GOOD OL' ROCKY TOP!

Nothing quite like a reality check when pulling back into town & working the same day!  

I need a day of rest to recover, I think! :)

My parents got me a flight to be able to go home for my sister's wedding reception in TN. Because of the cheapness of flights I had to fly out on the 6th & stay till the 15th. It was a long & LOVED stay. I love being home. I feel so bad leaving Weston behind, but I lived up every second. By living it up, I mean I stayed in my sweats & played games w/ my family from sun up to sun down. Gaming is a way of life.

I also got LOTS of puppy time which I can never seem to soak up enough of. I love those dogs so much! I had never met my mom's dog Maisey that she got in March, but oh my goodness she's a sweet little dog!

I really had a hard time leaving TN, if it weren't for Weston not being with me, I probably would have just set up camp & stayed. I love the green out there. My parents live in the middle of the woods & it's gorgeous. They built their house 4 years ago & I just love visiting! Even though I have no childhood/growing up memories in that house, it's totally home now. My parents are such generous hosts & the reception that they put on was beautiful! A lot of the decorations were made by my mom. It was just gorgeous & a lot of good old friends showed up! I love how at home I still feel when I go back. No matter where I live in life Franklin, TN will always be home.  

Anyways, now that I've blurbed enough about all of this, I will put up some pictures! 

I took this picture on my birthday! Weston & I had dinner at home & then went out & up to the movies to see Despicable Me 2! 

I loved it.

Weston is the sweetest & was so nice to let me skip out of town for a week. He is such a great husband & honestly I really lucked out getting such a loving, sweet man!

He is doing shifts at the fire department until Wednesday, so I won't see him until Wednesday night, but he can hardly stand the excitement to see me...I think mostly because I was able to start feeling the baby kick from the OUTSIDE of my stomach while I was in TN!  He has been counting down till that will happen. Even though he couldn't feel it from the outside he'd always try to feel it.

But now her kicks are bigger & stronger & even just this week they've gotten so much stronger, we have just under half way left to go still...I'm in so much trouble with this little kicker!

The next morning he had a shift at an ER in Salt Lake. He dropped me off at the airport first where I waited for 6 hours till my flight took off! :) It was a fun time to start learning how to use my iPhone, though.

 WHICH he gave me for Christmas! Thank you upgrade for falling on my birthday month.

I'm in love with it & don't know how I functioned with out it.

You could kind of say I've become dependent in the past 10 days....

I was there for 8 whole days & maybe changed out of sweats 4 or 5 times. It was amazing.

I got lots of rest, just like a good compliant patient following doctor's orders.

I got lots of Bella time.

 I gave the dogs some love while everyone did some more intensive wedding set-up stuff....

I'm on "take it easy" orders remember.

It was really tough to not be able to move furniture & mop, getting having to hold puppies instead....

 The reception was gorgeous. I didn't take table display pictures after the food was put out. I'm seriously kicking myself for forgetting to do that.

 Popcorn buckets my mom made.

She made a million of these for the TN & AZ reception.

She stamped, cut & assembled all of them.

This picture is blurry, I'll try to find a clearer one!

Unpictured: amazing cupcakes made by Emma Widman & ice cream sandwiches catered from Cold Stone Creamery & gourmet popcorn from the popcorn shoppe. They were all amazing.

Here's a nice off centered picture of the popcorn table.

 I got to see my bff Syd! I took this picture the morning after the reception. 

Total babe w/ no sleep & no makeup.

She came, in true girlfriend fashion, with a duffle for clothes to wear to the reception & jammies.

Love her. We are one in the same, I swear.

We decided a sleepover is in order.

Lucky for me, her hubby had left for a business trip, so we had a sleepover on the couches & talked until some absurd hour until we passed out.
I cannot wait to live close to her again!

 We played lots & lots of games.

 Bella & her trusty ball were at my feet the whole time. I love that puppy!

 Settlers of Catan is our current addiction.

We did give Imaginiff, Golf, & trains some air-time though.

 Punky boy.

I say boy, except he's 6'4 now.

My 16 yo brother is not allowed to be 6'4".

 We went & saw Despicable Me 2 as a family & it was even better the second time! We all laughed so hard! 

We were also greeted afterwards by a great thunderstorm! It wasn't as epic as most, but the sky was amazing!

I'm still dying over this picture.

Plus, I'm still dying that they're married. I'm so happy. I'm also so happy Sean joined the family & meshes so well. I haven't even scared him off yet.

 My mom's such a good sport! She still came & played a few games through a migraine!

She looks tired, but she was still a blast to be with! She loves her little puppy!

 More Bella.

 Sean served a mission in Korea & wanted to make the family a Korean dinner while we were all together. It was amazing.

 More puppy time.

I'd be embarrassed that I love these dogs so much, except I'm not embarrassed about it at all.

They're so photogenic.

 My parents showing me how to use FaceTime.

A low point in your life is having to be shown how to use FaceTime by your parents.

Plus, they're just really awesome, obviously.

 Bella wasn't feeling well for the last part of the week so she enjoyed using the baby bump as a pillow as we all chatted about baby names!

We like to party like it's 1999 with homemade ice cream & settlers. 

 This was also before the reception.

Our little stacking russian dogs.

 Bella & her ball again.

I don't think I've written on my blog about how much this girl loves her tennis balls. Seriously, I laugh so hard when I think about it. She's been that way since she was a brand new puppy. When she was a month old she'd grab the huge tennis ball in her teeth & throw it for herself. She still does that.

 The bridge right by where my parents live.

Have I mentioned TN is gorgeous?

 My parents' back yard. It's grown out a little bit here, but my little brother does the most amazing mow jobs for them. he likes to mow diagonal designs into the yard. It's pretty cool & fancy!

 Bug man ready to take over the world.

With his trusty sidekick.

Maisey is always begging for me to take a picture of us. I maybe have 100 on my phone.

She is the cutest little thing!

  Saturday we left for Louisville for my cousins' mission farewell. It was so good to get more time with my Uncle Ron & Aunt Julie & cousins, too! James is serving a mission in California! We're so proud of him!

It was a gorgeous drive. I-65 drives through gorgeous parts of the country!  On our way up we stopped in town for some Venetian Salad Rolls at Pei Wei! 

Thank you Mom & Dad for being so sweet & treating me!

We were stuffed afterwards! Also, I have a terrible track record w/ car/plane motion-sickness since I've been pregnant. I did not lose my Venetian salad roll on the side of I-65 & I did not feel miserably sick the whole time! I was happy happy happy.

 Also, that baby continued growing while I was gone. I'm freaking out a little with how fast she's growing. HELP!

It's so exciting, but HELP! She's going to run out of womb!

I love my mom!

It was an amazing trip & I had so much fun getting such great time with my family!  Grandmother wasn't pictured, but she was there for all the games/partying as well! I love her!

I am happy to be back in Utah solely because Weston is here. I might not have come back if I didn't have a husband here right now! hahah! I'm only half kidding.

I am counting down til I get to move back.

Sometimes I wonder if I'm just painting a "grass is greener" picture in my mind & remind myself that I need to love my time in Utah, too. I really do enjoy living here now that we've moved to Salem & I enjoy being surrounded by Weston's family, but it's not a "grass is greener" situation in my mind...it really is greener & I cannot wait til the day to live close to my family again. Now that my sister has left Utah & I'm the last one right here, I am feeling homesick & missing them more than ever.  I cannot wait to move there. It seriously feels like Christmas being able to actually live near my family again. I told Weston on our first date that I do not plan on staying in Utah (I had found that Utahans don't really leave here & I always told the guys that I dated that were from Utah that I don't plan on staying here, just so it's fair that if we got married that I fully intend to move back to TN still!) Luckily for me, Weston loves the green & tolerates his in-laws (:D) & is excited for our new chapter as well. Of course, he'll miss his family & the mountains, though. I am just so excited it's actually happening.

Weston asked me about how I'm feeling about moving back to TN after visiting again & if I'm still as excited to move back. I told him I couldn't believe I could get more excited, but that trip just sealed the deal for me. I am so ready to move back & excited to be back in my stomping grounds with familiar faces & places!

This wasn't meant to be a post all about my excitement to move back, but honestly, I can't wait.