CG Reunion Day 3 and 4

So, after staying up late talking and laughing our heads off, we again took our time getting up and gettig ready to go. We had a yummy breakfast of bacon, egg, and cheese breakfast sandwiches (aka egg mcmuffins, although without the mc, cause we aren't McDonalds...but you know what I mean)and cantaloupe. We left our cute little room smelling like bacon, which wafted after us down the halls!

We started our day going to the Park City Mountain Resort.After wandering around the shops (well, mostly one shop), we decided to go on the scenic chairlift ride. It is an hour long ride round trip, so we made sure to get sunscreened up first! While it wasn't as adventurous or exciting as the Alpine Slide, or Alpine Coaster rides that they had, we really enjoyed it. It was fun to see all the beautiful scenery, especially the snow that was still in patches here and there...in June! We had a good time talking, since that's what we do best! It was especially an adventure to keep from losing our shoes! A few of us took off our flip flops so they would't fall off our feet while dangling in the air! We tried to take some pictures of ourselves while up there, and it was fun.It was a little scary trying to lean and not fall off! We even got to smile for a picture half-way up the mountain! See it HERE!





On our way back down the chairlift, we saw a mom and a cute little blond boy riding up on the other side. We all had to comment that the little dude reminded us of our kids and made us miss them!

After we got off the chairlift, we went and had some lunch, and then went and used our Coldstone giftcards for dessert! Yum! Our next stop was Main Street, where we walked around and looked at the shops before we all finally decided we had all our energy sucked out of us, and headed back to the hotel. We got back aroud 5, and almost promptly all fell asleep on the King sized bed! We had a nice little snooze, and then made ourselves a yummy dinner of "favorite pasta", garlic bread and salad. So now our room smells like lingering bacon, and garlic as well! Nice!


(Gina and Heidi all snuggled up for nap time!)


(dinnertime with chef Marisa!)

Gina, Heidi and Marisa decided to go check out the pool, and I stayed behind to try and read. My eyes were too tired to read though, so I popped in my new "girly movie" Some Kind of Wonderful and started to watch it. The rest of the girls came back soon after because the pool was filled with kids. we all finished watching the movie together, while snacking on leftover fondue and other treats. we again ended our night staying up until after 1 talking our heads off. It's kind of funny cause we actually got a noise complaint!

Around midnight or so, Heidi decided she wanted a treat other than what we had in the room. Gina opted to go with her in search of a vending machine. We were all laughing our heads off since they were in their pj's, and Heidi told Gina she looked like Ronald McDonald (her hair was a bit wild and crazy after air drying from her after swim shower). I gave Gina my pink Life is Good hat, and off they went in search of goodies. Not long later, they came back from their adventure, cracking up at their behavior that was reminiscent of what 2 18 year olds would be doing late at night in a hotel, and not 31 year olds!I won't go in to the details, but needless to say, we were all laughing hysterically once they returned! After a while we had calmed down, and were all lounging on the bed chatting away when the phone rang. It was 12:30 at night! We were a bit confused as to who would be calling so late. Gina answered and was informed by the night desk clerk, that he had had a noise complaint, and could we keep it down. Yes sir! Ha ha! How embarrassing! But what a great story!


(Gina and Ronald McDonald hair...sorry G!)

The next morning was check-out time, and we were all getting sad about our festivities coming to an end. We again had our breakfast of leftover cantaloupe and bacon, egg and cheese breakfast sandwiches. While all crammed into the elevator to go out to the car, a family got in with us. One of them made a comment that it smelled like bacon. Ha ha! I wonder how long it took for the bacon smell to go away! I bet whoever had our room next walked in and thought "hmmm...it smells like bacon in here" Funny!


(Gina and Heidi)


Before we left town to head back to SLC, we stopped at World Market to look around. Then we went back to Heidi's parents house to go our seperate ways. We couldn't end there though, so Nina (Heidi's mom) suggested a place for us to go for lunch called "Plates and Palates". It was a cute little shop that sold kitchen items and then they had some tables and chairs and you could order lunch too! It was pretty filled up, but we were able to get a seat pretty soo, and had a nice lunch together to end our time.


Marisa, Gina and I all opted to go to Spoon Me one more time before we had to leave. That stuff is soooo good! Once we had our fix, Marisa headed up to Idaho Falls to get her kids, and I caught a ride with Gina down to Cedar City.She dropped me off at my brother's house in Enoch, where I was waiting for Tony and the kids to meet me.

What fun times we had! We really have to do this again, and soon, and regularly. It was so needed, and I am again so lucky to have such lifelong friends. I love you gals! Thanks for the fun times!

CG Reunion Day 2

I have gotten so out of the habit of blogging! At this rate I am never going to catch up!

CG Reunion Day 2

Monday morning, we took our time getting up and getting ready. We had Heidi's mom's famous Finnish pancakes for breakfast! Yum! After eating and chatting for a while, we decided to make our plans for the day and get going.

Our first stop was the Shade Clothing store in Centerville, where I got myself a really cute swimsuit. After that, we stopped at the Gateway in SLC to browse around and have lunch. Gina was having a pregnant woman craving for Thai food, so we ate at a really yummy restaurant called Thaifoon. I have to admit I have never really had Thai food before, and it was sooooooo good! I might be a fan now. We all shared a yummy appetizer of lettuce wraps, and then again shared a dish called orange peel chicken, and beef lo mein. It was all super delicious, and very filling. It was funny, because we were all wearing our scrabble tile necklaces, and the waitress noticed them. She said " what's with the necklaces...are you all sisters or something?" We do not look anything alike...we ranged from tall Gina to tiny Heidi, with Marisa and I heightwise somewhere in between.We got a good laugh from that and then enthusiastically told her our adventure for the next few days.

After we left Gateway, Heidi directed us to a super yummy place for dessert. We went to a place called Spoon Me for frozen yogurt...the likes of which I have never tasted before. I grew up in So. Cal mind you, and frozen yogurt is there, what frozen custard is to the midwest. I love the stuff. Anyway...it was so good, and very refreshing! It was a bit tart and tangy like real yogurt, but still sweet. I got the natural flavor and chose granola, strawberries and milk chocolate chips for my toppings. I am still craving the stuff, and am really sad I can't get it where I live. Sniff..sniff. Anyone want to open a franchise in KC?

After leaving Spoon Me, we finally headed up to Park City. We checked in to our hotel...the Westgate Resort, and then went to get some dinner. We ended up going to Ruby Tuesdays to hit up their salad bar. Heidi, our High School Musical afficionado, kindly informed us AFTER we left, that "Martha" from HS musical, was eating dinner at a table near us. Fun stuff for a celebrity sighting!

We then wandered around the outlets for a bit, and then headed to Smith's grocery store to get some stuff for soome of our meals for the next two days, as well as some fun snacks. We also stopped by Redbox to get a movie to watch. We rented 27 dresses. I hadn't seen it before, and it was pretty cute. We went back to our hotel and watched the movie while gorging ourselves on chocolate fondue. Yum!

Of course, we stayed up until about 2 a.m. chatting again. Good times!

And on a non vacation note...HERE is something exciting for all you Twilight fans!



Enjoy!

CG Reunion!

Earlier this year, I went through a really rough patch. I felt the desire to "get away" from things that were occurring in my life, and I really felt the need to be around friends and people who knew me and loved me.


(Gina, Heidi, Kerry, Marisa- EFY 1994, the summer before our senior year of HS)


I was talking to my longest friend Heidi,and we both were expressing the desire to have a girl's get-away.I had 3 very dear friends in High School. We were a little group that were all members of the church...we went to seminary together, school together, church dances and events together, sang together,went to EFY together, etc. We had our fair share of drama as well. Nevertheless, we have all stayed intertwined in each other's lives since then.Gina married Marisa's older brother, so they are family now. Marisa and I went to BYU together, and interestingly enough, both ended up in Indiana at Purdue together and in the same ward!It was so much fun to tell people that we had been friends in HS, and that Marisa was one of my bridesmaids.Heidi and I have been friends since we were about 1 year old, and I try to make a point of visiting her at least once a year when I am out her way, even if it is only a brief meeting for lunch or whatever.

Heidi and I started planning and emailed Gina and Marisa to see if they would be up for having a CG (California Girl) Reunion. I was already planning to be in Blanding, UT for round-up time, and Marisa was going to be in Idaho Falls for a wedding. Heidi and Gina are already in Utah, so we decided to make Park City our reunion place.

Like I already mentioned, I have kept in touch with Heidi, and have been able to see her at least once a year for the last little while. Marisa and I haven't seen each other in the two years since we both moved away from Indiana, but have kept in touch via blogs and emails. I couldn't remember exactly when I saw Gina last, but I really think it was at Marisa's wedding 8 years ago. While we have exchanged Christmas cards, and I have heard updates about her from Marisa, I haven't talked to her otherwise. I was a little worried that things would be a bit awkward between us since it had been so long.

My worries were for nothing! It was like no time had passed at all! Except for the fact that I have 2 kids, and she is expecting her 5th, and everything else that has happened to us in the past 8 years. It was great. We all had such a great time, and it was so much fun to reminisce about old times,stay up late chatting and laughing our heads off! I haven't laughed that hard in a long time, and it felt so good.I love those girls! I don't think I realized how fortunate I was to have them as friends before, but I sure do now. It is so nice to have that kind of "history" with someone...let alone more than someone. While talking one night I brought up the point about how incredibly different each one of us was, but that it didn't matter. We all love and appreciate each other for who we are.It would be interesting to know if we were to meet now as adults, if we would be friends or not. I would hope we would be.

So...now that I have rambled on long enough about our history, I guess I will begin with day 1 of our reunion.

CG Reunion Day 1

We all agreed to begin our reunion by meeting at Heidi's parents house (they live in Utah now, and not California anymore.) It was Father's Day, so Gina and I "crashed" Heidi's dad's Father's Day dinner. It was Heidi and her husband Tom and their two kids, Heidi's parents, and Gina and I. Marisa showed up later on. Then the festivities really began! We tried to watch some videos from HS, and began reminiscing about things. We had also come up with a fun activity so we took care of that. We had a bag swap. We took the letters that spell out "CG REUNION" and assigned each person a few letters. We then had to find something to go with our letters to put in our bag. We were to get 4 of each item, and then once together, we had all the items put in the bags, and we traded bags. It was so much fun to see what we all chose and recieved! This is what we got:

C- CD of songs that reminded us of HS
G- gloss (lipgloss) and a Girlie movie (Some Kind of Wonderful)
R- ring (little CTR rings)
E- Eat! (set of cookbooks)
U- something Unique for U! (cool scrabble tile necklace pendants)
N- notebooks (decorated in cute paper with matching pens)
I- ice cream! ($5 Cold Stone gift card)
O- "Oh my stars!" (This is Heidi's phrase of choice) (cute envelope decorated with stars, saying Oh my Stars, and a little CTR anklet that was a star pendant)
N- Nutty Bars (this was a favorite snack item back in the day)

We finally headed up for bed around 12:30. Marisa and I were sharing a room, and Heidi and Gina were sharing a room. Marisa and I chatted for a bit, and then decided to hit the hay. A little while later, the door to our room flew open, and Heidi asks what we are doing...and then noticing that it is dark and quiet, asks if we are asleep. I say no, not yet. She says she is telling Gina the "Prom Story" and I immediately jump out of bed to go join in on this conversation! Marisa opted to stay in bed. The prom story is one of those "dramas" I mentioned earlier, and a story for another time. Needless to say, it's a good one! we stayed up until about 3, when I decided to head to bed. In the morning I found out that Heidi and Gina stayed up another hour talking. At least Marisa got a decent night's sleep!

That's how our first day began. I will post pictures and more of the rest of our trip next!

Blanding Fun

Blanding

Friday afternoon we loaded up and went camping up on the Bear's Ears where Tony's brother Kenny moves his cows in the summer.It is a really pretty place, and we always have fun and enjoy our time up there when we go. We always see deer, and they almost have no fear! They just come up real close to the camp. We also see plenty of these roaming around.



Tony's parents are currently serving their mission in Benin (West Africa) so their trailor was available for our use. I think I have gotten spoiled! Camping is sooooo nice when you have a comfy bed, a flushing toilet, and a place to get out of the bugs and heat...or cold!

Anyway...we were teamed up with Tony's sister Jody for dinner Friday night. We had barbecue chicken in dutch ovens, baked beans, salad, and rolls, with brownies for dessert. Suzie made the brownies! It was a tasty dinner! Even Avery thought so!




Aunt Alicia (A-lee-see-a)feeding Aves her brownie. I think she had about 3!


I think all Logan ate was the roll...and not even very much of it!Picky little guy!


Avery spent some time getting better acquainted with her relatives.

Avery getting some attention from Aunt Suzie!



Uncle Andy tried hard to win her over, and did a farily good job, as long as mom wasn't around!



I think Avery's favorite person was Brielle! She loves pretty girls! She just laughed and laughed and "flirted" at Brielle and her friends...it was so funny!



Here's my cute Logan!


I love these next pictures, becauase it was one of those happy parent moments! Avery and Logan were sitting in these little camp chairs for the longest time sharing their snacks. It was so cute! Avery would put some of her snacks in the little cup holder in between them for Logan to share. And Logan was content eating them that way, and wasn't getting grabby or greedy and trying to get the whole bag from her. They were getting along so well, and it made this mommy proud!





I ended up leaving the next day with Jody to catch a ride up to Pleasant Grove, and Tony stayed in Blanding with the kids for 4 1/2 more days. I took the camera with me, so he didn't get any pictures. He wouldn't have taken any even if I had left him the camera though, so it's ok.

More to come!

Where do I begin?

Holy Cow! I can't believe it has been a month since I last posted. I don't even know where to start! I guess I will start with my recent trip and then go backwards from there. Hopefully I will get caught up soon!

Road Trip to Blanding

We left our house around 5 p.m. on Wednesday evening June 11th. It happened to be Tony and my 9th wedding anniversary. What a way to celebrate, huh? Anyway...I just have to say how lucky I am to have such good kids on roadtrips! Logan actually likes going on "trips". Avery does very well also for a 1 1/2 year old. Her breakdowns are to be expected, but they really are few and far between. Good kids.






Pictures of the kids watching their movie in the van. I can't say enough how much I love my van, and I love that DVD player! It makes road trips so pleasant!



Lovely Kansas Sunset...taken out of my front windshield while we were driving along. I know it isn't the best quality, but it was really pretty. About 2 hours into our trip, we had to pull off the road at a gas station due to bad weather. I was listening to the radio for weather updates, and they kept saying there were severe thinderstorm warnings for "this" county, and a tornado warning for "this" county, but I had no clue what county we were in! The gas station had a map out, and there were quite a few people inside who had also stopped. Turned out the county we were in was right above the one with the tornado, and it was moving right towards where we were. The weather was better moving west which was the way we were going, so we continued on!



We stayed the night at a hotel in Colby, Kansas.One of the best things about being in a hotel room for the kids is watching cartoons in the morning while getting ready.Funny kids! Later, while eating breakfast, we saw on the news about the tornado that hit Manhattan, KS.Yikes! We passed through Manhattan not long before it hit, so we were pretty lucky on our travels! I think I would have seriously passed out and died if we were on the road with a tornado.

We continued on our way and ended up in Blanding around 8 p.m. Whew! Leg one of our trip was finally over! Stay tuned for more....