Back in Utah

Well, we made it to Utah safely! We flew in Wednesday night, right in time for the festivities this weekend. There has been a bit of a paradigm shift in our family travel- suddenly I'm the one with all the flight benefits, and my dad isn't. Ever since I was little, my dad has traveled a lot for work and such, so he's always had priority access and other benefits. However, he has stopped traveling so much and doesn't have those benefits anymore, but I do cause I'm always on airplanes! Thank goodness too, because I don't think we could have gotten everything up to Utah without my free bags! We had three travelers, four (very large) checked suitcases, three carry-on bags, and two purses. We were a loaded bunch to say the least.

Thursday: Today I slept in a bit, then went to Paul's graduation. This was the main BYU ceremony at the Marriott Center on campus. It was quite the ceremony. Probably the most memorable part was the musical number. A Masters in music graduate played "Come, Thou Fount" on the flute and was accompanied by the piano. It was lovely, but that's not why it was memorable. About a third of the way through her song, the air conditioning turned on and blew her music right off the stand! Luckily she was very composed and picked up her music during an interlude (whether it was supposed to be an interlude or not, I'm not sure). Except, about 30 seconds later, it blew off again! I think she knew the song well enough to just play it without the music, but it's always nice to have the safety net of music on the stand. Everyone in the audience just died. We all wanted to run down and help her, but no one knew what to do! There was so much tension in the room, you could cut it with a knife. Finally, one of the graduates from all the way across the auditorium ran over and picked up her music, set it on the stand, and held it for the rest of the song. It was quite the save. After the meeting ended, we all went to Paul and Cortney's for fajitas (so delish).

The happy couple after graduation!

Friday: This morning was Paul's school graduation where he actually walked across the stage. It was only the School of Fine Arts and Communications, so the walking went pretty quickly. One thing that I was surprised by was the student presentations. They had one graduate from each of the specific sections of the school give a presentation or speech. There was a communications major, dancer, singer, graphic designer, and theater major. I quite enjoyed the presentations. After the graduation, we all took pictures, went to brunch at Magleby's Fresh, and then took naps and relaxed. Included in that was little jaunt on the scooter. Yes, the scooter. My parents bought a little scooter at the end of last summer, essentially for me to use up at school, but it didn't make it up to Utah until this past April. So, I decided it was high time for me to learn how to ride it in preparation for when I get back from Jerusalem and the weather gets nicer. A scooter is perfect in Provo cause BYU has such crowded parking, but there is always scooter parking available! So, Dad and I went out and drove the scooter around Chelsea's apartment complex and the parking lots surrounding. Everything was going really well... until I went back down to the parking garage. I was turning around in the garage, and the floor was a little slippery, and I was trying to brake, but my hand kind of got confused with the brake and the gas... so I crashed into one of the cement columns. Luckily I missed the car right next to it and hit the column instead, but the scooter did suffer the loss of a headlight. I think it can be fixed, but I just felt so bad that the first time I took out the scooter, I crashed it! I'm just glad that it was with my dad instead of me being by myself. Later in the evening, we went to dinner at Paradise Bakery. It is really yummy, but especially good since you get a cookie with your meal :) The classic chocolate chip are the best.

The Scooter before the "incident"

Saturday: Today was the big day: Caitlin's First Birthday Party! It was a "Pink Party" where everything was pink from the decorations to the cupcakes to the clothing (everyone was asked to wear pink on the invite). Cortney did such a great job planning and preparing everything. So many people came and halped us celebrate Caitlin's first year of life! It was quite the party. The cutest part was when we did cake. Cortney had made pink cupcakes based on the book "Pinkalicious", about a little girl who ate so many pink cupcakes that she actually turned pink! So, we had lots of little pink cupcakes, and Caitlin had one GIANT cupcake for herself! It was so cute to watch her dig into it and just destroy the cake. She is such a cutie! Cort asked me to take pictures during the party with her camera, so I had a good excuse to get up close and personal with the mess ;) I'm so glad that I was able to share this fun day with her! I love my little niece.