My Not So Irrational Fear

Starry Starry Night

On a what was a boring Tuesday evening last week Zach had an idea to go out to the dessert to take pictures of the stars. Up until this point I kind of have just used my own knowledge of camera operations to be able to get pictures of stars... and the pictures turn out okkkaaayyy but never quite like I want them. AFTER we went on this adventure I started to do more research on how to take the dopest of the dope star photos...BUT it has been so cloudy in the valley that I have not been able to go out, so we will have to deal with my sub par star photos for now and you all can stay tuned for the dopest of the dope ones (hopefully) soon. Even on this night the clouds were starting to roll in quickly but it worked okay for the photos in the end.

We went out past Gold Canyon and followed a road for awhile until we found a good enough spot to park and set up. It was a little sketchy because there were a few sheriff cars roaming around and we had no idea if we were allowed to be where we were that late at night... but the sheriffs never said anything so we made it out cuff free.

Mr Desert Ridge

On Friday Zach, Trevor and I returned to the old stomping grounds of Desert Ridge High School to watch Scitt participate in Mr Desert Ridge (like a beauty pageant but for boys at the high school). We were all a little hesitant about returning to the school (none of us are really the type of people that go back and visit) but it was SUCH A PARTY. We sat in the far back of the auditorium and danced our butts off with all the performers. It was seriously so entertaining, and Scitt did an amazing job (we were all surprised that he did this in the first place, but he blew us all away). There were lots of great talents like self-written songs, unicycling, BELLY WHISTLING, dancing, and dad jokes. I was very impressed.

Besides Scitt there was one boy that really stole the show for me. He was the only freshman that participated and he was SO FIERCE. He had the best dance moves out of everyone who participated and the best outfit choices. This guy seriously danced in HEELS flawlessly throughout the whole show. I wanted to bow down to the kid, SO GOOD. 

After the show I had the chance to talk to Mr Steinkemper who was my student council teacher my senior year of high school, which was super awesome. He was one of the hosts of the show, and I couldn't stop laughing at his and Mr Locey's jokes. There's not many things I miss about high school, but great teachers like Kemper is certainly one of them.

Botan That Garden

It was the goddess Stephanie Shaw's birthday on Wednesday and since I was unable to make it to her exciting birthday dinner (where she slayed her knee high boots), I went with her and the rest of the beezies to the Tucson Botanical Gardens to look at the Frida Kahlo exhibit, all the wonderful plants... and unfortunately the butterfly greenhouse of death.

Derrick, Zach and I drove to Tucson early in the morning and made it to Tucson just in time to go to lunch with Steph at Sauce (for me and Steph) and Pei Wei (for Derrick and Zach). Afterwards we went back to get Kenzie and Jenny, dropped the boys off at the house and made our beezie way over to the Botanical Gardens.

You all may know that one of my irrational fears are yes, butterflies. I have been scarred for life from that one Spongebob episode that zooms in super close to the butterflies face.... TERRIFYING. Anyway, I have always been told that that fear is irrational and that butterflies are "pretty." To which I just smile and nod, whatever. BUT on Saturday I discovered that my fear of butterflies is NOT irrational because at one point every single one of the beezies screamed a little bit at the butterflies flying around them. Was I dying? absolutely... I even shed a tear... but I needed to stay in the greenhouse of death in order to photograph the moment for Stephanie. You will see in the photos that I am indeed telling the truth about peoples reactions.

Besides the butterflies, the garden was actually very awesome. They have a really cool succulent section where I found even MORE succulents that I fell in love with. I was also able to see the lithops in person for the first time (Andy showed me these super cool succulents that look like rocks awhile back and I had only seen pictures up until this point, but I must say, they are even cooler in person).

The Frida Kahlo exhibits were really cool. I really don't know too much about her but I was able to learn a lot just from walking around. Her paintings are magnificent and I may have a new found obsession.

Now for some photos:

This pesky butterfly with its broken wing would not leave McKenzie's butt, she had to get it swatted off before we could leave

This is Arizona

On Saturday evening Zach, Kenzie, Derrick, Alex, Abby and I went to the basketball game against Cal. This was a very good game. Both teams just really tried so hard to win, which made it very entertaining and a little bit stressful. Abby and I were especially enthusiastic with the cheering for this game because Alex didn't know ANY of the cheers and when they were supposed to happen. Don't worry Abby and I educated her. I was fortunate enough to be able to do my favorite cheer when the opposing team misses their first free throw AT THE VERY END OF THE GAME... I nearly collapsed from excitement. But we unfortunately were not able to do Abby's favorite cheer when a player from the opposing team fouls out of the game... we were so close with like THREE players, but alas it did not happen. 

For some reason we always end up sitting in front of the most annoying people... there were so many unintelligent things said... so many balloons being thrown in front of my face... but the one thing that made it all okay was that our whole group was annoyed with them... group bonding.

After the game Derrick and Zach tried to convince me to see the Batman Lego movie and just spend the night in Tucson and leave in the morning.... I was not into that so we did end up leaving for the Valley that night. We will just have to see the Lego Batman movie another day.

Sundays and Cravings

I officially have a calling in my new ward now, luckily it's not Gospel Doctrine teacher like my last calling in 3rd ward. This time around I am in charge of planning the first FHE of the month each month. One activity a month? I can handle that easy peasy. 

After church Zach and I hung out with Avery and did a lot of dancing. Avery is in one of Sadie's dance classes and her and Zach practice the dance routine every single day. They even taught the dance to Jonah and Thane, and showed them some of her other favorite dance moves. It's always a hoot dancing with Avery. 

In the evening we were watching the Grammys at my house and I was scrolling through pinterest and saw some peanut butter cookies and I decided that I needed those cookies right then. So Zach and I decided to make them... but unfortunately my house lacked the very first ingredient listed on the recipe, so we headed over to the Walton household were there is more than enough baking supplies at all times. The recipe called for some pretty peculiar ingredients and directions, but luckily we had Pam there to bust some myths about baking cookies that would be a complete waste of time or make no difference than more normal ingredients. Thanks to the Pinterest recipe, Pams helpful tips, Zachs ability to find all the ingredients and my mixing skills, we made three delicious dozens of peanut butter cookies that I have been munching on since. I wish we would have added more peanut butter the the mix, but that was the cookies only flaw.

The Suns

On Monday night it was YSA night at the Phoenix Suns game. There were sections reserved for members and then there was a dance on the court after the game. There were SO many mormons there. Zach and I somehow got tickets around absolutely no mormons and in the very worst spot in the stadium... so we decided to move around. We went at the perfect moment because after we moved to our new seats a new security guard came and was checking everyone tickets to make sure they were got seated in the right area, and would call people out if they didn't sit where they were supposed to. We were lucky. Seriously look at our difference in views:

The atmosphere there was absolutely nothing compared to the atmosphere at McKale, but it was nice to sit through the game for once. Unfortunately the Suns lost the game... but they didn't deserve it IMO if they couldn't make that one shot at the end with THREE tries. I was sad they lost, but also not really torn up about it. 

Zach and I didn't really want to stay for the dance afterward but I did want to go down to the court for a minute at least before we left. The court was PACKED with mormons... I was very happy we didn't stay for the dance because it really seemed like everyone was shoulder to shoulder. Luckily they did open up the practice court up for everyone to hang out in and play some ball, so I'm sure that helped a lot. But nevertheless Zach and I got onto the court snapped a selfie and got the heck out of there.

Instead of dancing we grubbed at Canes with the remainder of our giftcards #perfect date.