while we were in the salt lake area for eleshia's wedding, my family spent the morning of 8.13.11 at this is the place monument in salt lake city. for those of you who don't know, this is a monument dedicated to the pioneers who came west with brigham young. when they came up over the mountains and saw the salt lake valley brigham young said, "this is the place." and it was here that they settled, finally free from religious persecution. 


my dad is basically a genius and gave us all the history we could ever want as we spent the day walking around hearing different stories of the families who settled the wasatch valley. my great-great-great-grandfather's house was there in the heritage village.

we had a fun day of learning about our pioneer heritage and making crafts. the best part about hearing of other people's hardships is it kinda makes you forget your own. that, or realize that yours weren't so bad in the first place. those great people endured so much. i'm so glad that there is a beautiful monument dedicated to their sacrifices. it was so awesome to be able to spend some time with the whole family together, too.

friday morning [8.12.11] i woke up and my megan sister was there (she arrived at the ranch the night before from reno). i love her so much. i missed her a lot. it was a weird summer without her.

anyway, so we packed up my car and my parents packed up theirs and we hit the road to utah. we were going to salt lake to maybe go to the zoo before nychea, megan, and i went to my cousin eleshia'sbachelorette party at sapa. we definitely did not make it to the zoo. construction delays, poddy breaks, and food stops made sure that it took us like five whole hours to get there. so instead we went and snatched madison from the salon and hung out at the mall.

the four of us hadn't been together for about two years, so it was a fun reunion. lots of laughing and inside jokes. i have the most fun with these girls. madison & megan bring out the best in each other. seriously they are hilarious. so we went to the bachelorette party. eleshia was beautiful & the food was fantastic.

after dinner we weren't done having fun so we went out to see crazy, stupid, love. it was really great. it was everything: funny, cute, ryan gosling...need i say more?

the next day my family had some fun at this is the place monument, and then that night: the wedding. i definitely cried when eleshia started to walk down the aisle. she looked so beautiful. at 19 i can't believe she is the first one to be married of all the grandkids! but i am so happy for her :)

then there was the reception. then there was chili's with my uncle lyndon's family. then there was a much needed visit with the burke family--and how nice, they let us (megan, me, and nychea) sleep over to minimize our driving time. then there was a beautiful talk by lexady in sacrament on sunday. then there was the long drive home.

one of the best things about the wedding: i got to see people that i love more than anything in the world. family is so important. and i got to spend time with madison before she left for texas! oh texas....

here's some pictures from the wedding :) what a day...

My perfectionism has gotten the best of me.

I haven't written in f o r e v e r because I feel like I don't have time to do it exactly how I want and make it as perfect as possible, so while this may be a bang-up job, here is my last couple months in a nutshell....

UTAH VACA [Part 2]

On Saturday, May 14th when we woke up at Jaxon's my Aunt Monica made us yummmmy German Pancakes.  Then we just hung out with their family all day.  It was so nice to get to talk to my aunt and hear all of her hilarious stories. My little cousins are so stinkin' cute too. :)


That night we headed to Madison's house and stayed there only to wake up SUPER early Sunday morning and make the trek to Pocatello for Elder Duran's farewell.  I was so happy to have Madison and Jaxon with me because I hadn't seen Jordan forever!! His talk was so inspiring, and really touched me--I basically cried the entire time. We had similar stories growing up & moving away from Bear Lake (just goes to show how much that place captures your heart). After sacrament meeting we went to his house for lunch and hung out for awhile! I sure am going to miss him but I know he is making a g r e a t missionary. Jackson, Mississippi: LOOK OUT! :)

Monday, May 16th: Madison had to work! BLAHHH! :( so I started this blog and pretty much worked on it all day. I am so boring.

Taco Tuesday!! YUM! Madison and I got ready and headed to Taco Time to start out our Tuesday date.

After tacos we went to Water for Elephants and it was AMAZING! We both fell in love and I lost count of how many times Madison has seen it now...

On the way home from the movie we stopped and got f'reals for my first time :) basically they changed my life.

"Your quest for happiness is now complete."

We also stopped at the DI and treasure hunted for awhile...I got so much stuff! Basically it is now a Madison & Keisha tradition that every time we are together we make a trip to the DI and find great stuff--supporting my shopping habit while not breaking the bank = success. 

On Tuesday night I went to Salt Lake to get my hair done at my Aunt's salon on 9th & 9th in Salt Lake. I rode the front-runner up there and then went back to PG that night, stayed at my aunt's house, went back to Salt Lake Wednesday morning early and rode the front-runner back to Layton! Talk about a lot of effort for some hair!

Since it was my last day in Utah on Wednesday we decided that the rest of the day would just be spent soaking up the remainder of our time together and we had a 3 movie marathon, 2 Harry Potter movies and the legendary:

I love this movie soooo much! It always, always makes me feel happy :)

Wednesday night and on deserves a separate blog :) geeeez I had no idea this would be my quick recap...I haven't even finished a week! Yikes!