Season 10 Greattasticly Ever After Blog 10.5: The Shadowbox

 The Shadowbox

In all my writings, the most confusing person for me to write is my coworker Elizabeth. There are coworkers that I have been friends with that I haven’t written about explicitly in my writings because I couldn’t find a place to fit them (though most of them appeared in the wedding reception installments). But Elizabeth is my workplace bestie, like Lily, Clo, and Savanna before her. I met her in early Season 7, but we didn’t really become friends until the installment October-December. While she has appeared in a handful of installments, she wasn’t written in the way I would write, say, Clo, until a few installments ago.Her first appearance was in The Scroll Of Proposal. As you might recall, I took Paige on a scavenger hunt using scrolls (harkening back to when I asked Paige to be my girlfriend), leading back to our apartment where my engagement speech was written on a giant scroll. Elizabeth had written the clues on the mini scrolls and my speech on the big one because my handwriting is not good enough for such an important event. 

What I don’t think I said in The Scroll Of Proposal installment was the coolest part of the actual Scroll Of Proposal itself. See, my plan was, after I financially recovered from buying these scrolls, I was planning on buying a shadow box so we could display the Scroll of Proposal (and store the smaller ones). With wedding planning stress hitting so hard last fall, however, buying a shadow box was not high on my priority list. 

“Hey,” Elizabeth asked me one day in November of 2025, “Did you get a shadow box yet?” 

“No,” I replied, “I've been a little too stressed.”

“Good,” she said, “my sister makes custom ones, and I’m going to see her next summer. If you talk to Paige about what you want and give me the scrolls back, I can bring them with me on my trip, and we can get one made for you. It can be a wedding gift!” 

On Friday, July 17th, 2026, Elizabeth and I met up at a coffee shop and bar called Barrel and Bloom. While as of my meeting with Elena, she was on the trip to see her sister; I was intensely looking forward to receiving the shadow box!

To Be Continued…

Season 10 Greattasticly Ever After Blog 10: Summer Long Honeymoon, Part 3: Paige I Like The View

Summer Long Honeymoon, Part 3:

Paige I Like The View

Day 4: 

On July 11th, Paige and I got up around 9:00 and hung out in the room until about noon. Having exhausted everything to do at the resort during the first three days of our honeymoon, we decided to explore historic Park City and the surrounding areas for the second half. At about 12:10, we walked down to the nearest bus stop and headed down to what the locals call “Old Town.” From the “Old Town” bus stop, we rode the Main Street trolley up to, as the name would suggest, Main Street (though we would learn later it’s actually easier to walk there from the station). Upon our arrival, we immediately realized why it was called “Old Town.” While there were modern businesses (7-11, Lululemon, a Marriott, etc.), the street is set up kinda like the street in a spaghetti western (an old cowboy movie).

First we stopped at a small shop called Park City Desserts & Coffee. After that, we explored a few other shops until we found the Park City Museum. The museum documented everything from the city’s founding, the great fire of 1898, the Winter Olympics of ‘02, all the way up to the present day. The most interesting part of this museum was that the bottom floor was the actual jail that was used around the time the city was founded. 

After the museum, we went to the 7-11 as they had free slushies. Then we went to an art gallery and decided to head back to the condo. We planned on watching the sunset, but I wanted to go for a quick swim and maybe go to the steam room. Paige walked me down so I didn’t have to take a key card. Right when you leave the building to get to the pool, there is a vestibule made of glass. I was behind Paige, and I looked down at my phone to check the time because she had asked me for it cuz we were trying to plan around the sunset. Just as I looked down, Paige opened and held the glass door. She kept talking to me, and I saw her through the window… and I walked face first into it (only hurting my pride a little bit). 

Day 5: 

When we were still in “Old Town” on the 11th, we saw signs advertising a pop-up market called “Park Silly Sunday Market.” On July 12th after Mass, Paige and I ate breakfast, packed up our stuff, and by 2:00 pm we were back on the bus heading down to Old Town. On the bus we met three men, Billy, Jeff, and Connor, who were in their mid 50s or thereabouts. They were childhood friends who had grown up in Utah, but ended up married in different parts of Colorado. This was a “boy’s weekend.” We explained that we were on our honeymoon, and they said they would buy us coffee (how could we refuse)? They took us to a place called Atticus Coffee and Tea right inside of the bounds of “Park Silly.” As the name suggests, it is a To Kill a Mockingbird-themed coffee shop. For those who do not remember your middle school English classes, Atticus is the father of the main character in To Kill A Mockingbird. While I haven’t been to too many pop culture-themed restaurants (only one other comes to mind), as we got our frozen coffees, I couldn’t help but think there need to be more shops like this. 

We thanked our new friends and walked out to the market. Atticus marks the lower end of Main Street, and the market went down the street from there. We walked around the market for about 10 minutes before we both had to go to the bathroom. The closest one we could think of was at the museum, so we walked back up there. When I had finished, I went up to the front desk and asked them for more suggestions on things to do. 

After I got loose plans for the next day and a map, Paige and I walked back down to the market. Calling it a market does not do it justice. It was more like a mini art festival. There were shops that made caricatures, metal and wood work, specialty clothing, upcycled jewelry; one shop made gourmet licorice (which I didn’t even know was a thing)… there was a lot of stuff. There was a DJ by the food and drink area. He had been setting up right after we got our coffee, and when we got back from the museum, he was in the middle of his set. Just by sheer coincidence, the playlist was basically our wedding playlist!

Day 6: 

We did not do as much as I initially thought we would on Monday, July 13. At the suggestion of the museum employees, we headed to Olympic Park. This was obviously where the 2002 Olympics were and where I assumed the 2034 games will be. The museum employees did not give me a huge rundown of what it is. It is firstly a ski museum, secondly a future Olympian training course, and finally an amusement park. We went to the museum, watched a couple of kids use the ski jump, but we mostly just scoped out the park so we knew what to do for the next day… 

Day 7:  

On Tuesday, July 14, around noon, we returned to Olympic Park. After having done some research, we decided to do a couple of things, starting with the Alpine slide. We rode a ski lift up a mountain (which, by the way, did in fact have the year 2034 painted on some grass for the ski jump). The Alpine slide is exactly what it sounds like. It’s a metal slide that runs down the mountain. It has these little one-person trolley cars that you ride down the side in. If you pushed the lever on the trolley car down, you went fast, and if you pulled back, you slowed down. 

As we waited in line for the slide, we heard one of the employees say, “man… it’s going to be like this all week!”  I didn’t have time to process what he was talking about before it was my turn. It took me a second to get used to the controls, especially when the slide had a turn, but once I did, it was really fun to fly down this mountain as fast as possible! Paige finished maybe 30 seconds after I did, and we spent the next 10 minutes trying to figure out what to do next. Unfortunately for us, there was a thunderstorm. On our way back to the condo, Paige pointed out what the employee had said, and I realized he was talking about the weather. 

When we got home, we decided to go to Old Town to get some food. It was still raining a little bit, and Paige and I came to the conclusion that we definitely chose the right time to come to Park City! 

Day 8:  

As you may recall, when Cousin Simple played our wedding and brought Paige and I up on stage for the last song (Primadonna), they changed the lyrics from  “said your name was, “Maddie,” Maddie, I like the view,” to “said your name was, “Paige,” Paige, I like the view.” On Wednesday, July 15, our two-month wedding anniversary and our last day on the honeymoon, Paige and I woke up at 5:40 (much to Paige’s chagrin). We got dressed, got on the elevator, and went to the first-floor balcony to watch the 6:05 sunrise. 

We sat and watched the sun slowly crest a mountain. As it rose, I got a big grin on my face, looked at Paige, and said, “Paige.”

“Yes?” She asked.

“I like the view,” I said with a chuckle. 

She immediately rolled her eyes, but she still smiled. Because she was so sleepy and we were out of coffee pods, I went down to Atticus, then got back to the condo; we cleaned and got ready for check-out at 11. 

After we checked out, we went back to Old Town because our flight was at 5:30, so we had a little bit of time to kill. We got lunch at Davanza's Pizza.  As we sat and ate, we talked about how the two weeks before the wedding (basically from my haircut to Paige walking down the aisle) went by really slowly and the two months since we got married went by incredibly fast. 

“I’m kind of glad our honeymoon‘s over,” I said. 

“What do you mean?” She asked.

“Like,” I explained, “I’ve had a lot of fun, but since everything‘s been so fast since the wedding… When we wake up tomorrow, we will be back to our normal life, except the fact that you’re my wife won’t change. Like, I know time goes by fast, but I think… I hope that time will go back to its normal tempo tomorrow because I can’t wait to enjoy every second of regular life with you!” 

To Be Continued…

Season 10 Greattasticly Ever After Blog 9: Summer Long Honeymoon, Part 2: Park City

 Summer Long Honeymoon, Part 2: Park City

My parents' college best friends, Ron and Anita Wallace, own a condo (or maybe it’s a timeshare) in Park City Utah. The condo is part of a larger resort called Canyon Village. While Paige and I were dealing with wedding planning stress, we were also stressing about planning the honeymoon, as that would be the next big thing. Mom told Anita about this back in January, and she offered up their condo as our place to stay. Note- Anita put me as her nephew on the reservation, which isn’t untrue we definitely do have that kind of relationship. But I also wanted to thank Ron and Anita for letting us stay here! We are very appreciative!

Also, just kinda a random thought that I feel like should be mentioned. Before I was dating Paige (and “my wife” was just an imaginary concept) I imagined my honeymoon as being in an all inclusive resort in Hawaii. I think that’s because a Hawaiian honeymoon is like the basic package, if that makes sense. It didn’t require any extra work to conjure up the setting. I knew that an all inclusive resort was unrealistic so the fact that we actually got a mostly inclusive resort is crazy.

Day 1: 

At 3:30 am, on Wednesday July 8th, Paige and I woke up, after going to bed at 12:00, and we finished packing. Mom dropped us off at the airport at 5:30 for our 7:30 flight and we landed in Salt Lake City at 9:00 am local time (11:00 Columbus time). We ate lunch at the airport and ordered our Lyft to the condo. 

We arrived at Canyon Haus (pronounced house), at 11:45 and we were able to check in at noon. Unfortunately there was an issue with the WiFi and making the key cards so we kind of got trapped in the room, but with the lack of sleep the night before (and the “ghost hours” on the plane) the rest was nice. And I was able to leverage the situation to get Nespresso pods for us to get through the whole trip. 

Because of the WiFi we struggled to order the groceries for the week and by the time we got it ordered it wouldn’t arrive until the 9th at 3:00 pm. We went out to a Mexican restaurant called Dos Olas Cantina, which was really good; no Habanero’s, but still good. After we ate we walked back through the resort narrowly missing a mountain storm. 

Day 2: 

We got up the next day at 8:30 am, made our coffees, showered and then by 10:00 we were heading out to a restaurant called The Umbrella Bar, which we had discovered on our way to Dos Olas. Unfortunately it didn’t open till 12:00  so we went to a local shop to get a few things that we couldn’t order. Our GPSs were not being very helpful so we ended up sneaking through another hotel to get there before returning to The Umbrella Bar at 12:25. 

After we ordered our food I asked the bartender, Kendra, “so we’re on our honeymoon,” 

“Congratulations,” she said. 

“Thank you,” I continued, “do you have any suggestions for what we should do?” 

We returned to the room after we ate and waited for our groceries. Once they arrived around 3:45, we put them away and I started to make a PB&J. I toasted the bread (a habit I picked up from Paige), but I wasn’t used to the toaster… so I set off the smoke alarm. 

Once we rectified that problem and I ate (Paige was still full from lunch), we went down to the pool and then as Paige showered, I went to the steam room. I’ve never been in a steam room before… that was very cool. As soon as the steam turned on the room was completely filled within 30 seconds; it was almost like a sensory deprivation tank. 

Day 3: 

On July 10th, I got up early, went downstairs and wrote a little bit on my phone, until Paige called me when she woke. I went upstairs, we got ready then packed everything up for the day. At 11:15 we made it to the red pine gondola check-in. Five minutes later after we had gotten our tickets and signed the waivers, we headed up the mountain. The map they had given us at check-in was a bit confusing, and once we arrived it became even more so. All of the trails were very poorly labeled, since it was a ski resort and hiking is not the main purpose of this mountain.  We went on a few botched hikes before we went down to a ski lodge at 12:30 to eat the sandwiches we had made. 

Kendra had told us that Alpine Lake was a good hike. After we ate we made our way to try to find the Alpine Lake Trail. On one of our failed hikes we had believed that we were on the mid mountain trail. We finally found a sign that led us to the Alpine Lake Trail, and after a while it split in two. One path led to Alpine Lake and the other was the Mid Mountain Trail. We used Siri to flip a coin and ended up at Alpine Lake. 

Anita had told us that there was free, live music before we left and Kendra had directed us to something called concerts on the slopes. On our way down, Paige and I saw a band setting up on a stage. I looked it up but tickets were way too expensive. That night after we had dinner, we went back out to explore the resort at night. The area was kind of dead because of the concert, and so I asked Paige, “do you wanna get ice cream?” She said yes and we looked around for a shop, but there were none in the area. Luckily we got a couple of ice cream sandwiches at the local grocery store. As we walked out of the store. We heard a different band playing around Dos Olas. Excited, we ran in that direction and watched them play into the night. 

To Be Continued…

Season 10 Greattasticly Ever After Blog 8.5: Coworkers At Red White & Boom

 Coworkers At Red White & Boom

On Friday July 3, 2026, Mom, Dad, Ryan Luke, Josh,  Nimba, Lexi, Paige and I woke up at 6:00 a.m., at the lake house, and by 7:00 we were on the road. We got gas at 7:15, I fell asleep at the gas station, and when I woke, it was noon, and we were back in Columbus. 

At 5:50, Paige and I arrived at Kobolt, for the annual Red White & Boom party. My coworker, Elizabeth, and her boyfriend, Joel, who I also work with, had already arrived. I have mentioned Elizabeth before, but because most of our interactions are at work, I haven’t written about our friendship so that I don’t violate FERPA. “But Mitchell,” I can hear you saying, “you’ve totally mentioned other coworkers without mentioning students! What’s going on?” And yes, I have. We’ll get back to that. For now just know that Elizabeth is basically the workplace equivalent of Noah (in terms of how close we are). Also up until this event Elizabeth and Joel kept their relationship secret from our coworkers other than myself and some close friends. And I’m very proud of myself for having kept it since last November! 

Anyways, about 30 minutes later, our other coworkers, Kaylee, Kira, and Emily and 2 of her kids arrived. After that, Miranda, a couple of Ryan’s friends, and a ton of family friends (including Shaun Loftmen who Paige and I would go to lunch with the next day), got to the studio. We spent the next couple hours watching the World Cup, and then around 9:30 we went up to the roof. 

As the fireworks started at 10:00, I looked at my friends and smiled. When I started working at the school, I met Clo and her now ex girlfriend Lucy and we built a friend group together. Lucy and I had a falling out and while I am friends with everyone in the group individually now, at the time that fallout really affected my relationship with the group at work. While I’ve still had friends at work, there is something to be said about having a group. 

Elizabeth and I have been friends since late 2024, but everyone else started getting close with us last year, shortly before I got my SBT.  With this group finally solidifying, I am feeling more confident in my workplace friendships, outside of the building! 

To Be Continued…

Season 10 Greattasticly Ever After Blog 8: Summer Long Honeymoon, Part 1: Another Norris Trip

 Summer Long Honeymoon, Part 1: Another Norris Trip

The last day  of summer school was Friday June 26th, And I had to be back at school for the 2026-27 school year in early August. My cousins family, the Mitreys (Aunt Melissa, Uncle Andy, Alex and his girlfriend Sophie, Maci, Nicholas and Ellie), have owned a house on Norris Lake for the last few years, which they sold two years ago, so they could build a new one. The trip was scheduled for Saturday, June 27th, and Dad wanted to still have his annual Red White & Boom Party at the studio. Paige and my honeymoon was scheduled for July 8th to the 15th and Nicole’s wedding was on the 19th. All of this to say, summer break 2026 was a lot more packed then my summer breaks usually are. To cope with this Paige and I decided to treat my entire break as a summer long honeymoon. 

At 3:00 p.m. on the 27th, Mom, Dad, my cousin Lexi, Ryan, Luke, Josh, Paige and I arrived at the second Mitrey Lake house. Melissa, Andy, Nimba, Nicholas, and Ellie, were already there, and that was cool because Nicholas had been out of the country since about a week before the wedding and so it was really cool to have some one-on-one time with him. On top of that Ellie, Lexi, and Paige, spent the evening on the lake for a girl’s night. The next day, Alex, Sophie, and Maci arrived and we all spent some time at the lake. 

The other days were mostly just spent drinking at the lake, but there were a few highlights. 1. My Uncle Bob and Aunt Erin came for two days, Monday (the 29th) and Tuesday (the 30th). 2. On July 1st, which was supposed to be our last day, Alex, Sophie, Nicholas, Ellie, Ryan, Luke, Josh, Paige and I went on a 2 hour hike, and because we saw and touched so much poison ivy, we jumped in the lake, fully clothed covered in Dawn dish soap (which surprisingly worked)! 

3. This new lake house has a jumping platform on the roof of the dock. I cannot use it because of my ear surgery. Paige asked Luke to jump with her and he faked her out at the last second so she jumped on her own. A little bit angry on her next attempt, she interlaced her fingers with Luke’s so he would have to jump with her, but he still faked her out, and her grip was too tight on his hand, so she jerked back, slipped, and hit the water hard. She was okay, but was left with a nasty bruise on her leg, which seems to happen to her a lot at Norris. 

4. We decided to stay an extra day, through July 2. While the day was mostly uneventful, we decided to wait up late to meet Maci‘s new boyfriend, who we will call… Jason. As we waited up, a tree fell on a transformer and we lost power to the lake house. It was really cool because it ended off giving off a  camp fire vibe. 

To Be Continued…

Season 10 Greattasticly Ever After Blog 7.5: Good Luck Noah

 Good Luck Noah

On the last day of Summer School, I got off at 3:00, said goodbye to some friends, and drove off to start my summer long honeymoon. Paige had some things to do before our trip the next day so I dropped her off at her parents house and drove to hang out with Noah at Roger. At about 7:00 pm, I picked Noah up and we drove to Kroger. 

You see, even though I was officially off for summer this was the only time we would be in town at the same time before the end of July. The next day I was going on a family trip, in the middle of that trip, Noah had to go out of town for work, then he would come home for one night, fly out for another job next day, and then on the day we were to fly back from our honeymoon Noah would be heading to England for a blind soccer tournament. 

We arrived at Kroger, and we got a few things that he needed as well as makings for some alcoholic milkshakes. When we returned to Roger, we began to make the drink. After we were finished, we sat out on the porch and drank and talked. 

This mini installment is way more of an extension of Breaking In Roger than its own thing which is not something I like to do but I still thought this was an important moment. As we sat on his front porch wishing each other good luck on our upcoming summer adventures, I told him, “Man, it's so cool that we can just sit out on the front porch of your house and just vibe!” 

“It is very adult,” Noah said matter of factly, with a smile. 

To be continued…

Season 10 Greattasticly Ever After Blog 7: The Kid Khronicles #4- Failures In Van Life

 The Kid Khronicles #4- Failures In Van Life

As I said inthe installment, The After Party, Arden was doing a rotation in Columbus for three months starting at the beginning of June. Between Family Days and Breaking In Roger, Arden and I had a phone call and she told me that it had been pushed back to the 15th. On Saturday June 13th 2026, Paige and I were at two of her high school friend's (Sophia and Cara’s) joint college graduation party. While there Arden called me. I ignored it because I figured it was about making plans to hang out the following week so I would just call her when I got home. It wasn’t until Kid called me about 12 minutes later that I became a little more intrigued. I texted them both and told them I would call soon.

2 hours later on the phone Arden confirmed that she would be in town the next day. Kid was also coming, but she was only staying the night and she asked if she could stay with us. It turned out that Kid had upgraded her car so that she could do van life for a while. This is something that she had been talking about for at least a year, but it wasn’t something that anyone, including Kid, thought was actually going to happen. She had apparently told me at the wedding, but I really don’t remember that. 

Paige had a meeting at Panera on Sunday the 14th at 8:00, and the last time that happened they provided food. I dropped Paige off early so she could talk about becoming a manager before the meeting started, and then I drove to meet Arden and Kid at a local pizza shop called Pizza Primo. I said hi, Kid showed me her set up, we ate, then Kid left because she wanted to watch the sunset at her favorite “thinking spot.”

 Arden and I talked for about another 15 minutes before Paige called me to pick her up. After I got off the phone I asked Arden if she wanted to still hang out, and she said that she would like to go on a walk while the sun was still out and so she decided to follow me to Panera. Because I was not at the apartment, or another familiar spot Paige asked me to send my ETA when we left. When I looked at the ETA (9:02), I asked Siri what time the sun set. Siri responded: Sunset will be at 9:02 pm today. I called Arden and she decided that after she saw Paige she would just go to her Airbnb.  

Paige and I got home and we waited… and waited and then I checked the time. 10:02. The sun had been set for an hour; something was wrong. I texted Kid and she responded, “ummm, my car is not turning on and my phone is at 2%.” Paige immediately checked her location from when they were roommates, and we ran to the car. She was at a Metro park in Grove City. By the time we got there at 10:20, the park was closed to the public, but a park ranger had left a gate open for us. When we pulled up to the car, Kid was zipping around trying to figure out what she was going to do while the park ranger watched her in awe and confusion. 

As Kid signed the papers to keep her car there overnight, she explained that she thought her car was out of gas. We called Luke and he told us that he and Josh had some gas at their place, the 245. We arrived there 15 minutes later, and Josh brought up a gas can. Since the adrenaline was going to keep Kid, Paige and I up, and the boys stay up late anyway we decided to stay over there for a while. “How did I end up here?” Kid said after about 10 minutes, in the middle of a half joking half legitimate, panic attack. 

“Hey,” I said, “you're fine, this is a great opportunity! You're going to have so much fun on this road trip! I know you can do it!” 

The next day was Paige and my one month wedding anniversary. At about 6:30 Paige and I returned to our apartment after a vet appointment for Charlie, and Arden and Kid were  waiting in the parking lot for us. Once we packed up Kid’s stuff we said our goodbyes and got back into our cars. As Paige and I pulled out of our apartment to go to a restaurant, with Kid and Arden in Kid’s car behind us, I felt immense pride. Most of the time I struggle to not see Kid as the 7 year old that she was when I became friends with the Andersons at the end of Miracle Child. But sometimes, when she is doing something new or something doesn’t go to plan I see how much she has actually grown up and I am so proud of who she has become!

To be continued…