Weekend Warrior

There are many things I love about my husband. One thing I particularly like is the fact that Justin is a weekend warrior. One place you will never find Justin is sitting around the house on the weekend. He's always looking for something fun to do, and new adventures to pursue. This past weekend was no exception.

A few months ago, Justin signed up to take a dental CE course in Provo, Utah. He chose this particular CE course mainly because it included a Harley Davidson ride up Provo Canyon. When he initially planned the trip, we discussed the possibility of driving to Utah, and making it a family vacation. However, since the trip fell on the weekend before the last week of school, and I didn't want to have the boys miss their end-of-the-year celebrations, I decided that the kids and I would just stay home.

Thursday morning arrived, and Justin's flight was scheduled to leave at 2pm. I woke up Thursday morning with an epiphany. Justin's younger brother, Bryan is staying at our house, looking for a house and a job here in Missouri. Why couldn't he watch the boys while I took Eden and flew to Utah with Justin?! I ran the idea past Bryan, and he agreed to watch the boys. Then I purchased a plane ticket, packed my bags, picked Justin up from work, and we drove to the airport!

We stayed at my sister, Brenda's house. Eden had a blast getting to know her Utah cousins.

My mom was in town staying at my sister Belinda's house. I surprised them Thursday night right before attending a jr. high choir concert featuring my darling niece, Morgan. It was so fun to hear her sing!

Late Thursday night, after Eden was in bed, Justin and I snuck off to visit Mark and Erin Summerill, where Erin attempted to give me a crash course in photography 101 while she and her husband entertained us thoroughly with lots of funny stories and good conversation. It was certainly fun to see them and their beautiful family!

Friday morning, I went to the park with my mom and my sisters. It was just fun to hang out with my awesome family. I love them to death!
That afternoon, Erin picked me up and gave me a ride to Provo so I could meet up with Justin for the Harley ride up the canyon. We stopped by the BYU bookstore on the way, and before we knew it, we were running a little behind schedule and felt compelled to run from the bookstore to the parking lot, jump in the van and pull away...only we didn't get very far because one of Erin's tires was COMPLETELY FLAT!!! Erin quickly pulled out her cell phone and called her mom, who quickly came...not to help Erin change her flat tire, but to drive me to where Justin was taking his CE course so that I wouldn't be late for the Harley ride! I can't tell you how much I love these people.

I got to the CE course only to find out that Justin still had another 45 minutes of class left before we could pick up our Harley. It was a good thing, too, because in the midst of the flat tire frenzy, I had forgotten my camera in Erin's van...something I would definitely need for the Harley ride. I snagged the keys to the rental car from Justin and drove back to BYU to find Erin. She had already changed the flat tire and was at the Creamery on 9th, so I decided to join her for an ice cream cone before going back to meet Justin for the Harley ride.

Justin and I met at the Harley dealership and got right to work. First off, we needed to pick out some jackets. After trying on every bad-ass jacket in the store, we walked out wearing these:



Then we picked out our bike:

And drove up Provo Canyon to Heber where we ate a delicious meal at Claim Jumper:

The Harley ride was so much fun! I absolutely LOVED the bike we were on. The back seat was seriously like riding in a Lazy boy up the canyon. I just sat back with my camera, taking pictures the whole way.



Usually, when I'm on the back of a motorcycle, I'm too afraid for my life to really enjoy the ride, but this time was totally different. I had such a blast! I can't wait to do it again!

On Saturday, I went yard sale-ing with Brenda, and then we picked up Mom, Belinda and all of the kids and went to Chuck-E-Cheese! It was fun!





That afternoon, I picked Justin up from his class and we met up with some of Justin's fun aunts and uncles for dinner at Tepenyaki's. That was awesome! Our chef was very entertaining and the food was delicious! Thanks Phillip, Leeanne, Rick & Rocky for a great evening!



We flew home Sunday morning. When we pulled into our driveway, three clean, happy, well-cared-for boys came running to meet us. We walked in to find the house immaculately clean, the table set, and a delicious meal waiting for us. Let me just report that if you're ever in need for an amazing nanny/chef/housekeeper for the weekend, Justin's little brother is the one to call! Bryan, you are the best! Thank you SO MUCH for taking such good care of our crew while we were away! (Brock spilled the beans on Bryan after we got home, reporting that Bryan had thoroughly "spoiled" them while we were gone. Could we really expect anything less?)

So, I'm married to a weekend warrior, which makes life a constant adventure. Now, I can't wait to see what we'll do next weekend!