Thankful Thursday

This is getting serious, people.

I am sooo not feeling the storytelling vibe. And it's not just in blogging. It's in everything.

I used to be such a huge storyteller -- these stories and my way of sharing them being the thing that was affectionately termed The Heather Show back in the good ol' EA days.

What is happening??

Could this be - GASP - a sign of growing up???

I am determined to salvage this dying ham aspect of my personality, and I'm thinking that blogging even when I don't really wanna will help resurrect it. In the meantime I am asking you, my darling readers (all 4 of you), to power through the mediocrity with me, and hopefully I'll eventually stumble on to something entertaining.

So now that that's out of the way, on to Thankful Thursday! (The third one in a row. Laaaame-oooooo!) (That's pronounced "Oh" like the Lost Boys say RU-FI-OOOoooooo!" in Hook, and not like "OoooOOo" like Will Ferrell in Elf. Glad we got that cleared up.)


I am beyond grateful for my spontaneous and wonderful trip to Arizona last weekend. I'm telling you this is exactly what the doctor ordered (Who actually says that anymore?). And while Josh informed me it wasn't that spontaneous because I had been thinking about it the afternoon prior to leaving, anyone who knows me and my tendency to neurotically plan knows it was pretty crazy for me. Especially considering the fact that I have not made the drive home since I moved to Utah. I'm a total fly-girl. (No, not those fly girls.)
On Thursday afternoon I thought, "Hey. I wanna go home this weekend." I then IM'ed my boss and said, "Can I have tomorrow off and possibly Monday?" He said "sure" (because I have an awesome job), and I decided to think it through a little more. On Friday morning I was still vacillating, and got on to IM Josh (who was studiously working on homework). The conversation went something like this (ok, this is a direct transcript. Thanks gmail!):

me: you're sure you don't wanna take a road trip?(I hadn't really asked him to go at all yet because the boy's got tons to do as this final (final!) semester of school is winding down.)

me: I want to go home, but flying is just so expensive, and I don't know that I should drive by myself

Josh: i'm sure you'll be fine driving

just be safe

me: I am notorious for falling asleep if I drive more than a couple hours

Josh: oh...

Josh: thats not good

blah, blah, blah, let's skip to more of my patheticism (is that a word?)

me: I really wish you could come with me. I think it'd be fun.

Josh: it would

but when would i do my paper

and math...

i'm torn

its very tempting

Blah, blah, more shameless and transparent manipulation...

Josh: ok

fine

i'll go

Seriously people. BEST. BOYFRIEND. EVER. Now he's having to pay for his amazing and selfless generosity with making up for that lost time, but we had so much fun and I'm pretty sure he's glad he went. (Or at least he's good at faking it. Either is admirable.)

So within 2 hours we were on the road.

(This was actually taken on the way back, but we'll insert it here to break up the boring wordiness.)

I didn't tell anyone I was coming (except my brother who was also coming from out of town and I wanted to make sure left some open sleeping space) and it was awesome just walking in and surprising everyone. Especially my mama.

Oh, and to get a glimpse of my awesome dad, here's a little anecdote for ya. I'd hugged everyone, chatted for a couple minutes, looked over and my dad was still sitting in his chair, barely acknowledging that the daughter he hasn't seen in months just showed up in the house after a spontaneous 800-mile drive. I walked over and said, "Hi Dad!"

My dad (in a low, somewhat gruff voice): Hey. Glad you got to see me.

That is my dad. He is awesome. And funny. Albeit not terribly warm and fuzzy.

The next morning I took Josh on his very first 4-wheeler outing on my dad's brand new one (thanks Dad!). (My family is toootally into 4-wheelers. Er, I mean quads. I must use the lingo if I'm gonna be a poser and pretend I fit in.) After a little while I let him drive and we went all over tarnation. It was totally fun. Then we had to hit up my favorite restaurant, the classy La Casita Cafe, and Josh was converted. (I know better than to talk about that place. Crap. Now that's all I want.) Then the Easter festivities began!

We had a big Easter egg hunt for a bunch of the grandkids. See photo documentation:

Eggs in plain sight for the little 'uns. (I know what you're thinking: Nice car! Why, thank you.)


Isn't that a darling little I'm-excited face?


The excitement got to be so much, that they were running from egg to egg trying to beat each other. I happened to snap a picture right at the point of a collision.
Awwwwesome. I may or may not have laughed when they fell down. (Judge away.)


And for the older ones, my sister-in-law and I did quite tricky hiding in the back lot. It took awhile, and the grown-ups had to pitch in. And I may or may not have been accosted because of the difficulty of my hiding places. (Whiners.)



See the perplexed face? My hiding was enhancing cognitive skills!

We then had our traditional Easter dinner of turkey, stuffing, and the works. (We're not really ham or lamb people.) And my 4-year-old niece gave me an awesome manicure.

And I may or may not have been "supervising" when she swiped nail polish across her shirt.

The cousin of the niece performing the manicure (my Kiki) said, "You can't get it on her fingers!!" and proceeded to try to wipe it off. (That was cuter when it happened than it is now that I'm typing it.)

The whole weekend was great, and was the recharge I needed. Loooooove it.

Oo, and here is the awesome view just outside of Page, Arizona.
That's with a point-and-shoot and absolutely no editing.

I love Arizona.

P.S. I use parentheses a whole dang lot. Lots of tangents and asides, I guess..