Seth and Kara's Wedding

Evan's brother, Seth, got married to a beautiful girl, Kara, in the Logan, UT temple in July. We were able to attend the wedding, along with ALL of Evan's brothers and sisters. Yes, all of them. All 16 of them were able to make it to the wedding.

Taneal is getting so grown up!

Spencer just has a mind of his own. No matter how many times I asked him to behave, he did what he wanted. Maybe one day he will be able to walk quietly and reverently around the temple grounds. The day of the wedding was not one of those days. What can I say? He had been cooped up in a car for the three days that it took up to drive to Logan!

And Danielle. She was constantly at the Bride's side. She wanted to soak up all that beauty. Danielle was so in love with Kara. I really don't think she left her side unless we made her do it for pictures. And I also don't think Kara was even aware that she had such an admirers. After all the family pictures were over, I caught Danielle asking Kara if she could smell her bouquet. Kara was so nice and took the time to let Danielle. Bonus points for Kara! I tried to get a picture of that sweet moment but people kept walking in front of my camera.

Nathan is always making faces for the camera. What is up with this kid?

Gavin being as sweet as ever.

See Danielle next to the bride?

Camie posing for a group shot with baby Bella on her lap.

All the women in the new Black family. With all 16 children, it sure makes for a lot of sister-in-laws. I wonder if Kara knows our names? There is no way. Kara met most of us the day of her wedding. That had to be overwhelming!

I loved this sweet picture. Those kiddos were fascinated with those yellow flowers. I kept asking them not to pick the flowers, but they did not listen very well. And, I had also been in the car for 3 straight days traveling to this wedding. It is amazing what slides when you are tired.

Here are all those Black boys.

And Danielle, again, admiring the bride.

This is a picture of the Black crew. Mom and Dad and all 16 of their grown children. Seth is #14.

And of course I had to get a picture of my children in front of the temple. Last year we did a temple visit marathon to see if we could visit all the temples around us and get a picture in front. We saw probably somewhere around 12 temples. We never made it up to Logan, so this was a treat.

And here is a picture of Evan with the kiddos in front of the temple. I didn't realize until after that of the 7 pictures I got with Evan in them, this was the best one. Sorry.

Laramie, WY

My Dad claims to be from Laramie, Wyoming.

I've never been there.

My grandpa was buried there and my grandpa plans to be buried there.

This is in front of the institute building where my grandpa proposed to my grandma.

I don't think my grandma was a member then. They were married in the 40's. My grandma wasn't a member and my grandpa hadn't been active since he was a young boy. They were later married in the temple sometime in the 60's, after my grandma joined the church. That's a good story on behalf of faithful hometeachers. I would love to hear the story of the proposal in front of the institute when my grandpa wasn't active and my grandma wasn't a member. I'm going to have to make sure I hear that story.

On our trip to Utah we drove through Laramie. I was really excited to visit the place my dad calls home.

It was cold even on a summer day. The swimming pool water very frigid.

I had to include this picture of my kids by my grandpa's grave. It really shows their personalities. Now I need to teach them proper cemetery etiquette.

We were able to easily find his grave because of where he wanted to be buried. He wanted to face the stadium of the University of Wyoming because he loved sports and the memories of that stadium.

This is the Buckhorn Bar that my grandma's sister owns. My grandma talks a lot about this bar so I wanted to see it. I didn't go in.

Evan also served part of his mission in Laramie. He was having memories all over the place as we drove around the town. It was fun to have him point out things and to see where he spent some time as a missionary.

Black Family Reunion

We traveled to Utah this summer to go to a wedding and a reunion, all Black. I got a few hundred pictures, thought I would share some of them.

 

They set up a slip-n-slide. So much fun:

This is Elle, my niece

 And Brett, Evan's brother.

My nephew, Tyler.

Boyd and Bryce, both Evan's brothers (Did I mention Evan only has 11 brothers and 4 sisters?)

My nephew, Austin. I think at this point they had added to much soap.

Gavin totally being silly

I got to do one of the activities. My sister gave me the idea of animal creations from marshmallows and toothpicks with m&m's as decoration. We used royal icing as "critter glue". It was a hit.

Random picture of Gavin in the tub with his cousin, Colton. Same age, give or take a few days. Imagine that with 16 kids on one family.

Taneal with her marshmallow creation.

Danielle with her creation

Camie and a few of her cousins spent quite a long time making this intricate mermaid. So fun to be able to spend time with the cousins.

Taneal helping Gavin pet the horses. Gavin did NOT want to touch those horses.

Spencer with his creation.

Nathan having a ball on the trampoline that I refuse to get in my backyard.

Check out all those cars. So many Suburbans!

Silly Nathan

These are the parents to all those 16 children. Grandma and grandpa Black.

Camie with Miya and Eden, her cousins.

We rented a 12,000 square foot house for the reunion. With something like 12 bedrooms and 10 bathrooms, 2 kitchens and 3 HUGE family rooms, there still wasn't a place to be able to eat together. We set up tables in the garage and served and ate meals out there together. It worked out pretty well, minus the flys and fly paper.

Katie and I were in charge of breakfast. We made homemade cinnamon rolls and scrambled eggs. Plus a lot of fruit to make it healthy. We made 8 pans of cinnamon rolls. Only 4 of those pans were eaten for breakfast. But when nobody was looking, the remaining 4 disappeared slowly the next few hours.

It was a very enjoyable reunion. I liked that we were in a house all together. But I also like that we could escape to our room with peace and quiet. And when we were ready to hit the crowds again, all we had to do was step out of our room. Great set-up for a family of 76.

Danielle's Baptism Pictures

These are some of the pictures of Danielle taken by my very talented friend, April. Wow. I am in love.

 These pictures capture the fun loving little girl that I have the opportunity to be around every single day.

I wish I had the vocabulary to accurately describe Danielle. She is fun. She is smart. She is very easy going. She likes dresses and all things pretty. Especially loves glitter and lip gloss. Wants to love mascara, but I think she needs to wait until she is older.

She loves nail polish. She is carefree. She doesn't worry too much, most of the time. She is very easy to please. She is mostly quiet, unless in the car and then she makes all kinds of loud noises.

 Did I mention she is smart? And maybe a little unorganized. But she doesn't care. Everything will be okay. She got an "N" on her report card because she kept forgetting to do her homework. She is easily distracted. I imagine her brain is going 100 miles an hour because she is always looking at everything even if she isn't saying anything.

 She loves that she is beautiful.

She loves to give hugs and to be held. She likes to sit close and cuddle. She doesn't require undivided attention, just wants to feel your presence.

 I love this smile. She gives it so easily. She is very upbeat and happy.

 She is one of the youngest in her class at school. She is one of the smartest in her class at school. At least that is what she told me. And I absolutely believe her.

 Danielle is very hard to take shopping. Not because she is so hard to please, quite the opposite. She likes everything. And she wanders. That is the hardest part. She looks at everything and forgets to pay attention. I haven't lost her yet. I have to keep a super close watch on her or she will get lost.

Danielle wants everything, yet values little. Easy come, easy go seems to be her motto. Out of sight, out of mind. She can get toys for Christmas or birthday and they never get played with. Give her make-up and she will wear it until it is gone. Clothes? Loves them. Same with shoes. She loves to play, but with people and the things they are playing with. On her own she just isnt interested in things like toys.

 She lost her first tooth in 2nd grade, and it had to be pulled by the dentist. The top teeth came out on their own, as you can see it happened in the summer after 2nd grade.

She had so much fun getting these pictures made. She posed. She smiled. She had a great time and gave lots of suggestions on what would make a great picture. And she was right.

Danielle wants to do hair and nails when she grows up. I think that would be a great idea to help support her through college. She loves all things beautiful.

Danielle will be getting baptized on September 1. She is very excited. She understands the importance of baptism. And that makes me so happy. I am so happy that she will be given the wonderful gift of the Holy Ghost. It is something that will help her her whole life. She will have the ability to make great choices and be a happier person because of this gift.

Danielle is such a wonderful girl. I am so blessed to be around her and feel her wonderful influence. She is a wonderful part of my family and I am so glad I get to be part of her life.