"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.

Our 4th Anniversary at the National Harbor

Chris and I celebrated our 4th anniversary this past weekend at the National Harbor. Chris' parents anniversary is the day before ours so they stayed at the harbor the night before we did. I was really worried about leaving Arista overnight, but after much reassurance we headed out for an amazing mini vacation.

We stayed at the Gaylord hotel, which is massive. Our room was on the 17th floor right in the middle of the hotel, with a fantastic view of the harbor and the inside of the hotel.





After checking out our room we walked the streets, and checked out the shops. There were all kinds of neat little stores, but my favorite store had to be the Peep store. Yes, a store all about Peeps, Mike and Ikes, and Hot Tamales. They had everything from the Peep bunnies, to Peep pens, and even Peep art! It was crazy! We tried a new candy that will be coming out in Spring 2011 which is a chocolate candy with marshmallow filling. Mmmm!



After shopping we went down to the harbor to check out the "Awakening" monument. We have seen it before, but weren't ever able to touch it. We couldn't leave without a picture in the giant hand.



When through site seeing we went back to the hotel and changed for dinner. We decided to eat at Moon Bay Coastal Cuisine which was inside the hotel. We had a crab cake for an appetizer, Chris has fish and chips and I had the best crab ever! To top it off we received free dessert for being part of the anniversary package. The dessert was 2 drumsticks covered in caramel, it wasn't anything special. Then when they brought out the check they also brought out complementary COTTON CANDY! It was the coolest thing! The cotton candy came out in a beautiful glass, and it was delicious! I have never had banana flavored cotton candy before, but it is now my favorite!





After dinner we walked around the hotel, and I played on their grand piano. It had a beautiful sound. Chris printed out our wedding song "Come What May" and I played it for us. After a little while we had an audience...the picture says it all!



After taking many more pictures we changed into our swimming suits and headed for the pool. Every night they play a children's movie on a huge projection screen over the pool. We watched the movie for a little bit, sat in the jacuzzi,then went outside and sat on the lawn and watched fireworks. It was so magical!





When the fireworks were finished we went back to our room and rented "Get Him to the Greek". It was a pretty funny movie! Then we crashed. I haven't slept that great since Arista was born! Chris woke up and headed down to the spa while I slept longer. Part of our Anniversary Package included free entry into their spa which included a sauna, whirl pool and tons of free stuff! After the spa Chris ran out and got Arista from his parents and brought her up to the room. She had a blast crawling around on the marble floors, and staring at herself in the mirror.





We grabbed a quick Cinnamon roll for breakfast, and then took Arista to the pool. They have a little fountain area outside for little kids, and she LOVED crawling through. Chris took her in the pool for a while, and they had a blast there as well. Arista was a huge fan of riding the glass elevator, and crawling all over the place in the lobby.











Arista was wiped by the time we got home, and so were we! We made it just in time to change and race to church.



We cannot thank Chad and Sue enough for watching Arista overnight for us. It was great to spend quality time together for our anniversary, and to feel like we were on vacation for a little while. Thank you Chris for setting this great weekend up for all of us, and for a wonderful time! I love you!