And we're off!

Tomorrow morning we will be flying out to sunny San Diego! I have been looking forward to this vacation for a long time. Probably since my dad and brothers started planning it a year and a half ago so that they could attend the PGA tour (family togetherness, bah! We all know the real reason we're going). :)

(Quick note: I've been feeling under the weather today and I'm kinda loopy, so if you don't want to be subjected to my random and lengthy thoughts, and also a plethora of family photos, steer clear of this post. I'm not kidding, this is gonna be looooooong).

While we're out there, we will celebrate several birthdays in our family, including a big one for my mom! She's turning 30. That's my story and I'm stickin' to it, because I want to live, even though it leaves me at a loss as to how to explain that she's only six years older than her youngest and bestest child (me). Just take it for what it is, okay? And don't double that age or anything...

Ahem. Anyway, my dad, being the sweetie that he is, and trying to prove that he's not just in it for the golf, commissioned me to make a little presentation for my mom's b-day, complete with photos from her life and memories from members of her family. It's been fun to peruse through the photos my dad sent me and walk down memory lane. Take a gander at these babies (in no particular order).

My dad has funny ears. My mom has a stylin' coat. I wonder what they're looking at.


BYU 59ers? Does this look familiar to you? It's Delawarde! Although it wasn't called that back then. My parents lived there, in the apartment that was the Elmers'. Weird, huh? My oldest brother was conceived there. Ewww! Don't tell Brent and Shanda.


I just love this picture of my mom and my niece Courtney. Too cute.


I'm twelve. And I think I'm Blossom. (And my sisters think they're hilarious).


I'm veeeerrry lucky that Josh wanted to marry me.


This is my family, circa 1981. They look so...incomplete...so...lost without me, don't they? They look so...1981...


To this day, I still don't know what the function of that thing was. But I remember climbing up inside of it and twirling around. Don't tell.


What a lovely little family. Except...wait, what's that thing in the silver velour dress and tiny butterfly clips? Run! It's another victim of the middle-school uglies!!!


This is my mom and her best friend, Ginny. They clearly were able to avoid the middle-school uglies. Aren't they cute?


Mom in about 9th grade. Doesn't she look all lovely and gracious?


Halloween 1997. My mom dressed as a scarecrow, and then hung out with Dracula and an unidentifiable witch.


Here's something to mess with your perceptions. That is not a girl sitting in that chair getting a perm. That is, in fact, my oldest brother. He also wore a pink tux to his junior prom. He's very bold. :)


That is not a boy in those sweet rollerskates. That is, in fact, my oldest sister with probably her worst haircut ever. Then she grew it out and had voluminous amounts of poof on top of her head for most of the 90s. (And my brothers tore apart my treehouse to make that skate ramp. I had a hard time loving them for a while).


Oh my goodness! Don't you just want to pinch her cheeks?!? My mom was the cutest, curliest little girl ever! Move over, Shirley Temple!


My mom always has great Halloween costumes to impress her grade school students. I'm particularly fond of this Miss Piggy one.


It's always comforting to know that your mom was as much of a spaz as you at one point.


Did you know my mom was a Cougarette? Go BYU!


This was taken when my parents were dating. That's my Uncle Brian giving her bunny ears. My mom had to learn the hard way what it means to be a Larson. :)


My Aunt Ellen's wedding. Grandma front and center, Aunt Lisa to her right, and my mom in that striped clown-dress over there. I'm in her belly.


Mom on the left, and...look out world, I'm a moody teenager and I'll scowl you to death. Good times!


I was the sweetest baby in the world until Alex took the title. Gotta love that hospital bedding design.


There are two things I love about this picture. One, my mom's obvious displeasure at my dad taking a picture while she's nursing me. "Yeah, thanks a lot honey." Two, the lovely fruited wallpaper. Childhood friends out there? Tell me you remember that stuff. There was many a time I licked it like in the original Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. It didn't taste like snozberries.


This is right where I will be tomorrow afternoon! Hooray! Our family went to San Diego about 7 years ago, too. We will once again be staying in that Pink Palace you can see in the background.


The thing I love about this picture is that my mom is the only one smiling. Lindsay doesn't count...that's more of a smirk on her face. :)


Yes, that is me at Lake Powell, in all my disrobed glory. And for some reason, I'm laughing my head off. Fortunately the lighting hides my naked hinders from view (did I just say that?). My mom is wondering what she was thinking when she brought this demonic child into the world.


If you made it this far, congratulations! You're a brave, brave soul. I hope you still love me. Even though I'm sick (both physically and mentally). :)