White Mountain Weekend

For a long time Deanna, Nikki and I have been planning a trip up to the White Mountains. We had to push it back a few times and when we finally decided to do it September 11-13 a lot of our friends couldn't go because school was back in session and they were busy... but we went anyway! Friday evening Deanna, Nikki, Daniel, David and I all got in Daniel's parents' minivan and started up the mountain. We got there and made ourselves at home with a warm welcome from Dad and Aunt Louise.

That evening Sara H. came over with her brother Joseph and we played games, talked and some even got in the spa. Finally after a few hours of hanging out we all found a bed and went to sleep. Daniel and David went to the cabin, the girls had rooms and Sara and I pulled out the couch and talked into the night (just like old sleepovers!). I went to bed around 1:30 and woke up around 3:30 when I heard my brother, Dan, and his friend Ty - leaving for an elk hunt. I talked to them a bit because Danielle, Holly and Meta were almost up from Tucson (they went to the institute dance first then drove up). Dan and Ty left, and the girls drove up. I got back to sleep around 4 but was only able to sleep in until 7, when I heard my dad coughing and sneezing, so I got up to talk to him. He left for a Radio thing... and everyone else slowly appeared from bedrooms. We cooked up some waffles, bacon and eggs and hurried through the showers. Sara had to go home (Joseph came back to pick her up) and the rest up us piled in the van for a quick trip to the temple. It was fun for everyone to go to a different temple (we usually go to Mesa, this time we went to Snowflake). It was a beautiful day to go to the temple! We met Aunt Louise there (she works there on Saturday mornings), she had names for me to do. One that I remember was Verlinda Cox, I don't know why but now I want to look her up because her name just stuck out to me. After the the baptisms we walked around outside and took a lot of pictures! Then we got some sandwiches at Araby's and ice cream at Bashas and went to Jon's house.


At the ranch we ate ice cream, rode Besty, got dizzy on the tire swing and took PICTURES!

In the evening we all went back to Dad's where we explored the cabin, and cooked up a BBQ to beat all BBQs. It was so good! And there was so much food: pasta salad, tomato salad, cowboy beans, corn-on-the-cob, hamburgers and gigantic marshmallows for s'mores!

Meta, Holly, Deanna and Danielle all left after dinner. So did the hunters, sadly empty handed. The four of us left went for a drive in Dad's truck to star gaze and spot light. David and Nikki got creative in taking pictures - I didn't even bring my camera!

These are some cool ones David did with long shutter speeds.

After looking at the stars when resumed our hunt for animals only to be pulled over by Fish and Game who had to search our truck for weapons (it isn't legal to spotlight and have a firearm in the car). So we got to talking to the game warden when he cleared us. He gave us a few good places to try for elk. We started that way and found two deer. Once on road 132 (like he told us) we found a small heard of elk as well. I'm glad we saw some animals.

Sunday morning we went to Pinedale ward then headed back to Tucson (not before eating yesterday's left overs and stopping for pictures with the sunflowers in the front field).

We also stopped in the Salt River Canyon for a stretch and some pictures - we thought the car was leaking (it was I guess) but when we stopped in Globe to check again it seemed fine and made it all the way back to Tucson.

It was a lot of fun and we are all planning on another trip again soon - at least one when it snows!

Holiday Weekend!

So this weekend, being a Holiday weekend, couldn't be shown up by an ordinary old weekend like last weekend - so we had to plan it. I went to a birthday party on Friday night but didn't stay super late because on Saturday I got up extra early (well for a Saturday) met up with Nathan, Justin, and Ali we hit the road (and Walmart for snacks), we met David, Jeff and Emily at Catalina State Park and we all went for a hike. We hiked up to Romero Pools in the unexpectedly cloudy weather. The humidity wasn't great (it was terrible!), but the sun wasn't killing us so I can't complain. When we got to the pools we sat down for a rest and lots of food, the weather cooled down perfectly, we were able to explore the area and David and I took the opportunity to take a bunch of pictures - it was fun to have someone to go camera crazy with.


We had a lot of fun, Nathan, Justin and Ali built a little dam at the top of the waterfall and then we all watched as they pushed the rocks off and splashed! Simple pleasures! It was great fun!

After we hiked back out, Jeff, Nathan, David and Emily left to get other things done. Justin, Ali and I however met back up after cleaning up to waste our day together - I love free-bee Saturday (when you know you have a holiday Monday coming up). Our friend Mike joined us and we ordered a pizza and checked out a movie, but the boys wouldn't let us watch the movie (12 Rounds) because they had already rented it and neither could finish it. So we ate pizza and bread sticks while watching a movie they already had (the Rundown with the Rock - which was actually quite fun). Ali had to leave for a date, Mike left to go to the opening UofA football game, but Deanna and Danielle came on their way to a football party and never left! So Deanna, Danielle, Justin and I after hanging out on the couch for awhile and almost falling asleep - went to the mall where we looked at shoes and got smoothies. By the time we were finished it was dinner time and we were hungry. We decided to go to IHOP for dinner but it was too far away that in the end we went to Walmart (for the third time that day) and got pancake mix, eggs and fruit. We went in search of a movie (Fighting) that we hadn't been able to find earlier. We headed back to Justin's and mixed up our breakfast dinner and watched the movie. We also decided at this time that we wanted to do a breakfast or a BBQ for Labor day.

Sunday was great, even though I had to wake up early for church. I was pulled out of Relief Society and finally got a calling for this ward: RS instructor. Later in the evening I went with Deanna to a game night at Bradey's house. It was fun because everyone was in a different ward and we don't usually hang out with them, so we taught them a pick-up line game and had a lot of fun. I was also invited on another hike for Monday - and thought a lot about going, I even woke up at 6 on Monday, but I was drained so I went back to sleep for a few more hours instead.

For lunch I met up with Deanna, Danielle, Melissa G. and her two roommates: Jessica Z. and Joy at the Tucson Mall food court. We ate and then window shopped for a while. After which we got ice cream! Melissa and her roommates left and the rest of us went to Sam's Club to do some shopping for our Breakfast BBQ. After which we went to Justin's and Shaun's and watched Kung Fu Panda until it was time to start our AMAZING waffle dinner (my favorite)! We had the waffles and the meat and everyone that came brought a fruit or topping - there were quite a few people there and we went through Kung Fu Panda twice!

A Great Weekend!

So the weekend of Aug. 28-30 I enjoyed life as much as possible! First on Friday a bunch of friends and I had a girls' night in. We made homemade pizza and watched 17 Again... It was Great!

Then when everyone was going home a few of us weren't ready to stop the fun so we decided to go on a hike, we hiked up to the observatory on Tumamoc Hill. I was surprised when I google earthed it that it was only 3 miles round trip - it felt like more but Holly and I were both only in flip flops and it does go up at a pretty steady pace. But I must say that night hikes by moon light are some of my favorites! We heard animals in the bushes but decided that each one was just a cute little bunny! Till Nikki could actually see one - it was too big to be a bunny! It was a deer and there were several of them - but can I tell you I've never been creeped out by a deer until that night, in the moonlight when I was stared down by a deer who wasn't running away - guess he missed the memo that that is what deer are supposed to do! We also got a great view of a what we can only assume was a drug bust on Tucson's south side from the top. It was really funny until the police helicopter started coming closer and closer with his search light! Too close for comfort, reminds me of the good old days when I lived in the Drachman apartments with Rachel.

Here are a few pictures from the internet of Tumamoc.

Saturday wasn't a let down after a great Friday - the party just continued! There was an all day YSA activity at Reid Park. We had lunch, then participated in a bunch of different sports and activities. I went to the driving range and worked on my nonexistent golf swing. I also threw the frisbee around and took pictures at the waterfall and duck pond.

The coolest part of the day was the evening, we got to go into the zoo after hours, we were the only ones there! We got to walk around, have animal encounters, and most importantly - feed the giraffes! Which was a lot of fun (way more than I thought it would be - even though he slobbered all over my hand - it was a blast). Then we ate dinner - in the zoo - and had a dance - in the zoo! So much FUN! though I did feel sorry for the animals!

Sunday was also another great day - Church was great! And we went to Deanna's house for game night. Wow - what a lot of stuff!