Utah Roadtrip - The Wedding

My dear friend Katie, got married in Utah and luckily I was able to have some time off work to go. I got to see Katie come out of the SLC Temple and go to the family luncheon. 

Katie had mentioned that all of her girlfriends were dressing in wedding colors and that if I wanted to I could as well. Which prompted an afternoon of shopping trying to find something.

It was rather frustrating but Brian was a good sport about it. Since I kept saying things were cute but not right, he finally was like "Screw the colors" and made me just try some stuff on. And I ended up loving what he made me try on and getting it to wear. And then adding a scarf I found that was the right colour to count as my dress in the wedding colors.

Katie was a wonderful friend to me in Boston. She moved to Boston for just my last year in Boston and was really exactly what I needed. And I'm so grateful that I was able to know Katie. She's one of those people that's very kind to everyone, but not in a cheap and gimmicky way. She genuinely cares and makes people feel special. I really love Katie and was happy to get to share in her happy day.

Brian was a sport and came with me. 

I was happy for the company since I basically didnt know anyone else there.

But he hated how many pictures there were. And when I was in pictures he definitely didnt have anyone to talk to.

Katie and her Boston friends (Me, Brenda Heaton, Katie and Kelly Pickett)

Katie's Boston Friends (Diana, Me, Katie, Brenda and Kelly)

I'm really glad I got to go to the Katie's luncheon. We sat at this table with three other couples and in particular, one of the couples was really funny. They asked who we were and we introduced ourselves and that I was friends with Katie and had brought my boyfriend with me. And not even ten minutes later, one of the husbands turns and goes "How long have you two been married?"

We were like... um... we're not.

And he goes "Well this must be the longest date ever."

To which I replied "First date and everything."

And it was slightly ridiculous but really funny.

And Katie's new husband sang to her and that was particularly endearing.

I didnt get much time to talk to Katie, but I was happy to support her even though I'm not a huge wedding person.

Suits Night Crew Dinner

Every Tuesday, Ness and the girls and I go to Zumba and promptly thereafter we head to Jordan and Reece's house to watch Suits. If you havent seen Suits you need to. Harvey Specter and Mike Ross are my favourite. Plus Jordan and Reece are amazing. They've been making us delicious desserts. We decided that since desserts are amazing, we might try a crew dinner, since according to Reece, desserts arent his strong suit. I knew the night was going to be amazing. After the delicious dessert creations we've been having, I couldnt imagine it any other way. It was just fun to gather together and make a fancy meal and really enjoy each others company. I love our suits crew.

Course One: Roasted Garlic, Brie and French Bread

While we waited for Jordan and Reece to finish cooking the main dishes, Cody treated us with a live reading of the romance short story he wrote for Ness. It was hilarious. 

Course Two: Roasted Carrots, Key Lime Asparagus, Lightly Brown Sugared Squash, Pork Tenderloin wrapped in Basal Proscuitto on a bed of apples and Roasted Garlic Mashed Potatoes

If that sounds like a lot of really delicious food, its cause it was. 

I was unbelievably full, but couldn't bare to let any of it go to waste. Everything tasted so good. 

My favorite parts were the carrots - they tasted like sweet potato fries and the apples. Yum.

Reece and Jordan made the main dishes and appetizers.

I'm not gonna lie, I love people that can cook. Its such a good skill to have.

Course Three: Chocolate Hazelnut Torte

Ness made the dessert, and even though I'm not usually a huge chocolate fan, this was amazing.

I cant wait to have another crew dinner!

Waterton Saturday

The thing I love best about Ness is that she's always wanting to do really fun activities. Sure, they dont always end up being awesome, but most of the time I can appreciate the fact that there's always something on the go. It's just nice to be busy with fun activities. So even when the activity isnt necessarily something I'd suggest myself, I'm not one to turn them down. Fear of missing out and what not. And they usually turn out to be really fun, even if outside my comfort zone.

We went to Waterton today.
The plan:
Breakfast at Ness's in the morning.
Leave for Waterton.
Quick detour so Tyrel could audition for a play in Cardston.
Continue to Waterton.
Arrive and hike a mountain.
Play in the snow.
Hot tub.
Eat another breakfast food meal.
Leave Waterton totally satisfied.

I wont lie. I have my doubts about Waterton being the end all and be all.

But today, it was pretty great.

Bottom of the Hike

 Top of Bears Hump

Bears hump isnt the longest hike ever. But it is kinda steep and has a crap ton of stairs.

But the view is pretty amazing from the top.

And I loved our little crew. 

Tyrel and Orrin are very new friends of mine, and kinda hilarious. 

But it was very windy.

This picture makes me laugh so much cause you seriously cannot see Ness and I's faces at all.

Hair down was a bad call.

On the map Ness drew for getting to Waterton and all our activities, she incorporated a picture of her hitting Tyrel in the face with a snowball.  It was a pretty accurate drawing.

After hiking, we were hungry so we made some late lunch. Which was again, breakfast foods. 

Brian introduced me to brown sugar bacon (putting brown sugar on your cooking bacon) - and I love it. So I did a little for the crew... they didnt love it nearly as much as it deserves. We had some frittatas, texas toast, grape juice and hash browns .

I was pretty happy to be eating.

We went and hot tubbed a little afterwards and then got malts on our way back home.

I love fun days.

Even when they involve wintryness.

Pumpkin Carving

One of Ness's married friends invited her to come carve pumpkins and she invited me to come along. We didnt bring a pumpkin so it was lucky someone brought extras.

I had doubts about how it would turn out. Particularly when Jon started suggesting we should peel stripes into the pumpkin. But it actually turned out.

Sure, it was a druggie pumpkin. But it was actually really fun. And its been too long since I've carved a pumpkin.

 I love the fun things the crew does.

And I loved our pumpkin.

The Crew Halloween

For Halloween, Ness and her roommates decided to be the Spice Girls. And because I have insane hair, I got nominated to be their scary spice. 

I decided to do my hair in really tight curls to try to amp up my hair.

I kinda forgot, that the last time I tried this I had much shorter hair. I got about halfway through and was seriously exhausted. Ness had to come and help me finish. It took ages.

I love Halloween and I absolutely can't just put in any mild effort to a costume. A little bit, it was disappointing because I felt like I went crazy hardcore and the rest in the group kinda just looked normal. And they kept suggesting I do even more ridiculous things... like the "horns" for my hair. But as long as we stayed together, we at least mostly looked pretty legit. So that was a little disappointing cause I felt like I looked crazy. And a little gross. 

I felt gross. Super gross.

Then again, I was making crazy faces, so that probably didnt help. Neither did the face paint I covered myself with.

But it was fun to be part of a group. We went costume shopping together, and got ready together. I really like being a part of the crew. Even though it wasnt my favourite costume, dressing up is still fun and even though a little bit I hated how insane I looked, I love seeing the pictures of it. Well, now that I'm freed from how hideous brown face paint is.

The dance we went to was kinda lame. 

And when Brian showed up, he was HORRIFIED by how I looked.

I had sent him pictures but seeing it live in color was apparently a completely different thing.

He thought I looked so weird. He didnt want to get any face paint on him. He was totally off-put.

And insisted that a shower happen immediately. Which since I felt kinda gross, I wasnt opposed to.

Still, crew activities are kinda my favorite. And my Halloween hardcoreness shows that I have great follow through.