Weekend

I thought of two things that I wanted to blog about for today, but now that I'm sitting here ready to blog, I can't think of them. I used to write them down because I always had something to say and I'd forget with so many ideas rolling around in my head. I'm not sure what's happened to me. It's like they pulled the plug on my blogging brain. So, when I thought of these two things earlier, I repeated them several times to myself so I'd remember and then I forgot anyway.

One of them I actually sort of remember but it just doesn't make sense to me now. I can't remember why I thought it would be interesting to blog about it. It just seems, well, kinda dumb.

So, I'll just tell you instead about my weekend, mmmkay?

My weekend rocked. I don't remember Friday very well. Oh wait... it's coming back to me now. Dustin was in a black mood and the weather matched him perfectly. (That part of the weekend didn't rock so much.) We had a severe thunderstorm. Seriously, I heard thunder non-stop for about 15 minutes. Branches were down in the street, leaves littered the ground... craziness. That kind of weather just doesn't happen much where I live.

So, after Dustin went out and watched the lightening show, he came in and went to bed. You say.. "Big deal? So what if your husband went to bed." It was freakin' 7:30pm! My husband went to bed at 7:30 on a Friday night! Can you believe that!? I couldn't.

While he slumbered, I put the kids to bed and then read on blogs and in my book (1400+ pages!). It was a fairly weird Friday night.

BUT! Then came Saturday. We got ourselves packed and took our kids to my mom and dad's. Then we ventured up to a mountain getaway and hiked around... I did a little trail-running, which ROCKS, by the way! (no pun intended) And then we went and checked in to our little room we were staying at. It was a riverfront room of a slightly dumpy, yet still charming in a funkified sort of way, motel. Our room had no insulation and it was a far cry from a warm evening, but we cranked our little space heaters and worked the adventure factor. We walked out onto the little dock that was in front our room and watched fish roll in the river. It was very picturesque.

6:00 rolled around and we headed to the little Playhouse where a "Dinner Theater" awaited our enjoyment. It was fairly good, mass-quantity-type food, and interesting company. I learned that at a dumpy-ish motel, you should keep quiet about the amenities of your room. Our dinner companions were talking about how hard their beds were and, not wanting to be left out of the conversation, I piped up with, "OH NO! Your beds are hard? That's crummy! I didn't ever sit on our bed, but when we sat on our couch we both sunk to the middle!" I demonstrated by leaning my body at an angle, crashing into Dustin.

Two of them narrowed their eyes at me and said, incredulously, "You have a couch!??"

"Oh... well, um, yeah... we have a couch. But it's not very comfortable!!!" I was backpedaling at this point.

Then the conversation went on for a few more minutes and, for reasons I can't recall, I said something about how the fireplace in our room is built so strange.

More eyes narrow, and more incredulity ... "YOU HAVE A FIREPLACE!!!!???"

"Ummm, yep. We have a fireplace." I was feeling like our room was very luxurious indeed and backpedaling seemed futile. "Maybe I should just not say anything else about our room tonight."

One lady, who was particularly huffy about her crappy room, said in all seriousness, "Yeah, maybe you shouldn't."

Ummm..... awkward.

So, after shrugging off the awkward jacket that had wrapped our conversation, we had a lovely little dinner and then watched a very silly show entitled, "Les-s Miserables". It was gut-busting funny. I laughed my head off and enjoyed myself very much. During the intermission, the cast brought us and several other couples onto the stage because it was our anniversary. Eleven years for us. That doesn't seem like that long, but there was only one other couple, at 15 years, who had been married longer than us! I was shocked! There were about eight couples on the stage and we were married almost the longest! Several of them were older couples too! The oldest couple of all had been married one year! That was the shortest time! It was weird. Made me feel old.

So, back to our room we went. When we got there I thought I'd test the bed and see if ours was as terribly hard as the others described. I laid down and Dustin asked from the other room, "So, how is it?"

I giggled and, thinking of our irritated dinner companions, said, "It's acutally really comfy... not hard at all!" We clearly came out on top in the room competition.

Dustin proceed to build a fire in our weird fireplace. It all looks normal, but the "fire area" of the fireplace was several inches lower than the hearth, preventing the wood from getting enough oxygen, making the fire go out repeatedly. The mountain-man side of my husband was very affronted at this and so he threw all the logs we bought on the dang fire, building it higher up where the airflow was better. It worked. It was also smokey.

Here's some Clancy-Trivia for you. Clancy LOATHES smelling like smoke... abhors it!... cannot abide it!!! (unless, of course, Clancy's CAMPING where there is supposed to be smoke.) So, Clancy got a little grumpy about the smokey situation in the room. Her head ached from it and her eyes burned. She was feeling very disgruntled, indeed.

Enough third person. I was a grumpy-butt for a bit and then I decided that this was a lovely adventure and I must chill out! Literally! We opened the front door and the back window and let in a little arctic air! (Seriously by about 10pm, Dustin, after getting something out of the car, reported that the weather was trying to snow. Awesome. Snow is June is my favorite!) So, we went to bed with the window open, blowing cold, smoke-free air on my face. Not to worry though. I sleep next to a man that is a walking furnace. So I was snug and cozy and much less grumpy because the chilly air cleared my sinuses of the abhorance of smokiness.

Then, we woke in the morning to whiteness out of the window. It didn't snow a lot, but snow, it did. That cut out any plans we had of more hiking, which was fine.

We did end up with a couch and a fireplace and a comfy bed in our room, but I didn't discover what was truly negative about our room until it came time for a shower. When I went into the bathroom thinking luxuriant showery thoughts, I turned on the hot water and was surprised to discover it would only turn about a quarter of an inch. That massive quarter-inch turn brought forth a fountain of hot water! No, actually it didn't at all. In reality, the flow of hot water was a mere trickle. I busted up laughing! Dustin came in and said, "Well, I guess you're taking a tub!" I then tried the cold, which was, of course, a gush, a wellspring, a super-flow of freezingness. Perfect!!! I reduced the cold so the ratio was the right temperature for a shower and the trickle trickled slightly more so than the hot did all alone.

Hmmmm..... I wondered what the shower would be like because at that rate, the tub would take 30-45 minutes to achieve a depth tolerable for a bath. I went for it! I turned on the shower and the water was so slow in coming that I could literally see the shower head fill up with water before it finally came out of the holes. BUT, it did the job. It created a slow flow of water that, with the help of my fingers, actually could get the shampoo out of my hair. And it was warm. And I didn't have to wait for 45 minutes.

Good times... good times.

I don't think I've taken a picture on my camera since February. That's the last pics I uploaded onto my computer. Isn't that weird? I'm feast or famine in the picture department. Oh well. I did bring my camera and we even snapped a few shots. So, enjoy, because I, apparently am in famine mode and this might be all you get for a while!

Our cute little room. Apparently the other people's rooms were just one room. Lucky us, we had a separate "living room" complete with a table and chairs.

The veiw from our room... it was most tranquil.

Dust snapped a little photo of me. I think I look rather freaky-skullish, but whatev... I don't post many pics of myself on here, so I decided to go with the Skeletor look...

And a little self-timer smoochy-smoochy for the Captain's Log, Stardate 2009.06.06....

From The Jar... #28

This is the final post of 2008. That is rather strange. I plan on making my book now and doing one every year that I blog. How exciting!

And the Jar says...

How did you become engaged?

Well, lucky for me (I guess), I've already written that crazy story out (poor Dustin!). Go to my October 9th post if you'd like to read that story! Look about the fourth question down.

Since I skipped last week, I feel I should pull another one. But I also feel, as this year is almost over I should finish a Jar pull that I never finished. Remember this one? Ya. That has bothered me for a long long time. Since September 10th, in fact. So... I think I'll finish it now!

And the Jar said, on September 10, 2008...

Describe your wedding day.

Wow!!! My wedding day rocked! Here's a quick (or not so quick...) rundown: Woke up early... 6:00am. Showered. Marveled that I would be married in a few hours. Tried unsuccessfully to quiet the butterflies in my stomach. Got out of shower. Gathered things we would need for the day (we were sleeping at my Grandma's in Salt Lake City). Honestly, I don't remember much about what happened before we left my grandma's house except that shower, the butterflies and, well, that's it.

After we left Grandma's house, we went to have my hair done and stopped at Burger King for a "Croissanwich" on the way. Claudio, my mom's hairstylist from before we moved to Idaho, was able to do my hair at the early hour of 7:00am. I specifically remember him asking if I wanted curled tendrils hanging down around my face (my hair was an updo with barrel rolls) and I said no because they would loose their curl and be flat within two hours- characteristic of my hair. While Claudio was doing my hair, my aunt Bronwyn showed up to do my makeup. My mom did my nails, I think. Well, I know someone did my nails anyway, cuz I have a picture of my hand and Dustin's hand and my nails were "done" (just a clear coat of polish and filed nicely... that's as done as my nails ever get.)

All prettied up and dress in hand, we went to the Salt Lake Temple (LDS). I've said it before, but I had, off and on through our engagement, been questioning my decision to marry Dustin. When we walked into the temple lobby area, and I saw Dustin standing there, a feeling of peace settled over me and I knew that my decision was right. I've never doubted since that moment.

We got all dressed up and the sweet people helping Dustin and I get ready took us to the Celestial room of the Temple to wait. It was such a beautiful room! After what seemed like forever (but was likely five or ten minutes) we went to the Sealing room. I recall very clearly my misty eyes as I walked into that room and saw so many of my friends and family including aunts and uncles and my incredible Grandpa Cochran who came from Houston to be with me on that special day. It was WONDERFUL! I haven't thought about this part of my wedding day for a long time, but typing this now brings it back. I felt the force of the Sealing Power so strongly on that day and I am so grateful to remember that now.

The sealer was so cute. I remember thinking that he looked like Colonel Sanders. I don't remember a lot of what he said, except a general feeling that I was participating in a powerful thing and that he quoted an exquisite Shakespeare poem that is now lost to my memory. I would love to find that poem someday. I also remember a feeling of love for that man who married us that was greater than it should have been for having never met him before that moment.

It's interesting typing all of this from the perspective of ten years down the road. At the time, I didn't recognize many of the feelings that I just typed above. I remember the misty eyes, but I didn't know why. I felt the power of what I was participating in... I know I did because I remember it, but I was unaware of it while it was happening. Time has sifted my feelings from the event and my current level of maturity and growth have given me a new awareness of the swirling eddies of Spirit that surrounded us that day. I am grateful for my Jar and for this Blog for bringing this out of my consciousness and for my readers with whom I can share it.

That was the beautiful part of my wedding day. The rest had beauty as well, but there was so much hectic chaos that it became almost comical. Everything happened perfectly and without incident up until we walked out of the sealing room. Then everything went haywire.

We were supposed to take pictures on the temple grounds at about 11:00. We had rented the tuxes in Idaho, where my mom and dad lived, and my dad had picked them up and brought them down. He hadn't realized as he went through the checklist of what he was picking up, that he was supposed to have a hoop-slip for me and my dress to keep it from dragging on the ground and to give it that look that the dress needed. We didn't realize this until the morning of the wedding. So, before and during the wedding, my sister called every place in the city she could trying to find a place that #1- was open, and #2- would rent her just a hoop-slip or something like it. We were married at 10:00 and most places aren't even open until then on a Saturday. Those she found wouldn't rent the slip to her. Finally, she found a woman who didn't have a hoop-slip, but had a very full netting slip and agreed to let her take it. I don't even think she made her pay to "rent" it, if memory serves. It was too big for me around the waist and we had to pin it, but it did the job. I should have given my sister a present and sent that woman a Thank You letter, but, at the time, I was fairly oblivious to the heroics that went on that morning with my sister and the woman at the bridal shop. I'll just take THIS moment, now, to say a huge THANK YOU to you, Sarah, and to the woman, whom I don't know, who helped my special day remain special. You were both unsung heroes on June 6, 1998.

So, while Sarah was trying to get a slip for me to wear, we realized that my dad had left all of the tuxedos, Dustin's included. (for those of you who might not know, in the temple, we wear white and D's tux was black, so the tux wasn't needed until AFTER the marriage ceremony.) Dad claims he didn't know it was his job to bring them, but I don't remember details well enough and he might not either! ;) Either way, the tuxes were not there for the pictures that were supposed to happen on the temple grounds. So someone raced back to my grandma's (who lived about 20 minutes from the temple, one way!) grabbed the tuxes and also my flowers which got forgotten (including the flower wreath that I was wearing on my head...), and raced back to the temple. We got out of the temple about an hour later than we were supposed to because of all the forgetting of things and the poor people who waited for us outside the temple waited for a long time. I was too oblivious to be embarrassed.

So, we finally made it out of the temple and got pictures taken, which was fun. We did just large group ones first and family pics, and then Dustin and I. Almost everyone left while D and I were getting our pics taken, including Dustin's dad, Roger, who had the keys to our car in his pocket. No one had cell phones back then (except my mom) and so we had to leave our car at the Crossroads Mall parking garage and catch a ride with my mom and dad who were waiting for us.

We got our clothes changed and went to the wedding luncheon where we were roasted by our loved ones. People told stories of Dustin and I and embarrassed us completely.

After the luncheon, we went back to my Grandma's where the reception was being held. Everything had gone longer than expected because we were so late coming out of the temple and we were supposed to have pictures in her lovely backyard at 4:00 with the wedding party. The photographer showed up, and we weren't ready. So, he went around snapping candid shots of us all. He snapped one just as I was realizing that no one told Dustin's two cousins, who were his "best men", that we were supposed to be taking pictures. It's a classic picture and I will try to scan it because my face in the picture sums up the chaos part of the day.

It all got very fuzzy after that. I know we took pictures, with all who were supposed to be in them, and finished the pics just as the reception was starting. We stood in a line and got tired feet and didn't eat anything but a melon ball and a drink of some kind of punch. We cut our cake, threw a garter and a bouquet and, at some point amidst all the madness, my mother-in-law pulled me and my sister into the large greenhouse-shed at my grandma's and made us sing our "Gaelic Song". Random? Yep!

The reception was supposed to go from 6-8:00 but we didn't leave until 10:00. We ran to our car with our bags and people threw birdseed at us. I didn't like that at all. It hurt and went down my dress and got stuck in my hair. (and ended up all over our room that night because it was falling out of my hair, dress, etc...)

We magically got our car back from Crossroads Mall parking lot (I say magically because I have no idea who picked it up), and when we went to get in it, someone had decorated it mildly on the outside and filled the inside TO THE BRIM with shredded paper. We couldn't even get in! I was mad about that. I don't know why... I should have expected it, but I didn't. Plus, you can usually climb IN the car, right after it's been decorated, right? You might have to wash the outside, but you can get in it and drive away!? Not us. We couldn't get in it until we removed about 5 garbage bags full of shredded paper. We vacuumed shredded paper out of that car for years.

For our wedding night, my family gave us a gift certificate to The Homestead in Midway, UT. It was a long, 40 minute drive after a VERY long day. When we got there I realized that we had left a bag with all my toiletries and my little [innocent and tasteful] negligee that my mom bought for me. I cried myself a little river right there in front of The Homestead because my little picture that I had created around that night was shattered. It all turned out fine, but I found out later that my mom had found the bag with my little items (including our toothbrushes!) and had cried too, because she knew I would be sad. :(

Our wedding day was such an awesome event in my life... even amidst all the craziness that happened! I am grateful for the chance to review it in my mind and get it down "on paper", so to speak. In the years following my wedding, I often called myself the "retarded bride" because I was such an oblivious goofball. I am grateful to the many people who pulled it together, namely my mother and father, Dustin's parents, my aforementioned sister, and my Grandma for hosting the reception. I had aunts and uncles who served the food and did all the behind the scenes things that were obscured by my oblivion. It was a success only because of all these heroes and I thank you, even if it is ten years late!