Look Twice Save a Life, Motorcycles are Everywhere!

Going from Arizona to Utah is probably the most beautiful and exciting drive I've had thus far! I loved seeing the countryside of Arizona and all of the landforms etc... Mountains, plateaus, hills, rocks, water, the different plants, cacti, etc... Loved it!!! It was nice to be on back roads the majority of the time instead of the interstate--- you get to see a lot more that way!

Love the hilly roads!

you can see the little motorcycle people, haha

Don't mind the windshield wipers! I just love the sky in all of these pics!

water!

This also meant that I got to go through some smaller towns, and these were some really strange signs/decorations I saw:

One of the coolest things I did was cross the Hoover Dam! They are doing a lot of construction around that area so it took a while longer, but it was totally worth it!!! It was super windy and cold there though so I couldn't stay for long.

Then I made it into Nevada! A first for me!! Drove through Las Vegas...instead of checking out the casinos and heading to the strip I went to find the temple instead!

The rest of the trip was sooo nice! After leaving NV you go back in to AZ for about 30 minutes or so. This was probably the greatest part of the entire drive, and of course that's when my camera messed up and I wasn't able to get a single picture!!! Seriously, it's as if you are just driving into a cave because mountains and rocks are overlapping one another to where you can't see anything except rock in front of you! the road just winds its way on through until you see the sky again! Then there is also all of the red rock formations and where it looks as if you're driving near the Grand Canyon (which it's not that close by but looks similar) I loved it and really wish I could have taken pictures. I guess that just means I'll have to back some day!!!

back in AZ but close to UT!

And then I finally made it to Utah!!

I've never been to the southern part of Utah, so this was definitely a treat! I will do another post on St. George as well as my drive up to Provo!!

oh, and yes, I saw quite a few motorcycles while driving! It makes me so nervous, and I really don't know how they feel safe driving so fast and for such long distances!!!!

Arizona!!

It was a lot of fun to visit my family in Arizona! I hadn't seen them in three years, and I got to meet a new cousin, Joey, who was born while I was on my mission! Thanks so much Lora and Judson for letting me stay with y'all!

So, only my 13 year old cousin, Sydney, remembered who I was! Sad! I stayed with them right before I went to the MTC... Nicholas was 6 then, Audrey 3, and Becca 2... so they didn't remember me at all! But they warmed up to me!

I was staying in Becca and Audrey's room, so on the first morning Audrey came in and just stared at me. Then gave me a hug, lol. I asked her if she knew who I was or knew my name and she said no! lol. Then I asked her how old she thought I was. She said 19... no, then said 32? Haha, it was too cute.

We never did take a group picture, but luckily I'm stopping there on my way back so we can take some. I did get pics of four out of the five kids though... somehow I missed getting Sydney! Here are some of the things we did:

• went to soccer practices, games, and parties. It was lots of fun to see them play!
• Lora and I talked and talked and talked which was great! I love her!
• We had lovely dinners sitting outside on the patio.
• Fun dinner at a Chinese restaurant
• and of course there were kids yelling and screaming all the while, haha.
• Church in a huge family ward with tons of kids....hard to pay attention!
• So I'm not really used to being around a bunch of kids. So on the way home from church Lora made me drive the van with all 5 kids inside. it was so funny because they were a little scared to ride with me!
• Discussions about where I should go to school!! thanks for y'all's help and encouragement

I guess I did sneak off to my room here and there to read my book and escape the noise, but overall I had a lot of fun visiting with them!!

The 12 or so pizzas we had for one of the parties!

Becca, Audrey, and Joey

Nick playing soccer!

Lora didn't know we were taking a picture!

Audrey and Becca's soccer game with Judson coaching.

Gotta love the AZ sunset. I have better pics from a few years ago though!

I also went and did a session at the Mesa Temple which was wonderful!

And after that Heidi, one of my mission roommates, was married! I was so glad to be there for the sealing, luncheon, and reception! Sis Nelson (Kyleigh) was also there with her husband. It was a great day!

the newlyweds Heidi and Austin Christensen!

Sis Nelson and her new husband James, they are so cute too!

Love her!

Love her too!

I'm excited to go back and spend another day or two in AZ on the way home because I do love it there!!!

Day 2 and 3: TX to AZ

So I've been really bad at keeping this blog up to date... :( And it this point it's hard to remember stuff!

Day 2 of my trek across the country mainly consisted of driving through Texas!

once again not a very good pic

That state is entirely too big!!! On the way back I'm going a different way because it really starts to get old! And the place where I ended up staying had the doors on the outside, so it guess it was a motel, which I don't like... and it was near a train track! ugh! With using Priceline.com you are taking a chance and never really know what you'll end up with! but I was so tired that I don't think it phased me too much.

Thanks to the motel's continental breakfast I was able to have a Texas shaped waffle for breakfast! I was so excited...! not to mention that my allergies were really starting to die down the more I headed west. I was so happy for it to be my third and final day of driving for a while!!!

So one of the neatest things about driving through Texas was seeing all of the wind mills/turbines and the oil drilling rigs or whatever they are called. There are tons... so many more than I've ever seen.

I still had a good ways to go in Texas even on the third day. I was excited to see an 80 mph Speed Limit sign though!! I'd never seen one before!

getting closer to New Mexico

New Mexico says it's the "Land of Enchantment." Well, it was pretty boring as far as I could tell.... I think other parts of the state might be pretty, but not along I20! It's neat to see how the landscape changes and all, but it's way too much brown!

And I was driving super close to the Mexican border but couldn't really tell what was what. I did see two border patrol vehicles and after I got in to New Mexico I had to stop at an inspection stop point... interesting... I was kind of nervous, lol. I probably wasn't supposed to take this picture, oh well!

Nothing too exciting happened while driving the last day... although at one point I was passing by one of the big 18 wheelers and the man honked at me. So I thought maybe he was trying to get my attention or I was going too fast or something. I looked in the rearview mirror and he was just a grinnin' and waivin'! Why do people do that?!?! Creepy!!! so I stepped on it, lol!

And then FINALLY I made it in to AZ!!

Although I still had about 3 more hours until my aunt's house, I was sooo excited to be that much closer. The landscape around there was pretty neat as well... but I think my battery was dying and also my windshield was so dirty it was hard to take good pics!

I ended up getting in to town around 7pm or so. I met up with Heidi and Kyleigh, two of the girls from my mission, and we had a great time catching up! Sad we didn't take a picture that night but I have more from Heidi's wedding. I am sooo grateful for my mission and the wonderful friends I made during that time. Even though we don't see each other very often, we are always able to pick right up and continue as if we had been together all along.

I got to my aunt's house around 10 that night and was so happy to be there and see them!! More to come on that visit!