An Art Show with Belly Dancers?

So Travis wasn't able to come home this weekend, but that's okay. Gideon and I had a busy one anyway. We went with Trav's parents to the art show on the river walk. All in all it was an enjoyable experience. With one notable exception....

They had some belly dancers performing at the stage. They were not at all what I picture when I think of belly dancers. I found it even funnier considering that daddy just brought home belly dancing costumes from Morocco, (see some of my previous posts.) Not that I'm taking anything away from these women. It takes courage to perform like that in public. Still seeing someone who reminds you of your mother belly dancing is a little disturbing. Seriously. There were three dancers, I'll bet not one of them was under 50. And honestly, they all had very umm....lush and curvy figures. Still only one of them actually danced with her navel bared and as soon as she got done, she donned a scarf or sheet of some kind. Not that I was at all offended. I guess belly dancing is art after all. And apparently you don't have to be a size 4 Moroccan girl to do it either. Who knew?

Anyway, after that we walked over to the Snake Bite Cafe for lunch. Seriously, if you ever come to Idaho Falls, you have to try the Snake Bite. They're just a tiny little local place downtown, but they have the BEST burgers.

After that we went back to Trav's parents house where Gideon had a little nap and I almost had to go rescue my mom and Cody who were temporarily stranded in Brigham City, Utah. Thankfully though I only made it as far as Fort Hall before they called and informed me they were un-stranded, so I was able to turn around and go back. I'll let mom post that story though.

How blessed am I to have the cutest boy ever?

My New Favorite Song

Okay so I am totally loving this song by Jason Mraz and Colbie Callait. Seriously after listening to it all day I cannot get sick of it. It's just so cute and yes this is totally cheesy, but seems to fit Travis and I perfectly. (Especially lately with as much as he travels.) And let's face it, I do feel pretty lucky with my life most days.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vc_RIRCAF_w

Speaking of new music... Okay all you girls out there my age-ish this is no time to pretend you're too cool, how many of you are as excited as I am about the re-emergence of NKOTB onto the music scene? I love, love, love the new single. And when I finally saw the video for the first time today I have two observations:

1. Jordan is still my favorite
2. All five have aged extremely well. (Of course, that could be a trick of the camera aided greatly by the fact that they no longer sport mullets and rat tails.)

Check it out for yourself:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=25qiZy7vmqY

We won't talk about the fact that their last hit album was like 17 years ago. That just makes me feel waaaaaaay too old!

Back to Nauvoo

Random scenes from our trip. (Just a few more pictures to enjoy because I haven't posted enough already today.)

Introducing Princess Lydia (She had to walk through the arch way with Jake and Hillary and the other girls. It was so cute!)

Yes I've already posted similar pictures to this one, but I just couldn't get enough of our cute chubby boys!

The almost marrieds getting some practice

Well I'm not sure what Cami is trying to do, but Shiloh looks like a banana. (But a very, very cute banana.)

Lily Pie loves to stick her tongue out.

Strike that pose Skye!

There are perks to having a bald head I guess.

Skye watch out! There's something coming out of the root cellar after you! Oh wait, that's just your husband, nevermind.

Thanks for the outfits daddy. We decided we look like Easter eggs. There are no words to describe the bachelorette party. Just no words......

This is Rebecca Egloff. Have no doubt that she can hold her own with her three older brothers. Although they may have decreed that she's not allowed to date until she's 32, I think she's making a statement here that says otherwise.

Jesse I think you guys better start having babies of your own. Kelly looks like a natural.

The Egloff boys and Uncle Cody couldn't wait to take Gideon swimming. They talked about it for two days leading up to it. (He loved it of course!) And I was amazed at what good babysitters they all were. Anyway the pool was extremely refreshing since it was a balmy 101 degrees outside by this time.

The boys being boys.

The Date is SET!

We interrupt your regularly scheduled Nauvoo Highlights to bring you the munchkin update.

Today we had our 4 month check up. The doctor filled out his medical paperwork to send over to the agency so they can begin filing the finalization paperwork. His exact words were "He's clean and perfect."

Gideon now weighs 15 lbs. 6 oz. which puts him in the 60th percentile for weight gain but he's 26 1/4 inches long, so he's in the 97th percentile for length.

In the last month he's really started to use his hands deliberately. He grabs for toys (and jewelry and hair.) Almost everything goes straight to his mouth. He holds his own bottle about half the time. He sits up very well with a little support. He laughs and smiles A LOT! Likes playing peek-a-boo and when he's in his car seat or laying down he tries to sit up. (He just doesn't have the ab muscles yet.) He's also starting to do this thing where he's scooting around by moving his arms and legs, but not really crawling yet.

Plus, the doctor confirmed my suspicsion today that he's beginning to cut teeth already. Ei-yai-yai! I'm not ready for this. It's way too fast!

Also, we're happy to announce that the sealing will take place on Saturday Sept. 20 at 11:00am in the Rexburg Temple. I'm going to try and get some little invitations made up, but in the event that I don't get to it in time, consider this the blanket invitation. Let us know if you're coming!

The Wedding

The Main Event (Hillary and Jake's wedding) took place on Saturday July 19 in the gorgeous Nauvoo Temple.

Skye and Jason contemplate the statue out in front of the temple grounds.

Introducing Mr. and Mrs. Jacob Russell Platt

I got a kick out of this because that entire line of people is our children being escorted up the walk for family pictures.

"It smells beautiful, Aunt Cali!"

Skye and Ryan visit with Aunt Linda

And this is our family initiation, "Here, hold some kids."

The kids pose with their aunt Hillary and new Uncle Jake

Welcome to the family Uncle Jake

Daddy visits with his brother Bill and sister-in-law, Linda.

The garden reception was held at one of the historic homes that's been restored and is now used as a bed and breakfast. The Ellis M. Sanders House. It was gorgeous and everything looked perfect.

Emily and Adrianna had a very important job: Keep aunt Hillary's train out of the dirt.

Okay at this table we have Will and Stephanie Herrington visiting with Mike and Angie Egloff.

On the far left is Linda Garber and in the back to the right is her husband, our amazing photographer, Jimmy.

That's Jay and Julene Cottle talking to my aunt and uncle. Brother Cottle is the one who performed the ceremony. And sister Cottle and I bonded because they adopted all four of their children. So she was really taken by Gideon.

Grandma and Lily Pie. (Shiloh made the girls' matching dresses.)

It was apparently a little bit too much excitement for all of the babies.

Cutting the cake. (It was gorgeous and delicious. One layer was strawberry, another lemon and another white. YUM!)

Looks like Kendra enjoyed it.

Gideon gets to meet Aunt Patty

The bouquet toss. (I love how Lydia didn't want to be left out.)

Cody and the Egloff boys took it upon themselves to make sure the rental car was appropriately attired.

Aunt Michelle with Lily

We finally allowed the newlyweds to leave and head for their honeymoon.