A week in the west

I took a trip out to Utah to spend time with Mom. I snagged bonus visits with Ethan and Kassie as well as a fun trip to St. George to see Kaira and her family and her cute puppies!

The first night there, we went out to one of Ethan and Kassie's favorite spots, Chubby's. It didn't disappoint! 

Mom had a sick day, and I used the time to sit down and catch up on months of budgeting. But the next day she was feeling better and we took the opportunity to hit the grocery store and avail ourselves of the fine spread of Utah "salads" at Macy's. In all seriousness. I'm impressed. 

We got to see Ethan and Kassie's apartment and have a little chat. I love that they are making those newly wed memories! 

The next morning, mom and I headed down to St. George. I got to spend lots of time with the three wiggly pups. They were so cute! And their teeth were so sharp. 

Cinnamon, Stubbs and Silvie

A few other highlights....spending time with my nieces!

Scootering in Snow Canyon. So gorgeous and strangely meditative, even speeding along. The red rocks and desert just give you a solitary feeling. I'd love to bring Mark and the kids back here to do this again. 

We got to sink our toes into the red sand, softer than any beach I've been to, and we spotted lots of lizard tracks

A trip out the the adorable Frei's Fruit Market

And then the Taffy Shop....Kaira know all the best places. 

7 bucks to fill a bag. The only rule is it has to be able to close. 

Oh. It's on. 

The best part was the taffy identification chart. I'm all about the proper organization of my candy. 

Dinner with the Tuckers, even Charlie! Mom's treat.

Before you know it, we were driving back up to Spanish Fork, had one last visit with Ethan and Kassie and I was flying back to Utah. I briefly considered getting another almond croissant from my favorite spot in the airport, but even I know that's excessive. 

 Until next time!

Wedding Weekend

We did it! We got everyone up and out the door at 3 am. Mark didn't even feel tired! The kids were feeling perky enough to take out a couple giant airport cinnamon rolls. The sugar helps ease the shock of mom saying yes to buying....anything. 

These three lucked out and got to sit next to each other. 

One of the best parts of traveling with grown kids is the legitamately cool photos they take. Check out this window-seat shots!

No time for chit chat. We hit the ground running. Shopping for luncheon supplies and getting 6 crock pots churning out the pork barbacoa. Through an unfortunate lapse in judgement combined with my complete and utter inability to think for myself when I'm around my big sisters, I started the meat at approximately 7 pm....dooming me to a sleepless night of waking up every 30-45 minutes to check the tenderness of the meat, moving finished batches to the garage to cool and monitoring the temperature in the garage so as not to cause every single person at the luncheon to get food poisoning because I didn't bring the main course to proper temperatures. Also, worrying that a stray dog would wander in the open garage door and eat all the meat because an open door was the only way to get it cold enough in there. 

I also forgot that Heidi was receiving alerts on her phone from the cameras installed in Mom's garage. So that's a fun all-night show!

In truth, I was kinda glad someone knew in detail how I sacrifice for this family!

 

The day before the wedding was a flurring of last minute preparations. Getting my nails done by the very  talented Kaira. I've never felt more girly!

Repackaging the heavenly cilantro dressing into smaller containers. More fun than as a team!

Megan and Mark made 150 tortillas

Not everyone was feeling the same levels of wedding related stress. 

And finally the day was here! I woke up first thing to check the weather. It looked like we weren't going to be taking photos in the rain after all

When Kaira and Jordan walked in about 30 minutes before go-time, I was in the kitchen making corn salsa in my PJs. Kaira said, "uh-oh" and before I knew it, she was juicing a lime....

And Jordan was ironing my dress

We sent our adult kids off to the reception center to drop off the luncheon food and plug in all the crock pots. I commenced praying for them to make it to the temple in time...

I don't have many photo yet, since I decided to let the photographer do her job and just be in the moment. I soaked it all up. All the love and all the joy and all the family. 

The kids made it. Frantic phone calls were placed. Photos were taken and we were off to the reception center! It was beautiful!

Mathew MC'd the wedding shoe game and it was so adorable! He did a great job.

We took a break after the luncheon, frantically packing away the ridiculous amount of leftovers and running them over to the fridges and freezers in Kaira and Jordan's temporary apartments. In a blink of an eye, we were putting our shoes back on, touching up makeup and back to the reception center. 

Ethan and I danced to the acoustic version of 'Take On Me' by a-ha. That moment will forever live in the happy places of my heart. 

Cutting the cake!

A room full of love and happiness!

Some of my favorite guests of the night. Sam, Kylie and Miranda.  Love these kids like they are my own!

Like I said, these are just the few photos that we snapped throughout the day. I will add the professional ones later! But, oh my heart, what a day. The memory will bring me happy tears forever.