My first Sunday home during Christmas break, my friend Desiree mentioned she was driving to Illinois for a friend's wedding. Worried about her traveling alone, I volunteered to go with her. I love spontaneous road trips and who doesn't want to visit Illinois when the opportunity arises?
The wedding date was December 27. Greenup, our destination, was only a five hour drive from Richmond (KY), so, we left at 7am that morning.
The drive up was awesome. Desiree and I haven't really talked since, I don't know, my freshman year at BYU, so we had a lot of catching up to do. She is such a beautiful person and I constantly marvel over the fact that she is still single.
In addition, her family is awesome! Her dad Marlow, is the stake patriarch and Christy, her mom, is the coolest lady. They have the ideal relationship.
Josh Blade, Desiree's friend, who is a first cousin of the bride, Erin, warned us, Greenup, is nowhere, USA. Oh my gosh. He was not joking. I mean Greenup's pride and joy, besides the courthouse, (photo above) is the Dollar General store which just opened! It was insane.
Since there wasn't much to do we drove to Josh's house first. Cyn Cyn or Cynthia, Josh's mom, is a beautician. She has the cutest shop ever and is a total babe. Seriously, the lady runs like 6 miles a day and is tiny. The minute I walked into her shop she had her hands in my hair. The only thing she really said to me all weekend was, "You have the most gorgeous hair." or "I just love your hair." For these compliments I loved her even more. Josh was out having lunch with his dad when we arrived so Desi and I hung out in the shop and watched Cyn Cyn do all the ladies hair. Erin looked beautiful. Ben, the groom, is such a lucky guy and the cool thing is, he acts like he knows it. Their story is also really cute. You could honestly say, it was love at first sight. Nice how that happens for other people.
When Josh returned we got a tour of the house and then of Greenup. Josh's grandma worked at the courthouse, thus the photo. While we were talking to her, I talked, Sherriff Bill Kline, into posing for a photo. At first he protested but in the end he agreed to put his hands on his guns while I snapped a photo.
In addition to seeing the courthouse, Josh took us to a warehouse where they build tour buses for country music stars. Sadly, Desi and I had just missed Rascal Flats, who had been by to pick up their new bus. It was really interesting to hear about the unique color combinations different stars chose for their bus interiors.
I didn't realize Illinois was the place for such a business. My first guess would have been, oh, maybe, Nashville.
On the way home, we had to pause for goats. It was awesome! After Josh begged me not to get out of the Suburban, I snuck around the side and got a few photos of a billie goat who had real horns. Josh kept screaming he was going to butt me but I knew better. Men think they know everything.
Erin was baptized into the LDS church in February of 2006. Converts are required to wait one year before they attend the temple. Erin's family is not LDS. This means they are not able to attend the temple. Erin and Ben have decided they will be sealed in the Salt Lake Temple this February. Not wishing to exclude her family, Erin and Ben decided to have a small ceremony that her family could attend. It was held in the local Methodist church and was lovely. Although I decided not to take any photos I did get one of Josh prior to the wedding with his white tennis socks and tuxedo pants. Men.
The reception was held in a barn that had been converted into a restaurant. I got some really cool photos of the table decorations and the revolving machine blades overhead. The food was fantastic and the dancing was really fun.
Josh's eight year old nephew is seriously the best breakdancer I have ever seen in person. He was so amazing. I felt like the biggest dork dancing next to him.
Josh's brother, Jesse, also made the evening fun. Skilled in the art of verbal banter, dinner was spent in debate. What made the dynamic even better was seeing him in his underwear earlier that day. It was an accident but I didn't complain. Little young for me though.
The next morning Josh, Desiree and I paid a visit to Josh's bull-riding champion cousin, and were attacked by dogs. We actually drove over in a golf cart. I love the country!
Ditching the golf cart we borrowed Jesse's truck and drove over to feed his pet deer, which the neighbors keep along with their pet deer. Its incredible. This photo is of Josh and Desi feeding Lucky, Jesse's deer.
After feeding the deer, Desi and I said our goodbyes and headed back to the "civilization" that is Kentucky. I don't know that I will ever see the Blade family again but I am grateful for their hospitality and will never forget Greenup as a result. If you are ever traveling through southern Illinois, give Greenup some of your time. You won't be sorry you did.