Pizza in Driggs

After we spread Jimmy's ashes, we went to a pizza place in Driggs. I can't remember the name of it, but it's not like Driggs has hundreds of pizza places! Funny story about that pizza place. In high school, me, Pooh, Em, and Cec went skiing at Grand Targhee, and while we were driving down the mountain, we were behind a car of really cute guys. Somehow, they asked us to go to pizza with them - I can't remember if both cars pulled over or how we figured out to meet up with them. And once we got inside the pizza place, they were kind of dorky and not as handsome as we thought. It was weird.

There's this gorgeous empty field on one side of the pizza place that has hundreds of enormous poppies. I was really tempted to steal some and plant them in my yard. But I refrained. I should have taken a picture of them.

Anyways, the food at that place is sooooo good. I had their tomato basil pizza. Yum. Bethie had booked the basement room, which was so perfect for a group with lots of kids in it. There's a foosball table, a big couch, a pool table, and a huge TV that plays Warren Miller ski movies. And then there's a bunch of tables you can eat at. I loved not having to chase the kids around a crowded restaurant. It was really perfect. The kids dining with their parents upstairs kept coming downstairs to peek at us in envy.

And I love the decor of the pizza place - leftovers from the mountain. There are old signs from different runs at Targhee, old skis mounted on the wall, and we actually sat on benches made from old ski lift seats. (Not the most comfortable things. Ski chairs nowadays are so luxurious compared to what they used to be.)

Here are some photos from our little pizza extravaganza.

Like I said, Cazzie loves babies. When we got up to Grand Targhee earlier that day, he made a beeline for Micah. I wondered how Micah would react, because he's Mr. Stranger Danger lately and won't go to many people, but he loved Cazzie and didn't let out a peep of protest. Cazzie hung out with Micah all day long and all evening long. It was soooo cute (and a nice break for me):

He even snuggled into Caz. And he's not a snuggler. I love this:

Pooh's kids are soooo funny. They love being silly for the camera. Note Bishop's face here:

And here:

And did you see the "closed area" sign behind him? From the ski hill.

Judge is also spazzy:

He asked to see the above picture right after I took it, then grinned in satisfaction.

Look at how pretty Pooh and her mom are:

Pooh and Shira got snowflake tattoos on their feet in honor of Jimmy and his love of snowboarding. The one of Pooh's foot was too smeary (sorry Pooh), but we got a decent photo of the snowflakes on Shira's foot:

She was wearing warm wooley socks, and you can see her sock marks. It was one of those balmy forty-degree days we had in June.

Here's Davey, Pooh's youngest brother:

Davey totally made my day when he said, "Kar, you're looking skinny as hell!" What a babe.

A slide show of the rest of the pics I took:

Spreading Jimmy's Ashes

A couple of weeks ago, my best friend Pooh and her family came up to Grand Targhee to spread some of her younger brother, Jimmy's, ashes. Jimmy was an amazing snowboarder - he spent most of his time on the mountain. So Pooh's family has been spreading some of his ashes on some of his favorite mountains. It's been a year since Jimmy's death, and it's been so hard. I think of you every day, Pooh. I know you miss him terribly.

Grand Targhee was kind of in between the ski season and the summer season, so nothing was open. I wish we could have taken the chair lift to the top, but oh well. We walked a ways up one of the cat tracks to do it.

We had a little moment where Bethie shared a scripture, and then had Davey (Pooh's other brother) share another scripture:

Then we had a little prayer, and then all of us took turns spreading Jimmy's ashes. This is Bethie, Pooh and Jimmy's mom:

Then we walked to the lodge and spread some over a patio where Pooh's family has always eaten when they've gone skiing there:

Ben took gorgeous pictures up there - here's a slideshow:

Thanks for letting my family participate in this, Pooh. It was so good to see everyone and to remember Jimmy.

They Like to Sew.

My family and I have a little code phrase when we're saying someone is gay. We say that "they like to sew." I'm not sure where that came from, but it makes us giggle. My mom and both mothers-in-law like to sew, but they're not gay. :)

My mom is an amazing seamstress. When I was in high school, she sewed all of my prom dresses, and though I make fun of them now (because they have poofy sleeves and white appliques - popular in the early nineties, but not now), at the time, I was thrilled with them. She made her own dresses while she was in high school. Every summer, she would have me do a sewing project. And every summer, I messed the project up. I just really hate sewing. I don't have enough patience. I can hem stuff and sew patches on, but that's about it.

Ben's stepmom has started making dresses and selling them online. Ben says she's been doing really well. I really need to start my own etsy to sell my cards. It's on my To Do list. My mom recently made some dresses for Sadie, as well, and I wanted to show the dresses from both moms on here. They are soooo cute.

The dresses Ben's stepmom, Brenda, made:

And three dresses my mom made:

Thank you so much, Mom and Bren! Those dresses are the CUTEST. I love little girl clothes soooo much.

Not Quite Yet.

Hey, fun friends.

I'm not quite ready to go private yet. But what I've done is deleted the post and comments about going private, so that those of you who gave me your e-mail address as a comment won't get weird people e-mailing you. I made a little contacts group on my e-mail entitled "If I Go Private," and if I indeed decide to go private in the future, I've got ya in there.

And I've obviously turned off the anonymous comment feature. I honestly didn't know it was enabled! Until I got a mean comment.

Thanks for all of the kind comments. My friends and family mean the world to me. I think I just kind of had a knee-jerk reaction to the mean comment, like, "Oh YEAH? Well then I'm going PRIIIIIIIIIIVVAAAAAAATE!!" I should have sat on it for a few days before making a decision. And now that I have done just that, I'm going to keep it public. Unless I get more mean comments. :)

Love you guys!!

Kar

On My Mom's Side

When my grandma died a few years ago, my mom caught Gramps trying to throw away old photo albums. I think he was just...really upset, and not really thinking about his actions. Or maybe he's not as into pictures as I am.

Anywho, I recently scanned all of the photos which were almost sent to the city dump, and I wanted to put a few on my blog. I love vintage pictures. They're my favorite. These are all people on my mom's side of the family.

This is my great- great grandma, Annie S:

I believe she was Swedish and immigrated to the U.S. as a child. (You'll have to correct me if I'm wrong, Mom.)

This is her husband, my great-great grandfather, Hyrum S:

He was an Idaho state senator. True story. And he was Norwegian, and immigrated to the U.S. as a child.

This is one of their daughters, my great grandma, Elva W:

I actually knew her. :) She paid us to work in her garden every summer. Five dollars an hour, in the early eighties. That was unheard-of wealth. She loved her garden. She always had her fridge stocked with cold twinkies, cold twix bars, and cold Coke. As a younger woman, she taught school in a one-room schoolhouse on the Antelope Flats.

This is her first husband, Something A:

His first name escapes me. He and my grandma got divorced, which is why she had to support herself and children by teaching. She remarried later to a wonderful man named Ralph W.

Elva and Something had my grandma, Nathell S:

She's the one who died three years ago. She didn't have a mean bone in her body. She was an amazing wife - she and my gramps were almost like one person. They did everything together and were truly best friends. It's no wonder he has such a hard time without her.

This is my gramps as a younger man:

What a babe, huh? He looks like a dark-haired Marlon Brando. He has some native American in him, I believe. I get the dark circles under my eyes from him. He loves to cook, putter around his yard, and listen to operas on his CD player. I told him he should get an iPod, and he scoffed at me. He's very proud of his CD collection.

Grandpa and Grandma S. had my mom. This is her in high school:

She was a dancer, just like I was. She is really fun to be around and extremely giving and creative. I love the woman.

Just wanted to share some of my family with you. :)

Cards I've Made Lately

Wedding cards:

Mother's Day cards:

And Father's Day cards:

Running Uphill - Big Fun.

I ran in a race today called To Bone and Back. Bone is a little "city" forty miles outside of Idaho Falls. I put "city" in quotes, because there's just a store. That's it. I've never been to Bone, and I pictured maybe a store and a couple of houses or whatever, but it was just a store and a grain silo. I also pictured it being in a hot, dry, flat desert, but it was in these lush, rolling, green hills. Quite a beautiful spot.

Anywho, NO, I did not run the entire forty miles. Though word on the street was that there were some buff guys who did that. I cannot imagine. I was on a team with 8 people - each person ran a five-mile leg. My friend Megann organized it. Here are Megann, her husband, Dustin, our friend Kat, and me, before the race started:

We were the first four joggers on our team, and we all rode in one car, following each jogger. Here's the funniest thing - the baton we passed to one another was a little plastic bone. Kat is modeling it here:

Isn't that funny?

At every pass-off point were port-a-potties, and I was just so dang nervous that I had to pee at every single one. Megann was really nervous, too. But once you get jogging, the nerves go away, and they are replaced with stitches in your side and raggedy breath. The air gets pretty thin up there.


What a gorgeous jog, though. It's nothing but green, rolling hills, spotted with windmills. So beautiful:

We all did so, so well. We surprised ourselves. I ran five miles every few days to get prepared for running such a long distance, and on flat ground, it took me an hour and fifteen minutes every time. My leg of the race was quite hilly, and some of the hills were BRUTAL. I had to walk parts of the steep hills. But then on the down parts of the hills, I got going pretty fast. So those fast parts saved me, as far as time is concerned. I jogged it in an hour!

Here I am waiting my fourth leg mark:

Here is Megann, passing the bone to me:

Dustin said something to make me laugh when they took this picture of me, but I can't remember what, now:

There I am, on the left, walking:

That hill was a KILLER. And it was LOOOOOOOOOOONG. So Karlenn the Wimp walked a couple of times.


And here I am, finally passing the bone off to Kat's sister-in-law:

The Store in Bone is behind that little makeshift tent.


Here is a slideshow of all the pictures we took along the way. I know Megann wanted to blognap them. If you have problems downloading them onto your computer, Megs, give me a call: