Saturday August 2

We started the day bright and early with family pictures. We took pictures with the whole clan and individual families too so we got our two hours worth no doubt.

 We started the big photo shoot at the Temple. It was just beautiful.

 Then we moved down to Brigham Young's house and took pictures by the old barn there. While we were killing time with everyone taking their family pictures since we were done pretty much I decided to take a couple across the street from the barn. I thought the back ground was beautiful and I hated to waste it.

 Then we moved up to the Browning Gunsmith's and the photographer pointed out the view from the back yard. We knew we had to finish up with some pictures there with the Temple in the background. I can't wait to see the pictures because we had some amazing places to work with. After the pictures the kids and grand kids were getting pretty squirrelly so we headed out for lunch. Food always helps calm the masses. Everyone but the Cooper's went back to the house to eat and we hit a cafe in town. Ashley said that after lunch she was taking the kids to a field to play and so I took her into the bathroom and told her to hang on a bit because Hayden was going to propose to Megan and her wanted her there. Her reaction was priceless, she was pretty excited.

 So we all headed back to Old Nauvoo. I told the guys to go down to the Blacksmith to "make arrangements to meet with a senior couple from our ward serving a mission there" or in other words Hayden wanted to set things up with the Blacksmith. The girls were going to go do something girlish so we decided to check out the Tin shop. On the way Megan's sandal broke so we spent about 10 minutes hunting down some tape. Apparently it's impossible to find duct tape in Nauvoo so masking tape had to do the trick then we trouped off to the Tin shop. We had only been there about ten minutes when Hayden called and said he was ready. So Ashley and I got Dane riled up so he would get noisy  so we could leave.

The Tinsmith

 Dane reacted on cue and we were outta there like a shot. Really the guy was dragging out the presentation and I knew Hayden was going nuts. Of course by the time we got to the Blacksmith's the place was crowded so we waited for the next tour. That took at least another 10-15 minutes!

Poor Hayden getting a little tired of all this taking so long. What do you think, does he look nervous!!

Cooper stuck to Megan like glue all day.

 Getting the presentation in the Blacksmith shop.

 The blacksmith is making his horseshoe which he gave to Hayden since he was going to need some luck!

After they tell the prairie diamond story they take everyone out and have everyone pick out their very own prairie diamond ring! Oops this taking alot of room to be continued...

Friday, August 1

Construction Day!

Well that's what it felt like. We only had about 500 miles to do Friday so it should have gone flying by. Of course we hit lots of construction along the way and that really slowed us down.

Loading that van clear full

 That morning I let Christina in on the proposal plan so she could man a camera for us and we hit the road. Going through Omaha about killed Hayden because he wanted to stop and see Haydn Waite pretty bad. We went through there way to early to hook up for lunch though so they were disappointed. We loved Nebraska. Who knew. It was gorgeous and green and rolling fields with trees everywhere. Just beautiful!

Crossing the Mississippi and almost to Nauvoo!

The Mississippi

 We rolled into Nauvoo about 5:30 which made it too late for Hayden's plan so that had to wait. Every single person who used GPS to get to the rental house ended up in a graveyard so luckily Rachel and Jeff were already there and helped us find the place. Mom and Dad were there too but we were the first to arrive. In fact we pretty much had the rest of the night with just us. Ashley and Benjy came in just behind us.

Decorating the windows

 We all went downtown to find some dinner. There wasn't much to choose from so it that went fast. After dinner we headed down to the Nauvoo British Pageant. We had heard so much about it we were glad we got there in time. Ashley's family decided to sit out the pageant and it's a good thing.

About 2/3 of the way through the weather turned bad and a heck of a storm rolled in. It swirled all around us for about an hour but finally they stopped the show as rain started to hit. We ran to the cars and got soaked before we got there. They continued the pageant apparently but we didn't go back. We went back to the house and later that night Nadine rolled in. After we had all gone to bed Carolyn's family arrived.

Time for the Reunion!

Wednesday July 30 Mendis and I headed out of here as fast as we could after work. In fact we left work early and hit the road about 2pm. We had to hurry and pick up the rental van in St George. By the way renting that van was money well spent. We actually sailed through that and got to Hayden's apartment a few minutes early. Hayden had picked up Megan already so we grabbed some dinner and hit the road.
I actually drove the car and Mendis drove the van to Provo. We did that so when we got back to Provo Hayden and Megan could leave early if they wanted while we did some visiting. I had a nice quiet trip to Provo!
We crashed at Christina's house which is so convenient. We hauled the air mattress out for Christina, Hayden hit the couch, Megan had Christina's room and Mendis and I got the spare room. It worked out great.
We were up and out by close to 8am which was our goal. I think we were only about 15 minutes behind so that was amazing. Mendis and Hayden had gone out to run and throw but the fields were locked so they ended up getting muddy in a park. So as we loaded everything up in the van it was clear we would have been totally hosed in the car. We were packed to the rafters! In fact we left a few things in Provo but we were ready to roll. We went through McDonald's drive thru for breakfast and we were off...

 We got started on the scavenger hunt right away but we knew three teams had a couple of days jump start on us. We were crossing things off fast and furious though. I am not sure if we saw much of Provo Canyon or Heber City because we were busy marking things off the list! We thought for sure we had it in the bag by the end of the day.

We drove clear through to Kearny Nebraska that day taking the I-80. Most of this was new territory for us so that was fun. It was over 750 miles of fun and it took all day. We drove past Green River, Wy where Megan lived as a baby. We drove all the way through Utah, Wyoming and well into Nebraska. We stopped at Little America to see what all the fuss was about, bought my magnet and kept on going. We were having a heck of a time finding a caboose for the scavenger hunt so we took a picture of a picture of one at Applebee's and sent it to Jeff and Ashley just for fun. Well we thought is was funny. Luckily we saw one the next day. We must have seen a hundred trains and just that one caboose! That night we went for a walk around the motel to unwind and stretch out a bit before we hit the hay for the next day.

Preparations are Ready

So we have seen alot of a certain someone lately. Well clearly not as much as Hayden had but we were enjoying getting to know Megan over the summer. It was time for a little cyber stalking right?

Actually I wasn't really being creepy I knew all about them already. So when I got the text from Hayden that he needed help I had an idea of what he needed help with. Time for a diamond for this girl. So cyber space being what it is I was sworn to secrecy (which about killed me) and I went up to St George to take Hayden shopping. He told me what he had in mind so it was down to shopping out the best deal. Cooper men and shopping aren't the best combo but he did really well. Maybe because it was his money he was spending for a change hahah. We spent hours and I about lost him a couple of times but we were getting close.

 

This is the one!

I think he did a great job. Both in finding the girl and the ring!

Pizza Guy

Hayden had a job this summer where he wasn't working for Zona or Dr J. I think he was excited about it to start with but then the luster wore off a little as time wore on. When you have a job it's never convenient or fun to miss out on things but it is fun to get a paycheck no matter how small it may seem. He worked at Rigatti's Pizza in St George. He claimed it was the best pizza ever so after hearing that all summer it was time to check it out for ourselves. Let's face it he makes that claim often but darn it he was right again. It was really good.

We only got there twice this summer though. We got our last half off pizza just before he had to quit for our trip and football. I am sure it won't be our last time there. It was fun to watch him get the pizza ready. We especially loved watching him toss the pizza:

Now the grand kids can see him toss that pizza!

July 4th

Finally after all these years we got to go inside the Stadium of Fire. The few times that we have been there we were on the outside watching on the grass somewhere wishing we were on the inside. Everyone got to go but Ashley's family since Benjy had to work.

We all crowded into Christina's house for the weekend. It was like a huge slumber party in there because we took the mattress off her bed and put it in the living room beside the air mattress so we could be in the ac. It was hot in the back but Mendis slept there anyway.

The Provo Temple under construction

Heading to the Provo Freedom Festival

Fabulous balloon display!

Ready for the SHOW!

The performances were great but we especially loved the trampoline group. They had super heroes doing an amazing routine that was mesmerizing. We really enjoyed Studio C and of course Carrie Underwood was awesome.

Carrie Underwood at last.

The next day was Saturday so hit Zupas and then we decided to take the Frontrunner up to City Creek on SLC. Good fun. None of us had been on it before and we were up for a new adventure.

The princess at the Disney store

City Creek is beautiful especially in the summer.

The shopping was fun of course but mostly for the women. Men not as much.

After an afternoon of shopping we had dinner and headed over to Temple square. It was fun to see the exhibits again because it had really been a long time.

Okay so maybe we got a little carried away with the Selfies. But it was so fun.

But this one is pretty perfect!

Being goofy on Hayden's phone

The Temple was beautiful at Twilight especially.

What a fun weekend. It was over in a flash.