soul sisters

it feels like high school was just yesterday...

but clearly it wasn't.

there are some friends that you go months or years without seeing, and then

when you bump into them again it can feel a little awkward and the conversation

is forced.  not bad, but just not the way it used to be.  i'm pretty sure that's normal.

then there are friends who you don't see for the same amount of time, but when

you get together you're laughing and talking like you haven't skipped a beat.

that would be my relationship with these 4 girls.

i met jackie, ceara, and syrie in the 6th grade.  i didn't even know what best friends

were until they came into my life.  we stayed connected at the hip through jr. high where

we picked up heidi after bonding over a deep dislike of fellow classmates and

a love for revenge via toilet paper vandalism.  our dynamic changed a bit in high school,

like friendships often do, but not enough to break the bonds of our soul sisterhood.

7 years later, here's the proof:

we had a little reunion about a month ago, and we picked up right where we'd left off...

laughing loud enough to force my dad into hiding, talking about boys, and making total

fools of ourselves dancing in the basement. 

we may be "grown-ups" now, and not see each other on a regular basis,

 but i have to say that its comforting to know that there are

friendships in life that can't be touched by all that real life garbage.

it only happens once...or does it?

i'm 26 years old.

that is the very age that both of my parents were when i was born.  i got

to thinking that its kind of cool to be exactly half of their age, and i mentioned

it to them at some point during my birthday week.  they thought it was kind

of interesting, too, but then my mom pointed out that its not the only time i'll be

half their age.  for instance, when they're 64 i'll be 32.  that's not actually true at

all, but it took us all a minute to figure it out.  sad, but true.  and it gave everyone

a hearty laugh, so i'm glad that the math was wrong.

i began planning for my birthday about 2 months in advance when i booked a

flight to seattle to visit my friend katie stewart.  "friend" is a pretty weak description

of what she actually is to me, but i'll explain all of that in another post that will be

strictly dedicated to our recent adventures.  the trip was the weekend before my

birthday, and it was a big, big hit.  the best start to a birthweek i could've asked for.

or given myself.

the night before my birthday, jenkins took me on a rachel-rachel date to

see the new footloose.  it literally took every fiber of my being and ounce of

willpower that i had to keep from dancing in the aisles.  especially during this

scene.  thanks to a loving heavenly father we got to enjoy kevin bacon in the original,

but i seriously loved this movie and can't wait to own it so i can

learn all of the dance moves in my living room.  not all remakes are garbage.

point in case.

i had to work on the actual day.  comes with being a grown-up, i guess.

but i did treat myself to a pumpkin pie blizzard from dq on my way to

watching this athletic specimen play some flag football in a work league.

hate to see him go.  love to watch him run away.

we went out to the johnson's lovely new abode for a birthday feast after

the game.  thanks to pinterest, michaela was inspired to enlist jeremy in helping

her whip up a culinary masterpiece.  it was fancy and delicious and i loved it.

we all did.  and jenkins even made a pumpkin-flavored dessert that knocked all

of our socks off. 

that night richard surprised me with a present, which was a fun surprise

seeing as how seattle was kind of a huge one.  he must love me or something.

the day after was a friday, and i got to spend it having a sweet reunion with

some of the best friends i've ever had.  i met 3 of them in 6th grade, we picked

up a 5th member in 9th grade, and the rest is history.  there will also be a post

dedicated to this hilarious night.

when richard asked what i wanted to do to celebrate my birthday, only one

thing felt right: the drive-in.  we got take-out from my favorite ogden eatery

(sitara india) and cuddled the night away in the back of the kia while watching

some cheap flicks, with our buddies only a car away.  the johnsons joined us

again, and i'm so glad they did.  good food, good friends, good cuddling - that's

all a girl really needs on her birthday.

and family.  a girl needs her family, too.

i forgot to mention that my mom and sister chelsa were out of town on my

actual birthday.  i knew they would be gone, and that they probably wouldn't

have cell phone service since they were roughin' it, and i was ok with that.  or

so i thought.  if i hadn't talked to my dad that day i probably wouldn't have lasted

as long as i did, but as i was driving to richard's football game i started thinking

that this would be the first year of my entire life that i didn't talk to my mom on my

birthday, so i tried to call her.  it went straight to her voicemail, and i began to leave

her a message.  before i knew it i was bawling into the phone, having my first totally

pathetic moment as a 26-year old woman.

a few hours later, after we'd stuffed our gourds with michaela's fabulous dinner, my

phone rang and it was my mom.  i ran to the other room so everyone wouldn't have to

witness the tears of relief and happiness when i talked to the woman who lovingly pushed

me out of the birth canal and into the charmed life i now lead those 26 years ago.

just goes to show you that no matter how old, a girl needs her mom.

a week and a half later we wrapped up the birthday festivities by celebrating

with my extended family.  the presents were great, and totally appreciated, but

my favorite part of the night was watching this:

birthdays tend to be a time of reflection. about your life up to that point, and

maybe where you go from there. 25 was a good year for me - i resolved my

greatest regret in life (see the upcoming seattle post for details), i crossed some

things off of my bucket list (was part of a flash mob, joined a book club, took a

ballroom dance class with richard, went to hawaii with richard), started a career

that i love in my field of study, and got to visit my favorite place in the world

multiple times (nyc, duh), among other things.

i'm still convinced that age is relative and i can't possibly be this old. i don't feel old.

at least not until i actually think about how many years ago i graduated from high

school, or see how many kids my friends have already. being old is for the birds.

making 26 the best year yet is for m.e.

running amuck amuck amuck amuck on halloween

i had great plans for richard and i to dress up in a fabulous couple's costume

for halloween this year, but like many of my plans often do it went up in flames

and this is what we ended up with:

a mexican hermaphrodite...

and a bearded pregnant nun

the holiday wasn't a complete bust, though (thank goodness!)

because we got to spend it with some of our favorite buddies from

our old married student ward:

tmnt a.k.a. todd, lacey and max geddes

the jex beekeeper and his lovely honey-bees

the stevensons were peter, wendy and tink

and dave was just full of happy thoughts!

isn't jovi the cutest little cruela you've ever seen?!

and we'd have had no excuse to dress up had it not been for these

swashbuckling hosts:

bro and sis smith

sis and bishop hansen

its hard to believe we've been out of our heavenly fake ward for a year

and a half!  i still love all of our friends just as much, and the bishopric and

their wives still feel like family.  as torked as i still am that the ward was ever

abolished, i have to say that i feel so lucky that we were ever in it in the first place.

it was a real life-changing blessing for us and will always be one of those special

times in our life and marriage that we will never forget.

there were some key players missing this year (boyers, nielsens, bates

colemans, etc.), but we have plans for a christmas party and new year's

rendezvous, so this was just the beginning of an incredibly enjoyable

holiday season.

fighting the foo

earlier this month, richard's cousin john invited us to go to the foo fighters

concert with him and his wife jen.  we don't only own one foo fighters

album between the two of us, but we love john and jen (and a free concert),

so of course we said yes.

we met at their house, with just enough time to rile up their kids

before the babysitter came over, and then headed to the show.

the husbands aren't allowed to be the only planners anymore because

apparently we were supposed to all have dinner together, but i never got

that memo and ended up making dinner before we left.  jen and i will

be checking in with the masterminds for any future plans.

the tickets we had were for one of the luxury suites, but we started the

night down on the floor.  the opening act was ok - nothing to write home

about.  although, dave grohl did play drums for them!

we eventually made our way up to the box seats.

jen is really this tall.

we ended up knowing a lot more songs than we thought we would, just

like with U2 and kenny loggins.  we had a rockin' good time.

dave grohl is amazing.  they played about a million songs,

just like he promised they would, and he did a lot of screaming,

but you really couldn't hear it in his voice until the last song.

also note, he dances like a muppet.

they fought the foo until almost midnight, which means they played for

nearly 3 hours!  it was a great show, but i think its safe to say that we

were all about ready when it ended.

the ericksons know how to have a good time, and we are so glad they

took us along for the ride!

bienvenido, hermana smith. adios, harry potter.

richard's youngest sister, heidi, has been serving an lds mission in uruguay

for the last 18 months, but she is safely home in st. george once again.

we went down to see her arrive at the new st. george airport with the rest of

the family.  we were so busy getting the house, welcome home banner, her

requested dinner, etc. ready that we missed her landing!  her flight landed a

little early, and we got there right on time so she had to sit and watch the elder

she flew home with be greeted by his family while she waited for us.  luckily it

was just a few minutes.  we all felt so bad!  but it was still a very sweet reunion.

here is heidi reintroducing herself to little araya.

heidi and megan's reunion was fun to watch - they are so close!

all of the siblings, minus austin who is still on his mission.

so, not all of the siblings, but a large majority.

the family.  blood family, that is.  scott and i married in, so we stayed

behind the cameras to catch all the action.

we had so much fun with the family (even though the little ones were

puking up their guts every five minutes).  we loved hearing heidi talk

about her experiences, and having her pray in spanish.  i'm sure there

is going to be plenty more to come that i don't understand between her

and richard.  and austin when he gets home, too!

we went back down south the following weekend to hear heidi's

homecoming talk in church.  it was wonderful!  but you won't be seeing

anymore family pictures, because even though everyone believed that

was the main event taking place, tyson and i knew better.  we both read

the harry potter book series (and i watched the movies) for the first time

this summer.  tyson patiently waited for me to finish the last book, and then

he took me on a little date to see the final movie.  i have to admit that there

were a great deal of tears shed during the last 2 books, and the last

movie...even though i was extremely disappointed in most of the movies.

all i have to say is that i've been a little lost since i finished the books.  i'm

sure i'll recover. what a fun summer adventure i had, courtesy of ms. jk rowling!