November 13, 2008

• Last Friday I ditched my girls and Brian and headed south.  On schedule was a reunion with the girls I grew up with from the time I was 5 to graduation.  We have all seen very little of each other since then.  I got to the hotel (Warner Center Marriott)  at around 4:30.  Shayla was downstairs getting her nails done so Wes and I freshened up a bit and changed clothes.  We picked up Poppy at her sisters house and then headed to the restaurant (Maggianos?) at the Promenade.  The only one that didn’t make it for dinner was Tracie.  She had a layover in Salt Lake and her plane backed into another one on the runway making for a major delay.  She caught us just as we were leaving.  It was pretty crazy to find out all that has happened in the 17 years since we were part of each others lives.  Everyone has at least 3 kids, Shayla topped us all with 6.  A few parents have divorced and remarried.  Everyone looked good and seemed to be happy and doing well. We all decided we need to plan something like this again in a few more years. 

  

  Tracie (Schaeffer) Pierce, Lena (Collins) Kohut, Shayla (Menzie) McLaughlin, Noreen (Reyes), Poppy (Grasteit) Thatcher, Jessica (Doolan), Jessica’s sister (I didn’t know her), Me

  

  Poor Tracie missed dinner and had only had peanuts all day on the planes. 

  We headed to a little chinese massage place on Ventura Blvd.  It’s called Foot Massage, but they do your whole self.  It’s a big room and you keep your clothes on so it wasn’t weird or anything.  The dude working me over was a maniac and I felt a little bruised after but it was awesome.  My mission is to find a place like that here in Vegas.  There has to be one since we have China Town, it just may be difficult to sort them out from the ones that are covers for hanky panky. 

  We said goodbye to Lena and the Doolan girls and the rest of us stayed at the hotel.  I haven’t stayed up chit-chatting like that in a long time.  We didn’t turn the lights out until 3:30. 

  The next morning we woke up way too early for folks that went to be that late.  What do you do when your baby gets up though.  That’s right…Wes was with me.   So we continued chatting until Tracie had the shakes from lack of food.  We said goodbye to Noreen and the 4 remaining, Shayla, Poppy, Tracie, and I (with Wes of course) went to Denny’s. There was a little drama with some of the clientele and I was a little worried that a guy was going to pull out a weapon but luckily it ended without incident.  Tracie and I said goodbye to the others and we headed to Calabasas Commons to meet with Lisa Pasillas-Le.  Tracie and I had a separate group of friends at school from the group at church and Lisa was from that group.  It took me a minute to recognize her when she walked up since I haven’t seen so much as a picture for about 15 years.  She looks great and has a fantastic family (who we met later)  We enjoyed a great lunch and caught up and then headed to her home in Lost Hills to see where she lived and meet her kids and husband.  It’s great to see her so happy.  (I need to get pictures from Tracie)

  Tracie and I took a little drive around our old neighborhood before saying goodbye.  I saw Peggy Todd and visited with her for a little while.  I was really tired at this point and rather than going to visit anyone else I headed to my hotel, the Renaissance by Marriott in Agoura.  It was really nice.  I got Wes and I cleaned up and ordered room service (tasty) and watched a movie before falling asleep.  That is the first time I have stayed in a hotel without Brian or without the kids and Brian.  It was a bit too quiet for me at first but I got into it and really enjoyed the peace and quiet.  I ordered breakfast in the morning and headed to the Woodland hills ward for church.  That is always like going home.  After the meeting and visiting for a few minutes I headed home. 

  No time to rest…Monday morning I packed up the kids and headed North to Ceder City.  Brian left earlier and headed to Panguitch where he is working on the bridge project.  I stayed overnight with the kids at Gary and Liesl’s so the kids could get reacquainted.  They have so much fun together.  Liesl gave me a whole bunch of ideas for my food storage especially in the cooking fuel department.  I am excited to get working on that.  I already started rounding up old sheets, empty #10 cans, dryer lint, egg cartons, and cardboard.  I’ll just let your mind work with that for a while. 

  We got the word from Brian that they were getting ready to pull the first train car over the river at around 1pm so we headed out.  It didn’t happen Tuesday.  They sure tried but there were a few hiccups.  We took a drive up to Bryce Canyon since it was only 20 minutes away and checked out the view.  Then we fed the troops and headed to bed.  It was a rough night.  with bad beds and kids all over the place but we made it through and headed up to see if the bridge was going to happen Wednesday.  It didn’t.  We took off early afternoon after realizing it was going to be another day and Brian needed to get back to Vegas.  The kids traveled really well, and we took the scenic route through Cedar Breaks and Duck Creek.  I remember camping there as a kid with cousins and the grandfolks.  At home we all took turns in the super shower and giant tub and collapsed in bed. (At least I did, I’m not quiet sure what happened to everyone else)

  Word from Dwaine this morning was that they had success with the bridge and the first car is in place.  YAY!

  

  The kids kept themselves occupied by throwing things in the river.

  

  Here is the crane trying to pull the bridge. 

  

  I thought Wes had a funny face in this one. 

  

  Once the bridge was across (not in place) the kids thought running back and forth on it was pretty fun. 

  

  While the crane was pulling, this tractor was pushing. 

  

  Freezing at Bryce Canyon overlooks.

  

  Serra is one tired munchkin and not thrilled with the frigid temps. (Or with Mom and her trigger happy finger)

  

  READY….PULL!

  

  Real Man Construction

  

  More of Bryce

  

  This was me and the Wes man chillin’ at our hotel room last Saturday. 

  

  Wes at Bobs Big Boy on Friday. 

  

  SuperMan

  

  When Wes got his last haircut Rosie pointed out that her looked like he grew a beard. 

  

   

  • 8:56 pm
  • 5 Comments