This May Have Been a Family Reunion

Two weekends ago I flew out to Utah to hear my dad speak at BYU as a Distinguished Graduate being honored at Homecoming. For me it was an exciting opportunity to finally learn what my dad does at his job!

It was a weekend rife with VIP treatment

Ah, BYU!

Grandma telling her "How do you who likes you more, your dog or your wife?" joke

Mother of the speaker

You know you're arrived when BYU rolls out the donuts for you

Preppin' the Powerpoint

Waiting for the intro

Here we go!

It wasn't JUST about his job, there were some life-items in there, too

Here's Dad saying "That's why I'm glad I live in Chicago" (you had to be there)

Jeff and Jamar came!

Mom is always glad for an update on Dakota

Grandma wins for having stolen the sign about Dad

Grandma eyes the contraband

Then we went to a lunch where all the honorees were honored

Daughter-in-Law duties

Somehow I wound up at the table with all Kristen and Cory's kids and they were over there with like aunts and uncles and stuff

Can you guess what's grossing out Rachel? It's rye bread!

The honoring. There's the president of BYU over there

Looking up to Dad. Literally and figuratively.

Spying on Dad being interviewed by BYU Magazine.

And waiting for that interview to end

Family stretching at the BYU Guest House

Later that night: A family-only celebration dinner at Bombay House

Assorted Snacks: favorite appetizer since 1999

Never forget: when you ask Bombay House to make it spicy, they make it SPICY

Friday: Early morning show of Shaun the Sheep in Spanish Fork

And then lunch for everyone at Don Joaquin's

Preppin' those tripas for the big day ahead

Then Friday night: Everyone heads to the Marriott Center for the big BYU Homecoming Spectacular

Right over there: Elder Christopherson. Also the new presiding bishop. And a couple of rows down from us? Gary Crittendon. 

The big deal about this spectacular was David Archuleta was there. Singing.

Then it was back once more to the BYU guest house.

It's like a fancy Utah house, but each bedroom is a hotel room. 

AND there's a coffee maker (with coffee) in the kitchen.

Saturday Morning: Niece and Nephew soccer games.

Soccer games are for sticks

And then, Saturday night, I'm reunited with Matt after, I don't know, seven years?

He's back in Utah and he's got all his paintings with him!

We had dinner at El Morelense

With Andrew

AND Celeste

Me again

Sunday: Didn't take many pictures. But here's Ellie dressed up for church. Everyone else: You're not dressing fancy enough for church.

For dinner we made gnocchi (not pictured) and caesar salad (not pictured) and played D&D (not pictured) but Owen made barbecued carrots and here they are!

2207 Stover Hall Forever

The Good People of Utah (and Also the Best Tacos in the United States)

(Before going deep with this post, you might need to revisit my original blog post about Tacos Don Joaquin, the taco shop in Provo and Springville that I am only more and more convinced serves the best tacos in all of the United States)

When I was in Utah I didn't just go up the canyon for wedding events. I also hung out around Kristen and Cory's house with Scout. 

And went for car rides with Kristen

And Walker

Thursday I went up to Salt Lake to take Grandma to lunch. I had been thinking about Crown Burger, which I haven't even been to much, and when I suggested burgers to her Grandma said "No, we get Mexican." True. No messing with tradition. So we had Cafe Rio and then started looking for some ice cream, a Wendy's was sighted. I could barely keep up with Grandma when we got there.

Did you know Grandma had never even heard of a Frosty before? She liked it.

Back up to Kristen and Cory's, tried out my tried and true Zeiss 35mm f/2 on the new camera for the first time.

Sentinels.

I gave Rachel the option of making other faces, this was her choice.

(They grow up so fast)

They were having Parade of Homes in the neighborhood, this Scout was keeping everyone crossing the street safe.

If you were wondering where we were heading together, it was the Springville Don Joaquin's.

There had been a lot of discussion over whether or not everyone would get their own soda bottle and who would or wouldn't finish their drink (or even barely start it). By the end of the day, there would be a nearly full Sprite bottle and a nearly full Fanta bottle in the fridge at home.

Not my photo, or my tacos, I stole this picture from Cory's Instagram because it turned out so crazy beautiful. The top two tacos are the Don Joaquin Secret Taco that might be called a "B.I.P." (still not sure about that). They make a taco, then top it with melty quesadilla cheese, and turn it face down on the flat top. The cheese turns crispy on one side, all melty on the other side. It's awesome.

I had it in my mind that my schedule was such that I could eat at a Don Joaquin every night I was in Utah, so I made the goal. While I had been out of Utah Kristen and Cory had become regulars at the place and Cory had struck up a solid friendship with the owner, Ricardo. He'd told Ricardo all about me and introduced us that night. It was a little bit of an "Oh, ok" "Nice to meet you" meeting. Not the instant full-blown best friendship I would've hoped for.

Friday the kids hosted a one-day summer camp at the house. 

It was a good time to escape back up to Salt Lake. I had my Crown Burger. I went to Jessica's new house. She fed her dogs pastrami.

And then, later that night, after Round One of the Gordon/Merkley affair, I met up with old pals at my favorite place in the United States: the Provo Don Joaquin, inside the warehouse that says "Salon Eclipse" on it, down by the train tracks.

Christina and Dave were in the house. As a fellow former missionary to Mexico, I was definitely hoping Dave would give Don Joaquin a thumbs up. (He did. I am beginning to think I'm not wrong about this place being the dopest).

Also there that night? Temporary Utahn Emily. Bet you weren't expecting to see her in this post! It was the best.

Jared and Eve came down (if was after their wedding reception that I first ate at Don Joaquin's) as well as the Beans.

The night's tacos (they put pineapple on my chorizo taco, too). I had eaten too much at the wedding party to go hard on the tacos, but I did all right.

Just the family-friendly scene inside the warehouse that night. Fog from a fog machine inside the night club that shares the warehouse would occasionally escape into the room that night. It was fun.

Erin came down too! I don't know if you follow her on Instagram but her house has the best-looking floors and fixtures.

What's a Doriloco? Something to come back and find out later.

Now these aren't two more tacos I ate Friday night but two tacos I ate Saturday night. I was coming down late from the reception and wondering if Don Joaquin would even be open or if I could even eat another bite after all the reception food but I drove by and the Open sign was still on so I went in. Ricardo recognized me and I recognized him and the kitchen was all cleaned up for the night but he had his cook make me two steak tacos and we hung out and talked for half an hour. I learned about Ricardo and Tacos Don Joaquin until my brain was about to burst. I went home so excited to tell Cory and Kristen about it that I couldn't sleep and woke up real early to tell them as soon as they came downstairs. So one year in to my Don Joaquin obsession and I'm friends with the owner. I'm doing ok. Next stop: Either a taquero internship or becoming an investor.

Sunday evening I dropped Cory off at the airport and then went over to Duke and Teresa's for a second dinner. Grandma was there Skyping with her far-away grandchildren and Rachel was there with her new husband. ("New" because they had been married for just a few weeks. No one has been replaced. Yet.)

After that I went to Liberty Park where Lauren had organized a Sunday evening picnic.

The picnic was full of people I knew, like Sara (NY Lexia's sister) and Dana, with whom I ate an Umami Burger in LA a few years ago.

And over on the blanket? Amber formerly of New York and, Holy Smokes, Natalie from London Study abroad 15 years ago.

Dana, Sara and I ventured over the hill...

To the weekly raging hippie drum circle.

I call this sequence "Hullahooping with Hot Dog"

Sara and me.

Just a couple more dancers.

Back up over the hill again to the calmer side.

Listen, if you ever need an engagement photo taken a week or two before your wedding, just let me know. I'm your guy.

And that was my trip to Utah! As usual, it was great, and driving through the canyons with my windows down smelling all the trees and things didn't make me miss watching rats on the subway tracks at all.

Ok and if you got all the way to the bottom and now you feel like you need to take a look at that original Tacos Don Joaquin post from my old blog you can do that down here without scrolling all the way back up. Nice and Easy!

And also, isn't it weird I didn't take any pictures of Cory or Blake while I was out there? I don't know how that happened. They were there! Cory and I even saw San Andreas together.