Trip to Washington

Tuesday April 21

I went to Washington for my friend Diane's wedding a week ago. Overall, I had a great time. I flew in on Tuesday the 21st and the flight went great. I was really nervous about it since I had never flown with a baby and I thought my bag was for sure over 50 lbs which would cost an extra $50. Jeff left work a little early to take me to the airport and I was on my way. I went to check in my bag and it was only 43 lbs, I was so excited I started to clap, haha. In my experiences with airports in the past, people are very rude. When you are traveling with a little baby that is not the case at all. EVERYONE was soo nice and went out of their way to help me, even the airport workers. It was a really good experience. While I was waiting for my flight to leave, our realtor called and told us the sellers had made a really great counter offer that we decided to accept. Now we are just filling out a lot of paperwork and hoping everything works out. My friend Diane flew into the airport at the same time as me so I got to see her there and meet her fiance which was so fun. Then my Dad picked me up and it had been a while since I had seen him so that was really nice. We went to my brother Brian's house in Seattle. It was so fun because they have a daughter, Heidi who is 3 and I haven't seen her since she was a baby. Then they have another daughter, Hannah, who is only 2 months younger than Cheyenne. I will have to get those pictures from my sister-in-law, Dana. Then we picked up my step-mom, Karen from the temple and went home to my Dad's for the night. 

Wednesday April 22

The next morning, we went for a run around Lake Padden, it was really great to do that again, I have ran there countless times growing up. Dad and Karen pushed Cheyenne around so I got to run two laps fast. Later that day I met Jeff's sisters Tanya and Kristen for lunch at On Rice, which is my favorite Thai food restaurant in Bellingham. It was so good. After that we stopped by State Farm to see Tim and Bobby, but only Bobby was there. Bobby is Jeff's brother and it was so fun to see him with Cheyenne. Then we went to Jeff's parents house to visit them and Jeff's grandparents. It was so good to see everyone and felt so good to be in Bellingham again. Here is a picture of Haley and Grandma Bennum reading to Cheyenne:

My mom picked me up from their house around 8, and it was really great to see her too. It had been since Cheyenne was born since I had seen her. We stayed the night at Mom's that night. It was really great to look through all my picture albums and read my old journals that are all still being stored at her house. 

Thursday April 23

 Mom came home for lunch to get me so I could use her car. I took her back to school and it was really funny because I met some of Jeff's old teachers (she works at MMS). Let's just say Jeff was a normal obnoxious middle school student (to be nice).... when I told one teacher who I was married to and that he was a teacher himself now, this certain teacher laughed and laughed. I could tell he was thinking that now he will get a taste of his own medicine. I was rather embarrassed and assured him that Jeff has actually grown up now and is not a middle schooler anymore, and is actually a very good person... anyway, that was a funny experience. I went to get my hair highlighted at the Bellingham Beauty School after that because they are so cheap, but while I was there I remembered why they are so cheap because they take sooooo long. Luckily I had Cheyenne with me to entertain me. Then I went to Michaels to get supplies for the Bachelorette party. I quickly ran Cheyenne home for Mom to watch and I was off to the party. It was kind of not really a bachelorette party since everyone was married, but I guess Diane was still a bachelorette so it counts. First we went to dinner at Red Robin:

Then we went back to the house for dessert and we all made a craft for Diane to hang in her new home:

Just a bit about Diane... we played against each other in high school and in college (she played at BEHS and SLCC) then we went to BYU together and decided not to be enemies anymore... haha. We were going to be roommates, but I decided to get married instead. When I was the head coach at Kearns, I was so so so lucky to have her as my assistant coach and we ended up being roommates after all! She lived with Jeff and I for only a few months, but we had so much fun together and Jeff was the brunt of the polygamist jokes at the high school, but he put up with it. She is just a great person, a great athlete, and a great friend! I was so excited to be a part of her wedding and that she found such a great guy to marry:)

Friday April 24 WEDDING DAY!!!

I drove to Burlington in Mom's car for the wedding. It went really well and Diane and Dennis seemed so happy. The sealer was Jeff's cousin Eli's grandpa, so that was kind of cool

after I finally figured out how I recognized him. Diane's cousin Brittany watched Cheyenne during the wedding, so that was very nice. It would have been nice to have someone to hold Cheyenne during all the pictures, but everyone had to work, darn it! It was so fun, but a long day. Here are some pictures at the temple:

After the temple, we went straight to the reception and helped finish the decorations. I had forgotten the stuff to decorate Diane's car, so luckily I called my mom and she saved the day with a speedy delivery! The reception was in an old schoolhouse and it was absolutely beautiful! It looked like it was in a magazine and I just loved it. I love this picture of Grandma Anderson-Crockett with Cheyenne: They both have such pretty blue eyes: 

I did have a top 5 most embarrassing moment of my life at the reception. All I will say is that I have been able to do backflips since I was about 6 and figured I would be able to do them for the rest of my life. Well, apparently I have lost some strength since my pregnancy (the last one I did was about a year ago when I was about 3 months pregnant). I attempted one during one of the dances where the bridal party was dancing. So embarrassing! My legs and arms were all bent and ugly and I pretty much landed on my knees. The first time I did it I thought, oh I just messed up, let me do it again. Same thing... twice in a row!!! Never again. Well, the first thing on my to do list after we move near Athens is to take a tumbling class at the gym to get me back in shape.... sorry everyone who had to witness that and was probably very embarrassed for me. We got home late on that night and I was sooo exhausted I went right to sleep. 

Saturday April 26

The next day it felt good to sleep in and have a whole day to just relax and hang out with my mom. We met one of my best friends from high school, Christine, in the morning for breakfast at the Bagelry. It was so good to see her because I hadn't seen her for so long and she is such an awesome person. She was a very good influence on me in high school and has been a great friend to me for the time I have known her. I wish we lived closer so we could get together more often.

The rest of the day, my mom went with me to the Bellingham stores I missed: Great Harvest Bread, Grocery Outlet, Deals Only, Wee Ones Reruns, and the mall. As you can see we bought matching shirts and sunglasses. We love to match:) It was a great day, but I wore Mom and Cheyenne both out I think. We finished the day off by giving ourselves pedicures.

Sunday April 27

We went to Ferndale 2nd ward for church and it was so fun to see all the cute people in that ward. I was surprised, because Jeff's dad gave a talk. It was about temples and he did a great job. It was fun to be there for that. After church I packed up my stuff and went to Jeff's parents house. All of Jeff's brothers and sisters, nieces and nephews, and grandparents were there. It was so great to spend the day with them, and I can't believe how big all of the kids have gotten! Jeff''s cousin, Katy, Paul and Avery also stopped by for a while and it was great to see them. Here are a few pics:

I spent the night there and stayed up late with Connie watching The Apprentice, which I have never seen before, but it was pretty entertaining. I thought I would be addicted, but I forgot to watch it yesterday so I guess I am not.

Monday April 28

Dad and Karen came to get me from Connie and Frank's. We stopped by Grandma and Grandpa Slesk's house to say goodbye. They are so cute, I love that they are my grandparents now, since I have known them my whole life and they have been so great to me. They are just really good people. For my 17th birthday (before I ever knew who Jeff was) they bought me a cake and we had a little party at Jeff's uncle Tim's house with them. It was so thoughtful and totally out of nowhere. They must have known I would marry their grandson one day!! Haha. I can't believe I didn't get a picture with them and Cheyenne, I will have to when we go back in June. We then went to the lake to run again, it was a beautiful day for Bellingham. Nice and sunny at least. Then we finally met my Grandma and Howard at the Asian buffet. It was so good to see them because it had been a year and a half! My grandma is such a trooper! She just keeps so busy always up and out doing something. She just loves life and gets the most out of it. She is awesome and my last living grandparent, you can tell why. She wants to live to be 100 and she probably will! 

I spent the rest of the day watching home videos of my glory days of high school and college volleyball, haha. It was fun.

Tuesday April 29

I just spent the day hanging out with Dad and Grandma. It was great to spend my last day with them. Cheyenne was finally ready for the balancing act trick:

Mom picked me up around 4pm to take me to Seattle. First we had to stop by Janice and Glenn's house (my friend Christine's parents). They have just been so great to me and are such fun people:

Then we were off to Brian and Dana's. It was great to stay with them, because I hadn't seen them for over 3 years and it was just good to spend time with them. Mom visited for a while, then had to make the trip home.

Wednesday April 29

I dressed Cheyenne in her little husky outfit I got at Wee Ones Reruns, because I knew her dad would love to see her wearing it:

Dana took me to the airport and everything went great again. Except Cheyenne was a little fussier, but I sat next to nice people. When we changed planes in Denver, I thought I better change Cheyenne's diaper just in case. It was only wet, but I changed it anyway. After we got on the plane, just when it started to move to line-up to take off, Cheyenne decided it would be a good idea to poop all over me. It came out the sides and back of her diaper. It was the worst timing, because I was holding food I had gotten at the airport that I wanted to eat, and we were in line to take-off so it could be anywhere from 2-20 minutes before we got in the air but you can't get out of your seat until you are way up in the air. I tried to be patient, but it was seriously disgusting. The flight attendant just let me get up and change it anyway thankfully. I had to get up and walk down the aisle with a poopy baby and poop all over my pants! Oh well, at least her poop doesn't stink yet, it could have been worse. Other than that, it was a good rest of the flight but very long. It was great to see Jeff waiting for me at the airport at midnight even though he had to work the next day, he is the best husband ever! We missed him like crazy.  Ever since we got home, we have been so busy with trying to close on our house and other stuff I had gotten behind on. For those of you who made it to the end of this, I am very impressed!!