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!