I love being the little sis.

When I was a student at BYU, my oldest brother and his wife lived just 45 minutes north-- in Salt Lake City. Every now and then, when I needed to escape teacher portfolio projects and the fact that all of my roommates had a date that Friday night except me, I hopped in my little corolla and headed north to their home.

There was nothing better than a weekend at Brian and Jill's. I could always count on a delish dinner, plus a freezer stocked with otter pops. Even better, I could count on a fun, relaxing escape from whatever part of my life I was currently dissatisfied with. At Brian and Jill's I could talk about some boy who didn't like me back or some professor who was driving me nuts. It was validation. It was rejuvenation. It was perfect.

And something about watching movies until I fell asleep on the marshmallow couch was absolute heaven.

So yesterday, when Taylor had to be gone for a quick business venture, I piled my down-vest-clad boys in their car seats and zipped over to Brian and Jill's (they relocated to Oregon a couple of years before we did). After some leftover chili for lunch, Jill took the little boys out to the ranch to feed the animals while I started some valentine crafts with the girls. A couple hours later, surrounded by red and pink wax shavings, candy wrappers, and dirty dishes, Jill said, "Hey, Anne. Do you want to go get pedicures?" Hmmm...let me think...

So off we went, leaving the children in the most capable of hands, and reveled together in the foot bath, massage, and themey, delightful heart decals on our toes. It was validation. It was rejuvenation. It was perfect.

And then--dinner, cupcakes, little people bedtime, Flight of the Conchords on YouTube, girl talk, and me on a marshmallow couch. Just like the old times. Nice.


p.s. Jill, I used the toothbrush in the downstairs bathroom drawer. Hope you don't mind.