What you have ALL been waiting for: Denver Trip Part 1B

I was going to call this part 2 but I just didn't feel right about it. Part 1 should have really been part .5. Anyway, that is why this is only part 1B.

So, here's just some background before I officially get started. I was born just outside of Denver and lived there until I was about 3. My family moved to Sandy, Utah and lived there for about 3 years. When I was in 1st grade we moved to Lakewood Colorado. I lived there (in 4 different houses) for the next 10 years. After that the fam moved back to Utah, which is a whole 'nother story in itself, and should be saved for another day, maybe indefinitely. The last time I visited Denver was the summer of 1998. When I found out my friend Kari was getting married I knew that this would be the perfect opportunity to go back for a visit. Just a little background on Kari, we met when we were 6 years old and have been friends ever since. We had countless sleepovers, snuck out at night, attended seminary at 6 am, went to church dances, EFY and practically killed each other when we were learning how to drive. After we were "all grown up" we were roommates for a year at BYU. I love this girl!

I debated and debated about who to take on the trip and how we'd get there. In the end I decided it would be really fun to just go on a mom/daughter trip with Emilia and start a new tradition of a "ten year old trip" with our kids when they are 10. Emilia was obviously bouncing off the walls for a week before the trip. The day of the trip FINALLY came and we had a fun drive to the airport. We rocked out to a mix cd that Kent made for Emilia. When we got to the airport we had a little bit of difficulty finding the right parking lot because of some construction. We ended up taking several laps around the airport and then finally found the right parking lot. We took the shuttle to the check-in and that was the first exciting leg of the trip. Emilia was one excited kid the whole time. She was just grinning ear to ear. Security was the next fun adventure. There were lots of questions there: "Why can't you have water bottles? Why do I have to take off my shoes? What, I can't even have my juice box? r If you have metal staples in your body why doesn't it set off the metal detector? Can I ride through the x-ray machine?" My main question when we were going through security was : "Why would someone be crazy enough to wear 5 inch stilettos when travelling through airports. Not only are they very uncomfy to walk in but you become a hazard on escalators and moving walkways... (Just my observations).

So we got to the terminal and Emilia said our trip was the funnest one she had ever taken. And we hadn't even gone anywhere. We ate our lunch minus our juice boxes and boarded the plane. We had requested a window seat for her when we bought our tickets but she ended up in an aisle. We asked a guy (from WisKAnsin) to trade with her because it was her first time flying. He was nice and moved to the aisle. After almost taking out a few people putting my carry on bag in the overhead compartment we were off. Emilia was fascinated with everything. She asked for my camera and proceeded to take about 50 pictures of the inside of the plane, the view out the window, and me.

We landed without crashing (whew) and navigated through the airport to find my friend Kathi who was picking us up. I have to admit that I had never actually met Kathi in real life before. We are online friends from a forum we belong to and she lives in the Denver area. She was kind enough to come pick me up from the airport when we had never even met. We hung out together and she confessed that she actually had a felony record for being an ax murderer but she got off for good behavior after only 6 days. (Ok, in case you didn't get that it was a JOKE. She's not an ax murderer at all but a very nice gal, and mom of 2 cute kids.) Kathi and I chatted and I admired her home decor while Emilia navigated her way through a very tricky and seemingly pointless horse and Barbie Wii game. Oh, and I just have to mention that this Kathi is the ONE AND THE SAME who named my singing belly button Navelia. And just to get even with her I named her kneecap Patelletta. As far as I know though, Patelletta does not sing.

Kari, the bride, picked us up at Kathi and Patelletta's house and we drove to Ruby Tuesday to eat. We caught up on all the news and chatted about plans and what we have been doing with our lives. She caught me up on all the local gossip and I bored her with all my kid-stories. After dinner we drove through Lakewood where I used to live and lots of memories came back. She took me out to my old boss Brian S's house to stay. We visited with Brian (Dr. S) and Lila S., our gracious hosts, and went to bed.