Damsel in Distress

This week began with Aric going to Seattle for the week. Knowing this trip was coming up completely stressed me out. So I asked my mom to come and help me for the week. Thankfully it worked out with her work schedule and she was able to rescue me from single parenthood. Her help this week was immeasurable. My kids and I were so blessed to have her extra hands this week.

Aric made it home Thursday evening. We spent a few hours together, mostly dealing with Eden's ear piercing infection, which is now cleared up...HALLELUJAH!, and visiting with our good friend Ron who was here for a quick visit. Then the next morning we rushed to get me to the airport.

As mentioned before, in a previous post, I had to go to Utah to retrieve the car that we thought we sold back in August (long story). So I booked a flight and took off on Friday afternoon. My dear friend Kara and her husband had so kindly repo'd "Whitey" a few weeks before and they had been keeping her safe down in Springville. Kara, so graciously, cut a play date short and dragged two of her boys up to Salt Lake to get me from the airport. She took me to my car, fed me some yummy cookies and made sure I got a map so I could find my way home the next day. (Thank you Kare Bear! I am totally aware of how big I owe you so just let me know when I can save your bacon!)

So I get stuck trying to get my car out of the back of Kara's parents house. Her step dad had to dig me out and push me out of the snow. I should have known right then that this 18 hour visit was not going to be so smooth sailing...

Once out, I was off to my cousins to get a tire, my spare, that just so happened to be trashed and needed to be fixed, which meant I had no spare on for the long journey ahead of me...argh! After having a tense exchange, I got into the car to find out that the battery was totally dead. So...I call Matt O.

*story detour*

He and his family (his sister Randi is pictured with us above) are very dear friends of ours from North Dakota. When I found out that I was going to have to make this trip I was not that thrilled about it until I found out another family friend of ours from ND was getting married that day and I was going to be able to go to her reception! YAY! I didn't tell anyone that I was coming... except for Matt...gotta love FACEBOOK!

*back to story*

So Matt pulls up in his very cool, very sporty, very red BMW...he can drive that because he is single and has a good job...and takes me to my other cousin, Leah's, apartment so we can change and head up to the reception. We got a little lost but eventually found our way. Thank goodness because the reception was FABULOUS!

Here are some pics:

This is the Cardon Clan...or at least most of them. How our lives are intertwined is a whole other post in and of itself. The short version is...the Cardons became good friends with my Tia Ana and Uncle Al while they lived in Fargo, ND many, many years ago. Karissa (Kilene's older sister, the one in ivory standing to the right of Ki, introduced Aric to the church). Jared (Standing right behind Karissa) and I dated for awhile which is how I first met Aric. My uncle was their bishop and....well like I said I could do a whole post so I will just stop there. I love this family and I was so happy so see them and be there to celebrate Kilene's marriage.

This is me with Randi and Tina. When I lived in Fargo I was their Young Women's leader at church. They new me when I was single and just started dating Aric. They skipped their youth conference dance to come to my reception and dance with me. I love these girls! I am so proud of them and I was so thrilled see them and meet their husbands.

I had to include this picture because it shows just how much I LOVE Randi! That girl lived with us for a while back when Edee was a baby. Aric was Randi's camp counselor way back before he joined our church and he was also Randi's first date. She is part of the family and my girls think she is their cousin. I hadn't seen her in like four years! It was such a great reunion.

The Woodruffs and Leah. They were also part of our ND family. Barry was our institute teacher and a member of our Stake Presidency. They were at Aric's baptism and they were a huge influence on us during the time we lived there.

This is Jeff and his darling wife Kelly. Jeff is one of Kilene's brothers and I knew him when he was a squirrely teenager. Some things never change...now he is a squirrely grown up.

This is Sue Giles and Marza (mother of the bride). Two AMAZING women who also influenced our lives.

Here is a picture of Leah trying to catch the bouquet. Thankfully she didn't catch it. She's only 19! Okay almost 20, but she has a couple good years yet before we need to be planning a wedding. (like I have any say in the matter...Leah you know I love you!)

There were so many people that I wanted to get pictures of but I was too busy talking...surprising I know...

I did get a dance or two in....Matt was a great date.

After the fun times I had to get back to reality...my car. So we get the car running just to for it to break down again. We got it going enough to get me to Matt's place. One of his roommates was out of town so I got my own bed instead of sharing a twin bed with Leah...been there, done that. The next morning the car made it to Wal-Mart where I got a new battery and some snacks. I tried to get the tire taken care of but I just didn't have enough time.

You see, I had to be in Butte, MT by 6:30pm where my Uncle Al was getting off the greyhound. He was coming from Bismarck, ND because he and my Tia Ana decided to buy Whitey. So Aric was driving from Spokane to meet us in Butte so we could pass Whitey on and get me back home. Thanks to an HOUR + delay because of a horrible accident in SLC, I was a half hour late. But that's okay,it gave Uncle Al and Aric time to bond over Arby's so it was all good.

By 7:30pm we made the exchange and we were off. Thankfully the heavens opened and provided good roads in all directions. It was 35 hours of crazy but boy did I get a lot accomplished.

The End.

Okay so not the end...I missed my babies! This one especially...