McKenzie's Wedding 9/2014

 

Kenzies getting married!

Kenzie is Kristi's Daughter. Thus making her my niece. I have very few nieces on either side of my family. One on Jeff's side Melissa (Pegs daughter) and 3 on my side including Kenz. Ricki and Mari are Mitch's girls

 Thankfully our family knows how to produce girls! 

Anyway, Kenzie lives in Riverton and always has. Therefore, we have never spent a whole lot of time with her. Kristi and I never got the chance to "raise" our kids together which always made me sad. Her oldest 3 are her boys, Clif, Dante and Dallas then Kenzie is her baby.

Luckily we have been able to take a "few" trips up there to visit and we can keep in touch through reunions and such. We also were able to take a few trips together with Callie and Kenz. They lucked out being the babies of the family so we were able to travel together to California with my mom for 5 days.

It was so fun. Mom was with her friends for a reunion and so we got to hang around in Santa Barbara at the beach shop and go sight seeing.

I am at heaven at the beach, so it was awesome!

It was fun for the girls to get to know each other, and of course reconnect with Kristi. I love traveling with her! She takes her time and looks around at everything. She likes to stop and enjoy whatever strikes our fancy. She loves to take in all the sites and try new places to eat. We always stop at little out of the way places to get coffee and treats. It's just plain fun! 

Back to the story. I don't know how long they have been together, but once her and Dean met they became the cutest couple.

They are both so easy going and he treats her with love and respect.

McKenzie has always been very soft spoken and sweet. I love talking with her because she is one of those people who is genuine and kind.

She is cute and funny and even though we go a long time between visits, it's so easy to pick up where we left off and have fun together.

We were all pretty excited at our house to hear they were engaged!

They set their date for September and said they were going to have a destination wedding. I told Jeff I was going and Callie was coming with me, and if he wanted to go he was welcome to join us.

They talked about going to Hawaii and a few other fun places.

I was a little nervous about being able to afford going, but I was going and that's all there was to it.

 

This is one of the many engagement pictures that I love!
I wanted to include more wedding pictures so I chose my favorite engagement Photo

As soon as the date was finalized they decided to go to California to the Redwood forest for the wedding. It was somewhere Kristi's family often would vacation and she loved it there. Dean had never been so they decided it was the perfect choice.
I immediately asked Jeff if he was going and of course he said "I don't know"
That went on for a few weeks. In the mean time I called Jana, and told them the plans and asked if they wanted to come with us and have a little vacation while we were there. Jana talked to Mitch, who of course "doesn't make plans" (another story)
He called Kristi to "check" to see if I knew what I was talking about. Grrrr...
Then Jana and I went to work checking into things so we could make plans.
We figured everything we could money and time wise to see what the best plan would be.
We debated flying vs. driving. Flying into different airports. Checked car rentals and hotels until we were both sick of it. Finally we decided we were going to fly because of time constrictions. Callie really wanted to go, but I couldn't afford to pay for all three of us to fly. At that time Jeff was going, or at least he never said he wasn't
One day out of the blue Jana called and said she found roundtrip airfare from Vegas to San Francisco for $101 each. I knew we needed to jump on it.
Jana gave up on Mitch's lack of "plan making" feelings and bought their tickets.
She called us and Callie and I checked on them. When we found out how affordable they were, Callie said she was going and she would pay her own airfare. The I called Jeff, and told him what I found. I told him I was booking tickets and once again, asked if he wanted to go. No commitment again. Finally we just booked all three of us a ticket. The minute I hit the button to finalize our tickets, I knew I had just wasted $101. Jeff would back out and Callie and I would be on our own. In the end he did back out, He was busy at work, and he never really wanted to go anyway I'm sure. So glad the tickets were cheap! I knew we could have fun and find our way around etc. without his help, and it made the trip plans much more relaxed, since I didn't feel the need to "approve" plans with him. It also makes thing less awkward as far as Hotels etc. We were both excited to go and the plans begin. As the date grew closer, I had moments of panic. Lindsey's baby was due a few days before the wedding. My Aunt died, and Kashden was getting baptized. All these things were with a 2 week period. After a lot of prayers, it all worked out fine. I attended a birth, a funeral, a baptisim and a wedding and each and every event had perfect timing in my "plan"
Of course me being a plan maker added stress to the trip. A few days before our flight out, a very bizarre storm washed out I-15 . Really? The major highway route between our house and Vegas. Also a key route for trucks and pretty much all traffic on this side of the country. People traveling that route were detoured. The back way made the travel about 10 hours compared to 1 1/2 hours. I was super nervous about not being able to go. Callie and I both had to work the morning we were flying out, and had planned our flight pretty close to our leaving when we both got off work. The day before the trip, they opened another short cut that only took us about 1 1/2 hours out of the way. That made the prospects better. The detour was crowded, winding and the speed limit about 40 mph. This made our trip plan a little tighter schedule wise.

So...off we went hurrying to catch our flight. Planning a 4 extra hours in for our arrivial. The entire trip only took 1/2 hour more than usual. so we ended up with time on our hands. My shoes were in need of replacement, and I hadn't had time to get more, so we went shopping. We figured we had a little extra time so we found a few stores and piddled around. When we driving around finding the mall, Callie had asked me what time our flight was leaving, but the tickets were in the suitcase so I couldn't look. In my head I knew the approximate time, so I wasn't too worried. Once we got to the mall we forgot to check the exact time before we went shopping. Long story short, we missed our flight. When I did check our tickets we found our we were only 20 minutes away from checking in our baggage and we freaked. Callie was mad at me and I was petrified as she sped in and out of traffic trying to get us to the airport. When we got close she asked me which "something or other" our terminal( ? ) was for Southwest.

I of course had no idea what she was talking about, and so we went into the wrong parking area. All this happened in about 20 minutes and she was driving like a bat out of hell! She was mad at me and I was of course sick about the whole thing, esp having no idea how to help. We finally got where we were supposed to park, Parked  the car and ran into find Southwest. Of course the stupid baggage check was clear across the airport from the place we were to board. She started running like crazy and I was "trying" to stay behind her. She had two rolling suitcases, I had one , but my carry on was a duffle bag which was a HUGE mistake! I was awkwardly running in all my fat glory trying to keep up and I am sure everyone who saw me was either laughing hysterically or looking upon me with pity. Good thing the new shoes I bought were comfortable or I would have been crippled with blisters as well. Of course we were too late to check our baggage as the plane was taking off in 5 minutes and I was pretty much in tears (trying to hide them) by then. Callie travels a lot, even on her own, so she started checking into our options. We could check our bags put our names on standby and luck into flying out a few hours later. Or book tickets for 5 a.m. !!! I am NOT a 5 a.m. kind of girl! We had to get there or miss the wedding. This whole thing was so not in my plan, and of course I went into my panic mode. Where the heck would we stay? I knew I couldn't sleep even if we found a hotel. Plus checking our baggage meant we had no clothes or anything, because our carry on could only have so much in it.Then getting back in time would be torture. I was without hope at that point. Callie decided we would check our bags and wait on stand by, so we went to sit for 2 hours at the gate and pray! The whole thing was pretty ironic considering we had worried about arriving in time, then have plenty of time to waste, then missing the plane and waiting on stand by. I never even called Jeff to tell him what happened. I didn't care for anyone to know at that point. I do know I was so glad he was not with us. It would have been worse. He is not patient esp. in a situation like this! We sat around, she played on her phone. I didn't have that option, and somehow we were blessed enough to make it on standby.

I normally hate flying! I am a chicken and I have rarely been on a plane, But I can honestly say I was so happy to make it on that stupid plane and buckle into that seat, I didn't care anymore. I couldn't get a seat by Callie because we were last to board, so I didn't like that part. The lady by me settled into a book, and I said a little prayer and opened my magazine for distraction. An hour later we were in San Francisco and I was thrilled. One of the things I was counting on however, was we would arrive before dark. That had made me less nervous about getting out of the city. When we went to pick up the rental, I was thrilled to see an Altima as a choice. I hate driving cars I am not familiar with. In this case it would have been even more scary. It was dark, we were in a huge city and it would be an extra $75 a day for Callie's name on the car. I had to drive, and having the Altima gave me a little sense of comfort. I had "planned" on her being able to help me drive.  We were both hungry but we didn't even dare try to find somewhere to stop to eat, so thanks to "Siri" after a LONG drive through every neighborhood in San Fran, we found the Golden Gate Bridge (which we couldn't see) and got out of there! An hour or so later, we pulled into Santa Rosa found a Mcdonalds (barf) got food and went to find the hotel. We checked in at midnight. Thank heavens the hotel was nice, clean and seemed in a safe area. After laughing, we begin our quest to rid the room of all light (also another story) and tried to sleep. I don't sleep well away from home, but I did get some sleep.
I fell asleep praying in thanks, this I know for sure.
The next morning we drove around Santa Rosa a little. It was a cute little town and of course we didn't have time to look much. We were on a schedule and little did we know what we were in store for.
California has very little Interstate, at least on our route. The time we had planned on involved going 80 mph or at least 75. The speed limit almost the entire was 55 or less. The farther we got up north the slower and windier the road got. We were both getting car sick and even though Kristi has warned us of this, I had no idea how right she was. About 4 hours later we arrived in Garberville CA. We were thrilled until we went to check in. 
I stood in line for 45 minutes just to check into the DIVE!
(We later found out this little town is known as the drug capital of California)
Not Los Angeles or some other little ghetto place by LA.
It is Garberville, and we were gong to spend 2 days here. Lucky us!
The wedding would be in the forest, so I knew that would be really nice. They had rooms in this quaint little Inn that was historic, but clean and nice. The price was way out of our budget so we were in downtown in the Best Western Inn. (lol)
We quickly left and went up to the Humbold Inn which would be our home away from home the next 2 days. They had all just sat down for lunch, so were able to eat our first good meal of the trip. After visiting for a few hours we went to our "hotel"  and changed for the rehearsal dinner. It was in a little cute little place. They had just begun to cater as well, so we spent 3 hours (no lie)  as we had dinner and dessert served. We found out at the end we were the first event they had booked. That explained a lot! It was fun to visit though. We got to know some of their friends and family so it all worked out.
Plus, we spent less time at our hotel that night.
When we got to the hotel we went into Mitch and Jana's room to visit for awhile then ran up the scary stairs into our room. Double checked the locks on the doors 17 times. Made sure the room would be dark, and found our the toilet was having issues. It was so fun!
As long as we didn't flush very often and kept our potty visits staggerd between the two of us we figured it was better if we didn't have call for help. The thing that is so funny about this hotel was. The bed was so comfortable. I can honestly say, I slept better in that bed than I have slept in a hotel in my life. The room was pitch black and it was quiet. Who would have thought. When we left our room to go to the Inn for the "girls breakfast" We saw the maid and some sketchy looking guy with the cleaning cart. They reeked of smoke had very few teeth and were scraggly to say the least. We had put the DO NOT DISTUB sign up so we crossed our fingers they would stay out!
The guys had breakfast at a little diner, and Jana came with us to the breakfast. This was the day we had worked so hard to be here for so it was time to enjoy!
We had a really nice breakfast. The food was really good and was fun.
After we toured around the Inn, Watched Kenz get her hair done and her makeup on. Breanna (Dallas girlfriend) did manicures on anyone who wanted one and Callie and I ran off to find the forest and the giant redwood trees!
 

Callie showing off under a felled tree

 

It was a really pretty drive and since we didn't have much time, we only went part of the route. Callie climbed a huge tree and I hurried to take a pictures while she held on.

The tree we didn't dare drive the rental car through!
We watched some other people do it and they barely made it!
My Aunt Dolly lives close by so she came over for the wedding. It was fun to have her there and chat with her. We don't get to see her much, so I enjoyed that.


 

 






                                       The Bride

                 I love her dress! It is simple yet elegant. It is so pretty and lacy
                        Everything was perfect , her dress her hair and makeup

 

The ceremony was simple and sweet.
I loved the things they said to each other
They had a box with letters and a bottle of wine.
The letters they wrote were to each other about how much they loved one another.
They are supposed to open it when they have their first fight!
 

A favorite picture...So pretty!

The Family Picture
Clif, , Ashlie, Kia, Lee Kenzi, Dean, Kristi, Breanna, Dallas, Meg and Dante`

 This a very serious picture as  you can see!

 Jana, me, Callie, Kristi, Kenzie, Breanna, Kia , Ashlie and Meg

After the ceremony we had Hors d'oeurves
It was pretty funny to hear Callie ask what they were. Her pronunciation was priceless!
I think she said what are "whore hey devours"??
They had a champagne toast.
Kristi and Lee said a few things. That was nice to hear them.
It was really nice. Then we went back to the Humbolt  Inn and ate again!
We never bought one meal while were there and we never went hungry either.
The food was yummy. My prime rib was the size of a dinner plate. Callie and I gave most of ours to Dante` His girlfriend had ordered him Vegetarian Pasta. He ate in 30 seconds. With everything else they served, we could barely touch our meat. Dante` gladly took ours and finished them both off.
 

 They cut the cake which is called a "naked cake"
It is pretty natural, but I thought it was really pretty.
Then they served it and holy cow! It was divine!!
It was some kind of lemon cream cake. Delicious!!



Before we had left for the wedding, we decided to check out of our "palace" and drive part way back that night. We left late following Mitch and Jana down the long winding road again. It was awful. It was dark and I was so tired. My legs were aching and swollen. I had literally been on my feet for 2 solid days. Driving just made it worse.
Finally, we made it to the town they had booked rooms for. We paid a outrageous price for our room and I didn't even care!

After a rough night with little sleep we "sprung" out of bed, excited for the day! (LIE)
We went to get breakfast and Mitch and Jana happened to be walking out of their room as well. The breakfast room was sparse to say the least, but traveling tends to make me not want to eat as much for various reasons anyway. We had decided to leave early, even though our flight was later in the afternoon. For some reason we were a little nervous about missing our flight... We wanted to look around a little too.  Their flight was 5 hours before ours. Jana said later they wished they had taken the later flight. After I finish the story It will explain why we wished we would have taken the earlier flight.
So... off we went to the big city. Of course we had resigned ourselves to driving slower than cold tar. It didn't take too long however to get there. Less time than I had thought anyway. As we were driving down the hill in 6 wide lanes of traffic with people driving like maniacs, we missed the little pull out spot, where you can get out and see the Golden Gate Bridge and take photos etc.  After getting over the bridge which has a toll, we decided not to turn around and go back. So that was the start to not being able to enjoy the city. We both really wanted to go down by Fisherman's Warf and walk around. This time we did have time to kill. Thanks to SIRI and a few signs it wasn't too hard to find. Holy #^%$! I have never driven on such narrow streets with so many hills and trauma. I think I only about got us killed once. We drove around for about an hour trying to find a place to park. You would have to be a expert Parallel Parker to park (which I am not) even if you happened to find a spot. We sat in a parking lot waiting to get through and hoping to find a spot for about 20 min. It was discouraging to say the least. Site seeing was not in the cards for us I guess.
The city looked so cool and quaint. I can't believe I am saying this, but I would love to fly back. Take a taxi to a hotel and street car and walk around and "really" see the place. As long as there is not driving involved, I think it could be fun. Jana and I decided we would make a girl trip of it in a few years when the girls kids are older. 
After giving up on seeing the Wharf and messing up the chance to "See" the Golden Gate Bridge, we pretty much decided to find the stupid airport check in our car and make sure we didn't miss the flight home. Coming through the city from the airport to the bridge had taken us through neighborhoods and down street after street. Thanks to SIRI I think we took the longest possible route. Of course when we had time to look around a little SIRI took us straight to the 101 and off to a simple quick exit to the airport. We returned our car and started our adventure at the airport. I can't remember when we got there, but I do remember we were discouraged and tired and were there WAY to early. We spent at least 2 if not 3 hours sitting around. We ate 15$ burgers and twiddled our thumbs for what seemed like days. We did however catch our flight and once again the flight home didn't seem so bad. We sat by this kid, Callie noticed was on our flight there. She wanted the window seat and I did not. The plane was full so when he walked by, we motioned for him to sit by us. He looked harmless and clean and not the buggy type. He was super friendly and we quickly started yacking. He knew a lot about the Mormon church. ( when he found out we were from Utah ,the subject of course came up.) He said he had Mormon friends. We talked about missionaries and the temple and the about him and his girlfriend. He is a professional gambler (Poker), and he must be good at it, because he makes a good living. We learned the ins and outs of the gambling world as far what he does goes. He had flown into to see his brother for the weekend from Vegas. Anyway he was nice and other than sitting in between him and Callie who talked the most, it was a nice distraction and an educational ride home. I didn't even read my magazine.
Once we arrived in Vegas, Callie took the wheel. I was so grateful. All the driving and running and walking took a toll on me and my leg was really swollen. My entire body was aching and exhausted.Home was sounding good. We hit the road and talked about the crazy trip. We stopped in Mesquite at Popeye Chicken. It too was gross, but we were hungry and didn't want to go in somewhere and get decent food. We arrived in Washington after dark. Transferred all Callie's car and she finished the trek home to Cedar. This post probably sounds worse than it was. Everything that happened for sure made it more interesting , than I was expecting. Callie tried to be patient with me, which was nice, but she probably told everyone she knew, it was a trip from Hell.
All in all when we were actually there, enjoying Kristi's family and all the events, it was fun and pretty and relaxing. I wouldn't have missed for the world. It was very important for me to be there, and I am grateful Callie put up with me, and took me under her wing to make sure I got there and back safely. I can't imagine having gone through all that with Jeff with us.  We had our moments of fun and laughter, which we always do when we travel together, and we had a lot of frustration as well.
I am so glad we got to go together and one thing for sure, is we will always remember it!
Congrats to the Bride and Groom! We Love you both!