Pro-vah!

Casey and I both spent our college years in Provo, Utah. For some reason, Casey insists on calling it "Pro-vah!" (in a surfer-like accent). He does the same with the cities of "Cupertin-ah" and "Mision Viej-hah". So, last weekend....Provah is where I hung with my sisters and cousins for a great Girl's Weekend. No kids, no husbands, just these girls:

CAMILLE
my sister
Rancho Santa Margarita, CA

ME
Pasadena, CA

SAUNJA
my sister
Pocatello, ID

(sadly, Saunja and her husband had a totally fun trip to Yellowstone planned that same weekend, so we actually didn't get to see them. But they let us stay at their gorgeous home, which we thoroughly enjoyed. I love this picture of her, from their party weekend. They snowmobiled 103 miles, bundled up like this)

MEREDITH
my sister
Rexburg, ID

LAURA
my sister-in-law
Huntington Beach, CA

SARA
my sister in-law
Provo, UT

my AUNT KAREN
Rancho Santa Margarita, CA

KARIS
my cousin, Karen's daughter
Gilbert, AZ

KAM
my cousin, Karen's other daughter
Provo, UT

RACHAEL
my cousin, Uncle Rich's daughter
Gilbert, AZ

ADRIAN
my cousin, Uncle Rich's other daughter
Provo, UT

WENDI
my cousin-in-law
Provo, UT

That's a lot of fun people!
And now my laundry list of photos. Here's how it began....

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My wonderful sister-in-law, Nicole (who also lives in Utah and works for Jet Blue) hooked me up with a buddy pass. It was super inexpensive (hooray!) but you have to fly standby (a little stressful at times). The day I left it had rained and rained. So LB airport was backed up with flights and people waiting for flights. I spent a few hours looking at this:
But I made my flight! And spent the first night/morning with Nicole and her kids. The girls were too photogenic and made the most adorable models:
Sadly, baby Harrison slept through most of it. So we'll have to do a photoshoot with him next time. Thanks Nicole. It was great to see you guys!

Rachael picked me up from Nicole's house in our sweet rental Jeep:
Then we picked up Camille and Laura from the airport and headed to Rexburg. We were worried about the roads and potential snowfall. But all went well. We saw plenty of this pretty sight:
And even some blue skies. It ended up being a gorgeous day:
Our first stop was Pocatello, ID where we ate at our favorite college-life establishment...Chilis! Turkey Combo with a salad and blue-cheese dressing on the side please:
Then we headed to Saunja's house. She lives on a beautiful hill overlooking the valley (gorgeous view and gorgeous house):
We were really bummed not to see them. They are such a fun family and always have fun things going on. Here they are, the Carlsons:
Though they were out of town, they kindly let us stay at their house. And Liesl left us this cute note in her bedroom:
Their house felt like a model home (I guess I'm used to a 2-bedroom apartment. haah). Saunja's done a really great job decorating. I love this dining room table. A large square:
And their roomy kitchen. I just want to make start baking right now:
This was my favorite room, of course...a craft room! Ahhhh. Some day. For now, my kitchen space will have to accommodate my project supplies.
And this room was awesome too, a built in pantry/food storage closet in the basement. The builder left this room un-carpeted so it would stay nice and cool. Really great idea:
Thanks for the wonderful hospitality, Carlsons! We missed you guys. But we enjoyed lounging on your couch:
And this couch in Rexburg:
and this couch in Mere's apartment. I guess we did a lot of sitting, driving, and eating.
After Pocatello, we drove up to Rexburg to:
Camille and Rachael both went to school here when it was Rick's College. We visited their old stomping grounds. First, Camille's old apartment at The Riviera:
The only room left of her old apartment was the bathroom (the rest of it is now the laundry room). So we hung out and enjoyed the moment:
Rachael at her old place, Royal Crest:
The new Rexburg Temple. Beautiful:
And then it was time to pick up Mere. She has a snow-boarding class all-day every Friday so we had to wait for her bus to get back in town. Of course we made a scene, waving and yelling as her bus drove by, next to the Hogi-Yogi:
and we took pictures galore:

Meredith!

We checked out her apartment at the dorms:
Just as I remember my dorm experience....lots of cinder block walls. But an improvement: beds on stilts with desks UNDER the beds. Brilliant. Me and Mere:

Dorm decor:

Meredith and her boyfriend Jeremy (making a funny face):
Though none of us were very hungry, I hear that a Rexburg trip is not complete without a trip to Craigo's. So we hit up the all-you-can-eat pizza bar:

Heaven

amazing donut/scone treats:

and yes, we all felt sick the whole night and vowed to eat a little less the rest of the trip.
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For a bunch of moms who rarely get to sleep-in, you'd think we'd spend most of our trip doing just that. Instead, we spent our mornings waking up at 5am. We had reason for such craziness though.
Saturday morning we needed to be in Provo at 10am for the funeral of our dear family friend, Casey Vongsowad Stolze. So we left Pocatello at 5:30am. The morning sky was beautiful:
And our traveling footwear was a bit funny:
Thankfully it transformed into this (Rae and Mere were twiners):
and later, to this. Rachael wears open-toed shoes 365 days a year (I think). This is exactly how she dressed when she lived in Rexburg too:
The funeral for Casey was wonderful. It was sad, touching, and uplifting at the same time. Casey was diagnosted with cervical cancer just a month ago. She underwent chemo treatments, was in a great deal of pain, and decided to go home and finish her last couple of days of life with her husband and son Tyler. Some really old photos of her. She was really beautiful:
Casey was one of the most positive and happy individuals I've ever known. Her energy was addictive and everyone around her loved her dearly. A few days before she passed, my mom said we could send her an email and her son Tyler would read it to her. It was a strange and sad moment, writing a final farewell to someone.
Here was my little note:

Dear Casey,
Any time I hear your name mentioned, I have a vivid picture in my of you sitting at Sunday dinner at my parents house....your adorable face and cute smile, your voice laughing as you relay a funny story about working in your salon and the nail business. What wonderful memories. And what a vibrant and fun person you are. How I love you. And how dearly you will be missed.
Your positive energy fills any room you are in. You define optimism. And I think Tyler has inherited that great quality from you.
Thank you for blessing our lives with your beautiful voice, strong testimony, and wonderful personality.
We love you,
Dana, Casey, Lucy, and Owen Willard

Casey and her son Tyler lived in Rancho near my family for years. Tyler is the same age as my brothers. A few years back, she moved to Utah to be near her grandkids.
Tyler gave a beautiful eulogy.

He and his wife Amy:

Much of our family was there for the service. I'm really glad it worked out with our weekend trip. Me with my cousins Cameron and Colin. Two good lookin guys:
The whole Suman/Gibbs/Gerdts/Blair group:
The rest of our trip, we stayed with these fun people, the Millers at their cute home in Provo:
Chloe was waiting for us as we drove up. Cute cone head:
She posed for all my pictures. Another great model!
Kam and Gerrit bought their house a while ago and have done some cool renovating. Since she's never posted pictures of the updated look, she said I could have the blog exclusive. Haha. I'm so important. So here it is, their cute Provo house. This fireplace is awesome. They did all the tiling themselves:
Our tour guide and tourees:
They ripped out the old kitchen and put this in themselves. Green cabinets with cool tiled backsplash, black countertops, and a dishwasher!
This is probably my favorite room. Kam is a hair stylist, so they put in a mini salon downstairs. I'd love to get my hair done here:
And have it washed in this sink:
Here's where the majority of hanging out happens. A big downstairs bonus room:
with cute wall decor:
I love her style and taste:
After our home tour it was time to eat! Visiting a city you used to live in means there are a slew of restraunts you NEED to visit. For as much eating as we did, there are still 4 or 5 we never got to. I guess I need a whole week in Provo/Salt Lake area. For lunch we headed to Hickory Kist, a sandwich place on Center Street:
Camille and I, however, had a craving for this place instead:
How I miss Einsteins. Asiago Cheese, toasted with Veggie Cream Cheese (a HUGE cookie for dessert - see pic of Camille at top).
The whole bunch of us:
After lunch, we went shopping of course. We actually spent most of time sitting in the lobby area of the mall just chatting. I guess we're not the shoppers we used to be.
We drove around Provo looking for old landmarks. BOTH homes that I lived in for years have been torn down to make space for condos. Boo. My past is gone. This place, however is still standing!
This is the Blue Cube and was the house that Casey, his brothers, and their guy friends lived in for years. Oddly enough, he lived 1 block away from me for 2 years, AND my cousin was in his ward and we never met....till 8 years later when we both lived in LA. Funny how life works out.

Since we went "light" on our lunch, we had room to live it up for dinner at Cafe Rio. Then we hit up He's Just Not That Into You, which was a big disappointment. Definitely some funny parts. But overall bad messages about marriage. I do not recommend.
Our last day in Provah was spent going to church, hanging out:

sewing and working on projects:

playing with friends:

cutting hair:

CUTE!

More family came over for dinner:
And our friends Gordon, Tyson, and Justin came over for dessert:
We topped off the night with a little Rock Band:
Chloe was seriously rocking out. It was real cute:
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One more 5am wake-up call and we headed to the airport:
We all made it home safely and though the snow is beautiful, I do love living in Pasadena. This is what February should look like:
And besides, these cute kids are here too:
Fun weekend, ladies! It was a nice break to be away from normal life and to live-up the old days. We'll have to do it all again!