June's Highlights

In no particular order:

Bowling with Ashlyn -- my 15 year old niece and I went bowling. It was only her second time ever we had fun and even got a couple of strikes.

Home Alone: Toby spent a week on New Orleans for work leaving me all alone in the pink house (alone is a relative term, Gus was there but he ignored me a lot).

My last Primary Activity: I got released as the Primary secretary in our ward and got to have one last hurrah with the kids at our Scripture activity.

Meeting a "cousin": last year Toby and I decided to sign up for a membership to Ancestry.com so we could both do more family history research. Shortly after joining I created a family tree for the elusive Patrick McDermott and his family hoping that I might find a little more information about there family. A few months later I got a message from a woman named Shirley who happens to be married to one of Patrick's Great-Great-grandsons. She said she had information on the family and we emailed back and forth for awhile sharing what little information we had each gleaned about the family. We lost touch for a little while and I began focusing on Dad's side of the family. A few weeks ago Shirley reappeared in my inbox and she said they were coming to Utah for a family reunion and asked if we could meet. I of course agreed and invited Mom to come along. We spent most of on Saturday at the Family History Library in Salt Lake City talking about our own mysteries and discoveries. It was fun to meet them and make a little bit of a family connection. Shirley thinks I should write historical fiction about the McDermott family--I think that could be very fun.

My niece Sophie turned 1 in June. I still can't believe she's been around an entire year. It seems like just yesterday when I held her for the first time. She has turned into a very busy, very happy little munchkin.

Camping at Capitol Reef

Obsess Much?

Yesterday I dragged my 15 year old niece Ashlyn into into this funky little consignment shop inside of an old bank building (we were on our way back from a bowling adventure and we had about a half an hour to kill before my youngest niece's 1st birthday party).

I'd been itching to go into this shop since I first saw it, but never really had the time (or excuse) to stop in. So, I said, "We're going here" and she didn't object.

Inside was pretty much what I expected it to be -- a little chunk of vintage paradise. They had tons of fun stuff to look at: old cameras, handmade flowers for your hair, “vintage” kitchen tools, old toys, refashioned chairs, and much more. I think Ashlyn thought I was a little odd for wanting to poke around in every corner of the store—she said the coolest thing she saw there was an old fashioned telephone (which I didn’t see) so maybe it wasn’t a complete waste of time for her—but again, going to a consignment shop with your aunt may not be the best idea of fun for a 15 year old!

As we were exploring I came across this “vintage” yellow bicycle that they were selling for $35. It was love at first sight. When I saw it I said to Ash, "I need this bike!" (I think this may have been the point when she decided I was in fact not just kind of weird, but really weird!)

Then my sensible side kicked in and I remembered that I was just the day before cursing the bike hanging in the garage after running into it for the 19th time.

But it was Yellow, and Old, and had one of those old bike seats, and it was only $35!

But we were running a little late since I’d poked around so much so I hurriedly convinced myself I didn’t need to buy the bike, after all I don’t really have $35 to spend on a vintage bike that would need new tires, and who knows what else...

But the yellow bike had spoken to me (screamed out to me, really it did)—but my sensible side won the first round and I walked away.

Even as we were getting in the car I said to myself I should have bought the bike. Then as we were driving away I said to Ashlyn, I should have bought the bike. She even suggested a quick u-turn (twice) but twice I didn’t turn the car around (sigh), so now I may never know what happens to my yellow bike.

I could kick myself for walking away. I spent the rest of the afternoon thinking about the yellow bike. I even drove back over to the shop after the birthday party, but sadly they had closed and hour earlier.

I'm pretty sure I'm still obsessing about the bike. Especially considering the fact I've now composed an entire post about the bike. Did I mention I could kick myself for walking away?

Sadly, the earliest I could make it back out there would be Wednesday. Who knows, by then the lovely yellow creature may have given up on me. She may have called out to someone else who will have lifted her up by her shiny silver handle bars without hesitation, promising her a wonderful new life.