Three YEARS

UA v. ASU

Number one reason to graduate in December: you get to keep your Zonazoo until the end of the year and you don't have to sit in another semester of classes. It's a great deal. Rory and I drove to Tucson together and it was the weirdest feeling. We are going to Tucson... but not to stay? We weren't going to OUR houses... it was weird. What was even weirder was walking upstairs in 1320 and realizing that my room isn't my room anymore... it was really freaky.... I may have wanted to cry. 

Derrick also came from the valley for the game, and the three of us went to the rivalry game with Abby, Andrew, Kenzie, Queston, Mandy and Victoria. 

It was such a CRAZY game, especially those first five minutes where ASU didn't score at all and everyone in McKale was on their feet... that was almost the loudest I have ever heard McKale get. 

After the game we went to go meet Bill Walton and it was suuuch a funny experience, I couldn't stop laughing. That man knows exactly how he wants his pictures. Derrick, McKenzie and Rory were all wearing hats and he told them all to take them off... their poor hat hair. Rory tried to crouch down in front of the photo, and he was adamant about no crouching in photos. It was tooooo funny. I was laughing too hard that I didn't even want to attempt to get a photo with him.

Kortni Jeane Swimmmmerz

Sadie texted me earlier in the week about Kortni Jeane coming to AZ with her super cute swimsuits ON SALE on the 13th. I wanted to go just for the fun of it because I've heard these sales get CRAZY. I also went to buy my sister a swimsuit, because I should really be saving my own money on I don't know... alllll of my car problems. smh.

Anyway it was a lot of fun standing in line with Sadie, we even got to see Victoria every so often as our paths crossed in line. Victoria is a hoot and a half, and makes my life a thousand times more happier. 

The sale itself was a little stressful. Everything was organized and laid out in bins and we only had ten minutes to pick out everything we wanted. Then we could wait outside the sale area and go through everything we picked out and make our final decisions before we checked out because all sales were final. It was crazy, but I made it out alive and with a top so #success. 

Afterward Sadie and I sipped on some Soda Shop to celebrate money well spent and then Victoria joined us for a good time as well.

New Purchases and DUN DUN DUN Car Problems

I made the greatest and worst decision of my life with the purchase of a 24-70 2.8 lens. I told myself that I wouldn't need another lens for a very long time now that I had a telephoto, and I figured I could make the money back fairly quickly, so I just went for it and bought one. Don't worry it was used, I'm not that insane. 

Unfortunately after that big purchase my car made another attempt to kill itself. This time around in the form of a heat compressor leak (mysteriously my passenger seat got soaked in antifreeze.. poor Zach's shoes... and then I was out of coolant... magic) and back brakes. GREAT TIMES CAR GREAT TIMES. Is it time for a new car? Most definitely... will I ever get a new car? probably not.

The Wave Cave

Here is something fun to know about me, I love doing things that are active but I myself am not active. I am probably just as fit as I was when I was 12 years old honestly. This is important to note.

Sadie and Parker invited the fam to hike the Wave Cave, which is a super cool cave in the Superstition Mountains that looks like... you guessed it... a WAVE. 

Unreliable websites said the hike was anywhere between 3-4 miles. That wasn't really a problem for me. What unreliable websites fail to mention is how steep this hike gets once you get closer and closer to the cave.... and every spot where you might want to grab on for a little extra support there is a cactus waiting for you.... which made going down a lot of interesting fun. BUT I made it out alive... and very sore. My suggestion is just to take your time if you're like me where you aren't the most coordinated person in the world but love doing this kind of stuff.

BUT WOW it was a lot of fun and the cave was really worth it. 

To celebrate us living through that moderate hike we went to In N Out, which is always a good choice when you are absolutely starving... but not a good choice at the same time because those lines never end at lunch time. 

Third Anniversary

I have no idea how this is even possible but Zach and I have been dating for three whole years that's CRAZY! Sometimes I feel like we have been dating for not long at all and then other times I feel like we have never not been dating. It's a weird feeling. Also three years is kind of a long time to date, so go us. 

Since our anniversary was on a Sunday we decided to celebrate on Saturday, which just happened to be the same day that we went hiking... SOOO we were pretty exhausted and took the day pretty slow.  We did make our way over to Joe's Farm Grill (our staple dinner) for a delicious anniversary dinner.

We did do some celebrating on Sunday was well though. We gave each other our gifts.... well I gave him his and then we went on quite the adventure for mine. Zach hid photos of us from the past year around the area near our houses, and he magically made all the photos into a three pattern for our.... you guessed it THIRD anniversary. He's a clever dude.

 Unfortunately it was raining when we went around to find all of them so some of the photos were soaked, but not damaged too badly. It was so sweet driving around and reliving our last year together. And it was quite the roller coaster of emotions year, especially considering Zach left on his mission and came home this year. He put both those photos in the same spot, so I didn't have to dwell on how sad I was because the coming home photo was there to make me feel happy.

Zach is just about the greatest person, let alone boyfriend in the world, I just really lucked out.

Teaching Avery to Ride a Bike

It was MLK weekend so my parents decided it was the perfect opportunity to teach Avery to ride a bike without her training wheels. They started off taking off the wheels and the pedals so she could just practice balancing. Then on Monday I came along for the journey with my camera when the pedals came on. It was super fun watching her succeed... and hilarious when she failed... but also so sad. She just gets so frustrated it's so sad and so cute at the same time. The photos really speak for themselves on this one, so enjoy:

When we went to Target to pick out a helmet I tried to get her to pick a calm helmet by saying "I love helmets that are just one color" she then pointed to a helmet that was a unicorn and said "I love helmets like this".... not quite what I was going for, but she loves it, so it works.

Pederson Engagements

I had the honor of taking my homie Cody and his fiancées engagements at Papago Park on MLK day. Cody was always a hoot during the college years we shared together (I have an endless amount of funny stories involving him) and his fiancée is SO fun as well. It was just a great time all around.

Barrett-Jackson Car Auction

Pinal Central sent me out to the Barrett-Jackson car auction today. I had no idea how big of a deal these things are to people. I have very little interest in cars, which is why I stick to my dying car and spend all my money on lenses, but it was pretty fun seeing everyone else's enthusiasm for these collectables. People sure do drop quite a lot of dough on those bad boys, it's both impressive and terrifying.