holidays (2)

My Gratitude List

Rosie is thankful for mom, me, cats, food, dad, toys, dog, and … sister?
(No, that’s not an announcement. She says she meant the turkey’s sister)

This Thanksgiving is the first one that I’ve ever spent away from extended family. Taylor, Rosie and I are chilling in a chilly house in Georgia without any cousins, aunts, uncles, friends, siblings, or grandparents. Today we celebrated by watching ‘The Four Christmases’ and having our Thanksgiving feast at Golden Corral. It’s been pretty understated and relaxed, but I can’t help thinking about all my family I’m away from. And in “Me Too!” blogger style, here’s my gratitude list:

My amazingly loving husband

My creative, sweet and beautiful daughter

Supportive and loving extended family

Many friends around the world, including my bloggin’ friends

Employment, in a time of financial crisis

Shelter, in a time of foreclosure

Faith in the Gospel that keeps me on the straight and narrow

Culture and fun to keep me interesting and sane

Technology to keep me connected

Delicious food and drink to keep my clothes tight

Reliable transportation, by way of car and airplane

Blogging to let me get things off my chest and make new friends

HAVE A WONDERFUL THANKSGIVING!

What a Weekend!

I don’t think I can give a detailed account of the workings of this weekend…I got home at 6 am and am running on an hour of sleep. Here’s the short version….

Sunday:
Church was excellent. Fast and Testimony Meeting, SS Lession on Ammon, and RS Lesson on Standing in Holy Places. The ward RS theme for the rest of the year is focused on feeling the love of Christ in our daily lives. The three part goal is:

Daily Personal Prayer
Daily Scripture Study
Standing in Holy Places

Sunday afternoon I had a family party at Grant and Hollie’s…and I brought along a cute boy. Taylor and I had originally planned to attend a fireside, but when I heard about the barbeque, I jokingly asked if he would be interested….and he was! I was fully aware of the possible scandal talk that would ensue, but if there’s any guy I know that I would take home to my family….Taylor is on the short list. We’ve only been out twice I think, and that was back in April. But he seemed to fit in with my family….almost too comfortably. When he put his arm around my shoulders, everyone’s eyebrows raised. Hehehe. It was a fun dinner, I love having Taylor there and was sad that he could only stay two hours. He asked me out for Saturday. I’m excited *squeee!*

Monday:
Went out to breakfast with Steve. Strawberry stuffed french toast at IHOP. “Shut up, Honey!” We also played around with his guitar at his place, and I talked about how I wanted to buy a bass. We ended up pawn shop hopping, looking at basses. I was really tempted by a purple Ibanez, only $89. But it needed new strings. I still don’t know if I can rationalize the purchase. But it was a very fun morning. Earlier in the week we’d had a talk about how he wanted to still hang out with me, but not on dates. Funny that I felt more sparks with him in the three or so hours we were together today than I had in months. Still suprised that he kissed me goodbye. Five months of friendship…and now this twist of fate. Time to contemplate this situation.

Went to Idaho with Dave. ROADTRIP!!! Good music, good conversation, good scenery. We talked a lot about our divorces and how we’ve coped. I cried listening to Matchbox Twenty with so many feelings close to the surface. I will do a MB20 post soon. We were going to eat at Big Jud’s, but I got lost on the highway and couldn’t find it. I ended up giving Dave a tour of BYU-Idaho. The Spori’s all done now, and so is the Hinckley Building. And the hill is just splattered with married student housing. We ate at Gringos, soooo yummy. (and so many memories there!) We drove into IF, relaxed at Freeman Park by the river. Took a nice nap in the sun, and have a surburn to prove it. Texted Steve a little bit…it was wierd because part of me wanted to be with him. But Dave was a fun date. Fireworks were incredible!! 30 minutes of pure pyromaniacal splendor.

Traffic wasn’t too terrible, but we were so tired that both of us had a hard time staying awake. Took turns driving, but it was a fight to stay on the road. Got to his apartment about 3 am…I crashed on his couch for a while to muster up some strength to drive home from Layton. Arrived in my bed just around 6 am. One hour of sleep. ZZZZZZZZ

Tuesday:
CIF and Credits, and Krystal Training. IDX was down for a while, so the team got to eat lunch together. Gave Karen the run-down on my weekend adventures.
Fought the sleepies all day long, but never fell asleep
Texted Kirk a bit. He’s a hoot! Calls me the “amatuer”
Just finishing up this not-so-compact LJ. Time to get ready to see Bishop Peterson. I’m nervous.

Saturday in the Park….I think it was the 4th of July

I dropped Rosie off with Steve around noon. He decided to rent a car to take to Idaho because the beater Jetta was still not fixed. I feel better about him renting though, so he does’t get stranded in a remote place like Arimo or something.

I went to Murray Park (via Noodles and Co. for Mushroom Stroganoff with steak) and enjoyed the music. There was a family doing bluegrass which was awesome. I hung out with the Moosebutter guys, and enjoyed their performance while selling their CDs with Courtenay (and I got a free teeshirt too!) Saw Bucket Brigade too.

I had plans for a double date with Chris from Logan. He was going to bring his friend Ryan, and I had Anna Berger come along. But as soon as I met him…I just had this wierd feeling. The first thing he said was…”We have two problems, we didn’t reserve tickets for the show, and I lost her date.” (the plan was to see “My Big Fat Utah Wedding” at Desert Star) We attempted a poly-date while trying to track down Ryan (dinner at Fuddruckers) but we couldn’t ever find him. And Chris wanted to be apart of the Sandy parade as part of the Huntsman for Governer, but he was being a jerk to Anna…and I really had no desire to spend the next 6 hours with him to attend Stadium of Fire. So he took us back. I felt so lame for dragging Anna on this miserable adventure.

So I wasn’t sure what to do for the evening. So I hopped on Mingle chat to fish around for something to do….

I knew about Peter B and Ryan Shupe and the Rubberband playing at Sugarhouse park, which was more interesting to me than Reba at Stadium of Fire. I called a few people with no luck, so I hopped into mingle chat to see if anyone was looking for something to do. I started whispering with yodysseus, who offered to accompany me to the park and fend off the wierdos. We had met previously at a mingle dinner at Chilis, but never got a chance to talk until this night.

We met at Sugarhouse Coffee, and got toasted salsa bagels. MMMM. Did the get to know you small talk…he’s originally from Tennessee and his accent creeps out occasionally. It’s quite cute. He goes to the U part time and works for Fox 13. He’s divorced, has some kids, but seems quite content with his life right now. A good conversationalist, and great taste and diversity in music.

We sat on blankets, listened to Peter B and Ryan Shupe, saw some skydivers, and the Junction City Jazz Band. I realy love jazz and bluegrass, and Curtis was very knowledgeable on both music genres. We counted the stars (I said 18, he said 21 “plus the stars in your eyes”) We enjoyed the fireworks display, which was much more impressive than the Usana show the night prior. After fireworks, we just snoozed in the blankets (not cuddling though) for an hour for the crowds and traffic to die down. We walked to his car which was closer, and he drove me to my car. A nice embrace in the parking lot, and he was on his way.