedication, and the way he sets his mind to accomplish even the hardest of tasks. Only Todd can make going to MIT seem like a piece of cake.

On Saturday morning some good friends of ours woke us up and told us that some Pirates had invaded our playground the night before and buried treasure! The boys were really excited, and they loved digging for their "coins" and "jewels". We are so grateful that we live in the community that we live in here, and have already made some friendships that we know will last a lifetime.

We are on to the Wedding Extravaganza (as I have entitled it) this week in Utah and there will sure to be a large post coming of our exciting Utah trip. Good luck to Jon who is in the last week of Bachelorhood!

This is the SO (significant other) group of the LFM's 10's. They are a great group of ladies.

Some of Todd's classmates at the BBQ.

Todd teaching Thatcher how to play football. He is hoping to cash in on Thatcher's size...

Thatcher and some of his friends running around silly.

Digging for treasure.

A REAL coin!

The sandbox all dug up!

He was very dedicated to his pirate cause...

The cutest little pirates I have ever seen.

When Taggy sees Pirate
hats he says, "ARRRR" in his most ferocious voice. I was trying to teach Thatcher how to say,
"drink up me hearties yo ho!" but it didn't go over too well. I guess we will leave that one to Capn' Jack for now.

Bawling like a baby....

Okay so I am siting here bawling like a blubbering school girl. I just think these girls are too cute, and I am so happy that they won Gold and Silver. I don't know what it is about this Olympics, but I am crying EVERY NIGHT! I cry when Michael Phelps wins, and when I see his mom crying with pride in the stands. I bawled when Nastia Luikin hugged her Dad when she won the gold, I bawled when she and Shawn Johnson stood on the podium. I cry when I hear the anthem and see our flag. I cry at the human interest stories, and those blasted Johnson and Johnson commericals when the athlets thank their mothers. I am like a sobbing idiot! And no, I am not pregnant.

Rainy days...

So here are a few things we have been doing since it has been raining for a week...thankfully today the sun is out and it is BEAUTIFUL! I keep telling Todd that it is worth a few stormy, rainy days for the absolutely GORGEOUS days of late summer and fall of New England.

Yesterday we went to an indoor play area of a VERY posh mall in the area. I am talking Tiffany's, Pottery Barn, ect. It was fun to walk around and look at all the stores, window shopping of course. The boys liked the little play area, and it was nice to let them run off some steam after being in the house for a couple days because of the rain.

We also had to wait in line for 30 mintues at the bank to open up a new bank account. Waiting 30 minutes in line with two very active little boys is a recipe for DISASTER! Good thing Todd was there to entertain them! They sure love their Daddy!

Dream Dinners

Last night I organized a Relief Society trip to Dream Dinners. If you haven't heard about Dream Dinners, Super Suppers, Let's Dish, ect. it is an ingenious idea where you go and make meals that are delicious and stock in your freezer. I go and make a whole months worth of dinners, and that way I never have to ask "what is for dinner tonight?". It has saved us time, and money, which is always important on a student budget! We had a great group of girls go last night and we had a blast assembling all our meals for the month! If you haven't checked to see if you have one of these great little places near you, you should!

Swiming Lessons and Crafts

My friend Becky and the boys making a butterfly at the park today. Cambridge has some awesome free things for parents and kids to do during the day.

Taggy and me at the park, I am going to break him of the blasted binkie soon...but he was grumpy and so I gave it to him...

Thacher at the wonderful pool here at MIT. He is enrolled in "beginning beavers" (MIT's mascot is the beaver) He is doing really well and LOVES the water.

Dylan and Thatcher before swim lessons. They are best buddies.

Caught in the Rain...

On our way home from the library today we got caught in a HUGE thunderstorm. It was crazy/a little scary/hilarious. The boys and I were SOAKED and I cannot believe Taggy actually fell asleep! Poor little guy. As we were walking in the rain and I was pushing the stroller I couldn't help but think of the Pioneers on this day when we commemorate their arrival to the Salt Lake Valley. I only had to walk for 1 mile in the pouring rain with two kids crying and screaming. The rain was blinding and I could hardly open my eyes at times. As a mother I cannot imagine what those great pioneer women had to go through. I am grateful for and admire their sacrifice and faith, their diligence and dedication. As for us we are safe and warm and waiting our new stroller to come with a weather guard!