What a weekend.

Mike & I flew to Utah on Thursday evening for Ryan (BFF to Mike) & Whitney's (darling girl he met in NYC) wedding. It was a busy weekend, but filled with good things - friends, family, parties, mountains & fesh air.

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The groom. Mike & Ryan grew up together in New Cannan & were roommates senior year of BYU (although I may have been the cause of them not hanging out as often as they should have). Ryan's family hosted a dinner at the Joseph Smith Memorial Building on Friday evening. It was lovely.

Old friends from NYC - Troy & Mistie Scott.

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The view.
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Love birds.

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Where it all went down.

The boys. Matt Nelson, Ryan Howes, Kevin Konkos. Almost all grown up.
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The prettiest bride you've ever seen.

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Of course it was really windy. I don't know why I even bothered with a curling iron. A ponytail was inevitable, but it was otherwise a picture-perfect day.

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You know that picture? Outside the SLC temple that everyone takes? We were at the top. (Sidenote: That picture? The one that everyone who gets married at an LDS temple has? With everywhere who is important to you? Friends + family? Yeah- my photographer lost all of my temple pictures. Including that one. I try to not let the anger & bitterness consume me).

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Mike looked sharp.

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Up to Snowbird in between the ceremony & the reception. We rode the tram to the top. It was chilly (hooray for fall!), but beautiful.

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Just in time for Oktoberfest.
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Love this building.

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We stayed in Mapleton with Grandma Whiting. I loved this barn (& think it's ok that my picture is overexposed).

The cornfields made me sneeze, but I still love them.

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We were finally able to meet Baby Noah. He's beautiful, & doing so well. He's almost ready to go home.

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Other highlights from the weekend included:

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  Whitney & Ryan's reception in the courtyard of the Grand America. Absolutely stunning. Pictures couldn't do it justice, so I won't even try. My favorite part? The photo booth, complete with pictures we could take home. Or maybe the band playing old jazz songs. Or maybe the mashed potato bar. Or the absolutely perfect weather. Not my favorite part- my really, really cute shoes that weren't so comfortable 9 hours later.
  Seeing my beautiful sister Joanna (the supposed cute picture of us taken at Ruth's Diner made us both look sort of like monsters- & my underwear was showing. Classy.).
• Meeting up with our brothers who are both starting school in Provo - Bryan (BYU) for all-you-can-eat waffles at Kneader's, & Andrew (UVU) for lunch with his girlfriend Paige.
• BYU bookstore. I love that place.
• Seeing my mom for just a few minutes at Elizabeth's house, before Oscar (the dog) decided to run away, resulting in my tramping through fields & around the neighborhood in search of him just before we had to leave for the airport. Elizabeth finally found him.
• Watching the 20 or so wedding parties come out of the SLC Temple while we were taking pictures. That place is a total zoo. It was also remarkable how many of the brides were very blonde, very tan & very young (no offense to anyone who happened to be bleach-blonde, super tan & just-graduated-from-seminary young on their wedding day).

We didn't see everyone we wanted to see, nor did we see the people that we did get to see for long enough. It was a busy weekend with not a lot of sleep & a lot of running around. We got home past midnight last night & I'm off to Philadelphia this afternoon for about 30 hours. I'm tired (I'm still trying to make it through the day sans caffeine), but happy to have had such a nice weekend out west. It was a simply a weekend of good things - So good that Ryan & Whitney found each other, so good that my sister Joanna is such a talented & beautiful friend to me, so good that Baby Noah is doing so well, good that our brothers are venturing out as independent adults at college & managing to survive thus far (albeit one broken ankle). It was just nice.