The One with California or Bust


Saturday, August 22, 2009

Then:
Now:
It's amazing how different an apartment can look once everything has been taken out of it.

I had a major panic attack Friday night and had to have Chris give me a Priesthood blessing. See, my home is my happy place. I'm a home body. I love being at home, surrounded by familiar things and sitting on my couch, relaxing and watching movies. When I woke up in the middle of the night and realized I was never going back to my happy place in my apartment in Provo again I just freaked out. I have experienced so many emotions about moving and they all just culminated Friday night and I had to take a spiritual chill pill to relax. I watched Quantum of Solace twice in a row to fall back asleep.

Saturday morning we loaded up the rest of our belongings and the pets. Chris and Jay took Rachel the cat in the truck and Allie and I took Chandler the bunny, Li'l Chinchilla the chinchilla, Jadis the conure, Alice and Frank Jr. the zebra finches and Gunther the guppy fish in the Land Rover.Here's Chris putting the last of our stuff in the truck. We filled all 24 feet.
Bye bye Maplebrook!
California here we come!The animals I was most worried about transporting were the finches. They are so skiddish and I was sure they were going to die from fright. The first time I stopped about an hour into the 10 hour drive I noticed everything was doing well except Chandler. He was huddled in a corner shivering like crazy. So Allie held him on her lap the rest of the 9 hour drive. Bless her heart. He was as happy as a clam sitting there like this.
We passed through Vegas and it rained. I wonder how often in rains in them parts of town.

Allie and I were about 5 miles away from our final destination in South Pasadena. I was cruising and so happy at the thought of almost being home. Suddenly I had to slam on my brakes to avoid rear ending the car in front of me. I heard an earsplitting and sickening crash and realized the fish tank with Gunther had broken into a million pieces inside the car. I pulled over to the side of the freeway, knocking over an orange cone in the process, and frantically searched through the pebbles and glass to try and find him. I cut my hands up real bad. It was a very dangerous place for me to be parked and I got honked at once. After about 5 minutes I gave up and told Allie that I hope he died quickly. But once we were back on the freeway I got off on the next exit to try and search again. I once had a goldfish that lived outside of water for 9 hours, maybe Gunther could have survived. We pulled into a parking lot and continued our search. A couple minutes later Allie found Gunther. Dead. I'm just so sad because I've had him for about 4 years now. I've cleaned his tank every Saturday for 4 years and I've watched him grow. I'm so sad that we were just 5 miles away from him being safe and sound and I had to go and slam on my brakes which resulted in his death. It's all my fault and I feel horrible. Sorry Gunther. You were a real good fish.

We arrived in South Pas 10 minutes later.

Chris' dad has a saying: if you look up and you can see a palm tree and blue sky, life can't be that bad. I got out of the car, looked up into the blue sky and saw a palm tree.Another beautiful sunset.I live in California now.

The One with More Packing


Friday, August 21, 2009

We picked up the moving truck Friday morning.We stopped off at the Warners and took out all of our stuff (mostly holiday decorations) from up under their house.
We packed and packed and packed and packed and packed and packed and packed until lunch. Then I met up with the American Crafts gang one last time. Every single design team member was there at Apple Spice ('cept Ben - Ben, where were you?!?!) which meant so much to me. Bye Alisha, Lindsey, Courtney, Richard, David, Jen, Clairice, and Nichole! I miss you so much already it's not even funny!The rest of the night was oh so much fun. And when I say oh so much fun, I mean that in the most sarcastic way possible. Packing is the opposite of fun. But what can ya do.

The One with Packing


Packing is the pits.

Rant over.

The One with the Annual Evans Family Reunion Day 5


Thursday, August 20, 2009

Today was the last day of the Annual Evans Family Reunion. I woke up at 6am to an equally beautiful sunrise as the sunset last night. I don't want to be a Negative Nancy, but I think it's important to remember details, even if they're not perfect. For instance, the air mattress Chris and I slept on decided to deflate during the night. That wasn't so bad, I still slept all right. Additionally, my body decided Thursday morning was the best day to see red to the extreme. That was embarrassing. But worst of all, while I was rolling up my sleeping bag, I pinched a nerve in my back which left me pretty much paralyzed and totally stressed out, seeing as how the next 48 hours are going to be filled with physical labor in the form of packing and moving. I took three painkillers (which did diddly squat) and forced myself to move around as much as I could before the 5 hour drive back to Provo.Three strikes aside, this year's reunion was so much fun. I love hanging out with the Evans's and playing games and seeing my only niece and nephew and half cooked other nephew. It was great to have Allie by my side. She's a good companion and makes me see things in a new light.Back in Provo, the time for packing began. I don't even want to talk about it. We called it quits pretty early and went to see 500 Days of Summer. Loved it. I will be purchasing it once it comes out on DVD.
See ya'll again next year Evans's! It's Chris and my turn to plan the reunion. We're thinking either Washington or California. We've got plenty of time to decide, but one thing's for sure: it's going to be the best reunion yet!

The One with the Annual Evans Family Reunion Day 4


Wednesday, August 19, 2009

We left Foxfield around noon, made a few stops (gas, Wal-Mart, a too packed to even bother Taco Bell, said good-bye to Nicole), and eventually made our way to Dotsero to begin our bike ride through Glenwood Canyon to our campgrounds at No Name.
Allie's always ready to be outside.
It was such a pretty bike ride. Greenery and mountains galore. Mostly down hill. What more could you ask for?
We rode along or underneath the freeway the whole time. I prayed fervently that it wouldn't collapse on us. I'm a worry wart.
I love the smell of nature. It gives me such a rush of endorphins.

Allie says, "Ditto." Well, she didn't actually say that, but I bet she would if I asked her. Actually, she would probably just say, "Me too."
The last 100 yards of the ride were straight up hill. Talk about a brutal ending! We set up camp as soon as we got to the site.Earlier in the morning we each made a hobo dinner: potatoes, meat, carrots, onions and seasoning. Jay cooked them in the pit while Chris, his dad, Allie, and I ran some errands.
What's not to love? Potatoes? Good. Meat? Good. Carrots? Good. Onions? Good. Seasoning? Good.
My Shmallie.Me and my mini me.
The sunset was spectacular. Once it got dark Chris and I gazed up at the stars and traced the path of the Milky Way.
We cooked some s'mores for dessert. Yummy in my tummy.
Soooo, at the end of my last post I said I probably wouldn't be able to blog because woods don't have wireless. How wrong I was. Do you see the niceness of these bathrooms? This is my kind of camping.
Showers? Heck yes!
There was also a laundry facility and internet cafe on site. I so could have blogged. But I was way too tired.

The One with the Annual Evans Family Reunion Day 3


Tuesday, August 18, 2009

Allie made a funny this morning. We were walking to the location of our family picture and as we were about to walk across this bridge she said, "Whelp...Chris..." Hardy har.
They hired a professional photographer to take our picture, but I had Allie snap a couple for me. Here we all are: Nick, Bethany, Peter, Tom, Margi, Andy, Avery, Drew, Cami (8.5 months pregnant with Luke), Chris, Paige, aaaand Jay.
Chris and Paige. 8.18.09.
Boys will be boys. Frolicking in the field.
The river under the bridge totally reminded me of the chocolate river in the Charlie and the Chocolate Factory movie. It was brown just like chocolate. Yum. Or something.
Trudging back to the vehicular devices.
Later in the afternoon we went on a super strenuous and laborious hike. We had to walk through pretty flower fields,
tall grassy trees,
and slippery red mud.
So the hike wasn't so much strenuous or laborious. In fact, it was mostly flat and shaded the whole time. I like hiking Evans style. As does Allie.
We saw some pretty sights.
And we saw some frogs of some sort. Allie was brave enough to hold one of them.
Usually Allie jumps at the chance to have her picture taken at every opportunity and begs whoever has a camera to snap away, but I had to ask her if she wanted her picture taken on these rocks 'neath the aspens. She obliged thank you very much.
On the way home from the outing, Denver experienced another torrential thunderstorm. It didn't last long though. Just enough for everyone to enjoy it and then the sun came back out.
Doggies don't like thunderstorms.
Tomorrow, we're going camping. I doubt the woods have wireless so I probably won't get to blog about it for a couple days. Patience is a virtue!
Paige Taylor Evans © // Quinn Creatives DESIGN