grant got married.

my brother got married on january 17! i still sort of can't believe it, that all three of us are old enough to be married and have now done so. when b and i first got married and lived in LA, grant was still in high school and my parents lived an hour away so we hung out with them all the time. grant and i used to go to midnight movie premieres together, b used to go shooting and play video games all weekend with grant and my dad, we always played games together and went shopping and goofed around. i sort of still feel like that is our reality, as if i've forgotten that grant has since graduated, gone on a mission for two years, went off to college AND now has gotten hitched.

anyway, whitney -- my new sis in law, who i didn't actually meet until the wedding (lol) -- is from rigby, idaho, so they decided to get married in the idaho falls temple. in the dead of winter. in a place that has a super tiny airport not easily accessible from seattle. awesome! we rented a minivan and drove 12+ hours to be there, but more on the road trip later. we got in on thursday afternoon and friday morning we all got up and got ready together. my parents rented a big house in idaho falls (vrbo is THE best use of the internet in the history of the world, in my opinion...okay, maybe not, but i sure do love it with my whole heart) for them, us, my sis & bro in law, my grandparents and my aunt & uncle to all stay in together and it was so fun. then we headed to the temple!

it was a blur: quick sealing, standing outside in the freezing sunshine, then photo time! mr & mrs payzant:

jack was so cute and excited to see uncle grant. he fell in love with aunt whitney in about five seconds and followed them around the rest of the day.

our little fam, freezing our butts off (it was 26 degrees):

after the ceremony we went to a luncheon at the church for some delicious bbq. jack hung out with his buddies the whole time (i love this pic below). i took him on a potty break at one point and said, "isn't it so nice to be with our whole family?" and he replied, "yeah, it's really nice to be with aunt whitney. can she move in with us?" 

we went home for about five seconds to try to put hudson down for a nap, then it was back to the church for the reception! the cultural hall was decorated super cute and they had a hot chocolate bar and cinnamon rolls. it was tasty but i was starving. ;)

we hung out with these two the whole night, probably my favorite people on the planet. hudson and jesse share a special bond.

sister photo shoot! 

more family. 

b's ridiculously talented cousin made the cute matching ties for the boys. obviously hudson was thrilled to be looking so adorable. 

and where was jack for all the festivities, you ask? oh, just shadowing whitney's 8 year old sister presley. he literally followed her around the ENTIRE night. i saw him like twice, one of the times stuffing a giant cinnamon roll in his mouth. (we intervened.) he was in heaven following the big kids around and it was the first time in his little life that i've seen him just run off and play independently like that for the whole night. so cute. 

then it was go time and b and jesse sent the lovebirds off by shooting fireworks off in the parking lot. i did my part to decorate the car. :) 

the next day was saturday and we all just hung out. i love nothing more than to be surrounded by my family with nothing to do. we all fall into the predictable activities we've been doing my whole life when everyone gets together -- the girls go shopping, everyone goes to a movie, the boys sit on the couch and watch golf, we all go out to eat. all the grown ups went to see the new jack ryan movie but my parents and i took jack to see frozen. we had dinner at cafe rio and ate cupcakes to celebrate my mom's birthday and played card games all night. it was perfect. 

sunday morning, we cleaned up and packed up and got on the road. one last meal all together at the gem of idaho falls' culinary industry, smitty's pancake house:

then we said goodbye and headed back home. the road trip actually wasn't quite as horrible as i was expecting, though i still DEFINITELY prefer to fly with children than drive anywhere. i packed about three million activities for jack to do and just pulled out one after another; between those and snacks he did pretty well and ended up just needing to watch a movie for the last hour of each leg of the journey. hudson, on the other hand, was less easy since he can't do much. we drove during his naptimes so he slept a lot, then i'd stuff him with baby food and mum mums and once he got sick of that we'd have to stop and let him get out of the carseat for a few minutes. 

part of the glory of the trip was our sweet swagger wagon -- those things are so comfy. tons of room to spread out, doors that close automatically, a third row that folds down...i almost wanted to buy one. almost. ;) 

the only thing that made the drive bearable was that my AMAZING friends let us stay in their awesome home in wallace, idaho. wallace is close to the halfway point between seattle and idaho falls, so we only had to drive six hours before crashing for the night and then drive six more hours the next day. the home is more than 100 years old and they have been updating the interior over the past few years. it was so cute. 

fun fact: wallace is also the town they filmed dante's peak in. if you have seen the movie you might recognize some of the downtown. wallace is an old mining town with an adorable downtown. i wanted to stay there all week. 

we were so, SO grateful to be able to break up the drive by staying there. not to mention it was fun to soak up a little small town atmosphere. the house is right down the street from the red light garage, a delightful restaurant with license plates all over the ceiling that doubles as an antique shop. we ate breakfast there on the way to idaho, and we walked over there again on sunday night to see if we could watch the seahawks game. (the house didn't have cable or internet and the seahawks were playing the 49ers for the NFC championship, so basically the entire state of washington was chomping at the bit to see the game -- us included.) 

no one was inside except the owners and another couple, and the restaurant wasn't even actually open but they let us come in to watch the game and they made food for us! hudson started getting fussy toward the start of the 4th quarter and i wanted to leave, but the owners turned down the lights and told me to put him to sleep there. ha! it was so fun and such a memorable way to watch the game -- especially when the seahawks WON and now they're going to the super bowl!! 

if you're ever passing through wallace, i highly recommend paying a visit to the red light garage. 

after six more hours on monday we were finally home! we arrived to find a sunny seattle and it felt SO good to be home. twelve hours later, b left on a business trip to boston -- so he didn't get to relax much, but the boys and i got right back to our regular routine. it was great to see my family and i miss them already, but it feels nice to be home. 

valentine swap

i hardly ever blog here anymore (my life is now documented via instagram -- who's got the time for blogging?) but i really hardly ever blog over on the stationery place, the stationery blog i started back in 2008. then, every january, i make a giant comeback to orchestrate the great handmade valentine swap. this is the 4th year in a row we've done it and every year gets better and better!

sign ups are open until january 24 and we've already got close to 200 people registered -- with a TON of international swappers this year! i'm excited to see what everyone comes up with. click over for details if you want to sign up :)