Grandpa

Last weekend we traveled over to Idaho to celebrate the life of my Grandpa P who passed away last week.

The service was lovely and it was great to see and spend time with our extended family, who we haven't seen in some time. For me the weekend brought back memories from when we were younger and spent time on Grandma and Grandpa's farm.

I really enjoyed hearing all the stories people shared about Grandpa; it allowed me to see him in ways that I never had before. He really was a great man and is missed.

From '09 to '10, Utah style

OK, so I have finally gotten around to posting about our little jaunt down to Utah to celebrate the new year. I flew down to Utah the day after we returned from Canada while Rob responsibly returned to work before joining us at 'Party Central' down in Utah a few days later.

The morning after the big snow (Tuesday AM maybe??) we ventured out into the white mess to have breakfast at Beez Cafe. I was nervous about driving in the snow, so Jordan carefully chauffeured me around.

Originally Rob and I planned to ring in the new year in Park City, but we got frightened off by the idea of driving in all the snow that had fallen up there, so we cancelled that reservation and re-booked at a hotel down in Salt Lake, a land of less snow. But alas, more snow fell all around and we wussed out of our Salt Lake plans as well.

Lucky us, we ended up spending New Year's Eve at the party house with my family making homemade pizzas, playing games and bangin' pot n' pans outside at midnight. It was fantastic...although I had to get my NYE smooch inside, because Rob was too cold to come out and celebrate with us in the snow. I don't know that he'll ever get used to the snow. ☺

After sleeping in, we all celebrated Mom's New Year Day Birthday with a yummy lunch and then an evening of Galactic Bowling...oooooh! It was lots of fun and I almost broke 100. Almost. I think that there was more goofing around and picture taking than actual bowling taking place.

Erika thought our goober car was super cool and wanted to ride along with Rob and I wherever we went, so she also got roped into a grocery stop. It actually turned out to be pretty fun because they had mini shopping carts and she was all business about loading it up. She found a juice that had Hannah Montana on the front of it and just had to get a picture with it!

We spent a lot of time just hanging out at Ryan & Melanie's. It was really nice to just relax with everyone! We sure did miss Jason & Courtney's family though!!

A few noteworthy but picture free highlights include:

• A double date with Ry & Mel. Dinner at Tepanyaki and saw It's Complicated. SO funny!!
• Discovering the deliciousness that is Cafe Rio with Tyler. Yum-my. I wish we had them in WA!
• Playing The Game of Things...thanks for introducing us to it Anne!
• Melanie and I had a girlie night...dinner and New Moon. Yes, I saw it again. And will probably see it another time or two. ☺
• Going through some boxes of stuff I left at Mom & Dad's when I moved out. Great finds, I tell ya...old clothes (Oshman's and Dilly Dally shirts), dance pictures (eek!) and a Leonardo DiCaprio poster.

  Good times, good times.

Rabbits

My car is in need of a new alternator (my bank account says 'Boo!'), so I was given a loaner car to drive around while my darlin' is out of commission. The dealership gave me a VW Rabbit. Cute car. As I pulled away in it I was reminded of another VW Rabbit. One my G & G Pickup had when I was younger.

I remember thinking that it was the coolest little car and that I want to drive it. And from that thought, my mind wandered to all of the other memories I have of my Grandparent's place.

The remainder of my drive home I played a little slide show in my head of all the great memories I had of visiting my Grandparents on their farm in California. And let me tell ya...it was a really nice drive home.

Me = better than Celine

I love Celine Dion's Christmas album. I even listen to it in the off season (middle of the summer!) sometimes...that is just how much I like it. O Holy Night is my favorite Christmas song and she does an amazing job with it. Why am I sharing this? It is a little bit of the back story that will help explain a crazy dream I had last week.

As the dream would have it, I was at a HUGE Celine Dion Christmas Concert (which for the record, I have never seen her in concert) and during the intermission there was a buzz throughout the audience that her voice had given out and she wouldn't be able to perform her last song...O Holy Night. What a disaster! That single song is the reason everyone was there! Suddenly I was pulled from my seat by men in black suits and earpieces and hustled backstage where and Ms. D herself begged me to cover the last song for her. Her entire staff agreed that I was the only one who could save her show. I of course declined her request...that is until I was told that I could wear the big HEART OF THE OCEAN (!!) necklace she donned for her Titanic/My Heart Will Go On performance. So naturally, I gave in.

Part of my performance was actually me, but in a Mr. Kruger's Christmas kind of way...the part where he dreams he is leading the Tabernacle Choir and everything is all-a-glow around him while he is gleaming a twirling around. The other part was as if I was in the audience watching myself. Either way, I was absolutely amazing! The highlight of the performance was when I held a really strong note for an extremely long time (about 4 1/2 minutes into it on the actual song) and then the entire auditorium erupted into applause. Unfortunately I woke up soon after that (stupid alarm clock!!) and didn't get to make a run for it with my new necklace, but I did feel a little French-Canadian for the rest of the day.

I don't really know where the dream came from. I know that I cannot sing and I don't like to be the center of attention, but it was still pretty cool! I wish I could remember my dreams that vividly more often. I am not tech enough to know how to insert the actual song into the post, but you can check out a YouTube clip of it here. When you watch it just remember, my performance was ten times what hers was...I seriously killed it!

I think that I have an old N Sync Christmas album somewhere...I might have to pull it out and take a listen. Maybe then I will dream that I am 16 again and the love interest in one of their videos. Lame, I know...but at 16 it would have been awesome!! :)

Melanie

My very amazing sister-in-law Melanie is celebrating a birthday today (the 25th. I started the post last night so that date reads the 24...oops!). Melanie is such a riot! I always have so much fun with her. It is such a bummer that we live so far away from each other. As I was searching for a picture of Mel to use, I had so many fun ones to choose from - she isn't one of those people who is shy in front of the camera...it's great! The pictures I chose have great memories associated with them. The first one is a picture of Melanie on her first trip to visit us up in Seattle. We were messing around in the Seattle Aquarium gift shop and she modeled a few 'hats' for us (me and Mom). Gosh, I am giggling just looking at this picture...she always makes me laugh!! :)

This one is my favorite! You know those colored malt Easter egg candies? We were licking them and then using them as lipsticks...I think that this is a pretty common practice, right? I always did it growing up. Well, Melanie picked one that matched her outfit, applied it and then cheesed it up for a picture. Now, tell me that doesn't sound like someone who is a fun Mom!

These pictures really capture the Melanie that I love. She is so sweet, fun, caring and up for anything...even bowling the day before she has a baby (with no complaints at all...in fact, it was probably her idea to go in the first place).

Mel, I am so glad that you are a part of our family; I couldn't have asked for a better sister. I could talk and laugh with you for hours about nothing...I really miss you!! Cannot wait for you to come visit us next month! Happy Birthday!!!

Weekend in Portland

We just returned from spending a couple of days in Portland. The drive down wasn't too bad. I tried to get Rob to play the name game with me (I will have to explain that one in a later post), but he wouldn't give in. Instead he read his LSAT prep book out loud to me and quizzed me on what he had read me. A learning experience for both of us!

Once we arrived the first thing on our agenda was to visit the Oregon Zoo. I felt that it was a little bit of a letdown, Rob thought that a zoo is a zoo, no expectations, no disappointment. They had several exhibits under construction and a lot of the animals were no-shows. It was also so hot! My car said that the temperature got up to 107*! I think that the highlight of the zoo was the birds making out...it really is one of the only pictures we took. How immature, I know...but it was Rob's idea :)

Once we checked in to our hotel we walked over to the Lloyd Center Mall where we people watched and browsed through jewelry magazines over some Cinnabon (Rob's absolute, all time favorite!). When I was younger my Mom and I would played a little game while we looked through the jewelry flyers that would come in the Sunday paper. Page by page we would silently select our favorite piece of jewelery and then share it with each other. Most of the time we would select the same pieces. I try to get Rob to play this game with me, but we just aren't as in sync as my Mom and I. As it turns out, Rob is quite the flashy while I am a little more conservative! We then went and saw the movie Mirrors (NOT my choice). I thought that it was incredibly stupid, but still pretty scary. Rob says he enjoyed it, but I think he just enjoyed watching me gasp and jump throughout the movie. I don't do scary movies well. :)

The next morning we lounged around and watched License to Wed while enjoying a late check out. After grabbing some lunch we headed downtown to do some shopping. I got some great stuff at Anthropologie (one of MY favorites). I definitely could have got some more stuff, but Rob was dying of boredom and blown away by how much I was willing to pay for stuff that I thought would be 'fun' for our house. He just doesn't get it! Then we stopped by Powell's Books. It is a HUGE bookstore that takes up an entire city block. We browsed for an hour or two and left with a bag full of books.

Before heading back home I decided that I wanted to track down the apartments we lived in when I was little (we lived it Portland while my Dad was attending Chiropractic School). It took a little while to find. I kept driving around the block where it was supposed to be, but only saw a couple of smaller complexes. We drove into a complex parking lot and saw a sign that posted the address that we were looking for, but the complex was so small. I have always had a memory of a big apartment complex, but as Rob reminded me, I was only three when we moved, so of course it seemed bigger to me. Even as we drove away I was still amazed that my perception was that off after all of these years. I snapped a couple of pictures to show my family...I thought it would be fun for them to see. It is the one on the bottom left (with the lovely blue drapes). When we lived there the apartments were green. I guess they got a face lift.

On the way home Rob decided to nap a bit, so I popped in the book on CD I had been listening to before the trip (Love the One You're With). About a half an hour or so later I turned it off and Rob startled me by asking me why I turned it off. This whole time I thought he was asleep he was actually listening to the book along with me. He then said that he was into it and wanted to hear what happened. So, for the remainder of the drive home we listened to it together. I was a tad bit embarrassed that he might think this is the kind of book I always read, but oh well...a little chick lit is good for everyone now and then, right?

Glad we went...good times!