3 State Road Trip 2017 Utah...

After we left Jacobs Lake we drove for a long damn time to Utah.  My ears/stomach/cough was not having it and I battled the sickies a bit as I drove the beast truck.  Again though - the drive was so pretty!  You forget how full and packed it is in SoCal until you're driving through vast parts of beautiful countryside randomly passing through little towns.  FYI  - Panguish...I swear it's a little town that looks super cute on the outside but has horrid stuff going on behind closed doors.  Ha!  I love making up road stories.

Anywhoo...we pretty much just drove through stopping in Fillmore for a not so great lunch.  The whole place seems under construction so maybe skip that place if you're driving through.

We arrived in Utah and check into our Air BnB. Super cute cozy little place in a gorgeous neighborhood in Ogden.  Since my sickies were still pretty prevalent (oh and I managed to cough my rib out at this point as well so I was dealing with searing pain everytime I breathed/coughed) I wasn't sure I was going to make it over to say hi to the fam, but luckily after a little break and an easy dinner at place called Zupas that Jon had suggested, I felt a bit more human so we headed over to Jons.

It was so great to see him!  Dad and Lori had just arrived.  Introductions were made to those who hadn't met the boy and we just hung out for a bit.  Dad and Lori brought the dogs and with Jon's 3 dogs it was quite the dog house!  Lori is also the dog whisperer.

Baby Bro!

Early back to our bnb and ready for the big day tomorrow! 

So the next day we got gussied up and met up with the fam for the Retirement Ceremony.  It was held at the Hill Airforce Museum.  The boy was having a ball looking at all of the planes and filling me in on all the random information about them.  It was really a cool location!  Jon was dressed in his dress blues and looked so handsome!!!!

Could not be more proud

My heart was beaming with pride!

Jon informed us that the ladies will be escorted to their seat!  Giggle....ok.

The ceremony was very formal.  They talked of his entire career and all he had accomplished.  He saved the Air Force so much $$$!!!  Fellow co-workers presented him with gifts.  They gave him all sorts of different signed documents from different parts of the Military.  They presented his wife with a document.  Angela pinned on his official retirement pin.  They thanked the family.  It was really interesting to watch.  When they all started singing the Air Force song I couldn't help but giggle when the Viking started singing along.  Jon then presented Lori, Angela and me with flowers and thanked everyone for coming.  My eyes welled up with tears I was so proud and so happy knowing that my baby brother is now no longer going to be deployed.

The beautiful flowers Jon gave me!

There was some blushing...

Jon made his own Shadow Box!

His crew was called the Axe so they gave him this really cool ax!

There might be something in my eye

I love love love this picture!!!

After the ceremony was cake and punch.  I'm told there's usually much bigger parties/dinner/etc but Jon is a very laid back chill person so the family hit dinner instead.  We all went to Texas Roadhouse for an early steak dinner.  Holy shit was that good!  First of all it was the 1st real meal I could eat since I got sick and 2nd - outstanding steak!  Outstanding everything!  So good!!!  It was a really great gathering of family and some of their friends and a big toast of course to Jon.  Later on we hung at the house for a bit but everyone was fading so the boy and I headed back to the Air bnb.  We found ourselves wanting to maybe grab some dessert somewhere so we hit the 25th street downtown area of Ogden, that I guess is a pretty popular area.  It was a perfect night and so nice to be feeling a bit better.  The cupcake place we chose sadly wasn't so great but the walk around the town with the cool random statues of artistic horses was a perfect end to the night.  The weather was lovely, was just the kind of summer evening I love.  I felt a bit better and it was a nice time to just chill in a beautiful area!  That night we got a pretty cool thunder and lighting storm! I was so excited and staring out the window at the constant flashes of brightness.  I keep shrieking to the boy to look but he was not as excited about weather as myself.  This little SoCal girl is always fascinated by storms.

The next morning we checked out of the bnb and met up with the family for breakfast at Kneaders.  This place was adorable and holy shit was the food good!  Lots of hugs goodbye and off to Vegas we go!