Throwback Thursday 7- Utah 1996

In July (this weekend, in fact), Esther, my sister -in- law (now) and I traveled to Utah to see my missionary Blake marry his sweetheart, Jennie!! We bought tickets, and planned it all out- we would get there on Thursday, Blake would pick us up in SLC, and then we would drive to Spanish Fork, crash for the night, (oh, first we hit Chuck-O-Rama), an experience within itself, met his family, and then readied ourselves for the wedding the next day!! All went as planned, believe it or not!! We were so excited for a trip- I was 20- and Es was younger than me (we were just kids, right?!) Anyway, this was a BIG deal for us to go away all the way across the USA! Wow!! Lucky us.
The next morning, we woke up VERY early and drove with their families to Manti, for their temple wedding!! It was hot, I remember that, and the drive was curvy, and lots of turns, (we were in the mountains, after all), and I was sooooo sick!! For those of you who don't know, I get REALLY ill in cars- I always have, and cannot sit in any seat except the front, or I am driving- otherwise, I am nauseous and probably losing it all in the back. This was the case that day!! I just remember pleading for us to get there fast- and finally we did...this is the Temple:

They were doing some construction on it, so this is the only angle I could get without scaffolds in it! So beautiful! I had only seen the DC temple before, and had never been to Utah before, so this was only the second temple I had been to and what a beauty!! It was stunning, actually, and I could barely take it all in!! Es and I waited outside, for what seemed to be forever, in the heat, just waiting for Blake and Jenny to come out- there were probably 20 weddings that day, and when they finally appeared, we were so happy- (we had to keep moving our spots, because so many couples were having their pics taken and we seemed to always be in the way!) Here are the happy married couple! I had never met Jenny before, and so this was my first sight of her, and I just remember thinking that Blake married well!! She is so lovely and her personality just fits perfectly with his- I just love them, and Blake will always hold a special place in my heart- here we are at their reception. I loved this dress, by the way, and I had the same on in a mint green color too! Sad, I know. I think my hair was in a clip or something- not sure why I didn't actually do it for the special occasion- probably because we had to leave at 4am or something like that- oh well, it was special anyway! Here are Blake and Jenny cutting their cake...it was a really fun reception, held in the backyard of Blake's brother's house- his family is amazing and I fell in love with all of his brother's and their wives- they treated us like their own, and we felt very comfortable there. The landscapes there are just amazing and I loved looking out at the mountains- so picturesque and now I see why it was "the place". So, the next day, Es' friend of many years, Dave, picked us up (Blake's mom drove us half-way to where Dave lived) and he picked us up. I had never met him before, and this was a real treat- he is CRAZY!! Yes, crazy, he is!! SO crazy, in fact, that he drove us crazy- in a fun way, though. He is very sweet and treated us well, too. He took us all over Salt Lake and we saw all the fun sights...here we are throughout the day... I am pretty sure we intentionally dressed alike...we were just having fun!
I don't remember when we changed our clothes, or why, but this is the same day...
I remember that it was a carefree trip, and making fools of ourselves seemed really fun at the time- now I look back, and after rolling my eyes at some of the pics we took, I do still smile! It was a fun time in our lives. Dana was in Chile, as my shirt denotes (funny thing, I wouldn't be caught dead in a shirt like that now, but somehow since it was about Dana, that made me like it and wear it-0dd, I agree- but seriously, I would never wear it now- sadly, we still have it, and Dana wears it as a swim shirt with his trunks- it is actually in our family pic from the beach last year- I am dead serious- he cannot get rid of it!!)
I remember that our feet were killing us- we wore Keds without socks (the in- thing to do, by the way), and we got the biggest blisters on our heels from that!! So, we bought tons of band-aids and wore socks from then on out!
The most beautiful Temple- Salt Lake: these are the pics I took outside the gates- aren't they so nice?! I was in awe....still am, actually.
The next day, we stayed in Bountiful and went to church with Dave there. Here we are dressed up and ready to go! Look at that hair!! I do have to remember that it was still the 90's! I love that I didn't have hips like I do now then, either- those were the good old days!
We spent some time in Bountiful, and got to see the temple there- it was only a year old then, and it is stunning, as well.

Many other fun things happened while in Utah- we went to dinner at an Italian restaurant with Dave, where his brother worked, somewhere near the ZCMI center, after seeing Legacy at the theatre, and while we were eating, a server spilt a tray of spaghetti all over Dave and a little on us! It was hysterical!! I just remember laughing so hard my cheeks hurt. The manager gave us free dessert or something....and then we went to a BBQ at some student's house one night, and the BYU girls drove Es and I a little nuts- they were so stinkin nice that it was making us crazy! They were super sweet, and a little over the top- we were not, but we still had fun!! I just remember that we had fun despite the people- who were just too nice to us!!
Dave dropped us off at the SLC airport really early the day we left, so we just slept in the terminal while we waited for our flight. Things were different then, the way you check in and all, so when our flight was ready, we had to stand in line at the terminal to get your assigned seat. Es was tired and not feeling well, so I attempted to check us both in- the man was not so nice to me- he said she had to be present and in line to get her seat- I remember not being so nice to him, and making some rude remark (shocking, huh?!). He handed me our seat numbers, and I was really mad then, because he gave us C and D seats!! That means we were across the aisle from one another!! That was not good!! Well, when we boarded the plane, we realized we were in FIRST CLASS, and right next to each other!! I felt so bad that I was so rude to him- he gave us those seats for no extra charge, and I was a jerk to him!! We very much enjoyed our flight!
So, that was our trip: I am sure I left out some fun details, Es probably remembers more than me, she is younger, after all....but it was nice. I called Blake and Jenny the other night to wish them a Happy 12th Anniversary- I feel blessed to have been able to share in that day with them, we love them dearly. I have fond memories of the fun time with Es, too, and we spent a lot at the book store, since we don't have one here, and the Christmas following, she bought me a huge Second Coming picture that I loved at the store there...she is quite thoughtful. I treasure that painting and remember the simpler times in our lives, pre-marriage, pre-kids and pre- priorities!! It is much different now!!
Hope this was fun for you- I had fun trying to remember all that we did- one thing I didn't write about that we did, was hit all the fun sites in Salt Lake, like the Beehive house, and the monuments that are everywhere. It was a learning experience about the Pioneers and the Salt Lake Valley- I am glad we went, and I haven't been there since, but someday when I do go again, I hope I have as much fun- but rest assured, I will NOT wear a Chile t-shirt!!