What a Weekend!

Wow, what a weekend! I realize it’s been FOREVER since I’ve really updated my site. I’ve got a good excuse though – Biblesoft is keeping me SUPER hard at work building a new store, and I’m in my next-to-last quarter at City University. Yep, if all goes as planned, I’ll graduate in June. I’ve got two courses this quarter – they meet on Tues and Thurs, so really it feels like my whole week is taken up with school. Wish they were just on Monday and Tuesday, but I digress…

So what happened this weekend? Well a friend of Tobin’s from church (Ken Mullen) asked Tobin to be in his wedding…in Kansas City. Tobin (being the nice guy that he is) agreed to go, and I said that if the plane tickets weren’t too expensive, I’d go too. To make a long story short, we got a pretty good deal on plane tickets and so I went along with Tobin this weekend. We both took Friday off, as our flight left at 6:00 a.m. We flew with Delta, and I can’t say enough good things about their check-in system. We were able to check in within 24 hours of the flight – ONLINE. We also printed our boarding passes at the same time. AND since we didn’t check any luggage, we basically showed up at the airport, went through security (ugh), and then went to our gate.

We flew from Seattle to Salt Lake City to Kansas City. We had a bit of a delay at Salt Lake City and ended up getting into Kansas City at around 2 I think. (Click on the map above for a larger view of our trip – 1 is Seattle, 2 is Salt Lake City and 3 is Kansas City.) Ken picked us up and we ran errands with him.

Friday night was the wedding rehersal. I wasn’t in the wedding, so I busied myself by reading In a Pit With a Lion on a Snowy Day, and taking pictures of all the goings-on. I’ll have to write another post about that book – it was awesome! Anyways… I also took along my iPod so I listened to that. :) Ken and Robin’s wedding was held at the Central Church of the Nazarene in Lenexa, KS (a suburb of Kansas City). The church was pretty nice – they’d just finished a major building project. We got a partial tour from the Pastor himself on Friday night (they have an awesome youth facility), and a full tour on Sunday morning after church.

After the rehersal, we settled down for the rehersal dinner. I’m not really one to enjoy socializing, but this time was an exception. The people were very hospitable – we really enjoyed ourselves. Dinner was awesome – we had BBQ Brisket and Corn Bake (among other things). GOOD COOKING Nick! Tobin was so impressed by the Corn Bake, he got the recipe. We have yet to try it though. The pastor ended up sitting at our table, and we enjoyed talking to him. We mentioned that though we were without a vehicle, we’d enjoy checking out the church on Sunday. He said to let him know at the wedding if we wanted a ride (we did), and he arranged a ride for us. :)

After everything wound down on Friday night, we hunted down a Starbucks, and enjoyed coffee and apple ciders with Ken and Robin.

Saturday was the wedding. We went early – around noon or so. The wedding started at 3. Pictures were beforehand. Once again, I busied myself taking pictures (check those out in the photo gallery), and read. The wedding went really well. We’re very happy for Ken, Robin and Zach. We wish them all the best as they start this new life together in Kansas City! (Quite the change from Seattle I must say.)

I can’t believe I haven’t mentioned the weather before now… Well it was COLD! Yep. I’m pretty sure it was in the single digits nearly the whole time – and I heard it was supposed to get down to -20 at night with the wind chill. Keep in mind that we didn’t have a car, so we ended up walking everywhere.

Saturday evening, Tobin and I enjoyed the pool and hot tub at the hotel… We stayed at the Radisson Hotel in Lenexa (luckily it was close to the church). It was pretty nice. Late Saturday we ventured into the cold for dinner at Applebees (a few blocks away).

Sunday morning, we were picked up for church by Terry and his wife. Church was nice. The worship team was great – I especially liked the Sax and the Trumpet. (I’d talked to the Saxophonist and his wife at the rehersal. You can check out his website here: saxondemand.com.) The pastor preached about worship – it was really good. After church we got the grand tour of the church. The people were all really warm – I think that Ken will really enjoy the church! :)

We headed home after church, packed our bags and checked out of our room. Our plane didn’t leave ’till 5 though, so we scheduled a taxi ride at 3, left our bags in the office at the hotel, and trekked down to the mall. It was so cold I stopped at Kohls on the way and bought a hat and a scarf (they really helped). Also, it was pretty amazing – but I was checking out the 80% off rack while Tobin was standing in line, and I found the exact-same turtleneck sweater that I had bought at Ross a few months ago – in a different color! You have to understand that that turtleneck is my absolute fave, so when I got this one for $5 I was pretty thrilled. :) We ended up eating at the mall, then walked back to our hotel where we waited for the taxi.

The cab came at 3, and we got to the airport at around 3:30… There was hardly anyone at the airport (at least in part due to the fact the Superbowl was on – or would be on shortly). Our flight left at 5, and it was really a small plane. The good thing is that all our luggage managed to fit IN the passenger section of the plane (it almost didn’t). Also, the sun was setting pretty all the way back to Salt Lake City. I took a bunch of pictures with my little camera, but they just don’t do it justice. When we got into the air over Kansas City, the pilot told us that it was -40 F, whereas when we went to land in Salt Lake City, it was -4 F. Crazy cold!

Tobin had called Peter about our layover in Salt Lake City (nearly 2 hours). So when we landed, Peter and Lisa were waiting for us. We drove to Peter’s very cute house and got the tour. The house was about 100 years old and had super tall ceilings (I’m jealous). It had a lot of charm.

From Peter’s house we went out to dinner at a hoppin’ Mexican restaurant (the Red Iguana). It was great! From the restaurant, we drove around Salt Lake City and saw the Mormon Temple and the Capitol Building (Peter’s house is pretty much right between them). So basically we ended up getting back to the airport at 8:45 – which is when security suggested we be back in time to catch our 9:19 flight. Well that didn’t give us enough time – we ended up running to the gate once we made it past security (the lines were really long for security), and nearly MISSED OUR FLIGHT. Yeah there was one person after us, but they closed the door right when we sat down. Scary! I don’t ever want to do that again. Though Tobin and I both agree that it was worth it – getting to spend the time with Peter and Lisa. :)

We made it into Seattle by 10:30 p.m. Keep in mind that we went through two time zones, so we were pretty shot. I do have to say that it was beautiful flying into Seattle – and seeing the Space Needle from the air was pretty beautiful.

So that was our weekend. I honestly don’t think we could have packed more into it. :)

Make sure you check out all our photos from this weekend in the gallery!