About two weeks ago my little brother Jaren got married in the Salt Lake Temple. I forgot to bring my camera (lame I know) but last weekend they had an open-house down in St. George, here are a few pictures from the big event...



While we were in St. George we also took Spencer to a little water park downtown. He loved it!



That's all for now!

One more thing...

I know I already posted today but I'm sure many of you are dying to know the status of our lawn (remember the story about the dried out seeds anyone?). Matt mowed it for the first time tonight and here it is...

I'm sure those of you who know Matt can imagine how thrilled he is that we have a lawn he can mow now. I've never mowed a lawn in my life but tonight I offered so Matt could study for the CPA exam and he told me no because it's therapeutic for him.

Now I guess we need to get going on the flowerbeds...but we probably won't until next year.

The Finer Things Club

Yesterday our good friends, the Dimonds, were in town from North Carolina. Kyle Dimond was one of Matt's roommates in college so they got all the old roomies together and in the afternoon the boys went golfing while the girls stayed with the kids. We thought we were meeting for dinner at our house afterward. It was kind of funny because the night before Matt had been on the phone with Kyle and told me that the Dimonds were bringing all the food. I asked if I could at least do dessert and he told me Kyle said no. So yesterday the boys were still golfing and Lindy Dimond arrives with only a bag of chips. I started to kind of panic because it seemed like Lindy wasn't aware they were providing dinner for everyone. But I didn't say anything because I thought maybe the boys had something up their sleeves...luckily they did. After the boys were done golfing they came back to our house and told us to go take a tour of the yard. Matt guided us on a thrilling tour of the yard while the rest of the boys set up dinner. We went inside the house to find a candle-lit dinner awaiting us. There were places set for the girls only and each of our plates had a typed note with this:

"Finer Things Club"

If you are reading this paper right now you have been chosen to be part of the exclusive club known as the "Finer Things Club". Please take a moment to catch your breath before you continue reading.

The "Finer Things Club" is an ancient organization that was founded by cavemen in an effort to give their cavewomen a break from cavekid duties. Members of the "Finer Things Club" were invited to discuss fine literature and dine on fine cuisine. After a refreshing discussion about the literature and a splendid meal the members were invited to participate in a physical activity, usually a sport. When the physical activity was complete the members were served a finely crushed ice as a way to cool down and conclude the gathering.

As a newly inducted member of the "Finer Things Club" you are entitled to a finely prepared meal and an evening of literature discussion and physical activity. Please hand over your kids and enjoy your evening. You have earned it!

Here are a few pictures to show you the exquisitness of our dining experience...


The appetizers included a box of Bluebird chocolates, the fancy chip arrangement shown above, cantaloupe and grapes with toothpicks, and pirouette sticks arranged nicely in a glass. Notice the festive tablecloth and pink napkins? Below is a picture of our two waiters (Kyle Dimond and Rueben Nelson). Matt and Mitch were the designated babysitters, they took all the kids out back and fed them a picnic dinner.

After our delicious appetizers we were treated to gourmet sandwiches from Subway. Then we all went to a park to play tennis but the girls just ended up sitting around and chatting. After that we decided to skip the "finely crushed ice" and go see the Nelson's new house instead.

It was a magical evening filled with "finer things". Thank you boys!

Good times in Cache Valley

We haven't gone on anymore vacations or done anything especially exciting lately but we have definitely been enjoying summertime in Cache Valley! I grew up in St. George where during the summer you either swim or stay inside an air-conditioned building. During my years of college at USU I was usually gone for the summer and I've learned that the summertime is the best time to live in Cache Valley!

This first picture is of my niece, Marin, and Spencer in the tub. This was right before Spencer wacked her because she had a toy he wanted. Yes he has learned to hit.
These next few pictures are of the 24th of July. We went to a neighborhood BBQ, Spencer loved it!

Matt, his brother, and some guys from his work hiked the Wellsvilles, it took them about 8 hours but from the pictures it looks like it was worth the view!

One Sunday afternoon Spencer was being a little too quiet back in his room so Matt went to see what he was destroying...and low and behold, he was reading! What a little genius! (notice how the book is upside-down)
I turned 24 years old!
We went up the canyon to Tony's Grove, it is gorgeous up there! A little background info on this first picture...we saw a little chipmunk by a tree and Spencer was so excited! The chipmunk ran away but Spencer thought he was in these bushes around a tree, he probably circled it about 6 times, squating to look in the bushes every few seconds trying to find the chipmunk, I thought it was cute.


We went with some friends to the Cache County Fair, here we are by the big farming equipment exhibit.

Lets take a closer look at Spencer's little face...
I guess he doesn't love fairs or tractors, sorry Matt.
After the fair we went to Jamba Juice. I didn't think Spencer knew how to drink out of a straw but he figured it out pretty quickly, he couldn't get enough of Matt's smoothie!
Our garden is finally starting to produce food we can eat! So far we've collected various peppers, zuchini, basil, carrots, sugar snap peas, and onions. We've got three little watermelons growing, I hope they really grow to be big watermelons we can eat!


I can't wait for the tomatoes to ripen!

Ethington Family Vacation 2009

Every summer Matt's family goes on a vacation together (except last year, there were 3 babies born within 2 months and the moms just weren't feelin' it). This year we went to Alpine, Wyoming (about 40 miles from Jackson Hole) and stayed in some cabins for 4 nights. I'm feeling a bit too lazy right now to give a play-by-play of the whole vacation but some of the highlights were rafting on the snake river, the family talent show, shopping in Jackson Hole, dinner and show at the Bar-J Wranglers, and just sitting around enjoying our family!