"Love and Marriage, Love and Marriage"

September 18th was a big day in our family, my older sister Kelsey married her fiance Craig. The night before we had a rehearsal with most of the bridal party. We set up chairs and tables in my Mom's good friend Leann's backyard. Her backyard is beautiful, and was the perfect place to have a wedding.

The bride, or "Zilly" as we called her ;)


The Groomsmen


We have too much fun together


Merrick and Collin used their P90X skills to move tables and chairs


Groom's cake I made


Bridal party minus a few people


Dad and Kels


Chris surprised me weeks ago with a plane ticket, so he could fly out and attend the wedding as well. My Grandmother and Great-Grandmother drove up for the weekend too. The weather was beautiful all weekend, and the wedding was stunning. I have never seen my sister look more beautiful. There are over thousands of pictures, here are a few of my favorite from my camera...

My beautiful sister before taking her vows


My sister Kipley and her boyfriend Matt






Merrick and Dad




There are pictures of all of us walking down the aisle, that I will post when I receive them. Since Arista can't walk Chris carried her down and threw the flowers while she chewed on them. It was the sweetest thing. We sisters were all very emotional as we watched my Dad walk Kelsey down the aisle. There was dancing...

"Come to My Garden"


"God Bless the Broken Road"


"Best Years of Our Lives"


Since all weddings have some kind of a mishap, here is my sister's bad luck in pictures...











Yes, the cake toppled over. Not only did the cake smash to the ground, the cake topper was decapitated. Some people thought that maybe it was a sign...We think it was just a really poorly made cake. This didn't ruin my sister's day one bit! She was a beautiful bride, and her wedding was great. Congrats Craig and Kelsey!

Animal Crackers in My Soup

The weather has been beautiful the past few days so Chris and I decided it would be a great weekend to go to the National Zoo. Arista took a nap in the car ride over, and when we arrived she was ready to go. We saw all sorts of animals including prairie dogs, horses, gorrillas, orangutans,elephants, and the famous panda bears. Arista loved staring at all the excited children that would walk past us.











We have to say that Arista's favorite part of the day is found in the following pictures. They speak for themselves...











Our friends from the ward let us borrow their zoo pass for free parking. We found out that if you buy this pass then you can get into over 100 zoos around the country, and park for free. We decided it was a deal we couldn't pass up, so we bought one. Along with it came this adorable stuffed Panda bear we named "Po". Arista has been chewing on him since we got him.

Visitors and Football Games

I know it's time to update my blog, when my dad mentions that it's been far too long since he has seen updated pictures of Arista.

The past few weeks have been very eventful. First with a visit from Chris' aunt Gaylynne and her best friend Joan. Gaylynne and Joan invited Arista and I tag along with them one day downtown. We went to the castle Smithsonian for lunch, the National Aquarium, and the National Botanical garden. At the National Aquarium we saw some really neat looking fish and sea creatures. I would not recommend this place to anyone though, it was $9 and not worth it. Arista loved it though.



We also went to the Freer art museum and saw some interesting art, and the peacock room. Arista wasn't much of a fan of them museum.



On Saturday I went with Joan and Gaylynne to Mt. Vernon to tour George Washington's estate and house. It was incredible. His house was HUGE, and plantation beautiful. We also saw his tomb, and where a lot of his relatives are buried.







That night we witnessed Chad and Sue's "U-torium". Many friends from the ward come over to the Martin house for each Utah Ute football game. There was lots of red worn, and yummy treats made.





Arista played with her friend Nora who is a month older than her. Nora and Arista were having a jump off. It was adorable!



On Labor day this year Chad, Sue, Gaylynne, Joan, Tom, Chris, Arista and I rode the metro to the Redskins stadium for the Boise State VS Virginia Tech football game. The game was deafening it was so loud, and we were behind some crazy people who were more interested in Arista than the game. The game was a real nail bitter, and there were times when we gave up on the broncos. We were thrilled however, that they pulled through and won!!! Arista was dressed in a BSU cheerleader outfit and all the VA tech fans couldn't help but agree. It was a LONG ride home. We ended up rolling in around 2am!! Arista was exhausted but it was totally worth it.











I had a great time with Gaylynne and Joan and were sad when they had to leave back to Utah. We can't wait to see them again in October.