Going to UT with Derrick

Derrick and I went to UT on Feb 12 09 for his birthday. We had a lot of fun spending time together and seeing his friends and family. I was fortunate to see a couple of my awesome friends from High School Alena and Lyndsy. Derrick's cousin JR and his wife were very nice and let us stay with them in SLC. The night we arrived in SLC we met up with his best friend Brandon and had dinner with him. The next day we had lunch with him again, went to visit my friend Alena, then I had a dinner planned for him at Red Lobster, the one he used to work at, with some of this friends. Planning where we were going to go was fun because he had no idea the entire time. And he was pleasantly surprised when he found out where we were going. And of course he was so excited to see his friends! Later that night we went Swing Dancing! It was so much fun dancing with Derrick and Brandon. They used to do this all the time, so it was fun for them to be able to go together again. I was a little intimidated by their dancing skills considering I'm not nearly as good as they are, but regardless of my dancing ability I had fun! The next day was Valentines day. We started the morning off by going out to breakfast with JR and Lori, it was the best breakfast I have ever had in a restaurant! Then Derrick and I had the privilege of doing a session in the Salt Lake Temple. What a beautiful temple, and it should be since it took 40 years to complete. The we met up with Sara and Jack, they drove from Rexburg to spend the weekend with us. We had a lot of fun the rest of the day. Then that night Sara, Jack, JR, Lori, Derrick and I went to this Japanese restaurant for dinner and sushi. It was a really good restaurant, and we enjoyed the company. It was a nice Valentines day spent with family. Sunday we went to Derrick's old ward that he was baptized in. He made a comment as we were going in to church that he thinks only a couple people will remember him. Well he was wrong and I wasn't surprised. He always leaves a good impression on everyone he meets. Everyone was so excited and surprised to see him. In fact, we were stitting there listening to the first speaker as the bishop walks down and hands Derrick a note which basically asked Derrick if he would bear his testimony after the last speaker. Fortunately for Derrick, he's not afraid he speak in front of people and loves doing things like this, especially so spontaneously. And of course I wasn't surprised at all at the amazing testimony he gave. I couldn't help but smile as I stared at him the entire time and tried not to cry from the overwhelming spirit that was present during that sacrament meeting. I felt blessed to be able to share this experience with him in UT, and see Derrick interact with family and friends that were there for him when he joined the church 5 years ago, and who helped support him as he served Heavenly Father on his mission to Mexico. So later that night, we went to his cousin JR's dad's house for dinner, I guess that would make it Derrick's uncles house. It was a great dinner, there was so much food, I was so full. Monday was our last day there, we wanted to just chill most of the day since we really didn't have much time to do that at all. We did get some time in to see Brandon one more time and I was able to visit with Lyndsy and see her two beautiful kids! Then we ate some pizza with JR and Lori, and headed back to the airport to come home. Part of me didn't was to leave because we were having so much time, and I had 4 entire days to spend with my honey, but I missed my babies like crazy, and it was time to get back into the routine of school and work. We had an amazing time and I was so thankful to be able to spend this experience with him!!