We Get Another Sister

I forgot that I am still catching up on our adventures. When we left Chicago, Yale and I stayed up in the Salt Lake area to be with family before my little brother got married. My brother, Troy and his wife, Beth, from Alaska were in town, so it was really fun to get to spend some time with them. My stepsister, Whitney, was also in town, and I hadn't seen her for almost a year, so it was really fun to get to catch up with her. Yale and I spent so much time with family and we got to see a few of my friends as well. We stayed with my dad for a couple days during the work week, so we got a lot of time with Whitney and her son Cash. Yale loved getting to play with Cash, and Cash learned a lot about sharing. It was good times.

Lish drove up and met us on Thursday and it was so great to be with him again. That same day he got in, my oldest brother and his family flew in. The day before the wedding we had planned a big family lunch with all the siblings and stepsiblings and kids and even the grandparents made it. The only one missing was Whitney's husband, Collin. We missed him. But it was so fun to have that whole group together and catch up and just be together. I don't know when the next time for all of us to be together again will happen.

Then there was a wedding. My little brother married his beautiful wife, my new sister. We're so happy to have her be a part of our family. They are wonderful together and the wedding was beautiful. It was amazing to be in the temple for their ceremony and have all my siblings and their spouses there. What a wonderful experience! They held their reception in the afternoon, which was actually pretty nice. It was fun to have the evening to spend with the family and just get to hang out and relax and play games (nix Kyle and Chelsea, of course).

The day after the wedding we headed down to Karen and Scott's for a late brunch, which would be called a lunch, but we had brunch food, so I'll stick with the brunch title. Our good friend, Brian, and his wife and new baby were in town from Spain. We hadn't met his wife or his baby yet, so they came up for brunch and it was so great to finally meet Noemi and Leo. What a great way to end a wonderful trip!

America's Birthday Week

Last week we had the opportunity to head up north to visit family. As usual, it was fabulous! We bounced around from house to house and each place was full of adventure. With my dad and stepmom we went fishing, swimming, and barbecued. With my MIL and SFIL we went to City Creek Center in downtown SLC and we went to the zoo. With my mom we played with my 6 cousins, went to the Great Salt Lake, and visited my grandparents. We also played Smart Ass and made German chocolate cake (GCC), which we ate with roasted almond fudge ice cream from the BYU Creamery. I know you're jealous. Expect for Lish, because he doesn't like GCC. I know. There must be something wrong with him.

Anyway, enjoy the visuals!

Mitch and Anchorage

Two posts in one, because I am behind, as usual. (How do you spell the abbreviated form of "usual?" Ushhh. Usxh. Us. You know what I'm talking about.)

Lish's dad came out for a few days a couple weekends ago. We didn't do much while he was here, besides enjoy the sunshine and some yummy eats. It was the weekend of mine and Lish's 5th anniversary (Happy 5 to us!) and it was Mother's Day (Happy Mom's Day to me and all the other mom's and soon-to-bes and will-be-somedays), so Mitch made sure I had enough ice cream to last a lifetime. Or at least the duration of a weekend. I love me some ice cream. It was lovely.

Then we had a few days before we boarded a plane to Minneapolis, then Anchorage.

(Sidenote: Somewhere along those flights I lost my camera. If you found it, please give it back because I miss it dearly. And I want to continue taking pictures and documenting our simple, happy life.)

(Sidenote number 2: Can you believe we flew through Minneapolis? It didn't take much longer in the long run because our layover was shorter than it would of been had we flown through Salt Lake.)

We spent almost a week with my brother and his wife. It was wonderful. We loved being up there with them and getting to see a little of the state. We spent a majority of our time in Anchorage, but we went into Girdwood, tried to see a glacier that was still covered in snow, and took a beautiful drive along the coast.

While in Anchorage, we went to an amazingly huge park, played disc golf (as is the proper name for frisbee golf), went to the Chugach State Park (which had an incredible view), would have gone on a hike if it wasn't still covered in snow, visited the zoo, saw the largest known chocolate fountain, saw a moose grazing on the side of the road, visited Troy and Beth's places of employment, played a lot of games and beat Troy in most of them.

When we got off the plane and met up with Troy and Beth, they had made a sign for us that had a list of things for us to check off as our trip progressed. We checked everything off that list, except seeing Russia. We didn't get to do that. I know. Bummer. I would have taken a picture of the sign, but if you read what I just wrote, I can't. And that makes me sad.

Moment of silence.

Moving on.

We are so glad we were able to do that vacation. We loved getting to spend all that time with them. They are good people. And Alaska is beautiful. The pictures, of course, don't do it justice. Thanks for hosting us guys! We can't wait to host you someday. Or better yet, be neighbors!