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.

Carpool Quotes

I've been involved in the carpool since school started this year. There are 4 kids and they are hilarious. They are very loud, but they are hilarious. I wish that I would have started writing down the things they say right at the beginning of the year because you've missed out on some doozies. Here ware a few from this week and some others I remembered that made me laugh:

STELLA: "I wish I was still in preschool."
KIDS: "Me too!"
MASON: "Then we could just do fun things and not boring things."
KIDS: . . . all come up with great reasons to still be in preschool . . .
RACHEL: "Yah, and you can still slurp!"

MASON: "Do you want to hold my jumping spider or my black widow?"

MASON: "I have a pet tarantula. Seriously."
STELLA: "No you don't."
MASON: "Yah-huh. Seriously. I do. It's in my room."
STELLA: "I'm going to ask your Mom."
MASON: "She doesn't know yet."

MICHAEL: "Hey Stella's Mom. Can I tell you sumpin? My head is stronger than my fist."

RACHEL: her response to almost ANY story someone is telling is a very annoyed, "WE KNOW!"

Malcolm cried pretty much every time I pick up the kids from school . . . the entire ride there and back. Michael's wheels were turning for weeks before he finally figured it out:
MICHAEL: "Hey Stella's Mom. Maybe you should give him a nap."

MASON: "Hey guys, guess what. My Dad and I killed a grizzly bear with a BB gun."
RACHEL: "We know!"
MICHAEL: "You did?"
STELLA: "No you didn't."
MASON: "Yes sir, seriously, my Dad has a BB gun."
RACHEL: "We know! Everyone's dad has a BB gun."

. . . we saw a blimp in the sky on the way home from school one day . . .
MASON: "I rode in one of those once. I actually almost fell out of it. Actually, I did fall out of it when I was 2-years-old."

STOMP!, Buck Teeth, and Zits

Stella got to go to STOMP with Grandma and Grandpa Dibble after Christmas. They got home pretty late and Stella was exhausted (though I hear she and Ray were the only ones who didn't fall asleep during the performance). I guess I was expecting too much when I wanted to hear all about her night because all she said was, "It was loud." Then she fell on the floor and I had to carry her to bed.

Might I also add, since the picture is evidence, that Stella is somewhat excited about having buck teeth. I know, weirdo. I told her that everyone in my family had/has buck teeth and we all had braces and she's pretty excited about it.

Also, the other day when she was throwing a bit of a tantrum and it was mentioned that she was acting like a 3-year-old, she said, "I want to be 3! No, I want to be 13 because then I'll get zits."

Maybe I'm not telling horror stories about my adolescence correctly.

Malcolm's Daddy

They've finally called a truce and decided that they actually enjoy each other now. It was an exhausting battle, but now Malcolm has added Daddy to his very short list of people he likes. Daddy even gets smiles instead of the stare down he used to get.

TV Buddies

Malcolm and Stella like to watch TV together when she's not flinging him around like a rag doll.

Four Balloons for an Angel

Lindsay, Keith, Hannah, and Brynlee got to send 4 balloons to Isaac in heaven today.

Happy Birthday Isaac!