Let me begin for there is much to write about...
Due to the circumstances, I could only attend one wedding. A couple days beforehand, Elizabeth, my sister, and I drove to California to attend the Rackham wedding. We stayed with the Moorhead family (wonderful relatives) who treated us like royalty!
The day before the wedding, Elizabeth and I spent the entire day at Disneyland/California Adventures. She would be turning 18 the day of the wedding, so it was my job to make this birthday one she will always remember.
Although it had been more than 10 years since my last visit to Disneyland, I was still in love with Splash Mountain! Elizabeth was a fan too, so we rode it like 5 times. We kept getting back into the "single rider" line, which saved us a lot of time.
The wedding party was indeed a PARTY! Now if you know Dave Rackham, you know the definition of thoughtful and classy. However, let's not give him all the credit! He is this way because of his amazing family. I was so impressed by this family, and specifically, Dave's parents. They've done an incredible job raising their family. Oh, and the siblings knew how to push Dave's buttons. They still make me laugh just thinking about them.
By the way, Dave said I could not date his new sister-in-law (Corinne, seen with me above) because there is an "age gap". It's fine, she's only 16 years old. Come on, Dave!
(I'm kidding)
This picture portrays one of the happiest moments of my life. I was invited to stand in the wedding line. Alright, I'll admit...I'm an extreme extrovert. If there is energy in the room--I absorb it. This is what happened while standing in the line (see proof above). I tried soo hard to bottle it up.
Because the day of the wedding landed on a Friday, Elizabeth and I spent the following day hanging out in Southern California. We started the day off by taking a hot air balloon ride in Orange County. Get this...it was free!
Next, the Moorhead's gave us a couple passes for Go Kart racing. Nothing is better than a bit of sibling rivalry. Elizabeth almost beat me. Afterward, we hit up the beach and then an Angels game (thanks again to Mike and Mary Moorhead).
After being married for only 5 months, Nick and Tasha happily ran their first marathon together. Oh yeah, did I mention they didn't even train for it?! A couple months before, I was in trouble for trying to "motivate" them. I seriously need to rework my approach because it had the opposite effect. They no longer need to be motivated because (a) they're running a half marathon this weekend, and (b) Tasha has already signed up for 5 marathons next year!
Along with our dad, the Nelson brothers reunited a couple weeks ago in Chicago. South Bend is a two hour drive from Chicago. In the above picture, I'm sporting a Kentucky hat. President Estes, my mission president, had given me his old Kentucky hat a couple weeks prior, making me promise to wear it at a future BYU football game. Faithfully, I wore it on the plane, in the car, and at the game. I keep my promises. It seems like EVERYONE arrives 2-3 hours early for pre-game festivities. We ate lunch at Panera Bread (one of four times that weekend) and made a quick stop at Dollar Tree. It sounds disgusting now but we spent $22.40 on candy. While traveling, my dad is known for saying, "I'm on vacation. Let's splurge!"
Anyway, BYU lost to undefeated Notre Dame (now currently ranked #3) by only three points! It came down to the wire but BYU couldn't clinch it. Although BYU lost, it was well worth the trip. Attending BYU football games has been a family tradition for about three decades. My hats off (literally in this picture) to my parents who started this tradition not realizing it would bond our family for decades and (most likely) decades to come!
After church the following day, we checked out Northwestern University (where my dad went to school) and University of Chicago (where my cousin, Richard Painter, is currently attending). I love the Painters! Both Coulson and Kristen Painter have attended BYU the same time as me. I've noticed something. Whenever someone finds out that my cousins are the Painters, their respect for me immediately grows. Everyone in that family is remarkable, something noticeable by all who know them.
It's almost been 10 years since I went trick-or-treating myself. Yeah...I was that 16-year old who drove his car collecting free candy. So embarrassing! This monster (my nephew) belongs to Cam and Ashley. Looking forward to hanging out with the three of them for Thanksgiving!
Special thanks to my friend, Makenzie Johnson, who encourages me to keep blogging.
