Tuesday, September 21, 2010

In Arizona, shade trees are your best friends.

(And occasionally the basis of small civil wars over parking.)

This past weekend I went to Arizona.  Yup, I and some friends drove to and back from Arizona, with some partying in between, all in 3 short days.  How much of that trip then was driving?  Almost a full day.  BUT!  It was worth it!  I promise.

David (my brother), Vinny (my friend), and Courtney (Vinny's friend) left good ol' Provo around 5am this past Friday and drove... and drove... and drove....... and drove.... until we finally made it to Mesa.  I have some funny pictures of that drive that I haven't uploaded yet, but let's just say they are the result of us being in a small space, pretzels, and too much time.

We went to Arizona to visit our friend Tito (remember him?).  Since I saw him last in D.C., he graduated Army training and, as it was his birthday this past weekend, the time was ripe for a party.  We also saw his sister Natalie and Nicole, who had flown out from California for the same reasons as us.

We got to Arizona around 3-4pm on Friday... so after giving our hugs and saying our hellos, we crashed.  It was lovely.  Especially since Arizona was approximately one million degrees outside, so we got to bask in the air conditioning.  Tito's party, put on by his sister Natalie, was at 9:30pm that night.  After we all got prettified, we danced the night away with about 300 guests.  I drained my camera's batteries taking pictures of pretzels, so the only picture I can find of the party doesn't even have most of us in it.  But that's okay-- it wasn't my party:

Tito and Natalie

They had an actual DJ in Tito's living room and they served delicious make-your-own snow cone type things, with awesome flavors like birthday cake.  (Really.  It was delicious.  Who would have thunk?)

Saturday was just one of those perfect days that usually happens in the middle of summer, but the universe was confused because Arizona was hot and sunny, so it let us relax away.  Us girls made the boys pancakes for breakfast, then we all went swimming in Tito's pool (which was quite the experience since all of us girls had left our swimming suits at Natalie's house... so we might have played Sharks and Minnows in our pajamas).

Elder Cook was giving a fireside in the area that night, so we got to go and hear his uplifting words.  Highlights included stories of him and Elder Holland as companions in the mission field.  Who knew?

That night, we all just hung out and played cards, watched a movie, went swimming, and talked/laughed.  Can I just say I love being with old friends?

Sunday consisted of breakfast, church, and good-byes.  We had to leave right after sacrament meeting so that we could get back to Provo in time.

(Pictures taken after church)

Cute siblings.

Re-creation of California photo-op.

In order: Courtney, Vinny, Nicole, Tito, Natalie, David, me, Tito's roommate.

We're pretty attractive :P

The drive back to Provo was pretty uneventful, except we, of course, hit traffic when we were literally 10 minutes from home.  So we got home at 1:45am instead of 1am.  Oh well.  Who needs to sleep?

I highly recommend last minute/crazy/super awesome road trips with your friends!  Because.... why not?

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