Reunion Time

I love my hubby. How great is it that he'll 'cover' for me on a Friday and Saturday with all six kids in tow to soccer, football, etc... so I can skip town? I've put him to the task a couple of times recently. I hear that I would have 'died' to see how Vivie looked at the soccer game...breakfast in her hair which was freaked out like it hadn't been washed in days...{he doesn't do rubberbands or even brushes}, pj's half on--because he couldn't figure out an outfit for her, and I'm not even gonna talk about the other girls and their hair nightmares (although they're semi-self-sufficient). At least they ate breakfast.

But this was all in the name of an escape for me...a lovely reunion I helped plan to gather many of our childhood friends from our ward/stake from yesteryear up in 'ole Calabasas / Woodland Hills. Some of them were my besties when I was five through our crazy teen years...one is my cousin whom I've been friends with all my life:), but all were great friends at one point or another. Back in the day my mom & Christie (Poppy's mom) put together a 'Teddy Bear Club' ... we all joined and had to make pj's out of the same teddy bear fabric for our fun slumber parties...remember that? Fun memories! I should start a teddy bear club for McKenzie's friends... (left to right: Tracie {Schaeffer} Pierce, Lena {Collins} Kohut, me, Noreen {Reyes} Noble, Poppy {Grasteit} Thatcher, Jessica {Doolan} Henkel, Alyssa {Doolan} Martinson, Pamela {Arnell} Anderson).

I mozied to LA mid-morning wanting to miss afternoon traffic. Sure, LA...missing traffic-no such concept. I forget how the 405 and 101 is pretty much 24/7. I had to stop by the wholesale district and get my fill of Amy Butler, Sandi Hendersen, & Heather Bailey fabric for all my projects in the works. I didn't find everything I wanted, so I stopped again on the way home...to no avail.

Since I was a little early Friday before 'the festivities,' I checked-into the Marriott then headed solo to my old stomping grounds to get a mani-pedi for my sad, tired hands and feet. Oh, how they were thankful. I don't treat myself often enough! Pam (my cuz) & yummy not-so-baby 'baby Wes' (still on tap so he got to tag along) and I went over to Jamie's lovely home to pick up Poppy & head to Maggianos to meet everyone for dinner. The food wasn't as wonderful as the OC location, but the company was! We had a lot of years to catch up on and I'm certain our waiter was thoroughly annoyed.

We were worried about Tracie...who was traveling across the US to meet us. Her excursion from Maryland wasn't so 'merry.' While taxying during a SLC layover, her plane backed into another, so she was in a 'plane crash' complete with the frenzy of having to unload, reload, etc. She made it about oh, 4 1/2 hours late, but safe & sound.

After dinner we headed to this most amazing 'Chinese Foot Massage' parlor. Interesting and wonderful concept. It's a fully-clothed massage factory of-sorts...about 12 recliners all in one room and our authentic Chinese masseuse to help relax our nerves, or literally climb up on our backs, or even nearly pull arms from sockets. The name is deceiving because it's actually a Chinese all-over-body-I-wanna-go-back-for-more-massage. Most of us laughed through it, but it was surprisingly a delightful fully-clothed experience. San Diego needs a couple of those joints. $25 for an hour...certainly can't beat that!

Five of the eight of us headed back to the hotel, while the other [locals] headed home to their cozy beds and busy lives. I can't remember the last time I stayed up until 3:30 am story-telling and havin PJ talk. I don't even think I made it that late at Womens' Conference! I learned that our family isn't the only messed up one (NOT my McLaughlin nuclear family...of course, we're normal :). I also learned that my memory stinks. I didn't even recall half the stories and experiences others remembered. I'm chocking it up to lost brain cells from lots of pregnancies. Speaking of pregnancy, in the kid department, I either won or lost...depending on how you look at it. The other ladies just happen to possibly be more sane than me. Yeah, for sure they were all more sane. They ALL have three kids. One with her fourth on the way (Poppy) and I obviously have a multiple of three, which is a lot of kids. Thus, my undying gratitude to Curt for playing mom and dad in my absence...no matter how much they looked like their mommie (or daddy) didn't love them. This is why I came home for Sunday--church would have been a nightmare, I'm sure. It would just ruin my kids' cuteness altogether.

For some reason, no matter how late I stay up, I can't sleep in. We headed for breakfast way too early @ the 'ole Denny's we used to hang out at after stake dances (I didn't remember that either...or maybe it's cause Wayne & I had an early curfew?) Tracie and Pam headed out to visit with some other friends while I went to hang out with Poppy for a bit before heading back to the fabric district and then home again home again jiggedy jig.

That was a travelog, I'm realizing. And we missed you, Dannielle {DiPadova} Dilger,  Amy {Monahan} Livingston & Shelly Hansen! We decided that we need to keep up the reunion, so there will be a next time! No more having babies and buying houses so we can all be there next time! Thanks, ladies...for a short but great weekend of catching up!