I was able to be home for the beginning of my favorite month – MAY!!
While I was home I was able to go practice Volleyball with Lily and Bethanne, as Lily was getting ready for her Freshman Year Volleyball tryouts (spoiler – SHE MADE IT!!) Volleyball is literally the best sport ever and we had so much fun! ps. they are GOOOOOD!
Most of my trip down there was Wedding Prep. Which is really fun, especially since it wasn’t for my own wedding this time!! hahaha The pavilion was absolutely beautiful this time of year!!
I got to spend some quality time with little Canyon and he is SOOOO SWEEET!!!
The night before the reception Colby flew in so I went up to Shreveport to pick him up! Later that night, all the girls got together and went to get sushi! All the women in this picture have been a big part of Mary-Catherine’s life, but also my life! I was so happy to have everyone together to celebrate MC!
While we were gone, all the men got together and ate pizza! Even Canyon got to join all the fun, such a little man:
The day of the reception was super exciting and very special! I did Mary-Catherine’s makeup! Me and mom were able to help MC do the final touches on her Wedding Dress/Veil, which was very special to me!
Colby had the responsibility of bringing the cake down to the pavilion, which he was pretty proud of hahaha
Right after the reception, we all loaded up and drove to Houston, TX for the Wedding the next morning! It was a very special moment to have 4/6 kids, and their spouses in the temple all together!
my girls:
Little Canyon looked SO CUTE matching the groomsmen!!!!
About 5 days after flying back to Utah, we flew to Washington for Blake’s Mission Farewell!
We got to play by the pool and just all be together! This was the last time everyone would be together for about 3 years, because Blake and Hunter’s Missions will overlap! So while we were there we took family photos! We took them by the river and it was so pretty! We requested this picture of all the boys holding up Heidi on the couch which we thought was so funny! Here is the pic I got on my phone:
I TURNED 21!!!
My birthday fell on a Sunday this year so we went shopping the day before! Taylor and Shalynn met up with us at the mall!
Robin got me these cute new shoes for my birthday and I have worn them so much since!! I love them!
The morning of my birthday I got a text from my mom saying she booked us a hotel in Vegas for later that week!! I have always said I want to go to Vegas for my 21st birthday! Me and Colby started to look into it to see if we could, but it wasn’t going to work out financially. So I kinda just let go of the idea! But then my mom surprised me with it!! I was so excited! So on Wednesday of that next week we drove down after school and work! When we got there Wednesday night we were determined to play black jack (just cause I can now hahaha).. We were such noobs in that casino, we had no idea what we were doing. We went up to a random black jack table and laid down 5 bucks. The dealer practically scoffed at us and informed us it was a $25 minimum. So we went to the ATM and got $20 out. We went back to that table and asked if she could tell us how to play and the guy next to us started laughing at us. Literally in 10 seconds we lost it all and just got up and walked away hahaha.. i decided I hated gambling but I was happy to keep some of the chips as a memory hahaha
We are on a strict budget so we didn’t let Vegas mess that up so we brought all our own food hahaha, we laughed at ourselves a lot about that haha
We spent all day Thursday at the pool and at the malls!! It was the best birthday present ever!!!
Thursday night we drove all the way back to Provo for School and Work Friday morning. And right after that, on Friday afternoon we drove back down to Southern Utah for a Hike in Escalante! Lots of driving that week! hahaha
We went down to Escalante with Colby, Austin, Hunter, D, Hailey, Jake, Megan, Kyle, and Spencer! It was such a fun group of people! We got there late Friday night and camped that night at the trail head in our cars/tents! Hunter got to sleep with me and Colby in our car hahaha
The hike was so breathtaking! The surroundings of it were super desert-ey and then all of a sudden you come across this Oasis and walk along this little creek the whole time! The arches were incredible! I love doing these hikes because it is a good reminder of how beautiful this Earth is and how grateful I am to be able to explore it.
The group we were with was so fun because everyone took video on their own devices and compiled all the footage at the end! Here is the video Austin edited of it:
Jake McCleary also edited a version of his own and here is his:
The day before Memorial Day, Grandma and Grandpa Cook took us to their parent’s graves to leave flowers and showed us where they will be buried one day. It was a super sweet experience to hear them talk about their parents.
I love the little kids I nanny! The mom and the older girl were on vacation in Florida so I was able to watch just the little boy, Alex, for 11 hours, 2 days in a row! We had fun at the pool and running errands!
Love, SB
