Keaton's Wedding

Two weekends ago, Justin and I traveled to Utah for Keaton and Amanda's wedding. On Thursday April 30th we made it to Boise and stayed the night with Mitzi. Then on Friday Mitzi and Scott left all their kiddos and we carpooled to Salt Lake City. We met up with my parents, Keaton, and Alex and Anna at Hires for some delicious burgers with the infamous root beer freeze. It was delicious! We decided to go bowling after that and I bowled a 125 which has to be my highest score ever. Though I bowled the highest, Scott had the highest bowling ball speed of 24.6 mph! It was a lot of fun. After bowling we went to Scott's parents house for the night. Their house is out-of-control awesome! We watched "Disturbia" and ate lots of chocolate on their outdoor deck with a projector which was way fun!

Alex helping Dad fix the car

I sure love this guy! 

Saturday morning we met at the Bountiful temple. I was really excited to be in the temple with my family that morning. All my siblings came with their spouses, and my dad had the opportunity to seal Keaton and Amanda. He remarked later that most sealers have opportunities to seal their grandchildren, but not many have the chance to seal one of their own children. It was a really special experience and I am so happy we got to be part of it.

Waiting for them to come out...EEK!

My siblings and their spouses

All my Beal sisters!

Mom and Dad

Chase and Rachel came from OK...thankfully they move to Oregon soon. It was so fun to see them for the few hours we were together!

Scott and Mitzi

Gabe and Christy

Hart and Jory

Lance and Katie

After the sealing we met outside for pictures, and then drove to the luncheon. Amanda's family did a great job! The food was delicious, and I enjoyed hanging out with my siblings just listening to the funny stories and having a great time. We carpooled back to Boise with Mitzi that afternoon. Concerning Keaton's new bride Amanda, as my mom has put it, "If you had ordered her straight from heaven, she couldn't have been a better match!" Keaton hit the JACKPOT. She fits right in with everyone and we are thrilled for both of them!

Sunday we went to church with Mitzi, then we all joined for dinner at Gabe's house for Christy's buffalo chicken! I drove Justin to the airport that evening for him to fly back home. I love my handsome man so much! I love going to weddings with him because I remember how grateful I am that I married him when I did, where I did. I hit the JACKPOT as well and it gets better every day!

Monday I went to Mitzi's bootcamp with her and her friend Jenn. I really like that class and wish I could go with Mitzi every day! With it being Scott's birthday I helped by buying and making some birthday breakfast, and then I cleaned up while Mitzi got the kiddos ready. If polygamy is ever reinstated, I don't think I'll have a huge problem with it...one wife fix the meal, one wife tidy the house, one wife get the kids ready...doesn't sound too bad, right? Mitzi and Scott went to a movie while I babysat, and when they got back I left for Arco.

I hung out with my parents the rest of the week. I held some MK parties and also went to Idaho Falls a lot! Tuesday all three of us went to run some errands and delighted in Panda Express. Wednesday I went back for some MK events and to see Trisha and Grandma. Thursday Mom and I went to Rigby to drop off my car to trade in the value toward my parent's new car! In exchange they offered me their old car...That was totally unexpected and we are so grateful. My parents have always been so gracious to us. My dad couldn't imagine that I would make the trip back to Seattle by myself without some kind of incident, so it worked out that they found the car they were looking for... which is a miracle in itself because my mom is a lot like me...picky picky!

Brie informed me that she drew this picture of Justin and me, but that it doesn't work anymore because I "cut my hair like a boy..." ha! Thanks Brie! Also, behold the car in the background that we would trade in just 24 hours later!

I got to see my grandma on Wednesday. She is a whopping 97 years old and going strong! I sure love her!

Corbin and I went fossil hunting on Friday before the rest of the family arrived. It's fun to hang out with someone who loves fossils and rocks as much as you do! We found a TON of fossils and minerals...my favorite!

Friday the rest of the family began to arrive. Mitzi came with her kids in the afternoon, and Trisha and Gabe arrived in the evening. Mitzi helped me make cake pops, and Shae helped me frost some cupcakes. Saturday morning was windy and cold, so we all bundled up to help set up the reception. I am really happy Trisha and Mitzi were there because they had some great ideas and it turned out really cute! Keaton and Amanda came in the afternoon. I was SO EXCITED when Amanda asked if I could curl her hair...EEEK! That is my favorite thing. We also did her makeup, and throughout the reception they asked me to take some pictures. I got done editing them today and WOW: these two are the cutest! The reception had a great turnout despite the chill in the air, and I even got to see one of my best friends from high school who I haven't seen since MY reception. I was really happy with the way everything turned out, and more importantly, Keaton and Amanda loved it. That night we had our late night chatting around the kitchen table which inevitably turns inappropriate, and Amanda laughed right along with the rest of us. She fits right in!

The fabulous wedding planner ;)

Thanks for coming to see me Madi!

Here are my favorites of the photoshoot with Keaton and Amanda. This is my first time taking pictures of anyone and attempting to edit them so go easy on me.

Church was special because I got to be with my mom for Mother's Day. I love my mom so much! I am definitely the most sentimental of the Beals; I cry every time it's time to leave! I just love my family so much and it's always hard for me to leave! But I look forward to camping in August with everyone at Stanley. I drove to Boise and unloaded wedding stuff at Mitzi's, then spent the night at Hart's. Monday morning I got up at 5:00 and left at 5:30. I got home at 12:30 so I made great time! It was really nice to be reunited with Justin.

In other news, the day we left for Utah we put an offer on a house that we looked at the day before. The sellers accepted our offer, so we're looking into this house more seriously. Justin did the inspection while I was gone, so now we're working through the appraisal. We'll see what happens, but it looks like June will be an eventful month for us.

Insanity, Golfing, and So Much More!

I forgot to write about our Easter Sunday, so I'll include pictures from that weekend in this post. Jon organized an Easter Egg Hunt at the Hunter's where we had to wait 30 second increments between each player being let out in the field. Then we sat around a table taking turns to open the eggs where we could steal eggs from other players and stuff like that. It was so fun! Kuddos to Jon for making the hunt fun for all! Clara had her own separate egg hunt after the big kids were done playing ;)

Waiting our turn to hunt for eggs! Justin was going nuts having to wait for his turn!

Easter dinner...Justin made the deviled eggs that look like Chicks #PinterestFail

We celebrated Laura's birthday as well and watched her open a few gifts

Game Maker!

I was taking pictures as the same time as my own egg-hunting, so I wore my basket around my neck.

Joe has a reputation for his luck...he always seems to come out on top when we play new games, and this egg hunt was no different! He found more eggs than anyone else!

We have had some BEAUTIFUL days this last week! It feels like June/July! It's supposed to be clear skies ALL this week =) Also, a while ago Justin and Joe went to a Sounder's game, and here are some pictures from that event:

They had amazing seats!

Justin got a promotion at work, so that was very cool. He took me out to sushi to tell me and took this hilarious video of me...at least we think it's funny. =)

He and his team at work played laser tag on Friday and Justin totally dominated everyone! When he got home from work he proudly showed me his score cards.... Rank #01 in every game! This of course shocked everyone because Justin hardly says a word at work and out of nowhere he all the sudden take first place with 2nd place a few hundred points behind him. Nice job sweeheart! ;)

We have been getting back into Insanity and taking video logs of our workouts. It's great quality time for the two of us =) We were doing these first thing in the morning before Justin goes to work and have slacked the past week...lol. I hate/love it.

Saturday Justin and I went to a driving range in Gig Harbor and had fun hitting a bucket of golf balls. Justin was hitting consistently in the 150-200 yard range where I was consistently hitting just shy of 100 yards which is really good for me. We played a round of mini golf and I won by 4 points! Woo! We ate at a burger joint called Lunchbox Laboratory and Justin found a bunch of clothes at Kohls. Each item was less than five bucks! He is the bargain shopping master. I had a party that afternoon, and then we babysat Clara that night.

Sunday was our ward conference which was very good, and we had dinner with the Rose family at Jon's house that night. We played the Rose variation of baseball and then had a good visit while Clara played on the community Big Toy.

We got pre-qualified for a home loan this week and have narrowed our house search down to where we're only looking at houses we'd consider buying. Now it's just a matter of finding the perfect fit.

Everything else is pretty same-as-always! Keaton's wedding is getting closer and I'm getting more excited to visit Idaho and hang out with family for a week.

House Hunting

It's been a while since I've updated...a lot of our Washington life is the same as always. More recently, however, Justin and I found a Realtor that Justin approves of...mostly because Justin does NOT like to be sold to at ANY degree...hilarious, considering that is all I do! Ha....anyway, we have looked at some houses nearby and we're meeting with an agent to talk about loan options...things are getting real! We also have begun a new exercise routine where we do a beachbody program called 'Insanity' before Justin goes to work everyday.

Last weekend Justin went up to Silverdale to help his dad work on their house. I love that Justin has learned all kinds of tips and tricks from his dad to qualify him as a real "handy man." My dad was always able to fix whatever problems the house had growing up, so I love that Justin has the same trait! We are hoping and praying his parents can find a job opportunity that will move them over in this direction.

I spent Saturday with a couple of other gals from the stake to scout out the camp where we will be doing Stake Girls Camp this year. I've been assigned as the 1st year 'certification specialist' and will be over all the 12 year-olds attending camp. Awesome! Everyone else is terrified of the tender emotions of 1st years, but that is right up my alley (hello, middle school teaching experience). When people hear that I taught 7th and 8th grade in Vegas, 80% of the time their initial response is "You are brave."  I've had that question come up a lot lately and I swear, verbatim that's what people say! In my mind, teaching punk 17 year olds seems a lot worse. I love middle school age and those kids will always be my favorite peeps!

Anyway, we went to what's called Ensign Ranch and it's all church property camping in the Cascades along the Yakima river. I didn't know that the ranch was located at the TOP of the Cascades...I understood it was located in the valley on the other side...so I did not dress appropriately, and I froze the whole time! But I had a ton of fun with the other ladies in the stake and one of them in particular I have decided will be my new best friend :) Ha! She reminds me a lot of Mitzi and I really get along with her.

Meet Mickey and Kristin...sorry I can't get the video to work

I didn't have a hat or a hood, so Kristin let me graciously borrow her bandana...it helped a lot! My face says it all...

Lots of poisonous plants to watch out for this year.

Other than that, I went to the temple on Wednesday and enjoyed the ASL session. Traffic to and from the temple is a total nightmare. It's only 35 miles away but it might as well be 200 because it takes 2+ hours to get there or to get home...bleh.

Justin's Ultimate Frisbee team continues to go undefeated and has the championship round coming up. I am getting more excited to see my family as Keaton's wedding draws closer!