My mom enlisted my help for a bridal shower for my new sister-in-law so that Gabi would have the opportunity to meet my mom's friends. It was so much fun to hear all of the stories the women had to share about Garrison - most of them have known him since he was pretty little. Gabi was a sweetheart and helped us get everything set up even though she was the honoree and feeling sick. My mom did a wonderful job of filling everyone's bellies with delicious foods and funding some cute decorations done up by yours truly.
*Disclaimer: I couldn't get the pictures to get into any order that made sense without everything getting wonky. Just go with the non-flow.
Mumsy-in-law
We are missing a few women in here; we are so grateful for everyone that came!
Queen Hostess.
Bride-to-be.
Entryway.
The typewriter was the guest book. It was hilarious.
I had to spotlight my favorite tea cup. I want it.
February is one of the dreariest months of the year I think. Luckily, we had a few events that made it less so. We had a Valentine's party with my family in Mendon where we enjoyed the company of the Smiths, Logan Holdaways, Garrison, and my parents. I only got pictures of the party prep, but it was a nice little gathering. We had food (as is required at all Holdaway functions), lots of Valentine sweets, games, and chatter.
The master food prepper.
Angela was quite excited about this picture.
Not as cheerful as usual.
They weren't much help in the prep-work.
For the extended weekend my best friend Heather was up to visit. It's always nice to have the extra company, and I'm so grateful to have a friend willing to make the drive to come and visit. I don't make friends very easily and get lonely.
The next weekend Garrison came for a visit. Garrison, unlike me, makes friends easily and has them everywhere so he was in and out visiting people, but it was very nice to have him here to make us laugh and to play with Sprout.
Now to the Random February Treasures:
Sprout LOVES it when I work out while he's awake. He very enthusiastically pulls out my mat and rolls it out for me. He clambers all over me, weaves between my legs, and sometimes tries to mimic what I'm doing - especially if it involves legs. We have some funny videos, but I feel a little awkward posting videos of me working out on the internet. Here's a picture of him on Yoga day.
I love that he's reaching the mimicking stage. He's decided lately that he needs to wear Dad's hat, and if Dad's wearing it he'll go find one of his one.
A favorite game lately is getting out the pots and utensils and mixing whatever he can find. He especially loves to do it while I'm cooking.
Sprout is learning to stack blocks, but he mostly loves to knock them over.
Mr. Mitchell came home on Sunday after being gone all month, and one of my best friends came to visit us. I felt so spoiled to have them both here. Heather and I were assigned as roommates our freshman year, became fast friends, and despite distance have remained good friends. It's one of those friendships where you can not talk to each other for half a year, and when you talk again you pick up exactly where you left off. We did some calculating while she was here and realized that we hadn't seen each other in 18 months! Didn't matter. We gabbed up a storm and did some fun things.
We played card games, watched movies, went out to eat, and explored Pocatello.
We spent a day in Old Town exploring the stores on Main Street and admiring the old advertisements and murals.
Possibly our favorite stop was the used bookstore there. You walk in and it's dusty and disorganized and dim. There are books piled everywhere, and the owner sits at a table and just hollers around the store at his customers in order to assist them. "Turn on the light while you're back there!" "Yeah, we have that one. It's to your right. Further to your right. Further. More to your right." It was super entertaining, and there were actually some good options there. The store could use a good vacuum session, but that might take away some of its character.
We hiked the easy City Creek Trail to test out Sprout's new carrier.
We like the awkward pictures.
Heather and I were looking up things to do in Pocatello and came across the Museum of Clean. It sounded like a hoot so we went. Turns out the guy that owns the museum is famous for his cleaning skills, and we had no idea until we were halfway through a tour given by him (Don Aslett). He gave me one of his books for free. Sweet. I was too enthralled with Don, who was funny and quick, to take many pictures, but it was actually a very fun museum. And because Don gave us the tour we got a bunch of 'behind-the-scenes' stuff, including inside of the clock tower.
Like I said, don't let my lack of cool pictures fool you. The museum is still a work in progress, but once it's complete it will be a total blast for kids. Oh, and by the way, Don Aslett pushed me around the museum in a wheel chair he made from a garbage can. Granted, he didn't push me all over the museum, but how many people have been wheeled around by 80-year-old Don Aslett? I finally have a claim to fame! Don loved Heather and acted as though she were the smartest person he had ever met. It was awesome.
Thanks for coming, Heather! It was great to have you here, and I'm sorry I was so tired all of the time. Now that we're only three hours apart we really shouldn't wait 18 months before seeing each other again.
I'm finally connected again! For those of you that don't know, we're currently living with Mr. Mitchell's grandma to help out for a bit and the internet here was dial-up. Dial-up! Did you know that still existed? I didn't; I thought it had gone the way of speakeasies and flappers. We have progressed here, however, and now have high-speed internet. Until I didn't have the internet I didn't recognize how much of what is done in the world today relies upon it. I didn't even miss blogging. All I wanted was to see a stinkin' bank statement! Is that too much too ask? Apparently so when you're using dial-up. I'm sure you've all been held in suspense waiting to know what has been happening in our lives so, I'll share.
We decided at the beginning of February that we needed to get out of Utah for a few reasons: to keep our sanity and to save money. We decided to make a bucket list of things that would be worth doing before we left. There were actually quite a few things we couldn't squeeze in because they would involve travel, but we managed to do our local things.
First: a visit to the Salt Lake City temple.
Mr. Mitchell's photography skillz.
We had wanted to go because everybody told us it's worth the drive and wait to attend a temple session there and they were right. It was very cool and the inside of the temple was beautiful. Afterwards we walked around Temple Square for a bit and then went to the Joseph Smith Memorial Building for pictures and to watch the Joseph Smith movie.
Second: We went to the Provo Beach Resort. We have been fascinated with that place since it opened and we just never did anything there because it's a little expensive. Since it was our last month in the area we decided to splurge. We went and played mini-croquet (that's right...mini-golf is for losers)...
*Don't judge my face too harshly: Mr. Mitchell never tells me when I'm in his videos.
After mini-croquet it was time to get ready for the Flowrider. We had been on several dates where we would just go to the Provo Beach Resort and sit in the bleachers to watch people crash on the Flowrider or watch the people that were ridiculously good. It was, at last, our turn to try it out. It was expensive, but we'd recommend it to people. It was very fun and if you get cold they have a hot tub you can sit in. Warning: The crashing will kick your butt the next couple of days.
At this point in our adventuring I was dreading the crash - hence the unwillingness to move my arms in case they made me fall. Seriously, though, watch the video to the very end and see how hard I hit my head on the back wall.
Mr. Mitchell never lasted as long as I did, but he could at least start all on his own. By the end I was still using a rope to help me get out 'cuz I was too chicken to try getting out on my own. I say he wins.
Third: We went on a motorcycle ride all the way around Utah Lake. I about froze to death. It was pretty and it was sooo nice to be away from the madness, but our handwarmers didn't work properly and it got quite windy. Still, it was on the bucket list and we did it!
All of the madness is on the other side.
Sweet old Sinclair station.
We did a few other smaller things on our bucket list, but we have no photo documentation and so I will not bore you.
More importantly than our bucket list was making sure we said 'goodbye' to people that we'd be leaving behind. We didn't make it to everyone, and we're sorry for that, but perhaps we can squeeze a few in when we go back to walk in April. (BYU doesn't have a ceremony in December because of the weather.)
Our first goodbye was with some of the best friends I made while going to school in Utah. Heather and I were roommates our freshman year in the dorms and then lived together after that until I got married. Our sophomore year we roomed with Kristina and Liahona in Raintree Apartments. We fondly refer to that era in our schooling as the "208/210 Days." Why? Because we lived in apt. 208 and became fantastic friends with apt. 210 - where Mr. Mitchell just happened to live. Us girls lived together for two years.
Here are some flashback photos for your enjoyment:
Me, Heather, Kristina, Liahona & Mr. Mitchell on Ninja Day.
(Death to King Henry.)
Kristina, Liahona, Heather & me after Liahona's luau performance.
Three of the four of us are now married and so we decided to have a parting dinner with the four of us plus spouses. It was quite tasty (thank you Mark & Liahona!) and we had a good time talking and playing Liahona's memory games. Team Mr. Mitchell, Mark, and Sabrina rules! (Even though Mark technically was forbidden by his wife to score any points. We still don't know why.)
Just the four of us.
Girls & spouses.
This picture might truly epitomize the relationship we have.
Here's a video for your enjoyment (Mr. Mitchell really digs pretending he's taking pictures while actually taking videos) of how ridiculous we are:
I love those girls - seriously.
Fortunately for me, my London Study Abroad group decided to have a reunion two days before we moved away. We had a pretty good turnout and it was so great to get to see these people and catch up. We also got to meet the first London baby - congratulations Alison & Weston! Mr. Mitchell did great in a room full of people that he mostly did not know and I was very happy to get to spend time with these wonderful, talented people and to meet the spouses.
I felt like I was being a nuisance with the camera and now I wish I had snagged more pictures - sorry Londonites!
Our last goodbye was at the house Mr. Mitchell lived in while we were engaged. There used to be a big Sunday dinner there every week with lots of people and then people were suddenly all over the country and the dinners stopped. Before we moved we were asked to come over for one more dinner with Bradley and Bryan.
Bryan with his oh-so-tasty ribs.
We had a good last couple of weeks in Utah and we were so blessed to have so many helping hands around while we were packing. Collette - thank you for keeping me sane. EQ - thank you for your muscles. Dave - thank you for helping with the obnoxious stuff.
We're both alive and healthy and we're looking forward to the summer. (Mr. Mitchell because of work; me because I want it to be warm.)
