Road Trippin' It

A few weeks ago,

Emily and I hit the road on our first ever raodtrip without any parents!

Just the two of us and Cletus (her car).

We drove to Gilbert, Arizona
So she could spend the last few weeks before she goes off to start
school up at BYU- Idaho.

So we started the day off in the wee hours of the morning!
We got on the road at 5:30 AM

And Emily started driving.

All Summer, we have been wanting to watch the sunrise together, and we finally got to see it!
It was so pretty :)

We thought reaching 100 miles was pretty exciting,
only 800 miles left to go! Haha

Dont worry we made a Starbucks pit stop,

and we both got a salted caramel hot chocolate.

Its one of my new favorites, thanks to Caylee :)

Right after we stopped for a bathroom, gas, and Starbucks,

I drove.

We made it to New Mexico! :)

Aaaand you gotta love that cruise control! Its pretty great!

For lunch we stopped in Albuquerque and ate Chick-la-fe!
Cause I can eat their grilled chicken.
I love love love Chick-la-fe :)

After stopping for lunch,
Emily Drove :)


Ohh the things that you see on road trips..

We finally made it to Arizona!!
Except we missed the turn off to take a picture at the sign so we just pulled over,
but it said no parking so we just took a quick picture and hit the road again.

Of course once I start driving, we get stuck in construction,
going like 40 miles an hour.
I HATE driving slow! Especially in traffic and construction!

We were SO ready to be out of the car!!

And we made it!!
Or so we thought.
We were about 15 minutes away and decided to call her mom and tell
her that we would be a little over an hour,
even though we really were only about 15 minutes away...
But we ended up getting lost
and it really did take us a little over an hour to get there!
It was crazy.. I guess thats what we get for lying to her parents..
Haha

On our trip we saw...

A blue school bus

A spaceship

Lots of coppers!

Casa Blanca (Gilmore Girls reference)

and a rail runner.

And some funny billboards we saw..

"Topless"

"Free Craps Lesson!"

"Legs and thighs"

"Shush Yaz"

And of course you cant go on a road trip without having great quotes and playin games so here they are!

"It happened" - Emily

"I hate legs! I wish I had none!" - Stacey

"Look at those mountains! Stripes of pink!" - Emily
"What?! Did you just say their sexy?!" - Stacey

"PECOS"

"Free Craps Lesson!"

"OKay look at that sign! How do you day that?!" - Emily
"Fry bread" - Stacey
*Looking at two different signs - Emily was talking about the one that said To'haliihee*

"Are we shaving time?!" - Emily
"Shaving.. Hahaha" - Stacey

"Aw, last chicken... disappointing" - Emily

"And you dont need Jesus!!" - Ben Rector
"Ohh yes you do!!" - Emily (said in Chinese accent.)

"Oh, that guys hanging himself" - Stacey casually
"What?!" - Emily
"Like from the truck! He's hanging on and swinging!" - Stacey
"Ohh hahaha thats ALOT different Stacey!" - Emily

*Emily attempts to quotes a movie*
"I have no idea." - Stacey
"Well then i'll do it again!" - Emily shouts

"Im so sick of reading about Indians!!"

"Get off my butt" - Emily

"Well, it looks like we are going to be there on the 15th of never." - Emily


So we finally got their and unpacked Emily,
and she gave me the grand tour of their new house,
which by they way is absolutely beautiful!
We then ate dinner
(which Sister Downing made sure that it was all gluten free. She's so great. I love her.)
And it was so very tasty
after a long day of driving and snacking in the car.

And after lots of catching up,
we went swimming in their pool!
Let me tell ya,
it is SO hot in Arizona.
OH MY GOSH. Emily and I thought we were gonna die.

Then we had ice cream fro dessert,
and watched the Hunger Games
because it had just come out
on DVD that day.
But Emily and I were out in the first 15 minutes of the movie.
Driving all day takes it out of ya!
We were so exhausted.
I didnt know what their did as far as showers and stuff in the morning
before church,
so I showered that night as quickly as I could so I could finally go to bed.

Their wards church meets at 8:00 AM
which came EARLY!!
But we got up and were out the door on time,
and enjoyed a great sacrament meeting,
gospel doctrine with Brother and Sister Downing,
and Relief Society with Sister Downing.

Megan, Emily and I waited in the air conditioned car before going to to the Parks ward,
cause it was SO BLASTED HOT!!
Everyone kept telling us at church that you never ever get used to it.
So Gilbert was a beautiful city,
I just dont think that I would ever be able to handle the heat..
Haha I would never leave my air conditioned house.

We then went to one of their friend's ward [funny story about that - the Parks ward meets at 9:00 so an hour later the the Downings and we thought Justin was getting set apart during third hour but he didnt get set apart until after church but everyone went to Relief Society except for Emily's brother and Brother Downing - But we were all Starving! I could literally hear Megan's stomach growling. Haha but luckily we found like 10 mints in my purse, so we tried to use those to hold us over.. Haha but im not sure that it actually worked so great, because we were still starving.]
Anyways, their friend who is Emily's age,
received the Melchizedek Priesthood.
And it was a cool experience to be a part of,
and I am grateful that he was so welcoming in me being a part of it.
We then went to their house for
and lunch to celebrate.
They were so welcoming..
I definitely liked Sister Park!
She was so cute, and gave me a great big hug right when she met me,
which made me feel much more comfortable the rest of the afternoon.

We went home and before we knew it about an hour or so later,
Sister Downing, Emily and I were on our way to the airport!

Saying goodbye to Emily was so over whelming to me.
We got to security, and I gave Sister Downing a big hug,
I sure do love that woman. She is just incredible.
But when I gave Emily a hug, I just kind of lost it.
This past summer, Emily became more than my best friend..
And as cheesy as it sounds,
she became my sister.
[Shoot. Just typing this im cryin - and its been like over a month!]
But really, I dont think that I could ever
truly and fully express my gratitude to her.
For everything.
She is so incredibly talented,
and strong and so much fun to be around.
We made so many fantastic memories this summer:

-killing moths with an entire bottle of hairspray-
-watching the entire series of Gilmore Girls-
-Lulu runs-
-Both unintentional and intentional slumbovers-
-Meeting new friends-
-Learning to ride a tandem bike-
-Rockin out in the car-
-Baking-
-Running errands together-
-Doing homework together-
-Lots and lots of shopping-
-laughing, crying, and arguing over who gets the last "UGH"-
-and of course blogging-
And thats only to name a few! I feel like the list could go on for miles and miles.

Shoot. The room that Emily stayed in, is still known as Emily's room.

She will always be one of the absolute greatest friends that I could have asked for.
I love her so much and I miss her like crazy.
But if growing up in the military has taught me anything,
it's that it's never "goodbye", its just "See ya later!"
And I will see her again, hopefully sooner than later though!
I love our modern technology and the ability to skype with her often.

I am so happy for her
as she is starting this new adventure in her life
as BYU-I [DO]
Hahaha
But I really do hope and pray that she is absolutely loving every second
college and just absorbing everything with the best of attitudes.
I bet the boys are just all over her cause she is so beautiful!

Letting go is hard,
but its such an exciting time of life,
and I love hearing all about school from her.

So even though
it was such crazy fast trip to Arizona,
[Emily and I left early Saturday morning
and I was on a plane less than 48 hours later
on Sunday going back home to Colorado.]
I am so grateful for their hospitality.
The Downings are such great people.
I am so grateful for their constant life long friendship,
example, and for always having their door open.
(Literally, I would usually just swing the door open at their house here!
Knocking and ringing the doorbell is overrated! ;] )
But really, they are such a great family.

SO this post was crazy insane long.
No wonder, it took me hours
and multiple sittings to write..
Haha.