Breakdowns, Breakups, Breakouts, Break Dance, and Breakfast

I'm well into my fall travels, as I just got back from the cross roads of the west in the shadows of the everlasting hills. That of course being Utah. I had a fun, and as usual much too short of a trip. I did however have a great time catching up with old friends, new friends, and my family while I was there. I even took a few pictures.

I really had forgotten what a beautiful time of year early fall is in Provo. The weather was pretty perfect up until I left, and I feel like I spent most of my time there eating. Did you know there is an In-N-Out in Orem? There is, and I ate there twice. Hooray!

I flew in to Salt Lake City but not before laying over in Dallas. I was only there for about an hour so it wasn't enough time for me to see Jenn and the kids, I settled for a phone call to my Texas sister. It was also transfer day for missionaries coming home from Central America. I was so excited for them. I was hoping they would come up and contact me but I figured my BYU hat gave me away. I chatted with the elders, told them to avoid being like me and to not lose that missionary vigor. I was excited to see them reunite with their families.

Nicole was nice enough to pick me up at the Airport. She had a friends reception that night so we cruised down to Provo, hurried and got ready and headed over to the Provo library, which incidentally is across from the Old Academy where I used to live. The couple was from Peru, so a lot of the program was in Spanish. I tried to pay attention, with the help of my translator, but mostly I was thinking about how excited I was to eat at In-N-Out.

After the reception we headed over to the McCousins to say hi. I'll tell you something I enjoy a good and loud greeting, and my wonderful cousins did not let me down. Hugs were shared, inside jokes were dusted off, and plans were made for a fun weekend.

Dani-Lee gets a special shout out for letting me have her room for the weekend. It was luxury.

Friday, I did what I love to do when I am in Provo. I went on campus and bought BYU stuff. In this case a new long sleeved T-Shirt, a Book of Mormon in Swedish, and this for my car.

So yes I am representing two once proud but currently faltering football programs on my conveyance. I didn't want to put a Cougar license plate frame on my car until I had a nice car. Since the Millennium Falcon (BMW 530i) is awesome, I felt good about putting it on.

Danielle and Jacqueline accompanied me and we next headed over to the Quicksilver outlet. I probably have more Quicksilver t-shirts than any other brands, so I make sure and stock up when I have the opportunity. I bought a bunch of stuff including a new travel suit case. I hate my duffle and have hated it for quite some time. The new suit case worked brilliantly in the airport on the way home.

Jacqueline found me a hat to try that she said made me look like Tyler from Teen Mom. This led to a five minute conversation about missing Carly, where Butch was, and if Gary or Amber is at fault. If you watch the show you know exactly what I am talking about. Jacqueline and I always have awesome pop culture related conversations because strangers tend to interject.

Once the shopping was done, and I was considerably poorer but ultimately better dressed, we dropped Danielle off, grabbed lunch at INO and picked the chilluns up from school. We still refer to my cousins Camille and Gabrielle as the "little girls" even though they are both in high school. Sort of how Jennifer still calls me her little brother though I am almost a foot taller. We had just enough time to visit one of my favorite Provo haunts, that being Movies 8. We watched Salt, which I enjoyed and think that I mostly understood. *Spolier alert* Wayne is the bad guy.

Nicole came and picked me up and we were on on our way to Park City for the second wedding reception. For some reason I was really concerned about what I would wear to the reception. Ultimately I made a Peter type statement and went with a new argyle sweater. I need to count but I think I must have ten or so of them. Possibly a future Pete Chat post. In any event I wanted to make sure that short of the bride and groom that we were the best looking there. In my not so humble opinion I'd say we pulled it off in spades.

My friend Kristen got married to her new husband Will. I was lucky enough to be Kristen and her amazing roommates' home teacher for the last six months. Granted Kristen spent most of that time in India, but I made sure to always include her on the appointment emails. But before we got to the reception we had a little bit of car trouble. I showed (faked) my knowledge of cars by concluding that there appeared to be something wrong with the transmission. Thanks to the miracle of technology, we called the tow truck, arranged for AAA to handle it, tell Natalie where to pick us up and still make it to the reception with plenty of partying left to do. Despite the car trouble and the Cougars getting killed I still had a great time.

The reception was wonderful, Kristen was beautiful, it was fun to hang a bit with my friends and fellow dinner groupers  Laura, Natalie, Amber, and Charlee in our not usual circumstances.

One element of the reception that I really enjoyed, was the photo booth. You went in took a few pictures kept one for yourself and one for the bride and groom to remember. I thought it was really a cool idea. My pics turned out a bit awkward but make for a good memory. There was however one thing that was bothering me just a bit. The fact that there was no dancing. I really wanted to dance, and sure enough a few minutes later the dancing started. I proceeded to drop it like it was hot and am pretty sure everyone was very jealous of our moves. I requested Gaga, and guess what Gaga I received. Once that was out of the way, Amber was nice enough to drive us back to Orem, and Aunt Lisa and I dropped Nicole off at her place.

One thing I pride myself is remembering everyone I have ever met. I am good with faces and names and places. There was one guy at the wedding who looked super familiar to me. I asked him if he had been a BYU intramural ref, or a poli sci guy. We kept playing the name game until I figured out he was the older brother of a girl in my Freshman ward. It was funny because I was standing next to Natalie at the time who is my friend from freshman year and deserves a shout out for rescuing us from the side of the road. I am not sure if that is how I knew the guy but it was funny that we made the connection.

Saturday was conference, and I watched at varyingly levels of attention. Saturday morning's session was aided by cinnamon rolls from Shirley's, and then Nicole, Eileen, Michelle and I had lunch in between sessions. We went to Cafe Rio and had an impromptu parking lot picnic, where I revealed some of the more inane, and unexplainable reasons I have decided not continue relationships. How good is a pork salad? So good.

Danielle spent a lot of the weekend dropping me off and picking me up. She was a champ to do that and it was much appreciated, she picked up again and took me back to their house. I got ready and my good friend and former intern Kenny came and got me so we could watch priesthood session. Before we went over to the Marriot Center I stopped and said hi to his amazing and wonderful wife Marlyse, and their two kids Hadley and Talon. Hadley is super smart and she read me a book. Talon was shy, but I was excited to meet him.

Kenny and I chatted about everything possible not the least of which his commission to the Air Force where he is going to be a JAG. It is very impressive. Kenny and I went out to eat with Kenny's brother William. We tried the new Italian version of Cafe Rio called Paesan's. It was good.

Sunday was more conference, and I was especially excited when Elder Malm spoke. He is Swedish and I knew a lot of his family when I served in Husqvarna. It is yet another example of why I am being groomed for great things. Please ask Dan Nelson about this.

Nicole and I took a bike ride up to Meg and Jim's. It was like old times with one of my favorite couples. We caught up on all the Colonial ward gossip, and they told me all about business school, and what their future plans were. We even hit Quinn up on face time so that he could be a part of things.

My cousins and I are always down for a photo shoot. I brought DC themed T-Shirts and I wore my Provo themed t-shirt. I think it turned out very well.

By then it was time to head back to Virginia. I read all of my magazines, depleted my reserve of Podcasts, and thanks to the benevolence of Mary, I was able to get back to my place by 11:00. As soon as I got settled in, I watched the episode of Mad Men I had missed.

Thanks to everyone who made my weekend a blast. The first days of October are always hard ones for me, I am glad I got to spend the time surrounded by family and friends.

Snowboard season is just around the corner, so I have no choice but to head back then. I can't wait.

My next trip is to Dallas, and then hopefully to SoCal before my birthday.