wedding bells

 
This past weekend one of my cousins got married, so we did a lot of celebrating.  First on Friday night with a delicious dinner and a Scottish bagpiper at this place and then on Saturday morning at this lovely venue (which their website does no justice to).

It's always so fun to welcome a new member into the family and this was no exception.  The venue was beautiful, the bride of stunning - and I only really took pictures of Dave and myself...picture fail?  Well, I kind of did it on purpose after seeing this gorgeous picture taken by a wedding photographer a few weeks ago that is totally and completely killed (in my opinion) by all those iPhones and iPads!  What with us sitting towards the back I probably would have been fine, but I didn't want to risk it during the ceremony for sure.  And then during the rest of the festivities?  Ok, that was a picture taking fail.  Oh well, such it is.

We enjoyed catching up with family, eating delicious Italian food & wedding cake, drinking Martinellis, and soaking in the much needed rain that poured, and poured, and poured on us!  Good thing all the festivities were slated to be done inside or else, well, we would've gotten a tad sopping  (and good thing Dave was a sweetheart and volunteered to drive).  But in sum up, we had a great time, and I wouldn't complain if we had more wedding receptions to attend on the calendar...

southward

David and I thought we'd ease back into real life after a fun filled Christmas week with my family.  We left Orange County last Sunday, met up with my parents in Culver City to celebrate New Year's Day on Wednesday, and then hopped in the car again on Friday afternoon and went back down to Orange County.  Real life, shmeal life.  Who wants to get back to that anyway?

Actually, the reason we went back down south again this weekend was because one of my sweet friends from home was getting married!!  And we weren't about to miss that wild party.

 It was a lovely night and Alyssa was the most gorgeous bride.  Plus they had their reception at the same place we had ours!  Of course, even in California, it gets colder in January than it is in August, so they had the reception in the ballroom instead of out in the gardens, but Dave and I stepped out and took a quick peek.  Such great memories in that little courtyard...

And since we were already down for the reception we figured we might as well stay the night and spend time with family on Saturday morning.  We decided to get together for a lady's lunch and enjoy a stroll on the beach.  Never a bad idea.  Plus we tried a most delightful new restaurant that is right. on. the. beach.  I'm officially a Beachcomber Cafe fan.

On the beach in January.  Not a bad gig.

all married off

Welp, a wedding, Thanksgiving, and a trip to Utah came and went and now we're back in the sunshine state and I'm back to the cyber world.  I purposely left my computer on the couch at home and didn't check my email on my phone for the week.  Smart?  Maybe not, but it was sure nice.  We had a great time just enjoying time with family and friends and that crisp Utah air.  It was the best.

We started off wedding festivities with a roast & toast family dinner the night before the big day with the new in-laws and what a hoot!  David's brother, Stephen, married a cute girl who is the baby of a family of 10 and she is the last to be married so it was a rather large party and so much fun.

And before we knew it it was the wedding day!!  I think weddings will always be my favorite things and part of me is sad to see all the Nemrows now married off, but in a happy, I wouldn't have it any other way, way.  And what a happy day it was - I don't think I've ever seen Stephen smile so much.

My goal of getting Dave in a bow tie was finally accomplished (thanks Coryse!), and I thought he looked quite dapper - maybe a few bow ties will be in his stocking this Christmas...

And, funny story, I got told 3 different times by 2 of my nieces that I had baby in my tummy (which I don't) while wearing the dress above (and never again the rest of the week...) - I guess those Spanx were fighting a loosing battle ;)

It was a perfect (cooold) morning and we had a great time.  And those two lovebirds?  Whipped.  Absolutely whipped.  The reception that night was equally as fun and how gorgeous!  Coryse's sisters took care of all the decor and really did a lovely job.

 And that was a wrap!  We were so glad they decided to tie the knot close to Thanksgiving so we could make it up to celebrate with them.  And that was only the first half of the week!  Geez, did we really ever have to come back from vacation...??

my best friend's wedding

Two Fridays ago Dave and I got off work as early as humanly possible (what with busy season and a crazy night at my office), grabbed some McDonald's for the road, and hopped on the 210 East towards Phoenix, Arizona for a very important event:

My best friend was getting married!!!!

We (meaning Dave) drove through the night and didn't roll into Ma & Pa Fuller's house til 2:30 in the AM.  Our other friends had already arrived earlier that day, and I asked them to please not wait up for us.  We let ourselves in with the key under the mat (aka: breaking and entering) and were greeted with these:

We were sleep deprived.  

We died laughing.

After 5ish hours of rest we were up and excited to see everyone.  Fresh grapefruit right off the tree in the backyard for breakfast, a quick shower, and some make up later we were in the car on the way to the Mesa, Arizona temple.

Neither Dave or I had ever been to the Mesa temple before, and it was lovely.  The whole place was surrounded with orange trees full of fruit, and it was a lovely desert day (as in we weren't sweating too badly).

And about an hour later...they did it!  These two cute kids got themselves hitched and I don't think the smiles could have gotten any bigger.

C+C for life.  I'm so happy for this cute girl.  We were random roommates our first summer semester at BYU all those years ago and we've pretty much been inseparable since.  And now she's a married woman!  Good thing I like that Jonny.  We wouldn't give up our Caitlin to just anyone...

After celebrating the boys, understandably, didn't feel like sticking around to take pictures, pictures, and more pictures.  So while we stuck around and got shutter-happy with Papa Fuller the amazing photographer and his protege, Jarelle:

They went off and hiked a mountain:

That night the real party started down in Casa Grande.  There was cake, tacos, DE-licous Eegee's smoothies, dancing, pictures, and lots of love.  

Yes the lighting is bad.  No I didn't bring my big camera.  This was one event I decided to just enjoy.  iPhones were invented for a reason.

And that was that!  We drove in late Friday night, partied all Saturday, and took off Sunday afternoon after church with these awesome gals:

It was great weekend and it went by way too fast.  Too bad we couldn't steal these great girls (and the bride & groom for that matter) and bring them back to Santa Clarita with us.  Maybe next time...