My Weekend

I didn't even TRY to come up with a creative title for this post. It's accurate, though, which is almost as good as creative.

I had a very nice weekend. To be fair, I've had a string of really nice weekends. I'm a lucky gal - so why do I long for this weekend with absolutely no plans besides cleaning my apartment???

The weekend started Thursday (unofficially). I had a delightful dinner with my old friend Melissa (when she turns 40, I'll still be 39) at The Pastry Pub, followed by a brownie sundae at Grandee's. I thought of Cassie and Aly, who love those places. Melissa and I caught up with all that's been happening with us and our families over the past 6 months. Yes, we live in the same place and only see each other every few months. It's a shame. At least she blogs now, so we'll be able to keep in touch a little better! After dinner and ice cream, I headed to my mom's house. I hadn't seen my niece and nephew for several weeks, so when I arrived, they bombarded me with hugs and kisses and "Julie...watch me do this...and this...and this". I went with them, my mom, and my brother to watch the Utah Summer Games fireworks. It was a really good show, especially the finale. In addition, we were able to catch a few tunes from Ryan Shupe and the Rubber Band.

Friday, directly after work, I went to my dad's in-laws house where we were swimming and having a BBQ. I didn't swim - I wasn't appropriately dressed, though my uncle disagreed and decided to get me quite wet. Men. Sigh. My uncle, my dad's only brother, was down with his wife and some of their kids for the Summer Games; it was good to see them since I usually see them once every 5 or so years. I'm not close to my dad's side of the family. They asked me all sorts of questions about my life. I didn't mind because a part of me likes being the center of attention. At least, for a little bit, then I'm happy to pass on the "mic". My aunt is my uncle's second wife, and she's constantly reassuring me that she didn't get married until 29 and then proceeded to have 5 kids in her 30's, so I shouldn't worry. I don't, but thanks anyway. She's a nice woman, well-meaning, and doesn't know me at all. :) I made it home fairly early for a Friday night (9pm) because I wanted to work on my talk for church (more on that later).

Saturday, I woke up early to work on my talk (still later), totally blanked, so got ready for the day and went to my mom's house. Everyone was there: my mom, Corey and his family, two of Corey's friends from Alaska, Jason and his wife, Kevin and his son, and me. I love it when we're all together. We ate lunch, played games (I lost every game), and watched the kids play in the sprinklers. Around 4pm, my cousin Ryan and his family (wife and three kids) came over; they were here for the Summer Games. All of us went to the park where we ate dutch oven chicken and potatoes, chips, veggies, and s'mores, and played volleyball, wiffleball, and frisbee golf. It was so much fun! There were a lot of people, but no one was in a bad mood, so we all got along really well. When it got too dark to do anything else, we left the park. I chose to head to my apartment and try again to work on my talk, so I said goodbye to everyone around 10pm.

Sunday, I spoke in Sacrament Meeting. The subject was fathers, since it was Father's Day. I've never struggled with a topic as much as I did this one. Every angle I tried seemed forced, hypocritical, or meaningless. All weekend I prayed that I'd either break something and have to spend Sunday in the hospital or that church would be canceled. Neither possibility seemed very probable, unfortunately. In the end, I finally came up with talk I could live with, but it was only 10 minutes long, 5 minutes shorter than I was assigned. I figured it would be fine, though, since most people tend to be long-winded. Wouldn't you know that it'd be my luck to speak with two people who took 11 minutes combined! He took 7 minutes, she took 4, we sang a rest hymn, then I had the rest of the meeting. Usually, this wouldn't be a problem because I can expound on almost every other subject known to mankind; just not fathers. I tried, I even threw in a couple stories I hadn't planned to share, but I still fell short - my talk took 11 minutes. So, our stake president got asked to finish up the meeting. I'm glad he did because he gave a really great message. After Sacrament Meeting, I was heading out of the chapel and ran into Nolan, my blind date from a few weeks ago! He's in the ward that is combined with mine for the summer. I haven't seen him earlier because I've been out of town since the wards combined. We chatted a bit, he complimented me on my talk, then he walked with me to Sunday School. A nice guy. Still no sparks, but I'm more than okay with that.

After church, I headed to my mom's house again. She treated Kevin and I to a late lunch/early dinner, then the three of us played games 'til Kevin and I went to my dad's house for dessert and some more games (our family really likes to play games). Kevin and I left dad's around 8:30 and went back to my mom's house for even more games! By the end of the night, we were laughing so hard my sides hurt!

I love my family. Sometimes I complain about them and about how much time I'm "required" to spend with them, but I really do love them. I've really missed them the past few weeks - I've been going all over the place so haven't played with them for a long time. I love that we get along quite well, most of the time, and that we enjoy being around each other. We laugh a lot. Yeah, I love 'em!