Quinn and Eden got hitched!

Once upon a time on June 15th in a land far, far away called Boise, Quinn and Eden got married and it was a beautiful, wonderful day wherein lots and lots of pictures were taken and caused Jana anxiety whenever she pondered blogging about it. But then she cowgirl'd up and got it done.

I'm sticking all the 'official' pictures in a separate post, so all these pictures were taken by the talented Sam, the slightly unphotogenic Jana, or the elusive Chuck.
(P.S. In an effort not to overwhelm you with the 400 gazillion pictures we took between the three of us, I just went for the highlights and then stuck most of them in collages. If you click on the picture, it should bring it up bigger so you can see all of the fun in a bit more detail!)

For me, the day started with an intensive effort to get me 'bridesmaid hot' (I just made up this term). This required a team - Nicole did my hair and Heidi did my make-up, and I will forever be indebted to both of them because they are AMAZING.

Then we all congregated at the temple where Quinn and Eden were sealed. Here they are making their debut as husband and wife!

Here is what I call the 'California Contingency' - people Quinn got to know on his mission. Brother and Sister White and Sister Novak and her SUPER cute daughter Meredith (lower right) all made the l-o-n-g drive from Lancaster to share in this special day with Quinn and along the way the Novaks picked up Cameron Sheets (upper right) who was Quinn's companion in Lancaster for like eight months. I loved being able to meet the Whites and Novaks (in person, we're already facebook friends) and get to know them better.

We were so glad that Smiths could make the trip up from Utah to be there with us and so I could tease Reed and live to tell the tale :). And as a bonus, they were able to catch up with other friends from their time living in Boise - here's Gloria chatting with Sister Porter, who is a really dear friend to Eden.

Keeping my little boys entertained outside the temple was a group effort - Dana and Will read books, Cameron challenged Clyde to run all the way down the sidewalk and back, Will found rocks to throw, Clyde tackled Will when he tried to run away, and the groom himself took time to toss Clyde into the air. And much thanks to Heidi for wrangling the boys while Chuck and I attended the actual sealing!!

More of the fun outside the temple - catching up with extended family on my mom's side and trying to stay in the shade :). Please join me in adoring Bailey's little tutu skirt (upper left) - isn't she sooo darling?

After pictures, it was time for the luncheon. The McFarlands were gracious enough to let Quinn and Eden use their backyard for the day so we held the luncheon (and later the reception) there. It was fun for Chuck and myself since our reception was in that same backyard seven years ago!

It was all hands-on deck to get the luncheon ready; Sam and Heidi were entrusted with what my mom deemed the most important task - carefully placing pansies (individually by hand) in the special bowls of water for the centerpieces. Good work, guys!

The luncheon was fun, relaxing, and most importantly, delicious. Clyde either couldn't believe how many varieties of trifle were available to try or engaged someone in a game of hide-and-seek; I'm not sure which :). My aunt Iris and my mom gave Eden an incredibly beautiful quilt that they created for the occasion; it was then displayed for the rest of the day.

Cameron and Clyde had become best friends the night before (they bonded while playing Star Wars video game) so naturally, they sat together at the luncheon. After a while, though, the duo got a little lonely and decided to crash the newlywed table to make a double date, haha.

After the luncheon, the groom's family got to take a break while the bride's family stepped in to get ready for the reception. Clyde went home with Grandma Pam, Will went home for a nap under the "careful" "supervision" of Chuck and Cameron (they multi-tasked by also playing Chuck's shoot-em-up video game at the same time) and Sister Novak and Meredith kept me company while I shopped for Quinn and Eden's wedding present!

Then it was time to head to the reception, which was really lovely. One of the highlights was a special musical performance by Eden's younger sister Summer and two of her friends; I think there were two violins and a cello.

Some pictures of my handsome dad at the reception . . .

and some pictures of his handsome dad at the reception! Everyone loves Grandpa Braden :).

Here are Eden and Quinn greeting our great-aunt and uncle on my mom's side, Kay and Alan Heslop. We were amazed and excited that they made the trip up from their home in Utah, since the wedding fell on their 50th wedding anniversary! They had a big celebration the weekend before with their kids and grandkids so they opted to come and share in Quinn and Eden's happy day. Isn't that so fun?

My mom and her two brothers, Larry and David.

A few more snapshots from the reception.

It was such a great day; Quinn and Eden are one of the sweetest, cutest, goofiest couples I've ever had the pleasure of spending time with and I'm so excited that they found each other and made this incredible commitment. Congratulations kiddos!!

So, we went shooting a while ago . . .

with these cute newlyweds, Quinn and Eden. You might be surprised (well, probably not) that they are married since said marriage has yet to properly documented here on the blog. No fear, it will be. Possibly soon.

Thanks to Grandma Pam for staying home with the wee boys so that this adventure could be a double date!

We had lots and lots of fun and discovered that Eden is a hardcore markswoman/gun handler, which is not super surprising since her dad was an avid hunter.

Exhibit A:
Eden with Chuck's special gun he got for Christmas a couple of years ago from his dad. I don't know what it's called, but I'm pretty sure they shoot Iraqi insurgents with it. Why they allow normal people to own them, I don't know, but that's neither here nor there.

Now, contrast how natural Eden looks with this gun with how I look with this gun. This collage is also called "Why Jana has not been recruited as a military sniper."
Yeah. Stay tuned, there's a video of me shooting it at the end of this post. Definitely worth the price of admission.

So, back to Eden. Here she is with one of Chuck's shotguns:

and shooting a handgun . . . more specifically, a Colt .45 (and yes, I had to ask Chuck what it's called. I should clearly spend more time browsing his gun magazines. Or not.)

Quinn didn't look quite as formidable as his wife did with a gun, but he came close:
He really hit his stride with the shotgun; the kid was hitting the clay discs like nobody's business.
Good job Quinner!

He also helped out by throwing some discs for Eden.

Chuck spent most of his time offering instructions, advice, and ensuring our safety. Thanks sweetheart!

And he took some time to shoot a few rounds too, of course, and show all us amateurs how it's done :).

And here's just some more evidence of how ridiculous the combination of Jana and guns is. I can't help it, I'm a pacifist.

This picture just makes me laugh.

And now for the awesome videos. Keep in mind that I had no idea I was being filmed; I thought my sweet husband was just taking pictures of me. . .

Video #1:



No comment.

Video #2:



More proof that my newest sister-in-law is not to be messed with.

Video #3:



No comment, just uproarious laughter at myself :).

Video #4:



I love how Quinn scratches his head after the casing (?) hits him, hahaha!

Anyways, it was super fun to hang out with Quinn and Eden! You guys should come visit again soon so Chuck has another excuse to bust out his arsenal :).

Good news: Chuck's still alive

Bad news: We racked up a bit of a hospital bill last week when Chuck had emergency surgery!
Now that I've got your attention, let's figure out what in the world happened to my husband. . .

Did an injury occur when we went shooting last Monday . . .

with these awesome people? (Sidenote: a future post will be dedicated solely to this shooting venture because it was awesome, and yes, Eden did destroy that pop can that Quinn is holding. She's hardcore).

Nope, not a shooting injury (thank goodness!). Hmm, did something happen later that day when Chuck joined Quinn and Eden for a whitewater rafting trip on the Payette River??

(Okay, this is not actually a picture of them, BUT it is very similar because I stole it from Sean's facebook page. Sean is the fellow at the back of the raft, aka the river guide. He's one of Quinn's best friends and has been a rafting guide on the Payette for the last several summers and his wedding present to Quinn and Eden was taking them out rafting. Chuck got to tag along, lucky!)

Nope, it (again, thankfully) wasn't related to the rafting trip. So what happened? Well, I'll tell you. Chuck's own body turned against him:

Yep, appendicitis!

And although the 'doctors' say that appendicitis is a random infection of the appendix without any apparent cause, we know differently - on Tuesday morning I, ahem, strongly encouraged Chuck to shave the mustache he'd been sporting for about a week, which he did. That night, the stomach pains started. We have since come to the conclusion that Chuck is a modern-day Samson and draws his strength from his hair. (But hey, who needs a healthy husband when you can have a clean-shaven one??)

So, as I said, Tuesday night Chuck started having severe stomach pain - he was up pretty much all night and miserable. He called in sick to work on Wednesday and moped around the house. I finally convinced him to go to an urgent care clinic that evening, and they convinced him to go to the emergency room . . . where appendicitis was diagnosed at about ten pm and it was decided they would do the surgery immediately!

That was a fun call to get. I freaked out for about thirty seconds, then snapped myself out of it :). I summoned my mom over from Boise to stay with the boys, and my dear friend Nicole to stay with the boys in the meantime until my mom arrived, and I then I headed to the hospital.

I made another call, and these awesome guys beat me to the hospital to give Chuck a Priesthood blessing. We are very appreciative of their willingness and worthiness to do this at ten-thirty on a Wednesday night.

And then it was go time! They loaded up Chuck's IV with some happy concoction to knock him out and then wheeled him off to the OR.

I found the empty waiting room and distracted myself for an hour by texting Sam and Heidi and Lee (Chuck's younger brother who had an appendectomy just a few months ago!), talking on the phone to Quinner, and taking random pictures of myself. Hey, we all cope different ways, right?

Then the lovely nurse came out at about midnight and told me that the surgery was over and everything had gone wonderfully. A few minutes after that, the surgeon came out and confirmed all of that. He did apologize that they had forgotten to pause the screen (the surgery was done laparoscopically) to take pictures of the inflamed appendix, but I assured him that was just fine :).

And about an hour later, Chuck and I were reunited in his hospital room, where he enjoyed a late-night (early-morning?) snack of orange jello.

The next morning Chuck got a visit from the surgeon with post-op instructions. We both really liked Dr. Ballantyne, which is always nice. This is also when he estimated that Chuck's appendicitis was 'acute' and would have probably burst in the next twenty-four hours. Soooo when your wife tells you to suck it up and go to the doctor, you should go because she's probably SAVING YOUR LIFE.

Then Chuck got to go for a romantic stroll around the hallway with his grandmotherly nurse (unfortunately not pictured) to prove he was ready to go home.

And as much as I enjoyed the sight of him in a hospital gown, I had been nice enough to bring him regular clothes to wear home :).

I was bummed to say good-bye to my special bed, aka window seat :). And yay for wi-fi at the hospital so we could gratefully receive all of the facebook well wishes!

As always, a special thanks to my mom for all of her help. She ended up taking the boys to her house Thursday and Friday so that Chuck could recover more easily. I got to have 'visitation' with them on Friday when my mom and I took them swimming, which was super fun :). Chuck really missed the boys, obviously, but those first couple days post-op were pretty miserable for him, so it was really nice to know that Clyde and Will were happy and taken care of and just focus on Chuck.

I retrieved them on Saturday, and they immediately (and gently!) joined Chuck on the couch for some Star Wars video game playing . . . sigh :).

Chuck's doing much better now, about a week post-op. He still moves real slow and the incisions are a bit painful, but he's hanging in there. Thanks for all of the love and support we've received!!

Happy birthday Pops!

Today is my wonderful father-in-law's birthday and since we're not with him to celebrate as we have been the last two years, I figured the least we could do is throw a little party on the blog and share a few of the many things I love about Dave.

Pops is, without a doubt, a family man. His family is his pride and joy and he never hesitates to share that love and affection with all of us. I still remember how friendly and welcoming he was the first time Chuck took me to Elko to meet the family - he immediately insisted that I call him Dave . . . unlike Chuck's mom, who let me call her 'Sister Izatt' for a couple months while she warmed up to me :). To be fair, we caught them off guard since Chuck never specified he was bringing down a 'girlfriend' (we'd only been dating a month) and Terri loves and adores me now . . . hopefully still, haha!

Pops is also an incredibly hard worker - a trait that he (thankfully) passed onto Chuck. Pops works long hours and frequently picks up extra shifts (meaning days off can be few and far between) so that he can support (and spoil!) his family. He's also the first one to volunteer to help with projects - remember when he used vacation time last fall to come up and help Chuck extend our patio? And last February when he and Chuck got the Saturn back into working order? He also helped a great deal when we bought our house; he and Chuck (with additional help from brothers and brothers-in-law) painted every room.

As evidenced in this picture from Chuck's baptism, Pops is clearly responsible for Chuck's ability to grow facial hair like nobody's business :).

Dave is hands-down one of the smartest, most knowledgeable people I know. He does the crossword in the paper (even Sunday!) in pen . . . the entire thing. The one time I can remember him losing in Scrabble was when Chuck and I played as a team . . . and we cheated (it's all good, we confessed like three hours later). When we play Trivia Pursuit, he can not only tell you the correct answer, but also expand on it with additional information.

Pops has also been a vital resource for both Chuck and myself in our current church callings (I'm in Cub Scouts and Chuck's in Boy Scouts). Chuck's parents have both been heavily involved in Scouting and they are always happy to answer questions or give us ideas - or buy me an extra Scout shirt!!

As I mentioned, Dave (above with Clyde and below with Will) loves his family but finds particular joy in his grandchildren - he currently has eight, with two more due in the coming months (one in the coming weeks, actually!). He's famous (or infamous . . . ) for passing out Smarties during church, helping the kids 'plant' donuts, making pop bottle rockets, reading books, finding batteries for battery-operated toys (usually to the parents' chagrin), and lots and lots of hugs and love.

I am so, so grateful to have Dave as my father-in-law. We are admittedly very different (which is why we deliberately don't discuss politics!) but I love and respect him so much and I'm sure I don't tell him that enough. I love you Pops, happy birthday!!

(P.S. Happy birthday to the other two Izatt extended family members born July 17th - Lee and Bri! We love you!!)

We've been married for SEVEN years, yikes!

Well, technically seven years, one month, and four days (this post is a little late, shockingly).

Our anniversary was pretty low-key this year, thanks to morning sickness, work, and Quinn and Eden's wedding three days later. We honestly didn't even go on an official 'anniversary date' - sad, right?

Thus there is no official anniversary picture of the two of us, but here we are a week later! The seven year mark kind of freaked me out a little because in the Marriage Prep class I took at BYU back in the day, we had an assignment to write a paper about successful marriages and we had to interview couples that had been married for at least seven years. So now I feel like this is some benchmark and Chuck and I should have everything figured out by now . . . and there's a chance we don't :). I will repeat what I shared on facebook about Chuck's mottos for marriage - "Happy wife, happy life" and "There's no way out, so we better work it out." Those have served us well!

We did find an excellent way to commemorate the occasion - buying a new camera, hooray! Although technically it's our gift for Mother's Day, Father's Day, our anniversary, Fourth of July, Pioneer Day, and possibly a couple other holidays :).

Our anniversary fell on a Sunday so I opted to wear all white. Can you tell I'm running out of creativity with my 'different outfit for church every week' goal?

That evening I cowgirl'd up and actually made dinner for possibly the second or third time since finding out I was pregnant, and we had a really nice evening after Chuck got home from work. Aaaand I made him an awesome video of pictures of us from the last seven years! Fair warning that it's verrrry cheesy, but it also has some hilariously goober-y pictures of us mixed in too so if you have three minutes to spare, enjoy!