Have A Seat – It’s A Long One

I’m back home in California now. It’s so nice. I love visiting people and having a bit of a break, but there’s just something about being in my own home, having my own space and my own things, and having my own routine that I miss while I’m away from home.

Aside from a few disasters the trip was really good. We did a lot, saw a lot, and had so much fun.

We spent our first few days in Utah at a family reunion. It was for NYDD’s family. We stayed in a cabin, went swimming, boating, and waverunning at a lake nearby, played a lot of games, and visited with family.

We stayed at my parents house, but spent most of the next few days with NYDD’s parents because they went on a trip to Yellowstone over the weekend. As you know, Sunday night I met Em and her family at Sir Oliver’s birthday party.

Monday we had Peanut’s birthday party. It was at NYDD’s parent’s yard. The weather was nice and it was great to visit with friends. We had cake and ice cream and just visited. It wasn’t anything special, but we really enjoyed it. For pictures you’ll have to look here because there are too many.

On Thursday I met a few more online friends I know from a bulletin board for lunch with Kermit while they were on their way to a Girl’s Weekend Out in Park City. I also saw a bunch of friends I used to sing with later that night at a little Children’s Choir Reunion.

I planned to meet Loralee on Friday, but the morning went totally crazy and I was running late. Then, when I was ready to go I realized NYDD had the car along with Peanut’s car seat. I must have just barely missed Loralee because she wasn’t there when I arrived the sushi place. She’d had to leave to take her son’s inhaler to him. So I missed her and felt horrible about it. I didn’t even have any contact info except email so I sent her a message when I got home and we met for sushi on Tuesday instead. We also got some chocolate (thanks Loralee!) and she helped me find some swim trunks afterward. It was nice to talk with her in person. She’s a babe!

Friday afternoon I went to Hairspray with Kermit and Mrs. Sixline. Then we had dinner at The Olive Garden before heading over to the mall to stand in line for Harry Potter. Yes, I’m an addict, and it killed me to not just drop everything and devour it because I was visiting people. I did manage to read about half of it while in Utah and finished the other half out loud on our drive home. Wow! Way to go Ms. Rowling. I feel satisfied. I won’t say any more for the sake of those who have not read it yet.
On Saturday we had some family pictures taken for my family. I’ll post them when I get them uploaded. We took them at our friend’s house. He’s a landscape architect and has an amazing yard. Another friend took the pictures so we have the rights to them. I’m excited to play with them in photoshop a little and get some prints made for framing.

Some of our friends work for the Utah Festival Opera Company and invited us to volunteer in the Cafe outside the theater. My daddy and I went. We got to see Showboat and worked in the Cafe des Artist during intermission and after the show. The show was wonderful. I’m really happy I was in town to see it.

Saturday evening NYDD, Peanut, and I had a little BBQ with NYDD’s younger brother and his wife, at Wildbound and Wildman‘s house. They grilled. Yum! Seriously, those potatoes? Good stuff! After dinner Little Brother and Wife left for a wedding reception. We stayed and played and visited. I have to say, Beans is my new favorite game, and Wildbounders, I just love talking to you two!

Sunday evening we visited a good friend from high school, Lacey. She and her dh just bought a house so we got the grand tour and played with them for a little. Peanut found their living room quite exciting. It was a really fun visit.

On Monday, NYDD took a bunch of maps and drove all over the Salt Lake valley looking at neighborhoods for us to live in next year when we plan on moving.* My mom, Teeny, Peanut, and I also headed for Salt Lake to visit some more friends. My mom made my cousin’s temple dress and took it down to her and we had lunch with them. They sent Teeny and me home with some killer hand-me-down clothes, which we tried on and divided that night.

After leaving them we headed to another friend’s house. My mom’s best friend from high school has a daughter, A, my age. A’s Baby A was born exactly one week after Peanut. She’s darling and so calm. They also had matching pigtails. How sweet is that? Peanut was running around stealing Baby A’s food, poking her in the eye, and showing her other forms of baby love. Baby A took it in stride and was so charming. We went with them to the South Towne Expo Center to look at all the floats for the Days of ’47 parade. Some people are so creative! There were some freaking cool floats!

We met up with the rest of my family and Fuffy‘s friend Adori that night at Tepanyaki. That is a fun place. It’s a Japanese restaurant and they cooked all the food right in front of us. It was so tasty and such a cool experience. After eating we went out onto the restaurants patio and Peanut started dancing. She loves dancing and does it a lot. She runs in place, bounces with her legs, and tilts her head to the right and turns around. It’s a riot. Teeny played some musical ringtones on her cell phone so we could catch her on film.

NYDD got a call from a friend we went to high school with to see how we were. He told us the mountain by NYDD’s parent’s house was on fire! We also talked to Wildbound and Wildman who live there and they said they’d been evacuated, but everything was under control. When we drove back into our little valley that night the mountain was still on fire and looked like Mount Doom in LOTR. We stopped by the house and sat with the Wildbounders to watch the mountain smolder. For the whole story and some cool pics and video check out Wildbound’s site.

Tuesday, after sushi with Loralee, I was going to take Peanut to the local pool to swim. I’d even bought a new swimsuit as my last one was far too small. I haven’t worn it for a few years and some things have changed. NYDD didn’t want to go though because the pool was so crowded, so instead we filled up the wading pool my mom gave Peanut for her birthday and went swimming in the front yard. Peanut wouldn’t stay in the pool unless I was in with her so pardon my neon skin the the pictures.

We hung out with our families Tuesday night and Wednesday morning, then headed home. Now I’m exhausted. It’s good to have a few days to recover from a vacation.

*Sorry for never updating this post. NYDD’s brother and his wife decided they weren’t ready to buy a house yet. Understandable as they’ve only been married a few months and we also recently found out they are expecting a baby!! Yay! Anyway we have decided to apply to the 4th year core rotation in Salt Lake and buy a single family home when we go. That means that next March I will be heading back to Utah for several weeks to look for a house and sign all the papers and all the good stuff that goes with it. Squee!