The Whirlwind Wedding Weekend

This past week has been crazy. Part of it was supposed to be crazy because we made a quick trip to California for my sister-in-law's wedding. The rest of it was unexpectedly crazy, and maybe I'll write more about that later.

But for now... the wedding.

Back in April, my sister-in-law got engaged.

As you can see, I was there for the big moment. 

My sister-in-law (let's call her Amber) was trying to decide between a small beach wedding in California or a big ceremony at home in Utah. The only plan that was set in stone was that the wedding would be on November 25 - that date was chosen because it is the date that the boyfriend's (let's call him Tim) parents were married and their parents were married and their parents were married (or something like that - resulting in Tim being the 4th generation to marry on November 25).

Tim and Amber ended up deciding to have a big wedding in Utah - which goes against everything "Amber." So I wasn't surprised one bit when Amber changed her mind in September and decided to do the beach wedding after all. It felt much truer to what Amber needed, so I was on board. 

(Did I mention that Amber put me in charge of decorating the big Utah wedding? It was right when it was time to start buying stuff that Amber changed plans. Luckily I hadn't spent any money yet and had only started asking people about borrowing items). 

We ended up starting our wedding journey on Thanksgiving. Scotty's mom kindly held her dinner early (at 11:30) so we could eat at her house and get on the road by 1:30 (we didn't expect her to do this, she just did, even though we told her not to plan around us. It was very nice of her). We were able to pack some Thanksgiving leftovers in a cooler and have a second helping in our hotel room in Saint George that night. 

On Friday, we left Saint George around 8:00 a.m. to drive to California. We stopped hourly for potty breaks and ate turkey sandwiches in a gas station parking lot right outside of Vegas (I highly recommend traveling with Thanksgiving food). We also stopped to see the Seven Magic Mountains - which we claim we are going to stop and see every time we pass through Vegas, but we never actually do because there's usually a kid sleeping, so we just push through. 

Trying to explain to our kids that someone thought painting rocks and stacking them on top of one another in the desert would be a nice piece of art proved difficult, but Zoe was really excited and kept saying "Pink rocks! Pink rocks!"

We also stopped at White Castle because Scotty and I had never eaten at White Castle, and it seemed like a rite of passage of some sort.

I give White Castle two thumbs down. 

We ended up arriving in Costa Mesa around 3:00 pm. We got checked into our hotel and then took the kids to the pool. That night, we went to dinner with most of the family that had come to California for the wedding. 

We were so tired when we got back to our hotel that we all fell asleep by 9:00 (the next night we were even more tired, and we all fell asleep by 8:00).

On Saturday, our kids were up at 5:00 - much to our dismay. We hung out in the hotel as long as we could stand, and then we decided to drive past Disneyland just to be mean to the kids. We also stopped and had breakfast at Jack in the Box. 

The kids moaned and whined as we drove past Disneyland, and Scotty and I got a kick out of this cruel form of child torture. Then Zoe got revenge on us by barfing up her Jack in the Box tacos in the back seat. 

We pulled over and cleaned up the mess, then we headed to the beach (luckily Zoe was just car sick, so she recovered quickly and easily, and we didn't have any more problems). 

We played at the beach for most of the day. It was a little chilly when we first got there at 10:00 a.m, but it warmed up nicely. Back home, all our friends and family were waking up to the first snowfall of the season. 

After the day at the beach, we went back to our hotel and hung out in the hot tub for a while. Then we grabbed some food from Lee's Sandwiches and went to TeWinkle park for a picnic. 

We got there right as the sun was setting, and I was sad I didn't get to see the park in daylight. It was a fun, little place. There were squirrels everywhere, a fun playground, and duck ponds with waterfall features and bridges. There were also rocks to climb on and cool twisty trees. 

Sunday was the Big Day. I texted Amber early in the morning to confirm that she was still getting married (she said she would probably show up), and then we headed to the beach for the ceremony. 

The beach was really beautiful, and it was early in the morning, so the tide was still pretty high - resulting in the bride and half the guests (me included) getting splashed by a giant wave. The wedding was low-key, but really nice. It was intimate and simple - I think it was perfect for Amber. 

My family made posters in lieu of wedding decor:

After the ceremony, we took some photos and caught a crab. 

Let's just acknowledge how creepy sea creatures are. Daisy had a hard time touching the crab, but she ended up doing it. I, on the other hand, refuse to touch anything shelly or sideways-walking. 

Ew.

After the kids all touched the sea creatures, the beach patrol came and put out the signs that say we aren't allowed to touch the animals. Oops. 

After the wedding ceremony, we hiked back up to the paved land, and we loaded up our van and headed home. 

It was a fast trip, but Amber is officially married, and we loved having an excuse to make a little vacation out of it! Plus - turkey sandwiches on the road! Remember this!