Rain on Our Parade

The Saturday before St Patrick's Day found us at The Gateway at the parade. And I'm not sure why...cause first of all, we had to get up at 6am to get there on time, second, we had not one child with us! Granted, we were going to meet Jason and Deana, who had kids we could claim, but while trying to locate them, it was just three adults walking up and down the parade route (Dave and I had been talked into going to the parade by Jared, his roommate). And third, it was cold and windy....we stood in line at Starbucks for about 30 minutes for a warm beverage!

We finally found our people and had a fun time watching all the roller skaters, horses, Shriners, clans, dance groups, dogs and Catholic school kids in the parade. Partway through, the rain started! I hadn't planned on freezing that morning, so I was only in a tee shirt and light denim jacket. Deana gave me her "magic" scarf that has a huge hole in it so you can put it on like a hat then wrap it around your neck too. Helped a bit. Dave had grabbed a windbreaker from his car, which is about as much of a coat as he ever wears (the man is in short sleeved tee shirts most of the winter!) and it may have helped with the wind but when the rain came, he just got drenched! I was glad I hadn't bothered to wash my hair that morning, and just had crazy hair at work that night...who cares, right??!! We finally left and made it to the Chinese restaurant right before the rain turned to snow :) It doesn't really matter the circumstances, as long as you're with someone who makes you happy, good times will ensue!

Dave and I PRE-rain!

After awhile, we couldn't even snuggle to stay warm, cause he was soaked!!!
The magic scarf cracks me up!

The men--Jason, Jared and Dave. (I like how the J's are snuggling a bit!)
Anything to stay warm I guess!

Second Chance Lucky

I guess it's time to update a really important part of my life, that has BECOME my life. So for those who I don't get to see every day, and who don't get to see the smile on my face, here is the abbreviated version (which will probably still be very long, cause who are we kidding? I don't do abbreviated anything!)

Once upon a time, in 1996, I met a boy named David. A week later his persistence paid off and I agreed to go out with him. We dated. We fell in love. We were going different directions. We broke up. We found others. He married his. I almost married mine. Fast forward 14 years. I see him on Facebook. He takes two minutes to realize it's me (short, dark hair had replaced long, blond!) He's surprised. We start chatting. We plan to meet for breakfast. We see each other. We small talk about work, the weather and why we broke up all those years ago (neither one really remembers actually ever breaking up...just that I returned my beautiful promise ring, which broke both our hearts.) We leave, both realizing that there are still incredibly deep feelings there. Those feelings shoot to the surface. Dang. Timing is off a little. He's going through a divorce. Divorce finalizes. Friendship ensues. Love happens.

(Hey I CAN abbreviate stories!)

Some pics from one of our first outings together...we drove all over SLC one day (we LOVE to drive) and stopped at the "This is the place" monument and Temple Square to walk around in the frigid Utah winter....we're nothing if not crazy!

We're kinda cute together, right?!

Zion and the Virgin

I took a quick trip with Joey and Glen to St George for the weekend and met up with my parents and Tammy and her kids in Mesquite for lunch then spent the next couple days with them before heading home through Zion National Park....which added HOURS to the usual 3.5 hour trip. In true Wilson style, it was a comedy of errors filled with 83 differing opinions as to what to do, where to stop, how to spend the time, but we had a great time (also in true Wilson style :)

Look very closely.....cause these are quite possibly the ONLY pictures I'll ever have of my parents outside a casino. EVER. And frankly, I was surprised to get them.....perhaps life mellows people out a bit!

Donny, Tara, Me, Joey, Dad, Mom, Glen and Tammy outside the Virgin after a yummy seafood buffet...a really good place to spend 8 bucks on a Friday afternoon...

Eating a well balanced breakfast of Nilson's Frozen Custard concretes on our way out of St George...WHAT?! Mine had berries!

Why wouldn't we be playing Rook on the Hurricane Subway lawn???

G shimmied himself up Mom's van for a group shot and I couldn't resist taking this delightful little snapshot of him and the amazing Zion Canyon behind him.

Grandma Rosemary and her eldest, yea, and also tallest, grandkiddos--Tara and Donny, in Zion.

When have I ever let a day slip by without taking a self-portrait?? NEVER. So why would I start now?? Joey, G and I cruising up the canyon....wind in our hair (we wish). C'mon, I drive a freaking Saturn!

And here we are again looking like J Asses. Can anyone tell we're related??? This is a patented look we've got going on...so don't try it at home without adult supervision.

Going through the tunnel (that our Grandpa Jim helped build in 1930, mind you....don't know how they feel good about even charging us to go through the canyon...geez). Don't worry, we were honking and jamming to Blackhawk all the while.