So we woke up at 5am and drove to the Detroit temple for an 8am appointment with the youth to do baptisms. Ryan and I stayed after for the 10am session. I had a feeling it might be a tough one for me since it was the first time I'd been to the temple since my Grandma passed away and I was right. I've missed her so much lately and it must just be reality setting in but I think she was there with me. I kept thinking about the day I met my grandma and grandpa in Orem to pick out my temple dress. My Grandma helped me look through everything to find the right one and my Grandpa waited patiently then gave his smiling approval. I can still hear my Grandma touching the dress and saying "Ohhh Stephie, it's perfect." (Pause, gotta gain composure). Anyway, they were so happy to buy that special dress for me and it means so much to me. I remembered the night I went through the temple and looking at the row behind me and seeing my Grandma smile then getting a big hug from her after the session. I think the temple will be an even more special place now.
Okay, back to the day. After the temple we grabbed lunch at Ryan's favorite place, Chili's. Then we burned time at the biggest mall in Michigan in Auburn Hills. We walked the whole thing with the other million people and stopped in a giant outdoors store. It was really cool until I figured out that all of those cute little animals all over the store were REAL! I guess I'm not a fan of taxidermied animals, some of them were so young...
My new favorite store however is Neimen Marcus. This was the outlet version and we still couldn't afford anything but they had a furniture section to die for! I guess we've seen them in Vegas and on Rodeo Drive but it was fun to see labels like Prada and Dolce & Gabana.
After the mall we caught a movie. It was Ryan's choice and we saw Max Payne. Not good! Very slow and dark and pretty much destroyed any reverent spirit we had going for the day :)
So after the movie we explored downtown Detroit to burn time before the So You Think You Can Dance concert. It was kind of creepy, the streets of Detroit were empty, so empty we wondered if there was an evacuation or something. There were a lot of abandoned buildings but a few old ones with beautiful architecture further downtown.
The bridge to Canada
A cute couple taking wedding pictures under the giant severed arm...still don't know what thats all about
Then we finally made it to the concert. It was in the hockey arena where the Red Wings play and our seats were great. We had 14th row which I thought meant 14th from the stage but they filled the floor of the arena with about 50 rows in front of the stage. I think our seats were better though because we didn't have to look over people. Anyway, it was fun to see all the dances again, especially for the 40 year old couch potato man next to us and the screeching 14 year old girls behind us :)
We finally got home at 1am and found a package from Ryan's family. They sent a copy of my Grandma's obituary and an angel to hang on our tree this year to remember her. It was SO thoughtful and certainly brought tears to my eyes once again. Thank you so much guys!!
Whew, what a day. I wouldn't want to be that busy every week but it's fun to break up the monotony of school and work. Plus to top it all off, Michigan State beat the University of Michigan for the 1st time in 7 years! Sounds like another BYU/Utah :)
8 comments:
Detroit can be a scary place. I'm glad you guys were safe. We drove through Detroit to get to Grosse Point the other day, and maybe we found a bad part of town, but it was pretty dang ghetto. The crazy thing was that Grosse Point, one of the nicest places in Michigan, was only a couple blocks away from the crappiest part of Detroit we saw.
Oh, by the way, I went to high school and middle school with you. I knew Leslie, but not really you. But I thought it was neat to find someone else in MI.
What a fun day! SYTYCD was so fun here too! Glad to get an update from you guys! Can we see you when you're here?
I'm so jealous that you went to that concert. They came to Utah, but I didn't go...sad!!! Sounds like such a great day.
Cute steph, that sounds like an action packed day. Your story about your grandma made me cry. YOu should feel fortunate to have been that close with her, I wish I had that kind of relationship with my grandparents.
Steph, what a fun day! It is always nice to go to the temple, and I am glad that it reminds you more of your grandma. I got a little emotional reading your post. The concert looked fun! I'm glad you guys had a great day.
We're in Ann Arbor, my husband is doing the U of M evening MBA program, and I work at the U of M power and heating plant.
What a day! But oh so fun and memorable. I love the picture of you with the city lights behind you and the bridge. How's law school going? I'm sure he's doing great. It's fun seeing the pictures of the ward friends, the best people in MI :)
Stephanie....all those little (and big animals) at that outdoor store u went to died of natural causes :)
they are from zoos and such....just thought u might want to know :)
Post a Comment