We’re here. We made it to the valley of the sun! And boy, did it give us an extremely warm welcome. The hottest August on record actually (highs between 111-116 and lows around 90 degrees over the last week). Thankfully, the heat is still a novelty and hasn’t worn on us like I’m sure it will by the end of next summer.  It’s the end of the summer so it all gets better from here, right?

We’re starting everything fresh. We’re in a lovely fresh apartment (with an awesome pool and palm trees, I feel like I’m on vacation!) Christian is off to school with a fresh new MacBook (and with its iPad-like touchpad navigation, Christian is in heaven. An iPad is high on his wish list). And the slate is fresh in our social sphere, well, except for the bishop. My cousin Reid married our bishop’s daughter Andrea, so we’re already family J Don’t think we’ll be able to hide from callings for too long, we’ve already been on a ward campout and are buddies with the bishop’s family. The ward here is amazing too. We’d heard good things, but we were welcomed  automatically as family. The relief society activities and groups are constant, giving us student-wives a supportive outlet. These four years will be very special, I can feel it already.

However, to back up, our west-coast adventures ended two weeks ago with the marriage of my sister-in-law Sarah Bennion to Christian Briggs (yes, the third Christian in my family now). Sarah looked gorgeous in her vintage-inspired tea-length wedding dress (made by her mother Lorraine in the three weeks before the wedding!!!!). As much as Lorraine will deny her seamstress skills – one look at that dress and you can’t deny it took some definite skill and diligence to make something so perfect for Sarah. The reception in Fresno was awesome for the Bennions to connect with old friends (and for us to see Trevor and Katelyn – miss you guys!) and the Salinas picnic was simply picturesque. Just look at the pics below. It was beautiful.

Getting ready for the big day (I feel so special - we got to share the same hotel room with the lady of honor the night before she got married!)

Audrey posing with her favorite bag filled with "food treats"

I love the following series of pictures because of the infinite expressions of these girlies (Jane, Audrey and Maddie). I love them so much.

 Pops was brave enough to take on Jonah and Claire who decided to wrestle in his arms, but it wasn't anything a daffy duck voice couldn't fix:

Luncheon post-wedding. Jane was quite excited to learn that clinking your glass with a utensil meant the bride and groom had to kiss!

Fresno Reception:

 Salinas picnic entrance. I made the sign

 Bubble machine!

Amid all this busyness Claire was a trooper. She had so much fun romping around with her cousins who I’m sure played a role in getting her to want to start moving. She is officially a crawler now. So much fun to see our little petite girl make her way across the living room. Time to start baby-proofing! And she also has recently started being a little stranger-wary and attached. Today at the store an older couple started talking to her and she stared quietly first at them, then at me, then back at them before her little lip started to tremble. Having a babysitter her will be a lot harder from here on out.

Santa Cruz Boardwalk

Look at that sweetie. Claire is just as excited to start our new life in the desert