Super long Road Trip

In my time spent in Chicago as a missionary I became good friends with several other missionaries. Of those, there are only a handful who I am still in contact with today. Of those, there are a couple of them who are still single. Of those, there is one who recently met a girl in UT, proposed, and planned a wedding here in AZ!

Chris Radigan (or Radi, as I refer to him) was my DL and ZL on the mission and was one of the few missionaries who really enjoyed being pranked....only so he could retaliate bigger and better without any remorse. He's from AZ and really a cool kid. We've kept in touch over the years and so when he told me he was getting married I was stoked and even more excited to hear it would be an AZ sealing.

Jill Warner was my companion for one transfer on the mission. One transfer was plenty for us to become really close and to this day she is one of my best friends. She and Chris are also good friends so she was willing to make the 10 hour drive from UT to AZ for the wedding.

The detail that makes this a little more exciting is that Radi and Aubrey chose to be sealed in the Snowflake temple.

Basically there were several reasons to not take the trip:

1. I have a newborn

2. Clint had to work on Saturday

3. I would have to find someone to come with me just to watch Lina during the sealing

4. It was 3 hours away

5. The reception was in Payson

6. Jill would have to drive 10 hours to get here

7. Jill had not more PTO so she would only be here for the weekend

8. Jill would have to find someone to come with her just so she didn't drive alone

9. It's a 10 hour drive from UT to AZ

However, we did it anyway. Jill convinced her older sister to leave her 4 kids for the weekend and trek down here as a her co-pilot and as my babysitter. They got in at midnight, we went to bed at 1am which kinda gave us a late start the next morning. Once on the road, there was an accident that backed up traffic on the 87 for about 45 minutes. So we were already running late, and with this we thought we were for sure going to miss it. Once we finally made it there (right on time), we were given the news that the marriage license was en route and stuck behind that accident. The 12:00 sealing took place at 2:00!

Natalie did great with Lina the whole time! I guess being a mom of 4 qualifies you for stuff like this. Man! I was so lucky to have her there!

After the sealing we did some more driving back to Payson for the reception.

After the reception we headed home, got back around 9pm. Lina didn't cry the whole time, until the car ride home. She saved it all and made us suffer the last 45 minutes of the drive.

The next morning Jill and her sister got back on the road for another 10 hours!

In the end it was a really long road trip. However, it was nice to get to be there for Radi and see him start this new chapter of his life. It was also nice to get to see folks from the mission and get to visit with them.

I'm just glad I didn't have to trek down all the way from UT for it. =)

I didn't take my camera so I don't have any pics but here are some old mission pics of Radi and also Jill....these will have to do.

Radi is on the left. He and Porter came over to help us with our bikes when we first got them.

Radi is on the far right. This was my last day on the mission.

Radi at Zone Activity.

Jill trying to load up our bikes since we didn't have a bike rack.
Jill getting ready to flush goldfish down the toilet. This was a result of one of the many pranks from Radi.