5: DI, "the house", Gardener Village, dinner w/ spewing & the REASON

On Monday, Angela wanted to go to DI. We went and were rather surprised to see people lining up at the door waiting for it to open. We laughed, joked about taking a picture of it and then laughed harder when the girl that pulled up next to us did take a picture of it.

We also visited my lovely house. I met the neighbors. I decided I'll take a pictures on the steps every time I go. You know, like the recurring pictures you take in the same spot every year? The home is still beautiful. And still for sale.
Later we went to Gardener Village. Clara loved the ducks. I loved the candy store. They had divinity fudge which was awesome. I'm not a big fan of fudge, but this was so tasty.
Clara also found this little guy and affectionately referred to him as "daddy". Angela got an awesome picture of Clara pointing at it... to come.

Monday night, Ryan took Rachel, Angela, Clara and I out to dinner. We were missing Emily, who couldn't make it at the last minute (I hate you Corporate America!). Although the restaurant wasn't what we had in mind, we were having a good time. The pictures don't lie.

And then about a minute after the waiter brought our food, Clara looked over at me and started spewing. She was just sitting with her mouth open and vomit was shooting out. Sorry Clara, we felt bad, but we were laughing so hard. Oh wow, there was a lot. All over the table, on the floor, everywhere. Needless to say, our meal was just a tiny bit spoiled. :) But ask us about it now, and we can't really help but laugh. It was disgustingly hilarious, in every sense of the phrase.

Then we were off to visit Steven (puke-smelling Clara and all) in rehab, which is why we all chose this weekend to congregate in Utah. Just the thought of walking in and giving him a big hug was enough to make me cry, but I held it together pretty well. I was really hesitant to share this and when I asked Steven if it was okay, he said, "It's fine, I'm not ashamed anymore." And how can I be ashamed of a little brother that has made such great strides in the last six weeks? There were so many feelings and so many thoughts. But mostly, thoughts of happiness and hope. It was refreshing to see in him have hope in himself. His confidence was renewed.

We took much better pictures with Angela's camera so just like all those other pictures, they'll be here soon (maybe). Until then... We played ping pong, visited and had a grand old time.

Everyone couldn't get over how much Steven and Ryan look alike. One person asked him if it was his twin. Another said she thought they were the same person. Ha ha. As kids, I don't think any of us looked a whole lot alike, but it seems as we get older, there are more and more similarities.