My trip to the US went by sooo quickly! I was sad to be away from Joel (and MEL) for the first three weeks but the time really flew and both of us were so busy it went by in a blink! I flew home on December 6th. For the first time in my flying history... or that I can remember the airline lost my bag! My flight from Porto to Madrid landed late and my 2 hour connection turned into a 40 minute connection. This would have been okay if I didn't have to cross the world in that time. I was running to make it through. I was one of the last passengers to board my Madrid-Chicago flight. When I arrived in Chicago I was going to have to recheck my bag after clearing customs.. So I already knew in Chicago that it didn't make it. I definitely suffered from a bit of jet lag and kept waking up in the early mornings, which was okay when I decided to teach a few classes during my break and not lose all my kiddos.When I taught classes at home it was usually from 5am to 7am.. however I did have a few students book me for their lunch hour or in AZ around 9pm. Funny enough, the best place to teach my classes where no one else in the house would hear me, was the downstairs half bathroom. While it was okay for two hours of classes, I couldn't have done any longer. I put a cushion on top of the toilet seat, and two small tables for my laptop. The background was perfect because my mom had decorated for Christmas and you couldn't see any parts of the toilet :P The sound in my classes was great being in a smaller room. haha It was a giggle though for everyone who saw my office.
Mom, Cody and I also ventured to chilly Wisconsin to visit Grandma Ryder who recently had moved into a care facility not far from her old house. The staff were really friendly and the food was true midwestern style cooking. We got to enjoy several meals with her, and attend her Christmas Party. It was a lot of fun hearing some funny stories, her blunt reactions to our stories, and in general spending time together. We also got to see the cousins and they all met the lovely Donovan. So much fun to catch up with Donnie and the family and finally visit State Street and see the University of Wisconsin union, where beer is served next to kiddos studying for finals. The union is insanely nice! All sorts of sofas and fancy places to study. Tons of food, etc and apparently overlooking a big lake, which I couldn't see because it was night time.
Speaking of unions, I also got to walk around ASU with Evan and I couldn't believe how much has changed in the last few years! I don't even recognize the places that I took classes anymore. And the union is also super fancy like the one at UW... Kids these days, don't know how good they have it! :P
I got to do some hikes with Becki and do a day trip with her to Tonto Bridge! It was so beautiful and we saw a bunch of deer as we were the first guests in the morning. The longer hikes that we wanted to do were closed but we enjoyed the short little hikes and just seeing the park!
When Joel arrived we enjoyed the sunshine and did a bicycle tour of Scottsdale with some stops for geocaching along the way. Mine and Joel's new favorite sets of geocaches are right by my parents house! We had fun figuring those out and cycling around Scottsdale. We also did a mini night tour, including, taking the golf carts, and shots poured from the girls dancing at the bar in Whisky Row. We also visited Coach House with all the lights, had delish Mexican at Frank and Lupe's, as well as the true Sdale gem... The Rusty Spur. Which surprisingly was enjoyable, the band was playing some good covers and fun songs to sing along too! We also visited the Pima Air and Space museum which had an SR71 blackbird.. Joel absolutely loves planes and he pretty much died of happiness after seeing it! We loved bring Bob around to see the planes and down to Tucson with us. On the way back to Phoenix we also stopped in Saguaro National Park for sunset which was beautiful! What a beautiful place AZ is! So unique and not like anywhere else in the world.
Joel, Maureen, my parents and I got to see a Coyotes game against the Toronto Blue Leafs. It was a fun game with lots of scores! Unfortunately for Joel, there was only one fight.. dang Canadians, sooo friendly, eh! On New Years eve we played skee ball at a bar in Arcadia with Jessy and her mom, then had Becki and Maureen over for pre NYE shennigans. Then the family headed to Talking Stick to Ring in the New Years. There was a great cover band playing, hats, and lots of fun to be had! On New Years day we taught Joel how to play Bean Bags, Life Sized Jenga, and enjoyed an afternoon in the AZ sunshine. Joel started to enjoy American football and the joys of relaxing on the couch watching a game, with some snacks and especially with a fast forward through the commercials.
On January 2nd we were off to Vegas for the big event!! The ELVIS wedding! Brian joined us for the drive to Vegas as the rest of the crew headed up later. Joel got to try some In and Out Burger and of
The evening of the Third everyone arrived! We had a little mini reception in my parents room and I rested up as I wasn't feeling well at all. We (mainly the wedding planner crew, Mom, Dad, Cody, and Lorna) did all sorts of last minute stuff on the fourth like renting Joel a tux and picking up the cake, getting the drinks into the party bus, etc. Then time to get ready!
Everyone paraded through the Luxor behind us and we waited for the limo. We took some photos. We arrived at the chapel early and there was another wedding before ours and another after. The desk told us there were already ten weddings that day and another 23 to come or something wild like that, that was on a Thursday! The ceremony was hilarious, you can watch the live stream here. After the ceremony we headed to Gangnam Asian BBQ to have some Korean BBQ for dinner. While we didn't all fit in one room we had the back of the restaurant and the cake all set up there. Joel misunderstood the cake sharing directions a bit and things got a bit messy but it was all great fun. The food was absolutely delicious and the staff was fantastic. Everyone was soo stuffed we could hardly get them to eat the delicious red velvet and cream cheese frosting cake! Then it was off to the party bus! Our driver was a gem! He looked like Luigi and was a blast, braking to go with the music. The champagne shooter bongs were a hit, and the drinks flowed. We had several stops lined up for the night which were perfect. First it was off to the Las Vegas sign. Then to Fremont street where there was a live band who played us a little first dance song. There were also a group of homeless guys who were excited to celebrate with us and even shared their booze with the newlyweds! The last stops were at the Rio, to visit their night club wayyy up high in the sky with a great view of the strip. The Bellagio to watch the Fountains. Last stop, where the second bouquet toss happened, outside of MGM grand. The lovely Tiffany had the wedding party on a guest list and no cover charge and free drinks for the ladies sorted at Hakkasan. Everyone stayed through the entire night and it was the most incredible day! I am sooo thankful for everyone who was apart of it and gracious of all our Congratulations and Best Wishes. There was really no other way I would want to do a wedding.
There are many more photos to view here or here! Or by searching the hastag #noelinapeartree.
In Portuguese Joel's last name means pear tree, plus Nicole and Joel = Noel.. :)
I will spare you the gross details of my hangover the next morning.. however I will say that my once white brand new canvas shoes turned almost completely black... that's what happens in Vegas right? We relaxed and recovered the next day and saw Beatles Love by Cirque that night. Though it was a good show, it wasn't my favorite.. mostly because I loveeee the crazy acrobatics they do. This show didn't have a ton of that, but more of a theatrical production.
Ooo and how can I forget to add the wedding dress story! I decided ages ago that I wanted a second hand dress from a thrift store. We had been to one in North Scottsdale without any luck for wedding dresses. Then hear at the store that a new location has just opened. We head over there to check it out and there are two dresses. One looked extremely ugly, to my taste anyways. The other one on the hanger I was like mehh it's okay.I try it on and it fits perfectly. Everyone in the store is oo and awwing about it. The price tag is 80 bucks.. cool, no big deal. Just needs a cleaning and will be good to go... get to the cash register and it was a "yellow tag" sale... every item in the store with a yellow tag was wait for it....... ONE DOLLAR! YES people, my David's Bridal second hand dress cost me one dollar... How crazy, but perfect. IT was meant to be.
We hit up some geocaches as we made our way through Utah towards Page. We did a short stop in Staircase Escalante National Monument for the Toadstool hike. These rocks were so precious! We also enjoyed Lake Powell and Glen Dam, what a beautiful area. Followed by Joel's first Taco Bell experience at the most scenic TB in the world I would say in Page. It overlooks Lake Powell with tons of cool rocks all around.
After lunch we headed straight to Lower Antelope Canyon cause we didn't have a reservation... haha turns out one is definitely not needed in the winter time. We walked up and headed in 15 minutes later with our own tour guide. I was a little bummed out because our tour guide didn't have a lot to say, every once in a while something but I kept trying to walk slow to hear what the next groups guide was saying :P. He did take a few pictures for us but also made us take pictures of him! haha. The price went up in 2018 to 48 dollars per person including the Navajo Fee.. Even though it's pricey, it was absolutely worth it. What a stunning place! After that we headed to HorseShoe Bend. Another stunner, however we were not there for the optimal photo. Sometimes these things are better remembered anyways! We rested our heads that night in the exciting town of Tuba City. Joel got to try his first Indian Fry Bread.
The next morning it was off to the Grand Canyon! I had never entered the canyon from the East side and adored the stops. I found the viewpoints to be a lot better than the South Rim Visitor Center ones. You drove right next to the canyon for a while as well! One of these days I have to get to my bucket list Rim to Rim hike under my belt! We also enjoyed some geocaches in the National Park and saw an Elk, which crossed the road directly in front of us! What a huge creature!! From there we headed home through the South Entrance and hit part of Route 66 and head back home.
I had the most amazing time visiting home and I would say Joel had a fantastic time as well. Thanks for all of you who were part of it, and apologies for those that we didn't get to meet up with!
Lots of Love from Portugal,
Nicole, (Joel and Mel, too!)
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