Arizona and it's best...

Hi friends! So Spring Break 2010 is officially over and I am now back in Oxford. Sadly we have 7 more weeks of school before graduation... I'm trying not to think about it. For the second half of my spring break I took a trip to Arizona and I am in LOVE with that state already. Here's a little overview of my trip...

Thursday: I left my house in Macon at 4:45 AM to make my 7:45 AM flight from Atlanta to Phoenix. Ironically on the plane with me were 20 girls who belonged in the National Honor Society who were headed to a conference in Phoenix. Let's just say they had never flown before and were a little scared. So me being the frequent flyer that I am helped them out and let's just say they kept me from sleeping all 4 hours and 30 minutes to Phoenix. We arrived in Phoenix 45 minutes earlier than our "expected arrival" so there was no gate open for us, so we sat on the runway for a bit. BUT the captain said the weather was "85 and sunny" ah! So much better than the weather I left in ATL. Finally we got off the plane and I headed to baggage claim to pick my suitcase up and meet my sweet friend Lindsey who picked me up. Lindsey took me to a cute breakfast place called Wildflower Breakfast Company (it was 9:30 there since AZ doesn't do daylight savings time) and I had the BEST pancakes for breakfast. After breakfast and catching up on life we headed to Lindsey's house to change clothes and meet her sweet family. We then put on our swimsuits and headed to the awesome place where Lindsey works called "Lifetime Fitness." Let's just say it's the coolest gym I've ever seen and even has water slides- like a mini water park. We laid out and swam so laps... the weather was just super nice not to be outside. After spending half the day there we headed home, showered and then headed to target for fun and to meet my friend Nick. Lindsey had a work meeting and couldn't go to dinner with everyone so Nick picked me up and drove me to Tempe and around the campus of ASU. Let's just say ASU's campus is much more modern and HUGE compared to the campus here at Ole Miss. And they have parking garages EVERYWHERE which was super nice... too bad we don't have one here in Oxford. Nick and I met Amy N. and Jamie at P.F. Changs for dinner in Tempe. We had so much fun hanging out and catching up and a great dinner too. After dinner we met up with Lindsey and Amy P. and walked down Mill St. (there awesome downtown) and then we rented a movie and headed to Amy's to watch it. By this time it was 12:30 AM in AZ meaning 3:30 AM GA time so I was exhausted and fell asleep within the first 20 minutes of the movie. We ended up staying at Amy's since Lindsey lived 30 minutes away and we were exhausted.

Me, Nick, Jamie and Amy N. in downtown Tempe

All of us: Amy P., Jamie, Me, Lindsey, Nick and Amy N.

Friday: Lindsey and I had breakfast a Wildflower again and this time I had a slice of banana bread and it was delicious. After that we headed to this awesome sports store, Sport Chalet to rent snowboards and they were having an awesome sale on everything so I found a pair of Nike shorts for $9. I'm still excited about them. We rented boards and the man told us what we needed to do to stop, get off the lift, etc. We met Lindsey's mom for lunch and then prepared to hike Camelback with Nick. On our way to meet Nick at the Scottsdale mall we got lost and turned around... thank God for iPhones, because it helped us find Scottsdale and the mall where we met Nick. Let's just saw Scottsdale is a NICE area of Phoenix and the mall is super swanky with almost every store you could imagine. Too bad we couldn't go shopping... we met Nick and for the next two hours hiked Camelback where you could see all of Phoenix and we happened to be up there watching the sunset. Can you say absolutely GORGEOUS! After hiking we went back to the mall to get Lindsey's car and made a detour in a cupcake place called Sprinkles and decided we deserved a cupcake. I've never seen such a cute place in my life with so many different cupcakes to choose from. I ended up choosing the chocolate one and it was divine. After leaving the cupcake place we drove to Chandler to meet our friend Tibs at her house where we had pizza and spent the night. We were all going skiing/snowboarding in the AM and were exhausted from hiking.

Lindsey and I hiking Camelback

Nick, Me and Lindsey at the top of Camelback

Sprinkles... need I say more

I promise they tasted better than they looked

The one I gave a try

Saturday: Saturday was a BIG, EVENTFUL day. We woke up at 4 AM and dressed for a day of snowboarding. We met Tib's boyfriend Will and his friends Steven and Sage and all packed into a Tahoe and headed to Sunrise Resort, only a few 4 hours away. Lindsey and I were crammed in the back of the tahoe with heavy metal playing in the back, but we survived and after what felt like days we were there. We got our lift tickets and headed to the mountain. Well, my super smart self decided it would be oh such a great idea to try and snowboard for the first time since I had skiing down. And my friend Lindsey too had never skied or boarded so she decided to do the same. Tibs was a skier along with her boyfriend Will and Sage and Steven were boarders. Well as soon as I put the board on I knew it was going to be an ultimate disaster. I thought well maybe if I can just get to the lift and at the top and then when both of my feet are in the board then maybe it will be easier. Well getting to the lift was a disaster I fell like 4 times and then I fell while getting on the lift and this man told me I was making a mistake by going up that lift because it was "more advanced." Me being the determined person I am decided to go on with it and as soon as we started going the guys informed me we were going down a BLUE for the first time. To you non-skiers a BLUE run is intermediate NOT beginner. Boarders say that getting off the lift is the most difficult thing as a snowboarder, but I thought I would have it down. You guessed it... getting off the lift was a disaster and I fell and made the entire lift stop for a few minutes. I headed over to the side to put my other foot into the board and then I couldn't even get up, I had to roll onto my stomach and get up from there. We started going down the mountain and after some TERRIBLE falls, tears and almost headed towards trees at one point I think I had the hang of it a little bit. BUT i was too stressed out, sore and tired that I decided to go rent skies and retire boarding. Let's just say after I got skis, the stress was gone and I had so much more fun! We skied the mountains of Sunrise until 4 and then headed back to Phoenix... we still had a LONG 4 hour car ride ahead of us. Luckily I slept some of the way home and the ride seemed faster. After we arrived back in Phoenix, we said our goodbyes and Lindsey took me to In and Out and it was by far the best burger I've ever had! Too bad we don't have them in the East. Ah! So so good.

Tibs, Lindsey and I at the top of the mountain

Sunday: Lindsey, Lindsey's mom and I had breakfast at Wildflower before heading to Lindsey's dad's church Crossroads. We went to church and it was so awesome... I loved it and loved the band that played for us. The lead singer sounded like Chris Tomlin. After church several of us went to Thai restaurant and let's just say the food was interesting and not my favorite. haha. We ran errands that afternoon and then I met Alyson while Lindsey played volleyball. Alyson and I hung out at Starbucks for 3 or so hours and just talked about life. It was so nice to hangout with her and catch up on life.

I was unable to get a picture with Alyson, but here is a picture of us from camp this summer

Monday: I said my goodbyes and Lindsey dropped me off at the airport. I almost missed my flight home because of traffic and the line at the US Airways counter, but thank you Lord I made it and made the long drive back to Oxford Monday night.

My body is still not used to the time change and is HATING me for attempting to board, but it is getting better. I am oh so grateful for being able to go to Arizona and be reunited with YoungLife friends. No matter how far we are apart, they are still some of my best friends for life. Our friendship is rooted in our Savior and it is so great. I hope it won't be another 8 months before I see them again!

- Mo