March 21, 2009

Aaron and I have been married TWELVE years!! Seriously. I know, it's pretty amazing. Some days it feels like we have been married just a little while, then some days it feels like we have been married for 100 years. And...we are stuck with each other for eternity. But that's okay, I seem to love him more and more as time goes on, so I can only imagine how much I will love him in the eternities........Now that's something to think about.

So, you think that we would do something really cool for our Anniversary. I did. I got on a plane that morning and flew up to Portland to see my dear friend Heather and Wicked. I am such a great wife!!! Actually, Aaron is such a great husband.

It's kinda funny how it all came about. Heather posted something on her Facebook status like, "Wicked March 21 anyone?" I commented with an "I wish." Then she commented, "I should have a mattress by then, come on up!" I said something to Aaron about it and we decided to see if there was anyway we could figure it out. Since Aaron still didn't have a job, I was not optimistic, and I couldn't justify pulling money from our savings account for me to go up there. I e-mailed Heather and said that I really wanted to and that I was going to try and figure something out. Guess what? My Western Nut bonus came in the mail, So I e-mailed Heather again, told her that I was coming and the rest is history. Not only did my bonus pay for my Portland trip, but it also paid the Mortgage for that month.

As I was planning my trip, I thought that it would be a fantastic idea for me to go see Heather for a couple of days, then drive my rental car up to Seattle to see my Best Friend who lives in there for a couple of days, then fly home from Seattle. So I contacted Camille - which by the way was not easy - and talked to her about hangin' with her and her little family for a couple of days. Through a series of I guess what you would call miscommunications, I ended up staying in Portland until Wednesday. I was WAY stressed about this, for a number of reasons. Money being one and imposing on Heather for another few days.

Aaron has an Aunt that lives near Vancouver, so I gave her a call a couple of days before I flew up to see if she might want to get together for lunch or something before I took off to Seattle. She said that she would love to. Then on Sunday night, she called me to see how everything was going. She must have sensed my stress, she came to my rescue and pleaded with me to come and stay at there house for those last couple of days. THANK HEAVENS she did, I had the most fantastic time. I am so grateful that I got to stay with her and her husband. They are such great people with such a wonderful relationship, definitely a relationship to admire. They are so gracious and humble and all those other wonderful adjectives. I felt so bad that hadn't had the opportunity to get to know them sooner. But so happy that I do now.


This is my rental car. I am so use to driving an old car, this was a little strange for me. I loved it.


So, back to the beginning of the trip. I haven't seen Heather FOREVER! Once when she was in town we went to lunch, but other than that, it had probably been 14 years, we have kept in touch through e-mail. It was so nice to see her, it's like we had been hanging out since High School, we just picked up right where we left off. We talked until all hours of the night and just had a great time. I met her friends and had a great time with them as well. We went to a great Brazilian Resturant before the show with Loren (her friend), then we met up with some other friends at a club after the show. The next day we all got together for a late breakfast. SO FUN.

Wicked was fantastic. I had read the book, so I pretty much knew the story, but I wasn't sure how they were going to go about it. I had listened to the soundtrack, but it is one of those shows that the soundtrack just doesn't make sense, unless you have seen the show - even if you have read the book - well, to me anyway. The girl that played Elphaba was freakin' incredible along with NessaRose. I think that Glinda had the beginnings of a cold, but was still great. The entire cast was fabulous, but Elphaba stuck out.


I'm going to insert 2 of my opinions here at this point. First - since when is it appropriate to wear jeans to the theatre? I'm sorry if I have just offended you, but really...when? I was absolutely mortified at some of the clothing I saw on people. This is not just in Portland, but any theatre. But especially Professional Theatres. Have some respect people!!! Second - anyone that knows me, knows how I feel about *pop* singing. We run into this a lot here in Utah with our *Mormon Pop Stars* {again, sorry if I offend}. I cannot handle all of the runs and the scoops, in fact, I truly hate it. It is so nice to go to a Professional Theatre and listen to Professional Singers sing! The tone is, is, is....words just can't describe the relief...BEAUTIFUL, is a good one. I have to say that about the Miss Saigon cast as well.

The day before left I went to the Portland Temple and did an endowment session. It was just what I needed. And, the Portland Temple is gorgeous.

After I finished up at the Temple, I did a little shopping.....Tell me, why doesn't Utah have a Trader Joes? We SO need one.


And, at some point, I got a pedicure. It was wonderful!



So, anyway, it was a great time and I am so glad I was able to "get away" for a few days. Timing wasn't the best seeing that Piper's Birthday Party was the day before I left, and her Baptism was the Saturday after I got home, but it was so worth it.

I just found this toilet a little funny... it's in the Portland Airport.



I didn't take many pictures. It is hard to take pictures when you travel by yourself. I didn't get any of Heather! What a great friend I am.