Jelly Belly Factory

Another one of our vacation stops was the Jelly Belly Factory. It was fun, interesting, and free! The next two shots are artwork made entirely of jelly beans (talk about too much free time).
Apparently President Reagan was quite the fan of jelly beans. Jelly Belly actually provided him jelly beans as governor and as president.

Be careful too many jelly beans will turn you into a zombie.

Here are the four of us outside the factory.

Yosemite

As part of our vacation we also took a day trip to Yosemite. I highly recommend it if you have never been.

There are so many beautiful waterfalls from the snow melt.

There are also huge dramatic rock formations.

This is the Half Dome.

This is El Capitan.

Here's the two of us after a long day!

M.S. Dixie II

We just got back from a great vacation in Lake Tahoe. One of the things we did was a dinner cruise on the lake and it was fabulous. Here is the boat, the M.S. Dixie II, modeled after an old-fashioned paddle boat.
We also had a wedding party on board for their reception.

Here you can see the hotels and casinos on the Nevada side of the lake.

There were so many awesome landscape pictures to take, here are just a few.

This is a "cottage" a really wealthy eccentric lady built right on the lake. It is humongous and gorgeous.

This is a small island in the lake in a part called Emerald Bay for the deep green water color.

If you look close you can see a small house on the top of the island. The rich lady had that built to as her tea house. Anyway the cruise was a great way to see Lake Tahoe, we really enjoyed it. I've decided Lake Tahoe reminds me a lot of the Uinta Mountains and Bear Lake put together.

Rexburg Idaho Temple

We also made a quick stop in Rexburg Idaho to grab a couple of shots its temple. Maybe another time we will get a chance to explore it more.

Billings Montana Temple

We visited another temple this weekend--The Billings Montana Temple. It has such a beautiful backdrop with the rim rock behind. I like to think that buildings have their own personalities and the temples are certainly no exception. This temple looks strong and elegant against the western landscape.

Mike and Cheri

Matt has a brother named Mike and this weekend he got re-married in the Billings Montana Temple. So in my typical manner I created this montage of shots from the event. This is the bride Cheri.

This is Mike's son Isaac. He's a thinker and who isn't at 14?

This is Jacob, Mike's oldest son.

This is Matt and he loves getting his picture taken.

The family picture outside the temple doors. Matt's parents, his grandma, the bride and groom and her parents. P.S. Cheri is adopted if you didn't catch on to that :)

The bride and groom and the kids. Mike's two sons and Cheri's son, his name is also Michael.

Check out the dress, apparently the groom picked it out. He has great taste! It was perfect for her. I wish the beading really showed in the pictures, but life goes on.

The reception.

Michael and his friend Bryce. Aren't they so cute? Michael is such a good kid, he was so helpful to his mom and made it a special day for her. I think that's pretty awesome for a 15 year old to do.

Matt's parents.

Matt's sister Chris and one of her daughter's Lauren with the bride and groom.

Cheri's side of the family. Matt thinks her nephew in the back looks strangely similar to Shaggy from Scooby Doo. I'd have to agree, but I had to prevent Matt from following him around with the camera for further documentation.

All in all things went pretty smoothly and it was a lovely day. We are so happy that Mike found such a wonderful lady and that they both don't have to be alone anymore.