Labor Day Weekend

This past weekend was long because of Labor Day. Hooray for pointless holidays!

Scott had scheduled his (late) birthday LAN party, so Friday after work I stopped by the store and got treats, then came home and helped clean up the house a bit. It wasn't much of a job, since we usually keep things pretty tidy anyway. Our only consistent messes are on the coffee table and the kitchen table, and those didn't take long. He and his friends played from Friday night to Monday night. I don't know how he does it; my eyes get tired enough staring at a computer screen for a few hours.

I tried to arrange something fun with Kwiddens for Friday night but nobody could babysit Nyah and Nyah was sick of the car seat, since they just taken a road trip down to Arkansas to visit our grandparents. It was so sad; Nyah only had to look at her car seat to make her start crying. So I had Friday night to myself, and I just snuggled up on the couch and read "The Hobbit", one of my favorite books.

Saturday morning I got some exercise in, the came home and showered and did a little grocery shopping. Then at 3:00 some friends and I had planned a Lecture Prep reunion at Bicentennial Park in Provo. It was me, Kirk and Angie, Nate, Sarah and her boyfriend Nate and one other guy who worked there after I had already graduated whose name escapes me at the moment. We grilled and had the most amazing sweet corn and talked for 2.5 hours, sharing stories about work and remembering some of the funny things that had happened, and talking about how the Chemistry Department has changed, etc. It was just so nice to see everyone, but it made me miss working there more than ever. Oh well. I have a great job now, too.

Since I was in Provo anyway, I then drove down to Mim's house and met up with her and Em and Jorg and we all went to dinner at The Pizza Factory. After that we were talking about movies and shows we like, and Jorg suggested that some time we should get together and have a Stargate marathon, since he had never seen it. We decided to do it this weekend, since I had work off on Monday, so after dinner I drove Em and Jorg back up to my house. We watched Stargate and ate yummies and talked and it was really fun. They stayed over two nights, and Mim came to get them Monday morning. At one point Sunday night Jorg started to get sick of Stargate, so we played Phase 10 and then went to dinner at Applebee's, which ended up being a little disappointing foodwise, but the company was great. When we got back Jorg went downstairs and played Starcraft 2 with Scott and Jon. Em and I decided it was a good opportunity for chick flicking, so we watched "Moulin Rouge" and "27 Dresses". Jorg came upstairs to grab a drink and asked what Moulin Rouge was about, and I said "um...prostitutes..." and he gave me a funny look and went back downstairs. It was amusing.

Monday after Em and Jorg were gone Jon, Scott and I went and had lunch at MacCool's and then we tackled the downstairs storage room so we could clear it out because LI IS COMING TOMORROW! I'm super excited about that. We're going to have so much fun! We also went to the dollar store to get some candles and the Halloween stuff was out and there were more tombstones for our graveyard for only a dollar each (of course, it's the dollar store), so this year our graveyard will be much better. I love Halloween.

So that was my Labor Day weekend. And now I don't get another day off until Thanksgiving.

Except the few days I'll be taking off for when Li is here.

90!

Yesterday was Naomi's birthday party. Naomi is Scott's mom's cousin, so that makes her our first cousin once removed (or something like that...I never understood how that worked) but she's more like a grandmother to us. She's the spunkiest 90-year-old I've ever known, and we love her to death. The funny thing is, she HATES when people make a big deal over her, so when she walked in to the party (it was a surprise party) she was SO MAD. But we loved getting a chance to see her, so it was totally worth it.

There was tasty food, including some amazing meatballs, little baby sandwiches, and some kind of peachy slushy drink.

There was a "guest book", which was more like a little notebook in which we all wrote our names. One lady had written "I don't think your really 90!" and I saw it and corrected the grammar, and Scott saw me do it, and he just about had a seizure he was laughing so hard, and then he told me that I HAD to take a picture of it and put it on the blog, so here it is:

I couldn't help myself, I just did it without even thinking...

Anyway, we didn't stay very long, but we were able to have a picture taken of me, Scott, and Naomi. She's a total sweetheart, and we love her so much.

BioGrandparents

So when I was very very young Mim divorced my BioDad and then a few years later married my Dad (who legally adopted us, so he isn't a stepfather, he's my Dad) and we lost contact with my BioGrandparents. A while back they tracked Kwiddens down and got in touch and started talking and such, and Kwiddens asked me if I wanted in and the whole situation seemed weird to me, and I wasn't sure, so I just sat on it for a while. Then, in November, they came to Kwiddens's wedding and I saw them for the first time in probably 20 years, and it was weird...

Anyway, some time passed and I mulled it over and decided that I would shoot them an e-mail and start getting to know them. And it's been weird, and fun, and interesting, and confusing. But the other day I got my birthday card in the mail from them and it felt...nice.

Mim's parents and my Dad's parents were just never close to us, so I kinda grew up without the grandparent experience. And when I get an e-mail from them, it's...nice. I like it. It's family I've really never known so it's so strange but I like it and am excited for when they come to Utah in August to see Kwiddens's baby. I will make sure to spend some time with them and get to know them more in person.

It's kinda like having a pen pal. Well, two pen pals and a dog named Sonny.