Since my grandma is able to go to the temple now, but unable to get herself places, my mom and I went to pick her up. So we went to Ely, put her in the car, and took her to Las Vegas.
In Vegas, my mom and I and my aunt Peggy and Emilie went on a grand adventure! We had tickets to go see the Michael Buble show! I am not a great fan of jazz music (at all), but I was fun. Before the concert, we went to a few stores on the strip. My mom bought me a pearl necklace that I adore. (I do love pearls. They are classy and elegant without being too flashy.) We ate dinner, then made our way through the maze of the MGM (here is the lion outside of it)
to go to the concert!
We did have to wait. For a long long time. But we kept ourselves entertained quite well, I assure you.
The warm-up band was Naturally 7 (please see side bar for videos) and they totally rocked! I really enjoyed their performance. Then, with a big dramatic entrance, Michael Buble appeared! He sang beautifully, and was funny, and the British people in front of us were quite hilarious. My mom and I, unfortunately, epic failed at working the camcorder, so we got no video, which is kind of tragic. Oh well, I'm over it. Getting out of the concert was a mess, but we made it. It was late. Here's the Excalibur hotel at night:
We had a week at home and then BAM! We were off the Arizona in a rented van to go to the wedding. It was a long drive, but due to my fantastic taste in music that I so unselfishly share with my family (that is partially true actually. I like to share stuff that excites me, and music does) and my dad's patient tolerance of said music, and coloring books and colored pencils, we had a pretty fun trip. We stayed in little dumpy town a half hour from Snowflake (called Holbrook) in a rather dumpy, but not quite disgusting, motel. After adventures in the pool and eating dinner and trying not to fuss over grandma who was sick, we went to sleep.
The next morning, we went in two packs to the temple. The first pack included those who were to attend the ceremony. The second was for those who would greet them outside. I was the chauffeur for this group. I was nervous since I have hardly driven outside of my home town, but it was a really easy (and quite dull) drive. Oh, Snowflake isn't named after weather, but after the Snow and Flake families who settled it. I bet you're SO glad I told you that. Here is a picture of the temple:
The ceremony attendees came out looking very happy. My mom told me how very beautiful it was, and has told me since how amazing temple marriage is. I never doubted it, but it's always good to be reminded. Then my mom dragged me and my sisters into the front doors (and I was thinking I was going to be struck down at any moment) to show us the stained glass. It was beautiful. The temple workers gave us a paper that told the story of where it came from. I bet you'll never guess. The Catholic Church gave it to the LDS church. It was quite amazing.
Then the bride and groom made their grand exit (actually, it wasn't really all that grand. They looked kind of awkward and overwhelmed). Picture:
Then we took lots and lots of pictures. Here is a picture of both families:
And just my family:
And the new marrieds:
(The tragically almost good picture.)
(John is a great purse holder for bride and groom stalkers.)
After that, we went to a pretty old church meeting place for a luncheon. It was fun and intimate. Here they are again:
Oh, and I was very entertained by my ice, as you will see.
Then my family went back to Holbrook, changed clothes, and ventured off the the Petrified Forest National Park. We had a lot of fun trying (and failing) to resist the temptation to take a little bitty piece of petrified wood, and my mom bought me a pretty purple pot. Here are some pictures from that day:
That's a fire pit inside a pueblo called Agate House.
More of the Agate House.
The next day we had nothing to do in particular in the morning, so we went back to the park, from the opposite end. That end showed more of the Painted Desert. Pictures:
That's the park's inn.
Yes, he was moody that day. But the Puerco Pueblo and Petroglyphs cheered him up a bit:
We went back to the hotel to get ready for the reception that was a couple hours away when we ran into a problem. New Mexico time is an hour ahead of Arizona time, so we were running an hour behind! But with some teamwork (meaning Michelle blowed my hair dry while I applied makeup) we left on time. Here is a picture of a cool mesa we saw on the way there:
We got there early and had some difficulty finding the bride's parents' home, but got there eventually. We changed there and headed to the brides' sister's house where the reception was held outside. It was such a fun reception! I think almost everybody who attended were related to the bride, so it was a family reunion thing. Her family made my little family feel very included though, dancing us around the porch until we were dizzy and telling us stories. I loved the moment when one of her uncles sang some of her grandpa's songs. It was touching to have the grandpa included in that special way.
We made the long drive home and went to bed. The next morning we got up, fought for the waffle maker with some other hotel guests (I was there first, I swear), and got on the road. The only eventful thing about the drive home was stopping at Lake Powell for lunch. I got a few pictures, but I picked this one at random to share:
A couple weeks later we had an open house in Orem. Carl's army buddies and some of my family were there. I have to admit that I didn't have much fun. It was good to see my not-so-little anymore cousins and my aunt that I hadn't seen for a handful of years, but I did more serving than socializing while everyone else did more socializing than serving. Oh well, the punch bowl stayed full.
The end!
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