Vacation . . . So Far

Day 1:  Thursday
I arrived promptly in Salt Lake City.  It was a MIRACLE because I had a flight with a layover and neither had any delay whatsoever!! (As a side note that I forgot to include in my airport post:  When I got on my first plane at 6:30 in the morning the gate attendent said, "Howdy!" as she checked my ticket!!  It totally made my day because it was the first time anyone in Texas has ever said that to me!!)  My BFF picked me up and went to The Gateway.  She tried on some beautiful wedding gowns!  It made me so happy to be able to be there with her, and to be able to see her looking so bridal.  She found two that she really liked, but still has some more places to search.  Besides, a girl needs her mom with her when she finally decides on "the one."  We went to Costa Vida after for an engagement celebration lunch.  It was divine! 

Later that night I met up with my family and we had the traditional before the wedding dinner.  My family hosted a barbeque held in the pavillion of Brooke's families church.  I forgot my camera, so I don't have any pictures, unfortunately.  It was really nice though.  It's always fun to be able to meet your siblings in-laws and see all of the different personalities.  Near the end of the barbeque, in good ol' Utah fashion, there was a mini micro-burst that swept through blowing things everywhere!! It was really funny to see all of the napkins blow away and everyone dashing to hold down the food!  Luckily most people were almost done eating, but the wind just blew and blew for a good few minutes!!  It was entertaining, at least!

Day 2: Friday
The big day!! They were married in the Salt Lake temple.  There is way too much to put in this post and I do have pictures from that, so I'm going to blog it when I get home.  For now it's to be continued!

Day 3: Saturday
The wedding was over, phew!! My dad and brothers went on a very long hike (14 hours)  in the Uinta's and the girls headed up to Park City for a day of shopping.  It was a lot of fun to hang out with my mom, sister, Jessica, sister-in-law, BreeAnn, and second mom, Marilyn.  We had a great day, although it was tiring to walk through so many stores and try on clothes, etc.  I found some cute stuff, but as fun as it is to get new clothes, I really enjoy just hanging out with the girls.  My brothers chose well, and my family has been really blessed with amazing in-laws.

Day 4: Sunday
I went with my family to the ward I grew up in, in Orem.  It was fun to see my young women's leaders and the people that were so influential during that time in my life.  The ward has changed so much though that I didn't even recognize half of the families.

Later that afternoon I went over to the Loose's, my aunt and uncle-in-law's house.  Not only did my brother's chose well, but I also married well.  I was able to hang out with my cousin-in-laws and my brother and sister-in-law.  It was so great!! I love them all so much!!  The only thing missing was Michael, but that's the best time to talk about him and tell stories! ;)  We had a yummy dinner, prepared by Aunt Marianne and Uncle Dee, and were able to celebrate Chris's birthday with some cake.  I was glad I got to hang out with my newest sister-in-law, we haven't really had much time to get to know each other, but she is fun!  Besides that, we played Wii Party and I was so glad to be on a team with Rachel.  We definitely rocked at third place.  It was crazy how consistently we were able to stay there.  It was so hard to say good bye!  I just wish we lived closer so we could hang out more often and good byes wouldn't be as long lasting!!

Day 5:
Today I just hung out with my family.  They had a bunch of errands to run so I went along for the company.  I love my family.  Even when we're just running around we have a great time.  Today was my second mom, Marilyn's birthday and tomorrow is my second dad, Brett's birthday, so we had a birthday celebration for them.  My mom and Jessica made a really good dinner and some really good cake.  It's funny, but I just realized I celebrated three birthday's within the last two days!  It's always fun when the Shaver's and the Garrett's get together.  We've been friends since we first moved to Utah and are just inseperable.  We all just love each other and have so many fun, shared family memories.  It's a blast!

My family is going home tomorrow.  It's always hard for me to say good bye to them, but especially this time, because I really don't know when I'll get to see them again.  I don't think Michael and I can afford anymore big trips this year!  I'll be in Utah for a few more days.  I get to do some more fun wedding stuff with Emily, and then I'm going to meet up with some friends I have in Salt Lake.  It's so hard for me to come to Utah and not have time to see everybody that I want to!! 

It has been a really great, fun trip, but I am ready to get back to Michael, I miss him!