Congratulations Cindy & Joel!

Todd's sister Cindy got married in the Salt Lake temple on December 30th. We thought we weren't going to be able to go, but last minute we changed our minds. We rented a van so that we didn't put more wear and tear on our van that we just got back and Monday morning we headed north. Tina's fiance Rick drove up with us. We made really good time and got to Provo at about 6:30 that evening.

We spent Monday night at Cindy and Joel's cute little apartment. I helped Cindy make boutonnieres and she made her own bouquet. She did a great job and it was beautiful. Julie and Tina, Rick and Jeff were there. Then Julie and Tim and their kids and Kevin and Heather and Sayler came and we all hung out. Yes, that's right...I got to meet Sayler! Todd and I lived with Kevin and Heather for a while when we were in Illinois, so we have a close friendship with them. I feel especially close to Sayler, even though she is so far away. Space was limited but no one seemed to mind. We all had a great time visiting.

Shauna flew in from Kansas with Tynon. He had a fever and wasn't feeling well. Originally Julie's family planned to stay in Shauna's room. Since Tynon wasn't feeling well, Julie and Tim and their 6 kids all came and stayed in our room. I thought it might feel crowded, but I didn't hear a peep out of any of their kids all night. They are such good kids.

One of my favorite things about Utah is Winger's. Kevin and Heather met up with us there on Tuesday for a quick lunch before the wedding. It was short, but sweet. We had good food and a good time visiting with them.

We were running a little late for the wedding. Then we got to the temple and didn't know where to park. We finally got to the right parking space, but didn't know where to meet Tina to hand off our kids. We finally found her and ran across the street. We only had like 3 minutes before the wedding started and we didn't know the entrance that we were suppose to go to. I was wearing 3 inch heals and it was freezing, so my run wasn't quite fast enough. Todd scooped me up and ran through the temple grounds. We found an entrance and realized that it was the baptistry entrance. The guy at the desk was nice and let us in. We looked at the time and the wedding was scheduled to start. The guy in the hall said that they just called everyone into the sealing room. He told us to take our shoes off and leave them under his chair because we didn't have enough time to go to the dressing rooms to take them off and get slippers. We literally walked into the room right after Cindy and Joel and they shut the doors. Whew! That was a close call! I'm so glad we made it. It would have been sad to go all that way and miss it by just a few minutes.

Right after the ceremony we took pictures at the temple and headed for the church for a reception. The church was decorated so nicely. Cindy did most of the preparations for her wedding by herself, and I think she did a stellar job! It was beautiful. And she looked stunningly gorgeous (but who's surprised, really, because Cindy is a gorgeous girl!). Tina did her hair and make-up and did a great job!

We all visited and danced all night and had a great time. After the reception was over we went back to the hotel absolutely tuckered. Tynon was feeling better so she stayed with Julie's family and our little family crashed out early in our own room.

Wednesday morning we met up with Julie's family, Shauna, Craig's family and Kevin and Heather at Denny's before we all headed our separate ways. It was fun to have one last little meal together because who knows when we'll see all of them next. Julie's family lives in Idaho, Shauna lives in Kansas, Kevin and Heather live in Illinois and Craig's family is about to move to Hawaii.

We got on the road at noon and headed back home. This time Tina rode with us, too. We had a good trip home. We got a DVD player with 2 screens for Christmas, so they all watched movies in the back. Todd and I took turns driving. I really wanted to get home before the new year, so when it was my turn, I really cruised. We stopped about 4 times-some of them stops for food-and we still got home at 11:15 pm. That means we got home in 11 hours and 15 minutes. That is pretty good time if you ask me!

We unloaded the van just in time to ring in the new year with Tina and Rick. They bought some fun hats and noise makers because they thought we might still be on the road for the countdown. We went outside and did our own countdown and I thought it was a perfect celebration for our little family. Right after the countdown we had to take the rental van back so we didn't have to pay for another day.

It was a short trip, but we had a good time. It was hard to leave Utah, because we love it there. Here is a lengthy slide of our trip and our New Year's celebration.