Ode To The Wild Grapes

The Wild Grapes - Shelby, Ann, Tamara, Me, Brittany

This is a picture of the Wild Grapes taken 20+ years ago at EFY. This is the name people called us and referred to us as. Dorky or not, that's how it was. That's how it is. The Wild Grapes were my bestfriends growing up. We clicked. We had fun. We went to church together. To early morning seminary. To mutual. To dances. To school. We spent the weekends together meeting and hanging out with boys. We snuck out. We t.ped. We even liked some of the same boys eh hem, Kevin Lowe).They made high school bareable and fun. I loved them then and I love them now. We've gotten out of touch throughout the years and we've gotten back in touch, but whether we're in touch or not they'll always have a special place in my heart.

Instead of going to our official 20 year high school reunion (some of us couldn't make it), we had our own little reunion with just the 5 of us. Here are The Grapes now:


Shelby, Me, Ann, Brittany, Tamara


Spending this last weekend with them was SO. MUCH. FUN. It was a blast from the past. We looked at old photos, talked late into the night, got caught up on each others lives and the lives of old friends. We laughed so hard we had tears in our eyes and our stomachs hurt (at least I did). There's something comforting being with old friends, with those who knew you when you were young and awkward. When you had bad perms and braces and when you wore your pants too high with floral shirts (exhibit A: top photo). They accepted you then, and they accept you now. Although we've all gone through different life experiences, at the core we're still the same. We're still faithful in the gospel. We all married awesome husbands and have amazing children. It's refreshing.

Another highlight of my trip to Cali was seeing many of the adults that in their own way helped raise me. My parents did most the raising, but really, there were many people who were involved with that process. The Parmleys. The Jacksons. The Reeves. Just to name a few. I went to the old ward on Sunday and saw many familiar faces from 20 years ago and I couldn't help but get teary eyed. They all had a part in helping me become me. It helped me remember what an important part we all play in each others lives. This life is all about relationships and the love we show for each other. That's why we're here: To love.

Ok, I'll stop being cheesy now...Here are some more pics from the trip:

The first night. Barbeque with the Reeve Clan. In true Linda fashion there were rented tables and chairs and white table cloths. Love it. I LOVE the Reeves. If I could be a member of their family I would.

Pedicures!

Brunch with Rebecca and her newest member of the family, Kirabo. You can see him in the photo gettin comfy on the bench.

This picture was the source of some serious laughter. It was a self timed photo and I literally had 2 seconds to get back to the bench before the camera snapped a picture. In the rush I pushed the bench against the wall and inadvertently smashed Britt's hand between the bench and the wall. I felt horrible about hurting her but when we saw what the camera captured we laughed until we cried. You can see it in Britt's face. Hilarious.

And in true Wendy fashion, I must. not. offend. anyone. So if you're reading this post and wonder why you weren't mentioned, just know that you too have had an impact on my life, but today, this post is all about The Grapes.

5 Minutes of Fame

I love seeing Gavin's reaction to seeing me on T.V.



This will probably be the first and last time I'm on T.V. (unless it's on Wheel of Fortune - I'm still wanting to get on that show very badly). I had the privledge of talking to Carolyn Holly today. She's actually really friendly and easy to talk to. I appreciated that. She interviewed me, Megan, and Maureen about our stories we wrote in the Book of Mom. The interview was short and sweet, and little did I know it'd be live! I give all credit to Megan (the one in blue) who, through her connections, set up the interview for us. She's cool like that. :)

What was cool about being interviewed with Maureen and Megan is that each of us come from different sides of the adoption spectrum. Megan is a birthmother, Maureen is an adoptee, and I'm of course an adoptive mother. It's really amazing to see how each of us has been blessed by adoption in totally different ways.

The three of us arrived early, sat in the lobby, and chatted, which helped me feel less nervous. That's also when I found out it'd be live. Scary! When they took us back to the studio, it was nothing fancy, we just walked passed all the news people's cubicles. We sat around the table while they put our microphones on and we tried to help each other look presentable by making sure we didn't have lipstick on our teeth and that our hair was laying nicely. Carolyn shouted at us from across the room from her news desk (in a nice way, of course) to make sure she knew who each of us were, we watched Larry Gebert give his meteorologist schpiel, and I watched as Carolyn went through her notes and formulized questions in her head (I could just see it in her eyes). Then she came over and officially met us and shook our hands. We asked her things like where to place our hands and where to look and then we were on and 5 minutes later we were off. Botta boom, botta bang. Easy.

The best news of all was that Ethan was proud of his dear ole mom (he's at that age you know, when parents can be so embarassing). The day before the interview I talked with Ethan about being on the news and he said, and I quote, "Mom, I really don't want you to make a fool of this family." Ethan, I'm pretty sure I done ya proud (at least this time). Given 5 more minutes and it could've been a different outcome.



 

Expect To Be Surprised

I recently watched one of my all time favorite movies, Dan In Real Life. One of the closing lines of the movie is when Steve Carell "Dan" is talking about what to tell your children about life. He says, (not a direct quote, but really close) "teach them that life is full of surprises. Expect to be surprised." That line has really never stuck with me in the past, but this time it stuck and has never made more sense than it does now.

About a month ago Chad and I put our house on the market. We've been scouring the area looking for the perfect house, in the perfect neighborhood, in the perfect school district, in the perfect ward where we'd make perfect friends. All the while keeping the house ready to show with a two year old who likes to undo my doing while I'm doing it. It's not easy! It also felt like we were pushing a square peg in a round hole. Something about it just didn't fit and recently we were on the fence about whether it was time to move or not (truthfully, in my heart of hearts I didn't think we would end up moving, but was something I seemed to push out of my mind sometimes).

A surprise recently came when many ward boundaries in our stake changed, ours being one of them. About 80% of our ward broke off and became its own ward. The 20% where I live has now been combined between 3 different wards. We now even attend church in a different building. The change felt exciting, and because I knew we would be moving it didn't totally affect me all that much. Chad and I got called into the Bishop's office early Sunday morning to receive callings. On the car ride over I very confidently said, "You know what's cool about getting callings when you're moving, you get easy callings." (BTW, NEVER say that). So you can imagine my shock when I was called as the Relief Society President. Surprise!  And I bet the reaction I gave the Bishop was every Bishop's dream reaction to such a calling, "You're kidding, right? This is a joke."(repeat 3x) On Monday our For Sale sign came down. Surprise! We're not moving...The Lord had other plans.

BTW the way, the look on Steve Carell's face in that picture is not at all related to how I feel about my new calling, unless he looks overwhelmed, than it's very much related to how I feel. :)