Last Friday morning I left my house. I haven't been back yet, and don't expect to get home for several more days. First I headed up to Prescott where I met up with my family & headed west to California. We got there pretty late & met up with Grammy & Seth, who had left earlier with Trenton. Cameron drove all the way to California, and almost into LA (Yeah, we're not going to talk about that)... ;) ... And then I became the LA driver. Almost the whole rest of the trip I drove Mom's car, with only a couple of exceptions.
Saturday, after sleeping in more than we'd planned, we headed to
Six Flags to play at Hurricane Harbor. I'm proud of myself for the fear-level of some of the rides that I actually went on. We did really well at applying sunscreen before we left, & re-applying while we were out. After a day at a water park, my family who would usually be sunburned, only had a couple of pink spots.We went to dinner with all of our family, including Terina & Brent, Grammy, Travis & Stef, & Travis' groomsmen. That was fun times... & really funny to be texting across the table because the group was too big to just have one conversation.
Sunday morning we went over to Santa Monica to meet
Travis. Trenton & the kids played on the beach while the rest of us went to the 
Rehearsal Dinner. That was probably when I really realized that I was actually going to be IN the wedding. After the rehearsal dinner & everything involved in that, the girls all headed up to get our nails done. That was my first ever manicure & pedicure-professional style. It was funny to realize that Stef's Mom was giving me a graduation present too! I looked at the Bridal magazines with Stef. That was a little funny too.
Monday was the day of the first family wedding I've been to. I'm such a cry-baby, & cried as I stood beside the woman who is now my Sister, & my brother's wife. Her Brother became an ordained minister & performed the ceremony, & it was so sweet. He even included
some... surprise vows. Vows like: "I will buy you junk food at odd hours of the night. I will watch old black & white movies with you whenever you ask." ... and... "I will close the cupboard doors when you leave them open. I will pick up your dirty clothes when you leave them on the floor." I wish I could have seen Stefanie's face when she had to repeat the one about the cupboards, because from the back it REALLY looked like she was going to refuse to say it. :) 
The weekend was a huge realization that there are a lot of people out there who know my little brother better than I do. I've seen him just 3 times-ish in the past 3 1/2 years or more, and I miss him. It's cool though, because despite the fact that I know so little of who he is now, & that I really hardly know Stef, I love Travis, & by extension I love Stef. I hope that I can find a way to make them a bigger part of my life. Same thing goes for my other siblings, for that matter, though I have spent much more time with most of them in the past many years than I have with Travis.
Tuesday we spent some time down in Hollywood, then headed home. We left after we knew we should in order to avoid the bulk of the traffic, but somehow it still didn't slow us down too much. Mom wasn't too happy with me keeping up with Trenton for the first leg of the trip, because it definitely dropped our gas mileage. After we filled up with gas I stopped driving, because the tired was kicking in. I slept for a while... after I helped Seth decide to be a good traveler again (because really he IS so good, always). After a while I started staying awake, because Chelsea wasn't doing too good at talking & keeping the driver talking & such. That was about when I got to start hollering at my MOM about her driving. It felt like a role-reversal of the stereotypical. We were all laughing so hard, and that was what made me keep it up. We did get home safe & sound, & tired, last night, even though the tired driving, curvy roads, & hollering gave me heartburn.Now it's on to other places & things, & dealing with other feelings.
