From Sparks to Parks

This weekend we took a quick trip down to LA to celebrate Jocelyn's wedding. On Saturday she became Jocelyn Sparks Parks :) We are so excited for her and Zack and the exciting life they have to look forward to together. What a cute couple! We only wish they didn't live so far away!

We left for LA late on Friday night. Andrew was a rock star on the plane and fell asleep the second that we started moving (We love Southwest! They always let us bring his car seat on!). He also had a semi-decent night of sleep at the hotel, despite the very loud people in the room next door.


On Saturday afternoon we met up with Bruce and headed to the Apple Pan for some food before the wedding festivities began. The ambiance was totally fun and the food was great! We still had a little time to kill, so we revisited another favorite from previous LA trips, Diddy Riese, for some yummy ice cream cookie sandwiches!


Next we headed off for the Wedding festivities...

Jocelyn and Zack got married in the Los Angeles LDS Temple.

Introducing Mr. and Mrs. Parks!

After the ceremony, we headed up to Santa Clarita for a cute wedding luncheon at the Sparks home. Everything was beautiful and it was fun to visit with friends and celebrate together with Jocelyn & Zack.

Hanging out w/ Bruce & Karren at the luncheon

Posing w/ Mrs. Parks (Andrew thought the toys they had at Jocelyn's house were way cool)

After the luncheon, we got Andrew all dressed up in his tux and we headed to the wedding reception (we're trying to get some good mileage out of this cute outfit before he outgrows it). The reception was at the most exquisite house!

Jocelyn & Zack cutting the cake

The two most handsome men at the reception :)

Andrew really wanted my chocolate cheesecake.

Meeting some new friends- Jocie's niece

Andrew loved checking out the flowers and pool and crazy dance floor lights. He was such a good sport. If he started to get grumpy we could just bounce him up and down and he'd laugh hysterically and forget that he was annoyed.

Kevin and Andrew w/ Bruce- we were so sad that Christie wasn't able to come with him!

Starting to get a little overtired...

Our attempts at a family photo... not too successful

After rocking out on the dance floor with me for a little while, we finally had to take the little man back to the hotel so that he could crash... although that was wishful thinking on our part :)


After several hours of minimal sleep and some screaming, we finally turned on Baby Einstein, hoping Andrew could zone out and we could sleep for another 30 minutes or so... no such luck... but we did take some awesome photos of Andrew trying to escape from his cage (I mean crib).

We love how his nose is all pressed up against the crib... so funny!

I finally just forced myself to get up at 5:30am. Our flight back was perfect and I even got a few seconds of sleep while Andrew played with his favorite airplane toy- a plastic cup- which is even more cool now that he has 2 teeth.


The trip was so fun! We are really happy for Jocelyn & Zack- best friends make for the best eternal companions!

One of my favorite marriage quotes is:

“Anyone who imagines that bliss is normal is going to waste a lot of time running around shouting that he has been robbed. The fact is that most putts don’t drop, most beef is tough, most children grow up to be just people, most successful marriages require a high degree of mutual toleration, and most jobs are more often dull than otherwise. Life is just like an old time rail journey … delays, sidetracks, smoke, dust, cinders, and jolts, interspersed only occasionally by beautiful vistas and thrilling bursts of speed. The trick is to thank the Lord for letting you have the ride.” (President Gordon B. Hinckley)

Jocelyn & Zack are going to have such a fun journey together.

Congrats Mr. & Mrs. Sparks Parks!