The Duplains: A Homecoming, a Reunion, and a License

Remember how in my last post I was saying that getting married results in having to spend lots of money? That really couldn't be more true. Two weeks ago, one of my tires kept losing air pressure rapidly, so we took it in to get it patched. Turns out, my tires were legally bald, so bye bye $550 for four new tires. Then yesterday, Devon was having a similar problem with one of his tires, so I took it in to the tire place for him during my lunch break. They patched it for me for free (there was a nail... and it had been in his tire for about a month, and we just took a road trip to CA in his car! You have no idea how much I've been thanking God that the tire didn't blow up while we were in the middle of nowhere), but they showed me how bad his front tires were and then said that the back two tires were completely unsafe. Looking at them, Devon and I both agree. So... hello to purchasing eight new tires in a two week period. Laaaaame.

The worst thing about buying new tires is that you spend all this money on something nobody notices. It's not like you got some amazing new shoes or a fabulous new piece of furniture to show off. Nope. Just tires. What if I had that $1100 to spend on my wardrobe? Now THAT would be a fun, meaningful purchase. It doesn't matter that these new tires will keep us safe, especially when it starts to snow. The fact is, tires are boring and I dislike spending money on them. Sigh. You know what would help? Maybe next time you see one of us, you should compliment us on our sexy new tires. Yeah, that would help.

Anywho... sorry to start this post on a tangent. What I really wanted to tell you about was our road trip to CA last week, which was wonderful, busy, and much too short. We just wanted to stay there forever. The weather was beyond perfect.

Since Devon and I wont be in CA for our wedding until pretty much the day before, we thought perhaps we shouldn't take any chances with getting our marriage license. The lady from the County Clerk's Office swore up and down that we could just pick our license up the day before, no problem, but neither of us felt very good about that option. With how busy we'll be the day before the wedding, and with all the different things that could go wrong... picking the license up earlier seemed to be the best choice. And it JUST SO HAPPENED that my baby brother was getting home from his 2 year mission in Tucson, Arizona on August 7th, and Devon's family was having a reunion for his Grandfather's 90th birthday in Costa Mesa that same weekend. What better time to make a trip down?!

Three birds, one stone. I very much appreciate being efficient.

So we drove down Wednesday afternoon, listening to The Fault In Our Stars via iTunes audiobook. We highly recommend it - we were captivated from page one and it made our drive very enjoyable.

We got to my parent's house about 10pm and Devon FINALLY got to meet my brother. Now he just needs to meet my two step brothers and their families. And I just need to meet... his entire immediate family besides his Mom. But hey, that's what weddings are for, right? Meeting your new family? haha.

The next day, we all went to the pool in the morning because let's face it, Devon and I hadn't had time to see the sun since July 4th and our tans were pathetic. Plus, pool time with a book just happens to be a favorite activity of... all of us.

And now our tans are slightly less pathetic.

We had our favorite Taco Shop for lunch and then ran to pick up our marriage license. Which was, all things considered, pretty painless. And expensive. (Again with the money thing!)

We helped my Mom set up her classroom for the new school year for a little bit, and spent the evening enjoying BBQ chicken and a movie that I can't remember because we were all:

Devon might kill me for this...

Friday, we went to Costa Mesa for Devon's Grandfather's birthday party. First we went to lunch with Devon's Mom, and then we hopped on over to Balboa Island for a little bit before the festivities began.

Aren't they so cute?

Devon NEEDED a picture in front of the randomly placed patriotic cow.

These happened. Delicious!

After Balboa we went to a church for a yummy taco (my favorite!) dinner, a family talent show, and I got to meet... A WHOLE LOT OF PEOPLE. So far, I think I'm doing pretty well with names. But it was great to meet more of Devon's (soon to be my) family. Everyone was so kind and so welcoming, so I feel like we got off to a good start. :-)

Saturday we spent a long time at the pool, ran a bunch of wedding errands, and played games with my family. Sunday morning we listened to my brother's homecoming talk, said hi to my cute Grandpa (who is being a rebel now that my Grandma is gone and growing out his beard), and started our drive back to Utah.