First of all, Happy Birthday to Annette!!! Call me if you read this!
(Frontier has little screens in the headrest ahead of you. Cool!) Well, it’s done. I figure I’m good for one grand gesture per person, and this was Deborah’s! (If I haven’t done a grand gesture for you yet, or if you’ve forgotten it, let me know.) Charles met me at the airport with a giant grin and said, “This is gonna be good.” We practiced my panting and my line, but when we got to the house – she wasn’t home yet! We parked around the corner until she returned. It wasn’t long – five minutes, then I rang the doorbell and said, “(pant pant) I got your message! (about IKEA) I came as soon as I could!” It was hard for her to hear, what with Deborah yelling, “What?!!? What??!?” It was good.
I’ll post pictures after the story, out of courtesy to our dial-up readers.Â
Bethany was weirded out to see me, but that’s to be expected. We looked around their beautiful home, then it was time to go to preschool and pick up Macy. She was weirded out, too, but quickly got over it and then eagerly showed me all around her preschool room.  Back home for lunch (yum!) then a much-needed nap for all. (I left home at 3:20 the night before to catch the flight.) Next we went on a beautiful hike. It’s strange – when I grew up in Western Colorado, you had to drive a little ways, maybe 20 – 30 minutes, to get up to the beautiful mountain areas. Charles and Deborah have to drive to the end of the street. Crazy. We hiked to a waterfall and then to a river. I was so proud of my masterful hiking skills until it was all done and Deb said, “That’s a nice little kid’s hike, huh?”
The next day was the IKEA adventure. We didn’t go on opening day because that was guaranteed to be a madhouse. The newspaper showed all the maps of ‘special event one-way streets’ and showed people who had camped out since Monday so they could have a chance to win a free chair. No, we went on Thursday. Unfortunately the newspaper made it sound like the store would open at 9 everyday, but no – just opening day.  Regular days it opens at 10. So we sat in the van for a while while the girls entertained themselves by making a spiderweb with bungee cords.
Inside, everyone was well-behaved. Those Mormons have wonderful manners, y’know – what with their salvation depending on it and all. (It’s a whole-package deal, but that’s another post.) We looked at it all and I showed great restraint, only buying some bedding and a tea set for the girls.
Then we drove to the world’s biggest copper mine – they turned a mountain inside-out! It was awesome. I’ve got pictures of the giant trucks hauling stuff around.
On Friday morning we took Bethany and Daniel, a little boy Deb watches, downtown and looked at Temple Square. It was beautiful, but my gut was a wreck from walking around all those people who are spiritually lost – again, another post.
And then like that it was over. Long, bumpy flights, a lengthy layover and a delay, but home again! It was very fun – thanks, Gebhardts!!!!
Pictures are below, so don’t click here, parents. (By the way, I did wave at you from the air, Mom and Dad!)
Deborah is the coach of Macy’s soccer team – Macy is just to her left, top row.
Taking a water break on our hike. Mama thinks of everything!
No words can express the vastness of this place.
No words can express the coolness of this place.
John and Anita Glanzer standing by the Gebhardt’s handy-dandy new deck stairs!
Apparently Daddy keeps some treats in his desk drawer. What a Prince of a Pal!
Ok, I have to stop – it’s taking forever to do these pictures and I’m tired. Maybe more later.
Lauren's Dad says
How did they get an airplane that stretches from Seward to Kearney off the ground? That plane is HUGE!!!!