Our trip began on Thursday at 4:00 am when Keaton, Jackie and I left Sherwood Park and picked up her parents and drove to the airport. We got our boarding passes and dropped off luggage and headed through security then got some breakfast at Tim Horton's. We first flew to Calgary (to meet up with Eldon's parents) then we flew to Abbotsford BC (I can now say I've been to 9 out of 10 Canadian provinces!) Jackie and her dad left the airport and went to pick up a rental car. We drove to the border and got through. We went to meet up with Eldon around Mount Vernon and he took us to a tulip festival called RoozenGaarde and there were SO MANY TULIPS!
It was so pretty though! We then stopped outside downtown Seattle for Chick-Fil-A which was great as always. When we got downtown, we dropped Eldon's parents off at his sister Yvonne's apartment. We took Jackie's parents with us to Pike Place Market and the Gum Wall. Keaton and I got dropped off at the Space Needle for a few minutes to walk around and see it up close and it was so cool! Got to live out all my Greys Anatomy feelings! ;)
Keaton and I went with Eldon in his rental car to drive to Puyallup. There was quite a bit of traffic! We got settled at the hotel along with Theo and Kenzie and Courtney and Tom, and Austen arrived to spend the night with all of us. We also met up with Jackie's sister Kim and her husband Tom and three of their daughters Kassie, Brittin and Belle. We all went to get food at Sonic then took it back to the hotel to chat. We also spent some time at the pool while Jackie and Eldon went to Walmart. When they came back, we all chilled in their room and ate some snacks and talked, which was nice.
Friday was the big day! I got up early to shower because I had to do my hair. I ate some breakfast with Keaton before he had to leave with Austen and his parents. I went with the rest of the siblings and Jackie's parents. When we arrived at the Seattle temple, we sat in the waiting room while Caitlin went to do her dress reveal to Austen. They both came in after to get ready for the sealing. Her dad came in around 11:30 to tell us we could get ready to head in. We switched our shoes for socks and waited a few more minutes. So the temple is really big and we went up to the third floor for the sealing! It was so beautiful though. It was my first time attending a sealing so now I know what to expect when my time comes! After it was over, there was lots of hugs going around. We went back down and outside to wait for them. It started to rain a little bit but there was a shelter over the door anyway! Then after some time, Austen and Caitlin made their way out as a married couple! And we took lots of pictures! (Also their photographer was great and so fun, she loved hanging out with our family!) the wedding party went to get more pictures so we went to a nearby location for the family lunch and it was very delicious.
We drove back to Puyallup to stop at our hotel for a bit then drove to Buckley (Caitlin's hometown) for the reception. There was some food served, some Italian sodas, and a candy bar. They started with a small receiving line, the moved to cutting their cake and having their first dance. Caitlin also tossed her bouquet. We danced a bit with them and ate some cake. We then sent them off and spent some more time talking to people. It was a short reception but it's all they needed. We stopped for gas before going back to the hotel to hang out at the pool again. Keaton checked the score of the Oilers game the whole time, which they won!!
After a long day, we were finally able to sleep!!
Saturday, I got up early again, along with Keaton and Jackie's parents. We left the hotel at 8 a.m. to drive to Yvonne's in Seattle to pick up Eldon's parents. We got held up a bit at the border but we were able to clear some things up! Keaton and Papa went to drop off the rental car and get some food while we waited for them at the Abbotsford airport. Keaton's phone was at 1% when we got there, so I took his to charge and he took mine to use for maps and calling. When they got back, we ate some food and sat for a bit. We went through security and got on our flight to Calgary. We said bye to Eldon's parents. (Well not really good bye, more like see you in two weeks). The rest of us waited at our next gate for our flight to Edmonton. When we arrived, Keaton went ahead of us to get the van. We drove back to Sherwood Park to drop off Jackie's parents, took the van home and took our own cars back into the city since we left at the house. I went to my apartment to unpack then went to Keaton's to relax and talk about some of our own wedding plans.
All in all, it was a lovely time in Washington and I'm so happy I was able to go and celebrate Austen and Caitlin's marriage in the Seattle Temple!
