The 15 cent bum.

The other day I took the kids to SLC with me to do a photo shoot, and after we had lunch we went to the Gateway to run through the fountains. On the way there Emma saw her first bum up close. No, not the naked kind, although there were plenty of cracks showing at the fountain. The kind that sit on the corner of JCrew looking very sad holding up their cardboard signs. Emma, who often surprises me, kept talking about said bum for the next hour. Finally she told me that she wanted to give the bum some of her money that she brought with her. I said Emma are you going to give him a dollar? "No." Fifty cents? "No Mom." A quarter? "Nope, I am going to give him a dime and a nickel!". It was so sweet and sincere. Hayden was laughing, but I thought it was so cute. When she dropped the money into the bucket, her's was the only in there. She was pretty pleased with herself, and talked all the way home about what he would spend that 15 cents on. She determined that he would buy cat foot to feed his cat who also sat on that lonely corner by the cardboard sign. So eat up cat, here is one meal on Emma!

the perfect day.

Sometimes the perfect day is not perfect at all. It is getting lost with my girl Abs in San Diego cause we are having too much fun talking. It is playing with the puppy and laughing and rolling on the grass and then realizing later that you smell like doggy. It is coloring outside the lines. It is making breakfast for dinner. It is watching your daughter make you scrambled eggs, and then taking a bite of shell. It is laughing at yourself when you trip. It is finding your way with no plan. It is saying I love you to someone that knows you do, but never hears you say it. It is picking out a puppy for my husband and having no idea if I got the right one.

Sometimes the most perfect day is the day filled with the most imperfect moments. I like it that way. I really do.

dicks.

It was the summer of 2004. We had just finished a day trip to the Uinta's and we were all dirty, hot, and tired. As we rolled through the town of Kamas we saw, like an angel planted in our path, Dicks. I will never forget the shake, the onion rings. The love. There was a lot of love that day at Dicks. Well, except for Fati, I am not sure she had any greasy American food. And, if we are being totally honest, I think that our eating scared her. Possibly Todd's the most. It was just soooo....caveman like. I don't think they eat that way in Spain. Anyway...my mom, dad, brothers, my kids, all of us...ate like we had never eaten before. It was easily one of my best meals ever, and I have often said, if I had one last meal it would be from Dicks.

Well, like many good things, we have talked about Dicks forever. Each time we are together and we are eating healthy organical food I think, "Remember that one time when we pigged out at Dick's?" Then we all laugh. A lot of love. A lot of love.

So, Monday, when I decided to go with my mom and dad to the Uinta's, we traveled home the long way, to protect the Super Duty Ford truck from the chippers in Evanston (pronounced Ev-ing-ston). I was sleeping in the back, with the kids. My mom was chatting to keep my dad focused on the road. And then, ba boom! There was DICKS!! My gosh!!! My dad, making a split decision says. "AMY! That was DICKS!! Do you want to stop???!" Hellyes I wanna stop. So we did. Mom got onion rings. I got a shake. Dad got a foot long. It was a perfect ending to a perfect day. There was a lot of love that night at Dicks. A lot of love.