Chelanigans (Part 2)

We had a little get together planned at the Kelly’s home with friends Brisa, Lindsay, the Kellys (Linda, Pat, Brogan, and Anna), and a visit from Jo Anna too. They live in a perfectly quaint neighborhood and home. It overlooks the water and made for a wonderful view during dinner (minus some of the threatening clouds and sprinkles of water). They had a delicious dinner set out – chicken, cheese, drinks, crackers, European styled everything. It was perfect! We laughed all evening. Lindsay’s baby entertained us for hours (adorable). In the middle we went to see Anna sing at her recital, she is amazing. The whole family is amazing! It was late, we were exhausted, and the kids had school, so we parted for the evening… as Brogan searched for weed outback…

We ate a delicious breakfast at a farmhouse – Blueberry Farms. They had fresh everything that makes a perfect breakfast, whilst overlooking beautiful countryside. We had made plans to see Stehekin, but it would take all day and we wouldn’t be able to see everyone and hang out, so we saved ourselves some money and went to the Jr. High/High School of Chelan.

The seniors were practicing for graduation (that evening) and we were able to see a few of the kids we rode on a bus with through Europe. It was funny to see them glance over and startle a little, “hey, it’s Utah!” Then wave. The rest of the school has to continue to go to classes for another week! Half of the school is the high school and the other is the jr. high. We visited Brisa’s Spanish classroom – and her HOT substitute Mr. Pearl. We had to drag Ali out of there!

We walked around the adorable little town and met people around the way, played at the lake then ended up at the famous pizza place – Local Myth’s Pizza (with the statue of David throughout). It was delicious. Pat and Linda joined us. We have such easy (and hilarious) conversations I feel like we’ve known each other forever. We purchased some Chelan attire and went our separate ways.

Sandra and Amanda prepared a delectable BBQed dinner. We sat out on the deck, overlooking the lake, and elegantly ate the magnificent meal. We ate garlic sprouts (like asparagus) grilled in butter and limes, grilled pineapple, chicken, and fish that we purchased in Seattle (at Pike’s Place). We felt foolish after realizing our conversation revolved solely around the food: “These limes are so juicy” “I love these onions” “The flowers are really good” “I like pineapple…I LOVE pineapple” but it was all true, so it was hard not to.

Ali and I wanted to take a night swim. The weather was warm and so was the pool. It was calling my name...screaming it actually and I couldn't wait to swim. We rolled back the cover quickly and efficiently - Ali and I are a good team - as we pulled the last foot out of the pool, I squeaked a scream and jumped away from the pool. Ali mocked me before realizing that her "pine cone" was a dead mouse. It was white and wrinkled. i scooped it up with the pool scooper and dumped it into the bushes below. I didn't want to swim anymore.

Saturday was for relaxing. We slept in, ate French toast for breakfast, read books, swam, and lay by the pool. "Alejandro" (our pool boy) came and cleaned the pool. I don't know his real name, Jason or something. It was another perfect day. We swam and swam. Brogan and Anna called and wanted to visit. So they stopped by with Andrea and we took them on a tour of the house then played by the pool telling funny stories.

That night we ate dinner at Tin Lilies with Pat and Linda. Brogan and Andrea (his jr. high girlfriend) came later. It was an adorable place (we took pictures of the bathroom and made sure everyone took their turn seeing it in person). We also requested t-shirts from them. Many quotes made it into the quote book that evening!! After dinner we strolled through town. The new graduates were out and about. We stopped in to see a band play at the local coffee shop. After a little while we noticed that Linda knew everyone. She is the person to know in Chelan J

Church on Sunday was half way between our house and downtown Chelan. Before sacrament meeting started a nice woman came and welcomed us to church. We explained why we were in Chelan and whom we’d come to visit and to our surprise she responded “THE Kellys?!” Like they were the Donald Trumps of Chelan or something. We felt cool, yeah, we know THE Kellys. It was a good meeting; love the church everywhere you go!

We stopped by to say goodbye to the Kellys and head to Seattle, but ended up spending all day with them! They took us through old Chelan, up and through the mountains, rivers, and old buildings. We saw a water snake skipping across the river and a beautiful waterfall of turquoise water. It was a gorgeous tour! They told stories of old and legends and pointed out everything they could see. We learned about the apples orchards being bought out and how they are now a vinery country with expensive wines and grape juice (they’d always throw that in for our benefit! So kind.) We visited the homegrown stores and some beautiful reception buildings. We loved it! So sad we had to head home already.

Ali got sick on our trip back to Seattle so I drove the rest of the way through the Cullen’s lands. Levensworth, a town similar to Midway/Heber, was a stop on our way to Seattle. We had a $100 gift card we needed to use. Ali slept in the SUV while we window shopped and ended up with little trinkets to take home. We also ate in a dim lighted place with delicious food.

We arrived at our hotel late into the night. Ali was starving and ordered room service. Grilled cheese and Fries. They came with mini ketchup and mustard, so cute. She was still sick L and went to bed. We stayed at the Hilton, and felt like queens! Fancy! Too bad we just fell asleep and left bright and early (4:30am I believe – to get people home to go to work).

I want to live in Chelan!

Seattle so soon!

I flew to Seattle (via Spokane) on Thursday. My friends were running the 1/2 marathon and I would be taking their pictures crossing the finish line :)

Sara, Mary, Britt-Marie, Jason and Kerry would be running, steph, Mindi, Sam, Kemi, and Chris would be cheering them on!

We all stayed at Mary and Sam's house... a five minute walk from the Space Needle. We saw all of the sights and were a very silly group. We laughed and played games every day.

Mary's kids were off their schedule, but still had fun with us.

Mia (4 1/2) talks with a really low raspy man-voice and Trevon (2) walked around and giggled (though he didn't like me until the day I left). We ate at all the cool places in town and took pictures of everything.

I learned to play NERTS, a stressful game of SPEED/SOLITAIRE/SKIPBO all mixed together with our group of 10!

It was sunny and beautiful every day we were there, apparently unusual, but both times I've been there this month were beautiful! Makes me want to live there... but I couldn't handle the rain and grayness!

Good Friends and Fun!!

Chelanigans (part 1)

European Reunion in Chelan, WA

Last summer my friends and I took a trip through Switzerland, Italy, and France with a busload of crazies... I mean, people... (read about it on my blog - which this is - so this blog, just earlier) and loved them. SO, we decided to make a trip to this small town of BIG personalities and see what it was all about.

I think I'm moving there ;)

Day 1 - SLC to Seattle

The plane takes off, a little low for my comfort, into a lightning storm. I watch the lightning strike over the Great Salt Lake and wonder if we’ll be hit soon. As those thoughts are going through my mind, I’m also noticing how low we are still flying and we seem to be struggling, but again, I’m not running this show – what do I know?! After we are lost in the gloomy clouds I relax and sit back with dad’s noise cancelling headphones keeping me company. It isn’t long until the turbulence kicks in. The plane is being tossed around like I’ve never experienced. It would drop suddenly over and over, and at times I was in the lap of the, not so hygiene-happy, guy next to me. I tried to remain calm, keeping my eyes closed and my fists clenched. I imagined my funeral.

I wondered who would come and what it would be like. Hopefully bright – no black allowed – short and sweet (who wants to sit there forever) and everyone would know I was in a beautiful place (fingers crossed). Then I realized my friends were on my same plane. Would we have a joint funeral? Would our other friends have to go to 5 different funerals? That would be tough on people. I figured my death would be pretty clean since I wouldn’t leave any kids without a mom or husband or anything. So I said my prayers and repented of anything I could think of, and made my peace. Then the skies calmed and I fell asleep, arriving safely over Seattle. I could have said safely in Seattle, but the landing was crazy wild! We skidded all over the runway, LITERALLY! Again I made close friends with my smelly neighbor as we swerved hard to the right. The announcement at the end “be careful, luggage may have shifted in the flight” was met with loud NO KIDDINGs and YOU THINK?!s (yes, I was one of those). We lived.

The shuttle took us right to the Holiday Inn Express (thanks Andy) and we entered our suite. It was sweet! A kitchen, front room with pullout couch, 2 queens and 2 TVs (in case Amy wanted to watch her own). The hallway was musty hot and a bit smelly, but the room was lovely. We set up camp, ordered pizza and drinks, and watched some TV. I forgot my jammies.

Amy, Ali, Amanda, steph and Sandra.

Breakfast was delicious; cheese omelets, toast, bagel, yogurt, juice, cinnamon roll, muffins, cereal… anything! YUM! Sandra and Ali went to pick up the rental car from a guy named Ali (Ali’s new best friend). He made them laugh, mocking their idea that 5 girls and girl luggage would fit in the Malibu, and talked them into an SUV. BRILLIANT! We fit perfectly and enjoyed the upgrade. Off to the market.

I helped Ali park in a stall made for compact cars!

The flowers were GORGEOUS and inexpensive (notice I didn’t say cheap… they weren’t cheap in anyway). We made mental notes to come back on our way out. We tasted all the fruit as we passed the samplers, tasted the bread and vinegar, the dried fruit, the pasta… who needs lunch after that?! We needed a sweatshirt for Ali, she is a sweatshirter when it comes to vacation. We found a shop on the corner where you pick out the item and then the design and they make it for you right there. I found some yoga pants (for my new jammies) and printed TEAM JACOB down the side – its not Forks or La Push, but I’m in the right state at least.

lucky pig.

As we walked back past our sampled areas, we purchased those delicious samples for our time at the lake house. Sandra and Amanda bought fish just to see the hot guys yell and throw them across the counter. A counter, mind you, that Sandra can’t even see the over… it is above her head! Then we stopped at the pasta place, the fruit stand, the vegetables, the delicious dried apples and the gorgeous bouquets of bright flowers. We would be fine dining in Chelan (of course, Sandra is with me, so it is always fine dining).

We ate lunch at a little soup, salad, and sandwich shop before hurrying back to our time limited parked car. (We were entertained by some street singers and people watching while we ate).

(I promise I did go on this trip, though there aren't many pictures to prove it!)

I love the laid back atmosphere. I love the fresh food and the fresh flowers. I love that it isn’t even expensive for quality stuff. Where is MY market in South Jordan? Where are MY fresh flowers every day?

The drive begins. Over the mountains and through the woods singing to our homemade mixed tapes (CDs), Glee, American Idol, and other favorites while watching the weather switch from gloomy clouds to sunshine to clouds to sunshine…

At one point I notices the fog and darkness and I KNEW that is where those vampires must live, it totally makes sense.

We were quick and efficient – Ali our driver and Sandra our GPS – and rolled into town right on time.

We slowly drove down the main street and found ACE Hardware, where the Kellys are known to be, and found a grocery store right away… the Safeway. These locals know we’re not from town and looked us up and down with warm smiles and nods. We raced around to pick up the few items Sandra assigned us and met at checkout, all with our adorable matching purses. Ali gave them to us as travel gifts – adorable. As we headed out to Manson (the town that houses our house) we saw this:

mmmm.

THE LAKE HOUSE – the Blair House (Sounds a bit creepy doesn't it?!)

We parked in the carport (made for several cars) and walked up the stone entrance to the house. The keypad opened on our first try and we now had access to our home for the weekend. It smelled like a grandma’s house, or a rental, which it is so no worries. Our rooms each had a theme.

Amanda got the brightly feathered room,

Amy, the Victorian master bedroom,

Ali, the animal wild room, and

Sandra and I shared the Nautical room (or the kid room – my bed had a plastic cover on the mattress…nice). We took a quick look around – pool table, foosball, pool, hot tub, and VIEW OF THE LAKE. Ahhh. It takes your breath away.

Life's a Zoo!

We planned a girl's day for our "birthdays" (covering 5 months of time!)

Lunch and Hogle Zoo!

It was an overcastly beautiful day. A nice breeze kept us alive and walking. Poor mini Rios couldn't enjoy our day to it's fullest because of the several shots he had the day before. His legs were swollen and sore, I felt bad for him. He was a trooper and rode in the stroller (unless I was carrying him around).

The zoo is not like I remember it as a child. Many of the animals are scarce - no zebra, no hippos, no polar bears, no lions... it was a little tear-jerking. Though they have made some of the habitats (like the elephants) cooler.

We took a tour on the carousel and then a short train ride (now that was EXACTLY like I remember it) around the same old story row. Mini Wade and I sat right behind the conductor. We couldn't understand a word or breath, but loved every minute staring at the train engine!

But the kiddo's real highlight was the playground!!

I had a wonderful time. It's fun being an "adult" :)

Breast Friends (girl's nite part 2)

THE RACE:

We awoke around 6:15 am. Some of the girls showered for the race, hmmm. Angie wore her "old" capris and forgot a shirt. We got ready and headed to the car. We left Ashley behind in the bathroom. 10 minutes later I returned to the hotel room to check on her. She wasn't there. In the back of my mind I rememebered the creepy guy that entered the building a minute ago and tried to recall any details about him. I came back to the car and she wasn't there either. I called her phone and no one answered. I freaked out a little in my head. Then she called. She was in the lobby.

We arrived to the bustle of Breast Friends, Ta Tas, 2nd basers, boobs etc. I love the ambiance of the race. Its quite spirited. I tried to retrieve my Chevron pink car, but another survivor ahead of me took the last one :( (with a little shove and a "I was here first" growl - she did not enjoy cancer I guess, she seemed really grumpy). My stomach was doing crazy things and I didn't feel so good. The mexican food was coming back to haunt me.

We met up with Andy and Tyson, Kevin and the boys, Ali, Sandra, Amanda, Brittany, Devon, and Corey. Later I ran into the Szymanski sisters (I sprinted up and kicked her in the bum) and my former students, Shelby and Aubrey (their mom has breast cancer too, I see them every year now - Shelby was my emo student I always worried about)!!

We headed to the starting line and I needed a bathroom RIGHT AWAY! It was an emergency, but with 18,000 people the restrooms were crowded with more than 50 people each! We walked to the starting line, where there were promises of more bathrooms, and there was another huge line of people waiting for port-a-potties. Just to inform you of my fear of port-a-potties, I've used probably only 3 in my life. I stood in line, ready to die. Beads of sweat were forming, I felt faint and really delusional. The feelings would come and go. I didn't think I'd make it and I prayed for help.

I was devising a plan of how to cut in line, so I didn't have an accident, when I saw Angela waving frantically for me to follow her. I did. She had found a random potty with only 4 people in line. When she had asked what they were in line for, they eyed her curiously and pointed to the potty, like it was too obvious for her to miss. It wasn't special or anything so she tried to flag me down from the line, gave up, and just ran and to get me. I was 8th in line now and knew I wouldn't make it. When there was only one person a head of me, I almost tackled her and pleaded for me to go ahead of her. She looked shocked, but allowed me to go! WHEW! I barely made it... and I felt better. I thanked my Heavenly Father for answering my prayers... and Angie for listening.

Andy, Tyson, and Ashley took off with the gunshot. I met up with the girl's and Kevin. We walked for a bit then Kevin took the lead with his 2 kid stroller and we trailed single-file behind him. He clipped a few walkers and cut off some wheelchairs, but he was persistant and we kept a steady pace. I believe we all ran more than the 3 miles because we cut across three lanes of traffic back and forth the entire time. I thought it went easily and quickly. I guess the company, music, and atmosphere made running feel easy.

I lined up with the other survivors and we stood around for 45 minutes. Old ladies cracking jokes about surviving cancer and dying in line waiting for the SURVIVOR'S parade. I have graduated to the next group - 6-10 year survivors! HOORAY! We got a pink carnation and a white one. One for us and one for those who support us! We walked through the thousands people and the cheered us on. My Breast Friends cheered super loud and waved!

We crammed hundreds of us onto the steps and got a group SURVIVOR picture taken (like we do every year). It is a very emotional time for most of these ladies. I just think its fun! They play the theme song and I dance along waving my flowers while others cry around me. One 84 year old lady told me to keep dancing because she was following my lead! Adorable!

I had another emergency potty stop (at a real bathroom) before I met up with my group again. Then we headed back to the hotel. Ashley went home with Andy - not feeling well.

SHOWER AND LUNCH:

We arrived at the lobby at noon (check out time) and asked for an extension to shower and get ready. They gave us until 2pm. She asked for our room number and seemed shocked. "We've been trying to get a hold of you since 7 this morning. You said your toilet was clogged, but had a do not disturb sign on your door" ha ha ha. So we checked, and sure enough our toilet was clogged - Ashley Janell and I were all suffering from the same thing... though we have no idea what that is. Mary took Heidi home and she went home to shower and get ready. We showed and got ready at the hotel and checked out by 1:30 pm. We met Mary at her house and went to a Bake for Hope sale (for breast cancer). We bought some goodies and met up again at Zupas.

I order my new staple (thanks to Mark) Nuts about Berries and turkey cranberry (no sprouts) pannini. DELICIOUS. Angie spilled her some of her soup, but ate like it never happened. We continued talking about stuff until our eyes started drooping... so tired. Another successfully fun GIRLS WEEKEND!

Girl's Nite (weekend)

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY MOM!!

Girl's Weekend:

PEDICURES: We met at the hotel, in the lobby, at 3:00pm. We all arrived within a few moments of one another, except Ashley because there was no direct communication about the outline, just assuming she knew. We were checked into room 245 at the Hyatt in Sandy. We dropped off our stuff in the suite and headed to 106 South for our pedicures at the spa school.

Some of our girls were better than others, mine was lost. She spoke very little English, though she was fervent in asking me questions. I avoided eye contact and made sure to keep up conversation with my sisters in the room, in hopes that she would leave me alone. Ali told me that the rule is to ask 2 questions and if that doesn't strike up a conversation, stop asking. She did, eventually.

My feet soaked in the foot tub, luke warm at best, while everyone got situated. Aubrey finally realized that her lady had set up camp at the other end of the room, setting up her station, completely unconcerned that she didn't have a client. Aubrey gathered her stuff and moved for her.

My pedicurist was rough with the tools and light with the files. I held back the cries of pain and tried to relax in the vibrating chair.

The conversation moved quickly from Levi stories, to primary, to last year's funnies and to the planning of next year's girl's weekend... "Mom will be here next year!"... "That's what we said LAST year!" :)

Next came the WAX. The girls kept talking about how EXTRA hot the wax was but then proceeded to put everyone's feet in it. Heidi foot burned on the first dip and she was VERY reluctant to put it back in, but eventually did. I saw that the wax was being done over my shoes, so I leaned down and moved them back away from the wax. The ladies didn't seem to notice...or care. It was my turn and I dipped my feet into the HOT wax. It WAS HOT!! I just sucked it up and did the 3 dips. After my first foot she was supposed to put my foot into a plastic bag, but instead she set it on the towel (where the wax came off immediately) and then dipped my second foot. She put the plastic on my second foot and then tried to put one on my first foot...

She noticed the wax had come off and made me dip one more time in the wax. She then lost control and spilled the wax onto my chair and the floor. I looked down and saw some wax on my new shoes, sad. I pushed them behind my chair (who knew there would be crock pots of wax uncontrollably hovering BETWEEN our chairs?! Only later to find that the wax spilled on everything I owned!

I found it IN my shoes as well as all over the outside, on my CANNON camera, and on my VENEZUELAN purse. I've been peeling wax off of my things to this very moment. Luckily I am a very calm person and I don't put too much emphasis on material items.

We left with soft feet and bright toes. Delightful. We picked up Ashley and some swimsuits then were on our way.

DINNER AND SHOPPING -PARK CITY

We headed to Park City in Mary's van and talked the entire ride. We don't seem to ever run out of things to talk about. I do love girl's weekends every year! We ended up at Loco Lizard for dinner. It sounded delicious and wasn't too far out of the way. We sat next to the family that walked behind our moving vehicle and glared at us the rest of the way into the restaurant. We ate the delicious homemade chips and two kinds of salsa before ordering waters and lemon... well except for Heidi, who made it very animatedly clear that she was not be assumed to order a water but would be drinking an actual drink! :)

Onto the OUTLETS. We made a plan of stores to hit and then scrapped it and started at the bottom and worked our way up. Shopping after dinner is a good deterrent for purchasing clothing. Who enjoys shopping when FAT on mexican food?! NOT I! I didn't try on anything until the NIKE store. Then I purchased an outfit at Zumiez. I ran into my Vice Principal and his family. I thought he went to give me a hug, but I shook his hand instead... kind of awkward.

We ended our outlet shopping at DownEast Outfitters. It was closed and we had Angie, Heidi, Aubrey, and Ashley running in and out of the dressing rooms with so many wonderful finds! Aubrey felt she was wearing clothes that the others were buying so when she saw Heidi come out of the dressing room with the shirt on that she had in her hand, she nonchalantly hung it up on the return rack. We talked Angie into purchasing an outfit that she couldn't believe in, but we did. We talked Heidi into a $10 skirt, though she looked great in everything.

Angie got a free accessory with her outfit purchase. We picked out a bracelet for her and Heidi laughed out loud. She took it anyway. We all laughed. Apparently it was DownEast's opening night! We were happy to have helped them open up! We were a bit delerious by this point and everything was silly and we were giggly. Heidi was hilariously spacey and it continued to get worse :)

GROCERY STORE:

We ended up back in Sandy at Target. We piled out of the van and walked toward the now closed store... it closes at 10 pm. We then drove to Smiths on 13th. There was a moment where we thought it looked closed, but we planned on breaking our way in regardless. Heidi noticed the Arbys and requested we stop for a shake on our way out, we were all interested!

We meandered around Smiths looking for odds and ends, without any idea of what we were there to purchase. We each came out with some breakfast items and Angie, a case of water. Ashley was in and out and lost for a bit, cute boy alert or creepy... I can't remember. We stopped at Arby's for shakes... "shake machine is broken" WHAT?! "Peel out Mary!! Just peel away!" yelled Heidi. We laughed and Mary drove away. We headed down to McDonalds for shakes. Aubrey and I ordered Parfaits and the others got shakes. It all worked out. YUM!

We made the full circle back to our hotel and parked. Ashley looked around, "we're not in Park City?!" HA HA HA!!

We set up our beds and got things ready for the run in the morning. We moved the bench away from the wall and built a cozy watching the movie area. Most girl's nights involve a chic flick, we chose Sherlock Holmes... and then fell alseep about 15 minutes into it. Angie and I looked around at all the sleepy heads, stopped the movie, and called it a night.

I forgot my quote book, so here are some quotes I wrote in my phone:

"I guess you'll just have to have one tomorrow" - angie "I'm done with tomorrow, we should get something we want today" - Heidi

"Angie will want to shop at Bass" - Heidi

"I don't even know what Imodium does" - Angie

"That's unfortunate" - Heidi

"Hey look Chico's is opening soon! Angie knows all about Chicos... remember her story..." - Heidi "they're CHINOS" - angie

"I don't even have cheek bones" - steph "nope just dimples" - angie "it can go in your dimples" - heidi

"I FORGOT MY CABOODLE!!" - angie (followed by hours of laughter) "what's a caboodle?" - ashley "a tackle box of makeup" - aubrey

"It was a special group of crazy people" - ashley "did you tell them you were boy crazy?!" - steph (angie's uncontrollable laughter... to tears)

"this isn't Park City!?" - ashley

BY FARS: the sliding doors in the hotel.

the crooked door in the bathroom.

walking around in the fake flip flops from the pedicures... Heidi poking my toe to make sure I could put on my regular shoes without smudging my nail polish.

the frantic trying on clothes at DownEast.

The driving miles around Sandy looking for an open grocery store.

carting around water bottles and finding the exact ones at the race.

green bananas... in angie's pocket... in Heidi's pocket... in angie's car...

sunshine and laughter.

the "hot" waiter at Loco Lizard. - ashley

ashley not sure what she ordered, but smiled and nodded anyway.