Once upon a time, long long ago, Katherine sat in the kitchen. I was on the couch and while we were (studying) talking about a much needed break we could use we began to dream of visiting the Sun Valley of Arizona. In the middle of the semester. For 10 days! Wouldn't that be grand?
And then a few days later--while we were dead tired and hiking up the dreaded South staircase of campus--we decided it could really happen. We called Mama Gina as we turned the corner by the BNSN and got permission. Then bought plane tickets within 2 hours. For a 10 day Thanksgiving Break.
And that was that.
Look how cute we are! So excited to fly with someone (other than family) for the first time. Apparently I'm not very good with getting both of our faces into the picture. Oh well, fly Delta!
And these pictures will convey how excited I was to see the Grand Canyon!! Seriously, though. Katherine and I were lucky enough to have a window seat. The gal that sat with us in our row chatted with us the whole way! Throw a skirt on us and some tags and we were basically sister missionaries. We talked about her family, life, good things, the gospel, missionaries, and of course--the grand canyon!
So we left the freezing, snowy Utah mountains for this beautiful 80-degree weather! Isn't Katherine's house so cute?! I especially love the palm trees! It's just so.... Arizona. They planted the winter grass (I learned that you only have green grass during the winter and dead brown grass during the summer).
And looky here! Ms. Never-runs-regularly decided to get her butt kicked in her first 5K! (And I'm not talking about Katherine.) It actually wasn't that bad. I love it now. Gilbert was celebrating their Annual Gilbert Days (28th Anniversary of Gilbert becoming Gilbert--I think?). It was exhilarating to run with others. I decided I'm very much a social exerciser--I always do better in a group--like when we go to work out at BYU's gym for spinning classes, yoga classes, or zumba. Anyways, I enjoyed the scenery, and the old ladies who we took turns passing each other, and down-talking Katherine's ability to keep going. About 3/4s into the run, I had to pee. I think it propelled me to run faster. When we crossed the finish line, I was basically limping to the bathroom. But we never stopped and I felt great after I found a bathroom and ate an awesome Arizona orange.
Look how gross we look! All sweaty and all! :) We ran a 31.26.39.
Here we are at the Gilbert Days Parade! We enjoyed watching a lot of random things walk past. It was my first time in the city and my stereotypes were validated! 1. Arizona is Mormon country. I actually saw kids and parents walk past who had BYU clothes on and the Steinackers didn't even know them! 2. Arizona people have families (see number 1). 3. Everyone knows the Sheriff and Mayor (impressive).
See number 1? I was able to catch a passer-by.
Free flowers? = Great advertising.
Call me ridiculous, but it's going to be SO fun to be a den mother one day!
Naturally, the train came and delayed the parade.
Behold my future! Me and Katherine can't wait to become one of these old ladies.
Really America?! China did not make you!
So we went out to eat at Organ Stop Pizza. Its the coolest restaurant ever. They hire old white-haired men to play the organ while you eat your pizza. He has 100s of organ stops to cue a ton of random engineered instruments that are all around him. You can even submit requests! When he did Under the Sea, bubbles came out of the ceiling. It was amazing! I think I spent more time dancing and staring then I did eating the pizza.
I decided every new temple I go to, the more I love. Mesa's is awesome. Katherine told me it use to be the temple for all of Central and South America at one point. I thoroughly enjoyed getting to go several times!
And whose this?! MY MOM!!! Yeah. She got bumped during her layover in Phoenix so we picked her up and played with her for an entire evening! It was so much fun!
Katherine's family does neighbor gifts for friends of the family during the holiday season. We helped out/I burnt my finger multiple times with the hot glue gun and gave up. But we made a TON of caramel popcorn and these cute little turkeys!
This is my new way of making notes when I read something interesting. It's just about the missionaries who baptized him from E. Busche (emeritus GA's book, Yearning for the Living God). I highly recommend reading it (or at least looking up his BYU Devotional address).
We spent a lot of hours watching this BBC show! I highly recommend it. Join Netflix for the free one month trial and catch up! There's only 6 episodes (3/season).
This was me on Thanksgiving Day. I held babies, played games, held babies, took pictures, held babies, ate food, and held babies. You get the idea. Anyways, I loved getting a chance to spend time with Katherine's extended family. Going to see her grands. And her cousins and playing with them. Maybe it's the cheesy "family life major" in me, but I love families. And when I love certain people, I automatically love their family and background.
On of the coolest experiences we had was going to the Suns NBA Game. Thanks to Katherine's Dad's work, we got $400 tickets that were floor seats-right behind the dudes who sit on the ground snapping pictures for the paper. We also got valet parking, a feast of catered food before the game, and complimentary food at half. We won the game! At the very end. I love basketball! Although one of my favorite parts was when we were leaving and Andrew, the 16 year old brother, began hyperventilating and shaking when he saw what the valet drivers were pulling up in $$$$ really expensive cars that all the other rich people who sat with us had. We got a chuckle out when we saw the old Suburban pull up compared to the all the sport cars.
Oh! And during half, they did a dog show! I was in heaven. This dog was bouncing with excitement as he was held back for his turn to catch frisbees and do flips. Instead he was watching his buddy in the lime light.
There's a few more things we did. But I don't remember all of them! Or documented them. Either way, it was a wonderful Thanksgiving that helped me recognize how grateful I was for new experiences, new people, families, for my religion, and grateful for a final vacation with Katherine before we parted ways.
Oh, and as a complete side note. I went shopping for mission clothes and bought the majority of my mission clothes for a stellar $29! Yeah, you gotta hit up Good Will on 50% off days--it's the only way to go...
