Wednesday, April 14, 2010

best weekend, the real deal

When my mom mentioned that we would be driving out to California for my cousin's baby shower I was a bit hesitant. I wasn't big on the idea of spending a weekend away from the boys and overnight trips to CA always seem to be such a whirlwind with more time spent in the car than with the friends and family we are there to see. My first thought was fly in and fly out. Oh my gosh! I couldn't have been more backwards in my thinking. Jeremy took Espen and his dad camping for the weekend so I would've missed them both regardless. And the long drive... What long drive?

So, the plan was, get to bed early, wake up early, get out the door and to my sister's house and have her in my car by 7:30 on Saturday morning. Plans changed when my sister called late Friday to tell me she'd be skipping the trip to rest since she had the same bug I had last week. Getting to bed early to me didn't work so well. I couldn't sleep without Jeremy and Espen there so at 2:30am I was settling in to watch the 'new' jewelery channel. (GemsTV is off the air, I know, devistaing, right!!) I woke up at 6, jumped in the shower, packed an overnight bag and headed out with wet hair and made a pit stop at Starbucks.

I gassed up Jeremy's car (which I LOVE to drive) and was making good time, that is until I took the HOV lane exit on the 51, which apparently does not go west, who knew? That must have been what the signs meant. So after a short detour on the 101 and a super slow drive behind a little ol' pick up on the 74 I made it to my parents.

My mom was anxious to get on the road so after stealing some 15 year old deoderant from my dad (thanks papa, sometimes it pays to be a pack rat)we were on our way.

From the moment we shut the doors and drove down the driveway my mom and I did not shut up. We talked about everything under the sun. Life, work, family, old times, plans for the future, TV, travel, you name it. Before you know it we were pulling up to the hotel. We had only minutes before we had to rush out to make it to the shower on time.

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{such a pretty neighborhood in upland, ca}


First things first, we needed to deliver the diaper cake. Let me back up here and say that my mom had been telling us for a month or so about the diaper cake she was working on...you know, oh it has some little jungle figurines and some ribbon in coordinating colors. A diaper cake. The week before we left she showed me a picture of the finished product. I almost fell over backwards.


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{the diaper cake}
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{lion detail}

Seriously, have you ever seen something so cute in your life. Ma, really! My mom surprises me sometimes with her creative ability. I guess it shouldn't anymore, since it happens a lot but it still does and the diaper cake was a perfect example...and the perfect example of a bonafide self proclaimed over acheiver, amazing!

We weren't even at the shower more than 10 minutes before the 'Gilmore' girls were huddled around in the living room cracking jokes, gossiping about life and work and love and just like my mom and I in the car, you name it it was brought up & laughed about. We definitely were the loudest group there, I think we always end up that way. Let me paint the picture. My mom has two sisters. Two sister's that are both pretty animated to begin with. Add to the mix 5 cousins ranging from 14 to 31 and a dash of an amazingly funny cousin 'in law' and you can imagine what the sound level was like.

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{kelly teri gail}

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{me sidney becca hannah}


Can I just take a moment to talk about how lovely all the woman in my family are. Sidney is gorgeous, tall, skinny with amazing doe eys and lashes! She's always been so cute and as she gets older (she just turned 21) she becomes more beautiful and with an equally beautiful personality. I may be a tiny bit jealous of her. Becca is adorable, when you look at her she is just so pretty, not just pretty but you have to say it daintily like prit-tee. She looks a lot like her mom, and me...we look like sisters. Hannah, or Hannah Banana, as some may call her has really grown like a weed. She is as tall as her sister and has slimmed down from her little girl frame that she had when she was younger. She has freckles on her nose and raspy voice, I'd like both of those please. This is supposed to be the 'awkard' years for these girls...um, ya, not going to happen. Hands down, cutest girls ever.

The one cousin who is not pictured above is my cousin Megan. Just like her cousins and sister, she is tall and beautiful AND she is super smart and athletic. She's also going to have a baby next month, it was her shower and man did she look amazing.

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{megan & hunter}
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The rest of the day all the way to 11pm was spent like this...
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{wine and cupcakes}

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{sidney and julie}

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{me, hannah, sidney, megan, becca}

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The shower was a success. Megan and Dillon have almost everything now except the baby. We all had so much fun, my face and belly hurt from laughing and I thought I would lose my voice for sure. It was about 11pm when we finally made our way outside and to our car. I was starving by this time and my mom mentioned Wienerschnitzel(she's old school so she still calls it Der Wienerschnitzel) so the next thing you know we are in our room with two chili cheese dogs each still gabbing away like little girls.

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{yum}

There must have been something in the chili or maybe it was the onions but I had some of the strangest dreams ever, and I always have weird ones. In a nutshell I was a terminator who sliced someones face with a tiny cheese grater type board, then I jumped from a 2nd floor stairwell to the ground using a hand held helicopter, I was half suffocated in plastic sheeting, I stole red flannel boxers and furry slippers from Katie Pegler, I ran half naked through an elementary school with oversized shiny mittens on my hands while being followed by a cop and that was only half of it. Must have been the chili.
My mom and I slept in til about 9 or a little after. We were pretty anxious to get back home so we ate some weird muffins and danishes from the breakfast at the hotel, fueled up at Starbucks and headed home.

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{in the elevator, on the 6th floor, seriously}

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{home sweet home}


It seemed like only a few hours had past before we realized Wickenburg was only 15 minutes away. We got there just in time to see Papa's science experiment or should I say, burnt rack of ribs on the BBQ.


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{sorry ribs, better luck next time}

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{he likes his ribs on the smokey side}


I ended up at my parents house for almost 3 more hours as we had a lot to talk about. A whole lotta change is heading my way, I CAN'T WAIT. When it was time to leave I was a bit bummed. I had just had so much fun in the past 30 some odd hours, it was incredible.
I had such a blast with my mom. I learned a lot about her that I never knew and I think she learned more about me too. I will ALWAYS remember this road trip with her.
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{me & my mama}

1 comment:

Gail said...

I LOVE our road trips! We should make it an annual event!