Back on the Rock

We made it safe and sound. This was the longest trip ever – over 24 hours of travel time from start to finish, and would you believe that only two ridiculous things happened to us from point A to point B?

First, Jon’s seat from Salt Lake to Atlanta was stuck in a partially reclined position, and when it came time to land the flight attendant was giving him the third degree, demanding over and over that he return it to the full upright position and refusing to believe us that it was stuck. When he walked off in a huff 50 seconds later, he still thought Jon was a lying, contrary hooligan trying to ruin his day.

Second, when we were in the queue for our Win-Air hop from St Maarten to Statia, a man behind us was distractedly toying around with the lineup ropes (presumably out of boredom – we were waiting an outrageously long time considering how few of us there were). Anyway, one of them slipped from his grasp and recoiled at 100 miles per hour, whipping people left and right. I had to turn around so he wouldn’t see me laughing, but I'm sure the shaking shoulders were a dead giveaway.

Some pictures from our last couple of days in Idaho, plus our trip home, plus our first couple of days back:

The view on our way back from lunch in Driggs

At Big Juds. LOVE the little smirk on Ada's face.

Obscene amount of out-the-window airplane pictures. We flew from St Maarten to Statia at sunset. Gorge.

Saba

Landing on Statia (St Kitt's in the distance)

It was sort of a real plane!! With tall seats, buckle-your-seatbelt lights, and a divider separating the cockpit! And we got there in half the time! Usually these little puddle jumpers are hard times.

Tiny baby cow in the graveyard.

Pearl wearing my Keens at the beach

Double complete rainbow over the Quill! I'm a magnet for these things!

PS - It should be ILLEGAL to open a bag of beef jerky in an enclosed space occupied by other people.

Idaho-tastic (still)

Lots of pictures to bring you up to date, sort of.

Christa and me [and Annie, check the reflection]! So much fun!

Unplanned matching outfits.

The first of many Ada/Gunner pictures in this post. Both of the dogs are super sweet with her, but she likes Gunner the best. Probably because he doesn't even bat an eye when she falls on him/steps on his feet.

Waiting for her turn on the Porter Park carousel.

Corinne timed this picture so Ada would be in the background. I thought it was slightly hilarious. FYI, the horse she's on has the seal of Idaho painted on its rump. Go Gem State! We watched the carousel for two full cycles and chose that horse specifically for Ada, then my mom fought another grandma to the death over it, in my mind.

Penny perched on the arm. Cracks me right up.

Ada wandered all over the house (and Gunner's crate) eating a little rice cracker and the dogs followed her everywhere, staring intently at it.

And the most exciting thing of all - Jon's sister Kelsey had her baby girl on the 26th! Her name is Scarlett Hope and we saw her before she was even an hour old. It was so awesome. [I took millions of pictures but I'm not sure if I'm allowed to post them yet.]

That's the news. We have less than a week left here! Time sure flies when you're doing stuff!

commence uncontrollable weeping

It even started looking like a TRIPLE rainbow!!

[If you're the last person on earth who hasn't seen this, then you need to.]

we're going to need more combs

Just before we arrived at Annie's house in Heber last week, they'd had some sod put in on the piece of property between the road and the sidewalk. While we were there, Steve (very much a perfectionist) actually ran outside to his small grassy plot to fluff the area where a neighbor had just stepped. We joked that when the day comes, he'll be following his kids around the yard with a comb evening out their little footprints. He explained to us that it has less to do with looks and more to do with ensuring that the grass takes root properly, but his actions made such an impact on us that when Corinne tramped across the exact same spot the next day, Annie and I let out a collective gasp. Oooooo! Walking on Steve's grass! I'm telling!

Anyway, there's a point, and here it is:

Annie posted these pictures on Facebook tonight - the tragic result of widening their driveway. I dragged Corinne into the computer room as she was getting ready for bed and have NEVER seen her laugh so hard. Borderline maniacal. I'm sure I looked about the same. We were rolling - literally ROLLING on the floor, clutching our sides, crying. When we finally regained some control, we woke my mom up and started all over again.

Sorry Steve. But, wow. Just wow.

d-m-m-y

While at my grandma Sweetie's house, my sisters and I took a break from staring at her screensaver picture slideshow to read Annie's entire Facebook wall history. And THANK GOODNESS we did, because we dug up a real gem from a few months back.

Bear in mind that this woman is in her 40s and English is her first language.


We read and reread it out loud with every possible inflection until we were crying - CRY-YING - and have been quoting it ever since.

Annie explained that she had wanted desperately to reply with the Simpson's quote, "I am so smart! S-M-R-T!" but instead just wrote, "You're right!" because really, what else can you say?

Utah. Idaho. In that order. To be continued.

omg, this post took me DAYS of loading one picture at a time whenever I had the chance. Anyway, here's the trip so far.

In Heber, Utah:

A concert at the Heber Farmer's Market - death grip on Ada after her thousandth attempt to make it on stage:

Lunch at Tarahumara. I later discovered a huge smudge on my lens, hence the blurriness:

At my aunt Mariann's house for dinner:

With my cousin Erin:

First day in Idaho - Ada meeting my mom's horses (sure wish I could fix that creepy eye):

Jack:

Jill, playing with her food:

My friend Christa just left today - that's another post. Jon gets here on Sunday, hooray!

The bad news: I took my poor sand-filled camera to Best Buy and they said it'll cost more than it's worth to fix it :(

The good news: Jon's sister Kelsey is due any day now with her second little girl, and she LIVES IN REXBURG, so we'll be here when it happens! I can't wait to see if the new baby has my nose!

clearly not a pro

This post was originally going to have pictures, but I overestimated my parent's internet connection. After ten minutes of the computer thinking for ONE photo, I gave up. Another day.

So I made it home. I met my sisters in Salt Lake City and we spent a couple of days in Heber at Annie's house before making the trip to St Anthony (or Satanthony, as Jon calls it). We've been doing a lot of nothing - eating, laughing, playing games...just the way I like it. My friend Christa is coming up TODAY to spend a couple of nights here and I'm beside myself excited. So that's the news...I'll elaborate more on everything later, when I can include pictures, but just one story before I take off. This might have been the hardest I've laughed so far this trip:

So last night, Annie asked me to cut her hair. I set her on a chair in the kitchen where the rest of the family had gathered, arranged her locks just so with a comb, took my first snip, and CUT A HOLE IN HER SHIRT.

I sort of froze, not knowing quite what to say. Finally, after about ten seconds, I admitted, "Uhhh...I have really bad news".

Sorry, Annie :(

oh, don't mind me

The idea is to get my blog all caught up-to-date before I leave for Utah/Idaho tomorrow (for a month!!). And I'm sort of in a hurry (still have stuff to do before I leave!), so enjoy the haphazard compilation of pictures with minimal commentary.

Lianna and me at Ocean View Terrace

Tandy, Hina, and me at Smoke Alley - fun night of friends, music, and dancing

Hina jumping into the picture at the last second

Tandy, me, and Reena

Me, clearly having fun. I never knew I looked so obnoxious when I throw my head back to laugh :/

Tandy, reenacting the best moment of the night - when she screamed and ran away from a local guy trying to creep up on her on the dance floor. TWICE.

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There have also been tons of beach days with this little face that I love:

I'm a huge fan of this sneaky shot that my friend Ally took, even though I look like a crazy person walking out into the water. Or maybe especially because I look like a crazy person walking out into the water. There's a deposit of broken shells and rocks just beyond the shoreline that requires a balancing act to maneuver.

Yesterday I went snorkeling and saw a HUGE ray (like five feet across) and a rockfish! Right near the shore! I swam right over it and barely realized what it was - it looked JUST like the algae-covered rock next to it. They have poisonous barbs that can cause a lot of pain if you step on it, so it sort of freaked me out.

Anyway, I'm planning on blogging while I'm home, but this is goodbye for at least a few days-ish.

......okay bye.

they grow up so fast

Love this picture of Pearl watching her guests arrive, taken just after she exclaimed, "I'm so happyyyy!!" Her second birthday was complete with presents, cake, and a bull-shaped pinata.

Two things that are gross

I had this tiny little scab on my elbow - TINY. Like the size of a pin prick. I noticed it a while ago, and finally the other day I scratched it off. No big deal. Except then it started BLEEDING PROFUSELY. Gushing. I've never seen anything like it. I ran to the bathroom and by the time I got to the sink, the blood was already down my arm. Jon recovers from the shock in time to wad up some toilet paper and apply pressure, all the while saying, "What did you DO??" I tried to explain that it was a tiny little scab - barely even noticeable - that caused it, but he didn't believe me until the bleeding stopped and he saw for himself. Can you blame him??

And here it is - the culprit.


Can you see it??

About the weirdest thing that's ever happened to me.

Here's the other thing that's gross:

Kind of hard to see -we're stuck using the crappy Powershot ever since I destroyed our other camera - but that's our bedroom, and that's the door jamb, and that's the squished gecko surprise I found the other day.