Celebrating Father's Day with Jeremy's Dad

Last week we finally coordinated schedules with Jeremy's Dad & Brenda to take him out for Father's Day. His restaurant of choice was Taggart's, up near Morgan. It was a beautiful night up in the mountains, and the restaurant's grounds were beautiful.

Thank you, Mark, for being such a wonderful Father to all of your children and for always being so upbeat and generous. You're a hard man to treat, but we love you!!!

Introducing the combined family of Angie & Dave Davidson!

A long-time friend of mine (since middle school) got remarried this weekend to a guy she met online 6 months ago who lives here in Salt Lake City. So she's moving from the Tri-Cities (WA) to Sandy, Utah, with two out of three of her kids. Kyson is choosing to stay behind and live with his dad, and Jesalan & Rylan are staying with their mom.

The wedding was beautiful and everyone was very happy. Lotsa smiles. And though it was about 95 degrees out, it was great to be there and connect with old friends.

Yay for Karaoke!!!

Last night my friend Candy & I went to sing some karaoke at our good buddy Mark's place. His beautiful dining room has been converted into a Karaoke Lounge, complete with big-screen TV, a huge karaoke selection (all contained on a laptop computer), huge speakers, and some comfy seating. It's great for any bachelor pad and creates fun for hours. Kimi D joined us and while she wouldn't hold a microphone, she sang along with us to all these great songs. Mark & I love to sing duets together (it all started with Endless Love on the singles cruise in 2001), so we are always looking for great duets.

Our selections last night included As Long as You're Mine (from Wicked), I Want to Spend My Lifetime Loving You (from Zorro), Dress You Up (by Madonna), The Boy from New York City, Tell Him (by Babs & Celine), I'll Be Seeing You (Linda Eder's version), The Crazy Bull (Candy & Mark knocked it out in Espanol!), Come What May (from Moulin Rouge), and many more.

Jeremy missed out - he was rocking out with his buddies at the Stone Temple Pilots concert.

It's always a good time at Mark's. Thanks for hosting!!

Girlfriends RULE!!!

Friday night I spend a fun evening at The Cheesecake Factory with two of my favorite relatives, Jenny & Shannon Brown. Jenny is the daughter of my oldest Brown cousin (my mom's brother's son) and Shannon is her brother Scott's wife. I just love all those Browns!! They are my family!!! Thanks to those family members who watched their kids so they could have a night out with me!

Anyway, I think everyone needs girlfriends - especially married people. Let's face it - your husband doesn't want to talk about stuff that your girlfriends will! I'm grateful to all my girlfriends who are there for me when I need them or just there to have fun with me!

I got my phone back - I'm whole again!!

So this is the wildest story!
On Thursday, May 8, nearly four weeks ago, I was at the Salt Lake City Airport, waiting for my flight to NYC. (The next day I'd be flying from NYC to the U.K. where I'd spend the next 12 days.) About 30 minutes before my flight left, I was sitting in Wolfgang Puck, having some food. I remember taking my phone out and checking the time and I must've set it on the counter I was sitting at. I headed to my gate and then realized I didn't have my phone on me, so I hustled back there, arriving not 6 minutes later than when I'd left. I asked the restaurant employees if anyone had turned in a phone. The manager let me use her cell phone to call my phone to see if anyone answered, but it went straight to voicemail. Whoever had it had turned it off or was using it.
Since I had to board my flight, there wasn't much I could do. The guy at the gate gave me Delta's Lost & Found number, assuring me they're really good about calling people back, then I found my seat on the plane. The lady next to me was pretty friendly so I explained what had just happened. She offered to let me use her phone and try calling it, but it just rang and rang now. I called and left a message for Jeremy, letting him know I'd lost my phone but that I'd check in once I arrived at Lyndee's.
The next day I kept calling my cell phone, as did Jeremy. No answer. It finally came time to go to the airport, so I called AT&T and deactivated my phone so I wouldn't be responsible for any phone calls. Of course that meant that anyone with the phone couldn't use it to find out who I was either...
Three days later, while staying at Cherina's in London, I got an email from my friend Stephanie, saying that someone had called her who had my phone! However, they had taken it to Toronto, Canada, of all places!!! She said they were going to ship it to her and then I could reimburse them once I returned from the U.K. I was very relieved!! Yet flabbergasted at how they found Stephanie's number in my phone since she's buried in my Address Book and wasn't in my recent calls. Oh well, at least he called someone who was helpful!!
When I got home from vacation, Stephanie still hadn't received the phone, so I asked her for the guy's phone number in Canada. She hadn't written it down, so she had to call T-Mobile to get the number from when he'd called her on May 11th. So, after missing the phone for two full weeks, I called and spoke to Mike. It turns out it was his father who had found my phone. Apparently, he thought he was doing me a favor by taking it home with him to Canada (as opposed to leaving it there for some thug to find and keep). Mike has not yet shipped it, but was willing to, once we could arrange for him to be paid. I asked him to ship it COD, and he said he would go the next Monday (because by then, the post office was closed).
On Tuesday, Mike called to tell me that COD was not an option for international shipping and asked how I'd like it shipped now. I asked him to ship it express mail ($22), and he said he'd go again the next day. On Wednesday I got a call from Mike at a UPS store. They were able to take my credit card over the phone and ship it. Plus I got a tracking number! Yeah! A week later it has finally arrived!!!! Oh Happy Day!
Bless his dad's heart for trying to do the "right thing," but I sure wish he would have turned it in to Lost & Found (even though they never returned my phone calls). Apparently it was because he's old and doesn't speak English.