John and Amanda have been together for seven years and have lived together for a long time and finally decided to go ahead and get married. To celebrate, they had a destination wedding and reception in Island Park, Idaho over Labor Day weekend. They gave plenty of notice, so MT was able to find a cabin on VRBO that we shared with his parents, his brother Kelly and wife Denise and Kelly's sons and their girlfriends. The tricky part was that the cabin only had two bedrooms and one bathroom. The boys and their girlfriends camped outside, but everyone used the facility. It was cozy, to say the least. The cabin itself was very cute and would be perfect for four people or a family with little kids. The second bedroom was a loft with two double beds and two single beds. There was a lot of space up there, but not ideal for two adult couples. To be more comfortable, I took one of the single beds and let MT have the double. I think it worked out better for both of us.
Here's a photo of the back of the cabin. I spent a bit of time out on this patio.
I liked being outside. It was nice and cool; it smelled really good out there, like pine trees and nature, and the birds and squirrels paid no attention to me and went about their business. I read a book and enjoyed the clean air and sunshine.
The wedding took place on Saturday afternoon. It was casual, fun, romantic, and beautiful. It was held in the back yard of a big old cabin they had rented. The yard was surrounded by quaking aspens and big pine trees. Many of the trees in the yard itself were strung with lights; it looked so pretty later in the evening.
My favorite part was that as the wedding party came down the aisle, the song "Lovely Day" by Bill Withers was playing and the guests were invited to dance along. I didn't have to be told twice. I love that song and I loved how happy everyone was as they came dancing down the aisle. It was such a joyful way to start the wedding ceremony! The officiant was Amanda's brother, which I thought was sweet. Amanda and John wrote their own vows. My eyes were sweating quite a bit (I was crying). I'm a sucker for romance.
The reception was held out in the yard too. A taco truck from Pocatello was hired for the food and it was delicious. There was lots of beer and wine and music and dancing. Citronella torches encircled the yard to keep the bugs at bay, and it worked well. I didn't get any bites! I think everyone had a great time.
When we left, we looked up at the sky. It was a clear night and you could see a jillion stars and even the Milky Way. It was magic!
The next day, Sunday, MT, his mom and dad, and I went to Yellowstone National Park for the day. The weather was, as it had been all weekend, perfect. The bummer of it was that we didn't see many animals. Usually we see elk at Mammoth Hot Springs, but they were gone by the time we got there. I was joking with the man in the store that the rangers had already rounded the elk up and put them back in their pens until evening. I think all the animals in the park were in their pens because we only saw two elk, a vulture, many ducks and geese, a couple of hawks and hundreds of bison. As we were driving between Canyon and Lake, we came across a big herd that was spread out on both sides of the road causing a major Yellowstone traffic jam. Some buffalo were crossing the road and some were just walking down the middle of it. You gotta be careful around bison. They are wild, unpredictable animals. And they are large!
I kinda liked this one just hanging out by himself. Reminded me of myself!
Even though we didn't see many critters, the scenery was great.
We had a picnic on a mountain surrounded by pine trees and wildflowers.
These are the upper falls of the Yellowstone River in the Canyon area.
This is the Madison River.
Oh look! Here we are at West Thumb geyser basin with Yellowstone Lake looking extremely blue in the background.
We ended up at Old Faithful around 4:00. It was set to blow around 4:32 and it was right on time.
I have watched this geyser erupt so many times, but it thrills me every single time.
That evening, we had dinner in West Yellowstone, Montana. We had breakfast in Idaho (Island Park), lunch in Wyoming, (a mountainside in Yellowstone Park), and dinner in Montana. How cool is that?!
Unfortunately, everything was not going as well for the other part of the family. Kelly suffered a stroke, possibly on Saturday night at the wedding, and his family took him to the hospital in Idaho Falls where he stayed for a couple of nights. He went home to Pocatello today and we are all hoping that he will make a full recovery. So scary! He's too young to have a problem like that.
MT and I got home in the early evening yesterday. It was a long drive. It's nearly 300 miles from Island Park to Salt Lake, so it should take just over four hours. There were some lane restrictions along the way, though, so we were delayed. Plus we stopped at the hospital to visit with Kelly for a little while. We were glad to get home. It was fun to go and fun to come home.
I've got a busy week ahead. Work is going to be crazy busy because it is our month end close. I've got two concerts and then it will be Saturday again!
Hope y'all had a great weekend and have lots of fun things planned for September.
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