Oh! I should add in here, upon sending out my "I'm leaving the house!" text message updates to the few people I know wanted to get them, I got a call from my good friend Dallon who had some interesting news for me. Apparently the morning we left there were a total of three TORNADOES in Flagstaff, Arizona. First of all, what the heck?? Tornadoes? In Arizona? Really? Dallon said that two of them were really in the outskirts of town but the third one hit right on the Seventeen south of Flag which is right where we would be driving in a few short hours. He looked up exactly what the situation was so that I could determine if it was still safe to drive through (which it was), and I asked him to keep me informed if anything new came up. We had been having some pretty great storms the past night or two before then but I guess Flagstaff just really went all out. Meteorologists reported that several more tornadoes began to form in the clouds within that one to two hour period as well that just didn't touch down. In one city, one hour, the regular quota for tornadoes in ONE YEAR in the entire STATE of Arizona was reached. Crazy stuff folks! Can you say 'The end of days'?? This was definitely surprising and mildly alarming news, but we determined that the threat of some Wizard of Oz freak tragedy occurring wasn't severe enough to push us over to Vegas (Thank goodness, because then we would have been even more behind schedule!) and we just went on our way. Let the adventure begin;)
When Kira and I were preparing for this trip, we both separately put together probably enough food for the both of us to eat over the course of the drive without really realizing it. Needless to say, we were not short on provisions! We snacked and drove and talked and laughed and drank down pleeenty of water. Now, when I make this drive by myself, I usually only stop one time at my regular place in Kanab to gas up and use the bathroom, but with the two of us drinking so much water we were having I-have-to-pee-NOW meltdowns before we even got to Flagstaff! I won't go into too much detail, but let's just suffice it to say that we were both in laughing hysterics as we creeped forty miles.. Thirty miles.. Ten miles to Flagstaff, and finally even exited the Seventeen before we were technically there! I dropped Kira off at the door to the gas station so that she could run to the bathroom and then quickly parked so I could go in as well. When I got into the Womens bathroom though, I noticed that Kira wasn't there. There was, however, a nice girl who saw us show up who kindly let me know, "Umm.. I think that your friend went in the Mens restroom because the stalls were full.." Hahahahaha! (She didn't laugh, I did.) Oh man, I can just imagine what we must have looked like to the poor people of Southern Flagstaff. Racing around the corner to the gas station, pulling right up to the door so hysterical redhead number one could race into the ironically full bathroom before racing right back out and into the Mens, then hysterical redhead number two coming up right behind her into the now empty Womens restroom, which made discovering that her cohort wasn't even there and laughing even harder. When I finished my business and came out to look for Kira she was already toward the front of the little convenience store looking for me. We spotted each other, and she sheepishly said, "I was in the Mens restroom because the other one was full.." I laughed heartily and explained, "Yeah I know! That poor girl already told me!" after which more hearty laughter ensued as we made our way back to the car to keep going.
On Friday morning I drove down to Orem to meet up with another good friend and got some nice herbal tea at Starbucks. There was no way I was going to pass up the opportunity to get some good tea in me with that weather! On the way I even passed through an overpass with a cups-in-the-fence-message that said, "It's over forever Maggie. From Dan." with a little heart next to it. I've seen welcome-homes, I've seen I-love-you's, but never a breakup message! It was quite comical to me. After my breakfast tea and short, but very nice visit, I made my way back home and then went with all the sisters and mother and grandmother to lunch at Olive Garden. Yum! It was so awesome for all of us to be there together and we had a great time eating some delicious food and catching up. (Ps. The Apple Crostata? GET IT. OmgoshDIVINE.) After lunch we went over to Grandma's house because Kira and I had a song we wanted to practice with her remarkable Pramberger baby grand, and also just because we weren't done visiting! That evening I was planning on spending some time with another buddy, but plans fell through and I ended up going to hang out with Jessica at her friends house in stead. She's been hanging out with these guys for a while now so it was cool to go and meet them and even though we didn't do much of anything in particular, it totally got me out of my bummed-out funk. I always had lots of guy friends growing up and through high school, but it's hard to keep track when I keep moving around and now that we're all in school and working and such, so it just felt nice to be around another chill tight knit group. We ended up talking and goofing off until pretty late/early in the morning before we finally decided we should go home and get some sleep. Haven't done that in a while! ;)
Saturday has always been chore day in the house, and we were planning and preparing for a fun backyard fire/movie night as well so part of the day was spent making sure everything was all cleaned up and presentable. After having all our trip stuff basically exploded all over my room it was very nice to clean it all up and make it look like my room again! I cleaned the bathroom and tidied up a few other rooms in the house and then took a last minute shower before party-goers were scheduled to show up. The last minute thing worked out though, because obviously no one our age ever shows up to a party on time. I felt worlds better after washing my hair again (Isn't it funny how that one little thing can boost your mood so much? Not that I was in a bad mood, I was happy all day, it's just refreshing you know?) and took my time drying and flat ironing and prettying up for the show. We hauled pillows and blankets outside into the back yard as well as set up the projector for the movie to play drive-in style on the side of the house and brought out the roasting sticks for our hot dogs and marshmallows! It started to get dark and people started arriving, a few of whom I had met the night before, but for the most part Jessica was the one doing the big time inviting so it ended up being many new faces and a really good time! We sat around the fire and chatted and ate for a while before finally settling down into the grass and cuddling up in our blankets for the movie. Hocus Pocus! A lot of the guys hadn't seen it before, so it was extra funny with their reactions. I almost forgot how good that one is. We used to watch it over and over and over again as little girls before Mom hid it because she was so sick of watching it! Haha:) When that movie was over most people decided they weren't done hanging out, so we popped in another one. Stranger Than Fiction this time, another favorite. People went home, some fell asleep, and by the end of the movie there were only two or three people outside. The boys were awesome and helped me bring blankets inside before they left since it was so cold, and then I ended up staying up and talking with Mom and Kira inside for a while too. It was an awesome night, definitely just what I needed for this trip!
On Sunday morning I went with Jessica to her singles ward and enjoyed a really good sacrament and testimony meeting before picking Kira up from the family ward building and heading home to load up the car again and head back to AZ. I wish we could have stayed longer, heck, I wish we could have stayed forever! But Kira was missing her Gabe, and of course I had to get back to work this morning bright and early at 6:30 so we needed to leave pretty quickly. It was really neat to see all the landscape on the drive back since it was pretty dark for the last half of our drive up there. We took lots of pictures and talked and laughed and cried and just had a really good sister-bonding time. The only downer of the drive was that apparently every other person on the road was completely OBLIVIOUS to proper driving etiquette! Seriously, I consider myself to be a pretty patient driver. I usually give people the benefit of the doubt. But this was ridiculous!! We encountered chunk after chunk after chunk of cars that were all backed up because of some idiot in the fast lane going five or ten or twenty UNDER the speed limit and preventing anyone from passing the big rigs and cars in the slow lane. Kira and I both did our fair share of yelling at the stupid people (which does in fact make you feel better) and finally we made it into the valley. Incidentally we didn't have to stop half as often for potty breaks since we were much more careful with our liquid intake this time around. Haha:) I dropped Kira off at her place in Phoenix and made my way down to Queen Creek at last. All in all the drive only took ten hours, which is preeetty good if I don't say so myself.
I seriously needed this vacation, and I couldn't have asked for a better one! I am so glad to have such a great family, a mom and sisters who are my BEST friends, and a home town that is such a pleasure to come back to time and time again. I cannot WAIT for December when I get to go back again, and this time stay for keeps!! I love Lehi. :) *sigh...*
No comments:
Post a Comment