The Time I Went To Texas (Without Jake)

The "Without Jake" part was not my choice, if that's what you're thinking. My mom pretty much required me to come home one weekend during this semester so we could go through some pictures for our wedding slideshow as well as sort through old clothes and journals and things like that. On Halloween night, Jake and I went bowling and I said, "If I beat you, you have to fly to Texas with me." He said he would. I ended up losing 143-137. Besides a pretty good game, he still wasn't coming with!

My family and I went out to dinner Thursday night when I got in. It was fun to see everyone and catch up. Luckily there weren't too many wedding questions without my mediator there! Haha. That night, I got to see Olivia. We caught up a little bit and then of course went to go get Slurpees. It was so good to see her; she's been the biggest help thus far for planning the wedding and I'm so glad she's able to go! Everyone needs an Olivia in their life.

One of the first things I did Friday was get my hair done. It was looking pretty crazy. And by pretty crazy, I mean the ends were dead and it was pretty much brown all over. I had never met this hairdresser before, so she was intrigued when she found out I was getting married just next month and had barely gotten engaged in August. She said, "Are you sure you're not pregnant?" Kind of rude, but also a little bit funny -- outside of the Provo bubble, people are confused why a 20 year old is engaged (and why her engagement is barely 4 months!) But inside the Provo bubble, if I had gone another year without a ring on my finger, I could be considered an old maid... maybe. Haha. Anyway, the hairdresser ended up cutting 4 inches off my hair, which I really needed, but wasn't expecting. It's been in a bun ever since I showered that night...


Friday night, Laci asked me to babysit. She just recently had her third baby who I hadn't had the chance to meet yet, but I was so excited. I hadn't babysat anyone in forever -- and an 8 week old? No chance I was turning that down. It was so good to see all the Ence kids and especially Laci, who has been such a big help on the wedding planning. The kids and I went on a walk, picked some leaves from someone's yard, and then came home and put stickers and drew on them with crayons. It was a random idea, but they were pretty entertained by it. Those kids are the sweetest, and that baby... super snugly.

Saturday during the day I saw the McDade girls which was so awesome. They were the sweetest, and Leah didn't let go of me for quite some time. I can't believe she's turning 5 in two months! I also cleaned out stuff of mine my mom has been keeping in her garage. There was a ton of stuff I had randomly saved from high school (a TON of fortunes from fortune cookies) and a million printed pictures, so she wanted me to go through all of it and decide what I was keeping and not keeping. There was also a ton of shoes and clothes to go through. Three girls really rack up on the clothing over the years. There were quite a few HILARIOUS things I found while going through these boxes, but this was one of the funniest. I presume my mom was at work and we were going to play with friends outside, so we left her this note so she'd at least know we left. Although we didn't tell or where we were going to be or with who...

Saturday night we scored tickets to the Stars game against the Blackhawks! My grandma was able to give us tickets from her company, so it was awesome to eat AAC fries again as well as see the Stars at home. Jake and I had gone to Vegas to see them just a few weeks earlier, but it's totally different seeing them when it's an away game. That game was so fun even though we lost. Wish Jake could've been there! 

Sunday, Carli was in town just for the day and I was so happy about it. She came over for a bit and brought her bridesmaid dress! I was able to see the color (and luckily I like it!) as well as what style she had chosen and it looked SO. GOOD. I'm happy about that! We were able to catch up and I was soooo glad to see her before the wedding. Sometimes we go months and months without seeing each other and when we are finally together again, it's like we were never apart -- but it's still good to see her in the middle. 

By the end of the trip, I was really ready to get back to Utah. Somewhat ready to get back to cooler weather, finishing up this last month of the semester, but most of all, seeing Jake. 4 days felt like the longest time ever! Hahahaha. When he picked me up he said, "Next time I'm going with you." That's for sure!!