White Wedding

I'm not really sure where the first half of November has gone, but some of it went to a quick trip to Utah for my brother's wedding, which was pretty fun and a nice break from the death by training that's been going on at work. I flew out last week Thursday. And let's talk about this for a minute. Through Thursday of last week Utah had been having absolutely gorgeous weather. And Virginia had been having really, really cold weather. This is what happened starting Friday morning:

It was snowy and cold pretty much the whole time I was in Utah. Wanna know what the weather was like in Virginia while I was in Utah? Gorgeous. Wanna know what the weather was like when I came back? Cold. Cold, cold, cold. I swear Winter is messing with me.

ANYWAY, so I went to Utah for my brother's wedding. Friday was a lot of getting ready for the wedding, but before that, I stole Loo and we went to visit one of my dear friends who I hadn't seen in years and years. She's got an adorable little family now, and a busy and awesome sounding life, and it was a delight to spend some time with her catching up.

Then Loo and I did a quick spot of shopping during which I somehow got conned into buying more sweaters than I set out too, and we bought the happy couple a sausage and cheese basket, because it seemed somehow appropriate.

On Friday night there was a pizza party for the families, because, well, none of us had ever met Bearded Brother's fiancee before. So we ate and laughed and then we played Two Truths and a Lie and laughed even more. There were a lot of people, because, big families, but it was fun, and Bearded Brother and Fiancee seemed happy.

And then it was the wedding on Saturday. Which was lovely. Here are some pictures.

 

Saturday after the wedding we put my Aunt's house back together and then pretty much just chilled for the rest of the evening, which was really nice after all the work of the wedding. When I get married, I'm going to pay someone else to do all of it. Seriously.

On Sunday I got to spend the whole day with Momma Bear and the kiddos! Their sacrament meeting (worship service) was put on by the children and it was adorable. And then we spent the rest of the day chilling at home. The kids showed off their sweet dance moves and we had yummy food, and caught up on life and stuff and it was super fun. The Bear family is pretty cute:

Getting home on Monday was kind of an ordeal. I spent a lot of time trying to find someone to pick me up from the airport, to no avail, and eventually decided that I would just take a cab, which in the end turned out to be a good choice because I landed about two hours later than anticipated. I'm usually okay with delays because, meh, they happen, but these seemed particularly ordealish, probably because I was rushing from one plane to the next, and so grabbed a really, really disappointing sandwich to eat since I was super hungry and thought I was pressed for time. And also because a good hour of the delay was spent in the airplane on the runway. Nothing worse than that "so close, and yet so far" feeling while being squished in a puddle hopper. But, I made it home and back to more training. Whee!

Anyway, welcome to the family to my brother's new wife. I'll come up with an adorable blog moniker for you eventually!

The Epic (By Which I Mean Very Long) Conclusion to My East Coast Road Trip Report

Now that I am all settled in (at a friend's house for three-ish weeks until I can move into my place), it's probably time to tell you all about the awesome things I've been doing. I stayed in Virginia until Monday morning (2 July) and then drove all day to Vermont to visit the old pops. I eshewed driving the Jersey Turnpike on the way up and instead took some other highways through Pennsylvania and upstate New York. It was during this drive that I lived a moment of sheer joy, cruising the back highways of Vermont with perfect summer evening weather, the windows rolled down, and singing my heart out to Sarah Evans' "Stronger." Seriously. Bliss.

Vermont is gorgeous. We -- being myself, Pops, and Twerpy Teenage Brother who had spent the previous week with my dad -- spent Tuesday just chilling around the ranch. I went running in the morning, and then there was some lunch in town, and some swimming in the river, and some bike riding. During the aforementioned bike ride I was bitten by a horsefly. My advice: do not get bitten by a horsefly. They are nasty buggers. This one literally drew blood when it bit me and my arm swelled up around the bite and it was sore and itchy, and I still have a little bit of a bump from the bite, though it's finally almost gone.

Wednesday was the 4th of July (as you may recall.) I went on a run in the morning, and then we headed into town for the parade.

Most of the participants were throwing candy, but one threw cheese. Vermont sharp cheddar, YUM!

Bernie Sanders showed up just in time to march in the parade. And he shook my hand.

And here's the cutest kid on a tractor you will ever see.

After the parade we chilled out in the park for a while listening to this band play old timey music that was awesome. This lady was playing a saw:

And then we headed over to a ski resort called Sugarbush for festivities and fireworks. We became somewhat concerned, though, when a huge thunderstorm crawled in later in the evening. I don't know if you can tell from this picture but it was crazy amounts of rain:

Don't worry, though, it cleared up in time for some awesome fireworks:

On Thursday morning, we got all packed up and went to Maine! This was the part of the trip that I had been most looking forward too. Pre-automobile accident, I was scheduled to spend a week camping by myself at Acadia National Park, and I was VERY much looking forward to it. Then my crash got in the way of that, but at least seeing Maine was a priority for me for this trip, so instead, Pops, TTB, and I made reservations at a place called Sagadahoc Bay, which is just south of Georgetown.

I did a TERRIBLE job of taking pictures in Maine. Thursday night was pretty chill: setting up camp, burgers for dinner, campfire, heart to heart sibling bonding talk with TTB. Friday morning I went running, and then TTB and I somehow ended up pretty much by ourselves all day. We spent the morning playing out in the bay as the tide was coming in. Then there was a store run, because we forgot to bring marshmallows. The store happened to have a bit of an ice cream shop so we got Maine Blueberry Ice Cream cones, and BOY HOWDY! were they delicious. Then we found a secluded beachy area and covered the whole thing in silly drawings and stuff. At one point everyone laid down to get their outlines traced, and then the outlines were filled in with BBQ Magician, Lady Sherriff at Bar C Ranch, and an Ancient Mermail. TTB has a very... interesting imagination.

That night we made some yummo pumpkin soup and roasted marshmallows:

As you can tell from the above picture, someone (I) was not careful about using sunscreen at all. TTB also roasted an oreo:

Don't roast oreos. It's not as good as you might think it would be. We left the campground on Saturday morning, and on our way to Boston to drop TTB off at the airport for his flight back home, we stopped at Cape Elizabeth to see the lighthouse:

And of course, we had to have some lobster rolls before we left Maine:

Also, this is why Twerpy Teenage Brother is called that:

(We also sometimes call him Bucktoothed, Nappy Haired Ginger because we're a kind and loving family like that.) After dropping him off, Pops and I spent the night in Rhode Island, so I could run there in the morning and add another state to my collection of States I Have Run In (my new life goal is to run in all 50 before I die). Then we hopped on a ferry in Connecticut to head to Long Island in New York where my Uncle and his family live.

I was once again horrible with the picture taking. Pops and I wandered around Greenport where he grew up and were my Grandma, Great-Grandma, and another uncle are buried. They have a cute little destination downtown so that was fun, and we visited the graves and had a moment of silence. Then we pretty much hung around my uncle's house. Which was fun. I like my uncle and his family a lot. My aunt took me work clothes shopping, and we caught the last couple songs of a concert in the park, and we swam in the pool, and I did quite a bit of reading, and there was pasta and conversation and all kinds of goodness. I'm determined to spend more time with them now that they are much closer to me.

Finally, on Wednesday it was time to head back to Virginia. First, though, my uncle, cousin, her friend, and I headed in to New York City for a quick stop at the Museum of Modern Art. There's a lot of weird stuff in there, but there were also some really cool pieces. This one was one of my favorites:

And here's the city:

I can also add to my collection of experiences from this trip: driving in New York City. It's as crazy insane as you see on TV. I drove down 5th Avenue, and through Times' Square, and all of those downtown-y type areas. And I'm kind of proud of myself because I only got a teeny weeny bit stressy about it.

And now I am officially in Virginia. I start work on Monday, and I have to say that I am ready for it -- six weeks off sounded like WOW! SO MUCH FUN! and it was fun, but I'm ready to spend more than two or three nights in one place and to have a routine and most of all to cook my own meals and have time during which I am neither entertaining nor being entertained. I signed a lease on a sweet condo yesterday, which you will be hearing more about after I move in on the first and second of August. I'm definitely ready for this next chapter in my life.

Tahoe Family Weekend

Tahoe was the first part of a two part family vacation, with just Mom, the siblings, and I. We rented a nice cabin in South Lake Tahoe, with a lovely view of the Lake:

My trip started with a long flight to Utah and then the long drive with Bearded Brother, Married Sister, and Niece. Who, by the way, is adorable.

Bearded Brother decided to rock the 50, which is a long, lonely, twisty, slow road. We enjoyed it, but it took pretty much all day. Totally worth it for the chance to see Nephew for the first time since he was three months old:

We took vacation slow. I was up early several days and went out for morning runs, which metaphorically killed me between the altitude and the hills. Breakfast was usually around 10 or 11 am breakfasts and short early afternoon activities. On Friday we went on a bit of a hike, found a pond and sat around for a while:

Saturday we went to a mansion called Vikingsholm in Emerald Bay. Used to belong to rich old lady who thought the bay looked like Scandanavian fjords and went on a trip to Norway for design inspiration. Any pieces that she couldn't buy, she had replicated down to the last scratch. It was pretty cool, actually.

We are going to take a moment here and talk about the yummy, yummy food that we ate. The AAA's (Boat Brother, Sister-in-law, and Nephew) made a fantastic butter-garlic pizza with loads of squash and chicken and onion. I made my very favorite kale and sweet potato enchiladas. Bearded Brother grilled up some yummy tri-tip with homemade barbeque sauce. There were swedish pancakes and ice cream and milk and oreos, and chicken and waffles. If there's one thing the Lindgren's know how to do, it's eat well.

Anyway, then on Sunday we hung around the cabin, walked around down town, and took family pictures. It was lovely and relaxing.

On Sunday night we had a Celebrate Everybody's Birthday party with white elephant gifts, cake, and cookies. In a fun, weird how things turn out turn of events, the gifts all ended up with the person the gift giver thought would appreciate them the most.

It was really nice to get everyone together. I think it's been a good 4 years since all six siblings were in the same room, and I'm happy to say that those four years worked wonders on family dynamics, if you know what I mean. ;-)

Monday we said goodbye to Nephew, Boat Brother and Sister-in-Law, and the rest of us headed back to Utah for Family Vacation Part 2.