Almost caught up...

Bear with me, I am so close to catching you up with our busy summer. The same day Miss Maddie made her debut, Patrick and I took his little sister Katie to the Orange County Fair. We love the fair!! Katie rode lots of rides, we saw bull riding, and ate lots of yummy fair food.




The following weekend we flew to Utah for our friend Matt's wedding. Matt is actually the guy who introduced Patrick and I, so we kind of have a soft spot for him. He says he's still waiting for a finder's fee! He'll be waiting a long time for that one. Anyhow, Matt married Robin in the Bountiful temple. They are absolutely perfect for one another, and so happy they found each other.


We are totally busted, by the way. I am so embarassed to show pictures of me wearing the same outfit to two different weddings. Oh well, it was a busy summer, the dress was cute, it worked! Call the fashion police on me.

They rode away on Matt's motorcycle, with Robin in her dress. Very them!

Another highlight of the trip was getting to visit Sarah and Tifny and meet their beautiful new baby girls. I love this time in life watching my friends have babies and become amazing moms!

Well, that about catches us up for now. Please forgive me for the long gap in posts, I will be more diligent! Promise.

I am an aunt!

Welcome Maddie! Two weeks ago my sister-in-law Kim gave birth to this beautiful baby girl. This sweet girl made me and my siblings aunts and uncles, she made my parents grandparents, and made both sets of my grandparents great-grandparents for the first time. Let's just say we are so excited to have her and I can't wait to meet her!





Thank you Brandon and Kim for making such a beautiful baby and bringing so much happiness to our crazy family!

Cow Sign

This is for my sister Laura. She has a strange place in her heart for cows. I saw this sign in the middle of nowhere in Utah and had to stop and take a picture for her. You don't see this cool of a cow sign every day! I have to admit, it makes me a little happy to look at it too!

We've been busy!

It's really about time that I update the blog. The last two months have been super busy, so I'll just hit the highlights. Towards the end of June Patrick and I took his little sister Katie camping up near Big Bear. We hiked, ate yummy camp food, and went swimming at the lake. It was a quick trip, but we had a good time.




A couple of weeks later we drove to Utah for the Francis Family Reunion they have every 3 years. It was my first, so let's just say I met a lot of new relatives. I forgot to take any pictures at the reunion - oops. We went camping on the way home and visited both Bryce Canyon and Zion National Parks. Patrick's mom was with us for the ride up and back. It was a nice way to end the trip.

This plaque might be the highlight of the trip for me. Ebenezer Bryce (the man who the canyon was named after) described it as "a hell of a place to lose a cow." I agree!





The weekend after that, our friends Jamal and Emily got married. It was about time - they've been together for 10 years! They got married on a harbor cruise in Newport Beach. Emily looked beautiful and we had a great time.




Two weekends after that we moved to Corona. It was a stressful move, and we are still getting settled in. However, there are some perks. I am only two miles from my office and for the first time in my life have a 5 minute drive to work. It's great! We feel like the Lord has watched over us so much with this move. Patrick was able to find a job with Corona-Norco School District fairly quickly. He will be starting at Cal State San Bernardino in the fall, so the drive to school will be a whole lot better for him.


The night after the big move, we saw Colbie Calliat and John Mayer in concert. We bought the tickets long before the move was even a twinkle in our eye. We were tired, but really enjoyed the show. This is my third summer in a row seeing John in concert. He is so talented and Patrick enjoyed it a lot more than he thought he would.

Well, that is the the second half of June and July in a nutshell. Busy, crazy, fun, and we wouldn't have it any other way! More to follow...