28

I was a little worried about 28. The number 28 is starting to sound old. I don't feel old. I'm not old. But that number. Life is good. I'm happy and healthy. But I could never have imagined myself where I am at 28. Plus, I've always had big plans for 28. It's my Golden Birthday. I was going to be old enough to make that mean something. I was going to go somewhere - Australia, Prague, London. But I didn't make it happen for a variety of different reasons. So here I was in Utah - Provo no less - on my 28th birthday.

And it rocked.

It was the weekend before school started so Caisa, Shannan and Samantha were all back in Utah, but I didn't want to make them come up to SLC since I knew they wouldn't stay long Sunday night. So Saturday morning I headed down to Provo. We started things off right . . . Chick-fil-a breakfast. When I texted Caisa and Sam to see if they wanted to meet me or just get takeout, Caisa responded: "To go. Come over and we'll eat while watching Saved by the Bell." Yes, Caisa tivos Saved by the Bell. Yes, my sisters are awesome. Yes, chicken biscuits, Diet Coke and Zack Morris make the best morning ever.

Then we did something I've always made fun of - we went to Seven Peaks. Growing up with White Water I always laughed at people who loved Seven Peaks. It's small. I mean tiny. And a waterpark in Provo. Really? So like I said I laughed whenever people talked about it or went. But why not, I figured it would at least be entertaining. I was wrong. It wasn't just entertaining (oh the people watching was fabulous); it was actually a lot of fun. We won't talk about how much Sam and I screamed on Boomerang! I won't disagree that it was a rush, but I'm still undecided if it is fun or not. But I will tell you about three things you must do:
1. Laugh at people carrying a three man tube up the ramps. The ramps are way too small for a normal tube, let alone a three man tube.
2. Then try and carry a three man tube up the ramps. Equally as entertaining.
3. Ride Cave-In on a three man tube. And take the two biggest people you can find. Best. Ride. Ever.


Throw in PF Chang's Great Wall of Chocolate, forgetting to pack rather essential articles of clothing and having to go shopping, going to church with one sister (secretly laughing at her conversations/life) and texting another sister (no, never), Caisa's amazing salsa (best Sunday afternoon snack ever), Shannan and Evan's artichokes, Ice Cream Roll-up Cake with a St. Candice candle, Skype with the family, amazing and thoughtful presents, texts, calls and FB messages throughout the day . . . equals one awesome 28th birthday.

Thanks for the birthday weekend sisters! It's going to be a great year. I can feel it.

The Hills Are Alive

You know how there are movies you watch over and over again as a kid, and now when you see or hear anything to do with the movie you just get these vivid mental images from growing up that pop in your head? The Sound of Music is that movie for me. I remember watching the VHS so many times it started to get the "overplayed white fuzz" portions. I remember having a "16 Going on 17" dress that I liked to wear while watching the movie. I remember The Platt's. I remember jumping from couch to couch while singing - at the top of my lungs I'm sure. To this day my sisters and I beg our dad for a gazebo in the backyard. A required stop on my European backpacking trip in college was Salzberg, Austria to go on The Sound of Music tour. Who can forget my evening as a nun at the sing-along? You get it - I love The Sound of Music.

So when I saw that The Sound of Music musical was playing at Sundance I knew I had to go. Plus everyone who heard how much I love the Deer Valley Music Festival told me I had to go to the Sundance amphitheater. And those people were not wrong. Sundance already has a special place in my heart, so spending a beautiful summer evening in those gorgeous mountains without a cloud in the sky to block the millions of twinkling stars was perfection. Of course the performance was no Julie Andrews, but lying on a blanket looking up at Mt. Timpanogos and the stars with The Sound of Music in the background . . . that might just be my happy place I go back to every now and then.

The icing on the cake: instead of walking down from the amphitheater to the resort base and then waiting in line for a shuttle bus to take us back up the mountain to our parking lot, we decided to just hike up the mountain to where we parked. Picture a very long, practically single file line of people walking up a mountain after having just watched The Sound of Music. Surely I am not the only person who pictured the closing credits of the movie with the von Trapp's hiking across the Alps while Climb Every Mountain played in the background. Call me crazy :)

Parking Neighbor

1. I am a mean person.
2. The parking spots at my apartment are actually quite large.
3. Passive aggressive behavior drives me nuts.

A few days after I moved into my condo last year I met a few other people that lived in the building. One of the ladies mentioned her parking spot was next to mine. She very politely said she would try to park far away from our shared line because on the other side of my spot is a wall and on the other side of her spot is an empty, unused parking spot. But our parking spots are very deep so maybe I should park more towards the back and she could park more towards the front. Odd, but whatever, it didn't matter to me. We parked this way for a week and then one day her car (an ancient little VW) was parked right on the line. Annoying, but it was just one day no big deal. One day turned into one week. Then the car started collecting dust. Then the "Wash Me" someone wrote on it started to become unrecognizable because the dust started collecting dust. One year later it still hadn't moved. I'd become used to it. I was less annoyed with the fact that I had less room to get in and out of my car and more annoyed that if I accidentally bumped into her car I got dust all over me. Joy.

Then one day the car magically disappeared! I couldn't believe it; it was gone. After about a week it reappeared . . . clean! Days past and it appeared the owner was using the car quite regularly. Then one morning I noticed a piece of paper on the ground. I went to pick it up and throw it away when I noticed it was a note. Being the nosy person that I am, I started reading it. It was a note to me! From the crazy VW lady!

Hello,
As you can see my car is fixed and running again. [The Condo Maintenance Guy] had it moved as far back as possible to get a leak fixed and since it was not used I left it there until now that I am driving it. I would appreciate it if you would not mind parking yours further back so it is easier for me to back up. As for myself, this will make it easier for me to park as far away from the line so it will give you ample room to pull in your spot. [The previous tenant] and I found out this was best for our cars to have more room and this made it easier for the two of us to get in and out as well as get in and out of our car. I hope this will work for you and won't inconvenience you. My VW does not have power steering and this made it easier for me. Let me know if you have any other suggestions.
Thanks.
Your Parking Neighbor :)

As a matter of fact, yes, I do have a few suggestions. The first note in my head:

As you can see my car is running just fine and has been parking next to your dusty broken car for a year. I found that it is best for me when your car is not there. I hope this will work for you and won't inconvenience you. As you haven't needed a car for the past year, I figure you can do without it all together.

No, no. I can't be mean. Let me start over:

Glad to see your car is fixed. I'm also glad to see that it's clean and not parked on the line! I would appreciate it if you would not mind leaving your car in the most inconvenient spot possible for a full year. Anything other than that would be an improvement. Thanks.

No, that's not any better.

I've actually found that it is best for me to park as far forward as possible. This saves me about six steps round trip. I understand you don't have power steering but pulling forward or backwards in a straight line shouldn't be too difficult.

A note! Really a note was necessary? Fine, I can do passive aggressive.

Sure, anything to make it easier for you!

Okay, I must stop this. The last thing I want her to do is hit my car as she's trying to park. I've seen Driving Miss Daisy. How about I just do what the crazy lady asks and don't say anything. Fine.

My building attracts the oddest people ever.

Well We Can't All Come and Go by Bubble

Remember last summer when I admitted that I fell in love with summers in Utah? It's true. Summer is Utah's best kept secret. Forget the amazing snow, the tourism board really should talk about summer. Hot, but not too hot, days. Cool evenings. Did you read that? The evening actually get cool! Green mountains (thank you rain). Sunny, blue sky. Yup, I'm definitively a summer person.

This year I went back to the Deer Valley Music Festival to enjoy another gorgeous Park City summer evening. Idina Menzel - the original Elphaba in Wicked, Taye Diggs' wife, Rachel's biological mom on Glee - performed with the Utah Symphony. Idina's voice is A.Maz.Ing. Belting out "Defying Gravity", chatting about the random made-up songs Taye and her will sing to their child and the songwriting competition it becomes between them, nailing Barbara Streisand's "Don't Rain on My Parade" and even making the symphony play Lady Gaga! - "Poker Face" from her performance on Glee.

Cheesecake Factory Key Lime Cheesecake, a beautiful Park City evening, amazing music. A wonderful night.

For never was a story of more woe

A few friends invited me to join them one weekend in July at the Utah Shakespeare Festival in Cedar City. Up for something new, I blindly accepted their offer and told them to just get me tickets to whatever shows they were seeing. Three days before our trip I learned:

1. The Utah Shakespeare Festival isn't just a one weekend local community theatre event in small town Southern Utah. The Festival actually features eight different shows from June to October, is in it's 49th year and is Tony Award winning.
2. There is an outdoor theatre replica of Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre.
3. I was going to see Romeo & Juliet, Noises Off! and A Midsummer's Night Dream.
4. Cedar City is actually four hours away, not two.

Clearly I had no idea what I was getting myself into.

But it ended up being a really fun weekend. Road trip chatting. A beautiful scenic drive (and "hike") around Cedar Breaks National Park and Brian Head (Again, who knew that Brian Head was in Southern Utah? I always thought it was north by/in Idaho.). I was quite impressed by Romeo & Juliet, and Noises Off! was entertaining. And probably most importantly, people that attend Shakespeare Festivals make for really, really fun people watching.

"if we had a video camera, i would have an emmy." HHI 2011

Samantha has always thought we should have our own reality show (even pre-Kardashians), and Candice confirmed this during her first Brooks family vacation. Thank goodness she didn't have a video camera!

This year we packed 10 people into the Hilton Head condo - the whole family, including "the marrieds" as Shannan and Evan are now called, plus the fabulous addition of Amy and Candice.



We laughed and laughed and laughed all week. Caisa documented the classic quotes on her blog, but just to get you in the right frame of mind for these pictures:
•i'm such a good helper i can't stand it. - sam
•i feel so bad for those kids at the pools in the shirts and hats. they're never gonna be popular. who wants to play with the kid who is fully covered? not me. - candice
•kelli, are you really a money bags? b/c i could be your maid. - candice
•i really am. i'm almost completely retarded. why do you think i got married? there aren't a lot of job options for me. - shannan
•caisa, you opened your legs to the 'vrooooom'? - candice
•i've never heard a fart go pop. - candice
that's a song! your fart goes pop! - sam
•i do understand that rory and loralie don't know my name. - sam

The trip started in Atlanta, and this is what happens when you get picked up from the airport in a car with NO trunk space. It was highly entertaining . . . for everyone except for Kelli.


Right from the airport we headed to Turner Field - it's not summer without fitting in a Braves game!


After Friday night fireworks at the game, we headed off to Hilton Head. Our activities were predictable and the photos probably could have been pulled from the last four years of posts, but that's only because we know what we like! Sleep. Sun. Diet Coke lunch break. More Sun. Shower Time. Dinner. Sparklers. Dessert. Movie. Repeat. Evan doesn't quite have our sun stamina yet, nor does he appreciate going to see classic movies like Monte Carlo. It really should be a requirement for invites on family vacations. I'm not sure Shannan accurately prepared him :) But we choose our friends well and Candice and Amy (who broke the two vacation limit curse) fit right in.

We consumed cans and cans of Diet Coke. Towards the end of the week we calculated the number of ounces just from cans purchased at the grocery store (excluding eating/drinking out), and it was a scary, scary number.


We ate and ate and ate. We have to get our Southern favorites when we can - which might have included two or three stops for Mellow Mushroom pretzels.


Of course we played with sparklers - celebrating the Fourth of July all week long.






We took a trip to Savannah where we finally ate at Paula Deen's Lady and Sons Restaurant. Oh that biscuit!


And walked around beautiful, historic downtown Savannah - Love the big, old trees with Spanish moss canopying cobblestone streets and parks with fountains.


And took a fun riverboat cruise.



Sadly all good things must come to an end. We finished the week hamming it up for the camera with our traditional balcony pictures.




I wish I could sit here - with a good book and Diet Coke - all year long. Until next year . . .

Remember When?

I used to blog. This summer has flown by and been jammed pack with tradition, surprises and overall awesomeness. I'm in complete denial that it's coming to an end. More to come.