this world keeps spinning

I was in fourth grade when I decided that Bob the Builder and Helen from "Wait Till Helen Comes" were gonna get married. Jamie Peterson and I had a wedding ceremony behind the pine trees in the most deserted of places at Canyon Crest Elementary School. We brought cookies for the occasion to our whole class. I'm pretty sure Ryan King and Carson Rawle got 5 or 6 each because we liked them. "Why did I get a bajillion cookies?" We just snickered in the back. We thought we were so sneaky.

In fifth grade, Ms. Youd, my math teacher,  gave us "Brownie Points" if we said something smart in class.  One day, Jamie and I went to the "Brownie Point Store" and cashed in all of our brownie points and brought brownies for the whole class.

I remember one night we went to the Jazz game in Salt Lake together. We played "prediddle" the whole way up and I was convinced we had the best seats in the house. We didn't. But I was ecstatic to be there. The whole time she was mad at her dad, of course. She pretty much always was. Jim is a funny guy and Jamie didn't like being teased. I would always laugh and laugh at their relationship. She would storm out "I HATE YOU DAD!" I always liked Jim, it was an act of betrayal on my part. I wasn't supposed to like the enemy. 

Everytime we played "Monopoly" it ended with a screaming fight. I kicked her out of my house, told her she was never welcome again. I'm pretty sure the next day we were playing again. That was just the way it was. We were inseparable. One day, we made a goal to never play that game again. We never did.

I used to have a blow up bouncy house in my back yard. Our favorite thing to do was blow it up and release it while we laid in it. We loved seeing the house fall on us. There was always the moment her mom would call and it would be time for her to go to dance. It was always our least favorite part of the day, saying goodbye. We hated it. The only time I ever hated Martha Peterson was when she came and picked Jamie up in their blue trooper for dance class. Why was she making her daughter do something she didn't enjoy?

For the 6th grade cotillion, we went and got our hair and nails done at the MATC where her sister Marinda went to hair school. We thought we were so pretty. All I wanted was to dance with Leo Roese. See ladies? I thought he was to die for before any of you did.  I can't remember if I did or not, now. But James and I danced and danced the night away.

We'd go to Wills with five dollars and see how much candy we could get out of it. We'd come back with a bag full of candy. Back then, candy was 84 cents. I remember. We'd go to Park City often because I had a condo there. 7-11 was right across the way. We'd get so much candy and ate it until our heads fell off. I sometimes wonder what my mother was thinking. She didn't care, she loved our friendship. She thought it was the best thing ever. We did too.

Park City. We had a one week obsession with ducks.

One time we went to Seattle for Fall Break. My family owns a fun center (similar to Boondocks, but better because it's the original of fun centers) and we would play ticket games with my cousin West all day. Jamie was mad about West. She thought he was the coolest guy ever. After a day or two of obsessive ticket games, my Uncle Scott came and told us we weren't allowed to play ticket games any more. (We got all of our tokens for free so he was allowed to tell us these things) However, we were sad. We were getting pretty good at some games.  One day, my Uncle Shane, West's dad, came up to us and told us that Scott was gone, so we could play all the ticket games we wanted. I am pretty sure we played the coin slot game for 3 hours.

The trip to Seattle was the best. CJ was there, my family, oh goodness. After a fantastic day at the fun center, Jamie and I wanted to get some ice cream from the machine. We put a dollar in, and our ice cream was stuck. So we put another dollar in. Needless to say, we came back with five butterfinger ice cream bars. I'm pretty sure my dad was mad at us.

Needless to say,  I can come up with a millions more memories. Watching the "Concrete Angel" music video in Jamie's kitchen and crying, holding a funeral for dead bunnies we thought were ours, getting in trouble with Mrs. Cunningham for apparently being rude to Remi Callister. We were playing tag and Remi thought we were running away from her. Life with Jamie was so easy. Everything about our friendship was simple. It's weird to think we haven't really talked in years. A facebook chat here and there, and a random trip to Park City our sophomore year. Some days, I miss when it was that easy. One friend that you called and when she couldn't play, you didn't play. Simplicity,  I miss it.

after big springs in 5th grade

We're growing up kiddo.