big jet plane

in the ongoing saga of what might be the worst travel karma ever (in other words, mine), when i flew to utah last week i missed my connecting flight thanks to a delay in d.c. and ended up spending the night in phoenix.

but not before i had a major emotional breakdown at the front desk of the drury inn. poor rick tried to soothe me with a pool-view room, but i am sorry to say there was nothing much that could be done.

i am back off to utah in a few hours, this time for a planned-ahead trip for doobie's wedding, and a mother's day rendezvous with the mama bear, and i am keeping my fingers crossed that things go a little more smoothly.

but, i am bringing extra snacks just in case.

... then comes marriage

are you still there? have you been waiting long? can you forgive me for being slow and absent and neglectful? do you want to see a bunch of pictures of ck's wedding?

it was a gorgeous, wonderful, sunny, happy wedding. just like i knew it would be. it was also a chaotic, exhausting, full-of-hilarious-mishaps wedding. just like i knew it would be.

carl and ck were not on time for anything, except for the ceremony. a brother-in-law and several flower girls went missing in the morning and couldn't be reached because said brother-in-law has a swiss cell phone that no one could get through to because none of the phones in the house were working. i spent two days before the wedding delivering gift bags to out-of-town guests, showing up at a series of random houses as well as hotels where said out-of-town guests were not actually staying. none of the tuxedos for the little nephews fit, so everyone traded up to the next oldest nephew and then the littlest baby got wrapped up in the biggest jacket for the pictures.

and the pictures. oh man. with six siblings on one side, three on the other, plus spouses, parents, nieces, nephews, 14 bridesmaids and some groomsmen as well, and with everyone running late from the temple to the luncheon and from the luncheon to the reception, pictures were a mad and mostly dysfunctional dash and i am pretty sure there is a small child crying, frowning or sticking out his or her tongue in just about every one.

but it was a day so full of joy and celebration that none of that seemed to matter even one little bit. carl and ck both cried like babies at the altar as they were being sealed. i have seen lots of friends get married over the years, but i am not sure i have seen friends as in love and happy to be with each other as these two are. and, honestly, i could not be happier for them. i have known both carl and ck for a long time now, and i think that each of them is one of the best people there is. and the best deserve the best. and that is what they both got. i think it speaks volumes about carl and ck and the kind, loyal, giving way they live their lives that literally hundreds of people were willing to come from all around the country and the world to celebrate with them on such a happy day. i am certainly glad i was there to share it.

and now, millions of pictures!























we ate gelato and crepes and fought over the tossed bouquet and danced the night away and furiously packed ck's honeymoon suitcase, and then the lovebirds were off. (had carl known how much ck was going to pack, perhaps he would have rented a larger car.) and then, though i think we all hated to see the day end, we dragged ourselves away. i, at least, left a little happier than i had been when the day started, with a little more faith in love.

rocky mountain hi(gh)

my first order of business is to inform you that sallee and i rode our bikes for 60 miles on saturday, in three hours and 18 minutes, which we both agreed was a) a personal best and b) a miracle.

in other words, baby birthing and poor training and every other obstacle aside, not only did the little red riding hood not kill us, but we killed it.

and, as usual, it was totally awesome. mostly because the little red riding hood means hours of pedaling and talking and singing john denver with sallee, which i could do every day of the week and not get sick of it. the weather was also perfect, the rest stops were well-stocked with chocolate and red vines and peanut butter sandwiches and delicious diet coke and, in a stroke of amazing luck, emdawg was at the finish line. that's two out of three times she has met us at the finish line of this ride. and that is friendship. plus, we got crowns.

i think i have mentioned before that the little red riding hood totally changed my life when we first did it four years ago and it was really fun to be back and to think about doing that ride for years to come, some day soon with our own little girls in tow. (we figure baby claire can do 18 miles by the time she is two years old. right?)

and, as if that wasn't enough, i managed to squeeze in a few other things during my 50 hours in utah.

like, lunch at greek souvlaki and dinner at mazza with the grandparents and uncle john. some of my most favorite food.

and a bonfire and s'mores with some of my favorite grown-ups and one of my favorite babies, kyle, who is not a baby anymore at all, but who is running around and saying words and generally slaying with his adorable-ness. holly and evan taught him how to say my name ("fwancie!") and my heart almost melted.

plus, for my other main event, i got to meet ms. claire and snuggle her and sing to her and change her diaper and feed her bottles and tell her about all the things we are going to do together and see her be blessed and then eat delicious pulled pork and eclairs (get it?) and homemade root beer to celebrate. oh, and don't worry, sallee and i wore the same dress to the blessing. great minds and all of that.

and then, almost as soon as i got there, it was time to go home. this happened when i picked up claire to say good-bye.



i felt the same way.

pedal pushers

i leave tomorrow morning for utah and the little red riding hood bike ride and so, fueled by last minute training panic, i have spent most of my time this week in spinning classes.

don't worry if you thought the little red was still a couple months away. so did i. obviously.

jaron suggested that i try to take over my spin classes, a la dwight schrute.



i opted for panting and panicking and praying that my head/heart/soul/will to live would not explode instead.

but, i think i am ready to go! sallee and i are approaching this year as a rebuilding year (cause sea-level dwelling for me and birthed a baby two months ago for her), so the motto is, ride until we want to stop, and then eat a bunch of candy. definitely something i can get behind.

wish us luck!

(and if you live in salt lake, come celebrate our survival saturday night with s'mores in sallee's backyard. i'd love to see you, and we'll let you praise us all you want.)

in our lovely deseret

in order to avoid turning this blog into one of those travelogue testimonies, i won't recount a play-by-play of every detail of my trip to salt lake.



i will tell you that taylor lautner/jacob black's abs are worth every minute you have to spend in a theater full of screaming 13-year-old girls.



i will also tell you that it made my heart happy to be back in a familiar place with all these familiar faces.


















{just for the record, this snow did not make my heart happy in the least. but, on the upside, my campaign to convince sallee and nathan to name their baby-on-the-way frances is off to a good start.}


and, of course, i am always happy to see true love.








but most of all, i would like to tell you that, though i loved being back in salt lake, i also felt that i don't belong there anymore. the place and the people will always be in my heart, but my home is somewhere else.

and it feels pretty good.

out-of-towners

are you ready for this?

i am leaving tomorrow for a quick trip to salt lake.

if you are thinking that my life lately has been a little absurd, then i agree.

but, i am also pretty stoked to be back in the slc for a few days.

i just want to warn you, though, i don't think there will be much time for blogging while i am there. i think i am going to be too busy eating a sandwich from toasters and going to d.i. and cuddling my babies and hanging out with my grandma and watching "new moon" with sallee on opening night (!!!) and kicking it with cousins and getting my hair cut and catching up with old co-workers and having FOE and letting myself in through elliott's back door and going to family gathering and having brunch at the blue plate diner and maybe even getting my nails done and sleeping somewhere in there.

and, of course the main event: dating girl and the case of le marriage.

i think you can see it is going to be a pretty busy few days. but, there is always room for more fun! so if you are my friend and you live in salt lake and you are reading this right now, you should call me.

if you are my friend and you don't live in salt lake and you are reading this right now, you should still call me some time.

and if you are not my friend and you are reading this right now, i guess i don't know what to say.

coming around banff mountain

i haven't formed many traditions in my (albeit brief) adulthood, but one thing i have done without fail, every year since moving to salt lake, is attend the banff mountain film festival world tour, which was back in town tonight and in top form.

it was an evening of amateur adventure films took us all over the world, and inside passions and experiences we (or at least, i) will probably never have. (i might be underestimating myself here, but i don't think extreme ice climbing is in my near, if ever, future.) i do have to say there seems to be an increasing number of heavy-handed eco-conscious films in the festival, which is sort of obnoxious (sorry greenland, but there's a time and a place. you know?), but this year's festival still had some egdy adventure gems.

free solo rock climbing in the czech republic with no chalk, hardware or shoes? check.

a first time ascent up a gnarly jagged mountain in patagonia in the winter? check.

back country skiing down sheer rock faces? in the dark? check. check.

and, i am pleased to report, i also have a new lady-crush: bettina, who traversed the arctic ocean from russia to canada via the north pole. that's right. though, i am sorry to report her trip was cut short by that pesky global warming. or, "global melting," as her pony-tailed husband called it. they were stuck in the middle of melting and shifting ice floes for days before finally finding a place where a plane could land and take them to safety.

"we are alive," the husband concluded, "but the arctic is dying."

not to worry, though, al and leo are on the case. or so i hear.

hip to be square

i broke one of my personal cardinal rules and ventured south of 3300 south on friday night with heather and cindy(mindypindy), to attend the opening of a non-alcoholic bar in provo, which is just as bizarre as it sounds. the drinks served at non-alcoholic bars, from what i can tell, are various mixtures of different kinds of (soda)pop with limes and sometimes sugar, which are just as delicious (or not) as they sound. if you're into club soda, it just might be your scene.

the really bizarre thing, though, was the overwhelming presence of hipsters. i was, literally, almost paralyzed by the coolness, not to mention my lack of it. there were knit caps and artistic scarves and skater shoes and discussions about indie bands everywhere, and i seriously thought i might get eaten alive by a pair of skinny jeans. i was scared. very scared. i had no idea that this provo even existed. since when do kids in p-town smoke and wear leather? it was all news to me.

after the non-bar opening, we headed over to the hip, cool, new restaurant in town, where you sit on cubes (or rather, hunch, since there is no way to have good posture on those things, and the fact that they are on wheels doesn't help anything) and eat the world's smallest portions of food on the world's hugest dishes. one of the girls at our table said it was just like being in san francisco. i beg to differ. it was more like being inside a satire, except no one was in on the joke. it was incredibly weird. and reminded me of why i have that 3300 south rule in the first place.

so, i gave it a shot, but i think it's safe to say that i won't be venturing back to provo any time soon. the good news is, heather and cindy(mindypindy) are excellent company. and the whole thing seems pretty funny now that the p(rovo)t(raumatic)s(tress)d(isorder) has worn off. (clever, eh? i love that joke.)

a bicycle built for three

when sallee and nathan got engaged i told nathan that, as the person losing my best friend, i thought i deserved some sort of consolation prize. i mean, she got a diamond (not to mention a husband) out of the deal, right? a ring for me seemed like a totally reasonable request. and i was clear that cubic zirconia was fine.

being the amenable fellow that he is, nathan was happy to go along with my request (ok, it was more like a demand) and presented me with a ring(pop) that was not only beautiful but delicious, and turned my tongue and lips a very alluring shade of red. what a guy.

i was also pretty clear that there was going to be a lot of "the three of us" going on (in a strictly non-adulterous kind of way) as i have no qualms about being the tag-along. true to form, nathan was on board for that as well.

and so, for our first triple date since the vows were said, sallee, nathan and i went on a little bike ride yesterday. we met up just west of the airport, did a little bike maintenance...



and rode out to saltair. nathan hung back for a while, keeping our pace, before finally giving up and speeding ahead in what sallee calls "tour de france mode." this involves, among other things, leaning low over the handlebars with a look of intense concentration.

the ride itself is just gorgeous, along some salt flats and the shore of the great salt lake, and the time of day was absolutely perfect. thanks to nathan's speediness, and our attempts to keep up with him, we finished the 21 miles in a little more than an hour, arriving back at the cars just as the sun was dipping under the horizon.



the best part of the night, though, was catching up with my favorite marrieds. i usually have a pretty strict "married people are dead to me" friend rule, but i think i'll keep these two around.