family stuff and out of the blue update

Yesterday was so fun!  I woke up at 4:45, decided not to wait for the alarm to go off at 5:00, started preparing for the day, and got on the road at about 6:00.  What?  Getting up before dawn isn't your idea of fun on a Saturday?  Oh, but wait, that was just the preliminary stuff!  The day was full of joy and love and laughter and family and friends.  It really started when I arrived at my cousin's house in South Jordan.  Her son just turned eight, and was baptized a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints yesterday.  Also, my grandpa - my only grandparent still alive - just turned 94, and so a family party was in order for both occasions.

After the baptism activities at the church, we re-convened at my cousin's house again for brunch, and talked and laughed and laughed and talked some more.  We were telling stories about our ancestors and remembering stories about each other.  At one point we were discussing whether or not hearing loss was genetic on that side of the family.  Cousin Katie asked my dad if it was, and he leaned forward to ask her to repeat the question.  We all laughed.  When we realized he really hadn't heard the question we laughed even harder.  At another point, cousin Suki came into the room and said it looked like we were having a meeting, at which cousin Chelsea immediately folded her arms and bowed her head.  More laughter.  It was just plain fun.

Finally we had to break things up, but with plans to meet again later for dinner at a buffet place to celebrate Grandpa's birthday.  I kind of wish I could have been there for that, but not very much.  I had another appointment.  I took the opportunity to finally meet my new friend in person.  (Reference this post and this post.)

Before I ventured out for the second part of my fun day, my brother handed me one of his pocket knives - just in case.  (He always carries at least 3, in a leather belt case that he made for them.)  No worries, Russ, I didn't even have to reach for it.  I had arranged to meet my friend at a place in Ogden (yes, Ogden again, sigh), and arrived about 45 minutes early; so I sat in my car (about half a block away from the restaurant) and listened to a cd from the library until there were only 5 minutes left.  I got out of my car and locked it, then looked up and there was my friend walking past right in front of me.  (I recognized him from Facebook pics.) When we got to the restaurant there was about a 30 minute wait, so we walked around the little shopping area a bit, and then he showed me the coolest place!  I want to do this some time!  It's a little place called iFLY Utah.  We watched for a while, then went back to the restaurant and had dinner.  I didn't feel at all awkward the whole time.  I don't know if he did or not.  We discussed things that had been briefly touched on in our emails, among other stuff, and just had a fun conversation.  Then I drove home and went to bed.

Like I told my family when I explained why I wasn't going to meet them for Grandpa's birthday dinner, I'm going into this with NO expectations beyond friendship, and if something else develops, it will do so without gossip and speculation.  That being so, I had a good time.  Enough Said.