Mini Reunion, Temple Sealing, and Couples Getaway!

This last weekend Adam and I had the unique opportunity of taking off for a little weekend JUST the two of us. One of our favorite couples in the singles ward Jon & Shy invited us to their temple sealing and it just so happened to be up in Rexburg Idaho, very near to where my mission President and one of my very favorite mission senior couples live. So we decided to make a weekend of it and go and visit the Strongs and Wildings as well as go support our friends Jon and Shy at their sealing. We were able to leave Provo Friday afternoon and then dropped the kids off at my Mom and Dad’s in Alpine (Thanks you again Mom and Dad. We sure love you!) From there Ad and I headed up to Layton and then stopped for a quick bite to eat at Mimi’s Cafe. We got the traditional Roast Beef meal with mashed taters and loved it. Then we were off again for the long trek up to Rexburg. We sang along to John Denver on the way, and then Adam subjected me to some of his beloved Korean music! ha ha. I only lasted through about 6 songs of that and begged him for something more mellow. 🙂 We got to Rexburg just before 10 pm and then stayed up another hour looking at maps of the Wind Rivers and talking about backpacking trips.

Saturday morning the Wildings had put together a little get together for us and invited my Mission President and his wife over for a big breakfast. It was SO very wonderful having all of us together again. The Wildings made us a feast too with pancakes, homemade syrup, eggs, hashbrowns, fresh raspberries and huckleberries, and sausage. They sure are great and were the BEST cooks on the mission too. Everyone looked forward to their homemade meals every zone conference. They always made them so special for us. After breakfast we caught up on all the news from the mission and all the missionaries we had served with and then went out back for some pictures, and to see the Wildings amazing garden. Not only are they amazing at growing fruit and vegetables, but they had an absolutely beautiful flower garden as well. Someday I would love to go up and spend a few weeks with them just learning the art of how they do it all.

The Wildings Garden

AMAZING!

I love that Adam loves these special people just as much as I do!

Sister Strong, me, & Sister Wilding walking through the garden

President and Sister Strong

After our little reunion we packed up our car and then headed off for the temple for Jon and Shy’s sealing. It was an absolutely beautiful sealing and Jon and Shyanne looked so VERY Happy and BEAUTIFUL! Afterwards I was able to interview a few friends from the wedding and captured most of the advice and counsel from the sealer for Jon and Shy to remember. This was one of my most precious gifts received at my wedding, and I like to pay that little gift forward as often as I can.

The beautiful new couple!

From there we took off for lunch our friends Justin and Paul (also from the singles ward and up for the wedding) stopped at Quiznos for some broccoli soup in a bread bowl and pita sandwhiches and then went to Wendy’s where Justin and Paul were eating. The conversation was great and Paul and I had a good time razzing Justin about how not all sports have to be contact sports to be considered a sport. He was convinced that Tennis and Volleyball were NOT sports, because there is no physical contact, and yet for some reason Golf, and Track WERE sports, even though they also had no physical contact. We all got a good laugh out of it and love being able to tease Justin. He’s a great sport.

After lunch we parted with Justin and Paul and Adam and I headed up to the Rexburg cemetery to find Adam’s Great Grandpa Felix’s headstone. We had to go to two different cemeteries to find it, but we eventually did and took some pictures to document his birth and death date. Then it was off for the last leg of our adventure. In order to make our weekend just that much more memorable I had previously booked us a hotel room at the Marriot in Ogden and surprised Adam with it that night. We didn’t get there until fairly late, around 8 pm, and then after some “alone time” ahem…we decided to go and catch a movie at the Megaplex nearby. We ordered a BBQ chicken pizza from the Pizza factory and then eat the pizza while watching Hancock.

Adam being Goofy!

All in all it was a wonderful weekend spent with friends we love and was just what Adam and I needed to recoup and reconnect. Thanks again to everyone who helped make the trip possible. To the Wildings who generously invited us to their home and provided us with the best Bed and Breakfast this side of Idaho. To the Strongs who came and spent time with us on their busy Saturday, to the Skalski’s who invited us to share in their special day, to Paul and Justin for giving us a good laugh, to my parents for taking the boys. We sure love ya all and count ourselves blessed to have you in our lives.