Seth & Hollie Wedding

We headed out to Utah for Seth's wedding in October. I was nervous to fly with Ellie this time because she is more mobile. She did great until we were delayed for about an hour and half on the plane before taking off. A seat belt was broken on ONE seat and they could't take off till it was fixed. Let's just say it was a long flight where we became good friends with the flight attendants at the back of the plane. 

It was great to see all of Andrew's siblings and Ellie's cousins again. We had a packed house and were ready to celebrate Seth and Hollie. They were married in Salt Lake and had their reception in Provo. The ceremony was wonderful and such a fun thing for Andrew and I. Seth didn't tell us that he had asked Andrew's Mission President to seal them. So when the sealer walked in the room and started shaking hands, Andrew turned to me and said that it looked like President Thompson from the back. Then the sealer turned around towards Andrew and we both just started crying. Andrew is SUPER close to his mission president and I have felt so much love from him since being married to Andrew. It was a sweet thing for us. The rest of Andrew's siblings knew so they all smiled and laughed when we finally realized what was going on. In the end, I LOVE going to sealings and hearing the promises and covenants that we make there with our spouses. It is such a wonderful reminder and I'm so lucky I get to have Andrew to be apart of it all with me. 

We were the designated Face Timers to make sure Andrew's dad and brother Steven felt apart of the wedding. I didn't really see Andrew for most of the day because of it. He was busy passing our phones around to different family members and showing them everything that was going on. It was really sweet to get to help them feel like they were in Utah for the day. A Bangerter tradition at wedding lunches is to sing a song that they have written for the couple. This year was no different and it was a lot of fun to perform for Seth and Hollie. There is a video on Facebook if you want to see it. It is quite the production! 

Driving back from the wedding to Provo it took us two hours because of traffic. (You could call this the trip of many delays) Then to top it all off Ellie had a blow out in her pretty dress before we were suppose to head to the reception. We eventually got there and had a fun evening with lots of family. My mom even drove down to surprise me! 

It was such a special day celebrating Seth and Hollie. We think Hollie is perfect for Seth. We like to think we have a special connection to them since Hollie's maiden name is King but we're not related. So Andrew and Seth both married King girls! We're going to confuse a lot of people in the future for family history! Long live #kingtobangertergirls!! 

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 This was Ellie's face on the plane flying out to Utah. She was so tired and not happy! 

 She is fascinated by her Grandpa Garlick

 The cute four babies! We would put them all in one room and just watch them play!

Sister Bangerter Visit

Andrew's mom (currently Sister Bangerter) made a stop here in Florida for a few days before heading to Seth's wedding. Her flight came in first thing in the morning and we wanted to be waiting for her when she walked off the plane. We kept telling her to keep walking out and she would see us. We had no idea that we were on the opposite side of the airport! (Orlando is one of the more confusing airports I've ever been in) We eventually caught up with her and started our fun weekend together. We felt super lucky to have her all to ourselves! We of course took her to our favorite Disney spots and rode a few rides. It was also great to have Ellie interact with her Grandma in person! She loved playing with her and reading stories.

 Had to take a stop at the Brazil booth

 Ellie is getting so big she sits in a high chair now

 We like to call Ellie the professional waiter. She is a pro at waiting for people while they go on rides.

Epcot Food & Wine Festival

For a few weeks in October, Epcot hosts a food and wine festival. They set up extra booths from all different countries and serve food from those places. For a few nights we headed there to taste a few.  One night we were there we came across a concert by Smash Mouth. It was fun to have a flashback to our childhood/middle school!  It was Ellie's first official concert!

BYU vs. Nebraska

For Andrew's birthday I surprised him with a trip to the BYU football opening game at Nebraska.We had some extra hotel and flight points that it worked out perfectly. My dad and brother, Cam, also joined him on this fun adventure. The night before the game the BYU football team does a fireside for the local ward and stake. Andrew quickly got off his flight to grab a seat. After the fireside the players stay for a little bit for autographs and pictures. Andrew walked past the backup quarterback, Tanner Mangum, and said go ball it out there tomorrow. Walking away Andrew realized that was a dumb thing to say to the back up quarterback to Taysom Hill. There was no way he was going to play......at least that is what everyone thought. Andrew and my dad had seats next to each other and it was a tight squeeze!! Andrew said you literally were sitting on top of all the people around you. He did say though that the Nebraska fans were very kind to them the whole game. Even on the Hail Mary pass at the end of the game to win it all...which was thrown by the back up quarterback...Tanner Mangum. The catch even happened in front of their section! I'm so glad Andrew got to experience such a fun piece of the BYU football season. He can always say he witnessed the Mangum Miracle!

 During halftime Andrew made a quick call to Brazil. 

If you follow the black line to the black dot...that shows where Andrew was sitting.

A Wilde Visit and Magical Proposal

Our August was packed with Andrew's siblings coming to visit us. It was a blast to first have his sister Lauren and her family come. They were on there way back to Maine after spending a summer in California. We had so much fun at the parks even though it was HOT! They were such good sports and we fit in so many rides. On Saturday morning I think we did about 14 rides which is incredible for a Saturday in August. We also enjoyed our neighborhood swimming pool. Caleb and Ellie are only three days apart so it was fun to watch them interact with each other. Noah even got them laughing at the same time by jumping off the couch. I also have a curse at  Animal Kingdom. Any time we go there with someone there is always a huge rainstorm that we get caught in. With Lauren & Todd it was no different. We all were soaked but it just added to the experience as we rain through the rain to the car. While they were with us we also had the chance to celebrate Andrew's birthday. Andrew's birthday gift this year is a plane ticket/game ticket to the BYU football game at Nebraska! He was shocked when I told him he was going to the game. Lauren was sweet and got him a pie and we sang to him. We also called his parents to join in on the celebration and the missionaries were there. Andrew's parents have taught them the Bangerter birthday song and they sang right along all the way in Brazil. We're so grateful for technology that allows us to stay connected.

 Todd spotted our first alligator while we were leaving the store. 

Just one day later Seth & Hollie came to visit us. Now this was a special visit for them. They were driving back to Utah after summer sales in North Carolina and Seth was planning on proposing to Hollie. We had been planning with Seth for a few months on different ways he could propose in various locations throughout Disney World. It made for some great date nights for us to try and find places to propose. They finally decided on having a caricature drawn of them together and Seth proposing in the picture. Then when the artist turned it around Seth would get down on one knee in real life. Everything was all ready to go until Andrew went after work to make sure they had an appointment. When he went to the place they said they didn't have any reservations for a proposal. Andrew was a champ and showed them all the emails of the reservations and luckily they had one spot open. It could have been bad because we couldn't talk to Seth about any of the plans because he was with Hollie in the car the whole day. When they finally got to our house we had dinner quickly and then told them we had to go to Magic Kingdom that night instead of waiting the next day. We were a little late leaving and we knew we couldn't be more than five minutes late to the appointment time or they would cancel it. So we got in the park and quickly moved them to the caricature artists. Seth was trying to stop and take pictures to make it seem not planned. Luckily, we got there in time and they started doing there picture. Andrew and I then went and hid around the corner. We waited for 45 minutes till they were finished and we could film the proposal. It was so fun to be there and get to see the reaction. Hollie had no idea what was going on. Luckily she said yes! To make the night even more romantic we went and rode Haunted Mansion. haha (It had the shortest line) It was fun to visit with them. They were so smitten with each other and Andrew and I just were in the background making sure they got to the right rides at the right time. We're so excited for their wedding in October. I guess you could call us the proposal planners because this is our third proposal that we have helped with. :)

 Seth was such a champ waiting for 45 minutes to pop the question. 

Four Year Anniversary Weekend

Andrew is incredible about planning really fun things for our anniversary. This year was no different. He surprised me with four different activities on four different nights for us to do. They all involved discovery something new at Disney World.

The first night we explored the different resorts all around the parks. One of them is Port Orleans and it is the only place that sells Mickey Beginets. I fell in love with these when we went to Disneyland for my birthday a few years ago. These weren't quite the same but they were good enough. :) Each resort has so many different things to do and is an experience all on its own separate from the amusement parks. We will for sure be going back to them and maybe even sneaking into to do a little swimming at the fun pools.

 The janitor spent about 10 minutes drawing this Mickey on the table with his Squirt Bottle...Super cool!

The next two nights we actually spent the day at Magic Kingdom and stayed at the Grand Floridian. We enjoyed taking Ellie to the pool for the first time. She loves the bath so we thought she would enjoy the pool. It had a zero entry so it was nice she could just sit in just a little bit of water. She wasn't quite sure the whole time but overall we think she liked it. It was fun to play tourist at the hotel. We even went and had dinner with Cinderella and her crew. Since the Grand Floridian is so close to Magic Kingdom we could just sit outside and watch the fireworks. It is fun to see the fireworks in person that we hear at our house at 10:03 every night. The next morning we went and had the famous Tongan Toast at the Polynesian resort. It is french toast stuffed with bananas, rolled in cinnamon sugar, and topped off with a strawberry syrup. It was pretty delicious but VERY expensive. I think I'll have to try and find a copy cat recipe on Pinterest and try it at home.

Our final night of activities we spent at home watching the movie Tower of Terror. It is a Disney movie that was based off the ride. If you love the ride then you'll enjoy the movie. I think it gives a little bit of a better background story to the ride.

We had such a fun time exploring Disney World. There is still a lot more to learn and we feel very blessed a lucky to be able to do that.