This whole Thanksgiving trip was crazy packed with traveling and exciting things! (not calling it a vacation, it wasn't very relaxing... esp after leaving Iowa City - when is a wedding ever relaxing??)
*Tuesday (11/23), Seth's youngest sister Amy got married in the Nauvoo temple. It was a very memorable ceremony, and a lot of preparation and thoughts had been put in this day. Nauvoo weddings are especially enjoyable because Nauvoo has a very big, special place in my heart. I Loved being there, especially with Seth and Scarlett with me.
*The Bride and Groom looked stunning. The sun was setting as pictures were being taken, and it was a beautiful day. A bit nippy... but not everyone can get as lucky warmer November weather as Seth and I did on our Wedding day in Illinois Nov 25, 2006. We got family/group/wedding party pictures.
*There was an hour between the pictures and when the dinner was to begin. So Seth, Scarlett, and I along w/ the Jarvinen's headed to Seth's parent's hotel room to help his dad pack up the room and check out. That night they were to stay at my aunt Cheri's house (where we had stayed the night before, just down Mullholland St, the main streen in town). Sandi, Seth's mom was with the bride and groom taking more pictures with the photographer around town.
* Seth's dad, Steve, had a heart attack just 3 weeks before this wedding. Three weeks is not enough time for anyone to recover from a heart attack, especially recover enough to not be overwhelmed with their baby's wedding!!
As we were all in the room trying to decide where to pack what, Steve collapsed. It was the scariest thing I have ever witnessed. He didn't lose consciousness, but it was clear something was wrong. I called 911 and an ambulance came, actually two did. Davin and Seth had carried him to lay on the bed, and he was being attended to by the EMT's within 15 min. Nauvoo doesn't have a hospital, the closest was Keokuk and Ft. Madison.
I was pretty shaken up through the whole experience. I'm so grateful my sister, Alicia was there for the wedding. Most of the extended family was just next door, in the building waiting for the dinner to begin. But Alicia was outside in her car when I had left to try to find Sandi. Alicia helped calm me down and talk through the experience too.
*Seth and I missed out on most of the dinner the groom's family worked very hard on putting together. But we were glad we could go to the hospital and be with Seth’s parents. It’s hard being away from our parents, especially in these sort of circumstances. So we’re grateful we were there this time.
Keokuk hospital decided to transport him to Iowa City to the University of Iowa hospitals. Which was convenient! So the in-laws came over to stay at my family’s home as they had Steve in observation for 24 hrs.
Things were looking good for Steve. They did a catheter assessment and his heart actually looks amazing compared to how much it was damaged during the heart attack in October. So that was great news! On Thursday, Thanksgiving, Steve was released from the hospital and joined us all in Waterloo where we spent Thanksgiving.
Waterloo – Seth’s grandparents and aunt/uncle live there, 1 ½ hrs north of my hometown. Thanksgiving dinner was amazing, of course… And pies galore! It was so fun to be with tons of cousins, and there were so, so many little ones running around. It’s neat to see how our families are all changing.
Thanksgiving day was our wedding anniversary as well. Happy wonderful 4 years Seth! Under the circumstances we didn’t really go out and do anything fun, but it was nice to be with family.
*Friday – we drove to Michigan. 9 hours… It was a full day of traveling. Scarlett did pretty well, she slept most of the time.
*Saturday – Reception day! We decorated the church’s cultural hall in preparation to party. We kept Steve down, and away from all the excitement as he was recovering. But that was pretty impossible, so Seth dropped him off at an Urgent Care and left him there a few hours. They found out he had Pneumonia. This was his second time in 2010 getting Pneumonia. In March, just after Scarlett was born he was in the hospital for 10 days because of Pneumonia. This man needs a break from physical ailments!!!
*Reception – The party went on. Jake and Amy were the beautiful bride and groom again. They had a beautiful first dance, they were nice to each other as they cut the cake, and shared many “hello’s” and “Thanks for coming” to the many who came to celebrate. We danced the night away, and mingled with friends we don’t get to see often enough.
Scarlett magically napped through a lot of it. As everyone was clapping after Seth read a letter to Amy that her dad wrote for her, Scarlett clapped for the first time! I had been trying to teach her to clap for weeks up until that moment, it was exciting! Now she LOVES to clap her hands, it’s super cute.
*Sunday we said our good byes to the Burke’s. It was tough to leave right after the big events and craziness. We didn’t get much time to just sit down and visit and enjoy each other’s company. That’s just part of the family wedding package though. We drove back to Iowa and Monday we flew out of Cedar Rapids.
** You’d think this was the end of this LONG, traveling Thanksgiving/Wedding of ours. . . But we still had a long, long day ahead of us.
Our plane got into Vegas at 9:00ish, we took the free airport shuttle back to our hotel, found our car untouched… and began our 5 1/2hr drive back to Orem.
At about 2:00am Seth stopped to get gas in Beaver, UT. I then took a turn driving and not 5 miles out of the Beaver, our car’s transmission went out. BUMMER!!! So, good thing we had a full tank of gas. The tow truck guy, Rick, didn’t get to our stranded car until 3:30am. It was -3 degrees out, we are so lucky it wasn’t the engine, etc and our heater continued to work.
I am TERRIFIED of wide, open spaces… in the country… AT NIGHT!!!! TeRrIfIeD. What a great way for me to face my fears. Oh yea, and Scarlett was sick. She caught a cold from dear cousins over Thanksgiving day. I had made a Doc appointment for her while we were in Vegas, assuming we’d get home that night. Nope….
We got towed back to Beaver. Stayed in a hotel room from 4:15am – noon check out time (SUPER LAME!!!) And hung out at the hotel’s lobby and breakfast room until we knew what the plan would be. My brother Ben came to the rescue. He borrowed his Dad in law’s truck, we rented a UHaul trailer, and we were towed back to Orem, getting in at 10pm. UGhghghgh, all along Scarlett’s goopy and crusted over, she's got a nasty cold and needed the doctor... Turns out later she had an Ear infection.
If you ever go to Beaver, chances are high you'll meet a Rick Jarvis. He's the tow man, UHAUL inventory supervisor, best mechanic in town, and . . . Bishop. We call for a tow truck - they sent Rick. Rick says he'll take our car to his shop, he's the main mechanic in town. Sweet. In the morning I call to find out if there's a trailer at the UHAUL place - they say I need to talk to Rick. Later in the day, I was trying to find a ride for us to get to the UHAUL Rental place. So I try to find a Relief Society president or bishop (through a local church branch of the same church we belong to) using lds.org. The only Bishop listed was a "Bishop Jarvis", I called the number and left a message at a home message machine. Later in the day I asked the lady at the front desk of the hotel "So... is Rick's last name Jarvis?" Her reply: "Yes ma'am". Of course it Rick! He is the man of the town. Oh, Rick also was buds with the hotel and got us a somewhat discounted price.
THAT Was our Thanksgiving adventure... INSANE!!!! Lets re-cap one thing here...
Thurs-Fri - Vegas, NV
Sat thru Mon - Iowa City, IA
Tues - Nauvoo, IL
Wed - Iowa City. IA
Thurs - Waterloo, IA
Friday-Saturday - Howell, MI
Sunday - Iowa City, IA
Monday- Beaver, UT
Tuesday - Home Sweet Home.
Insane.
with a 9 month old.
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