Taylor and Amy's Wedding

And we're back! This past weekend was so much fun! On Friday, Brian and I left Provo with Joel and Lindsay and drove to Las Vegas. We got there around 4:30 and went to the hotel. We hung out with the Rices for a minute and then got ready to go to the rehearsal dinner. Taylor was very calm through this all. The rehearsal dinner was really nice. It lasted about three hours, but the food and company was WONDERFUL! We really enjoyed hearing stories about the bride and groom! That night, all of the cousins decided to go to the strip and gamble. Brian and I, feeling exhausted, decided to stay home and go to bed. So, the cousins left and we chatted with Pops and Fay until they went to the hotel at 11:00 or so. Next, we went upstairs and Brian put on his pajama pants and then started talking to Brad and Pam. Well, I got in on the chatting action and at like 12:30 Lindsay Beckstead called and said she'd be home in 45 minutes...so at that point, we decided to stay up and wait for her. She and Wes arrived when expected and so Brad, Pam, Lindsay, Wes, Brian and I sat and talked for another forty-five minutes or so. Wes left and we thought we'd finally go to bed! However, Brian and Lindsay started talking about the family politics blog and the next thing we knew we were deep in conversation again. About five minutes after Brad and Pam decided to go to bed, all of the cousins arrived at the house. Oh man! So then we REALLY couldn't go to sleep as everyone just sat up talking and laughing. When everyone decided to move out of the hall, they moved into our bedroom so we really HAD to stay up!! Basically, at 3:45 am we FINALLY went to bed. We were so, so exhausted!!!

The next morning we got up and several people came over for breakfast at Brad and Pam's. It was so much fun to hang out with everyone and watch crazy youtube videos. After bumming around for a while, we got ready and then went to the temple. The wedding ceremony was absolutely BEAUTIFUL!! The sealer said some wonderful things. We felt blessed to be there. Amy was gorgeous. It was a little windy so the picture session was cut short, but otherwise things were perfect. I hope Taylor and Amy loved it. We drove forever and met some of the family at In-n-Out Burger. It was delicious as always!! Then we went back to Brad and Pam's and took a MUCH needed nap! We hung out with my parents and then went to the reception. It was pretty cold and the reception was outdoors so everyone was huddled around the gas heaters. It was so funny! Again the food was great and everything was beautiful. Finally, Taylor and Amy hit the road for Jamaica and the rest of us went to the strip! We watched the water show at the Belagio and ate crapes at the Paris. Around midnight we were so tired that we could hardly walk anymore. Back at Brad and Pam's house we QUICKLY fell asleep.

Joel informed us Saturday night that he wanted to leave by 7 am!! Brian didn't believe that it would actually happen so he fought waking up in the morning. Somehow, though, we were ready and out the door around 7:30. We got to St. George at about 10:30 (MST), got gas, and then decided to grab some lunch (don't ask me why we needed to eat so early). We drove around St. George looking for lunch but the only thing that we all felt good about was Chili's. The bad news: Chilis doesn't open until 11! So we just sat in the car in the parking lot and hung out until 11:00 came around. We had a DELICIOUS lunch and finally got back on the road at noon (its funny that we had to leave so early when we spent 90 minutes just hanging out in St. George). Between Cedar City and Nephi, the road was pretty bad. It was snowy and windy and the roads were covered with packed snow and ice. For this reason, we didn't make it back to Provo until 4:15!! However, when we finally got home, we unpacked and just relaxed!! I went visiting teaching and Brian rested. It was a crazy weekend!!

We're super excited to hear about the Rices' honeymoon!! I'm sure it was wonderful!