Wedding Bells!!

Me and Peter

Jeremy and Immer

Dusty and Shirley

Grace looking beautiful!!

Nicolette and Grace dancing - how cute!!

Mr. and Mrs. Salmond!! Peter and Nicole's 1st dance

Grace getting her hair done

On November 14th, 2009 Peter and Nicole got married!! It was such a beautiful day with some memorable, crazy, funny and not so funny moments.. Because I was out of town for the week leading up to the wedding I didn't have time to get my tux until the night before the wedding.. you can see where this is going already.. So Nicolette, Grace and I were in Boston and flew in on the 13th, went and picked up my tux and then went to the rehearsal dinner and when that was done we went home and we all crashed. The next day was the day of the wedding and when I showed up to get dressed and do pictures and everything I quickly realized that my shirt was about 4 sizes too small! The sleeves barely went past my elbows so I had to keep my jacket on all night. My jacket, by the way, was about 1 or 2 sizes too big.. you think that is all? Guess again.. My shoes were about a half size too small. So besides the fact that my feet hurt a little bit, my shirt was way too short and my jacket was a bit too big, everything else was just great! The day started off with pictures which I thought was funny sometimes because the photographers were a married couple and they spent most of their time fighting with eachother and giving us some cheap entertainment. During the photos, one of the flower girls Sarai got a little sick and threw up shortly after her pictures and before the wedding. She was bummed out that she wasn't able to participate in the wedding. Nicolette and Grace came out to do their pictures and they both looked so beautiful!! Grace looked like a little princess with her hair all done and her little tiara on her head. Nicolette looked amazing in her green dress and her hair and makeup all done up. During the wedding everything went smoothly and everyone looked real nice. It was a happy day. We had a chair right next to Annette's chair in the front row reserved for Richard. We had a white sheet over the chair with his picture on it. Although he was not there in the physical sense, I believe that he was there watching his son get married. After the wedding was over we all went to the hotel where Peter had the ball room reserved for his reception. It was so nice, they had it done up really nice. The DJ for the evening was absolutely terrible.. He kept on screwing up during the introductions and when it was time to introduce Peter and Nicole for the first time he said the wrong couple's name.. Oh well, we didn't let it bother us or ruin the evening.. there was too much fun to have!! We had a chance to catch up with our friends Dusty and his wife Shirley and also Jeremy, Immer and their kids Naomi, Andre, Arianna and Isabelle. It is always good to see those guys! Grace loves playing with the kids and always has fun when she sees them. It was really a neat day to watch Peter get married. I can't believe that he is married now with a kid on the way. I still remember when he was a little guy and we would goof off at his mom's house just doing dumb stuff together. It is going to be really cool to watch him become a father. I am very happy for Pete and Nicole. I really do wish them all the best and all the happiness in the world! ~11/26/09

Some old friends & goodbye to Boston

Nicolette and Grace in a Christmas store
Grace and a Daisuke Matsuzaka statue
Grace and coach Red Auerbach
Nicolette and her friend Jennifer Dermody

Well since we returned home from our Massachusetts trip on the 13th, this is the first day that I have had off of work so to be honest I've just been too tired to write anything.. While we were at the condo in Rhode Island we had a great visit from Bill and Jennifer Dermody. They are friends from Utah who we have not seen in years! I think the last time we saw them was when we were moving to Washington from Utah in 1999 and now they live in Massachusetts. Even though it was a couple hour drive for them to get to us, they packed up their kids and hit the road. It was a lot of fun to catch up and hear some pretty funny stories (that I promise not to tell anyone) and to play some games and just enjoy their company. We played a game called catch phrase where you have to get your team to guess the word that is given by giving clues.. We learned that a horoscope can also sometimes be called a "whore-o-scope" which we all thought was pretty funny. For dinner we all had some "pre-garbage" lasagna and turkey left overs topped off with some very good dessert that my cousin Nikki made. It is too bad that Jen, Bill and their family don't live closer to us because we would have a lot of fun together.
The day before we left to go home we spent the day with my Mom, Glen and Jess and spend our last day in Boston. We went to Quincy Market, shopped a little bit and just hung out. I love going to Boston because it is such a fun city. It was fun to watch Gracie go in and out of the stores because she is growing up so fast and it is fun to see her experience everything. She was having some fun with some of the things in the stores that we went to. It is pobably a good thing that I am not rich because I would end up buying a lot of stuff that she was playing with.. If my parents end up moving to Florida like they are hoping to do, I don't know how often I will make it back to Boston to visit so this was a bit more sad when it came time to leave. On the plane ride home I was thinking that it might be a while before I get to see my brothers and sisters again. I try not to think about that stuff because it just bums me out. This is why it sucks that we are all so far away. After spending our final day in Boston we drove home and had a dinner with my family which was real nice. This was one of the best visits that we have had because we got to spend a little more time with my family than we normally do. I loved meeting Avery and Riley. They are both just way too cute!! I can't wait to see them again. I guess we'll just have to wait and see what next year brings.. Either we will be flying to Massachusetts again or we will be flying off to the sunny beaches of Florida! Either one works for me!! ~11/26/09

Family Vacation!

We just got back from our annual vacation to Massachusetts to visit my family. It was such a good visit! Gracie was so excited to fly on the airplane and to see Nana and Papa, that is all she was talking about in the days leading up to our trip. We arrived on the 6th and Leia picked us up from the airport - it was so awesome to see her! We stayed in a hotel for the first night because we got in late and our condo that we stay in was not going to be ready until the next afternoon. Saturday was great because I got to see my mom, brother, Jessica and we finally got to meet Avery (Glen & Jess's baby). It was so good to see them all and Avery is so adorable! On Sunday we had a get together with lots of family. It was so nice to see everyone that I hadn't seen in so long. It was awesome to see my dad, I really miss him throughout the year. I wish that his boat was still in the water so that we could have gone out and done some fishing, the weather was great and it would have been nice to get out on the water. My mom did a great job preparing dinner for everyone, she made a full Thanksgiving dinner and lasagna. It was very nice of her to have purchased and prepared all of the food and drinks and getting the condo for everyone to stay in for the week. In addition to meeting my niece Avery for the first time, I also got to meet my other niece Riley for the first time. She is my brother Sean's daughter and she is absolutely beautiful! It was nice to see Sean, Lissha and Morgan too. It was just great to see all of the family who drove down to see us and spend some time together. I really love the time that we all get to spend together but the trips never seem to last long enough. On Monday I finally got to go bowling with Glen again. I think it's been about 12 or 13 years since we've gone bowling together. He is the reason why I love bowling so much and I have been waiting a long time to go with him again. It would have been better if I didn't have to use house balls and shoes though.. It was a great time either way and I can't wait to do it again. A couple of days later we went to see my sister at her house. Let me just say that I am completely jealous about the view that she has!! She has a deck outside her door that is right on the water and you can see Boston from across the harbor. I wish it was a bit lighter outside so I could have gotten some pictures, maybe next year. During our trip we also went to see Nana Grace's grave site. I like to make it down there to say hello once during our trip. I want Gracie to know who we named her after and to know how much Nana Grace meant to me and to know about the times that we shared when I was a little boy. I'm looking forward to when Grace gets a little older and we can let her stay with Nana and Papa for 1 or 2 weeks a year by herself so she can build the same type of relationship with them that I had with my Nana. I can't believe that she has been gone for 15 years already. Overall, the trip was VERY good! We had some great times with my family and I can't wait to do it again next year!! ~11/15/09

Trick or Treat and VACATION!

Well Halloween was here again.. Once again, time for costumes, candy, sugar highs, candy and more candy! This year Grace was a princess. We asked her what she wanted and that was what she said. Halloween started off with Nicolette taking Grace and her friend Anna to the YMCA where they had a bunch of games and candy for the kids, I was not able to go because I was at work. It was really cool because Anna got her prosthetic legs right before Halloween and was able to walk around with Grace. They were both so excited. I think it is awesome that they are such good friends, I hope they remain friends for a long time because they really like eachother. After I got home we went to the church where they were doing the "trunk or treat" again. That is nice because it is in the parking lot and people open their trunks of their car and the kids go from car to car getting candy. After doing that for a little while Grace said she wanted to leave so we took her to the mall and let her walk around a little. That was nice because there was a lot of kids there and she was able to have a little more fun and get, what else, more candy. Right now it is after midnight and is officially the day that we will be flying to Massachusetts for our annual trip home! We are all so excited to get there.. not so much for the plane ride though. I can't wait to get home and see everyone. I miss my family so much and hate that I only get to see them once a year. This year will be extra special because I will finally get to meet Glen and Sean's daughters. My sister is going to pick us up from the airport again. I'm so excited to see her again. We will be staying in a hotel tonight when we get there because we arrive around 11:00 PM. We go to the condo in Rhode Island on Saturday where we will be staying for the week. On Sunday we are going to have a full house. We are having a big get together with a lot of family and some friends. Nicolette's friend Jennifer who used to live near us in Utah and now lives in Massachusetts will be coming down. Nicolette doesn't know that she is coming so that will be a nice surprise for her. I am just looking forward to a week with my family and a welcome break from the daily routine. It will be nice to see family and a nice view of the ocean instead of the 4 walls of my office at work every day. I wish my dad's boat was still in the water so we could go out, he had to take it out last week. What a bummer.. I love going fishing with him. It is nice when he decides to keep the boat in the water though but that is a story for another day. (Sorry dad, I had to.. you know I love you.) Well, that is about enough for now. ~11/06/09