The Best Couple Ever...Jared and Shelby

My adorable brother Jared married sweet Shelby on June 18, and then had a ring ceremony and reception on the 25th. I knew she was a keeper after my Grandma's funeral in December. She sailed through that stressful time, and then through Christmas with us, too. Our family quirks (cause every family has some...some families have more than others) didn't scare her away, and she fit right in. Can you tell that I love her? :)

They asked me to take pictures for them at the temple, and I gladly did. Here are some of my favorites.

The super cute couple. They giggled through most of the pics. :)

Smiling faces, and the beauty of the temple all in one photo.

Simply love this photo. They clearly love each other an awful lot.

Meet Mr. Nubman. Jared lost part of his finger in a work accident a couple of years ago. He occasionally draws a face on the stub and calls it "Mr. Nubman." What a goof.

Shelby's great family that drove out for California to be there for her. That's her brother in the back, her mom in blue and her aunt on the right.

These are all the Sudholts that made it. Somehow we finally managed to get a nice picture. After Aunt Karen stopped making faces.  Left to right: cousin Emily, my mom Jan, my sister Hallie, Shelby, my brother "Uncle Jon," Jared, me, my dad Bob, and Aunt Karen.

Jared's sweet son Gavin, ring bearer for the ceremony at the reception.

Shelby's pretty little Jasmine, the flower girl.

I am so excited to have such a great sister-in-law. Their new family is beautiful, and I can't wait to watch them bloom and grow together.

Oh, What a Week

...and the craziness has really only just begun.  As a quick recap: It started raining on Sunday, with only a couple of breaks between then and Friday morning.  With the severe burn in the mountains this summer, there are no plants left to either soak up rainwater or prevent erosion, so there was a pretty great risk of mudslides.  Therefore, homes that were deemed vulnerable were evacuated as of Wednesday morning.  That night, residents were allowed in with ID.  Whew.  Thursday, however, was a different story.  Levi and I were not allowed past the barricade, so we called Aaron, who was at home with A.J., and we all headed out.  I am lucky enough to have an awesome cousin that lives in Las Vegas who had already invited us to stay at her place if we needed it, so I took her up on it.  It was so great to have a relaxing weekend with lovely sunshine.

This week, Aaron is in Phoenix until Thursday afternoon.  I'm supposed to leave for Catalina Thursday morning.  He leaves for Phoenix again on Sunday before I get back and he'll return again on Friday.  Oh, my goodness it's going to be challenging.

However, I did take a few pictures of the fun.

Since Jake and Carrie were taking Lila to Disney on Ice Friday night, and our boys were absolutely not interested, we went to an aquarium instead.

Look at the size of that fish!

This aquarium is one of the most interestingly decorated I have seen.  It's in the Mandalay Bay casino/resort thing.  Because ALL entertainment, including movie theaters, in Las Vegas are in casinos.  Not my favorite place, but there's not much I can do about it.  Casino money buys nice looking stuff, though.

They had a really neat exhibit that made you feel like you were inside a shipwreck, and then one wing was a tube, so the sharks and rays could swim all around.  It was pretty fascinating.

This is a very impressive waterfall that we missed the first time we walked past because from the back, and upstairs, you can't even tell it's there.

And finally, one of my favorite photos of the trip.  The three little ones together.  A.J. and Levi and sweet little Lila.

Families can be Together Forever

That's what the boys and their cousin Shyanne sang at Susie's funeral on Monday. It's so true! Families really can be together forever, and knowing that is so comforting. Who wouldn't want to be with these cuties forever?

















Pop's been gone nearly four years now, and Susie was ready to be with him again. We were all sad to see her go, but took comfort knowing that she had a great life, and that she was excited to see Charlie (Pop) again.




















Susie was great. She loved her kids, and especially loved the grandkids and great-grandkids. We miss you, Susie!