It's crazy how many people I know and love all coincidentally live within miles of each other in the Mesa, Arizona area! It makes the decision to go visit a no-brainer! I am spending most of this week there and having an absolutely wonderful time.
Michelle and I left at 1:00 a.m. to make the 11 hour drive. Thank heavens Michelle does a better job driving between 1-7 a.m. than I do! She took the first half of the drive (plus some!) and I took the second half. We listened to some great tunes including Celine Dion, Rascal Flatts, Faith Hill, Adele, and more.
We got into town just in time for me to meet up with my dear friend Kate and her husband Darren for church, which was just like old times! Kate and I were in the same ward four different times in BYU singles wards. We came back to their beautiful new apartment and had a delicious meal and kicked back to watch the Olympics. I love the level of comfort only found with the oldest and dearest of friends. I didn't get a pic but there is more Kate and Darren time to come!
I am staying with Shilo and Kimball, whose family is like a second family to me. I mentioned Shilo a few posts ago. They make me feel right at home and I love each and every one of the Richins clan.
On Monday morning, I met up with one of the fearsome foursome from my BYU music education days, Alicia. Alicia, Emily, Many and I went through our under-grad program together and became fast friends in the process. They made my college experience so joyful!
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| I brought Shilo's two youngest along for morning of swimming. |
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| Alicia brought her two oldest. I loved getting to know her sweet kids and seeing her as a Mom. My friends are such good parents! It is amazing to see and I long to someday have that opportunity! |
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| Emily is quite an impressive acrobat and swimmer. We did some Olympic competitions in the pool and Emily won an admirable amount of gold medals. |
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| I asked Courtney to smile for the camera and this is what I got. Kids are SO cute! |
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| Ty Ty, waiting for the bucket to drop... |
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| ...which releases a surprisingly large amount of water on one's head! |
While waiting for Alicia and her kids to finish getting ready to go, Ty Ty, Emily and I played the game that just never gets old: The "I tell you an expression and you make it and then I take a picture and then we all look at the pictures we just took and laugh" game.
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| Mad |
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| Angry |
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| Mad |
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| In love |
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| Lonely |
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| Just won a gold medal in the Olympics! |
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| Upon further consideration, "Just won a gold medal in the Olympics" take 2 |
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| Best friend is coming to visit! |
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| Napoleon Dynamite |
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| Napoleon Dynamite |
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| Alicia and her kids |
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| Me and "my kids" |
We went to Costco for lunch (also something that never gets old to me) and then journeyed to what I now consider one of the happiest places on earth: Bahama Bucks.
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| Bahama Bucks is a franchise mainly in Arizona and Texas. Alicia's parents own this particular shop. |
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| Can you tell why I wanted this picture to be taken? |
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| Here's a closer look, in case you missed it. |
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| Alicia's third joined us for the second half of our day of adventures and I was smitten! See if you can tell what changed from this picture to the next to make that little frown turn upside down!! |
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| By the end of the visit, Emil, Tyler, and Alicia had all successfully completed the ring toss! |
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| Ty got super sour lime and Em got strawberry with cream. Yum!! |
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| Alicia and I got our shaved ice "Bahama-mama-rama" style (I think that's how it goes) with vanilla ice-cream on the bottom and cream on top...it was so good it's almost unfair. I got half raspberry and half "big bed" flavor which is essentially like a strawberry Italian cream soda. Alicia got wedding cake as one of her flavors! Not sure why this place isn't in every single city in the nation. |
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| After the fun morning and afternoon with Alicia's family, I met up with Michelle for a much anticipated trip to get pedicures. It was heaven;y. |
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| I debated a (too) long time on what design to get. I was really hesitant about the black background for the polka dots but went for it anyway. I think I like it. |
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| Monday night is family night, and Tyler and Emily taught us about paying tithing. Tyler did the object lesson where we drew a dollar amount out of a hat and then figured out how much we should pay in tithing using the money in the middle. |
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| After family night, Emily introduced me to Shelby the snail whom she rescued in Utah. She made her a habitat in a Tupperware. |
Of course I then had to show her
"Marcel the Shell with Shoes On" on Youtube.
Can't wait for more fun to come in sunny AZ!
