"Who is Missing?" St.George 2008

This song goes out to my home girls...
(Sharon was at the temple with James for the taking of this picture)

So, I must say that this trip was just what the doctor ordered. A lot of fun and relaxation rolled into four days. There was a lot of shopping and eating and talking and laughing and laying out at the pool involved.

Most of us, minus Missy (she decided that she must not miss a certain physical therapy conference) arrived on Thursday afternoon/early evening. Shannon (so nice of her) drove us down in her van while we listened to Dr. Laura slam people left and right while giving others some pretty sound advice and cutting others off completely.

When we got to the condo we very quickly realized that it had not yet been cleaned from the last occupants. This was quite infuriating (not really!) and Kathy immediately called Grace (Sam's wife...Sam is Kathy's father-in-law and the owners of the condo) who was mortified beyond words. Shortly thereafter a woman with a southern accent showed up and began to flutter about the condo...cleaning it as fast as she could. She even brought with her a child-laborer who announced to us that he was only nine. He seemed to do a fine job of carrying some clean towels and throwing out the brand new bar of soap I had brought from home into the trash. We kept trying to talk Kathy into getting our money back for being so greatly inconvenienced, but to no avail.

Next it was off to the "Outback" restaurant (after much controversy...WE DID NOT WANT TO GO TO FAMOUS DAVES!). We had the pleasure of meeting the oldest Allred sibling, Mark, and his wife that we all know and love, Doll (AKA: Darlene) and their kids and a couple of grandkids even. Their son, James, was to take out his endowments at the St.George temple the next evening. All in all, a very nice evening full of laughter and fun and making fun of me. Apparently, clever Amy took a picture of me all alone in the corner of a booth and thought it to be quite the hilarity. I almost scratched her eyes out in front of the whole family, but then thought better of it.

Then it was off to the outlets where we looked at some cute dresses in the Dress Barn and where Kathy found some very stylish sunglasses. Tessa was too kind in spending 4 1/2 hours in Downeast helping me find the jeans of my dreams (which I didn't even purchase until the next day because I had forgotten my online coupons). Tessa was a good little shopping friend, I came to find out, and I WILL be using her expertise again!

Thursday night after much shopping we went back to the condo and watched "Arranged"....a cool little movie that Amy picked out for us (maybe she IS somewhat clever). I really liked it...it was about 2 young women in their early 20's, one Muslim and the other an Orthodox Jew who were teachers at an inner city school. Both women were experiencing all that goes along with arranged marriages. Blah blah blah...it was very worthwhile (but NOT to type!).

Friday morning we got our exercise on. I have slowly begun to get into running again, but did not want to run that morning. I walked with Shannon; which was probably more challenging than running since I had to extend my strides to keep up with her long legs. I ended up in the ER with an emergency hip replacement, but all was well by that evening.

Laying out by the pool was so very relaxing and Mark and Ellie came and joined us. It was all very pleasant, especially when Ellie sang like Snow White for us. I always love to sit back and listen to the Allreds talk. They are all quite intelligent (especially Amy) and they always seem to have some good insights on a wide variety of topics. I had brought along a book (A Thousand Splendid Suns) that I meant to start reading, but never actually did...too many good conversations (but mostly listening).

We had been talking about eating at The Claim Jumper the day before, so we dropped in momentarily to find out that it was much too expensive and that they did not even carry any soup for Sharon. We ended up at The Olive Garden, and I thought it was pretty good. Later dessert was at Nielsen's Custard where everyone except for Tessa and me got a Concrete. Just not in the mood. What was wrong with me!? It was sweet to watch mother and daughter Junk on this trip. Jessica offered to pay for her mom's Concrete but had left her wallet behind. So Kathy treated them again.

More shopping for us, and while at TJ Maxx who up and drives in from Ogden? Missy! More shopping with Missy on board and then back to the condo for some funny episodes of The Office.
Every night we showed off our great buys...turns out it will be Christmas in April at Shannon's! Way too many cute things for kids down there!

Saturday morning exercise was out for me...I woke up with a splitting headache. Missy, however, decided she would run for a couple of hours...earlier she had figured this would ONLY be about 14-16 miles! Shut up! Amy was very motivated as well, and ran plenty.

More laying out...this time Mark and his gang joined us. I wore a Brazilian type bikini and tried to be invisible (more naked than invisible it turns out) while catching some rays (little did I know when packing swim wear that we would be joined by familiar males).

Dinner at Pancho and Lefty's left me quite full...no room for the Molten Chocolate Cake at Chili's, in fact. Jessica, once again attempted to buy her mom dessert. More shopping and even some groceries. Back to the condo to watch The Devil Wears Prada. I quite enjoyed it. Tessa liked all the shoes.

It was so fun hanging out with all these girls, yet we always felt like someone was missing. Thus the theme for our trip: "Who is missing?" We missed our Debbie's laid-back ways and sweetness, we missed Meg's laugh and love of shopping, we missed Nancy's cool insight and funny stories, we missed Allie's compliments and smile, and we just missed making memories with all of our sisters. Know that we love you and that YOU WERE MISSED.

Can't wait 'til next year!