The Snuggly Duckling? Isn't that just the pub in the movie Tangled where all those big tough guys turned out to be not so tough? Well, yes and no. While I would love to spend a whole blog post explaining all the reasons why Tangled is the best movie in the world, I would like to focus on something that means a little bit more to me.
3201 Amberwood Drive.
Also known as....
"The Snuggly Duckling".
Isn't she a beaut?
So today I was driving home and decided to go stop by and see the house, may or may not have played The House That Built Me by Miranda Lambert and cried my eyes out, but it's fine.
So today I was driving home and decided to go stop by and see the house, may or may not have played The House That Built Me by Miranda Lambert and cried my eyes out, but it's fine.
This is the house that I've grown up in for the past 14 years of my life. It was built in the year 2000, giving life to my mom's dream. Moving out of this place was one of the hardest things I've ever done, and it's all because of the memories made inside.
Here's to the best (and sometimes worst) of times that I never wanna forget!
(P.S. there's a lot. and seeing as no one will ever really see my blog, this is mostly for me. if you're some random person, feel free to read anyways. You might want some popcorn.)
-Wedding receptions (Laura and Kyle, Daniel and Monica, and Erin and John) (i always dreamed to have my wedding reception there but... that's not gonna really happen anymore.)
-Steam-rolling in the upstairs hallway with Nicole and Rose
-Climbing Belle's fence, falling off, and spraining my wrist
-Taking walks around the yard with Mom
-Climbing the roof and sitting there for hours and hours
-Shaving cream fights in our backyard (Erin's birthday and my birthday)
-Playing Big Red Ball with our ward youth
-Watching fireworks from the roof with Dad on the 4th of July
-Getting thrown in the pool when I got caught cheating in board games
-Jumping in the pool on New Years Eve at midnight
-Catching frogs at the pond with Katie when we were little
-Falling into the pond while it was raining
-Watching thunder/lightening storms from the back porch on the chairs with mom
-Snow storms
-Holding hands with ***** in the media room when we had no couches
-The Harry Potter party Erin threw for me
-"Accidentally" sleep-walking at night into Erin's bed to sleep with her (usually when there was a rain storm)
-Sitting outside Erin's windows one evening when it was raining really hard and a million lady bugs came to us out of no where
-Playing with Princess and Amaya (our big fat cats) with the long leaves in our backyard
-Swinging on the swing-set in the summer
-Calling Michael Bianez (my very first crush ever) with my best friend, Karlee on the trampoline
-Erin getting Princess at her 12th birthday party in the living room
-Always trying to hang out with Erin and her friends
-Playing outside with the nieces and nephews!
-Chalking the sidewalk during the summer with Nicole and Tyler
-Star-gazing on the trampoline
-Girls Camp swim tests in our pool
-Ward activities in our pool
-Pre-trek pictures
-Erin's girls camp campout in our backyard
-Coyote's coming after me in the backyard and I had to run inside
-Tie-dying shirts with Nicole in the summer
-Daniel babysitting me one night, promising not to leave me and hang out with friends, and i checked the garage and he left me anyway (traumatizing experience, lemme tell ya. haha)
-Doing the dishes by myself in the kitchen, blasting Michael Buble and Frank Sinatra and dancing around
-Laying on the wood kitchen floors when I had a bad day
-Family dinners on Sunday and all cooking together
-Cooking dad's famous Chocolate Chip cookies together and then watching a movie in the living room
-Family night
-Sleeping on the couches in the living room by the Christmas tree with Erin on Christmas Eve
-Waiting for hours on mom to come out of her room so we could open presents on Christmas morning
-Reading books for hours in the library
-Waiting in the hallway at the top of the stairs on Christmas morning to check our stockings
-Decorating the tree with the girls, watching the boys put it up
-Sleep walking down the stairs one night and almost going out the door??
-Homecoming dinner 2010 with the peeps
-Mormon Prom pictures 2012 with Tyler as my date
-Sitting on the porch with Mom
-Going swimming then laying outside on the beach chairs in the summer
-Finding baby bunnies and garden snakes in the yard
-Trying to get rid of porcupines
-Exploring the creek with Erin and Dad
-Playing Harry Potter with Ferguson cousins
-Playing DDR and Rock Band in the media room
-Hiding in the storage room
-Hiding/crying in the bathroom when Daniel offended me
-Exploring the hidden attic in Erin's closet
-Seminary every morning in the playroom
-Scripture study BEFORE seminary in the media room with Mom, Dad and Erin
-Hiding in the yellow room when i skipped seminary
-Hang outs with Karlee, Nicole, Tyler, Sean, Mitchel, Robert, Tanner and Anthony (usually in the playroom or media room)
-Snowball fight with Nicole, Karlee, Sean, Tyler and Paloma
-Sneaking out of the house to go get food in the middle of the night with Nicole and do other dumb things
-Laying on the trampoline at night with Nicole and Mitchel
-Tractor sledding with Dad in the backyard when it snowed
-Singing together in the music room with the family at the piano
-Singing/playing the piano with Rachel, Erin and Laura to Prince of Egypt
-Listening to Dad play the song he made for me
-Learning songs by ear on the piano
-Singing with Laura at Monica and Daniel's wedding reception
-Prom pictures on the stairs
-Laura and Kyle's wedding reception - when the tent fell over in our backyard and the storm came
-some random couple getting married in our Gazebo
-Sitting on the gazebo and skipping rocks in the pond
-Wall-papering my wall in my room with Mom one summer
-Sleeping in Laura's bed with all the kids when a scary thunderstorm came in the middle of the night
-Going into the tornado room with the fam when the sirens went off
-Game nights playing Mexican Train and Canasta
-Cupcake Wars - December 2012, when my team won!
-Photo shoots in the backyard
-John proposed to Erin at the gazebo
-Everyone just talking in the living room
-Dad falling asleep in the armchairs all the time
-Gallon challenge in the backyard at the creek with Daniel and his friends- they all threw up
-Cleaning out the garage
-Skipping school and coming home to eat lunch with Mom
-My graduation party
-My 17th birthday party -watching Tangled
-Getting kicked in the face at one of our hangouts and crying in the bathroom with Nicole
-First sleepovers with Karlee, Nicole and Rose
-Having the kids come jump on me and wake me up in the morning
-Hosting Mom and Dad's 50th Anniversary dinner in the Poolroom and another one at the Gazebo
There are SO MANY more memories I could list and I could just go on forever, but you get the point.
Everything I've loved about living there has to do with the memories made and the moments I remember here. I mean, let's be real the house is absolutely gorgeous and i'm gonna miss how big it is and running around in it. But it just goes to show that a house is not a home.
Home is wherever your family is.
And just because I moved out of the place I've been living in for the past 14 years, doesn't mean I can't make great, new memories somewhere else. It's my goal to move forward with life and not dwell on the past, but be grateful for it, look forward to the future, and make the best of it.
The last 14 years of my life i've changed and grown and learned so much, and i'm grateful to be able to say this is where most of it happened.
As for the name "The Snuggly Duckling"... yes, I have an obsession with the movie, Tangled. One day, me and my friend Nicole were just hanging out in the house and I wanted to tag ourselves on Facebook. It asked for the location and we couldn't think of anything, then BAM it came to my like a message sent from heaven above. The Snuggly Duckling. (Not very exciting but I felt like i should explain) Ever since then, we've always just called it that! Exciting, right?
Well, here's to you, Snuggly Duckling. Thanks for the memories, thanks for putting a roof over my head, and hopefully the next family that gets the privilege of living there can have some pretty cool memories there too.
Happy New Year! Make best of it cuz it's definitely what you make it.
Stay classy, Dallas, Texas.
Looooooove,
-Ems
