Melissa - Life in the Bay Area: Vacation time

July 13 - July 25

Well, we certainly had an eventful July. I finally got some time off at work and Scott took off a few days of summer classes...and we had a great vacation! July 13 was the day we left on a road trip with Robert and Liza --- and Scott's BIRTHDAY! Although we were in the car almost the whole day, I think he still celebrated a good birthday. Part of his b-day present from me was a relaxing massage the weekend before. He's been working so hard on his thesis, summer school, his job at Starbucks...and he still finds time for me. :)

Anyway, we left Folsom, CA for our destination Salt Lake City, UT. July 14th was Travis and Cory's wedding in Salt Lake. Travis is a good friend of Scott and Robert's from high school. I'd heard a lot about the two of them over the past few years and it was great to finally get to meet them. They are both lots of fun and such a cute couple! It was a really fun wedding. We ate, drank and danced the evening away. These are just some of the pics that we took that night.

Sunday, July 15th we got up and drove straight to Belgrade. Scott and I stayed with my parents and we had a nice dinner waiting for us right when we got there! I love you mom!! It was awesome to see my parents again and have a home cooked meal! Yummy. My mom made us spaghetti and an angel food cake for Scott's b-day. Funny thing was, it was my parent's anniversary and they were so sweet to celebrate us being home and Scott's b-day even though it was really their special day! HAPPY 29th ANNIVERSARY - I love you guys so much! I'm so lucky to still be able to come home and have my parents there to hang out with. :)

Anyway, we rested up that night and Monday and Tuesday we picked up Scott's mom, Marlyne, and the four of us (the moms and us) looked at wedding locations for our wedding next year. We also squeezed in a cake tasting at a bakery in Bozeman. We wanted to see as much as possible as we are getting married in a year and won't be back very often to Bozeman to be able to see places in person. We have to do a lot of planning far from home. It was definitely 2 full days of going places...my sis Heather (and a bridesmaid) even joined us for one of the days. Monday night we also had a BBQ at my uncle Brian's house, after my taekwondo ranking test. Yep, I started out the day with breakfast, cake tasting, driving all over looking at wedding locations and then ended it with taekwondo class with my yellow stripe ranking (which I got) and a BBQ with family and friends. Whew! Yeah, I'm still tired just thinking about that day. We got a lot done though and ended up really liking a couple of the wedding places.

Here's a quick summary of the other events that happened during the week: visited my lovely grandma Helen (love you grama!); hung out with Liza (a bridesmaid) and my best friend and maid of honor, Makenzie, who is very soon moving to Lexington, KY (booohooo!!); hung out with Marlyne (love you Marlyne - thanks so much for the great home cooking and hospitality, you're soooo sweet!) and some of his family; went to the lake (near Canyon Ferry, Helena) and went boating/swimming with a bunch of friends; went to a bachelor/bachelorette party in downtown Helena for wedding #2, Brian and Laura; and helped Laura prepare some wedding stuff for her Saturday, July 21 wedding in Helena.

Yep, we had 2 weddings - 2 weekends in a row. Brian and Laura's wedding reception was at Great Divide ski resort in Helena. Brian is one of Scott and Robert's good friends from high school as well. They were actually both groomsmen in the wedding so Liza and I attended lots of pre-wedding bridal party fun. The wedding was beautiful, fun and kinda sappy. ;) We ate, drank and danced the night away again! It was so much fun to see so many friends 2 weekends in a row. Here are some more wedding pics from the night...I actually have so many good ones that I've run out of space and will have to post more of the party pics later on.