Get the Boyfriends Straight

My sister Laura emailed me, trying to get my old BFs straight, so here are some pix I just happen to have found this week while unpacking. This first one is Robert, aka Rabbit--that's what Larkin called him because Robert and I used to babysit Larkin and Candace all the time and Larkin loved Robert. I met him in PE class at Rincon, even though he went to UHS. I would run laps behind him, thinking he was so cute behind his big ol' glasses, but SOOOO shy, plus, I was still kinda with A1 at the time. But when A1 moved to Tempe and I got over it, Robert was there to rock my junior year.


The following picture is of B (who was my boyfriend for a while in 9th grade, whatever that means in 9th grade), A1, and Andy--they were all SK8 friends and I loved 'em all. Of course the best part of this picture is (a) the kitchen wallpaper and the yellow phone and (b) my brother MATT--yes, that's little 6-year-old MATT crashing another one of my parties!












This last picture is of Robert, my little sis Laura, Robert's friend Wade, and my other sis, Lisa, at a stake dance in 1989. I will comment later on the wealth of 80s fashion information one can glean from this photo, but for now, Laura, this should help you. My apologies to whomever this post happens to embarass.

Another Memory Dump

Okay, so while we were talking about teenage bliss (which I will admit I got at least my fair share of---man, I knew a lot of nice boys), I have to tell you about this thing that happened a couple of months ago while I was painting trim in my new house. I was listening to our local am station (shout out to KPRK)--small stations rock cuz they can play what they want and it's always a weird mix. Anyway, so I am painting and they play, "Your Wildest Dreams" by the Moody Blues.

Now, I used to LOVE this song and the video, too. I distinctly remember watching it with Susan, being drunk on Jack in the Box Tacos and Coca-Cola, simultaneously bawling because my destiny was moving 100 miles away and also marveling at the cool modness of the video because we were having a serious late-60's fashion phase (watching Gidget and The Monkees every single stinking day not just for entertainment but for retro fashion ideas, too, from which we could style some original outfit for the Saturday Night Stake Dance).

Anyway, this song was one of THOSE songs for the boy we'll call A1 (my destiny-moving-away) and I because we were preoccupied with reuniting and staying together and stuff like that, since the cruel adult world had split us asunder and yadda, yadda, yadda. Other favorites in this genre were "Edge of Forever" by the Dream Academy and "Wouldn't It Be Nice?" by the Beach Boys. One time when I was visiting him in Tempe, we were laying in the grass (I mean LAYING--on our backs, watching stars, top of my head to the top of his) and he told me this long, detailed story of how we were going to go on our merry way, but that we would always meet again--like he'd just turn up in one of my college classes or I'd see him in 10 years at a big party or dance with mutual friends and from across a crowded room, our 10th grade passion would be reignited with a glance (...I know! Are you SICK yet? We were like this all the time--too much Shakespeare combined with John Hughes films). We seriously used to wonder what it would be like when we were 40 (--elderly). I wondered if it would be like the Moody Blues video.

Of course we are out of touch, both happily married with families and jobs and lives and there will be no reunion or sparks or Moody Blues videos. But I hadn't heard that song in probably 10 or 15 years, so when I did, the memories just dumped.

The line, "Once beneath the stars/ the universe was ours/ Love was all we knew/ and all I knew was you" really stood out to me as I stood there painting in summer 2005. There I was in a moment I had imagined at 15, flashing back vivdly to the precise moment when I had been looking ahead. I knew I would remember that night on the grass looking at the stars, completely and totally in innocent love for the very first--but surely not the last-- time, trying to convince ourselves it was forever. Well, the memory is. The love is. The relationship was not, but it did its job, served its purpose, and man, I was lucky.

Seventh Dream of Teenage Heaven

I just left the following comment on Mollie's blog, in response to a movie quote quiz (she asked what movie and character said this:" you killed my father; prepare to die"--she didn't realize that at BYU, The Princess Bride is like Rocky Horror in other towns--people go see it on a regualr basis at the campus theatre and say all the lines and throw peanuts when Fezzik says, "Anybody wanna peanut?") Here's my comment:

I didn't officially date until I was 16 in 1987, and guess what my first official date was? Yep, the premier of The Princess Bride! And guess who took me? The boy a year older (Robert) whom I had written crushingly about in my journal every day of the previous school year (when he didn't even know my name!) After the movie we got ice cream and went to the end of a dance at my church where they played U2's "Running to Stand Still" as the last song and he sang in my ear as we slow-danced in the church gym. I challenge you to show me a better moment of teenage bliss than this. I might even argue that it was as good as the ending of Sixteen Candles. Ah, yeah. I still love the Princess Bride--just got it on DVD at Target for $7!



Got any sweet stories of Teenage bliss? Feel free to comment, people.

Oh, and PS: The title of this post is a Love & Rockets album title, too.

The View: For Mollie

From the back deck
From the Front Porch

My Silly Adeline

How You've Grown

Heidi was playing on the porch at dusk tonight and she looked so sweet and like such a little girl instead of a baby!

I watched her toddle around and laugh at the wind and step in puddles and I just marvelled at life and growth and motherhood...I just can't believe this little sunshine just came from us and will light up our family forever. It's crazy!

She is so much fun--they both are--and I really am happy to be the mommy of these two lovely girls.

Crazy About Chairs

Addie and Heidi got these little foam chairs for the basement family room--they are fun and the girls just love them. There's nothing cuter than catching them all kicked back in their chairs watching a movie or something. Here they are after baths last night playing babies downstairs.

Addie holding the baby doll which they fight over all the time.

Heidi giving her baby a turn to sit in her chair.

Making the House a HOME

For anyone just tuning in, we have been building our own house--I mean BUILDING, as in we cut stuff with a saw and nailed it and sanded it and painted it and all that stuff--with blood, sweat, and tears for 16 months. I wouldn't be this excited over just any brand new house. You're looking at a big chunk of my life and sanity in these pictures, folks.

As you can see, our furniture is too big for the upstairs living room, so it will soon be banished to the basement and we will put in a sofa and 2 chairs from Ikea (slimmer Swedish lines, doncha know!?), whcih we will pick up on our trip to California next month. Meanwhile, the girls enjoy the small couch fort in the living room.

There is Rich at the bar in our dining area. So beige.

How things look from the front door (if you're lucky, Addie will be greeting you with a nose-pick, too).

These are especially for Jill, who enjoys the minutiae of interior decor and design as much as I sometimes do.

I got some English Ivy plants (real ones) for the tops of my cabinets. I need one more for this spot.

Tell me this doesn't scream "MEXICAN" --thanks for all your help, sista.

The kitchen with all our stuff in it.

My festive view from the kitchen sink.

Just So You Know

Well-meant advice just sounds like thinly-veiled criticism if it's not asked for. Unless one asks for advice, all you are saying is that you don't approve the way that person is handling the situation on which you are advising them.

I have been on both sides of this fence (I'm sure I am guilty of advising), but for some reason I have been getting a barrage of unsolicited advice lately and to me it's starting to sound like, "Hi, you're an idiot and you obviously can't handle even the smallest detail in your life so I am going to tell you how I do it so you can stop being an idiot, yadda, yadda, yadda--what's that you say? You've lived on your own for 16 years and you have made conscious CHOICES to do what you do? Well, that's a long time to be wrong! Here, try it this way."

Please. Make. It. Stop.

I know that the above quotations are not what my advisors are thinking, I'm just saying that's what it's starting to SOUND like. Please, if I have ever made you feel this way, I beg your forgiveness. Good intentions can really go awry.



PS: Gotta go clean out the old apartment--3 years of dirt!!-- but I have interior decor pix coming soon for my sisters and mom who have expressed interest. For the rest of you who are tired of looking at my house, check back in a couple of days!!! ;)