Busy Busy...

This week has been packed - but the good kind of packed. Unfortunately, Chris and I ended up getting sick halfway through the week. That didn't make work fun, but we got through it ok. I try not to wait until the end of a busy week to post because it ends up rather lengthy, but here it is anyway! 

On Sunday we ate dinner at my parents' house. Two of the grandkids were there, which is always fun. Lance, the little one, walks around saying, "hug, hug" when he misses his mom. As if he's asking you to comfort him - it's too cute. Here is Chris with Lance and Cessna.

On Monday I went with my friend Danielle to get pedicures. We have a new goal to go once a month and try to new places. We went to Happy Nails on 3rd south and 2nd east. Bad idea. Not 

a great experience. Our toes were nicely painted (just one solid 

color, which is all they offered - no french tips or anything), but our feet weren't necessarily softer, which is the entire point of the pedicure, right? 

Here's Danielle after her pedicure. Do you love the pink walls? Did I mention that it was probably about a hundred degrees in there? We were roasting. Danielle was fit for the part - she had on her comfy work-out clothes and still looked gorgeous.

Anyway, we made ourselves feel better by heading to Paradise Bakery for dinner. So worth it. :)

On Tuesday we took our good friends Ali and Andrew out 

to dinner. They are moving in a couple of weeks to South Carolina, and they will be missed. Their little family is so cute and we were happy to take them out. Thanks again, guys! We had never been to the Cheesecake Factory, and might I say - INCREDIBLE. Everything we ordered was so good! I was pleasantly surprised, and we will be going

 there again.

Eliza happily eating a mountain of fries ordered just for her. Lucky girl. Funny thing - she ate more than all of us. The after picture of that plate wouldn't have been much to see.

Eliza and Ali

Myself, Chris and Andrew

Chris with Eliza after the meal

Wednesday was supposed to be fun - we planned a BBQ with friends to watch SYTYCD, but this is about when our sickness hit. Alas, we were doomed to stay in and watch it alone. :( I pretty much cried myself to sleep after the disappointment of not having two of our greatest friends over. We missed you, Jenny and Bryant (sniff, sniff).

Thursday was another long day at work, but that evening was the 

rehearsal dinner for my cousin Jessica and her fiance Brad, who were married on Friday. It was at This is The Place park, at the Atkin home. It's really pretty up there - I'm not sure I had ever been there before. We had dinner and enjoyed the entertainment provided by my crazy uncles, Marin and Troy. Their singing happens rarely anymore - it used to be every family gathering they'd sing, but that tradition has somehow trickled off. I love it when they do, though.

My dad, mom, Marin and Margo

Brad and Jessica

Me and Jessica

Angela and me

Jessica and her best friend Jeanette

My Great Aunt Evie (from Delaware), Grandma, and Lorie

A bunch of the gang

The crazy uncles, Troy and Marin with their rendition of "My Girl"

Friday was the wedding, Jessica looked beautiful. The ceremony was in the morning at Heritage Gardens, and the reception in the Gerber's (family friends) back yard in Sandy. Everyone had a great time. It was laid back and low key - and it was a gorgeous day.

The ceremony

The happy couple

My mom and Dad 

(who looks great, by the way. He's lost about 45-50 pounds just in the last couple of months!)

Angela, Maddie and I (Cousins)

Me and Chris (another happy couple) :)

My two crazy brothers TJ and Taylor at the reception

My sister Heather and I. We missed you, Holly!

TJ and his friend Cody. For those of you that know TJ, or Cody for that matter, this is a very out-of-the-norm picture for them. Where are the silly faces?

Jessica and Micah getting their groove on

Me and Tay. Gotta love the hair - it's the longest in the Orton Gang by far.

My Uncle Troy (Jessica's Dad; one of the crazy uncles) singing to Jessica and Brad

After the reception we went to Desert Star Theater where we saw "Indiana Bones" with my in-laws. It was funny, but neither Chris or I enjoyed it as much as we should have. We were both

still feeling quite sick, and ended up leaving a bit early.

Saturday was a good day. Chris and I felt a bit better, so we headed over to his parents house where he helped his dad and brothers with some work outside while I continued quilting my mission quilt with my mother in law. It was a project I started a while back, some of you may remember. I saved most of my mission skirts and shirts and decided to make a quilt out of them. My crafty mother in law has turned it into

something much better than what I could have done, and it is turning out to be about a million times more colorful than it would have been if I were doing it alone (my friend Danielle asked me the other day if sister missionaries were only allowed to were black). Though I did have a few black skirts, they weren't all black - and it wouldn't have been that devoid of color! Thank you, Danielle. The quilt is actually turning out quite cute, and I will be excited to show off the final product in due time.

That evening Chris and I went out to the Utah Arts Festival with

Chris and Katie. Sadly, they are moving too, along with our

 friends Ali and Andrew, and this may be the last time we get them to ourselves before they leave! The Arts Festival was interesting... to say the least. There were some great booths, great food and fun things to 

see. The crowd, however, was

 interesting. I won't go into detail, I am sure everyone can imagine. Thousands of people crowded into

one lawn area in down town Salt Lake, given alcohol, and free to roam around wherever they please- into people, some choose. Kind of like the fair, almost. Anyway, we had fun people-watching, if nothing else.

And that was our fun-filled week. Sorry for the long post once again, and thank you to those who endured it!