1999 - Rocky

(originally posted 07/23/2009)

January 29 - Natalie was meeting an old friend from her mission, so I was excited, but a little nervous to be venturing out without her. Elliot and Mike picked me up and drove me over to someone's dorm where there were a ton of people (in my planner, I exaggerated and said 90) wedged into the tiny room getting ready to watch Rocky I.

I remember Elliot being really proud of himself that day because he'd just gotten his first credit card and pretty much everything he did now was cute to me. Elliot didn't sit by me because he was in the corner admiring his new credit card, and I hadn't ever seen Rocky I all the way through. So I spread out on the floor in front because no one else was and I enjoyed the movie.

We weren't ready to go home yet, so we decided to crash an institute dance. Lame. Wondering when/if Elliot is going to ask me out.

Rice Cereal

Not such a fan of Rice Cereal. Oatmeal either. He gagged on every bite the first time and hasn't changed since.

"Real food will do WHAT to my poo?"

My Uncle Ron

Ronald Farr McAllister
January 24, 1958 - January 8, 2012

My Uncle Ron passed away on January 8 this year. All of my cousins have been referring to him as a "gentle giant" and that is what he was. Quite honestly, I might have been afraid of him when I was little because of the "giant" part, but as an adult, I learned what a sweet man he was. I still didn't know him very well, but he always seemed genuinely happy to see me and that always made me feel special. We'll miss him.

Uncle Ron's Obituary:
Ronald Farr McAllister passed peacefully away on Jan. 8, 2012 in Vancouver, WA. Ron resided in an Assisted Living Facility with his 95-year-old mother, Louise Farr McAllister. They were mutual caregivers to each other. Ron was born and raised in Portland, OR, graduating from Cleveland High School in 1976.

He served a two year mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the Alabama Mission.

Ron attended BYU for two years.

He and his wife brought five children into the world, all of whom survive their father: Clarissa Fredrickson, Robert A., Stephen K., Daniel M. and Michael P. McAllister.

After suffering a stroke ten years ago, Ron was disabled and unable to work. However, he did not let his disability slow him down. Following his stroke and rehabilitation, he served as a volunteer at SW General Hospital, assisting other stroke patients through their physical therapy and offering encouragement. Ron was also a volunteer genealogist for his church, extracting names from old historical records and entering them into a computer so the names could be digitalized for researchers around the world. Over three year's time, he extracted and submitted thousands of names.

Ron is survived by his five children; his mother; three grandchildren: Mark H. and Phoebe L. Fredrickson and Hudson B. McAllister, sisters: Jeanette Anderson and Sandra Anderson, and brothers: David, Steven and Reed.

Funeral services will be held Sat., Jan. 14, 2012 at 11:30 a.m. in the LDS Fishers Landing Ward Chapel located at 13600 SE McGillivray Blvd., Vancouver, WA 98683.

1999 - Trouble & Other Stuff

(originally posted 07/23/2009)

January 25 - As suggested by Mike and Elliot, I quit working at Ikon Office Solutions. The gossiping coworker ladies seemed genuinely shocked and a little upset especially since they had just ordered me my own stapler.

Natalie and I attended Family Home Evening at the church near Elliot's home. We played Human Checkers.

January 26 - I started working at a place called Deutche. I, for the life of me, could not pronounce it. This is especially difficult when you're supposed to be answering the phone. I hated it at this place too. There was a greasy fat man that kept staring at me.

Natalie and I couldn't stop talking about how much fun we had with Mike and Elliot. So we called both of them and invited them over to make cookies. But we told them they couldn't come unless Elliot brought his little sister Bethany. Elliot helped me (sort of watched) as I made the cookies and while they baked, we played TROUBLE. You haven't played Trouble until you've played ANDERSON TROUBLE. There's no waiting for turns when we play. It can also be quite dangerous for others when you haven't clipped your fingernails.

The Dibbles and the Andersons apparently make cookies a little different. Andersons prefer the cookie to be a little more on the "not done" side, Dibbles, other other hand, go to the extreme of "golden brown" (in my opinion). When I pulled the cookies out of the oven, and this isn't funny unless you witnessed it, Elliot exclaimed, "THEY'RE DOUGH!" We had another totally fun night with Mike and Elliot and I was super excited to be able to meet his sister Beth.

January 27 - I quit Deutche at the end of the day. Couldn't stand that fat man's eyes burning into my back. And I still couldn't pronounce Deutche.

Natalie and I tested out the "marriage" class at institute. It was totally awkward. Never going there again.

January 28 - I didn't have work, so I'm sure I went shopping. I also got the oil changed in my car. When entering my information into their computer, the oil guy asked if he could keep my phone number. Now, you must all understand that in the short month that I'd lived in Arizona I had been hit on more times than I EVER had in my life . . . and I spent 2 years at Ricks College where the majority of the population wants to get married (no one paid attention to me there). So I totally turned that guy down and hoped that he didn't tamper with my brakes.

I was excited. The next night I was going to "hang out" with Elliot.

1999 - The Interview With Bishop Dibble

(originally posted 07/23/2009)


January 24 - Maybe I don't like Elliot as much as I thought I could. I had an interview with Elliot's father, Bishop Dibble (lovingly referred to henceforth as Ka-Bish) and now I feel like a fool.

I think Bishop Dibble was excited to meet people who grew up on a farm like he did. Well, he's talking to the wrong girl. Yes, I grew up on a farm. Yes, I have planted a garden. Yes, I have worked countless hours in an onion and sugar beet field. But NO, I cannot tell the difference between a beet and weed, and NO I do not know what farm apparatus you are talking about. Can I just have a calling and we'll move on? I feel like a fool.

But you have an adorable son.

Malcolm's First Haircut

Malcolm has had some serious mullet going on since the day he was born.

He also had a long wispy on top that just looked creepy when I combed it. He also has 2 cowlicks at the crown of his head going in opposite directions. The boy will always have hair problems. I've been saying I'm going to cut it for months, but I've had some interference. It was obviously not curly and therefore had no chance of being cute. It was a mullet plain and simple for those of you who are against cutting children's hair for the first several years. It needs to be done and so it was.

So like all projects that get me into trouble with my husband, my sister Lindsay was involved. This wasn't the plan, but when she arrived at my house we busted out the clippers and buzzed Mal's head (01/24/12).

He did a great job and mostly just didn't know what was buzzing on his head. He's a blondie!

And he loves a bath.

Stella thought this was the coolest thing ever . . .

. . . it sure saves on having to chase the individual ones around the bowl. She thought it was so cool that she even took video of it.

By the way, I think I've already asked this question a while ago, but do you drink the milk out of your cereal bowl? Stella and I do and Elliot practically goes into convulsions when he sees us do it.

Our New (to us) Piano!

We didn't tell Stella that we bought a piano, but told her that a surprise was going to be delivered that day (12/30/11).

Stella started piano lessons on January 10th with Cathy Shepherd (2012 Mother of the Year) and she's already doing so great! She is in a hurry for some reason and wants to learn faster than she's supposed to. She gets a little frustrated that she can't play both hands together right at the beginning of learning a new song, but she's learning about the benefit of practice. She is clipping right along and can play Cuckoo with both hands! Miss Cathy said that she's teaching the Suzuki Shepherd Stella Dibble Method . . . I love her already.

By the way, I'm my Mom. Whenever she plays a wrong note, I sing the right note from the kitchen.

Stella's 2nd Grade Class Picture

I know everyone thinks their own child is the cutest, but the difference between me and them is that I'm right. Stella Dibble is the cutest girl in the class.

Zoo with Cousins!

We went to the Phoenix Zoo with Aunt Lindsay, Hannah, and Brynlee on Martin Luther King Jr. Day in January. Daddy even go to go with us! The rest of Arizona decided to go to the zoo that day too.

Hannah had her head buried in the map the entire time.

The kids ate snacks the entire 4 hours we were there.

We had a fabulous time.

They LOVE Each Other!

Malcolm loves me a great deal, but when he sees his sister, he lights up like he's been waiting to see her all day long! Stella's not exactly soft with Malcolm, but as I'm about to interfere, he starts laughing. She's always wanted someone to rough house with. Well, he's it even though he's only 5 months old.

My Baby Girl

Sunday, January 8th was our Fast Sunday at church. As we were sitting in sacrament meeting when the testimonies started, Stella leaned over and told me to go bear my testimony. As evidence of where Stella gets some of her sass, I said, "No, you go up." And then I turned back to listening to the ward members. A couple of minutes later I looked over at Stella and noticed that she was writing something. It was her testimony. She was really going to go up!

A long time ago we had a Family Home Evening about bearing our testimonies and Elliot even fashioned a microphone out of Stella's toys and a light apparatus so we could practice. It turned out not being a very effective lesson because Stella just turned into a valley girl in front of the microphone and it became comedy hour. We said that she'll know she's ready to bear her testimony when she can do it all by herself. We hadn't practiced since.

So Stella asked if she could go up and bear her testimony. I reminded her that she had to go by herself and she was totally ok with that. When she go up to the stand to sit with Daddy for a second, she caused a bit of a ruckus because Elliot didn't know what was going on. But after he found out, you could see the skeptical look on his face as to how this was all going to turn out.

She did so well. We obviously need a little work on what is and is not a testimony, but I was so proud of her. She was embarrassed after she was done, but I just gave her big hug and told her how happy Heavenly Father was too.

Malcolm is 5 Months Old!

. . . well, we're seriously close to 6 months, but I wanted to get a 5-month in there somewhere.

- Malcolm is just a whole new baby! He's changed so much, and although he still loves me the most, he's added a few more people to his "I won't cry like you're trying to kill me" list (Daddy, Uncle Adam, Grandpa Dibble, Aunt Lindsay, Auntie Em, Liz Roberts).

- Although he's still a bit stingy with them, Malcolm has finally released the laugh! He gets really giggly when he's tired right before he gets cranky.

- Malcolm learned to sit up with a little support (01/10/12)

- Malcolm got his first haircut! (01/24/12)

- Malcolm rolled from his tummy to his back (01/11/12).
- Malcolm stopped nursing.
- Malcolm tried rice cereal and hated it.
- Malcolm hardly ever cries in the carseat anymore!
- Malcolm holds his bottle and can almost drink the whole thing before I have to help him tip the rest in.

- Malcolm sure loves his sister and lets her do pretty much anything she wants to him.

- Malcolm does really well when he goes on walks with Mommy.

- Malcolm quickly moved from size 6 months clothes to 12 month clothes. I squeezed him into the 9 month clothes for a while just to get some use out of them. They are just too tight.

- Pampers don't work for Malcolm. He's a Huggies man.

- Malcolm loves to have his diaper changed.
- Malcolm loves his bath.
- This makes me think that Malcolm loves to be naked.
- At 5 months, Malcolm still slept in our room.

- Malcolm weighed 17 pounds at the beginning of January. My friend weighed him at the end of January and he was 20 pounds.

1999 - The Never-Ending Date (Part 2)

(originally posted 07/22/2009)

January 23 - I know. It's taking a long time. It sure went by fast when it was all happening, but the telling the story is taking forever. I apologize for being long-winded, but it's my story, so I get to do whatever I want.

I don't believe I slept most of the night because I was still hoping that Natalie would agree to go to the ward activity at the caves the next morning. I really wanted to see Elliot again and I knew he'd be there.

I love my sister. She woke up and we prepared for the activity and met at the church. We naturally steered ourselves over to say "good morning" to Mike and Elliot, so we happened to be close by when the leader of the pack said that everyone needed to find a ride with someone.

Elliot asked us to go with him, Mike and Bishop Dibble in his father's vehicle. I was very excited, even though Elliot sat in the front seat. Our conversation just continued from the night before and car-sick Mike entertained us with the most ridiculous, yet hilarious riddles.

I didn't know it until this point in my life, but I'm a little claustrophobic. It was the cave that did it. At some points, you have to shimmy down a tiny hole or through an extremely narrow passage and I'm afraid I'll get stuck and die. At the end of the cave, or near it, there was a water hole. By the time we got there, several people had stripped down fairly appropriately (no shirts, they kept the pants) and were swimming in it. Elliot really wanted to swim and I wanted to go with him, but I couldn't picture myself taking off my shirt and swimming in my sports bra. So I was the keeper of Elliot's shoes and clothes and just hoped that he wouldn't break his head on the jagged rocks at the bottom. I was a little irritated when another girl spoke up quickly and said she'd jump in with him, right after I declined.

Someone gave a quick devotional where we had to turn off our flashlights and sit for a few minutes. It was absolutely dark and I couldn't even see my hand in front of my face, but I knew that Elliot was near me. I could have reached out and started making out with him and he'd never know it was me.


We were filthy by the time we got out of the cave, but thankfully we were reminded to bring a second set of clothing to change into for the ride home.

Elliot let Mike sit in the front on the way home so that he wouldn't be so car-sick, which meant that I got to sit by Elliot. Before we got into the car, I'd witnessed a conversation between Elliot and his father that made me think that Elliot was an only child. He sounded a little spoiled and demanding and I even called him on it. Turns out he is a middle child. He rode most of the way home with his arm across the back of the seat behind me which just made me giddy. I was nervous to fall asleep even though I was exhausted. Had I fallen asleep, I'm sure I would have cuddled into him, my mouth would have been open, and strings of drool would have been dripping onto his leg. I stayed awake.

On the way home, Elliot and Mike invited us to join them and some other people at Wingers to eat BBQ wings. I believe they picked us up again and took us to the restaurant. I had never had wings before and wasn't super excited about it (seemed like too much work), but I really liked the company.

(This picture is not actually of the night I'm writing about, but happened in late 1998. They are all trying the hot sauce "Mad Dog Inferno" which could have possibly sterilized the whole lot of them.)

Those guys made a mess. Seriously, it was like watching people who'd not eaten for weeks. They devoured the wings and had BBQ sauce all over their faces. At one point Natalie and I were giggling at them and they knew why. Mike piped up and said (with wing portions hanging out of his face), "Don't wipe until you're all done!" This has become a commonly used quote since then.

We were invited from the restaurant to a party at someone's house (in the ward). The party was sort of lame and one guy followed me around for a little bit. But we ended up in the dining room playing a game called "Chaos." I don't know if Natalie made it up, but it was hilarious and so fun! Elliot kept yelling out the same answer "1923" each time the game asked for a year and it just made us laugh so hard. It's a loud game, but so fun and the party ended up not quite so lame. I knew for sure I liked Elliot quite a bit, even if he did act like an only child. I couldn't wait to see him again.

If you're looking at my planner (where I have all of this recorded), I wrote down "Lots of laughing! NEW BEST FRIENDS."

1999 - The Never-Ending Date (Part 1)

(originally posted 04/14/2009)

January 18-22 - This was a busy week. I continued working at Ikon Office Supplies, taking daily afternoon naps, and trying to block out the gossiping co-workers. I hated it.

Monday evening Natalie and I went to the FHE activity which was watching "The Princess Bride" in the cardboard cars everyone else made the week before. Natalie and I just sat in the middle of the room laughing our guts out and looking like fools.

Tuesday was unremarkable. Wednesday Natalie and I tried to act spiritual and go to an institute class over by Mesa Community College (MCC). I think we were both completely bored out of our minds and determined to go to a different class the next week.

Let me just throw this one in here to redeem myself for Natalie. I mentioned before that Natalie and I hadn't lived with each other for several years (like 7 or 8), and even before that it wasn't like we were the best of friends. So this experience was totally new for both of us. I must say though that Natalie was the best roommate I've ever had! She was always home from work before me and she had a little obession with fajitas, which we ate almost every night. She'd make me dinner EVERY NIGHT! Every night. I'd just sit there and she'd make dinner. Every night. She's the best.

Thursday finally brought us some good news. Natalie received a phone call from Elliot asking her on a date for Friday night. Yes, you heard me . . . he asked my sister out first! Seconds after they got off the phone, I received a phone call from Elliot's friend Mike Folsom asking me on the same date. I asked what we were doing, which totally threw him off because I guess it was a surprise, so he said, "I don't know." Me, being totally tactless and rude, called him a liar and said I'd see him the next day. My lack of tact may be one among many reasons that I didn't ever date much. Natalie had given Elliot directions to our apartment.

I was super-excited for the date on Friday, which made working all day very SLOW! I don't remember exactly what time Mike and Elliot were supposed to pick us up, but they were very, very LATE! When they finally got to our apartment, Elliot and Natalie quickly started light-heartedly bickering about the bad directions she'd given him.

We raced off to our first destination in Elliot's white Saturn which was to see "Life Is Beautiful" at the theater on Rural and University. Since we were so late, the rest of the group had already gone into the movie. We waited for Elliot's other friend Cameron to come out with the tickets he was supposed to have bought for us, but we just kept on waiting and waiting.

Call me crazy (well, they all did), but while we were waiting, a few older men that were acting totally drunk mozied on up to get tickets for a movie. One was wearing a Hawaiian shirt and cap. It ran through my mind that those guys looked like The Beach Boys, so I mentioned it to Natalie, Elliot, and Mike. They just laughed until we saw the limousine at the other side of the parking lot! We were pretty sure that Cameron wasn't coming out of the movie with our tickets, so we all ran over to the limo and asked the driver who's limo it was. He wouldn't answer us, but I was positive it was The Beach Boys. You know, I'm sure they just always hang out with each other. So the driver let us get into the limo to sit for a little while. It was awesome because I'd never been in one before.

We had some time to pass, so we got back in Elliot's car and they drove us to Scottsdale to a little ice cream shop called The Sugar Bowl. We sat in a little booth and visited for a while. This is where we all learned of Natalie's germ issues. I don't remember the exact conversation, but I know that Mike and Elliot thought she was crazy. Natalie said that she even has a hard time taking the sacrament because she knows that other people have touched it. We had a lot of good laughs and I thought Mike was awesome and totally funny and Mike and Elliot feeding off of each other was hilarious! They had a lot of silly inside jokes and noises that just made us laugh.

Now that I think about it, we did a lot of driving on this date. It was great though, because that gave us plenty of time to talk. They all convinced me to quit my Ikon job, and they almost convinced us to go on the ward spelunking activity the next day. We drove to Ocotillo to Eric Phillips house for dinner. It was a gated community (I thought those were so weird), and apparently no one could hear the gate beeping because no one would let us in! We just had to sit outside the gate for a long time speculating as to whether or not there was an Oompa-Loompa midget hiding in the gate booth.

Finally somone let us in after Elliot's head was about to explode. He was so embarrassed that absolutely NO PART of the date was going according to plan. Natalie and I were having a GREAT time with just Mike and Elliot! Apparently it was an Italian-themed night with the movie and dinner. The house was absolutely beautiful and we got to take a small tour. It was dark, so I can't recall what it really looks like, but we went into the back yard which was down some stairs to the pool area.

Shortly after we all got down there, the dinner was finally ready, so we were called back up. Elliot, who was standing right next to me, automatically reached out his hand to touch the small of my back to lead me back to the stairs. That was the actual first touch, and let me tell you that I was TOTALLY IN LOVE by then! There was electricity. I'm telling you, I got chills. Sorry Mike. I couldn't keep my eyes off of Elliot all night.

The guys served us our dinner and I knew by then that Elliot wouldn't be interested in Natalie. Elliot grabbed a plate for Natalie and sort of spun it around in his hands and said, "What do you want to eat Natalie." Natalie's response . . . "Nothing on that plate!" That's how I knew.

I really can't recall what else we did that night, but it was seriously the most fun I had ever had on a date! They invited us again to go to the ward activity at the crack of dawn, but Natalie wasn't sure she wanted to go. I didn't even know what spelunking was, but I knew Elliot would be there and I didn't care how early we had to get up. I did my best begging to get Natalie to go. I still wasn't ready to set out on my own. You couldn't wipe the smile off of my face.

1999 - January 17

(originally posted 04/13/2009)

January 17 - Natalie found some East Valley maps and made me study the names of the streets and the order they go in. We were not getting lost again. We found the Lakeshore building fairly easily and made it to church on time. Nothing to report from church, but we were invited to the Bishop's house that night for "Meet the Members" for new members of the ward. We got good directions.

Natalie and I arrived at Bishop Dibble's home early because we left ourselves plenty of time to get lost. When we entered their beautiful home, there were chairs set up all over the front room. Natalie sat down and as I was about to sit next to her she informed me that I wasn't allowed to sit by her. She's such a mother! I was still super shy and totally nervous. So I pouted and found another chair across the room. Just as I sat down, Sister Dibble came out of her room and I LOVED HER IMMEDIATELY! She asked why I was sitting by myself and I told on Natalie. Take that Nat!

More members showed up and eventually the room was fairly full. I don't know how new all the "new" members were, but I was glad that Natalie and I weren't the only newbies. Elliot was there, though I don't remember him coming through the front door. During the opening prayer, the phone started ringing and I opened my eyes long enough to see Elliot pick it up and hang it up immediately. I thought it was awfully presumptuous of him to do that at someone else's home.

I'm sure that Bishop Dibble shared a little message and then separated us into groups of 4-5 for the game. We were doing skits. I hate skits. I either make an absolute fool of myself or act totally different than I usually am and then I seem fake when people find out that I'm actually shy. We were all given a scripture story. We also had to think of a New Year's Resolution and somehow apply the scripture story to it through the skit.

My group had a few people, but I only remember Kyle Jones and another girl named Jaime. Kyle and I paired up to take the story of the sons of Mosiah that were put into prison. We tried really hard to discuss our plan of action for the skit, but we got nowhere. We'd have to do this impromptu. My resolution was to stop being so shy and learn how to talk to people and Kyle's resolution was to stop biting her fingernails. It was our turn and I wanted to throw up and/or pee my pants. I hate skits.

Kyle and I held our imaginary prison bars. I got stage freight and couldn't think of anything to say. Much to my relief, Kyle started talking about how long we'd been in jail and how boring it was because I never talked and how I better start talking before she went insane. I wanted our turn to be over, so I quickly said, "Well, now that I've learned how to talk, I'd like to mention how you biting your fingernails for this whole time we've been in jail has been disgusting. You should stop." The End. We got a few laughs.

I was jealous that Natalie got to be in Elliot's group. Why did I have a crush on him? He keeps calling me Wendy! I believe they got the scripture story of King Benjamin. I quickly learned that Elliot likes to talk because it took him a while to get to the point of his babbling which was his resolution to learn everyone's name in the ward. He was funny and adorable. I wish he'd stop calling me Wendy.

Bishop Dibble started dishing the Rootbeer Floats in the kitchen as Elliot started taking them to everyone in the other room. My heart fluttered when Elliot asked me, calling me by my actual name, if I was interested in the rootbeer float. Instead of breaking down and just eating one, I had to be difficult. I asked for them to be separate. I'm a fan of rootbeer and ice cream, just not together. I followed Elliot into the kitchen to make sure he understood me (he had a history of not hearing clearly). Bishop Dibble knew right away that I'd be a difficult one. His response to my request made me feel like a moron! I also finally figured out that Elliot was Bishop Dibble's son. Not so presumptuous anymore. Still just very, very cute.

Happy Valentine's Day!

I remember being very cautious on Valentine's Day and making sure that only my favorite people got the Valentine's that said "be mine" or any such forwardness. No way was I giving Bryan Syme or Fred Singleton those Valentines, but Travis Thomason for sure got 2 or 3. That's why I'm so happy that Stella isn't anything like me. She was totally pleased to give everyone in her class a Valentine that said "Be My Valentine." I love her.

I decided that we would do this Valentine again since no one in Stella's class is the same this year. She was so pleased with it and I think it totally captures her . . . not just in mid-air, but it actually captured her personality. She was happy about her big hair.

Stella was sick on Monday with a fever, so we couldn't go to school on Tuesday. I know, who is sick on Valentine's Day? So we went to school at the end of the day anyway to deliver the Valentines. When we walked into the front office, the staff said that they had just been talking about Stella and her cute Valentine from last year with the tutu and such. They liked this years even better. :)

I told Stella to do her best Valentine pose. This is what she came up with. I don't know folks. I'm nervous about her future having any sort of normal in it.

1999 - January 11-16

(originally posted 03/16/2009)

January 11 - Natalie started working at Pinacore, so I went shopping again. I was really enjoying this new-found world of dollar stores.

We remembered the announcement that FHE would be at the building Natalie and I had first gone to church before heading over to the Single's Ward. We were confident that we would be able to find it again, remembering that it was on Knox. Crap! Knox isn't a through street, but there is a road called Knox on almost every other road! We were tired of getting lost.

We finally found the building on Rural and Knox and made it to the last 10-15 minutes of FHE. This was fine because they were making cardboard box cars to use for the next weeks activity of watching a movie. Not interested in making a car. Apparently the handsome young man I'd met the day before wasn't interested in making one either. Elliot was sitting on the stage next to a few girls. My eyes found him immediately. He, for some reason, was wearing a snow cap, but he sure looked good in it. He hopped off the stage when he saw us and quickly made his way over to us.

ELLIOT: "Wendy, right?"
WHITNEY: "WHITTTTTT-NEEEEEEEY!!!! Good grief."

January 12 - I went shopping again. I was worried that my stellar skills when tested at my Temp Agency were too much for them to find me a silly job, but they finally called and set me up to work the next day.

January 13 - I started working at Ikon Office Supplies. I was shoved in a back room with 2 gossiping co-workers. I don't remember exactly what all my tasks were, but it was repetitious and so extremely boring. I even fell asleep a few times. I had to count the different office supplies that employees ordered or something, to make sure they were being honest. So inhumanely boring.

Aunt Lora's father had passed away on Sunday. So Natalie and I volunteered to babysit the grandkids during the viewing that night.

January 14 & 15 - I worked. Listened to the ladies gossip. Fell asleep.

January 16 - My friends Debbie Towne and Alyssa Meryhew came over to visit us! Our first visitors! I remember calling my old roommate Jeralyn (Beck) Merwin at 9:00 in the evening and woke her up! I was shocked that she and her husband were already in bed so early! Married people.

1999 - Elliot's Version

(originally posted 03/05/2009)

So Elliot disagrees with my version of our meeting story. Apparently we were sitting in different places during Sunday School and he pounced BEFORE the class started. I must have been really hot back then. And he did call me Wendy.

1999 - January 10 (THE FIRST MEETING)

(originally posted 03/01/09)

January 10 - Natalie and I were plum exhausted after our ordeal with the pizza, but still prepared for church the next day. We didn't know which ward we were in or what time it started. We figured that no church could be true that started before 9:00, so we were ready by then. Driving around Mesa all week, we had seen church buildings on nearly every corner and were sure that we wouldn't have a problem finding a ward to attend until we found our real ward. However, we weren't in Mesa anymore. Tempe and Chandler did a better job of hiding their buildings amongst neighborhoods and such, so we seriously couldn't find a building anywhere! We stopped at a gas station to look up some wards and I specifically remember seeing Tempe Buttes (though we laughed because we didn't know how to pronounce it properly). We kept driving until finally we saw a steeple off of Rural and Knox.

We had already been driving around for an hour, so we were happy when we were on time for sacrament meeting at this building. However, we were disappointed that it was someones farewell. We weren't in the mood to sit through someones mom cryin' about missing her son for 2 years. Natalie leaned over and said something about leaving, but I was determined to stay.

I don't remember anyone going out of their way to come and meet us, but somehow we got to Sunday School and Natalie was not happy about being there. As the end of the class came near, Natalie was searching out the exits to see which one would get us out fastest.

WHIT: "We're staying for Relief Society."
NAT: "We are NOT! We went last week!"

I'm not quite sure, but there may have been some pinching going on while Natalie and I were arguing about leaving or not leaving until a nice lady turned around before Relief Society started. She introduced herself and asked us about our story. When we told her that we were just going to this ward until we could find our regular ward, she looked at her watch and said, "Oh, my granddaughter goes to a singles ward that just started 5 minutes ago." She gave us directions and we dashed out.

We had already used up our 3 hour allotment for church that day (2 hours of church, 1 hour of trying to find a church), but we headed to the singles ward anyway. On our way in to the church we picked up a tithing envelope and snickered at the bishop's name . . . Bishop Kent Dibble. That's a funny name. We tried to be sneaky as we quietly crept into the back of the chapel, but everyone could smell fresh meat as their heads turned. They were just starting the sacrament. Seriously, everyone was staring.

There was a handsome young man blessing the sacrament that day. There were also some other fairly attractive young men passing the sacrament. One of them came all the way to the back to sit right next to us after the sacrament was over. He was ready to pounce as soon as the closing prayer was said. He introduced himself as Ryan and offered to show us to our next class. The Relief Society president was next to introduce herself, Laura Leeper. She was very tall and pretty and super nice. Bishop Dibble came to meet us next. He was very soft spoken and wouldn't look us in the eye. I think he knew we were snickering at his last name.

Ryan showed us to the Sunday School class. Natalie and I found some seats and started observing. My eyes caught onto the handsome young man that had blessed the sacrament. He was standing at the front of the room shaking hands with everyone. He sat down towards the end of the row in front of us and put both of his arms along the backs of the seats next to him. He turned his head to the right and behind him and glanced at us for a second, turned his head back forward, and then quickly back to look at us again. He prepared for pouncing the second the closing prayer was said. I got nervous.

ELLIOT: "Hi, I'm Elliot."
WHITNEY: "I'm Whitney."
ELLIOT: "Wendy?"
WHITNEY: "Whit-ney."
ELLIOT: "Wendy?"
WHITNEY: "WHIT-NEY!" (duh, do I mumble that much?)

Through talking in the short amount of time we had before he had to go to priesthood, we had already made a connection of someone I grew up with that served in his same mission to Dominican Republic East (Tad Hansen). As per usual, I was fairly silent and nervous and felt like a dork because I already had a crush on him.

Relief Society went by and Natalie and I were done with the day since we'd been at church for 5 hours. As we headed out to our car, Ryan caught up with us and invited us to dinner at his families home. We already had plans to dine with Uncle David and Aunt Lora, so we declined.

I wrote in my planner that day (because I don't write in my journal) as the people I remembered: Ryan, Laura, Elliott and a big smiley face. I wish Elliot would have asked us to dinner. I totally would have cancelled on UD & AL.

1999 - January 2-9

(originally posted 02/25/09)

January 2 - Natalie and I left Kimberly and drove to Salt Lake City to stay with my cousin Rachelle and her husband Bob and baby Brayden. I missed my nieces and nephew the second we left.

January 3 - First of all, I can't believe I was driving my own car on such a long trip. I didn't have a CD or tape player or a cell phone and I'm known for being a little narcoleptic when I'm in cars. Second of all, hum, there was only a first.

Nat and I went to church at Rachelle's ward, but they did Relief Society first, so we wanted to get to a sacrament meeting. We headed to my other cousins ward (Stephanie & Scott) to take the sacrament. Apparently we didn't really have a plan for which way we would drive to Arizona, so Scott told us to go through Vegas. I remember arriving in Las Vegas because as we pulled around the mountain that looked over the city I believe I gasped at the amount of lights! Remember, I'm from Idaho.

Nat found a hotel for us and we walked around for a while. We even had a caricature drawing of ourselves. I think Natalie looks like Aunt Liz. I, on the other hand, look like a horse.

January 4 - TRAFFIC! THERE IS A LOT OF TRAFFIC HERE! I think we pulled into Mesa in the middle of afternoon traffic. We stopped at Domino's Pizza so Natalie could take a break. I rolled down the window and burned my arm on the window sill! Didn't I just get the snow tires off of my car 2 days ago?!

One might have asked this question long before now, but WHERE ARE WE GOING? Hum, we're in Mesa. Is that it? We didn't have an apartment. We didn't have jobs. We didn't know anyone. Why did I follow Natalie again? I couldn't remember. All Natalie had was an address from a package our other cousin (Erica) sent her with an apartment guide. Luckily the domino's guy knew that Erica's apartment was conveniently about 3 miles down the road. I was so TIRED and probably couldn't have made it 4 miles! I was so happy to see Erica and even happier that she let me take a nap in her bed!

After my much needed slumber, Erica took us out to look at a few apartments. We were grateful for Erica's help and excited to look at more apartments. Natalie and I were determined from the beginning of this excursion to do this BY OURSELVES! We were adults. We didn't want our aunt and uncle (who lived nearby) to report back to our parents that we were irresponsible and that they had to help us. We were SO NOT GOING TO STAY WITH THEM! We can handle this. Of course, I was still just BLINDLY following Natalie around. Nat and I hadn't lived with each other since she graduated in 1992, so we were still trying to get to know each other again. I didn't even know that she had NO IDEA WHAT SHE WAS DOING!

Of course our timing was off and we moved to Arizona during the week of the Fiesta Bowl (football . . . it was pretty big). There were no hotels available. CRAP! So we stayed with Uncle David (UD) and Aunt Lora (AL) in their lovely home.

Skip on through to the next day if you are tired of my poop stories, because here comes a doozy. I don't know what traveling does to your intestines, but I had been nursing a bag of Fritos the whole way to Arizona, among other goodies, and it was doing a good job of backing me up. My body knows it doesn't like public restrooms, so we were holding it up until we were settled.

Too bad I felt so settled at UD and AL's. Too bad I was way too embarrassed to tell them I clogged the toilet until Natalie made so much noise about it that I had to wake them up! Too bad UD and AL didn't have a plunger available. Too bad UD woke up early, bought a plunger, and made it into the bathroom before I did! AAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!!

January 5 - UD and AL helped us work out budgets and figure out the route in which we would go looking for apartments. We had a busy day ahead of us and we were grateful for their help. Hum, maybe we were good enough actresses that they hadn't figured out yet that we DIDN'T KNOW WHAT WE WERE DOING!

Natalie and I spent the whole day . . . the WHOLE DAY looking at apartments. Some people were so totally rude to us and then when it got down to the end they strapped on a fake smile and said, "So, you like us?" No Juanita, we do not.

After Natalie and I had looked at our 13th apartment, I started getting weary. Natalie started talking incoherently (much like my niece Alecia, if you'll remember from my previous post) about being weary and looking at so many apartments and how we'll never, never find one, and then said, "And now I'm never going to brush my teeth again!" Out came the tears. Seriously, I was bawling! Did I just move here? I missed those kids so bad!

We had one more apartment to look at in Chandler before I gave up and bought a ticket back to Idaho. I was so done. Plus, I was sweating. It's January for crying out loud. Insert prayer right here. Insert tender mercy right here. I seriously felt so entirely calm when we set foot on the property of Towne Square Apartments. I even poked Natalie and said, "This is it!" before we even looked at the apartment. It was perfect! We made plans to move in on Saturday.

January 6, 7, 8 - Finding an apartment boosted my spirits quite a bit. Natalie and I moved our belongings into UD & AL's garage for the week so we wouldn't have to travel around town with a mattress on our roof. Natalie and I both had interviews with temp agencies and Natalie got a job immediately. Nat bought a couch, and we started making purchases to furnish our new apartment. Our new favorite store . . . MacFrugals (currently Big Lots). Aunt Lora even got excited for us (we were still tricking her into thinking we were in control of the situation) and found some deals for us in furnishings.

January 9 - Uncle David had strapped the mattress back on the roof of Natalie's car with a triple-twisted looped knot (we had a hard time undoing it), and we packed the rest of our cars, including Aunt Lora's Lexus with the rest of our stuff and headed to our new apartment.

I can say this only because we've laughed about it together and I love her dearly. Aunt Lora is a cancer-survivor and weighs almost as much as my left thigh. You should have seen her hefting that couch up to the second floor and around the corner to our apartment! It was both entertaining and frightening! She did it like a champ! I love you Aunt Lora!

Nat and I settled our other belongings into our apartment and headed out to Papa John's for a well-deserved pizza and joy-trip to MacFrug's.

Mistake #1. Natalie had been the designated driver for the week, so I offered to do the driving in celebration of our new home. We picked up the pizza. Natalie started eating a piece. I wanted one.

Mistake #2. (and I blame this entirely on Natalie) She showed a little of her bossy side and wouldn't let me have one until we got to MacFrug's. I finally got my piece and enjoyed it thoroughly. We got out of the car, spent some money at MacFrug's, and walked back out to the car ready to finish enjoying our pizza. Where were my keys, you may ask. They are still in the ignition where I left them when I was finally able to devour my piece of pizza. Had Natalie just given me the pizza while I was driving, I wouldn't have been out of my "getting out of the car" routine and wouldn't have left the keys in the ignition with our HOT PIZZA IN THE BACKSEAT! I was searching the parking lot for anything to break the windows as Natalie called 911! Yes, 911!

911: "911, what is your emergency?"
NAT: "Um, we locked a delicious hot pizza in the back of our car!"

The operator instructed us to simply call the police who then dispatched a volunteer to open our car. Disaster averted.

Carpool Quotes

MASON: "Who wants me to shoot them with my BB gun?"

MASON: "Hey, guess what guys. I found a baby rattlesnake."
STELLA: "No you didn't."
MASON: "Yes, I did. I found it and I took it home and I trained it to be my friend and then I let it go in the wild."
STELLA: "Is that true Mom?"
MASON: "Then I found a rattlesnake egg."
MICHAEL: "You have already told us this."

Stella was quite distraught when I reminded her that she wouldn't be able to jump on our new trampoline after school because of some choices she had made the night before. More of a meltdown.
STELLA: "I hate this day!" . . . crying, and crying, and wailing . . .
MASON: "You can come live at our house and you can jump on our tramp all the time and if Alice was bigger you guys could get bunk beds like me and Jane."
STELLA: . . . stopped crying immediately . . . "OK."

MASON: "Who wants me to shoot them with my airsoft gun?"

MASON: "I have a gun and it holds 6 bullets that my Dad gave me."
STELLA: "No you don't. Your Dad wouldn't do that."
MASON: "Well my uncle did."
STELLA: "Your uncle is mean."

KIDS: "I'm in! I'm in! I'm in the Dino-Squad!"
. . . Mason is the only one who knows the rest of the little jingle, so the rest of them muffle their way through the rest until they get back to . . .
KIDS: "I'm in! I'm in! I'm in the Dino-Squad!"
RACHEL: (I heard her whisper to Stella) "Do you know what 'squad' means?"
STELLA: "What?"
RACHEL: "Poop."

MASON: "Who wants me to punch them in the face?"

We saw a dog on the way home that had the cone of shame around his neck.
STELLA: "Uh oh, that dog's been bad."

MASON: "One time I accidentally dialed 911, 911, 911, twelve times. Thirteen police came to my house. Seriously, they did. And they shot my window. The old window because I was dressed like a ninja and they totally thought I was a robber."
RACHEL: "Did you know it's almost the president's birthday?"
STELLA: "It's almost Arizona's birthday. For 100 years."
MASON: "I just barfed in my hand."

MASON: "Who wants to see me stick my finger all the way into my stomach?"

1999 - Arizona or Bust

(originally posted 02/15/2009)

Disclaimer: These "10 Years Ago" stories might be long. Hence my "be prepared" warning. I'm still looking for pictures from 1999, but we're already approaching the good stuff, so we're going to clip right along through January.

AUGUST-DECEMBER 1998: The Background Info

I graduated from Ricks College in Rexburg, Idaho in August of 1998. I moved to Kimberly, Idaho to live with my sister Marci and her family (Bill, Kayla(8), Karl (5), and Alecia (3)). I ADORED THEM! But that's another story.

(this is an old picture . . . probably late 1996)

In November 1998, I got an email from my sister Natalie that went a little something like this, "Hey Whit, Arizona looks like a fun place to live. Do you want to go with me? Love, Nat."

I'm not entirely certain, but I believe I responded immediately with a "YES!" Did I just do that? Was I really going to move to a place that I'd NEVER been?

Natalie came to Kimberly for New Years 1999. I got the snow tires taken off of my car that I had just put on and we packed my little Chevy Corsica and Natalie's Isuzu Rodeo full of our stuff (including an obnoxious western mattress that I had been sleeping on since I was 4).

The night before we left, the kids were in the bathroom brushing their teeth. My sweet little 3-year-old Alecia came running out crying and trying to tell us something through the sobs and finally gets out, "Karl pushed me off the stool and now I'm never going to brush my teeth again!" Remember that one.

Party Like It's 1999

So my "10 Years Ago" story is now my 13 years ago story. I've decided to rename it "Party Like It's 1999" and we'll see if that sticks. I already don't like that title, but go with me on it for right now. I didn't ever finish the stories though that I wrote in 2009 and since I didn't/don't write in a journal (besides my blog), I decided to finish the stories this year as they happened back in 1999. The stories are day by day at the beginning when they are more exciting and I still remember every detail (because it's when I met and fell in love with Elliot), but eventually they'll clump together in the blur that is my memory.

So here is my first re-post (your comments from 2009 are included):

(Originally posted 01/07/2009)
It's been 10 years since my sister Natalie and I spontaneously moved to Arizona. The year 1999 was very eventful for me, so as the year goes on, I'll be reminiscing and sharing stories about 10 years ago. Be prepared.