Friday and Saturday, June 29th-30th

Friday:
Darrin and I left later than we expected, but our seven hour trip only took six. I'm not asking Darrin why (he drove), I was just grateful to hit my sister's house before midnight. I think she was glad, as well. Darrin and I spent the drive reconnecting and talking about a lot of things we just haven't had time to talk about. There's also a chance that I slept a little.

Saturday: We met AtP around 11:00, talked with Elbow and arranged to meet for lunch. Darrin, AtP and I arrived at the designated restaurant before Elbow, sat near the front door and played the "Do you think that's him?" game. AtP got endless entertainment out of watching people try to enter through a locked glass door. He only knew it was locked because we had done the same thing. Finally AtP said, "That's him." I told him he wasn't playing the game right. He's supposed to ask me if I think it's him, but he was right--it was Elbow. We had a really nice lunch together and, wanting to see him again before I left, I pressed Elbow to meet us at the Matis Home Evening the next day. He said he'd think about it.

Elbow left us and Darrin decided he had to be prove that he wasn't the gay half of our marriage. He took us to Harbor Freight Tools. Naturally, AtP and I love that store (AtP loves it more than I do). However, we opted to browse through the other stores in the mall and leave Darrin to his own devices. We looked at food in a natural foods store, lingering by the hemp waffles (AtP wants to smoke them) and looking at odd shaped imported bottles of water. I like the red and blue glass bottles.

We decided to find out if Darrin was finished shopping. No such luck. We tried to be good sports by trying on the welding helmets, opening the cute little drawers on the tool chests, and avoiding the urge to take down the red wagons and give each other rides. But we left again, partly because we were causing a spectacle by laughing so much (apparently, people in tool stores are very serious about shopping), and because the cashier ladies looked like they could bench-press AtP and I at the same time. Scary.

We went to a Mexican market which had interesting stuff in it, and AtP got olive juice on him. It was purple. I keep wipes in my car, so we cleaned up and went to Sierra Trading Post to check out the clearance items. AtP almost bought a large punctuation mark, but thought better of it. We examined ugly ties, I talked AtP out of buying any girl pants, and we crashed on the comfy couches, wondering if Darrin would ever stop browsing in the tool store. Eventually he found us and we tried to figure out where to meet Tito for dinner. The helpful clerk who was wondering why we kept sitting on her couches gave us a good restaurant suggestion, we called and arranged things with Tito, and went on our way.

Dinner with Tito was fun, as always, because he is one of my favorite people. AtP and I weren't particularly hungry, so we split a wrap, sort of. I think we picked out the chicken and AtP ate the fries, but we'd both drunk lots of water that day and at dinner, so mostly, we just visited the bathrooms. I have never been at dinner before and said, "I need to use the restroom,' and had a man say, "I'll come, too." Women, yes, often. Men, no. New experience--that happens often with AtP.

We picked up one of AtP's friends and got to meet another new person. She was adorable, of course, and closer to AtP's age. The four of us went to AtP's house to meet his nephews and niece (also adorable) and to visit with his parents for awhile. I spent some one-on-one time with his mom, whom I absolutely love. We left after awhile and went a park to swing and play on the jungle gym. Then we went to visit Salad and Drex.

Actually, we went to pick up a movie AtP had left there, and I don't think they were expecting us to stay, but dropping in and forcing my company on someone is a necessary component of any Utah trip I take. In December Darrin and I crashed a Moho gathering at Tito's apartment, in March I overstayed my welcome at Tolkien Boy's house, in April I surprised By a Thread more than once...it's a tradition, so be warned...next time I might be rude in the place where you live. This time Drex and Salad were the recipients of our uninvited presence. We stayed past midnight and I think Salad and I are now bonded for life because of the red plastic fish.

Darrin and I dropped off AtP and his friend after making arrangements to crash the ward where Ken and Barbie Gobiddles would be blessing their baby the next day. Then we headed back to my sister's house to get some sleep.