Busy wedding stuff!

Well, spring is in the air and its time for everyone to get married! :) At least it seems that way in our family. My little sister, Kathryn, got engaged and is getting married June 4th in Los Angeles. Tom's brother, Seth, just got married a couple weeks ago, so we are in the "wedding mood" for sure! haha!

We have been crazy busy traveling all over the country, too, for all these said weddings. Two weeks ago we flew to Chicago, then drove to Nauvoo for Seth and Jacquelyns wedding ceremony at the Nauvoo temple. It is only supposed to be about a 4.5 hour drive, but it turned into a six hour drive because those Penrose's were not "Road Trip Trained" by my dad! Haha! I was thinking, "Oh, a 4.5 hour drive, we dont' even need any stops....we'll make good time." Nope, we made TWO stops...one for lunch, one for bathroom. So it took us quite a while to get there. By the time we got there, everything was closed in Nauvoo since it is kind of "off season" and things aren't open all day like they are in the summer. I was pretty disappointed because even though we were in Nauvoo for 48 hours, the only thing we saw, literally, were buildings driving by and the Temple. The temple was pretty spectacular, but I was really looking forward to the brick factory, the blacksmith, the bakery, and the fudge place. Oh well...next time maybe?

So after 48 hours in Nauvoo, an endowment session, a marriage ceremony, and a wedding lunch, we were back on the road to Chicago. We spent two nights in Chicago then flew back to Los Angeles. All in all, we traveled 4,668 in one weekend. We left Wednesday night and got back Sunday night.

After working Monday, Tuesday, and part day Wednesday, we were back on the road to drive up to Utah for the wedding reception. No, they did not have a reception in Illinois, just in Utah a week later. So Wednesday we left and drove to Cedar City where we spent the night in the scariest little motel! Haha! :) It was only $40 so you can't beat that. We would have made pretty good time, except Ella decided to throw in a little surprise at a pit stop in Vegas. I went to change her diaper and there was massive destruction all in her clothes. Oh my goodness. I was only equipped with a single diaper, so I yelled out of the bathroom for Tom to come in. He hesitatingly entered the womens bathroom to which I yelled at him to run to the car get a change of clothes, a change of socks, wet wipes, and a towel. I then proceeded to strip Ella and give her a bath in the gas station sink. At least there was warm water! I had Ella soaking in one sink, and her poopie clothes soaking in another. All in all, it took about 45 minutes for me to rinse, soap off, and repeat, and dry off my child and her clothes. It was pretty frightening. Wow. My child owes me big time.

So by the time we got to Cedar City, it was around 1:00a.m. and we threw Ella, her clothes, and the car seat cover into the shower where Tom proceeded to scrub them all with bar soap till the smell was gone :) Haha! Good times....we then fell sleep and were on the road again in the morning. We drove up to Provo where we helped with wedding planning for the reception. Friday was the reception, which went off without a hitch! It was very fun! The music was great, the food was fabulous, and the company was pleasant.

The hardest thing about this little trip, though, was that Ella got REALLY sick with a cold that she caught in Nauvoo from another little girl that was NOT supposed to be around Ella :( Dana was supposed to babysit just Ella while we were in the endowment session and wedding ceremony, but at the last minute some of Seth's friends dropped off their SICK child for Dana to babysit, too! I was NOT pleased. So Ella caught that cold and had it full blown the next weekend at the reception. She was cranky, whiny, and tired all weekend. She wouldn't sleep, and she wouldn't eat...and she threw up at the reception from too much dancing. She ended the party in nothing but a diaper...but what can you do?!

After that sort of chaotic and tiring weekend, we were back on the road home to California. THANK GOODNESS! I am so traveled out! That little weekend trip was around 1400 miles, not including superfluous driving to and from places within Utah. Ella was pretty good on the drive home, except we got stuck in traffic and snow, which added another two hours onto our drive. Boo.

So over 7000 miles later, over $1000 in traveling expenses alone, and all of this in only two weekends, we are glad the trips are over for a while! Needless to say, we were THRILLED when we pulled into the driveway! Since we have been home, Ella has been a happy little camper, sleeping through the night AND eating all her food! Who can ask for more?! :)

So that has been our past couple weeks! Yeesh!