Idaho Trip - Day 6

Thursday, June 24, 2010

My Mom was able to take the day off from work, so we dropped Stella off at Aunt Becky's house and all headed to the Boise Temple. I've never been to the Boise Temple as an adult. It was so nice to be there with my parents.

On the drive to Boise, I sat in the back of the car with my Dad so we could go through his mission pictures. I loved to watch his face light up and hear a little laugh as he remembered experiences from 48 years ago in Korea.

. . . he also shared his rendition of The Sex Life of Corn with us. I'm fascinated. I never knew.

What would it be like if I was that tall? Easier kissing access, but I think I like where I am. We got to treat Mom and Dad to a delicious Italian lunch and spent a bunch of money at Deseret Book before heading back to Weiser.

Stella obviously didn't miss us at all! She got to play with her cousins and a new Stella-like friend Ellie AND she got to ride a horse! Her dreams come true on a daily basis in Weiser folks!

Thank you Aunt Becky and all of the kids for taking care of Stella! She still talks about you and wants you to come to her birthday party!

My cousin's kids had a clogging performance in town that we wanted to see. My cousins told me that I wouldn't be impressed because the clogging teacher, who was also my clogging teacher forever ago, doesn't make them compete anymore so she doesn't expect the same level of spectacular clogging like when we were young. They were right, but it was still fun to see.

This is my cousin Hailee who is in the older class which, not surprisingly, has a ton of boys in it because of all the cute girls they get to handle. There was only 1 boy in my clogging class and he pretty much stared at himself in the mirror the whole time. Hailee is in the middle front of the 3rd part of the video.

Denica and Sienna (guess which one is older) are Stacy's girls in the younger classes. I didn't get a picture of Kryshna, but she's in the front middle of the first video . . . watch at your own risk.

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

The second performance has my old clogging teacher Marianne Walker as a stand-in, she comes out from behind the speaker. She has more energy than all of the kids! I wonder if she's tired of yelling yet.

Yes, I went to the temple. And yes, I got to spend the day with my family. And yes, I got to see some clogging. But this little surprise was my FAVORITE of the day!

My friends ANDREA Brown Brown (she was a Brown and married a Brown . . . not related) and AMY Neddo Rodriguez were in town! I was just walking through the park in a crowd and heard my name being yelled! I was supposed to be getting an elephant ear (scone) with Elliot and Stella, but I sat on the park bench with Amy and Andy for an hour just talking and laughing! We've also discovered that we have the same ovaries. Did we eat paint chips as kids?

Andrea and I have been friends since 1st grade (which is Stella's age . . . weird) and Amy moved to Weiser in 4th or 5th grade. I'd like to hear her version of the story, but in my memory it was after much drama and friend switching that we became friends. She is just purely hilarious. I love these ladies!

We planned a lunch for the next day. I couldn't sleep, I was so excited!

Dear Ben & Jerry's

Once upon a time, not so long ago (1999 to be exact), there lived 3 beautiful sisters and a beautiful cousin in the same apartment. One day Stacy, the cousin, purchased a new freezer treat which she was very excited to try upon her return home from work that day. Whitney, one of the sisters, happened upon this freezer treat and was intrigued by it's name, for it happened to be named after 3 of her favorite things.

"Hum," she thought to herself, "I will just take a taste for surely my beautiful cousin will not mind." And she took a bite. And then she took another bite and another until the full pint of deliciousness was gone. "Blast," Whitney said outloud as she licked the spoon clean, "I shall buy her another."

Whitney did as she had planned. She even told Stacy about the delicious treat theft and they had a good laugh. The next day Whitney was confused when Stacy still hadn't eaten her newly replaced frozen pint of heaven. Stacy went out instead. Whitney's tummy grumbled and the addictive chemicals in this newly found treat called her name until there was a spoon in hand and chocolate, fudge, and brownie were smeared on her face. Again, Whitney reached the bottom of the pint. This treat, as history has recorded, was not replaced until early in the year 2010 when the cousin and sister met again.

The cousin and sister had another good laugh over the story and the sister finally had the satisfaction of seeing her cousin enjoy the replacement treat, though she was still confused at the little amount she ate. As luck would have it, delicious frozen treats don't travel well, so it was left in the sister's freezer . . . and they lived happily ever after.

Fiesta Bowl

I was so excited to have my Uncle Bruce and cousins Stacy, Caleb, and Hailee come visit us for a bit when they were in town for the Fiesta Bowl. Boise State University (BSU) was playing, so Caleb got some tickets because he's in their Sports Medicine program. They drove straight through from Weiser and showed up at my house at 5:00 a.m. to sleep for a few hours before they got back up for the Tailgate party.

By the way, my beautiful cousin Stacy and her team won the hotdog-eating contest! That totally grosses me out.

I'll go ahead and say that they were pretty excited about BSU'S big win and so was Taco Bell!

The Sleepover

Stella's cousins, Anabelle and Claire, came for a sleepover! It was so fun just to watch them play and listen to them laugh nearly all night long! I kept smiling as I remembered the great friendship that my sister and I had with our cousin Stacy. The spaces in our ages almost coordinate exactly with Stella, Anabelle, and Claire.

So let me post some pictures that I thought of when I took this picture of the girls:
Only difference is that we should have been a little more mature than these 6, 5, and 3 year olds. We weren't. And yes, I'm holding Stacy's rear. None of us have space issues.

On with the sleepover! Claire fell asleep around 9:30 despite the fact that Anabelle and Stella were using their outside voices until 11:00 p.m.! YES, you heard me (read me) 11:00!!!! And then they all woke up at 6:30 in the morning.

After a delicious homemade waffle breakfast, we headed to the park to feed the ducks with the bread butts I've been saving for the last 3 weeks.

Stella was sad that I told her I wouldn't do anymore underdogs. Whaa.



Stella can't be bothered to hold still very long for a picture when there is something to climb instead.

On the way to take the girls home, I told them we could stop to get McDonalds first. I didn't know where a McDonalds was in their neighborhood, but I thought that if I drove around for a minute, I'd find one.

After a minute, I rhetorically asked the children, "Where is a McDonalds around here?" to which Anabelle quickly replied, "On a big road, you just have to be patient!" And then turning to Stella, she added in a near whisper, "Moms don't know how to be patient." She may very well be right.

We met Xan and the other kids (Ray, George, and Lucy) at McDonalds and then Xan offered to take Stella for a bit while I ran some errands and went to the gym. THANK YOU! Stella was exhausted on the way home.

Unfortunately, she looks a lot like me when I sleep.

I miss my sister and cousin, our adult sleepovers, and my jawline.

Goldilocks and the Three Bears

(because we all had goldilocks blonde hair at the time . . . and we're pretty cute . . . nice pose Lindz)

What in the world is the ending to Goldilocks and the Three Bears? I've told the story to Stella several times, but I change the ending each time. I think we've even read the story from a library book, but that's when Elliot said at the end, "She should have been devoured," and now I can't get the real ending in my head.

So does she scream and run all the way home safely, does she apologize while Mama Bear stirs up some more delicious porridge to share with the unruly girl, or does she get devoured as Elliot suggested?

10-Year Reunion - 05/15/09

I had really hoped to be at the point in my 10-year story where my sister Lindsay and my cousin Stacy made their way into the picture, but that didn't happen until May of 1999, so we have a while. So you'll see these pictures again soon.

However, we weren't postponing our 10-year reunion because I'm behind in my story! We've been planning the reunion of the 4 of us for quite some time and May 2009 was the time!

Here we are after church in 1999. I know, what's going on with my wings?

Lindsay, Natalie, Whitney, and Stacy laying across

And here we are laughing at my Mom after I got married towards the end of 1999. My Mom was peeking behind someone trying to take a picture of us (this picture) and tripped. I know it's horrible that we're laughing, but the peeking and tripping combo was just too much for us!

And here were at lunch in May 2009, all grown up with 9 kids between us!

I know that my sisters have some other pictures. I actually didn't take any of the weekend because I got sick and missed everything. I made it to the lunch, swimming, and sleepover. I also made it to the see Brian Reagan (comedian) on Saturday night, but I missed everything else. I know they had fun and I'm really looking forward to our Mexico reunion!