DISNEYLAND!!!

The day has finally come! I have been counting down for a month now!! But it is finally here! Less than 24 hours from this point and I will be on a plane to California! On my way to spending three days in Disneyland!

Yes, I am almost 23 and I LOVE going to Disneyland! It is one of my favorite places on Earth! I love being able to feel like a child and go on rides! The first time I ever remember going to Disneyland I was 16. My brother-in-law, Josh, and my sister, Kacey, took me. They wanted to take their boys for the first time and decided to take me, too! I was like a giddy child walking around the park! I swear that place really is magic! It transforms people into children! Turning grown adults into five year olds! I have been back at least once a year ever since!! (There might have been one year I didn't go... But I can't remember...)

When I graduated from hair school Kacey took me to Disneyland as my graduation present!! (It's so nice that Josh works for Disney now and we can get into Disneyland for free! ha ha) It was such a fun week there! It was the first adult trip I had been on! It was just Kacey, Tara, my mom, and me! We went on the rides we wanted to and did Disneyland at our own pace. It was so nice not to have to drag the kids around!! ha ha

Well, this week is another adult only trip!! It's just Josh, Kacey, and me! I am so excited!! I love hanging out with Kacey and Josh! And I am so excited to be hanging out with them in Disneyland!! Some of my favorite things all at the same time! :)

So... to those of you not coming on our trip... Have a great week... at work... or school. :) Be safe! And I will see you all when I get back! :) I love you all!!!

Finally... a new week!!

Last week was INSANE! I'm not sure I have ever had such a crazy, busy week! We seriously had so much going on! I'm a little bit surprised we even made it out of last week alive!! 

Monday was the holiday (oh my gosh, I can't believe that was only a week ago... it feels like it has been longer than that! weird.) my mom and I went shopping, because she had the day off. We went to get Misty her birthday present... and while we were out I needed new shoes. (I know what you're all thinking.... "Brindi does NOT NEED new shoes. ever." But I did!! I didn't have any church shoes that were for cooler weather! I only had sandal type church shoes!) Anywho... we were gone for most of the day and it was so fun to hang out with my mom all day! And then hanging out with my dad after he got home from riding the horses! 

Tuesday I had to quickly throw together the double bridal shower I was throwing on Saturday... (There had been some miscommunication with all the planning... so I didn't get invitations made until Tuesday afternoon and I got them delivered to Dimple Dell by Tuesday night...) So after getting the invitations done and taken care of I did some things around the house and then went out to dinner with Nick and Denise Barfuss!! They are such a darling couple! I just love the two of them so much!! On my way home I made a stop at The Dell to drop off the invitations. Connor and Shanna were there so I talked to them for a second and then left to head to Kade and Tara's to drop off Tara's shower invitation... That is when I got the call from my mom about Blaine. I talked to her for a minute.. Drove to Kade and Tara's and then headed home to hang out with Abby. Poor Abby had a very emotional Brindi to deal with.

Wednesday was a pretty calm day... during the day. That night my parents and I had a wedding dinner to go to for my dad's best friend's youngest son, Britt. My dad and Jeff have been friends for a long time... Jeff and Lori lived in our old ward in Sandy, before moving to South Jordan and Eagle Mountain... But my dad and Jeff have worked together for nearly 30 years. But... we now live in the same ward in Riverton! ha ha kinda funny how it all came back around! :) Anyway... Britt and I grew up together so it was kind of fun going to his wedding dinner! OH! And my mom was late getting to the dinner because she had to go to a viewing for her best friend growing up, Sue's dad. (Viewing number one for the week.....)

Thursday night was Britt and Sara's wedding. I had taken the night off work so I could be there! It was so fun! We saw a bunch of our ward members and a bunch of old friends from our old neighborhood! Oh, and my mom and I had fun stealing Britt's brother's brand new baby! Little Dallin was so stinkin' cute all dressed up for the wedding!

Friday was when the week really got crazy!! We had two wedding receptions to go to... One for Melissa Taylor (a girl who lives three houses away from us...) and one for a girl I worked in the salon with, Sarah Stevens. But then we had to add on two viewings! One for Blaine and one for a lady in our ward who had fallen down a set of stairs and snapped her brain stem!! Yes, two weddings, two receptions. So crazy!! My parent's ran to Peggi's viewing and then we booked it across the street to Melissa's reception.. and then zoomed down to Blaine's viewing! We ran out of time so I didn't get to run into Sarah's reception! :( I feel so bad I missed it, but hopefully she'll understand!

Saturday we had a lot going on! I feel bad we had to cut so many things out! We had two funerals and two baby showers... ALL at the same time! We only made it to Blaine's funeral and his graveside. But we sent my sister-in-law, Tara, to my cousin's baby shower so we'd have a family representative there. :) Thanks for going, Trickster!! Blaine's funeral was amazing. It was so good. And we all cried LOTS. His graveside was equally as amazing. His family had gotten 57 white balloons, one for every year he was old, to let go after it was all over... It was fun to see them all float away together. (I even got a few pictures.) Blaine was buried in the Larkin cemetery, almost next to Elise Reneer's mom, LuAnne, so I got to visit her and I got to visit my favorite little McKallister Hinkley. Noggin, he has the sweetest spirit. I can feel it every time I visit him! Thanks for sharing him with me. :) After the cemetery my family went to lunch at Rumbi! YUM! And a great way to help get rid of our headaches from crying so much! After lunch I ran home to get everything ready for the double bridal shower!! Abby came over early and helped me get all set up! And I really think the shower went really well! I hope Taya and Megan enjoyed it! Even if it was all kind of last minute! :)

  

(These are the pictures I took at the graveside...)

Sunday finally came! I can't tell you how excited I was for it to be the end of the busy week!! My dad was speaking in church, so I went to my parents' sacrament meeting to listen to him. After their sacrament meeting I had to run to a branch missionary meeting that I was already 15 minutes late to.. after the meeting I went home to shower and get ready for my own church meetings! Yup.. four and a half hours of church in one day! Awesome! :) After church Kade, Tara, and Mia came over for dinner! And Misty, Gavin, and Tasha joined us as well!! It was super fun!

The week turned out to be pretty good. SUPER busy! But it makes me grateful for weeks like this when I only have a few hundred things to do instead of a million! :) This week I just have work, branch missionary visits, more work, and on Friday I have hair and makeovers all morning and afternoon at the Scadden's and then I'm headed to Bear Lake for the weekend! I thought I wanted to skip out on Bear Lake this weekend.... but after last week... I am looking forward to the weekend away!! Also... it'll make me feel less guilty about missing the ex-boyfriend's wedding reception that I really don't want to go to anyway. ha ha whoops!! :)

I hope all of you have calm weeks! I wouldn't wish last week upon ANYONE!!

Dear Blaine:

I probably should have written a real letter to you... months ago. When you could have read it. But I was in denial, so I didn't.

I just wanted to thank you for being such a huge part of my life. For nearly 23 years I've considered you a second dad. You lived next door to me until I was six... You were my best friend. You would hug me every time I'd come running to your house crying, because my mom or dad told me "no". You collected my tears and saved them in your pockets, and occasionally in your wallet, for a later day. You would tell me that you'd keep them until I really needed them one day. 

I remember one time I was playing with my friends... It was almost Halloween and we were talking about what we wanted to dress up as that year... We were walking past your house and you were outside. You asked us what we were doing, so I told you what we had just been talking about. You asked us all what we wanted our costumes to be... That year I wanted to be a bride. I remember you got this huge smile... and you told me I would make the prettiest bride. And one day, when I was all grown up, you were going to tell me that same thing at my wedding.

Shortly after that I remember you told me you were moving. (I was six, so I really didn't understand what divorce was, or why you had to leave me...) I remember running home to my mom and crying. Big alligator tears. I was so heart broken. My best friend was moving away. You and my parents both promised me you'd still visit and we'd still get to see you.

Many years later... You had gotten remarried. We were so excited for you! She seemed awesome... and you seemed happy. She got you back into the church. I remember the day my parents told me you were going to be ordained an Elder.. and shortly after that.. you were going to go through the temple! We were so happy for you! My parents got to be there for your endowment session... and I remember them coming home and telling me how great it was to see you so happy. That summer you came to Bear Lake with us! It was so much fun!! Our house was SO FULL!! But it was so great to spend so much time together! I remember you tipping over the canoe and losing your super expensive sunglasses! I remember everyone diving in and searching for them... but the mission was a failure. I think you're right... there is one stylish fish sporting those bad boys and showing off to his other fishy friends. I remember laughing a LOT that weekend. My cheeks hurt from smiling so much! Spending time with you was always the best way to cheer us up!

For some reason we lost contact for a little while.. I think we tried sending you an announcement for Kade's wedding and it got mailed back to us... We had your old address and after you had divorced the crazy woman with way too many children we didn't get your information updated.. But by some miracle we found some contact information for you and sent another invite... but something came up and for some reason you and Iola couldn't make it...

We are stupid and still didn't talk to you as much as we should have... We heard you and Iola had gotten married! And the two of you were doing so well! Of course!! Iola is amazing!! She brought out the cutest side of you!

The world of Facebook arose and became a huge blessing! Misty and I became friends with Jeri... My birthday is in December... and she wished me a happy birthday... in her birthday message to me she added this, "My dad wanted me to tell you "Happy Birthday" from him, too. He said that you still hold a special place in his heart and he still thinks that he needs to have the final say on your husband when you get married.. :)" I laughed so hard when I read that! Of course my husband had to have your stamp of approval! I wouldn't have it any other way!!

Two months later Misty called us on the phone... she had just read something Jeri had posted on Facebook. I don't remember what it said exactly.. But I remember it being about a brain tumor. We got her phone number right away and got the details as soon as we could. I was in shock. I cried a lot then, too. How could someone I knew have cancer? Cancer doesn't happen to the people I love! It happens to other people! My parents and I drove down to Orem the next night to visit you in the hospital the night before your big surgery. It was so good to see you!! They had just shaved your head, so you were bald! I had never seen you without hair! But I was sure glad you still had that mustache! We talked to you for a bit. Told you we love you and you'd be in our prayers. You told me you loved me. And that I get prettier every time you see me. You asked me if I was getting married yet. And reminded me you still got a say in my husband. You also promised me you'd still be at my wedding.

The surgery went pretty well.. and they started you on some heavy chemo and radiation. There were a lot of complications.. and we were all very worried. Never once did you leave my thoughts or prayers. A couple more months went by and we thought you were doing pretty well... You went in for a check up and they found another tumor. At this point... there was no longer anything they could do medically. More crying. We were going to eventually lose you, whether we liked it or not.

We decided we were going to enjoy the time we had left with you. We would always say we need to drive down and go visit Blaine. We need to check on Blaine. etc. etc. But of course.. our summers are always so packed. We'd be getting ready to go to Bear Lake and we'd say... We needed to visit Blaine before we left... and we'd be on our way home and say... we need to go visit Blaine. FINALLY about a week and a half ago.. we called Jeri and asked if we could come visit. She told us they didn't think you had much longer to be here. And really you weren't supposed to have anyone come visit but family.. But she told us we could come anyway...

I was getting ready for church and I was in the kitchen with my mom. She asked me if I was ready to say goodbye to you. Tears started flooding down my cheeks. Of course I wasn't ready for that! But... We drove down as soon as I was out of church.. I cried the whole way down. My mom told me I couldn't cry while I was there... and I tried really really hard. I promise I did. I held your hand and had a conversation with you... Then my dad came over and started talking to you... You asked him if he would say the opening prayer at your funeral... and that is where I lost it. It had suddenly become so real. I regained control of my emotions and talked to you for a bit longer. I then hugged you, kissed your cheek, and told you how much I love you. I walked away with tears running down my cheeks. I debated on talking to you about being at my wedding but thought maybe I shouldn't say anything... I was standing by my mom and we were talking to Iola... I then turned back to you... tears really flowing down... and I made you promise me you'd be at my wedding! I told you I didn't know how many strings you'd have to pull in Heaven... but that I needed you to pull them. I needed you there. You promised you'd be there. Standing right next to my parents. Don't forget your promise.

Last night my mom called me.. After getting off the phone with Jeri... Just minutes after you left this earth and returned back home with our Heavenly Father. Blaine, I am so grateful you no longer have to battle. You can finally be at peace. I am also very grateful I knew you. Thanks for letting me adopt you as a dad. Thank you for taking care of me as a little girl. Thank you for always telling me how beautiful I am. Thanks for wanting to be at my wedding since the time I was born. And most of all... Thank you for letting me be so attached to you. I love you so much. Probably more than you will ever know. I miss you so much already. But I look forward to the day I get to see you again!!

I love you!!
Love Always,
Brindi