Well, by marriage I am a Bradley. But I like to pretend like I always have been one. I spent this last weekend in St. George with Mark's extended family for a girls weekend. It is the highlight of my year. This was the 4th year I've been, and I look forward to it all year long. So much laughing, crafting, cooking, eating, shopping, and not a lot of sleep.
I remember the first time Mark took me to a Bradley party. It was 1992, and it was a joint Grandma and Grandpa birthday party. There were 14 Bradley children, and there are 86 Bradley grandchildren. So much fun. I grew up in a family where my dad had 10 siblings, and I have scores of cousins, too. I remember Mark's aunts and uncles each asking me that night if I was overwhelmed by all the people at the party. It just seemed normal and what a family party should be to me. I knew that night I wanted to belong to this family. And, lucky for me, the next weekend Mark proposed.
Anyway, back to the party. I flew to Las Vegas where Mark's aunt picks me up from the airport each year. We then drive the 2 hours to St. George, survey to food stores at the house, and then make a menu and shopping list and head to the grocery store. By the time we get home and put food away, the Salt Lake peeps start trickling in.
Friday morning started with a trip to the St. George temple, cinnamon bun aebelskivers for breakfast, a trip to Tai Pan, and then we got crafty. I'm talking really crafty. Like 52-yards of felt in 26 colors kind of crafty. The original plan was for each person to make a banner that said "Happy Birthday." What we ended up with was each person having a banner for every single month of the year--and every possible celebration. It was a lot of felt. We all worked assembly-line style, and as the new ideas for additional banners crept up, we just added that to the assembly line as well. The first day, I was overwhelmed by all the possibilities, so I laid low and knitted while the craft explosion began. I made dinner and dessert and breakfast for the next morning while everyone cut and glued miles of felt. 936 square feet of felt. It was insane, and I wasn't ready for it.
Saturday morning I went for a run before everyone was awake, and when I returned, everyone had woken up and was sitting around the table cutting and glueing again. I decided this time that I could use a Happy Birthday banner around our house, so I joined in the fun. I'm not sure what was wrong with me craft-wise Friday, but I got into it Saturday and cut and glued until everyone ran out of ideas. Then, of course, we needed a break after spending 24 straight hours working on the project, so we headed out for a shopping adventure.
Saturday night we had dinner, mint brownies, and then played 3 Favorites. Every person brings 3 of their favorite $5 thing, and then you put your name in a bowl 3 times. The bowl goes around, and each person tell about their favorite thing, and then draws out 3 names who win the 3 things. I left with some bath gels, colorful Sharpie markers and nail polish, and an enormous Symphony chocolate bar I devoured immediately.
We also played Hit or Miss, a really fun game that had us all laughing so hard that we were crying. Really, just try to list as many state capitals east of the Mississippi River as you can in 30 seconds and see what everyone comes up with.
One thing about this party is that nobody wants to miss anything. So we all go everywhere together, and nobody is allowed to go to sleep until everyone goes to sleep, and we don't want anybody to talk about anything, because of this great fear of missing something interesting or funny. So I went to bed late every night. Very, very late. Especially Saturday night. Two of Mark's cousins and I thought it would be awesome to watch our phones and computer clocks go from 1:59 to 1:00 when DST ended. So we stayed up, and I told them (and sang to them) about some very excellent Christmas CDs they were missing out on.
I flew back home Sunday night, and had the bumpiest flight of my life. My plane stopped in San Jose, and the trip there was insanely turbulent. So turbulent people were screaming and barfing, and the pilot made the flight attendants stay in their seats as well. The flight from San Jose home was dreamy, and it was good to be back home again.
Until next year.
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