Who Says Boondocks is Just for 14-year-olds?

Um, hi. Sorry I have been a little MIA. I promise there is no catastrophic event going on in my life, I have just been struck by a lack of motivation, which is dumb, seeing as all three of my readers have probably left me to wallow in the pit of my internet lameness alone by now. But at least Dave reads this, so I will proceed. Because you know, it's not like he was actually here experiencing these events or anything.

Last weekend some of Dave's family came to town to attend his cousin Brent's wedding in the Draper, Utah temple. His parents drove up with his grandma, brother John, and his wife Marcy on Friday night and we went to dinner with his aunt and uncle. Dinner was great, no huge highlights except for the fact that Marcy's chicken was overcooked and Dave's steak was undercooked. Marcy sent her's back, which I was proud of her for doing because it was one of those things that I always have heard you can do but have never really had the courage to actually do. It seems much too high-class for the likes of me. Kind of like requesting a room swap at a hotel or something. I tend to just suffer in silence (stay tuned though, for a story of when I don't...coming soon....wow now you will all keep looking every day to make sure my riveting story gets posted, huh???)

Anyway, after dinner we went back to our house, played cards, and everyone was enthralled with our mini elliptical machine. It is pretty awesome, I must admit. And it is a great conversation starter when you have people over.

Dave's dad, John

Dave's brother, also known as John. His is blurry because he had his legs going at such hamster-ball speeds my poor shutter couldn't cope. And no, we don't usually have it shoved under the counter we just had to stick it somewhere to make room for people. The Feng Shui of the living room is usually impeccable, don't worry....

The next morning I made everyone breakfast which ended well considering I was on the verge of snapping my spatula in two due to the fact that the food was cold when everyone got there, Dave was stuck in like 40 minutes of traffic coming back from wedding reception set-up due to the Utah Valley Marathon (and duh I needed him there for moral support. I can't be expected to cook things on my own without his constant support and cheer-leading), and we probably scarred his grandma for life. You don't need to know details. It was just bad, that's all. 

Dave's parents wanted to pick up Micah, Dave's nephew who lives in Orem, and bring him to the wedding with us, but we needed time to kill in-between after breakfast and the temple. Dave suggested Boondocks, one of the many, many "family fun" centers in Utah Valley (which are actually usually just dank-smelling money-pits but make for good awkward first dates. Boondocks is one of the better ones, less mold, more to do, etc.). I think that Dave was kind of joking, because once my family took him there (though fun, I think it was again due to a need to entertain a large number of people of varied ages while in the proximity of  the I-15) and every time we pass it he yells "Boondocks!", so it just popped out of his mouth. But his parents figured Micah would like it, and it would be fun for everyone, so Boondocks it was. We got there a little late and so just opted for the go-carts. 

(Meaningful aside: Dave's dad had bought everyone arcade tokens too, but we didn't have time to use them, so everyone from out of town gave them to Dave for us to use another time. The other day we drove by there again and I was like "I can't wait to go play arcade games at Boondocks with our leftover tokens!" and Dave looked sheepish as he told me that he had given them all to Micah, as it was "The uncle-ish thing to do...". I stared in open-mouthed disbelief that he would do such a kind thing without consulting ME, but then felt guilty as I tried to pretend "that I wished I had thought of that, he's such a thoughtful uncle, I guess Boondocks is mostly for 8th-graders," etc. I am still getting the hang of being a good aunt. But we still have the one token that I selfishly hoarded so if anyone wants to join us for one round of that basketball dunking game at Boondocks let me know!)

The token recipient himself

Sick bleached rat-tail we spotted. It is normal to take stealth pics of weird people, right?

Elaine is ready to tear up the pavement

Go-carts were actually really fun, as I have gotten over my initial fear of them...due to no scarring childhood event, just my own silly fear of speed. I was just about to pass Dave at the end when this punk little kid totally slammed into his car, causing him to spin out of control and crash and making it a breeze for me to sail by. I did genuinely feel bad for poor Davito though, as this kid was kind of out of line and I could feel the hot rage billowing out from Dave as I passed him. We then had a very solemn discussion about how our kids would never be allowed to act like that in a go-cart course. (truly though, the kid was a punk. And his parents were no-where to be found. What is with that?)

The funniest part of Boondocks was that we needed to go to the temple straight afterwards so we all changed into church clothes in the bathrooms. I have changed in a lot of weird places so this didn't phase me too much. (Like outhouses for church whilst camping. So no, Boondocks is not that weird)  It was mostly just funny that we all trooped into the bathroom in shorts and came out churchy.

Spiffed up and trying to let go of the anger towards little go-cart crasher as we prepared to go to the wedding. Yes, I used a Macey's bag to carry my change of clothes in. I just recycle, ok? 

The temple was so great and Brent and Amber looked so happy! Amber is from Hawaii and so all of the family had leis on, which was beautiful! I wish I was Polynesian just for this tradition. 

We were hungry and had some time to kill before heading to the reception so Dave's dad wanted to try this sushi place. Too bad it was closed...Marcy was laughing at me taking pictures of closed restaurants out of the car window just so that I could put them on the blog. It really makes no sense..."oh my gosh look at the amazing closed restaurant she went to! What a precious memory for her!"

The reception was really nice and they had AMAZING luau food but unfortunately I have no self-control and had eaten like 2/3 of a California Pizza Kitchen pizza and hour before, and, had I gone on a long run that day it would have been no problem to shovel in a whole plate of rice and pork but alas my appetite was not at its peak that day.... sadness.

I did, however, hold some really cute babies and rejoiced over no longer having to be a part of the bouquet toss, otherwise known as "the time where Claire gets trampled by equally competitive yet much taller women and ruins peoples' bouquets in the process." (aka Anne and Jac's weddings. Both times I was a bridesmaid and thus more visible, making the whole hulabuloo just that more embarrassing) But now I finally gots me a man, thank you very much. 

All in all, another fabulous weekend with the Mizukawa clan, though I am getting sad that there are fewer and fewer people to get married, and thus, fewer of these events with awesome food and cute babies to hold and whatnot. I guess maybe we need to start wedding crashing.