Girls Weekend

Hannah, Brie, and Becky picked me up on Friday at 12:30 and we headed off to Arizona for a girls weekend. The drive took about seven hours, it rained nearly the entire time, and the conversation included topics like crazy in-law antics and pulmonary embolisms. For dinner we met a friend of the other three who moved away from Albuquerque before I got there. We ate an amazing pastrami and coleslaw sandwich at Capistrano's, a restaurant from Delaware where Becky grew up, then had frozen custard at Culver's. We stayed at Hannah's sister Sarah's house. I'm sad I didn't get any pictures with her in them. She was a fantastic hostess. All four of us slept in an upstairs bedroom and stayed up talking past midnight.  

My internal clock woke me up at 5:00 am Arizona time. I had some primary stuff I needed to get done, so I got up, dressed, and worked on my laptop until almost 8:00 when the others woke up. At 9:00 my dear old mission companion Jamie Gephart (now Rapkiewicz) and her brand new husband picked me up for breakfast. We at at Crackers Cafe and it was so good to catch up with her. She is doing so well and my heart couldn't be happier for her.

When I got back to Sarah's house I found the others in a dark room all crowded around a laptop watching funny YouTube videos. We did that a while longer, then put on our swimming suits and went out to the pool. We spent a couple hours just floating about, eating cold watermelon, and talking. It was just lovely, though I did get a bit sunburned. 

Around 2:00 we decided we were hungry, so we picked up burgers and shakes at In-N-Out and ate our lunch parked in the shade. We then went home where some of us showered and we all got dressed. Hannah curled Becky's hair all fancy and then we went to Ikea.  

After Ikea we hung out at Sarah's for a little late afternoon rest while Hannah started painting toenails. Everyone checked in with their husbands to see how the menfolk were faring with the littles, and we learned of Hannah's hand print sunburn. It's been ages since I've laughed that hard. 

Sometime after 7:00 pm we started thinking about dinner. We stopped by Kneaders first, but it wasn't appealing enough to keep us there, so we ended up at Cafe Rio. We all got pork barbacoa salads when really we should have just ordered two and shared. Becky, Brie, and I couldn't finish, but Hannah plowed through and ate all but the last few bites of her tortilla. We then walked over to Walmart to pick up some heartburn medicine for Brie, who is 36 weeks pregnant. 

Hannah finished painting nails while I finally showered, then she curled my hair. It really was the ultimate girly weekend with all the primping, eating, and talking. Someone referenced a song for nearly every turn in conversation and there was of course lots and lots of laughter. I'm so grateful for the chance to get away for a while with such a fun group of quality women.  

I needed to be back home for a primary teacher's training in the evening, so we got up, ate, and were ready to hit the road again by 8:45 on Sunday morning. The drive was beautiful and sunny, we made great time, and the main topic of conversation centered around what courses of action we would take in the event of a zombie apocalypse, because apparently it's important to think about these things.