Sarah and Darren Got Hitched!

So, back in October we went up to Utah for Sarah and Darren's wedding. Yay! 

Here are a few pictures from the big day!

Nathan helping Sarah set up the hall. (More like, he spent 95% of his time on the playground with Papi and came in for 30 seconds to take a picture with Sarah.)

One of my favorite pictures that we (I) took from the whole night. Sarah looked ah-mazing!

Their wedding rings, together. 

During the ceremony. :)

Annnnnnnd Nathan was the ring bearer. What was a really nice ceremony for some, was a reaaaallllly loooonnng ceremony for a two year old. Ha. This picture captures just one of his many activities to pass the time away. ;)

The happy couple! Mr. and Mrs. Valletta!

Cutting the cake-- the delicious cake. 

After the party, snapping a few family shots. :)

Congratulations, Sarah and Darren! We're excited for your guys' future together. :) 

Particularly next Wednesday through Sunday. That ought to be an exciting time in your lives. ;) 

My Little Nathan :)

With Nathan's birthday coming up (it's passed now, but this was a couple days beforehand) I wanted to have a photo shoot with my little two year old. He's so cute-- even if I did have to take a gazillion shots just to get a handful of pictures that I really liked. :) So, enjoy!

Gallaughering.

Mid-August, Darren and Isis came to visit us in Arizona. :) Yay!!!

We love visitors-- and love Darren and Isis even. more.

They drove out here early afternoon on Thursday, the 16th-- and got here just before Freddy got home from work that day.  We spent the first night at our house-- eating dinner and then playing games 

{Isis and Tracy: Reigning Taboo Champions Forever}. 

The next couple days we stayed at the JW Marriott Desert Ridge Resort and Spa in Scottsdale-- 

and we sure had fun!

Swimming in one of the many pools..

Freddy "surfing" on Darren's back. :) What talent.

Cute family picture. Way to look at the camera, N. ;)

Darren and Isis! We just love them! :)

Girls hanging out in the Lazy River. :)

The view from our balcony. Thank you upgraded view room. 

That night we went to dinner at Texas Roadhouse {Delicious!} and played games in the hotel room. Let's just say that we generally play boys against girls-- and let's just say that the boys tried not to cry from all the times they lost against us. Just saying. 

Stay tuned! More to come!

Girls' Camp 2012

This year I was able to join our young women at Girls' Camp from July 12-14th. (Plus! I even got to go on the canoeing trip with the 4th years the day before {on the 11th}-- and then join the other girls the next day).

Our canoeing trip on Wed, the 11th. SO. MUCH. FUN! I'm not gonna lie, I was concerned that we would totally tip over.  But no, we were expert canoers.  Go. us.

It was seriously so gorgeous! I totally want to take Freddy there sometime.
Hm. Now for the actually having a canoe issue.

Our theme was to Arise to the Occasion-- just like the heroes of the Book of Mormon.  We were assigned Moroni-- the one that buried the golden plates/the one that became the angel Moroni. Do you love our trumpet? Brilliant, right?

Eating a little lunch together. Shot out to the camp cooks. 

Our ward (minus a few YCLs that couldn't be there for the picture!)

We all had an amazing time-- especially during the Iron Rod activity/fireside that we had. Seriously-- one of the most spiritual experiences of. my. life. It was so great to see the girls having so much fun together. :)

On the flip side, Nathan stayed home with Freddy-- boys week(end-ish) together! They would sleep at my in laws' house and then in the morning, Freddy would go to work and my mother in law would watch Nathan.  After work, Freddy would take Nathan home for a few hours, and then late at night they would head back to my in laws' again.  Nathan surprised us all by being so so good! It was my first time away from him for that long, and yet he survived just fine. :) Such a relief for me!

The hardest part was when I'd call at night to talk to Freddy and Nathan-- we even video chatted once or twice.  It was so heart breaking to hear my baby ask for me to come home, telling me how much he missed me, etc., knowing that I still had a couple days left. He told me about his new little airplanes that Grandma had gotten for him that day, telling me all the colors of them.  I asked if I could see them and he said (with a whimper in his voice), "You can't, because you're at camp... but you could come home, and then I could show them to you." And another time, "Come home Mommy; I miss you-- I need you!" :(

Sighhh.. It was a wonderful experience to be at Girls' Camp-- but I was definitely glad to be back at home with my family!

CO/NM: Day Five-- Heading home.

So, on our way back from Colorado, we stopped in Albuquerque again, 

but this time we actually spent some time checking it out.

We went to the Albuquerque, NM, temple-- 

(The steeple is on the other side, facing the street.. but it was tricky to get a good picture from that angle.) 

My in laws. :)

It was pretty bright.. Nathan and I can attest to that fact.

Okay on the count of three, look at the camera. One... Twoooo...

(See! Told you there was a steeple!)

After that we went to the Anderson Abruzzo Albuquerque International Balloon Museum. 

Pretty cool place-- all about flight using hot air balloons (and a little bit about modern flight--)

Up, up, and away!

Nathan and Freddy building their own hot air balloon. They had to piece together different strips of colors (with velcro), attach it to the built in fan on the table, and see how well it would inflate! Fun!

Me, playing an interactive hot air balloon game-- I had to land the balloon in the right spot.  I was disappointed with my 67%, until Freddy got like, 23% or something... And then I realized that perhaps I was better than I thought! :)

Outside the balloon museum. :)

And then we finished our drive back to Glendale! :) 

We had a blast together-- it was such a great trip! 

CO: Day Four of Denver

To start out our last day in Colorado, we went back to the Red Rock Amphitheater (since last time, it was already starting to close to prepare for the upcoming performance that evening). 

We were so. glad. we went back. It was awesome. 

I left just in awe of the world around us! It sounds so lame, but really, it's so incredible to see all the variety of landscapes and scenic views the world around us offers. :)

True or false: I was totally fine having my little baby sit on that wall,  inches away from a thirty foot drop.
(Answer: So beyond false that there should be another word for it. This picture was taken quickly-- and you probably can't see it, but my hand is totally bracing his back, just in case.)

F and I in front of all the posters promoting shows at the Red Rock Amphitheater.

Afterwards we went to the 16th Street Mall, which was pretty fun to see..

And after that we were pretty much ready to head back to Albuquerque.  The whole drive back we were racing a storm, so we'd drive and finally be out of the thunderstorm... Then we'd stop for bathrooms and it would catch up to us.  So we'd drive again and finally be out of it.. whew. And then we'd stop for lunch and it would be all out down pour again. Pretty exciting!

Yay for our trip to Denver. We sure had fun there!