Best Day and a Half EVER

Last week Monday my sweet friend, Katie, came into town for a day and a half.  It was WAY too short, but I'm still grateful for every second we had together.  She and I were in the same neighborhood in Michigan and best friends from the time I was 12 until...well...we've never stopped being best friends.  Things changed quite a bit when I moved to Utah at almost 16, but we've still always kept in touch.  That's saying something since it was back-in-the-day.  Before internet.  Before email.  Before (gasp) Facebook.  Of course, we each have other best friends too but that doesn't in any way diminish what we have together.

Katie now lives in Pittsburgh and has another friend in Denver.  She flew into Denver to spend a week or so with that friend but rented a car to drive here for a little bit.  She was enjoying the scenery a little too much and missed a turn, adding an hour or so on to her drive, but she got here nonetheless.  It was so fun.  She called me in the morning and asked if she could come play.  LOL  Just like the good 'ole days.

It's amazing that with certain people, you can not see each other for years and yet pick up like you've never been apart.  Kindred spirits, as Anne Shirley would say.  In our case, the last time I saw Katie in person was when Little One was only 18 months.  7 years ago.

Monday night we visited and had a super yummy dinner (homemade chicken nuggets!)  Then we let Katie pick out a movie to watch on the wall.  She picked Monster's Inc.  Very good choice.  We went to bed and then were up pretty early to set out blankets for the Pioneer Day fireworks.  We took Little One (and Ira) to her swimming lessons where their dad picked them up.  He took them to 7 Peaks for the day.  We needed to hit Costco before taking off for the day and Mom came with us.  It was fun to end up chatting with a lady there who was trying to decide which furniture to buy for her lake house that she rents.

After that we took off for the day with FAR more things to see and do than we had time for.  First off, I wanted to show her some things that are uniquely "Utah."  She got to see the Great Salt Lake from the deck and I wanted to show her Temple Square.  We parked in the Gateway parking lot and I tried to show her the fountain show.  We waited 10 minutes and had the announcement to get out of the water, but then there was no music/show.  Very strange.  She'll have to catch that the next time.

This picture is so very Katie.  I love it!

Next we headed over to Temple Square using Trax.  It was so much fun seeing "my town" through tourist eyes.

She did a panorama while we waited for the train, catching my lovely forehead. 

Forever Friends

Next we headed over to the Lion House for lunch.  I don't often get to go there so it was a treat. :)

Famous rolls....

Since we were right there we went on a tour of the Beehive House, Brigham Young's home.

After that we took a tour of Temple Square itself.  We had three adorable sister missionaries all to ourselves.  Two from Hawaii and one from Australia.  Katie got to learn a bunch about what we believe in our church.

We have pictures of us each taking pictures. LOL

After another yummy dinner of homemade pizza we got to go see the fireworks.  Mom and Dad ended up having to miss and just drop us off but the girls and I met up with Patrice and Ben.  It was so fun to introduce Katie to my "sister."  They seemed to hit it off really well, as I figured they would.

Wednesday morning Katie had decided that instead of seeing some more of the sights she wanted to play a game together.  She and I spent hours and hours and even more hours playing many a board game.  Since she said she loves Catan I showed her my Catan card game.  We even figure we can play it together over Skype so we're going to try that. :)  I wanted to also show her some of Park City so we took separate cars and drove up there.  Mom came with us, which made it even better.  We ended up just driving around and then catching some lunch at Subway (not exactly very "Utah") before she went one way on I-80 and we went the other.

Before we did that though, we had to get some updated versions of the pictures the night before I moved to Utah.  I was about a month away from being 16 and Katie was 13.  We took many silly versions but this one has been on my dresser since we moved here.  I'm thinking I'll have to get one of those frames with two slots in it (maybe three) because I hate to just replace the old one.  We tried to sit in the same way we'd done originally.  Katie is now taller than I am though so it was a little off.  I love it though!

Here is the original.

The updated one.

And the expanded version

Having Katie here was one of the best things ever.  We will have to make sure we find a way to have it not be another 7 years before we see each other.  She is such an amazing person and she makes me want to be better.  Just like a true friend should. :)

Friends and Fun

I got a fun message on Facebook from an old friend saying she was going to be in town and wanted to stop by.  She and her husband and their two youngest boys dropped by for about an hour the other day.  It was so fun to see her again!  I was headed off to karate as soon as they left.  I don't usually hang out in my gee bottoms and karate shirt. LOL

Bridgette and Me!

Every year I take the girls to Cherry Hill at least once during the season.  Last night we went and had lots of fun.  Little One is getting so much braver.  Of course, by the time she decided she wanted to try the tube ride it was way too cold!  We may just have to go back again. :)

Dad's Birthday and the 4th of July

Dad turned 70 on the 1st!  70 doesn't seem as old to me as it used to now that Dad's there. LOL

The 4th of July started out with Little One and I in the city parade with our karate school.  It was lots of fun, even though it was hot.  Little One sat on the float and threw candy.  I walked and had kids in the audience break boards.  

She tried to throw some to Mom, Dad and Ira.  

The girls were with their Dad for the holiday so I was wondering what I was going to do.  My aunt and uncle were in town and that was really nice.  Then I got an invite from my friend, Becca, to come to their house for a BBQ and fireworks.  I really went back and forth as to if I should go or not, but decided to go ahead in the end.  I'm so glad I did because I had a blast!  Of course, I didn't get any pictures in the light, but I did get some of the fireworks.  I really needed my DSLR though.  The point/shoot didn't cut it too well. :)  

Visit With Laurie Ann

It is becoming a tradition to go down to Springville at least once a summer and hang out with my sweet friend, Laurie Ann, and her family.  This time it was girls only (except her cute little boys) since her husband was out camping with his dad.

We didn't get to stay nearly as long as we would have liked.  Last year we came on Friday night and didn't go home until Monday morning.  This year we got there Friday evening and went home Saturday evening.  Little One had her belt promotion to get to and we also had tickets to see my brother in Fiddler on the Roof.  We made the most of it and had a blast anyway!  Friday night we checked out the splash pad down there.  We didn't realize it shut off at 8pm though so the kids didn't get to play too long.  Therefore, we decided to go again on Saturday.

Thanks so much, Laurie Ann!  We love you and can't wait to get together again!

We went up the canyon again and played at a park/stream.

There was a lot of rock skipping going on.

This is all I could get when I tried to get Peter to smile for a picture.  He's got an adorable smile but wouldn't do a picture. :) 

Back to the splash pad.

The girls each took turns with the boys and played.  I'm not sure which of the four of them had the most fun!

We had some limbo contests going on too.

Little One enjoyed chatting with the repair guy as he took grass out of places it shouldn't be.