This past weekend Josh & I made a fast trip to CA for my brother's wedding. Josh has been working such long hours that he took Friday off so we could drive down that day since we knew he'd get home too late to drive after work. Even so several people called him from work to see where he was and ask him questions. That's what he gets for taking his work cell phone with him on vacation I guess.Let's back up to Thursday night though... About the time we usually go to bed I decide to take some drastic measures to try to get my bridesmaid dress to fit. Luckily a friend had helped me with the top of it gaping open but it still couldn't be zipped up over my ribcage. I had Josh help me figure out where the tightest part was and I resewed it and ripped open the original seam. I was hesitant to make any alterations before because I was afraid of ruining the fabric but after seeing how durable it was when my friend worked on it I took courage and went to work and I'm so glad I did. It would have been completely unbearable otherwise.
So Friday I still had a bunch of stuff to do before we could head out so we didn't get on the road till about 8am. My friend had sent us off with a batch of cinnamon rolls so we snacked on those as we drove so we just stopped twice to change drivers and top off the tank.
We got to the church a bit after 1 and picked up my brother who hadn't been able to get the attention of the decorator's to get into the building. We went to In N Out for lunch. I was kind of worried about running into the last guy I dated who works really close to there and wouldn't you know it that he shows up right after we got our food. How's that for irony? We ended up chatting with him for a bit. Now Josh has met two of my ex boyfriends. Crazy.
After lunch we went back to the church and ended up having to change out all the chairs so that took a while. Then we headed over to my dad's cousin's house where we spent the night. We hadn't seen them in 20 years or so but it was great to visit with them. They used to live in the same city as my parents so we know lots of the same people and had lots to talk about.
After a couple hours we headed out to grab some grub and happened across Portillo's which is one of my favorite places to eat so that made me very happy. Then we went back to the house and visited for a while more. Ends up that my dad's cousin in law is a professional seamstress so I showed her my dress and she was the biggest lifesaver. Where I had taken out the seams the the dress was completely creased and I didn't know what to do to get them out. She steamed them out and saved the day. What luck that we stayed with her!
After a restless night of tossing and turning got up early to go get my hair done. R. wanted all of us to get our hair done in an updo but of course I didn't know anyone in the area to do my hair. Luckily Cheri called around and made an appt. for me. Originally she said it was going to cost $60 but that they would give me a discount of $45 but when I got out my checkbook she said $20 was fine so I gave her $25. I guess she took one look at how shabby I was dressed and took pity on me. It was nice of her to cut me a deal. I wasn't quite sure what I thought of my hair but everyone said I looked great (except my brother who thought I looked terrible but oh well!)
I got back in time to ride to the temple with Keith & Josh. I had my leftover lemon poppyseed muffin from dinner for breakfast but they wanted something to eat so after not seeing anything since we went through the hills to get there we stopped at 7-11 and they got donuts and chocolate milk for breakfast. Perfect wedding morning food for sure.
I ushered Josh & Keith inside and then attended to some last minute details. I snuck in the bathroom in the lobby and applied some makeup really quickly. When Jess got there I went and parked her car so she wouldn't have to walk so far on her crutches. Also made sure Brent got his vest & tie. I was kind of stressed making sure I got all the little things done that I needed to do.
Everything inside the temple went well. Josh & I walked along with Jess to make sure she could make it on her crutches. I was hoping that a wheelchair would've been available but someone else snagged it up. The sealing was beautiful. It was so nice to in the temple surrounded by so many family & friends. Some of our cousins traveled far to be there and it was so great to have them there.
After the sealing I send Linda off to get my dress which she helped me squeeze into. I also had her get the maps to the luncheon and entrusted cousin Kathy with passing those out and we also had to make sure my dad got his tie. Everyone got situated to congratulate the beaming bride & groom as they made their grand exit. We got a picture or two all together and then LaMar started with Rachael's family since they had the most little kids with them. We spent a lot of time taking pictures. I kind of felt more like a groomsman than a bridesmaid since the groomsmen consisted of my husband, brother and two close guy friends. The other bridesmaids consisted of Rachael's sister, a friend of hers that I'd met several times before and another friend that I was never introduced to. I kind of felt silly at one point they wanted to get a picture of their cute feet. Unbeknownest to me Rachael and the other bridemaids had gone out to get their nails done the day before the wedding and out to lunch during the same time that Josh & I were out to lunch with Keith. I'd been told that the dresses were supposed to be floor length so I chose to wear comfortable closed toe shoes. If I'd known I would've also gotten a pedicure and worn my dressy, strappy black shoes like the others but oh well.
It was a gorgeous day with perfect weather and the slight breeze kept us from melting. I'm so glad that Josh & I applied sunscreen as soon as we exited the temple that kept us from getting sunburned like the rest of the bridal party.
After the picture taking Josh & I rode with Brent over to the luncheon. It was such a nice drive through the hills which were green from all the recent rain. The gps didn't like our route but it was quite scenic. Amanda & Charity did a great job with the food and it was fun being able to visit for a bit with extended family. At 4 Keith called and said we were supposed to be at church for more pictures which we hadn't heard about so we grabbed our stuff from the room we'd stayed in the night before and headed over to church.
More pictures and then the bridal party was introduced. Josh & I went first and then the rest followed. We were lucky to have two extra seats at our table so I invited Gabe & Crystal to join us. After dinner I spent most of my time going from table to table trying to visit with as many relatives as possible but never got to everyone that I would've liked to visit with. Rachael's sister and dad gave toasts and Rachael danced with her dad and Keith danced with Rachael's mom. Since neither of us are into dancing and don't like having the spotlight on us we didn't have dancing at our reception so I was happy that I got a chance to dance with my dad during the father/daughter dance and also danced with Josh during the couple dance.
At the end of the evening I slipped out of my dress back into my skirt and sweater and got to work. We gathered up all the chair covers that had been used and helped load up the presents that my parents took over to Rachael's house. By the time we got back to the house and I washed my hair several times to get all the hairspray out and visited with my dad for a bit when my parents finally got back to the house it was well past midnight and we were all exhausted.
I was finally able to get a good night's rest. Sunday we ended up just heading over to my brother's house for a couple of hours and hanging out with them and then we drove back to AZ. It's nice to drive this time of year. The highways were lined with wildflowers and the hills were all so green. Also, it wasn't unbearably hot like it will be soon.
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