Nauvoo RV Trip

This Exciting adventure started out with the highest of hopes...Dad rented a beautiful RV to drive the family from Monument, Colorado to Nauvoo, IL. Unfortunately, the bathroom door on the RV broke before we left their house,  and that set the tone for the RV's performance for the rest of the trip!

We broke down for a time in Ellesworth, KS. Here Dad borrowed tools from the gas station owner and got the RV move but could not put it back in park without risking another stall of the engine, so he had to drive off with the borrowed tools...hahaha don't worry Dad mailed them back:-)

We did make it to Nauvoo where we met Emily, Jeremy, Lauren, and Jon and Karen Brogden. We had a fabulous time there without the RV (which we left in a repair shop). We stayed in a cabin, visited the sites, did sealings in the temple, and flew home through St. Louis, MO (we also got to see a bit of St. Louis, including going up in the arch).

The trip was not a bust, but the RV was! 

 

Jake's Birthday Visit to Provo 2008

Jake came and visited in Provo during his birthday in 2008. Quinn and I took him to the Comedy Sportz Club, to a BYU football game, mini golfing, and out for ice cream...a true Provo experience hahaha

Quinn and Annie Wedding

Quinn and Annie became engaged in January of 2008 and were married almost 6 weeks later on March 8th, 2008.

 The festivities started with a bridal shower thrown by my Sisters in Emily's Mother-in-law's home, Jane Blakesley. 

Annie: I was so grateful to my sisters for throwing this shower since it was so short notice and I had moved so many times in the preceding year (my friends were far flung, but many friends, roommates, and cousins made it to the shower that night:-).

Next we had a family dinner in the Lion House the night before the wedding. The fellows went and played basketball following this dinner (as Quinn's bachelor party) where some Gillespie and Hout tempers may or may not have flared up at each other.

On the morning of the wedding was cold and clear and so many family and friends were there to celebrate the new family that was created:-) We all missed Amelia and baby Michael who got stuck on the way to the wedding in the hospital after Michael came down with a bad case of RSV!

 There was a reception held afterwards in the Joseph Smith Memorial Building, across the courtyard. There was dancing and dinner and a couple of hundred loved ones gathered around...beautiful.

Of course Alan Gibby was the photographer for the happy day:-)

 After their Honeymoon, an open house was held in Arvada, CO where Quinn and Annie met and went to High school together. Many of the Ward members there were influential in Quinn and Annies' lives.  

Blakesley Wedding Reception

Rice Eccles Stadium, Salt Lake City, UT