Wedding Bells

Ryan, Westin and I just got back from our long weekend in Utah. And as usual, there's never enough time to see everyone we want to see, do everything we want to do, and eat everywhere we want to eat... but we managed to have a great time nonetheless. The main reason we headed up to Utah this weekend was for our friend's wedding, but really it was a great excuse to get up there and see our family and friends. Here's how the weekend went:
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Thursday night we flew to Utah (the first time all three of us did a plane ride together). Unfortunately, it didn't go as well as the last time W and I flew together. The flight was right at Westin's bedtime and I was hoping he'd fall asleep after eating... but he didn't. Instead, he was wide awake for the first hour (fine, no problem) and then got tired and wouldn't fall asleep for the last 30-45 minutes (problem). Luckily he didn't create too much of a scene and Ryan and I did everything we could to entertain him until we landed... and then he passed out as soon as we got in the car - of course.
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Since it was pretty late by the time we got in, we went straight to Ryan's sister's house and headed to bed. When we arrived the gang was asleep but our room was all set up for us and I found a note on our bed from our niece Lily. I forgot to take a picture of it, but it went something like this:

Dear Aunt Courtney,

If you're not too tired in the morning, can you please do my hair for school? I love you.

Love Lily

PS. You need to wake up at 7:10
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I love my little Lily and couldn't wait to get up and do her hair for school the next morning. Westin was of course up by then anyway, so the two of us were greeted Friday morning by my sister-in-law Lindsay and Lily at exactly 7:10 a.m.
After I did Lily's hair and she headed off to school, we had some play time with Westin before we got going for the day. We decided to try this car and he LOVED it. In fact, I think it will be our next purchase for him.Later that morning Ryan and his brother-in-law Brian played golf while Lindsay and I took Westin and Gemma on a walk and got them down for naps.

Westin and his cute cousin Gemma

Friday night was the first of several wedding activities planned for the weekend. Lindsay (and Lily) babysat Westin while Ryan and I went to the pre-wedding dinner. It was really fun to see all our friends from college. The group consisted of all Ryan's friends from his freshman year/roommates after the mission. They're an awesome group of guys and we miss them a ton.

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Dinner was fabulous, but before we could start dancing, the guys snuck off to catch the end of the Magic/Cavs game... and good thing they did - it was very exciting and Lebron James' game winning shot at the last second (literally) was SWEET.

Saturday morning we took Westin and headed up to Salt Lake where we met up with Kurt and Erika. While Ryan and Kurt attended the wedding ceremony in the temple, Erika and I took Westin on a tour of Temple Square.

Westin with his bud Erika

(W was the only one on Temple Square with a Dodger's hat - gotta represent)

In front of the Salt Lake Temple
Before Hugh and Kaitlin came out for pictures, Ryan showed off Westin for the first time to his friends. I think they all enjoyed seeing Ryan as a dad.

Steve, Drew, John, Ben, Kurt and Nick The groom (center with the yellow tie) and the guys - (from top left to right): Kurt, unknown, Drew, John, Steve, Ben, Nick, Hugh and Ryan


After taking pictures at the temple, we walked down to The Gateway to have lunch at The Counter - one of our favorite restaurants here in Santa Monica. We were excited to share it with the rest of the gang.

Kind of looks like a missionary zone meeting with all those white shirts and tiesSunday we spent the day with Lindsay, Brian and the kids. That evening I dropped Ryan off at Kurt and Erika's place, and I took Westin to the Old Mill (my old neighborhood) to see Kristi and Allie (Al happened to be in town for her bro's wedding - lucky me!). This was probably the most momentous occasion of the weekend because Westin and Easton finally met!!! These two cuties are only five days apart and are destined to be best buddies.

Kristi, Allie, Easton, Westin and me (all we were missing were Tawni and Stella)

It was such a fun little reunion and I was so happy I could finally meet Easton and Creighton (Allie's 2-year-old).

For the holiday on Monday, Lindsay and I went running while the boys watched the kids. Then Ryan, Westin and I met Kurt and Erika for lunch at Cafe Rio (can't go to Utah without stopping there). After lunch, I took Westin home for a nap while the other three went to see Angels and Demons (which they all seemed to enjoy). That night we ended the trip watching the Lakers v. Nuggets game (not really the happy ending we were looking for from that day).

Adam, Brian, Kurt, Erika, Ryan and me pigging out on pizza and junk food (just one of the many coping mechanism one has to use to deal with loss)
We took a super early flight this morning (big mistake) and we're all exhausted and sad our trip had to end so soon. We had a great time with everyone and are so grateful to Lindsay and her family for letting us take over their basement for the weekend. Thanks guys!!!