Someone got Hitched

It's official. My friends Laura and Jim are hitched. Right now they should be enjoying their honeymoon. The location of which they kept quiet. Good luck guys. And for everyone else here are some of the pics from the wedding. (I took way too many to put them all up.) Enjoy!

Getting ready at Laura's house

{Kirin: the Flower Girl}

{Laura! None of that now!}

{Make-up time}

{Time to get the flower girl ready}

At the Ceremony site

{Get those boutonnieres on guys}
{Celestra and I with my friend (and bridesmaid) Jessica}

{another one of my friends, also named Jessica with Celestra}

{Laura's parents Paul and Linda Hansen}

The Ceremony

{Do you? Do you?}

{I do...I do...}

{Presenting Mr. and Mrs. James and Laura Farnsworth}

The Aftermath

{the quintessential Kissing pic}

{Laura with her flower girl Kirin}

{the irrepressible Kirin}

{Jessica with her 'mini-me'}

{Cele and Laura}

{Laura and Linda: Mother and Daughter}

{A close up}

{Kirin thinks the pine cone might taste good}

{The cake: Laura made the topper herself}

{the grooms cake representing the Dallas Cowboys}


{ah how sweet}

{the loving couple}

{pine cone volleyball: don't knock it till you try it}

{cutting the cake}

{Laura's bite}

{Jim's bite}

{the bridal party}

{the bridal party again: I love this pose!}

{Jim with his family}

{both sides of the family}

{Laura and Jim with his parents}

{The brides family: at least those that came}

{The brides bouquet}

{Bridesmaid bouquet}

{prezzies}

{shoes worn by the bride and the matron of honor}

{you know I had to get an odd one of Celestra in there somewhere}

{decorating the car}

{letting the dress fly}

{she has gained wings!}

{the rings}

Whatever happened to D.A.R.E.?

Today was Celestra's N.O.V.A. graduation. This is the program that has replaced DARE in her school district. (I'm not sure about everywhere else) It is run similar to DARE with an officer teaching the program but the subject matter is a lot broader than just drugs. It seems like a great program and Celestra really enjoyed it. In fact, she told me on the way home today, that she was sad the program was over because she had so much fun with it.

Well for all of us uninformed parents and family members, here are the basics on N.O.V.A. (or at least what I picked up from the graduation. I am sure Celestra will correct me if I get anything wrong!)


N=Nurturing
This means family care and people showing the way, helping others
O=Opportunities
Good things that come your way
V=Values
Things that are important to you
A=Accountability
Taking responsibility for your choices and actions

Nova covered things from resisting drugs to choosing good friends, trying to have good self esteem, and many other ideas to help the children through the hard years ahead. All that fun puberty that is coming their way in the next few years. And that is the program in, a really, really small, nutshell.

Back to the graduation, Celestra wanted some pictures with her friends so here you go, Cele with a couple of her good friends from school and then with Officer Bird, her NOVA teacher.
Congrats Cele on your graduation!

{Celestra with Esther Russ}

{Cele with her best friend Elisa Brown}

{Cele with Officer Bird}

And so now you know what happened to DARE!

Viva Las Vegas

What happens when you put four women, a bachelorette party, and Las Vegas together? A long drive aaaand... This Weekend!

Since my friend Laura is getting married next week, she needed a bachelorette party and since her best friend lives in Vegas, is there any other conclusion to be had than to have a run on Vegas?

And, since pictures speak a thousand words, I will let them do the talking! But first I shall introduce you to the main contestants in this show of insane hillarity.

First up we have the bride-to-be, Laura Hansen

Next we have the planner and local Vegas girl, Nicolette Hardinger

Then there is the fun loving party girl, Marie Crockett

And lastly there is the consummate photographer, me

Now that introductions are over, let's get this party started! But before we can even leave Logan, Laura's dog lets us know that he thinks he should come along!

Once we reached Vegas, after that interminably long drive that we all know and love, we checked into the Imperial Palace on the strip. We shall leave out the details on some of the problems that occurred while trying to check in... (cough, cough initially getting a room with only one bed that already had someone else's stuff in it cough, cough)

{Standing in line to check into the hotel}

{Waiting while the hotel figures out how they screwed up, Laura and Marie decide to goof off}

{The view from the balcony in our 15th floor room}

{goofing off in the hotel room before we head out onto the strip for dinner. We didn't even need anything extra to act loony!}

Look who we ran into while walking to our restaurant

We all had to get in on a picture with this guy. I mean, who can go wrong with Captain Jack Sparrow!

Of course it was at this point that we ended up with ye old random drunk guy joining us in our photo op. Viva Las Vegas eh

At the restaurant, sitting across and one table up from us was a bachelor party.
We just had to get a shot of Laura with the bachelor

After dinner, we headed to the Belagio for their fountain show and a walk around the indoor gardens they have there. Of course the water show is a must see in Vegas and always worth it. The indoor gardens are absolutely beautiful as well. We, being a group of females, also had to hit the shops and at least browse around.

{a group of girls we ran into outside of the Belagio that just had to have their picture taken with the bachelorette}

{Us outside the Belagio}

{A ladybug completely formed out of flowers inside the gardens}

{A chocolate fountain at the back of the gardens that literally ran from floor to ceiling. Awesome to say the least}

{The fountain show at the Belagio}

After the fountain show, we hopped a cab to the Stratosphere, and headed to the top to enjoy the view.

{Laura and Marie in the Stratosphere}

{Laura and Nic as Nic points out where her house is from the Stratosphere}

{The view from the top of the Stratosphere}

After that, we headed back to the hotel for some much needed sleep. The next day we headed over to Nicolette's house to pick up her daughter and all of us headed out, back to Utah.

{Nic's daughter Kirin and Laura's Flower Girl}

On the way back, we stopped in Mesquite to put some flowers on my dad's grave. I haven't seen it since they put the headstone in a few years ago. My childhood memory of where my dad was buried turned out to be very accurate. It was the first grave site on the right hand side of the cometary.

{My Dad's headstone}

{The tree I had always marked my dad's grave by.
His headstone is one directly in front of the tree}

{Me at my dad's grave with the flowers we picked up for the occasion}

Marie also managed to take some great pictures of the St. George canyon for me as we drove through that area. That place is beautiful and every time I drive through it, I wish I wasn't driving so I could take pictures. This time, I did the next best thing. Thanks Marie!

And now I am (obviously) home and quite exausted. All in all, a very fun trip. Next time Celestra gets to come with me so she can see some of the fun sites like Circus Circus, the Knights Tourney, and Excalibur (at least those are some of the main highligts for her.)