T-I-M-P-A-N-O-G-O-S! L-E-T-S-G-O! Let's go!

I'm not sure when Timpanogos became my mountain because I distinctly remember a time when it didn't feel familiar at all. It was foreign and mysterious, but soon became a comfortable presence, the backdrop of my life. My friends taught me to look to the mountain for signs of the seasons—the blush of red early in the fall and the first dust of snow warning of winter's approach—things I didn't know to look for before. 

Years later, I always look for "my" mountain as my plane comes in to land. How lovely to be greeted by a timeless friend no matter how long I've been away.

The plane ride from Las Vegas to Salt Lake was bumpy and the landing was so rough that the flight attendant popped on the intercom after we touched down (slammed down?) to sing into the intercom, "And that's why you wear your seatbelt, folks!"

It was a short flight, but I was rather happy to have it be over with. 

I was texting with my mom and Josie about where and how to meet them and somehow Patrick got looped in, too (because he and Josie and I have a separate chat about our planned visit in May) and he asked if I was going to surprise Rachel. 

"No," I said. "She knows I'm coming!"

And he said something like, "But you should just go show up somewhere she's not expecting—like class or something—and just be there. It'll throw her off."

And I was like, "Sure...but it's Saturday...so she doesn't have class until Monday and I kind of want to see her before then. But, I mean, good idea. Keep 'em coming."

I didn't say all of that but...you get the picture. 

So I made it out to the pick up area and my mom drove up and Josie was in the front seat beside her and I went to get in the back seat and...there was Rachel!

"I didn't know you were coming to pick me up, too!!" I said, quite surprised.

So, see? It is possible to surprise someone who knows that something is going to happen simply by being in a place they don't expect.

Our first order of business was to drive over to Kelli and Allen's place for a quick visit. They are in the middle of moving to Arizona (officially—it's been a long process...they began when Kelli came to visit us at the end of August and this is finally their last weekend in their SLC house). Here we are:

We stopped for pizza on our way to my mom's house, had dinner, did some laundry, sang around the piano (one of my favourite activities—we should do it more often at my house) and then took Rachel to her apartment.

"You can come up to see my apartment," Rachel said. "Most of my roommates aren't home."

I was like, "Rude! I can only see your apartment if your roommates aren't there?!"

"That's not what I meant!" Rachel said. "They were just two statements of fact!"

Here we are in Rachel's room (and, yes, Phoebe—I did see where Rachel kept her pyjamas (Phoebe always asks Rachel if she can see where she keeps her pyjamas for some reason)):

And this picture must have been taken before. It's us all chilling downstairs in Josie's sitting room. Cinnamon likes to rest on people's legs when they stretch them out from the couch to the table, so I did. She really tried to like sitting on my legs...but couldn't quite commit to the bit. She got three legs on my "lap" and sat for a long time trying to be comfortable but just...getting progressively annoyed that she wasn't comfortable. Eventually she gave up and left.

The thing is that I'm (a teensy bit) bow-legged, meaning that when my legs are straight and my ankles are together I can't physically put my knees together. It was always a problem for me at gymnastics and dance (my coaches were always barking, "Put your knees together!" but I literally can't unless I cross my legs). It was perhaps even a problem when I was learning to walk (which I didn't learn to do until quite late in life, relatively speaking). But, it is what it is and...yeah. So, anyway...there is always a gap...which the poor cat was falling through...and clearly she wasn't too happy about that. 

But it was fun to get to visit with Rachel and Josie and my mom (and my dad very briefly—he's still recovering from surgery).

("T-i-m-P-a-n-O-G-O-S! L-e-t-S-g-O! Let's go!" was one of our school cheers. I can't really make you read it the way it's supposed to be said... I don't even believe in school spirit and skipped out on every pep rally I possibly could, but somehow I still learned this cheer...so I'd be happy to sing it for you any time.)